Society's ChildS


Black Cat

FBI fabricates false 'war on cops': If you wear a Halloween mask, you are a suspect

halloween masks
© www.playbuzz.comTrick? or Treat? ...it's all in how you look at it.
The FBI is helping police nation-wide get into the Halloween spirit by concocting a scary story that is every bit as implausible as the seasonal fare offered on television and movie screens. The Bureau claims that an obscure, previously unknown "anarchist" group supposedly called the National Liberation Militia is planning to use Halloween festivities to ambush police officers.

According to the New York Post, the "extremist group ... has proposed a 'Halloween Revolt' that encourages supporters to cause a disturbance to attract police and then viciously attack them... The group has recommended that members wear typical Halloween masks and use weapons such as bricks, bottles, and firearms, according to the release. No details are offered to corroborate the alleged plot or even the existence of the group that is supposedly behind it. As it stands, the FBI's advisory merely provides police nation-wide with a ready-made "officer safety" rationale for treating "typical Halloween masks" as an indicator of "suspicious activity."

The FBI's tale of the "Halloween Revolt" is a seasonally-adapted version of the apparently deathless "war on police" myth, which is incessantly flogged by police unions and retailed by media outlets like the New York Post and Fox News. In his recent address to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, FBI Director James Comey peddled a related idea - namely, that violent crime is escalating because of police timidity induced by the "Ferguson Effect" (also known as the "YouTube Effect"). Expanding distrust of police has led to "a crisis of violent crime in some of our major cities in this country, and in those cities in some of our more vulnerable neighborhoods."


Comment: Distrust of police...gosh, what is their first clue here?
In fact, violent crime is waning. Over the past 25 years, the tide of crime and violence seemed to simply recede. Crime is about half of what it was at its peak in 1991. Violent crime plummeted 51 percent. Property crime fell 43 percent. Homicides are down 54 percent. In 1985, there were 1,384 murders in New York City. Last year there were 333. The country is an undeniably safer place and it has nothing to do with an increase in incarceration.


Comment: Halloween masks ruin that facial recognition thingy the PTB have going for them. (Is Santa Claus the next terrorist suspect?) Become a cop and be given an automatic license to kill, with immunity, under the mask of "law and order."

And, from the article, this line bears repeating: Whether in the early 1970s or today, the actions carried out in the name of "authority" are far scarier than any of the stories used to justify its exercise.


Attention

Public official behind L'Aquila earthquake advice to stand trial in Italy

L'Aquila earthquake
© AFPThe earthquake devastated the city of L'Aquila and many surrounding villages
A high-ranking public official who sent a group of scientists to L'Aquila to assess seismic risk ahead of the deadly earthquake that struck the city in 2009 is to stand trial on charges of manslaughter, a judge ruled today. His trial follows the October 2012 conviction and sentencing to 6 years in prison of the seven experts, and the acquittal of all bar one of them last November.

Guido Bertolaso, who at the time of the earthquake was head of Italy's civil protection department, set up a meeting of the experts as full or acting members of an official panel known as the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks on 31 March 2009, ostensibly to analyze the risk posed by a series of small- and medium-sized earthquakes that had been shaking the region around L'Aquila for several months. But following the earthquake, which struck 6 days later leaving 309 dead, the scientists were accused of having provided the public with a false and fatal sense of security.

The experts—Bertolaso's deputy together with three seismologists, a volcanologist, and two seismic engineers—were put on trial in L'Aquila in September 2011 and charged with having carried out a superficial risk analysis during their 2009 meeting. The prosecution alleged that they made a series of unjustifiably reassuring statements that led some people to abandon traditional precaution and remain indoors during the quake.

Comment: For more information on this case, see:

Scientists Are the New Witches: Italy jails six seismologists for failing to predict earthquake

Italy: Seismologists Tried for Manslaughter Over Quake


Sheriff

Bullies with badges: Incompetent cops arrest innocent deaf woman, kidnap, sedate, and humiliate her

HOSP written on dirty patrol car window
New York, NY — After an NYPD officer lied about a deaf woman's disability and refused to provide a legally mandated translator before wrongfully arresting her, the woman reached a $750,000 settlement this week. Although the inept cop was responsible for wrongfully arresting the deaf woman and violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, taxpayers will bear the burden of the settlement instead of the incompetent officer.

On September 11, 2011, Diana Williams and her husband, Chris Williams, who are both deaf, attempted to evict tenants who had failed to pay rent. After the tenant's boyfriend allegedly gestured that he had a gun, Chris called for the police using a video relay service that should have tipped off the dispatcher to send a translator along with the responding officers. When NYPD arrived at the scene without a translator, they began questioning the people that could talk while ignoring the deaf people.

Instead of judging both sides of the story, Officer Christopher Romano and his partner only spoke to the tenant's hearing roommate and her boyfriend while ignoring Williams and her husband.Even though the cops were on the scene for 45 minutes, Romano never bothered to request for a translator. Although several deaf tenants in the building offered to translate for Williams, who cannot hear, speak English, or read lips, Romano rejected their help and decided to arrest her based on the false account from the tenant's boyfriend.

After cuffing Williams' hands behind her back, Romano was unable to explain the arrest to her deaf family members before taking her away. Although Williams clearly needed an interpreter, Romano checked the "No" box on the arrest report asking if an interpreter was required. He also checked "No" on separate paperwork asking if Williams had a disability.

In a deposition, Romano falsely insisted that he spoke with Williams - who cannot hear, speak English, or read lips - before arresting her.

With Williams detained, her husband arrived at the precinct with a sign language interpreter, but the NYPD threatened to arrest them if they didn't leave. As Williams stood for several hours with her arm shackled to the wall, officers continued to ignore the deaf woman's pleas as she began hyperventilating. While the cops transferred her to another precinct, Williams desperately attempted to write "Hospital" on the dirty window of the patrol car with her finger but only managed to spell out "HOSP."

Sheriff

School cop punches 16-year-old student in the face for not having a hall pass

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A school resource officer was recently arrested after he was caught assaulting a student on a surveillance recording. The student had reportedly been in the hallway without a pass, and after he was confronted by officer Thomas Jaha, he went to get a drink of water.

Since he did not leave the hallway immediately and go directly back to class, Jaha went into a rage and attacked the 16-year old boy. Jaha is now facing a misdemeanor assault charge.

Jaha says that the student took an "aggressive stance" so he began to strike the boy, and it was all caught on the school's video surveillance camera.

"He struck a student twice in the head after this student got in an aggressive stance and faced the master sergeant," Capt. Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City Police Department said.

Sheriff

Lesbian couple files lawsuit against homophobic cop who beat them over public display of affection

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© Jennifer Sinco Kelleher / APCourtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero pose for a photo in Honolulu on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015.
Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero were on their first vacation to Hawaii last March when they crossed paths with Officer Bobby Harrison of the Honolulu Police Department.

Officer Harrison, being an authoritarian agent of the state, felt it necessary to assert his personal preference over Wilson and Guerrero once they showed each other affection.

According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Harrison, who was shopping in uniform, "observed their consensual romantic contact and, in a loud voice, ordered plaintiffs to stop and 'take it somewhere else.'"

The couple immediately complied with the officer's demands, despite them being unlawful. However, as they continued shopping they began showing their love to each other once more by holding hands in the isle. This was too much for the intolerant officer to handle and he decided to get physical.

During the initial assault by Harrison, Wilson was attempting to dial 9-1-1.

"He was bumping his belly against Courtney," Guerrero said. "He said, 'you girls don't know how to act. You don't know the difference between a motel and a grocery store.'"

At this point, Harrison forced his way in between the two girls and shoved Wilson. In a desperate act of self-defense, Wilson kicked Harrison as she fell back.

Comment: Another example of how the police are allowed to make up laws that suit their own twisted authoritarian views of how people should act and enforce them with impunity. It is absolutely reprehensible that this homophobic cop illegally attack this couple and then due their self-defense and subsequent bogus felony charges are forced to stay in Hawaii. This man has used his power to totally upend the lives of two innocent woman. They should sue the pants off the cop and the city and then the officer should be fired and charged with assault.


Vader

Police state: TSA forced 90yo woman to remove shirt and bra, says son

TSA kids keep telling yourself that you're free meme
© Unknown
Grandma got run over by the Transportation Security Administration flying home from Portland, Oregon: Her son says that she was forced to take off her blouse and bra after triggering body scanners. The TSA denies the charge.

Harriette Charney had just wrapped up a two-week trip to visit her son, and was flying back to the East Coast from Portland International Airport when the extra money she had been carrying in a secret pocket in her bra set off the full body scanner at the TSA checkpoint.

Comment: Considering some of the past behavior of the TSA, these claims sound quite plausible. See also:


Gold Coins

Icelanders to receive small payout after bank sale

Icelandics
© Helgi Steinar Halldórsson
First, Iceland jailed its crooked bankers for their direct involvement in the financial crisis of 2008. Now, every Icelander will receive a payout for the sale of one of its three largest banks, Íslandsbanki.

If Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson has his way — and he likely will — Icelanders will be paid kr 30,000 after the government takes over ownership of the bank. Íslandsbanki would be second of the three largest banks under State proprietorship.


Comment: kr 30,000 = $232.66


"I am saying that the government take some decided portion, 5%, and simply hand it over to the people of this country," he stated.

Comment: Still fighting: Iceland sentences 26 bankers to a combined 74 years in prison


Fire

Fire in ammunition warehouse with 3.5 tons of ammo causes huge blasts in Lugansk region of Ukraine

Munitions factory explosion Svatovo Ukraine Oct 29 2015
© Дмитрий Юрченко / YouTube
Strong blasts have rocked the town of Svatovo in Lugansk region, southeastern Ukraine, after an ammunition storage facility caught fire Thursday evening, causing mass panic in the area. At least one person was reportedly killed.

Around 300 square meters of warehouses are reportedly on fire, a local official said, adding that over 3.5 tons of ammunition were being stored on site.

Comment: How anyone thought that building an ammunition warehouse that close to a residential area was a good idea is a complete mystery, although the government of Ukraine has shown that it doesn't always have the best interests of its people at heart.


Handcuffs

Oz: Israel's detention prison for Palestinian children

arrest youth
© 972mag.comChild under arrest shows evidence of abuse as he is taken for interrogation.
  • Rampant abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli interrogators
  • Collective punishment for the children and a way of gathering information
  • Palestinian children denied legal rights, punishments up to 20 years in prison
Over 100 children have been subject to arbitrary detention by Israel in October across the West Bank, rights groups say. Since the beginning of October, hundreds of young men from Jerusalem have spent the night in Oz - not the magical fairy-tale land, but a police station in Jabal al-Mukaber.

Like the rest of occupied East Jerusalem, the neighbourhood is mired in neglect and has become a scene of regular clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli security forces. Those who come to Oz arrive in military vehicles, handcuffed and blindfolded.

According to prisoner support group Addameer, at least 876 Palestinians, including 133 children, have been arrested since October 1 across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Israel. According to figures collected by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, at least 60 children were arrested in Jerusalem during the first two weeks of unrest.

Comment: Palestinian children are the heart-wrenching and unfortunate victims of a pathological ideology, jaded by acts and deeds so despicable it defies comprehension. But comprehend we must in order to rip off the mask of evil and expose it for what it truly is.


Sheriff

Transit cop fired after attacking autistic teen at rail station

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17-year-old Marcus Abrams required medical attention after an encounter with transit police in St. Paul, Minnesota
A transit police officer who was accused of attacking a teenager who has autism has been fired.

The mother of 17-year-old Marcus Abrams said the boy was standing Aug. 31 near the tracks at a light rail station in St. Paul when police approached him, reported KARE-TV.

The officers, identified as Peter Buzicky and Richard Wegner, approached Abrams and some friends after one of the boys briefly stepped on the light rail tracks.

Abrams, who has Asperger's syndrome and wears specially magnified glasses because he is legally blind, was wearing headphones and couldn't hear Wegner's order to place his hands behind his back.

Police suspected Abrams, who was returning home with friends after working at the Minnesota State Fair, was intoxicated or using drugs. Wegner grabbed his wrist and the teen backed up, so the officer grabbed the boy by his vest.