"Investigators did not find a gun inside the bullet-riddled blue Chevrolet Malibu SS when staff from the Cuyahoga County medical examiner's office removed the bodies from the car Friday evening. Why did the department get involved in a chase for more than 20 minutes, why did 13 officers fire 137 rounds, and why did this situation occur?" Continue reading →
"A Milwaukee police officer fired for punching a female suspect will get his job back. Officer Richard Schoen was let go after this dashcam video surfaced of him punching a handcuffed woman he arrested in May. The Milwaukee police chief said it was clear Schoen had lost control and was using excessive force. Schoen appealed, saying he punched the woman because he was afraid she would bite or spit on him. Monday, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission overturned the firing. Schoen said he's learned his lesson." Continue reading →
"Orlando,Florida Police Officer Roderick Johnson allegedly did exactly the same thing that Justice, Illinois PD Officer Carmen Scardine was confirmed to have done: He is accused of taking a woman into custody and forcing himself on her sexually. Scardine remains at large and in uniform. The M.O. of Philip Emanuele, a former detective with the Eatontown, NJ Police Department, combined elements of Scardine's approach and that of Adam Sweres, a uniformed sexual predator from Pittsburgh. Emanuele has confessed to forcing a 24-year-old detainee to perform oral sex on him, using the threat of prison on a drug charge to browbeat her into becoming an informant." Continue reading →
"What the court is admitting here is amazing. It is saying that when someone is accused of terrorism, the rules governing trials and law completely change. All sorts of things that the state is normally barred from doing on the grounds that it is unjust suddenly become permissible when someone faces terrorism charges. Indeed, so 'prejudicial' are these special rules of 'justice' for terrorism cases that anyone convicted under these rules is, by definition, treated unfairly if terrorism is inapplicable. That's what has happened in the post-9/11 era: a whole new system of 'justice', with all new rules designed to ensure convictions and long prison terms." Continue reading →
"A recent investigation by the Gainesville Sun found that local police agencies make hundreds of entirely unnecessary arrests every year. The victims are arrested without charge, but the arrest is instantly noted in databases that are used for background checks for employment and housing. Even if the victim’s criminal record is expunged, the digital trail cannot be erased. Many of those arrests are summary punishment for 'contempt of cop.' Others are made for cynical reasons related to career advancement within the state’s punitive priesthood." Continue reading →
"The man entered the petrol station near Pittsburgh where she was working to pay her way through college and pulled a gun. He emptied the till of its $606.73 takings, assaulted her and fled into the night. But the detective who interviewed Reedy in hospital didn’t believe her, and accused her of stealing the money herself and inventing the story as a cover-up. Although another local woman was attacked not long after in similar fashion, the police didn’t join the dots. Following further inquiries, Reedy was arrested for theft and false reporting and, pregnant with her first child (by her now ex-husband), thrown in jail. She was subsequently released on bail, but lost her job." Continue reading →
"The number of sexual assaults reported on the campuses of the nation’s military academies increased by nearly a quarter over the 2010-2011 academic year, according to an annual Pentagon survey released Friday. The dramatic increase was recorded despite efforts that defense officials have put into sexual assault awareness programs and other training to try to prevent rape and harassment on campus. Roughly 12 percent of women who responded to the survey, and two percent of men, said they had experienced unwanted sexual contact." Continue reading →
"The suicide of a Guantanamo inmate underscores the grim reality for detainees held there for nearly 11 years without charge or trial, with no end in sight to their imprisonment. Three months after Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif was found dead in his cell, the US Army formally declared his death to be a suicide — the seventh at the prison. How, Remes would like to know, did the prisoner manage to die at the tightly-controlled facility of a self-administered drug overdose, as the autopsy report cites as the cause? And how could an inmate suffering from acute pneumonia be languishing in a disciplinary cell without medical care?" Continue reading →
"Four years ago Sherpa, 48, founded with other locals an insurance plan for livestock that conservationists say is deterring herders from killing snow leopards that attack their animals. In doing so the scheme has given hope for the endangered cat, whose numbers across the mountains of 12 countries in south and central Asia are thought to have declined by 20 percent over the past 16 years. Under the scheme, herders pay in 55 rupees ($1.50) a year for each of their hairy yaks, the vital pack animal that is also kept for milk and meat, and are paid 2,500 rupees for any animal killed by the endangered cat." Continue reading →
"A rhino farmer in South Africa is planning to use surveillance drones designed for the US military to combat poachers who are driving the animals towards extinction. Clive Vivier, cofounder of the Zululand rhino reserve in KwaZulu-Natal province, said he has been granted permission by the US state department to buy the state-of-the-art Arcturus T-20 drone. He is now seeking clearance from local civil aviation authorities to put 30 of the drones in South African skies. He appealed for the US, UK or other countries to help raise the necessary funds." Continue reading →