Four gay men and two of their mothers filed a lawsuit today against a New Jersey conversion therapy group that claims to rid men of same-sex attractions and turn them straight.

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of New Jersey Hudson County, alleges that methods used by the Jersey City-based Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing (JONAH) do not work and constitute fraud under the state's consumer protection laws.

Arthur Goldberg, JONAH's co-director, and Alan Downing, a "life coach" who provides therapy sessions, were also named in the suit.

The plaintiffs include Michael Ferguson, Benjamin Unger, Sheldon Bruck and Chaim Levin, all of whom used the services of JONAH when they were in their teens or young 20s.

Two of the men's mothers, Jo Bruck and Bella Levin, who paid for therapy sessions that could cost up to $10,000 a year, were also plaintiffs.

One of the plaintiffs alleges that therapy sessions that involved a virtual "strip tease" in front of an older male counselor, as well as reliving abuse and homophobia were "humiliating."

They are seeking declaratory, injunctive and an undisclosed amount of monetary relief, as well as court costs, according to the lawsuit.

Contributor Madison Ruppert - Editor of End the Lie

There is no shortage of disturbing videos and stories dealing with disturbing episodes of police brutality and yet I still manage to be appalled by the actions of some out of control police officers.

Even with brutal assaults on 66-year-olds for no reason, highly suspicious deaths related to police violence, and even outright homicide (with no consequences, of course), this particular video is especially troubling.

In the below video at the bottom of this post, captured by Jordan Rojas, a friend of 17-year-old Andrew Rodriguez, we see an officer identified as "Officer Arnold" by the Dallas Observer (later identified by police as Officer Disraeli Arnold, a four and a half year veteran of the Hurts Police Department) sprinting towards Rodriguez and then slamming him in the back of the head with a flying knee.

After the brutal strike, Arnold screams, "Move, move, move and die! Move and fuckin' die!"

"You wanna die here? F**kin' move again! F**kin' move again!" Arnold screamed.

Arnold then turns to the young man filming the incident and says, "Get up, get over here!"

Then, nonsensically, Arnold screams, "Stay down and shut the f**k up. Sit down and shut the f**k up! Don't say nothing else!"

Moments later he screams at Rodrigquez, "Yeah faggot!"

The video has gone viral since it was posted on Nov. 23 with one posting receiving over 28,000 views and another on World Star Hip Hop receiving over 431,000 views and it was even picked up by local Dallas/Fort Worth news outlet WFAA.

Torrance, California - A California woman accused of hitting a pedestrian and driving 2 miles with his body on her car's hood was a substance abuse counselor, officials confirmed.

Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 51, of Torrance allegedly hit Phillip Moreno, 31, at 11:25 p.m. Saturday as Moreno was walking home from a bar. Police said Wilkins panicked and kept driving until other motorists managed to stop her and take the keys out of her car's ignition.

Wilkins had recently posted on her MySpace page that "she used to be into drugs very heavy" but "terrible choices" came with that, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. She wrote that she had been sober for 11 years and had turned her life around -- re-establishing relationships with her family and becoming a state-certified drug and alcohol counselor, the newspaper said.

Columbus, Ohio - The leader of the Ohio Senate put a stop Tuesday to a bill that would have imposed the most stringent restriction on abortions in the nation.

The chamber doesn't plan to vote on the so-called "heartbeat bill" before the end of the legislative session next month, Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus said, citing concerns the resulting law might have been found to be unconstitutional.

"I want to continue our focus on jobs and the economy," Niehaus told reporters. "That's what people are concerned about."

The bill proposed banning abortions after the first fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy. It had fiercely divided Ohio's anti-abortion community, while energizing abortion rights proponents who protested against it.

Backers hoped the stringent nature of the bill would provoke a legal challenge with the potential to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until viability, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.

Ohio Right to Life, the state's largest and oldest anti-abortion group, and many state lawmakers expressed concern the limit would be unconstitutional - jeopardizing other abortion limits in Ohio and expanding access to legal abortions.

Memphis, Tennessee - Bomb threats to 29 courthouses across Tennessee forced many to be evacuated Tuesday morning, including the federal building in Memphis, but authorities said no explosives were found.

Tennessee became the fourth state to deal with similar bomb hoaxes. One targeted 28 courthouses in Oregon and similar threats were reported in Nebraska and Washington this month.

Nine threats were reported in West Tennessee counties - including the Memphis federal building - six in Middle Tennessee and 14 in East Tennessee, said Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security spokeswoman Dalya Qualls.

No arrests have been made in Tennessee and authorities had searched about 14 courthouses by Tuesday afternoon.

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  Brave: Dr Maria Santos Gorrostieta has been found beaten to death at the side of a road. She defied Mexico's powerful drug gangs and survived two assassination attempts, the first of which claimed the life of her husband
  Maria Santos Gorrostieta had been stabbed, beaten and burned
• She defied Mexico's powerful drug gangs, who twice tried to gun her down
• She was kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her terrified daughter
• The former mayor leaves behind three children

The woman mayor who was kidnapped and murdered by a Mexican drug gang pleaded with her attackers for her young daughter's life, it emerged today.

Maria Santos Gorrostieta, who had already survived two assassination attempts, was driving the child to school at around 8.30am when she was ambushed by a car in the city of Morelia.

The 36-year-old was hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched, according to newspaper El Universal.

They described how she begged for her child to be left alone and then appeared to get into her abductors' car willingly.

The little girl was left wailing as her mother was driven away on Monday November 12.

For the next week, her frantic family waited by the phone for a ransom call that never came.

Gorrostieta's body - stabbed, burned, battered and bound at wrist and ankle - would finally be found eight days on dumped by a roadside in San Juan Tararameo, Cuitzeo Township.

She left behind her daughter and two sons as well as her second husband Nereo Delgado Patinoran.

Hailed as a heroine of the 21st century, her death has prompted much soul-searching in a country ravaged by violence.
The decision to withdraw her security team in November last year - and her police escort in January - has come under particular scrutiny.

Gorrostieta was elected as mayor of Tiquicheo, a rural district in Michoacan, west of Mexico City, in 2008.

Almost immediately, she received threats. The first assassination attempt came in October 2009 when the car she was travelling in with her first husband Jose Sanchez came under fire from gunmen in the town of El Limone. The attack claimed his life but Gorrostieta lived.

She battled back from her injuries in the face of overwhelming tragedy, but she was not destined to know peace.

The next attempt on her life was just three months later, when an masked group carrying assault rifles ambushed her on the road between Michoacan and Guerreo state. The van she was traveling in was peppered by 30 bullets. Three hit her.

This time her wounds were more severe, leaving multiple scars and forcing her to wear a colostomy bag. She was left in constant pain.

But with unimaginable courage - and despite being a marked woman - she remained defiant to the very end.

Dexter, Oregon -- A cougar entered a Dexter-area home through a dog door last month, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

The homeowner called her dog, and the cougar left the house, said Brian Wolfer with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The homeowner wasn't too concerned about the late October incident and planned to lock the pet door when not in use, Wolfer said.

However, Wolfer called it "kind of concerning" that a cougar would enter a home that way. He advised homeowners to lock doors and keep pet food secure, even inside the house.

Ed Thompson, who lives in the area, said the incident illustrates the conflict between rural Lane County residents and the cougar population.

"I'm afraid that many people don't understand the breadth of the cougar problem right in Lane County's backyards," Thompson said. "In the Dexter/Pleasant Hill area alone there have been well more than a dozen livestock killings including sheep (two of which were ours), goats and an alpaca just this year."

After nearly 17 years of courtroom arguments, congressional negotiations and Indian Country bickering, hundreds of thousands of Native Americans could see the first payments of a $3.4 billion U.S. government settlement by the end of the year, plaintiffs' attorneys said Monday.

The settlement between American Indians across the nation and the government over more than a century's worth of squandered and mismanaged land trust royalties became final on Friday, when the appeal period expired.

One of the largest U.S. government settlements in history began with a lawsuit filed in 1996 by Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont. The Blackfeet leader observed that those who leased Indian land made money from its natural resources, while the Indians themselves remained in poverty with no accounting of the royalties from that land that were held in trust for them by the government

Cobell herself led the fight against the government for more than 15 years before she died of cancer last year.

"We all are happy that this settlement can finally be implemented," lead attorney Dennis Gingold said in a statement Monday. "We deeply regret that Ms. Cobell did not live to see this day."

On 26th November 2010 - Black Friday - as the bankers and government officials planned the final demise of the US economy and the destruction of American society, millions of citizens across the US fought and trampled each other at thousands of stores for the privilege of buying insignificant consumer items made by virtual slave-workers in far off lands. This is the madness of a lost society on the brink of collapse.

Part 1

Mass Protests Across Egypt demand President Morsi reverse power grabbing decree and many call for his resignation.