Abuse of Power Thread (Cops, Governments, Etc.) - Part 1

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Orlando Police Dog Mangled Arm of Child Allegedly Breaking Into School

An Orange County attorney has said Orlando police used excessive force against his client, a 12-year-old boy accused of breaking into an elementary school, who was badly mauled by a police dog, News 13 reports.

Police arrested the boy earlier this month, with two others, after they broke into Shingle Creek Elementary School, according to News 13. Authorities say they ordered the three boys to stop and get on the ground; two complied, and the third, they say, did not. In response, they set the police dog on him.

The boy, who turned 13 on Friday, spent three days in the hospital. Now, he has to return to the doctor on a weekly basis to check for nerve damage. Bradley Laurent, his attorney, told the Orlando Sentinel that his arm is still too swollen to diagnose.

“This kid is going to need extensive rehab,” Laurent said, counting three separate bites. “There’s no telling if he needs surgery to repair any nerve damage, and he may need plastic surgery.” News 13 reports that the stolen items were school supplies.

According to the Sentinel, the two other boys also charged in the burglary say that their friend had stopped and was complying with officers when the dog attacked him.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” Laurent told News 13. “No matter what they were doing in terms of being on the property, that didn’t warrant harming anyone.”

“I would imagine that they have enough training to restrain a 12-year-old. I don’t see why it would be necessary to release a dog. A dog that you know is going to cause some serious injury.”

http://www.mynews13.com/content/new...icles/cfn/2015/6/12/attorney_orlando_pol.html

Of course these little idiots shouldn't have been breaking into anywhere but to have the dog go after him is insane and sadistic. They knew damn well what the dog was going to do to that moron

 

[KevanG]

Tens of thousands of prisoners could potentially go free due to forged drug tests over fourteen year period

A recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling is expected to free tens of thousands from prison. Those who are expected to be impacted by Monday’s decision are those whose drug samples were “mishandled” in a way that produced thousands of “forged” results, leading to incarceration.

The justices ruled unanimously that in cases where defendants’ convictions were based on evidence tainted by the chemist, Annie Dookhan, new trials can be sought without additional charges or more severe sentences being slapped on them as a deterrent.

Local WCVB news in Boston explained that Dookhan had tampered with test results, along with repeatedly forging documents and wantonly testifing falsely in criminal cases. All of this went on for more than 14 years, while she worked for the state crime lab.

Prosecutors argued successfully that during her nine years working at a drug lab in Boston, Dookhan failed to properly test samples but declared them positive anyway. She also mixed up samples and forged signatures as well as repeatedly lying about her credentials.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

24-Year-Old Has Spent a Quarter of His Life Inside Rikers Without Trial

The horrors of life inside Rikers Island are well-documented—and many of the people who are subjected to them have never been convicted of a crime. A week after the suicide of Kalief Browder, the New York Post reports on a man who has spent the last six years and eight months at Rikers awaiting trial.

Carlos Montero, 24, was arrested as a teenager in October 2008. Prosecutors allege that he was present at the scene of a Washington Heights robbery in which one of his friends fatally stabbed a man while robbing him of his jacket and another friend slashed a man who was attempting to flee. Montero maintains his innocence, and told the Post that he wasn’t even present that night.

The baffling pretrial delay apparently stems from the fact that Montero’s case is being heard together with the other men—one of whom is engaged in a lengthy battle with prosecutors over the veracity of DNA evidence. Montero’s attorney attempted to have his client’s case heard separately, the Post reports, but a judge denied the request. Civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby told the Post that Montero’s was the longest pretrial detention he’d ever heard of in New York.

Kalief Browder, who died by suicide this month after becoming a kind of public face for long pretrial detentions at Rikers, was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack as a 16-year-old in 2010 and released after charges against him were dropped in 2013.

Montero told the Post that he is “depressed” in Rikers, and that he wants to go home. When asked about Browder, he said “I don’t think about killing myself because I love myself. I still think I can get justice.”

http://justice.gawker.com/24-year-old-has-spent-a-quarter-of-his-life-inside-rike-1711465118

Just horrible what they are doing to people up there

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Sudanese President Flees South Africa to Avoid Arrest

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir reportedly escaped South Africa in his private jet early this morning, just hours after a judge from the country’s High Court ordered authorities to prevent his leaving. Bashir has been wanted by the International Criminal Court for six years on charges including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

From the New York Times:

[South Africa’s High Court] on Sunday issued an order calling for the authorities to prevent Mr. Bashir from leaving the country because of the charges against him at the international criminal court. A ruling was expected Monday over whether the government was required to arrest him and hand him over.

The case has pitted the International Criminal Court against the South African government, which had argued that heads of state had immunity while attending the African Union meeting. It is also being watched a test of the reach of the criminal court, which lacks a police force to enforce its rulings and must rely on diplomatic pressure and the cooperation of nations to ensure that its rulings or indictments are enforced.​

This afternoon’s scheduled hearing has apparently now been downgraded to an interesting thought exercise, as Sudanese authorities have confirmed to Reuters that Bashir was onboard a private flight that left Pretoria for the Sundanese capital of Khartoum this morning.

The ICC has accused Bashir’s government and Arab militias of attacking black Africans in their battle against rebels, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of citizens—and the displacement of millions more—since 2003.

South Africa, who hosted Bashir and other leaders at the African Union summit meeting this weekend in Sandton, South Africa, probably won’t be punished for allowing Bashir to escape. From the BBC:

It is unlikely that South Africa will face sanctions for allowing Mr Bashir to leave the country even after a court order barred him from doing so, says the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko in Pretoria.

A number of African countries have in the past decided not to co-operate with the ICC. The court has been accused of racism and bias against African leaders.​

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33135562

Maybe don't drag your feet when trying to arrest a war criminal head of a nation state?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Two Catholic Bishops Quit In the Wake of Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Pope Francis accepted the resignations of two U.S. Catholic bishops today in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal in St. Paul, Minnesota. Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxillary Bishop Lee A. Piché have quit their posts after Minnesota prosecutors charged the archdiocese with the “mishandling of repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest,” per The New York Times.

The charges concern the 2012 jailing of Minnesota priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving time for sexually abusing minors and possession of child pornography. Three male victims accused Wehmeyer of preying on them during camping trips between 2008 and 2010, plying them with alcohol and drugs before sexually abusing them.

According to the AFP, Minnesota prosecutors now say they have “substantial evidence that senior Church officials failed to act on repeated warnings from parents and others that the priest was a danger to children.” While Nienstedt and Piché have not been charged, they are named in the complaint as leaders who failed to take the warnings about Wehmeyer seriously.

For his part, Nienstedt told the Times he would “leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/u...x-abuse-scandal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

The new Pope may be a cool dude but the majority of the Catholic churches around the world are still pretty jacked up

 

[Marvolo]

Orlando Police Dog Mangled Arm of Child Allegedly Breaking Into School

http://www.mynews13.com/content/new...icles/cfn/2015/6/12/attorney_orlando_pol.html

Of course these little idiots shouldn't have been breaking into anywhere but to have the dog go after him is insane and sadistic. They knew damn well what the dog was going to do to that moron

Ive broken into two of my schools. Both schools left one window unlocked at night for some reason.

The first time was for ****s and giggles. I was about that kid's age. Me and my friends were just being rowdy kids. We didnt tear anything up. It was just a rush to our little child brains. We ran through the halls and left.

The second time was to get to a friends phone that had been confiscated and put in the office. Had to delete some stuff off of it before the principal gave it to my friend's parents the next day.


I cant imagine being a cop and thinking Im going to sic a full grown german shepherd dog on a child that broke into a ****ing school. Those dogs arent trained to differentiate between children and adults. ****ing jackass cop.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Walmart Is an Enormous Tax-Dodger

A new report from Americans for Tax Fairness finds that Walmart—one of the most conspicuously flag-waving corporations in America—hides tens of billions of dollars in assets in overseas tax havens to avoid paying taxes in the US.

Taxes, you may recall, support Social Security and Medicare and the national parks and the U.S. military and other things that we all need, which is why paying taxes is a fundamentally patriotic activity. The next time you see an American flag explicitly associated with Walmart as a marketing too, please note that Walmart—like the world’s richest family, which controls it systematically exploits loopholes to avoid paying its fair share of taxes in America.

The report puts the total amount of Walmart’s assets stashed in global tax havens at $76 billion. The company disputes the report in the vaguest possible way. But consider just one individual Walmart tax haven: Luxembourg. Is this the behavior of a good corporate citizen? From Bloomberg: “Units in Luxembourg — where the company has no stores — reported $1.3 billion in profits between 2010 and 2013 and paid tax at a rate of less than 1 percent, according to the report.”

I would again simply like to emphasize the gulf between the image that Walmart Corporation would like to project, and the reality, which is that it is a tax-dodging employee-impoverishing mechanism for further enriching some of the greediest billionaires on the face of the earth.

Thank you for your time.

http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/files/TheWalmartWeb-June-2015-FINAL.pdf

Who wants to take bets that they will be held accountable for any of this?

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Accountability for police is hard enough to achieve, but for multinational corporations? It's not happening.

 

[Teelie]

Will never happen. Multinational corporations are experts at dodging any responsibility.

 

[KevanG]

Look at the companies that have decided to just reorganize the company, sell off it's parts to a shell company, make that company the new one the declare bankruptcy on the original so they don't have to be held responsible. It happens all the time and the politicians refuse to do anything about it.

Like this for example.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Taxpayers Are Funding Killer NYPD Cop Pantaleo's 24-Hour Security Detail

Daniel Pantaleo, the cop who placed Eric Garner in the chokehold that killed him last year, has a round-the-clock security detail stationed outside his Staten Island home, he divulged in court papers this week. And his protectors aren’t just any rent-a-cops—they’re badge-and-gun carrying NYPD officers, paid for by the citizens of New York City.

The revelation came after the nonprofit Legal Aid Society requested that the number of Civilian Complaint Review Board complaints against Pantaleo—the formal mechanism by which New Yorkers can air their grievances about particular cops—be made public. Pantaleo is arguing that a previous leak of CCRB information led to death threats and harassment against him, and is using the two cops in a patrol car who sit outside his house 24 hours a day to show that the harassment was legit. The NYPD also installed surveillance cameras and a “panic button” at the home.

At least one person really has threatened to kill Pantaleo. In February, a Michigan man was arrested for writing, “I’m going to personally kill and behead Daniel Pantaleo. This is a written threat and has to be taken seriously” on Facebook. But it’s deeply disingenuous to connect that or any other instance of harassment to Pantaleo’s CCRB reports. If he is being harassed, something tells me it has much more to do with the fact that he killed an unarmed man on camera and got away with it than it does with past civilian complaints. Just a hunch.

http://gothamist.com/2015/06/18/eric_garner_cop_protected.php

What a great use of tax dollars

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

How Facebook Is Censoring Content in the United States

Facebook vows to be transparent, and yet the Electronic Frontier Foundation discovered that the company is hiding all the ways that it blocks access in the United States, on behalf of law enforcement.

Yesterday EFF released “Who Has Your Back?”, its annual report card on how high tech companies respond to government requests for user information. And today they highlight one of the unusual pieces of data they found in researching it.

Facebook has deliberately hidden the fact that it has taken down hundreds of prisoners’ Facebook pages. This was in response to the dubiously-legal requests from prisons that want to block inmates from looking at Facebook. Writes EFF’s Dave Maass:

We know for a fact that Facebook processed 74 requests for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation alone in 2014. Between California and the state of South Carolina, we also know Facebook processed more than 700 takedown requests over the last four years. We could file public records requests in all 50 states to learn more, but since Facebook’s system allowed prisons to file these requests without creating a paper trail, only Facebook knows how many requests it has complied with nationwide. We believe it may reach into thousands ...

Facebook is somewhat unique when it comes to prisoner takedown requests. Based on information we have received through public records requests filed in several states, inmates are more often caught using Facebook than any other service. But this isn’t just about prisoner accounts. The fact that Facebook has not been reporting these takedown requests races larger questions about what other kinds of censorship Facebook has been hiding.​

Facebook’s move is noteworthy in part because the company appears to be so meticulously transparent about reporting the thousands of times it has been asked to restrict access to content in India and Turkey, as well as other countries. But when it comes to ways that it has restricted access in the U.S., Facebook reveals nothing.

As EFF asks, what else might the company be hiding? Who else has been blocked at the request of law enforcement?

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/why-facebook-failed-our-censorship-test

Shame on you Bookface

 

[Teelie]

I loathe Facebook but unfortunately almost everyone seems to use the damned thing so I have no choice but to do so as well, albeit as little as possible.

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

I loathe Facebook but unfortunately almost everyone seems to use the damned thing so I have no choice but to do so as well, albeit as little as possible.

Of course you have a choice. Tell them to call or text you instead.

 

[Teelie]

That's cute. Like the world still works that way.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I really only browse Bookface on my phone on smoke breaks. Rarely do I ever go on the actual site these days

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Teacher's Aide Caught Groping a 13-Year-Old With Down Syndrome

According to the NYPD, a 69-year-old teacher’s assistant was arrested on Thursday after he was caught “fondling” a 13-year-old girl with Down syndrome at a park in Williamsburg.

From the New York Daily News:

A witness called the cops on Jesus Lorenzo, a teacher’s assistant at IS 318, after spotting him groping the teen in the De Hostos playground — directly adjacent to the junior high school — on Walton St. and Harrison Ave. in Williamsburg around 11 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.​

Police are still unsure whether the victim was one of Lorenzo’s students or if he even knew the girl at all. And though still awaiting formal arraignment, Lorenzo is being charged with forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child, and sexual conduct with an individual less than 17.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ce=***********&utm_campaign=NYDNLocal+Twitter

They need to take this man out back and put a bullet into his skull. This is disgusting

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Here is the newest installment of Gawker's Q&A with an anonymous NYPD officer, this series has been an interesting window into the mind of an officer. In this one he admits that they (NYPD) do have a quota and yes you are more likely to get a ticket towards the end of the month. There is also a link to the past articles with more insight

http://justice.gawker.com/ask-an-anonymous-cop-do-you-write-more-tickets-at-the-1711427133

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Kuwait Just Made DNA Tests Mandatory For All Residents

In a move that will make privacy advocates cringe, Kuwait passed a law yesterday making DNA tests mandatory for all residents. According to the AFP, people who refuse testing will face a year in prison and a hefty fine.

The draconian law will establish a comprehensive database of all residents in Kuwait, presumably making it easier for law enforcement to track down criminals after the fact. The country’s 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million foreign residents will all be affected. Roughly $400 million has been set aside to implement the national DNA database program.

Many countries, including England, Sweden and the United States, routinely store the DNA of convicted criminals. Kuwait’s program would be the first such mandatory DNA test for every resident of a given country, regardless of criminal history.

The law was passed in reaction to the recent June 26 terrorist attack by ISIS in Kuwait City. The suicide bombing killed 26 people and wounded 227 others.

“We have approved the DNA testing law and approved the additional funding,” local politician Jamal al-Omar said according to the AFP. “We are prepared to approve anything needed to boost security measures in the country.”

While refusing to submit to a DNA sample will get you locked up for a year, anyone who tries to submit a fake DNA sample faces up to seven years in prison.

https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/kuwait-makes-dna-tests-mandatory-bombing-154521142.html

Well that is dystopian

 

[Asgard]

Teacher in Florida gets 22 years for having sex with three students.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/jennifer-fichter-florida-teacher-sex-article-1.2280215

Good riddance. The woman has a long history of preying on children.

 

[Marvolo]

Kuwait Just Made DNA Tests Mandatory For All Residents

https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/kuwait-makes-dna-tests-mandatory-bombing-154521142.html

Well that is dystopian

I wonder how many of those 2.9 million foreign residents will leave Kuwait?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

New York City Is Going to Stop Making Non-Violent Offenders Pay Bail

Citing dismal conditions at Rikers Island and a 16-year-old who committed suicide after he was jailed without charges for three years, the city of New York announced Wednesday plans to eliminate bail requirements for non-violent and low-level offenders.

According to the AP, which broke the story, about 45,000 people are held on bail in New York City each year. With many low-income defendants unable to pay their bond or show the source of their funds, Rikers Island has exploded with prisoners. Despite reports of violence, untreated injuries, and unnecessary punitive measures, reform has been slow.

And the consequences are real for defendants who can’t make bail. Via the New York Times, many defendants lose their jobs, their homes, and their families, with some even pleading guilty just to get out of jail.

For those who cannot afford to post bail, even a short stay in jail can quickly unravel lives and families. Criminal defendants are overwhelmingly poor, many living paycheck to paycheck, and detention can cause job losses and evictions. Parents can lose custody of their children and may have a difficult time regaining it, even when cases are ultimately dropped. And people in jail who are not guilty routinely accept plea deals simply to gain their freedom, leaving them with permanent records.​

Now, the AP reports, the city plans to reduce the number of prisoners by allowing judges to offer alternatives to bail like “daily check-ins, text-message reminders and connecting them with drug or behavioral therapy.”

The initial funding, provided by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, will reportedly benefit about 3,000 defendants next year.

http://gawker.com/new-york-city-is-going-to-stop-making-non-violent-offen-1716475364

This is def a step in the right direction

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

UPDATE: NYC Settles for $750,000 Over Mistreatment of Inmate's Six-Day Erection

A New York man who says he was rendered impotent after jailers refused to treat his six-day, prescription drug-induced erection settled with the city for $750,000 on Monday, DNAinfo reports.

According to 51-year-old Rodney Cotton, he was treated “worse than a dog” during his painful ordeal, which began at the Manhattan Detention Complex on July 4, 2011 as a horrific side effect of anti-depression medication. From the NY Post:

Cotton had asked to be taken to a jail clinic, but a guard at the facility, known as The Tombs, told him he’d have to wait until after the holiday weekend.

Desperate, Cotton faked chest pains to get a doctor to see him, only to be given ice packs and Tylenol.

Days later, he was finally taken to Bellevue, and underwent surgery to relieve the swelling. The doctors said the stitches would dissolve on their own. They didn’t, he claims.

The stitches had become embedded in the skin, and no anesthetic was used when they were being removed, Cotton said in his Manhattan Supreme Court suit.​

Claiming to have suffered permanent damage to his penis, Cotton says the settlement is still not equal to what he has lost due to sexual dysfunction.

“If I had the choice between the reward and having my manhood restored, I’d have my manhood restored in a heartbeat,” Cotton told the NY Daily News on Monday. “It’s embarrassing. We’re here to create. I can’t perform my duties as a man.”

Asked for comment, a city spokesperson only confirmed that a settlement had been reached, telling the paper, “Settling the case was in the best interest of the city.”

http://gawker.com/nyc-settles-for-750-000-over-mistreatment-of-inmates-s-1716420749

I'm sorry but no amount of money in the world is worth a functioning penis. As I stated when I initially reported on this he was given Risperdal which is the same medication I take for my schizophrenia and it is a very hardcore anti-psychotic. I've never heard of it being used to treat depression since it's primary function is a dopamine and seratonin inhibitor so how that would help in depression is beyond me since those are the chemicals responsible for happiness in layman's terms

 

[Asgard]

UPDATE: NYC Settles for $750,000 Over Mistreatment of Inmate's Six-Day Erection

http://gawker.com/nyc-settles-for-750-000-over-mistreatment-of-inmates-s-1716420749

I'm sorry but no amount of money in the world is worth a functioning penis. As I stated when I initially reported on this he was given Risperdal which is the same medication I take for my schizophrenia and it is a very hardcore anti-psychotic. I've never heard of it being used to treat depression since it's primary function is a dopamine and seratonin inhibitor so how that would help in depression is beyond me since those are the chemicals responsible for happiness in layman's terms

750K? Thats it? They permanently ****ed him up with their incompetence, lack of decency, and horrible patient care and they settle for that measly amount of money?

Shouldve taken the city for millions for that.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

750K? Thats it? They permanently ****ed him up with their incompetence, lack of decency, and horrible patient care and they settle for that measly amount of money?

Shouldve taken the city for millions for that.

Damn skippy, if I were him we would have been going to trial for sure. Obviously any man on the jury would feel for him and any female can sympathize with him too. He must have had horrible lawyers to tell him to settle for that