Society's ChildS


Pistol

Justine Damond's family question whether investigation into her fatal shooting by police was botched

Michael McGowan
The Guardian
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:15 UTC
justine damond family
© AFPJustine Damond's father questions US police shooting investigation
The family of Justine Damond Ruszczyk say they're "deeply concerned" that US officials may have botched an investigation into the Australian woman's fatal shooting by a police officer in Minnesota.

John Ruszczyk has issued an emotional plea for prosecutors in the US to "continue to pursue a rigorous investigation and examination" of the events that led to his daughter's death in July.

Speaking in Sydney on Thursday, Ruszyczyk said he was "deeply concerned about the possibility that the initial investigation was not done properly and with greatest integrity and sense of completeness".

Comment: Kinda seems like the Minneapolis police are going for the 'ignore it and it will go away' strategy. We'll see how that works for them. See also:

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Pirates

UK finds £490million to redesign its 'humiliating' passports, meanwhile 130,000 children will be homeless this Christmas

Rachel Roberts
Independent
Sun, 02 Apr 2017 11:15 UTC
The Independent Online British passports were blue from the founding of the Passport Office in 1920 until machine-readable red EU ones were introduced in 1988
© Getty/iStockphotoThe Independent Online British passports were blue from the founding of the Passport Office in 1920 until machine-readable red EU ones were introduced in 1988
The Home Office has confirmed it will spend almost £500m redesigning passports for British citizens once the UK has left the European Union, paving the way for a possible return to the old dark-blue style.

Since the referendum last June, some pro-Brexit MPs and campaign groups have called for the return of blue passports to replace the current burgundy ones carried by all EU citizens.

The Home Office has invited businesses to apply for the £490m redesign project, with the new passports set to come into existence in 2019 - although it stressed this is because the current contract is ending, rather than because of the exit process.
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Document

Alt media journalist arrested, charged with felonies for breaking story before local news

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 13:41 UTC
Priscilla Villarreal
© The Free Thought Project
If you report a story before the police department is scheduled to release it to local media, you can and will be arrested and charged with a felony. For those that seek proof that alternative media is under attack, one needn't look any further than the case of Priscilla Villarreal.

Villarreal runs an alternative media platform out of Laredo and operates it on a news page on Facebook called LaGordiloca. Earlier this month, Villarreal was arrested and charged with two counts of "misuse of official information," a third-degree felony for operating that page.
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Newspaper

Norwegian court orders mass reindeer execution


Sputnik
Sun, 24 Dec 2017 00:34 UTC
reindeer
© CCO
For the sake of preserving Norway's fragile landscape, judges on the country's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a local reindeer herder must cull 125 members of his herd.

Though Jovsset Ante Sara, the 25-year-old herder, argued that the order would breach human rights norms and make it unable for him to make a living, judges in Oslo ultimately decided the slaughter was necessary to ensure the sustainability of the land, the Telegraph reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Prosecutors finally test 11k neglected rape kits, found cops let over 800 serial rapists walk free

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 11:29 UTC
sexual assault evidence kit
© The Free Thought Project
A team led by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has devoted countless hours over the last 8 years to test a backlog of more than 11,300 rape kits that were found in a police storage warehouse. As a result, they have found that nearly 1,000 serial rapists assaulted multiple victims, and because of the inefficiency of Detroit Police, the rapists were never charged.

The prosecutor and her team began tackling the major task of testing each one of the 11,341 rape kits back in 2009. The Detroit Free Press interviewed Worthy to discuss her team's findings, the most disturbing of which is that there are 817 serial rapists still on the loose who have attacked more than one person. Worthy discussed her county's plight, as well as the battle the rest of the nation is facing. She said in part:

Comment: America has trillions to spend on wars in other countries, but doesn't have the money to arrest the predators preying on our sisters, mothers, wives, and daughters? Worse still, it sounds like putting the top offenders away would significantly reduce the number of rapes committed.

Where are our priorities?

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Wedding Rings

Elderly Irishman marries his best friend and caregiver to avoid inheritance tax that would force the sale of their home

Pádraig Collins
The Guardian
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 05:03 UTC
irishmen marry avoid inheritance tax
Matt Murphy, 83, intends to leave his house to his carer Michael O’Sullivan, 58, but it would have left him with a €50,000 tax bill.
Two Irish men have married in Dublin to avoid paying €50,000 in inheritance tax on a house.

Best friends Matt Murphy and Michael O'Sullivan are both heterosexual, but decided to get married when they discovered how much tax would have to be paid on the house Murphy, 83, intended to leave in his will to O'Sullivan, 58, who is his carer.

"I've known Matty for 30 years. We became very friendly after my second relationship broke up," O'Sullivan, a father of three, told the Irish Mirror.
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Pirates

Ex-Marine charged with plotting SF Pier 39 ISIS attack


RT
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 23:26 UTC
Pier39
© Daniel Slim / AFP
FBI officials arrested and charged an ex-Marine accused of plotting a Christmas Day terrorist attack on San Francisco's Pier 39 on behalf of Islamic State (ISIS). Undercover FBI agents were key elements of the plot.

Everitt Aaron Jameson, 26, also known as Abdallah al-Amriki, is accused of providing "material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization" and being willing to do "do anything for the cause," according to an affidavit by FBI special agent Christopher McKinney, filed before a federal magistrate in Fresno, California.

A resident of Modesto, California, Jameson was in contact with two FBI informants, one of whom he believed was associated with Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).


Comment: This sounds like the guy was set up and lead down a path he ultimately couldn't go. See also: FBI Entrapment Operation Nabs Delusional California Ginger Flake for 'Plotting Christmas Attack'

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Dollars

Senate committee reveals another $600K in taxpayer money used to settle misconduct claims; no names given

Christina Laila
The Gateway Pundit
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
US capital building
© Jason Reed / Reuters

The Senate Rules and Appropriations Committee released new data Thursday evening revealing another 13 cases in which $600,000 in taxpayer money was used to settle Senate misconduct between 1997 to present, however; no names were given.

The data released didn't give specifics about the settlements so it is unknown if sexual harassment was involved, however; it does show one settlement for $14,260.25 for a sex discrimination violation.

Other settlements include age, race and disability discrimination.

President Trump wants the names of Congressmen who have settled sexual harassment cases to be released to the public.

Comment: While it could safely be said that many (if not most) US politicians are arrogant and self-absorbed to the extent that they feel the rules of society don't apply to them and thus act accordingly, we would do well to remember that not all claims of misconduct are necessarily true. That said, the American people deserve to know the true character of those running the country - and politicians need to reap what they have sown, if not in a court of law then at least in the court of public opinion.

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Fire

Gas cylinder explodes in busy market in south east Spain injuring three people

Paul Harper and Gerard Couzens
The Sun
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 13:22 UTC
Explosion Lorca Spain
The explosion happened at a market in Lorca in Murcia, south east Spain, which was hit by an earthquake in 2011
A massive explosion ripped through a packed market in a Spanish city this morning injuring three people.

One woman was rushed to hospital with leg injuries following the blast in Lorca, Murcia.

The area was evacuated while emergency services got to work.

Pictures from the scene showed shattered glass and debris following the explosion, which was blamed on a gas cylinder exploding when welding work was taking place nearby.
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Bandaid

Germany's "voluntary return" scheme for failed asylum seekers isn't working


Westmonster
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 19:21 UTC
Angela Merkel
Germany's voluntary return scheme for failed asylum seekers isn't working, which is hardly a shock.

Fewer than 28,000 failed asylum seekers voluntarily returned to their countries of origin this year, compared to the more than 50,000 who agreed in 2016.

This is despite them being offered cash incentives to go home.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the government was raising the financial incentives for rejected asylum seekers: families can now receive up to €3,000 and individuals up to €1,000 if they voluntarily return home by the end of February.

Figures also showed that the number of deportations had also decreased - from more than 25,000 in 2016 to just over 22,000 this year.

So in Germany if you illegally enter the country, get caught and get told to go home, you can say no and either a) get paid to return voluntarily or b) just not leave. And this is the European Union's flagship nation. Is it any wonder the EU's in such a mess?

Comment: Totally incompetent: Germany now offering money for migrants to go back home
Captain Picard facepalm


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