Society's ChildS


Arrow Down

How cops continue to steal Americans' hard earned cash with zero repercussions

Unlce Sam
© Liberty Blitzkrieg

Almost exactly one year ago today, I published a post which went on to become extremely popular titled: Why You Should Never, Ever Drive Through Tenaha, Texas. If you failed to read it the first time around, I suggest you take look as it provides a good outline of just what is at stake when it comes to this destructive and abusive practice increasingly utilized by police departments across these United States with zero repercussions for the offending officers. In last years article I noted that:
In a nutshell, civil forfeiture is the practice of confiscating items from people, ranging from cash, cars, even homes based on no criminal conviction or charges, merely suspicion. This practice first became widespread for use against pirates, as a way to take possession of contraband goods despite the fact that the ships' owners in many cases were located thousands of miles away and couldn't easily be prosecuted. As is often the case, what starts out reasonable becomes a gigantic organized crime ring of criminality, particularly in a society where the rule of law no longer exists for the "elite," yet anything goes when it comes to pillaging the average citizen.

One of the major reasons these programs have become so abused is that the police departments themselves are able to keep much of the confiscated money. So they actually have a perverse incentive to steal. As might be expected, a program that is often touted as being effective against going after major drug kingpins, actually targets the poor and disenfranchised more than anything else.
While this epidemic of law enforcement theft is problematic throughout the country (see these egregious examples from Tennessee and Michigan), it appears Texas has a particularly keen love affair with the practice. Not only did last year's story take place in Texas, today's highlighted episode also takes place in the Lone Star State. This time in a town of 150 people called Estelline, which earns more than 89% of its gross revenues from traffic fines and forfeitures. In other words, from theft.

Pistol

Over 50 dead in battle for control over Tripoli airport


Over 50 Libyan fighters died in exchanges over Tripoli's airport during the weekend in one of the worst outbreaks of violence since Gaddafi's ouster. With state authority on the verge of collapse, France and Britain have ordered citizens to evacuate.

One hundred people have died in the battle for the airport, with 400 others believed to be wounded, the country's health ministry announced.

Over the past two weeks, radical Islamist militias have tried to wrest control of the airport from the Zintan militia, which made its name during battles against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi three years ago, and has controlled the country's international gateway since. Airplanes worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been destroyed in the shelling.

The crossfire led to additional casualties on Saturday.

"There are 23 people dead after a Grad rocket fell on a house in Tripoli. Some of them are Egyptians, but we don't know how many," Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said.

On Friday, the government - which relies on a disparate coalition of loose allies to maintain any semblance of control - warned that the country is on the verge of political collapse.

The UK has evacuated all "non-core" members of its diplomatic mission, who fell victim to an attempted carjacking on Sunday when they came upon a militia checkpoint. Pictures later appeared online, showing bullet marks on the convoy of diplomatic cars.

"Shots were fired at our vehicles but they managed to drive on and leave the area," said mission spokesman Bob Phillipson.

People

5,000 rally for Palestine in Brussels, Israel gets 500

brussels potests
© AFP Photo / Nicolas MaeterlinckPeople wave Palestinian flags during a emonstration against Israel's military operation in Gaza in brussels on July 27, 2014
Thousands took to the streets of Brussels to support Gaza. Police intervened as radical youths assaulted officers and vandalized property. At the same time, hundreds gathered near the Israeli embassy in favor of the Jewish state.

Around 5,000 people gathered in the Belgian capital to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza, according to the city police spokesman, Christian De Coninck.

The rally was staged by the platform Emergency Gaza, which includes various associations, NGOs and trade unions.

The demonstrators demanded an end to the Israeli-inflicted violence that has left over a 1,000 Palestinians dead so far.

Sheriff

Apathetic cop detains family as they rush 2-year old son to hospital for scorpion sting

Cutie pie!
© Thefreethoughtproject.comEaston Garbet
"You're not going anywhere or you'll be arrested."

Imagine that your 2 year old son has just been stung by a scorpion. He begins to react to the venom, seething in agony and vomiting.

Your first instinct would be to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. Knowing that every minute counts you do not have the time to wait for an ambulance to get you there, you drive yourself.

Most people would speed to the hospital in this position, which is exactly what Jennifer Garbet did when her two year old son Easton was stung by a scorpion while playing in the backyard.

A speeding ticket is an afterthought at this point. While speeding to the hospital Garbet and the family friend who was driving see a police officer on the side of the road. They decide to proactively contact the officer to ensure a positive and swift outcome. So they pull over and tell him that they are in an emergency situation, thinking that he will help them.


Comment: The police have become mindless, conscienceless machines who are no longer there "to protect and to serve". In a recent recent BlogTalkRadio show, the Sott editor's discuss the increasing tyranny and militarization of the police. You can listen to the show here: Para-military Police State: U.S. cops out of control?

See also:
US is the Worst Police State in the World - By the Numbers


Star of David

Anti-Zionism on the rise in UK as a result of Israel's barbarism

Orthodox Jews
© Reuters / Toby MelvilleA group of Orthodox Jews attend an anti-war demonstration in central London.
Jews in the UK are suffering a stark rise in discriminatory abuse in the wake of Israel's military assault against Hamas, with police and community groups noting a fifty percent increase in anti-Semitic acts over the past month.

Bomb threats, vandalized synagogues, racist banners and assaults are just some of the anti-Semitic hate crimes plaguing the UK since the Israel-Gaza crisis began several weeks ago. A large proportion of this discriminatory abuse is being carried out by young Muslim males, according to the Sunday Times.

Over 1,000 Palestinians - many of whom were innocent children - have lost their lives as a result of Israel's on-going military offensive in Gaza. In response to this bloodshed, an alarming increase in anti-Semitism is apparent in the UK, according to the Community Security Trust (CST).

The CST is a charity that monitors and fights anti-Semitism throughout Britain.

According to the CST's officials, roughly 100 hate crimes have occurred in the UK in the past month alone - over double the number the organisation would usually expect.

"This is well over double what we would normally expect to see and most of the incidents are linked to what's going on in Israel and Gaza," a CST spokesman said. Britain has not seen such a stark escalation in anti-Semitic hate crimes since the Gaza War in 2009, during which almost 1,400 Palestinians lost their lives, he continued.

Comment: Like the ADL, the CST is one of those bogus organizations that tracks 'anti-Semitism', meaning everything from looking at a Jew funny to committing actual acts of violence or hate. They also just make stuff up. So take their statistics with a grain of salt. However, the fact that they are reporting an increase in 'hate crimes' is probably indicative of the growing awareness of the atrocities committed by the Israelis in the past couple weeks. Actual hate crimes against anyone (not just Jews, who get their own special label) should be condemned. But anyone who supports the apartheid state of Israel and its genocidal policies deserves to be shunned, ostracized, and called out for their inhumanity.


Snakes in Suits

Manchester Crown Court judge falls asleep during child rape trial

Judicial watchdog launches inquiry into claims Philip Cattan fell asleep while alleged victim was giving evidence in Manchester
Image
© Stephen Hird/Reuters
An investigation has been launched following claims a judge fell asleep in court, causing a child rape trial to be halted.

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) confirmed it was looking into the allegation against Recorder Philip Cattan, who was presiding over a trial at Manchester crown court.

The complaint is that Cattan fell asleep as a young alleged victim was giving evidence via videolink in the trial of John Quigley. The judge stopped the trial following the allegation and it will now be relisted.

A spokesman for the JCIO said the allegation was being considered in accordance with the Judicial Conduct (Judicial and other office holders) Rules 2013.

In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The jury has been discharged in the trial of R v. John Quigley at Manchester crown court following an issue that arose at court during the cross-examination of the first complainant in the case. The trial will be relisted as soon as possible. The complainants and other witnesses have been kept informed."

Bomb

10 Palestinians, mostly children, killed as Israel bombs Gaza park on Eid al-Fitr day

Eid bombing
Israeli forces on Monday bombed a park near the beach in Gaza City killing at least 10 Palestinians including eight children on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, medics said.

The strike on the park in al-Shati refugee camp -- which reports suggested was a drone strike -- hit the playground, killing 10 people, mostly children as they played with their families while wearing holiday clothes they had been given to celebrate the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

Eyewitnesses said that 40 were also injured in the strike, which some were calling an "Eid massacre."

USA

The absurd, bureaucratic hell that is the American Police State

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Police State
© hermes-press.com
Whether it's the working mother arrested for letting her 9-year-old play unsupervised at a playground, the teenager forced to have his genitals photographed by police, the underage burglar sentenced to 23 years for shooting a retired police dog, or the 43-year-old man who died of a heart attack after being put in a chokehold by NYPD officers allegedly over the sale of untaxed cigarettes, the theater of the absurd that passes for life in the American police state grows more tragic and incomprehensible by the day.

Debra Harrell, a 46-year-old South Carolina working mother, was arrested, charged with abandonment and had her child placed in state custody after allowing the 9-year-old to spend unsupervised time at a neighborhood playground while the mom worked a shift at McDonald's. Mind you, the child asked to play outside, was given a cell phone in case she needed to reach someone, and the park - a stone's throw from the mom's place of work - was overrun with kids enjoying its swings, splash pad, and shade.

A Connecticut mother was charged with leaving her 11-year-old daughter in the car unsupervised while she ran inside a store - despite the fact that the child asked to stay in the car and was not overheated or in distress. A few states away, a New Jersey man was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of his children after leaving them in a car parked in a police station parking lot, windows rolled down, while he ran inside to pay a ticket.

A Virginia teenager was charged with violating the state's sexting law after exchanging sexually provocative videos with his girlfriend. Instead of insisting that the matter be dealt with as a matter of parental concern, police charged the boy with manufacturing and distributing child pornography and issued a search warrant to "medically induce an erection" in the 17-year-old boy in order to photograph his erect penis and compare it to the images sent in the sexting exchange. The police had already taken an initial photograph of the boy's penis against his will, upon his arrest.

Pistol

Federal judge wants to bring back firing squads

Image
© AFP Photo / Erik S. Lesser
After a series of lethal injections that have gone terribly awry in recent months, an influential federal judge has called for the return of firing squads.

Speaking to AP on Thursday, Alex Kozinski reiterated his longstanding disdain for lethal injections, citing drug shortages and legal challenges. He said firing squads would never be scrambling to find guns or bullets.

"I've always thought executions should be executions," he said, "not medical procedures."

Kozinski, who serves as chief judge of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, first proposed changing America's preferred method of capital punishment days before Joseph Rudolph Wood III was left gasping and snorting on a lethal injection gurney for 90 minutes - expiring two hours after the execution began.

Somewhat ironically, despite an impassioned screed against lethal injection in a decision on Monday, Kozinski, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, was at the same time arguing that Wood's execution should go ahead in Phoenix.

The crux of Kozinski's argument is simple: if society has decided it is going to kill people, than don't try to dress it up as anything other than a killing.

Quenelle - Golden

British Local Authority collaborates with Pro-Palestine group in 'solidarity' fundraiser

palestine flag on IK building
© Unknown
A local government authority in the United Kingdom has openly worked with a pro-Hamas group which masquerades as a charity, Breitbart London can exclusively reveal.


Preston City Council, which is run by the Labour Party, was forced to change its plans to fly the Palestinian flag over the town hall following protests and complaints. Breitbart London can now reveal that the group the council was working with has previously hosted meetings in which they express open and vocal support for the terrorist group Hamas.

Council leader Peter Rankin said: "I am pleased to be able to demonstrate our sympathy with the Palestinians through raising their flag over the town hall. We are also exploring other ways in which we can help and support Gaza."