Society's ChildS


Extinguisher

Commuter train hits truck carrying gasoline in Jakarta - 5 dead in fireball

Jakarta crash
© Agence France-Presse/Bima SaktiPeople look on as a fire is extinguished following a collision between a commuter train and fuel truck at Bintaro, western Jakarta, on December 9, 2013
A commuter train hit a truck hauling gasoline in Indonesia's capital Monday, killing five people and sending a fireball of orange flames and black smoke shooting skyward.

The accident in southern Jakarta killed the train engineer, his assistant, a technician and two female passengers, said Jakarta Deputy Police Chief Brig. Gen. Sujarno, who revised the death toll down by two, explaining that police earlier thought the truck driver and his assistant had also died. They were instead among nearly 100 people injured, he said by text message.

Light Sabers

Deep freeze fails to deter pro-Western demonstrators in Kiev, Ukraine

kiev protests
A protester shouts behind riot policemen standing guard in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Monday, December 9. Ukrainians occupied the square to denounce President Viktor Yanukovich's recent tilt away from Europe and towards Russia, as protests continued for a third week.
Arctic temperatures are not enough to cool pro-Western demonstrators' anger at Ukraine's pro-Russian president.

Thousands of them refused to budge from Kiev's snow-covered streets Tuesday, while the European Union's top diplomat made her way there to try to thaw the tensions.

Security forces in riot gear tried to herd demonstrators away from government buildings but avoided a hard-nosed crackdown.

People

Protesters in Kiev Topple Lenin Statue as Rallies Grow


Public protests thundered into a full-throttle civil uprising in Ukraine on Sunday, as hundreds of thousands of protesters answered President Viktor F. Yanukovich's dismissiveness with their biggest rally so far, demanding that he and his government resign.

At the height of the unrest on Sunday night, a seething crowd toppled and smashed a statue of Lenin, the most prominent monument to the Communist leader in Kiev. The act was heavy with symbolism, underscoring the protesters' rage at Russia over its role in the events that first prompted the protests: Mr. Yanukovich's abrupt refusal to sign sweeping political and free-trade agreements with the European Union.

Bullseye

Lunacy in America: Boy aged 10 suspended for firing IMAGINARY bow and arrow at school

The boy violated the school's weapons policy causing one attorney to hit back with "let's ticket his parents for parking their unicorn in a fire zone"

Image
© GettyAiming for success: Not for this unlucky pupil
An American schoolboy has been suspended after he fired an IMAGINARY bow and arrow in class.

The 10-year-old is said to have violated the school's zero-tolerance policy on weapons.

"Here's how ridiculous it is," defence attorney Jonna Spillbor told Fox News.

"If we're going to punish this poor kid for pretending to shoot a bow and arrow, let's ticket his parents for parking their unicorn in a fire zone."

The Rutherford Institute, a civil rights group, have backed the youngster branding the action as "senseless."

"We all want to keep the schools safe," president John W Whitehead said on the Huffington Post.

"But I'd far prefer to see something credible done about actual threats, rather than this ongoing, senseless targeting of imaginary horseplay."

Cut

Milwaukee Police Department fires officer for beating handcuffed suspect

rodolfo gomez
A Milwaukee police detective at the center of a controversy over duty disability retirement has been fired from the department for failure to use restraint in dealing with a prisoner, Lt. Mark Stanmeyer confirmed.

Rodolfo Gomez Jr. was served with papers dismissing him from the force Wednesday, Stanmeyer said. Gomez had been on paid suspension since August, when he was allegedly caught on video beating a handcuffed suspect.

Gomez, 47, was charged in October with felony misconduct in public office and is scheduled to be in court Thursday.

Comment: Victim of police in-custody beating takes step toward suing Milwaukee


Newspaper

US veteran Merrill Newman: I was coerced into 'confession' by North Korean captors

Merril Newman
© KCNA via AFP - Getty ImagesMerrill E. Newman inks his fingerprints onto an apology that he said his North Korean captors coerced him into making.
The 85-year-old American veteran who was detained for more than a month by North Korea said he was coerced into a reading a videotaped apology for "hostile acts" against the state and thanked all those who had helped him during his time in captivity.

"Anyone who knows me, knows that I could not have done the things they had me 'confess' to," Merrill Newman said in a statement released late Monday. "To demonstrate that I was reading the document under some duress, I did my best to read the 'confession' in a way that emphasized the bad grammar and strange language that the North Koreans had crafted for me to say. I hope that came across to all who saw the video."

Stormtrooper

U.S. war veteran released by North Korea returns home


An 85-year-old Korean War veteran held for more than a month by North Korea as a war criminal arrived in San Francisco on Saturday to be reunited with his family

Extinguisher

All is not well in 'paradise': First riot in 4 decades breaks out in Singapore


A crowd of about 400 foreign workers, angered by a fatal road accident, set fire to vehicles and attacked police and emergency services workers late Sunday in Singapore's ethnic Indian district, injuring at least 18 people in a rare riot in the city-state.

Police and eyewitnesses say the riot, the first major outburst of public violence here in more than four decades, started at about 9:23 p.m. local time (1323 GMT) after a bus hit and killed an unnamed 33-year-old Indian man in the Little India neighborhood, prompting large groups of South Asian workers to attack the bus with sticks and garbage bins.

Authorities quelled the violence before 11 p.m. after deploying 300 police officers to the scene, including its riot-control squad and Gurkha unit, police officials said in a news briefing early Monday, adding that officers didn't use any firearms to end the riot.

Police arrested 27 people, all of South Asian origin, who weren't named and couldn't be contacted. It wasn't clear if the arrested people have received legal representation. No Singaporeans were known to be involved in the violence, which didn't appear to be preplanned, officials said, adding that further arrests may be made in the coming days as investigations continue into the riot and the accident that sparked it.

Bad Guys

Victim of police in-custody beating takes step toward suing Milwaukee

Officer Gomez
© Mark HoffmanMilwaukee Police Detective Rodolfo Gomez Jr., being interviewed for a case during a 2011 hearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, is accused of beating an inmate during interrogation. The victim has taken steps toward suing the City of Milwaukee.
The victim of an in-custody beating that led to the firing of Milwaukee Police Detective Rodolfo Gomez Jr. has taken the first step toward filing a civil suit, records show.

Deron Love, who was handcuffed to a wall when Gomez beat him in an interrogation room, is seeking more than $50,000 in damages, according to a notice of claim filed with the city. The document lists the city, the department and Gomez as potential defendants.

Love was taken to the hospital after being punched by Gomez on Aug. 14, according to court records. Love is charged with two felonies in connection with the death of his 7-month-old son. He has pleaded not guilty.


Comment: So, someone who is charged in the death of their 7-month old son deserves to be brutalized by police? Are we blaming the victim here?


Gomez, who was not involved in the arrest of Love, was called in to interrogate him. Earlier, the detective had questioned at least three witnesses in the case.

Gomez, 47, punched Love in the face and upper body, then struck him with a knee, according to the notice of claim. Another officer then rushed into the interrogation room "and pulled Detective Gomez off Love," the notice says. A short time later, Gomez re-entered the room, forcibly pulled Love's head back and kicked him again, the notice says.

As a result of the beating, Gomez has been charged with felony misconduct in public office. A scheduled Thursday court appearance in the case was postponed until January.

Comment: Officer Gomez has a history of violence and misconduct. He was arrested on allegations of sexual assault and domestic-violence-related disorderly conduct and lied on a search warrant affidavit resulting in a Franklin man being shot by police.


Airplane

U.S. airports sue TSA over who guards the exits but the solution they accept is as dehumanizing

TSA sued by airports
© David M WarrenAt Philadelphia International, travelers walk through electronic scanning devices between Terminals D and E. The TSA wants to expand such applications.
Airports across the country have sued to block a new Transportation Security Administration directive that requires them, starting Jan. 1, to begin guarding exit security doors as passengers leave flights and head for baggage claims.

The agency, created in the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, said the change will save $88.1 million a year. The TSA wants its workers to focus on screening passengers and baggage, and said exit-lane monitoring is an airport function.

Comment: We agree with Karen De Coster of LewRockwell.com that the TSA wants to remind you that you are a captive:
The new "exit" portals gulags at Syracuse Hancock Airport are bulletproof pods that are meant to make you feel like a prisoner who cannot leave.
They've been called pods, bubbles, capsules, even Willy Wonka's glass elevator, and they have caused confusion and frustration.

Adam Hayes, who was traveling from Fort Worth Texas, said "I've never seen those before, so I travel quite a bit through many airports and I don't understand the purpose of that right there. So it bottlenecks you coming out, when they should want you to leave."
A futuristic voice gives the captive instructions on how to handle the temporary imprisonment. And yes, these new "portals" were designed and approved by the TSA. We are told to expect these to spread to airports all over the US in the near future. Some really bloody, sick tyrants came up with this contraption.