I thought, you know, it being New Year's Eve and all, I'd pack a bowl or two before the big game:
"Marijuana licensing went awry early on, records show" by Kay Lazar and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff December 28, 2014
A contractor hired by the state health department to rank companies hoping to open medical marijuana dispensaries acknowledged in internal e-mails that it simply ran out of time to conduct thorough checks of some applications. Still, the health department extended the company’s contract and more than doubled its pay, records show.
Cough, cough, cough!!
This as we.... wheeze.... face serious social service cuts!!
So which well-connected friend won that contract?
A different contractor was awarded a lucrative no-bid deal to conduct in-depth background checks yet failed to detect that a couple hired by several applicants to run proposed dispensaries had lost their own marijuana business license in Colorado because of violations.
These latest revelations open a wider window onto the state’s troubled effort to grant licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries, a process so flawed that regulators spent five months untangling the mess.
At this point I've taken several hits, didn't inhale, didn't like it, and my mind has already started to wander because the state never wanted medical marijuana to begin with, the feds are still fighting it, and I've reversed myself regarding them. You can sift through the chaff if you like, but I'm done.
A Globe review shows that the state’s licensing process went off the tracks nearly from the beginning, hobbled by too little time, too many conflicts of interest, and questionable work from highly paid contractors.
Then why have them involved then?
You don't have to be stoned to see these stonewalling excuses being used to delay something they didn't want in the first place.
No thanks. I pass. I'm done.
“I have heard of minor complications in other states. But I have not seen anything that raised eyebrows . . . like in Massachusetts,” said Karen O’Keefe, who tracks state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., group that lobbies to legalize marijuana.
More than two years after Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved the medical use of marijuana, not a single dispensary has opened, despite the state’s goal of having the first marijuana companies open in summer 2014. The licensing process, which sparked more than two dozen lawsuits against the state health department, remains mired in controversy, even as officials predict the first dispensaries could open this winter.
“Delays in implementation have been devastating to patients,” said Matt Allen, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance. “Patients are forced into unsafe situations as they continue to go to the black market in search of [marijuana] . . . being robbed, assaulted, or purchasing medicine that is not tested to be free of contaminants.”
The problems began almost from the earliest days.
The state hired two companies in the fall of 2013, one to review thousands of pages of documents from 100 applicants and rank the proposals, and the other to check the backgrounds of more than 600 people associated with the marijuana companies. Much of that work was squeezed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, according to state records and interviews.
Yet neither contractor was asked to verify claims made by marijuana companies in their applications. The state’s selection process simply took the companies’ representations at face value — until that approach ran into a wall of problems, which included applicants’ misrepresentations about local support.
“Massachusetts underestimated the time commitment it would take,” said Todd Brown, vice chairman of the Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences at Northeastern University “And now it’s taking more time because they have had to backtrack.”
Brown was part of a committee appointed by the health department to recommend dispensaries for what the state calls provisional licenses, the first step to getting a full operating license. The committee based its recommendations on reviews of applications by ICF International, a Fairfax, Va., consultant hired by the health department.
Spokesmen for ICF and Mansfield-based Creative Services Inc., which conducted the background checks, declined to be interviewed about their companies’ work.
From the selection committee’s list, the department chose 20 applicants in late January for provisional dispensary licenses, and only then were sections of applicants’ proposals made public. It quickly became clear that some of the winners employed former political heavyweights, high-powered lobbyists, and people who once worked for the state health department. Additionally, former US representative William Delahunt, a close friend of the state health commissioner at the time, headed the only company selected for three provisional licenses.
Questions immediately arose about how well ICF and Creative Services scrutinized the applications and backgrounds of the companies.
ICF had signed a November 2013 contract and was to be paid no more than $247,790. But state records show that ICF — the firm that said in company e-mails it was so pressed it could not sufficiently vet applicants — twice requested more money. By March, the company’s contract nearly doubled, to $478,000, as the department realized it would need help scrutinizing applicants amid a growing public outcry.
By late June, ICF’s contract was again increased to, among other things, create “talking points” and “practice sessions” for the health department as it prepared to explain selections to the media, according to state records. ICF was also expected to participate in “routine conference calls” with the governor’s office on the selection process, the records show.
During this stretch, ICF received another contract to help design rules governing dispensaries. State records show that ICF to date has been paid $625,047 for medical marijuana-related work but is in line to receive thousands more under the pending contracts.
State health regulators said they did not seek competitive bids in a separate deal to conduct background checks on dispensary applicants because there was an existing contract with Creative Services to perform similar pre-employment screenings for a state lab. That contract was awarded to Creative Services just weeks earlier and was a much smaller job. Under that contract, Creative Services has performed only one background screening for the lab, at a cost of $212.50.
State records show that Creative Services has been paid $691,431 to date for its marijuana background checks.
But Creative Services failed to uncover court records that indicated violations forced a Colorado husband and wife to shutter their Boulder medical marijuana facility in 2012. The two were executives of companies that won provisional dispensary licenses in three Massachusetts communities. After the Colorado violations were detailed in the Globe, the companies dropped the couple and were allowed to continue in the licensing process.
Amid near-daily revelations of other problems with chosen applicants, the health department ordered more background investigations.
By the end of June, the health department dropped nearly half the applicants it had earlier selected, including the three headed by Delahunt, because of questions about his company’s financial structure.
Yet many questions remain unanswered.
A Globe public records request seeking all Department of Public Health communications regarding its management of the ICF and Creative Services contracts has been pending since September. The department has declined to respond, aside from stating that it “does not have any records responsive to that request, however, we note that [Medical Marijuana Program] executive director Karen van Unen is responsible for managing the performance of both CSI and ICF.”
Van Unen declined repeated requests for an interview about the process. The department issued a statement from her that said: “Selecting dispensaries that meet our high standards has taken more time than originally envisioned, as was the case in other states with similar programs, but making sure we are launching this brand new industry the right way for the people of Massachusetts is our top priority.”
State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, who headed a legislative inquiry into the selection process, said he still has not received clear answers from the health department.
“At the end of the day, we need greater transparency on how they made the decisions,” he said.
One area that remains clouded is the state’s scrutiny regarding conflicts of interest among former staffers.
Former health department manager Andy Epstein, a nurse who helped craft the state’s marijuana dispensary regulations before retiring last year, is the medical director for New England Treatment Access Inc. The company, which won approval to open dispensaries in Brookline and Northampton, also touted former US representative Barney Frank as its director of community and government relations until he resigned in March.
The records also show another former high-level health department staffer, Daniel Delaney, was a paid lobbyist for seven companies seeking licenses. Two of those companies won state approval, including Patriot Care, the only applicant to win licenses for three dispensaries.
Patriot Care was also the only Delaney client to name him on its state application. It also included his resume.
Delaney told the Globe that he never lobbied his former department, but rather advised clients on the regulatory process. “I can say with certainty that I never called DPH to say, ‘This is my client, can you help me out?’ ” he said.
Delaney said he left the health department, where he was legislative director of government affairs and director of strategic planning, to form a lobbying firm in June 2012, five months before voters approved marijuana for medical use, and said he followed state ethics laws.
Patriot Care initially hired former House speaker Thomas Finneran as a lobbyist, then Finneran tapped Delaney for help because of his expertise, Delaney said.
“Most of the people I worked with didn’t succeed in the marijuana application process, so I don’t think I’ve had a disproportionate success to any other lobbyist engaged in it,” he said.
Sanchez raised questions about conflicts of interest during his legislative probe, and in response, van Unen sent him a letter that said her department relied on former employees to decide whether they had any conflicts.
Many of the companies not chosen for a license have complained that the state’s selection process has been arbitrary and unfair — a theme echoed in several of the lawsuits against the health department, including one by Delahunt.
During a deposition in that suit this fall, van Unen acknowledged that her agency lacked the time to interview leaders of the marijuana companies or verify any of the claims on their applications until after the department narrowed its list to 20 for provisional licenses.
Delahunt’s suit argued the process was so flawed that part of it should be halted until the court could straighten out the dispute regarding Delahunt’s revoked licenses.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Billings declined, saying patients had already waited too long for dispensaries to open. But on one point, Billings agreed with Delahunt — state regulators had broken their own rules in the selection process.
“Few things,” Billings wrote, “erode public confidence in government like an agency’s disregard for its own regulations, procedures, and policies.”
--more--"
Sorry, I lost my head for a few minutes.
"After 2 deaths, Boston Housing Authority to evict tenant; Housing agency official cites opiate epidemic" by Emily Sweeney, Globe Staff December 29, 2014
The Boston Housing Authority plans to evict a tenant who lives in the Boston apartment close to the hallway spot where two males were found dead from apparent drug overdoses Saturday.
Police released few details about the two unidentified males who police said were discovered lying on the floor in the second-floor hallway at 18 Lattimore Court. Both were dead when officers from District D-4 and Boston Emergency Medical Services arrived at the scene at approximately 6:30 p.m., police said.
“Aside from stating that the deaths appeared to be drug related and possibly the cause of an overdose, there’s not much more to share at this point,” said Officer James Kenneally, a police spokesman, in an e-mail Sunday afternoon.
William McGonagle, administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, said, “I think it’s indicative of the ongoing opiate epidemic throughout the Commonwealth and the country,” McGonagle said.
But since that is a favorite of CIA drug runners and money-laundering banks it is the medical (I want to emphasize medical, you know, the easing of suffering and pain) marijuana that must be harassed instead.
***********
On Sunday afternoon, the only signs of the incident were tattered remnants of yellow police tape near the entrance to the brick building. Broken glass, cigarette butts, and an empty Heineken beer bottle were strewn along the grass outside. A hypodermic needle lay at the foot of the stairs.
That is what heroin brings to a neighborhood.
Residents of the housing development say drugs are a major problem in their neighborhood....
Meanwhile, the city’s health department has stepped up its outreach efforts to address the increasing numbers of suspected overdoses in the city....
--more--"
Related:
"Springfield police seized more than 12 pounds of drugs, two handguns, and $58,000 in cash from a Chase Avenue home Friday night, authorities said. Police raided the home at 17 Chase Ave. around 8 p.m. after a lengthy investigation of the home’s resident, Jason Arias, 31,, police said in a statement. Inside, police found more than 10 pounds of cocaine, 2,700 bags of heroin, 2 pounds of marijuana, and tools for packaging and weighing the drugs, in addition to the guns and cash, police said. The total street value of the drugs was more than $300,000. Arias was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine (over 200 grams), trafficking heroin, possessing a firearm while committing a felony, possession of ammunition, and two counts of carrying a firearm. He will be held without bail until his arraignment, which is expected Monday, police said."
Also see: R.I. man arrested in Sharon on heroin charges
Oh, look, here's some more.
"In Boulder, not all are gaga over Google; As company grows, prices are rising faster" by Conor Dougherty, New York Times December 29, 2014
NEW YORK — The locals say they don’t like the tech folks pouring into town to work at places like Google. They’re insular. They’re driving up housing prices. And they fear those newcomers are more like invaders than people trying to fit into their new community.
For once, this is not about San Francisco.
In Boulder, Colo., Google is running into problems that would be familiar to people in the Bay Area. Over the past month, as the City Council approved a plan to let Google build a 4-acre campus where it would have space to quintuple its local workforce to about 1,500 people, there has been a spirited debate about Google’s potential effect on home prices and whether its country-club-like campuses would pair with the city’s desire to increase walking and pedestrian traffic.
It’s easy to see why Google would want to be in Boulder. The city, about a half-hour drive from Denver, has an educated populace and a well-regarded university, and — with its mountain locale and a combination of open space and compact, walkable development — is considered a fantastic place to live. The company says its Boulder office works on apps like Google Earth and Google Drive. The office also has sales and marketing teams.
But cities — in particular, cities like Boulder that are already pretty successful — can have mixed feelings about good, well-paying jobs of the sort Google brings.
“Prices are rising. We are becoming less and less affordable to lower and middle income. We’re also seeing local businesses that have been here for decades being priced out,” said Suzanne Jones, a City Council member. “It puts a finer point on this issue of where are we headed? Attracting big business is great, on the one hand, but it will be part of that change, on the other.”
In meetings, in e-mails to City Council members like Jones, and with letters to The Daily Camera newspaper, Boulderites have expressed grave concern about Google’s potential to raise home prices even higher.
Allison Davis, who recently moved home to Boulder after three years in Google’s hometown of Mountain View, Calif., wrote to The Daily Camera to relay her observations on the Bay Area.
“As Google expanded, they rapidly priced out those who had not been lucky enough to buy housing in Mountain View before 1990,” she wrote. “A city can lose its feel easily in a decade, and I already see that happening in Boulder.”
Another point of contention, raised by the City Council and the planning board, was that Google’s famously lavish campuses — with cafeterias, exercise areas, and lounge-like common spaces where employees chill out behind closed doors — will create a dead zone for pedestrian and retail activity.
When the proposal came before the planning board this year, a board member suggested the company include first-floor retail shops to attract people who do not work at Google. A spokeswoman said the company discussed the idea but decided against retail space for a number of reasons, including a concern it would increase car traffic.
Traffic, of course, was another big concern. Google has noted that when it comes to transit, the campus is an urban planner’s dream. It will be next to a major bus depot, which should encourage its workers to take public transit. Googlers who do not take the bus are likely to car-pool or ride bikes, given that the campus will have just 600 parking spots for more than twice that number of workers.
The company also agreed to put a bike and pedestrian path through the middle of its campus, creating a public thoroughfare through the property.
And, of course, there are other benefits of having a big company like Google in town. For instance, it is likely to step up its hiring of University of Colorado Boulder graduates — people who may not be able to stay in town if the local economy does not add jobs.
Google writes a lot of checks to nonprofits and encourages its workers to volunteer. And while its free-lunch policy will never win the favor of local sandwich shops, the company noted that most of the food in its cafeterias is purchased from local farms and merchants.
Still, Elizabeth Payton, a member of the planning board, pushed back against the idea that Boulder is lucky to have Google. Maybe, she said, it is the other way around.
“The citizens have worked really hard and they have paid a lot of extra taxes to create this fabulous place,” she said. “It may be luck, but maybe we created this place where Google wants to be. Maybe it’s not just luck.”
--more--"
Yeah, why do you want a bunch of pot smokers in town. For all you know, you might end up homeless.
Strangely, it's time for lunch.
FIRST of YEAR UPDATE:
Mass. approves first medical marijuana dispensary, cultivator
What part of I don't want any do you not understand?
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Bowled Over by the Boston Globe
"Isn’t it time to put a lid on these college bowls?" by Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Staff December 30, 2014
Anybody out there old enough to remember when the college football bowl games were actually played on New Year’s Day? When playing in a bowl game meant you were a superior football team? When we could all set our New Year’s Day watches by the Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Orange Bowl?
Those were the golden olden days.
************
ESPN calls it “Capital One Bowl Mania.’’ I call it “Embarrassing Bowl Boredom.’’
Why are there so many bowl games? It’s simple. It’s called “programming.’’
Not accidentally, all but one of this year’s 38 bowl games are televised by the ABC/ESPN conglomerate....
BC athletic director Brad Bates said, “I don’t know what the perfect number of bowl games is, but there are obvious advantages for the schools. It’s another month of media exposure, another month for recruiting, another month to practice with your team.
“And if you manage it right, it can be an incredible regional and cultural experience. Our students went to the 9/11 Museum and the New York Stock Exchange. It was a wonderful opportunity to engage in the New York culture.’’
Talk about brainwashing!
Related: Ex-BC football player gets probation in attack on homeless man
Bowl season resumes Tuesday.
If you’re really paying attention, you watched....
I wasn't and didn't.
--more--"
Anybody out there old enough to remember when the college football bowl games were actually played on New Year’s Day? When playing in a bowl game meant you were a superior football team? When we could all set our New Year’s Day watches by the Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Orange Bowl?
Those were the golden olden days.
************
ESPN calls it “Capital One Bowl Mania.’’ I call it “Embarrassing Bowl Boredom.’’
Why are there so many bowl games? It’s simple. It’s called “programming.’’
Not accidentally, all but one of this year’s 38 bowl games are televised by the ABC/ESPN conglomerate....
BC athletic director Brad Bates said, “I don’t know what the perfect number of bowl games is, but there are obvious advantages for the schools. It’s another month of media exposure, another month for recruiting, another month to practice with your team.
“And if you manage it right, it can be an incredible regional and cultural experience. Our students went to the 9/11 Museum and the New York Stock Exchange. It was a wonderful opportunity to engage in the New York culture.’’
Talk about brainwashing!
Related: Ex-BC football player gets probation in attack on homeless man
Bowl season resumes Tuesday.
If you’re really paying attention, you watched....
I wasn't and didn't.
--more--"
Drunken Cops
After they have taken such a beating:
"Views clash on naming Boston officers in drunken driving cases; Department maintains secrecy" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff December 30, 2014
Two specialists in the state’s public records law say that the Boston Police Department is violating the statute by refusing to release the names of five officers who were caught driving drunk. But Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he has no plans to order police to release the information.
What do you do when those who are sworn to uphold the law violate it?
Department officials declined to release the names in response to requests from the Globe as part of a review of off-duty drunken driving involving law enforcement officers. Using public records and interviews, the Globe counted at least 30 officers in Massachusetts since 2012 who have been caught driving drunk, including five from Boston.
In several cases, police departments attempted to withhold records even when the officers had been in serious crashes. The Globe also found that at least 10 officers were kept on the police payroll after their driving privileges were suspended and they could not perform their normal duties.
“There is no exception in the public records laws for information embarrassing to the police,” said Jeffrey Pyle, an attorney at Prince Lobel Tye LLP in Boston who specializes in the First Amendment, public records, and media law.
Another First Amendment and public records attorney, Peter Caruso Sr. of Andover, added, “These are public records as clear as the nose on your face.”
The attorneys said the decision to withhold the names was particularly hard to justify since Boston police have published the names of dozens of civilians who were arrested for drunken driving on its website. The withholding of names makes it difficult for the press and public to determine whether the officers had been accused of drunken driving or other misconduct before.
Boston Police Lieutenant Michael McCarthy said the city believed names of the officers were protected under a law set up to restrict access to the state’s centralized database of criminal records, commonly called CORI for Criminal Offender Record Information.
Trying to hide behind that?
“The department does not have discretion when deciding to release this type of information,” McCarthy said.
He explained that the department is free to release names of people who are arrested shortly after the incidents but are prohibited from doing so when someone requests the information later on. He declined to cite a court ruling or statute that spells out that difference.
After initially withholding most of the documents related to the five officers, McCarthy agreed to release reports with the names blacked out, including two additional incident reports showing that the officers had been in collisions.
Then they are essentially worthless.
**********
Boston isn’t alone in limiting the release of information. Newton blacked out the name of a Newton officer who was arrested by Brookline Police, saying it was confidential personnel information.
This from the government that collects all your data.
And in several other instances, the Middlesex district attorney’s office blacked out officer names on court records in drunken driving cases, citing CORI restrictions....
The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said she was concerned about the decision to keep the names secret, particularly when the police regularly release the names of ordinary residents who are arrested.
“When police officers treat their own differently by keeping secrets about the department,” said Carol Rose, the group’s executive director, “it undermines community trust and public safety.”
The trust is already gone, and Walsh defended the department.
--more--"
At least the state cops release the names:
"State trooper pleads not guilty to driving drunk; Passenger hurt in off-duty crash
SALEM — A state trooper who was involved in a serious off-duty car wreck last spring pleaded not guilty Tuesday to drunken driving and other charges in Essex Superior Court.
Dale Jenkins, 36, was arrested after officers found his car, a 1965 white Corvette, crashed into a utility pole in North Andover shortly after midnight on May 3, 2014, seriously injuring a 53-year-old passenger who was airlifted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Jenkins, who had cuts on his head and arms, would not provide police the name or other information about the injured passenger, according to the North Andover police report.
The report said Jenkins smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on his feet, and confessed to a firefighter while being taken to the hospital that he had been drinking.
During the booking process, Jenkins said, “I’m [expletive]-ed” several times, according to the police report. After saying he was a state trooper, Jenkins lowered his head, slumped his shoulders forward, and said “14 years down the drain all because of a stupid decision.”
Jenkins declined a breath analysis test, causing his license to be automatically suspended for 180 days. He also refused medical treatment, which could have yielded blood alcohol results.
Without blood alcohol results, it is often difficult for prosecutors to win a conviction in a drunken-driving case. Massachusetts is one of the few states that won’t allow prosecutors to use a refusal against drunken-driving defendants in court.
Jenkins was initially arraigned in Lawrence District Court in May after the accident but was arraigned again after a grand jury indicted him Nov. 18 on charges of operating under the influence with a serious injury, assault and battery with a serious injury, and carrying a firearm (a personal gun, not his duty weapon) while intoxicated.
Jenkins, wearing a dark suit and red tie Tuesday, said little other than “not guilty” in court and did not respond to questions from a Boston Globe reporter after the hearing. His lawyer, Hank Brennan, said, “This was an extremely unfortunate accident,” Brennan said in a hallway inside the courthouse. “We are confident that when the evidence is heard by a jury, the evidence will overwhelmingly favor an acquittal.”
The State Police have suspended Jenkins without pay pending the outcome of the case. The court also has ordered him to abstain from alcohol, not to drive without a valid license, and not to possess firearms, while out on $20,000 bail.
State Police spokesman David Procopio said the department is monitoring the court case and will take action when the case is resolved.
“The State Police have no tolerance for impaired operation and will take appropriate disciplinary action,” Procopio said. “Additionally, our thoughts are with the passenger that night.”
At least 30 law enforcement officers in Massachusetts have been charged with drunken driving since 2012, including seven state troopers such as Jenkins, the Globe reported this month.
An eighth state trooper was fired after he was caught driving the wrong way on Memorial Drive in Cambridge but was not charged criminally.
--more--"
Related: “The sad thing is he is the most compassionate and gentle soul that you would ever meet.”
Cops also getting drunk on power:
"De Blasio addresses tense group of new officers" by Andy Newman, New York Times December 30, 2014
NEW YORK — Two days after scores of police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio as he spoke at a murdered officer’s funeral, a scattering of boos and jeers greeted the mayor Monday as he addressed a Police Department event: the graduation ceremony for the fall class of 884 new officers.
And once again, de Blasio found himself speaking to turned backs.
A half-dozen or so audience members at Madison Square Garden — out of thousands — faced away from him as he spoke....
As the mayor forged on with his speech, thanking the recruits for making the “heroic choice” to become police officers, the crowd settled into silence.
“It takes a special kind of person to put their lives on the line for others,” de Blasio said. “To stare down the danger, because that is what you will do.”
But when he told the academy class that on the job, they would “confront problems that you didn’t create,” a heckler yelled out “You did!” and drew applause....
Also on Monday in Los Angeles, authorities said two men opened fire on a police car patrolling a tough part of Los Angeles overnight. The two officers inside were not injured and one was able to shoot back, but no one was wounded.
One of the suspects in the Los Angeles shooting was later arrested, and the other is on the loose.
The shooting occurred amid heightened tensions about attacks on police in New York and elsewhere in the country after grand juries declined to indict white officers in the killings of unarmed black men.
Police have not yet determined a motive for the Sunday night shooting in South Los Angeles — an area plagued by gang violence — but said there were no indications it was linked to other attacks on police in the country.
Deputy Chief Bob Green said police were looking into whether the officers might have driven into an ongoing incident and were inadvertently fired at....
In his speech Monday, de Blasio hammered one message again and again to the recruits, who wore badges ribboned in black in memory of the two slain comrades: that everything would be done to keep them and the police force they join safe from harm. “It’s our job to protect you,” he said.
The mayor finished his speech to tepid applause and no audible boos.
Some members of the department have been in open revolt against the mayor for his comments and actions since a grand jury declined Dec. 3 to charge the officer whose chokehold killed an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.
De Blasio encouraged demonstrators who protested the grand jury decision, saying, “Anyone who believes in the values of this country should feel called to action right now.” And he said he has often spoken to his biracial son about “dangers he may face” in interactions with police.
The main police union earlier this month distributed a flier to officers urging them to disinvite the mayor from their funerals should they die in the line of duty.
With de Blasio at odds with many officers, the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, has been thrust into the role of peacemaker. On Sunday, he stood by de Blasio’s comments on race relations — saying it is the “reality” that officers have to deal with. But Bratton said he understood the officers’ frustrations, even though he found it “inappropriate” to express them at the funeral of an officer slain on the job.
Bratton also addressed the graduates.
“We are at a very difficult time in this country, in this city, and in this department,” he conceded. But he added, “You have the opportunity with that badge on your chest to do extraordinary things.”
--more--"
Related:
During funerals, both protesters and police should show restraint
Walsh, police officials join activists in prayer service
Weston tollbooth worker faces suspension over message
"Psychiatric patient charged in death
NEW YORK — A patient at a New York City psychiatric center was charged with killing another patient at the facility, police said Saturday. Brett Smith, 19, of the Bronx, was charged with second-degree murder, officials said. He was arrested after Leon Little, 51, was found unconscious inside the Bronx Psychiatric Center shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. Officers responding to a 911 call found Little unconscious and unresponsive with abrasions on his throat (AP)."
That's crazy.
"Death penalty sought in Jewish site shootings" by Bill Draper, Associated Press December 19, 2014
OLATHE, Kan. — A Kansas prosecutor will seek the death penalty against a white supremacist from Missouri who was ruled competent Thursday to face trial on charges of killing three people at two Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City, Kan.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe revealed his intention to seek the death penalty at a hearing for Frazier Glenn Miller, 74, of Aurora, Mo., who has said he felt it was his patriotic duty to kill Jews.
He was double-crossed.
**************
Miller has told several media outlets that he intended to use the trial as a means to ‘‘put the Jews on trial where they belong.’’
Miller is a Vietnam War veteran from southwest Missouri who founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in his native North Carolina and later the White Patriot Party.
He was the target of a nationwide manhunt in 1987, when federal agents tracked him and three other men to a rural Missouri home stocked with hand grenades and automatic weapons. He was indicted on weapons charges and accused of plotting robberies and the assassination of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s founder. He served three years in federal prison.
Miller also ran for the US House in 2006 and the US Senate in 2010 in Missouri, each time espousing a white-power platform.
This guy smells like such a psyop it's sickening.
--more--"
"Views clash on naming Boston officers in drunken driving cases; Department maintains secrecy" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff December 30, 2014
Two specialists in the state’s public records law say that the Boston Police Department is violating the statute by refusing to release the names of five officers who were caught driving drunk. But Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he has no plans to order police to release the information.
What do you do when those who are sworn to uphold the law violate it?
Department officials declined to release the names in response to requests from the Globe as part of a review of off-duty drunken driving involving law enforcement officers. Using public records and interviews, the Globe counted at least 30 officers in Massachusetts since 2012 who have been caught driving drunk, including five from Boston.
In several cases, police departments attempted to withhold records even when the officers had been in serious crashes. The Globe also found that at least 10 officers were kept on the police payroll after their driving privileges were suspended and they could not perform their normal duties.
“There is no exception in the public records laws for information embarrassing to the police,” said Jeffrey Pyle, an attorney at Prince Lobel Tye LLP in Boston who specializes in the First Amendment, public records, and media law.
Another First Amendment and public records attorney, Peter Caruso Sr. of Andover, added, “These are public records as clear as the nose on your face.”
The attorneys said the decision to withhold the names was particularly hard to justify since Boston police have published the names of dozens of civilians who were arrested for drunken driving on its website. The withholding of names makes it difficult for the press and public to determine whether the officers had been accused of drunken driving or other misconduct before.
Boston Police Lieutenant Michael McCarthy said the city believed names of the officers were protected under a law set up to restrict access to the state’s centralized database of criminal records, commonly called CORI for Criminal Offender Record Information.
Trying to hide behind that?
“The department does not have discretion when deciding to release this type of information,” McCarthy said.
He explained that the department is free to release names of people who are arrested shortly after the incidents but are prohibited from doing so when someone requests the information later on. He declined to cite a court ruling or statute that spells out that difference.
After initially withholding most of the documents related to the five officers, McCarthy agreed to release reports with the names blacked out, including two additional incident reports showing that the officers had been in collisions.
Then they are essentially worthless.
**********
Boston isn’t alone in limiting the release of information. Newton blacked out the name of a Newton officer who was arrested by Brookline Police, saying it was confidential personnel information.
This from the government that collects all your data.
And in several other instances, the Middlesex district attorney’s office blacked out officer names on court records in drunken driving cases, citing CORI restrictions....
The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said she was concerned about the decision to keep the names secret, particularly when the police regularly release the names of ordinary residents who are arrested.
“When police officers treat their own differently by keeping secrets about the department,” said Carol Rose, the group’s executive director, “it undermines community trust and public safety.”
The trust is already gone, and Walsh defended the department.
--more--"
At least the state cops release the names:
"State trooper pleads not guilty to driving drunk; Passenger hurt in off-duty crash
SALEM — A state trooper who was involved in a serious off-duty car wreck last spring pleaded not guilty Tuesday to drunken driving and other charges in Essex Superior Court.
Dale Jenkins, 36, was arrested after officers found his car, a 1965 white Corvette, crashed into a utility pole in North Andover shortly after midnight on May 3, 2014, seriously injuring a 53-year-old passenger who was airlifted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Jenkins, who had cuts on his head and arms, would not provide police the name or other information about the injured passenger, according to the North Andover police report.
The report said Jenkins smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on his feet, and confessed to a firefighter while being taken to the hospital that he had been drinking.
During the booking process, Jenkins said, “I’m [expletive]-ed” several times, according to the police report. After saying he was a state trooper, Jenkins lowered his head, slumped his shoulders forward, and said “14 years down the drain all because of a stupid decision.”
Jenkins declined a breath analysis test, causing his license to be automatically suspended for 180 days. He also refused medical treatment, which could have yielded blood alcohol results.
Without blood alcohol results, it is often difficult for prosecutors to win a conviction in a drunken-driving case. Massachusetts is one of the few states that won’t allow prosecutors to use a refusal against drunken-driving defendants in court.
Jenkins was initially arraigned in Lawrence District Court in May after the accident but was arraigned again after a grand jury indicted him Nov. 18 on charges of operating under the influence with a serious injury, assault and battery with a serious injury, and carrying a firearm (a personal gun, not his duty weapon) while intoxicated.
Jenkins, wearing a dark suit and red tie Tuesday, said little other than “not guilty” in court and did not respond to questions from a Boston Globe reporter after the hearing. His lawyer, Hank Brennan, said, “This was an extremely unfortunate accident,” Brennan said in a hallway inside the courthouse. “We are confident that when the evidence is heard by a jury, the evidence will overwhelmingly favor an acquittal.”
The State Police have suspended Jenkins without pay pending the outcome of the case. The court also has ordered him to abstain from alcohol, not to drive without a valid license, and not to possess firearms, while out on $20,000 bail.
State Police spokesman David Procopio said the department is monitoring the court case and will take action when the case is resolved.
“The State Police have no tolerance for impaired operation and will take appropriate disciplinary action,” Procopio said. “Additionally, our thoughts are with the passenger that night.”
At least 30 law enforcement officers in Massachusetts have been charged with drunken driving since 2012, including seven state troopers such as Jenkins, the Globe reported this month.
An eighth state trooper was fired after he was caught driving the wrong way on Memorial Drive in Cambridge but was not charged criminally.
--more--"
Related: “The sad thing is he is the most compassionate and gentle soul that you would ever meet.”
Cops also getting drunk on power:
"De Blasio addresses tense group of new officers" by Andy Newman, New York Times December 30, 2014
NEW YORK — Two days after scores of police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio as he spoke at a murdered officer’s funeral, a scattering of boos and jeers greeted the mayor Monday as he addressed a Police Department event: the graduation ceremony for the fall class of 884 new officers.
And once again, de Blasio found himself speaking to turned backs.
A half-dozen or so audience members at Madison Square Garden — out of thousands — faced away from him as he spoke....
As the mayor forged on with his speech, thanking the recruits for making the “heroic choice” to become police officers, the crowd settled into silence.
“It takes a special kind of person to put their lives on the line for others,” de Blasio said. “To stare down the danger, because that is what you will do.”
But when he told the academy class that on the job, they would “confront problems that you didn’t create,” a heckler yelled out “You did!” and drew applause....
Also on Monday in Los Angeles, authorities said two men opened fire on a police car patrolling a tough part of Los Angeles overnight. The two officers inside were not injured and one was able to shoot back, but no one was wounded.
One of the suspects in the Los Angeles shooting was later arrested, and the other is on the loose.
The shooting occurred amid heightened tensions about attacks on police in New York and elsewhere in the country after grand juries declined to indict white officers in the killings of unarmed black men.
Police have not yet determined a motive for the Sunday night shooting in South Los Angeles — an area plagued by gang violence — but said there were no indications it was linked to other attacks on police in the country.
Deputy Chief Bob Green said police were looking into whether the officers might have driven into an ongoing incident and were inadvertently fired at....
In his speech Monday, de Blasio hammered one message again and again to the recruits, who wore badges ribboned in black in memory of the two slain comrades: that everything would be done to keep them and the police force they join safe from harm. “It’s our job to protect you,” he said.
The mayor finished his speech to tepid applause and no audible boos.
Some members of the department have been in open revolt against the mayor for his comments and actions since a grand jury declined Dec. 3 to charge the officer whose chokehold killed an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.
De Blasio encouraged demonstrators who protested the grand jury decision, saying, “Anyone who believes in the values of this country should feel called to action right now.” And he said he has often spoken to his biracial son about “dangers he may face” in interactions with police.
The main police union earlier this month distributed a flier to officers urging them to disinvite the mayor from their funerals should they die in the line of duty.
With de Blasio at odds with many officers, the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, has been thrust into the role of peacemaker. On Sunday, he stood by de Blasio’s comments on race relations — saying it is the “reality” that officers have to deal with. But Bratton said he understood the officers’ frustrations, even though he found it “inappropriate” to express them at the funeral of an officer slain on the job.
Bratton also addressed the graduates.
“We are at a very difficult time in this country, in this city, and in this department,” he conceded. But he added, “You have the opportunity with that badge on your chest to do extraordinary things.”
--more--"
Related:
During funerals, both protesters and police should show restraint
Walsh, police officials join activists in prayer service
Weston tollbooth worker faces suspension over message
"Psychiatric patient charged in death
NEW YORK — A patient at a New York City psychiatric center was charged with killing another patient at the facility, police said Saturday. Brett Smith, 19, of the Bronx, was charged with second-degree murder, officials said. He was arrested after Leon Little, 51, was found unconscious inside the Bronx Psychiatric Center shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. Officers responding to a 911 call found Little unconscious and unresponsive with abrasions on his throat (AP)."
That's crazy.
"Death penalty sought in Jewish site shootings" by Bill Draper, Associated Press December 19, 2014
OLATHE, Kan. — A Kansas prosecutor will seek the death penalty against a white supremacist from Missouri who was ruled competent Thursday to face trial on charges of killing three people at two Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City, Kan.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe revealed his intention to seek the death penalty at a hearing for Frazier Glenn Miller, 74, of Aurora, Mo., who has said he felt it was his patriotic duty to kill Jews.
He was double-crossed.
**************
Miller has told several media outlets that he intended to use the trial as a means to ‘‘put the Jews on trial where they belong.’’
Miller is a Vietnam War veteran from southwest Missouri who founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in his native North Carolina and later the White Patriot Party.
He was the target of a nationwide manhunt in 1987, when federal agents tracked him and three other men to a rural Missouri home stocked with hand grenades and automatic weapons. He was indicted on weapons charges and accused of plotting robberies and the assassination of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s founder. He served three years in federal prison.
Miller also ran for the US House in 2006 and the US Senate in 2010 in Missouri, each time espousing a white-power platform.
This guy smells like such a psyop it's sickening.
--more--"
Miley Smoked Marijuana in Miami
I wasn't aware they had legalized it down there:
"Miley sparkles at Art Basel show on South Beach" by Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press December 05, 2014
MIAMI BEACH — In a bizarre and emotionally transparent performance, Miley Cyrus mocked her own music, opened up about her dark year, and belted out some Led Zeppelin. Oh yeah, and she smoked pot onstage.
Wearing a silver metallic Cleopatra wig and bright turquoise eye shadow, Cyrus kicked off a private, poolside show at the Raleigh Hotel in South Beach on Wednesday singing a duet of ‘‘Super Freak’’ with a topless woman.
Cyrus was among the top-billed acts during the star-studded week of the prestigious Art Basel Miami Beach.
The 22-year-old singer performed mostly covers, including Led Zeppelin, the Beatles’ ‘‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,’’ and Johnny Cash, telling the audience she understood they were serious about real art and probably weren’t fans of her pop-music style.
‘‘You thought [Art Basel] was a respected place where you could escape me,’’ said Cyrus, who talked about her difficult year after her twerking performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and the death of her dog.
The former Disney star said it took her to a dark place and made her realize many things she was doing seemed meaningless.
Speaking of dark places:
Disney Pedophilia and Satanic Role Models
Sort of explains why Hannah Montana has become such a tramp.
‘‘This year has constantly challenged me, and that’s why I started doing art,’’ she said before launching into a song she wrote after her friend’s cat spoke to her in a dream. She also played the macabre song on the piano, abruptly banging on the keys at the end, saying she was sick of talking about death and wanted to move on to something fun.
Later in the show, she donned a massive rainbow with a cutout for her head, while two other performers wore mushroom costumes. At one point, two costumed sharks and a penis ran across the stage. Despite distractions of bubbles floating through the air and falling confetti, one thing stood out — her vocal chops.
‘‘Usually I don’t smoke weed and drink, well that’s a lie . . . usually I don’t smoke weed and drink on show days, but I felt like it was fine in Miami,’’ said Cyrus, whose boyfriend, Patrick Schwarzenegger, also attended the party, hosted by designer Tommy Hilfiger, art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, and V Magazine. Schwarzenegger is the eldest son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his estranged wife, Maria Shriver.
I guess there are two $y$tems of AmeriKan JU$TU$.
--more--"
I'm going to cancel the date.
Related: $outh Beach
Nice place to go surfing.
LAST DAY UPDATE:
"Cheryl Hines on dating a Kennedy: Be genuine
Actress Cheryl Hines, who joined America’s version of the royal family last summer when she married Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is offering Miley Cyrus a little bit of advice on dating a member of the Kennedy clan. Hines, known for her role as Larry David’s wife on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” first met Cyrus when she made an appearance on “Hannah Montana” in 2009. This week, Hines talked to the UK’s Closer Magazine about the young singer’s budding romance with Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Cyrus and young Schwarzenegger spent last weekend with his parents in Sun Valley, Idaho.) Hines’s advice for Cyrus? “Just have a good time and be genuine.” Judging from the pictures posted on Cyrus’s Instagram, all is well between her and the Terminator’s son. The 22-year-old singer recently posted a picture of herself, captioned “Have the best BF eva,” clad in a pizza-themed onesie and cuddling a similarly themed blanket (with different toppings). No word on whether Cyrus and Taylor Swift, who dated Hines’s stepson Conor Kennedy in 2012, have traded tips."
I guess we will never know.
"Miley sparkles at Art Basel show on South Beach" by Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press December 05, 2014
MIAMI BEACH — In a bizarre and emotionally transparent performance, Miley Cyrus mocked her own music, opened up about her dark year, and belted out some Led Zeppelin. Oh yeah, and she smoked pot onstage.
Wearing a silver metallic Cleopatra wig and bright turquoise eye shadow, Cyrus kicked off a private, poolside show at the Raleigh Hotel in South Beach on Wednesday singing a duet of ‘‘Super Freak’’ with a topless woman.
Cyrus was among the top-billed acts during the star-studded week of the prestigious Art Basel Miami Beach.
The 22-year-old singer performed mostly covers, including Led Zeppelin, the Beatles’ ‘‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,’’ and Johnny Cash, telling the audience she understood they were serious about real art and probably weren’t fans of her pop-music style.
‘‘You thought [Art Basel] was a respected place where you could escape me,’’ said Cyrus, who talked about her difficult year after her twerking performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and the death of her dog.
The former Disney star said it took her to a dark place and made her realize many things she was doing seemed meaningless.
Speaking of dark places:
Disney Pedophilia and Satanic Role Models
Sort of explains why Hannah Montana has become such a tramp.
‘‘This year has constantly challenged me, and that’s why I started doing art,’’ she said before launching into a song she wrote after her friend’s cat spoke to her in a dream. She also played the macabre song on the piano, abruptly banging on the keys at the end, saying she was sick of talking about death and wanted to move on to something fun.
Later in the show, she donned a massive rainbow with a cutout for her head, while two other performers wore mushroom costumes. At one point, two costumed sharks and a penis ran across the stage. Despite distractions of bubbles floating through the air and falling confetti, one thing stood out — her vocal chops.
‘‘Usually I don’t smoke weed and drink, well that’s a lie . . . usually I don’t smoke weed and drink on show days, but I felt like it was fine in Miami,’’ said Cyrus, whose boyfriend, Patrick Schwarzenegger, also attended the party, hosted by designer Tommy Hilfiger, art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, and V Magazine. Schwarzenegger is the eldest son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his estranged wife, Maria Shriver.
I guess there are two $y$tems of AmeriKan JU$TU$.
--more--"
I'm going to cancel the date.
Related: $outh Beach
Nice place to go surfing.
LAST DAY UPDATE:
"Cheryl Hines on dating a Kennedy: Be genuine
Actress Cheryl Hines, who joined America’s version of the royal family last summer when she married Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is offering Miley Cyrus a little bit of advice on dating a member of the Kennedy clan. Hines, known for her role as Larry David’s wife on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” first met Cyrus when she made an appearance on “Hannah Montana” in 2009. This week, Hines talked to the UK’s Closer Magazine about the young singer’s budding romance with Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Cyrus and young Schwarzenegger spent last weekend with his parents in Sun Valley, Idaho.) Hines’s advice for Cyrus? “Just have a good time and be genuine.” Judging from the pictures posted on Cyrus’s Instagram, all is well between her and the Terminator’s son. The 22-year-old singer recently posted a picture of herself, captioned “Have the best BF eva,” clad in a pizza-themed onesie and cuddling a similarly themed blanket (with different toppings). No word on whether Cyrus and Taylor Swift, who dated Hines’s stepson Conor Kennedy in 2012, have traded tips."
I guess we will never know.
Cute as a Button
"Sex trafficking shelter filled with survivor tales" by Juliet Linderman, Associated Press December 30, 2014
BALTIMORE — For seven years, 27-year-old Button had been sold up and down the West Coast by a host of violent pimps, one of whom once drove her into the desert, dragged her out of the car, and broke her nose and both of her eye sockets. The reason: She asked to leave a strip club because she was feeling sick.
Button grew up in a wealthy household on Long Island, with parents she says were loving. Still, after dropping out of college and becoming addicted to what she describes as ‘‘risky behavior,’’ Button’s parents sent her to a rehabilitation facility in California, where she met a man who would become her first trafficker.
Local and federal law enforcement agencies are trying to do more to combat sex trafficking. But the governmental, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations that provide care are scrambling to keep up.
The faith-based Samaritan Women, a residential program that is among the relatively few in the nation dedicated to long-term help for the surging numbers of victims of human trafficking, relies on grants and donations and does not accept government funding....
--more--"
"Horrors Blackstone police allegedly found detailed in court; Mother enters plea; judge denies bail" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff December 29, 2014
WORCESTER — The Blackstone mother accused of concealing the births of several of her children — two of whom were imprisoned in squalid bedrooms, where closets hid the skeletal remains of three other babies — quietly pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges on Monday, before a prosecutor offered a vivid account of the horrors police said they found in her home.
After police waded through knee-high filth and discovered two horribly neglected children in Erika L. Murray’s home in September, they secured a warrant, hoping to search the house for paperwork that might provide clues about the identity of those children, the prosecutor said.
Instead, they discovered the remains of one dead baby — and, soon after, the remains of two more, all three skeletons clothed and stashed in closets in two filthy bedrooms, Assistant District Attorney John E. Bradley Jr. said during Murray’s arraignment in Worcester Superior Court.
************
Defense lawyer Keith S. Halpern argued that Murray posed no risk of flight or further danger, and he called the murder charges premature, with the medical examiner yet to rule on the cause of death of any of the deceased babies. Judge James Lemire disagreed, ordering Murray to remain held, now without bail, at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee.
To the outside world, the 31-year-old Murray and longtime boyfriend Raymond Rivera appeared to live a quiet life in a three-bedroom home on St. Paul Street with just two children, their 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. That changed Aug. 28, Bradley said, when a neighborhood friend playing with the boy called to ask his own mother if she knew how to get a baby to stop crying.
That woman visited the house, where she found....
I can't post it, sorry.
See: Murray’s Madness
The prosecutor said Murray admitted that Rivera did not want more children after the first two — the 10- and 13-year-old — but she continued to have unprotected sex with him, giving birth five more times in a seven-year period. Bradley said Murray admitted she delivered each of those babies on her own in the home’s sole bathroom, on the first floor, before moving them upstairs “in an effort to hide the babies from her boyfriend.”
The boyfriend tearfully told reporters last month that he had been banished to the basement by Murray and had no idea of the deteriorating condition of the upper floors, or even the existence of any of the babies, but prosecutors said earlier this month that Rivera slept with Murray in the third upstairs bedroom and must have known. He was indicted Dec. 16 on charges that include assault and battery and reckless endangerment of children.
Halpern, the defense lawyer, said Murray’s admissions to police were inconsistent, the mutterings of a woman “who simply agreed with whatever they asked because it was her belief that if she went along with them she’d go home.”
--more--"
"Two bodies found in Brockton in wooded area; Remains of woman were dismembered, DA says" by Nestor Ramos, Globe Staff December 30, 2014
BROCKTON — The bodies of two people, one dismembered and another badly decomposed, were discovered in the woods along a dead-end road here in recent days, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said Monday.
The first body found belonged to a woman around 20 years old, with medium-length brownish hair, Cruz said. The woman’s body was dismembered, and resting beneath it were the skeletal remains of another body, so severely decomposed that its age and gender were not immediately clear.
“One of the bodies was obviously there longer than the other and therefore was in a different stage of decomposition than the body that was on top,” Cruz said. It is also possible but not clear, he said, that the older body had also been dismembered.
As detectives begin to seek answers about the bodies — who they were and who left them in the woods, which are near the VFW hall off North Quincy Street — Cruz said both had been taken to the medical examiner’s office to begin to establish a timeline....
--more--"
That's literally the end of the road.
LAST DAY UPDATE:
Identities sought of 2 bodies found in Brockton
I guess we'll never know.
UPDATE: Judge rejects request to dismiss murder charges against Blackstone mother
BALTIMORE — For seven years, 27-year-old Button had been sold up and down the West Coast by a host of violent pimps, one of whom once drove her into the desert, dragged her out of the car, and broke her nose and both of her eye sockets. The reason: She asked to leave a strip club because she was feeling sick.
Button grew up in a wealthy household on Long Island, with parents she says were loving. Still, after dropping out of college and becoming addicted to what she describes as ‘‘risky behavior,’’ Button’s parents sent her to a rehabilitation facility in California, where she met a man who would become her first trafficker.
Local and federal law enforcement agencies are trying to do more to combat sex trafficking. But the governmental, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations that provide care are scrambling to keep up.
The faith-based Samaritan Women, a residential program that is among the relatively few in the nation dedicated to long-term help for the surging numbers of victims of human trafficking, relies on grants and donations and does not accept government funding....
--more--"
"Horrors Blackstone police allegedly found detailed in court; Mother enters plea; judge denies bail" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff December 29, 2014
WORCESTER — The Blackstone mother accused of concealing the births of several of her children — two of whom were imprisoned in squalid bedrooms, where closets hid the skeletal remains of three other babies — quietly pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges on Monday, before a prosecutor offered a vivid account of the horrors police said they found in her home.
After police waded through knee-high filth and discovered two horribly neglected children in Erika L. Murray’s home in September, they secured a warrant, hoping to search the house for paperwork that might provide clues about the identity of those children, the prosecutor said.
Instead, they discovered the remains of one dead baby — and, soon after, the remains of two more, all three skeletons clothed and stashed in closets in two filthy bedrooms, Assistant District Attorney John E. Bradley Jr. said during Murray’s arraignment in Worcester Superior Court.
************
Defense lawyer Keith S. Halpern argued that Murray posed no risk of flight or further danger, and he called the murder charges premature, with the medical examiner yet to rule on the cause of death of any of the deceased babies. Judge James Lemire disagreed, ordering Murray to remain held, now without bail, at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee.
To the outside world, the 31-year-old Murray and longtime boyfriend Raymond Rivera appeared to live a quiet life in a three-bedroom home on St. Paul Street with just two children, their 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. That changed Aug. 28, Bradley said, when a neighborhood friend playing with the boy called to ask his own mother if she knew how to get a baby to stop crying.
That woman visited the house, where she found....
I can't post it, sorry.
See: Murray’s Madness
The prosecutor said Murray admitted that Rivera did not want more children after the first two — the 10- and 13-year-old — but she continued to have unprotected sex with him, giving birth five more times in a seven-year period. Bradley said Murray admitted she delivered each of those babies on her own in the home’s sole bathroom, on the first floor, before moving them upstairs “in an effort to hide the babies from her boyfriend.”
The boyfriend tearfully told reporters last month that he had been banished to the basement by Murray and had no idea of the deteriorating condition of the upper floors, or even the existence of any of the babies, but prosecutors said earlier this month that Rivera slept with Murray in the third upstairs bedroom and must have known. He was indicted Dec. 16 on charges that include assault and battery and reckless endangerment of children.
Halpern, the defense lawyer, said Murray’s admissions to police were inconsistent, the mutterings of a woman “who simply agreed with whatever they asked because it was her belief that if she went along with them she’d go home.”
--more--"
"Two bodies found in Brockton in wooded area; Remains of woman were dismembered, DA says" by Nestor Ramos, Globe Staff December 30, 2014
BROCKTON — The bodies of two people, one dismembered and another badly decomposed, were discovered in the woods along a dead-end road here in recent days, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said Monday.
The first body found belonged to a woman around 20 years old, with medium-length brownish hair, Cruz said. The woman’s body was dismembered, and resting beneath it were the skeletal remains of another body, so severely decomposed that its age and gender were not immediately clear.
“One of the bodies was obviously there longer than the other and therefore was in a different stage of decomposition than the body that was on top,” Cruz said. It is also possible but not clear, he said, that the older body had also been dismembered.
As detectives begin to seek answers about the bodies — who they were and who left them in the woods, which are near the VFW hall off North Quincy Street — Cruz said both had been taken to the medical examiner’s office to begin to establish a timeline....
--more--"
That's literally the end of the road.
LAST DAY UPDATE:
Identities sought of 2 bodies found in Brockton
I guess we'll never know.
UPDATE: Judge rejects request to dismiss murder charges against Blackstone mother
Texas Three Step
Authorities investigating after 4 found dead in Texas home
Fire kills 5 people in Texas high-rise
Plan for indigent to choose attorney will get first test in Texas
LAST DAY UPDATE: Killer’s wife pleads guilty in Texas DA murder case
I'm sure I could find a link, but WhyTF bother?
Fire kills 5 people in Texas high-rise
Plan for indigent to choose attorney will get first test in Texas
LAST DAY UPDATE: Killer’s wife pleads guilty in Texas DA murder case
I'm sure I could find a link, but WhyTF bother?
Praying For Mexican Priests
"Third priest found dead in Mexico City" Associated Press December 27, 2014
MEXICO CITY — A priest was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, his diocese said Friday, marking the latest in a series of abductions, attacks, and highway robberies against Roman Catholic clerics in an area of southern Guerrero state dominated by drug cartels.
Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta is the third Catholic priest to have been killed in the region this year.
The motive in Lopez Gorostieta’s killing remains unclear. Lopez Gorostieta was apparently kidnapped by a gang early Monday; his truck was found abandoned two days later.
--more--"
MEXICO CITY — A priest was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, his diocese said Friday, marking the latest in a series of abductions, attacks, and highway robberies against Roman Catholic clerics in an area of southern Guerrero state dominated by drug cartels.
Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta is the third Catholic priest to have been killed in the region this year.
The motive in Lopez Gorostieta’s killing remains unclear. Lopez Gorostieta was apparently kidnapped by a gang early Monday; his truck was found abandoned two days later.
--more--"
Obama Betrayed Cuban Dissidents
"Cuba-US detente upends life for Cuban dissidents" by Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press December 30, 2014
HAVANA — President Obama told the world this month that engaging Cuba is the best way to strengthen people pushing for greater freedom on the island.
But less than two weeks after it was announced, the US-Cuba detente is upending the civil society Obama hopes to strengthen. The prospect of engagement between the two Cold War antagonists seems to be undercutting the island’s hard-line dissidents while boosting more moderate activists who want to push President Raul Castro gradually toward granting citizens more liberties.
The traditional dissidents say they feel betrayed by a new US policy of negotiation with a government that Washington and the US-backed opponents worked for decades to undermine.
They say they fear that detente serves the Castro administration’s aspiration of following China and Vietnam by improving the economy without conceding significantly greater freedoms for citizens.
‘‘I think President Obama made a mistake,’’ said Berta Soler, head of the Ladies in White, Cuba’s best-known dissident group. ‘‘Cuba won’t change while the Castros are around. There will be positive changes for the government of Cuba but not for the Cuban people.’’
But moderates say the new balance of power inside the small, fractious world of Cuba’s opposition will produce political change by offering Castro a type of engagement that’s harder to reject: a negotiated, more controlled opening meant to avoid the sort of disorderly transition that scarred the former Soviet Union and, more recently, the countries of the Arab Spring.
‘‘Destabilization, disorder, anarchy — that’s never been on the agenda in the minds of Cubans, and whoever has this agenda isn’t going to be able to find space,’’ said Eliezer Avila, a 29-year-old computer engineer who leads We Are More, a small, year-old opposition group pushing for economic reform and political pluralism.
What’s unknown is whether the Cuban government will engage with the newly energized, more moderate members of civil society or will continue to sharply limit free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association as threats to the country’s single-party system. Raul Castro told Cuba’s National Assembly Dec. 20 that warmer US relations would not change the system.
A major test will come during April’s Summit of the Americas in Panama, a gathering of Western Hemispheric leaders where Obama and Raul Castro are expected to meet. A forum including figures from civil society inside Cuba is to be organized on the sidelines and appears likely to spawn debate between the United States and Cuba and among reformers from the island.
‘‘There will be some negotiations or discussions behind the scenes as to who gets invited, I would imagine,’’ said Richard Feinberg, a specialist in US-Cuban relations at the University of California San Diego.
--more--"
"Senator’s photos in exhibit
Vermont US Senator and amateur photographer Patrick Leahy will be in Brattleboro this week for a display of photos he has taken during his 40 years in the Senate. He’ll be on hand Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center for the opening of an exhibit of photos he’s calling “World Leaders and Global Citizens.” Leahy often has had access to such people beyond that afforded most press photographers. The display will include, for example, pictures of American Alan Gross as he was released from prison in Cuba earlier this month and brought back to the United States. Leahy was part of the team that traveled to Havana to retrieve Gross. Leahy’s photos also include candid shots of US presidents and of religious leaders (AP)."
Also see: Cuba embargo is Washington’s failed app
This is crazy, folks.
LAST DAY UPDATE:
This blog is dead.
HAVANA — President Obama told the world this month that engaging Cuba is the best way to strengthen people pushing for greater freedom on the island.
But less than two weeks after it was announced, the US-Cuba detente is upending the civil society Obama hopes to strengthen. The prospect of engagement between the two Cold War antagonists seems to be undercutting the island’s hard-line dissidents while boosting more moderate activists who want to push President Raul Castro gradually toward granting citizens more liberties.
The traditional dissidents say they feel betrayed by a new US policy of negotiation with a government that Washington and the US-backed opponents worked for decades to undermine.
They say they fear that detente serves the Castro administration’s aspiration of following China and Vietnam by improving the economy without conceding significantly greater freedoms for citizens.
‘‘I think President Obama made a mistake,’’ said Berta Soler, head of the Ladies in White, Cuba’s best-known dissident group. ‘‘Cuba won’t change while the Castros are around. There will be positive changes for the government of Cuba but not for the Cuban people.’’
But moderates say the new balance of power inside the small, fractious world of Cuba’s opposition will produce political change by offering Castro a type of engagement that’s harder to reject: a negotiated, more controlled opening meant to avoid the sort of disorderly transition that scarred the former Soviet Union and, more recently, the countries of the Arab Spring.
‘‘Destabilization, disorder, anarchy — that’s never been on the agenda in the minds of Cubans, and whoever has this agenda isn’t going to be able to find space,’’ said Eliezer Avila, a 29-year-old computer engineer who leads We Are More, a small, year-old opposition group pushing for economic reform and political pluralism.
What’s unknown is whether the Cuban government will engage with the newly energized, more moderate members of civil society or will continue to sharply limit free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association as threats to the country’s single-party system. Raul Castro told Cuba’s National Assembly Dec. 20 that warmer US relations would not change the system.
A major test will come during April’s Summit of the Americas in Panama, a gathering of Western Hemispheric leaders where Obama and Raul Castro are expected to meet. A forum including figures from civil society inside Cuba is to be organized on the sidelines and appears likely to spawn debate between the United States and Cuba and among reformers from the island.
‘‘There will be some negotiations or discussions behind the scenes as to who gets invited, I would imagine,’’ said Richard Feinberg, a specialist in US-Cuban relations at the University of California San Diego.
--more--"
"Senator’s photos in exhibit
Vermont US Senator and amateur photographer Patrick Leahy will be in Brattleboro this week for a display of photos he has taken during his 40 years in the Senate. He’ll be on hand Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center for the opening of an exhibit of photos he’s calling “World Leaders and Global Citizens.” Leahy often has had access to such people beyond that afforded most press photographers. The display will include, for example, pictures of American Alan Gross as he was released from prison in Cuba earlier this month and brought back to the United States. Leahy was part of the team that traveled to Havana to retrieve Gross. Leahy’s photos also include candid shots of US presidents and of religious leaders (AP)."
Also see: Cuba embargo is Washington’s failed app
This is crazy, folks.
LAST DAY UPDATE:
This blog is dead.
Tunisia Turns Back Toward Dictatorship
Related: Tunisian Election Results
Looks like fraud to me.
"Former Cabinet official elected Tunisia’s new president" by Bouazza Ben Bouazza, Associated Press December 22, 2014
TUNIS — Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old Cabinet minister from previous regimes, won Sunday’s presidential runoff, according to exit polls, cementing his dominance over a country where his party already controls Parliament.
Sigma Conseil company’s exit polls, which have consistently matched official results in Tunisia, gave Essebsi 55.5 percent of the vote and his opponent Moncef Marzouki, the outgoing interim president, 44.5 percent. Other polling companies gave similar figures.
Official results are not expected for another 48 hours.
At a celebration in his party headquarters, Essebsi urged Marzouki’s supporters to work with him to rebuild the country. ‘‘The future begins today!’’ he said. ‘‘What is important is what we do today and tomorrow for Tunisia and all its children. We must work hand in hand.’’
The runoff election, which saw low turnout by registered voters, marks the culmination of a four-year-long rocky transition to democracy, with parliamentary elections in October and the first round of presidential elections a month later.
While the moderate Islamist party Ennahda dominated politics immediately after the revolution in 2011, they were unable to address the serious economic and political challenges in the country, including terrorist attacks.
It is what I claimed was one of the goals of all these engineered overthrows: Muslims can't govern themselves.
Essebsi created Nida Tunis, a collection of former regime officials, businessmen, and trade unionists, to oppose the Islamists and to restore the ‘‘prestige of state,’’ which he said had suffered after the revolution.
There are fears that Essebsi’s domination over the executive and legislative branches of the government could result in a return to the country’s old authoritarian ways — an argument Marzouki attempted to push in his campaign.
In the end, however, Tunisians appear to have desired a return to stability and normalcy after the years of revolutionary turmoil.
A loving boot on your throat is better, yes.
‘‘Essebsi, thanks to his political experience and international ties as well as his program, can get the country out of this mess,’’ said Mehrez Rakkez, a lawyer who voted in the lower income neighborhood of Kram.
He described Marzouki’s three years as interim president as a disaster and said the vote was a choice between ‘‘life and death.’’
In nearly all countries swept by pro-democracy uprisings since the Arab Spring, there has been a some backlash since the first heady days, including government crackdowns.
In Tunisia, however, the backlash has remained within the legal framework of the transition.
The Nida Tunis coalition declared victory almost immediately after the polls closed Sunday and its celebrations had already begun at the party headquarters.
In contrast to the almost 70 percent turnout for the first round of the presidential election and the legislative balloting, the official election authority said only 56 percent of Tunisia’s 5.3 million voters cast ballots on Sunday.
--more--"
"Ex-minister confirmed as winner of Tunisia election" Associated Press December 23, 2014
TUNIS — Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old former Cabinet minister, has won Tunisia’s first free and democratic presidential elections in a runoff, the country’s election commission confirmed Monday.
Were they?
He will lead a country whose young people once electrified the world by overthrowing its 73-year-old dictator in 2011 and triggering the Arab Spring uprisings.
Related: Arab Spring Benefited Israel
Interesting.
The election result is a measure of Tunisia’s yearning for a return to stability: After four hard years of democratic transition, violence, and economic crises, this one-time revolution of the youth has turned to a symbol of the old regime.
Essebsi won 55.68 percent of the vote, according to Monday’s results. He campaigned on restoring the ‘‘prestige of the state,’’ evoking the legacy of Tunisia’s founding father Habib Bourguiba, who built the country and educated its people but brooked little opposition.
--more--"
Looks like fraud to me.
"Former Cabinet official elected Tunisia’s new president" by Bouazza Ben Bouazza, Associated Press December 22, 2014
TUNIS — Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old Cabinet minister from previous regimes, won Sunday’s presidential runoff, according to exit polls, cementing his dominance over a country where his party already controls Parliament.
Sigma Conseil company’s exit polls, which have consistently matched official results in Tunisia, gave Essebsi 55.5 percent of the vote and his opponent Moncef Marzouki, the outgoing interim president, 44.5 percent. Other polling companies gave similar figures.
Official results are not expected for another 48 hours.
At a celebration in his party headquarters, Essebsi urged Marzouki’s supporters to work with him to rebuild the country. ‘‘The future begins today!’’ he said. ‘‘What is important is what we do today and tomorrow for Tunisia and all its children. We must work hand in hand.’’
The runoff election, which saw low turnout by registered voters, marks the culmination of a four-year-long rocky transition to democracy, with parliamentary elections in October and the first round of presidential elections a month later.
While the moderate Islamist party Ennahda dominated politics immediately after the revolution in 2011, they were unable to address the serious economic and political challenges in the country, including terrorist attacks.
It is what I claimed was one of the goals of all these engineered overthrows: Muslims can't govern themselves.
Essebsi created Nida Tunis, a collection of former regime officials, businessmen, and trade unionists, to oppose the Islamists and to restore the ‘‘prestige of state,’’ which he said had suffered after the revolution.
There are fears that Essebsi’s domination over the executive and legislative branches of the government could result in a return to the country’s old authoritarian ways — an argument Marzouki attempted to push in his campaign.
In the end, however, Tunisians appear to have desired a return to stability and normalcy after the years of revolutionary turmoil.
A loving boot on your throat is better, yes.
‘‘Essebsi, thanks to his political experience and international ties as well as his program, can get the country out of this mess,’’ said Mehrez Rakkez, a lawyer who voted in the lower income neighborhood of Kram.
He described Marzouki’s three years as interim president as a disaster and said the vote was a choice between ‘‘life and death.’’
In nearly all countries swept by pro-democracy uprisings since the Arab Spring, there has been a some backlash since the first heady days, including government crackdowns.
In Tunisia, however, the backlash has remained within the legal framework of the transition.
The Nida Tunis coalition declared victory almost immediately after the polls closed Sunday and its celebrations had already begun at the party headquarters.
In contrast to the almost 70 percent turnout for the first round of the presidential election and the legislative balloting, the official election authority said only 56 percent of Tunisia’s 5.3 million voters cast ballots on Sunday.
--more--"
"Ex-minister confirmed as winner of Tunisia election" Associated Press December 23, 2014
TUNIS — Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old former Cabinet minister, has won Tunisia’s first free and democratic presidential elections in a runoff, the country’s election commission confirmed Monday.
Were they?
He will lead a country whose young people once electrified the world by overthrowing its 73-year-old dictator in 2011 and triggering the Arab Spring uprisings.
Related: Arab Spring Benefited Israel
Interesting.
The election result is a measure of Tunisia’s yearning for a return to stability: After four hard years of democratic transition, violence, and economic crises, this one-time revolution of the youth has turned to a symbol of the old regime.
Essebsi won 55.68 percent of the vote, according to Monday’s results. He campaigned on restoring the ‘‘prestige of the state,’’ evoking the legacy of Tunisia’s founding father Habib Bourguiba, who built the country and educated its people but brooked little opposition.
--more--"
Greece Sinking
See:
Rescuers battle blaze, elements off Greek coast
Death toll in the Greek ferry fire rises to 10
Also see: Greek Election
"Romania’s new president sworn in with promise to fight corruption" by Alison MutlerAssociated Press December 22, 2014
BUCHAREST — In Greece on Sunday, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras offered to set a date for early elections toward the end of next year. He is seeking to rally lawmakers behind the government’s candidate for president in a crucial vote this week.
On Tuesday, the Greek Parliament will hold the second in a three-stage ballot in the presidential vote, which Samaras called this month. There have been claims that lawmakers have been offered bribes to back the government candidate, Stavros Dimas.
The country is drowning in corruption.
A victory by Dimas would be tantamount to a vote of confidence in Samaras’s coalition, which is working with international creditors to help keep credit flowing in the nation.
But with just 155 seats in the 300-member Parliament, the government is certain to fall far short of the 200 votes required to approve Dimas. In the final ballot next Monday, the threshold for approval falls to 180 votes. If Dimas fails to garner at least 180 votes, a special general election will be called. According to opinion polls, the leftist party Syriza, which opposes the terms of the country’s bailouts, would win early elections, potentially throwing the country’s economic course into disarray.
Expect a rigging like before.
Meanwhile, Romania’s Parliament swore in a former mayor as the country’s new president after an election he called a triumph for democracy 25 years after communism ended.
Pro-Western Klaus Iohannis, 55, promises a different style from combative outgoing leader Traian Basescu, who left office Sunday having served 10 years.
Iohannis vowed to fight corruption and build ‘‘a powerful nation,’’ as he took an oath Sunday before Parliament, then headed to the presidential palace to formally take over from Basescu.
‘‘Mentalities must be chang-ed,’’ he told lawmakers and dignitaries. ‘‘I want a Romania where there is no place for putting on a show’’ in politics.
He surprisingly defeated Prime Minister Victor Ponta in the Nov. 16 runoff, tapping into anger from thousands of overseas voters who were unable to vote in the first round. Iohannis received hundreds of thousands of votes from Romanians who work abroad, which he called ‘‘a triumph for democracy.’’
I've still got plenty.
Related: Romania Pontas
Time for me to kick, too.
--more--"
"Presidential vote falls short in Greece" New York Times December 24, 2014
ATHENS — Greece’s Parliament failed Tuesday to elect a new president in the second of three rounds of voting that will either enable the coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to remain in power or lead to a general election and new political and financial upheaval.
The coalition’s candidate, Stavros Dimas, performed better than expected, raising the government’s hopes before the final round of voting next Monday, though he still fell short of the majority required.
The government has put in place an economic program that includes unpopular austerity measures demanded by Greece’s international creditors. If an election were called, opinion polls suggest that a leftist party that opposes those measures would win.
A total of 168 lawmakers in Greece’s 300-seat Parliament backed Dimas, a former European commissioner, with 131 voting against him and one absent. The support was short of the 200 votes needed in the second round of voting. But the backing for Dimas rose from the 160 amassed in the first round last week and was closer to the 180 votes required next week, when the threshold for approval drops.
The increase in support followed an offer by Samaras on Sunday to set a date for early elections toward the end of next year — before his coalition’s term ends in June 2016 — in exchange for support for his presidential candidate. Samaras also proposed broadening his government to include “pro-European personalities” in a bid to appeal to undecided opposition lawmakers.
The Samaras coalition controls 155 of the Greek Parliament’s 300 seats. If the government’s candidate fails to attract the votes needed in the third round, elections will be called for late January or early February.
--more--"
"Greece heading to early elections after presidential vote fails" by Niki Kitsantonis, New York Times December 30, 2014
ATHENS — Greece’s Parliament failed to elect a new president Monday in the final round of a three-stage vote, paving the way for early general elections that could open the door to a leftist party that opposes the terms of the country’s international bailouts.
They oppose the debt en$lavement that comes with them.
**********
“The country has no time to lose,” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said. “We did what we could to elect a president and avert early elections and the dangers they entail. Now, what Parliament failed to do, the people must do.”
Speaking after the vote, Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the opposition Syriza party that is ahead in opinion polls, was jubilant and called it “a historic day for Greek democracy.”
Don't let them steal it this time.
“Greek MPs showed that democracy cannot be blackmailed, however much pressure is exerted,” he said. “Today the government of Mr. Samaras, which has looted society for the past 2½ years, belongs to the past.”
The new political upheaval in Greece has not caused panic like that felt across the eurozone in 2012, when it seemed possible that the country could be forced to abandon the euro, which shook the bloc that shares that currency.
The prospect of elections has unsettled international markets and Greece’s creditors, however, because the leftist Syriza, which has pledged to renegotiate the country’s international bailouts and to seek a write-down of Greece’s huge debt, is expected to win.
Polls show the leftists firmly ahead of Samaras’ conservative New Democracy party, although Syriza’s lead has narrowed as the prospect of protracted political and financial uncertainty has grown.
The FIX is IN AGAIN!
In an interview with state television over the weekend, Samaras pushed opposition legislators to align with the government in Monday’s vote, saying that failing to elect a president would be “political blackmail” and would result in “pointless upheaval” for the country.
Despite furious lobbying by the government, the governing coalition’s candidate, Stavros Dimas, a former European commissioner, received only 168 votes, the same number as in the second ballot last week and eight more than in the first vote on Dec. 17.
Samaras accused Syriza of “foolish bravado,” adding that the leftists’ economic program was “full of unilateral moves” that would jeopardize the country’s fragile return to growth.
Meaning the bankers will bend them over but good!
--more--"
Early elections could be held on Jan. 25.
Related: The euro trades at nearly a two-year low amid Greece’s turmoil
Nothing to fear, though.
LAST DAY UPDATES:
"Stock market slips amid worry about Greece
Lingering concerns about the political future of Greece pushed US and global stock markets lower amid slow trading ahead of the holiday. Greek stocks stabilized on Tuesday following Monday’s volatility, after the government was forced to call elections that could create more economic turmoil. ‘An election puts all sorts of doubt on the future of the bailout agreement,’ said one market strategist. Stocks were expected to be quiet on Wednesday. In other markets, the dollar fell against the euro and yen. Gold continued its march higher. Silver and copper also rose."
Money and its tie to politics are very important, but life is more preciou$:
"Italian prosecutors order ferry back to Italy" Associated Press December 31, 2014
BRINDISI, Italy — Italian authorities warned Tuesday that more bodies will probably be found when the blackened hulk of a Greek ferry is towed to Italy, as part of a criminal investigation amid confusion over the number of missing due to huge discrepancies between the names on the manifest and those rescued.
The fire-tinged Norman Atlantic was adrift for a third day off the Albanian coast, where two sailors were killed earlier Tuesday when a tow line attempting to secure it to a tugboat apparently snapped, Albanian officials said. Three of the victims were Italian truck drivers who worked for the Naples-based Eurofish company and had gone to pick up eel shipments in Greece.
More than 400 people were rescued from the ferry, most in daring, nighttime helicopter sorties amid high winds and seas, after a fire broke out before dawn Sunday on a car deck. Both Italian and Greek authorities have announced criminal investigations into the cause of the blaze.
**********
Greek maritime officials, meanwhile, revealed that the first word about the problems on board the ship came from a passenger, not the crew....
Uh-oh.
Meanwhile, Italian authorities took control Tuesday of a cargo ship carrying hundreds of migrants after the crew disappeared and set it on a programmed route to crash into a coast, officials said.
The alarm was first raised about the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M after a passenger sent a distress call Tuesday when the ship was off Greece.
Again? For real?
--more--"
Time for me to ship on out.
Rescuers battle blaze, elements off Greek coast
Death toll in the Greek ferry fire rises to 10
Also see: Greek Election
"Romania’s new president sworn in with promise to fight corruption" by Alison MutlerAssociated Press December 22, 2014
BUCHAREST — In Greece on Sunday, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras offered to set a date for early elections toward the end of next year. He is seeking to rally lawmakers behind the government’s candidate for president in a crucial vote this week.
On Tuesday, the Greek Parliament will hold the second in a three-stage ballot in the presidential vote, which Samaras called this month. There have been claims that lawmakers have been offered bribes to back the government candidate, Stavros Dimas.
The country is drowning in corruption.
A victory by Dimas would be tantamount to a vote of confidence in Samaras’s coalition, which is working with international creditors to help keep credit flowing in the nation.
But with just 155 seats in the 300-member Parliament, the government is certain to fall far short of the 200 votes required to approve Dimas. In the final ballot next Monday, the threshold for approval falls to 180 votes. If Dimas fails to garner at least 180 votes, a special general election will be called. According to opinion polls, the leftist party Syriza, which opposes the terms of the country’s bailouts, would win early elections, potentially throwing the country’s economic course into disarray.
Expect a rigging like before.
Meanwhile, Romania’s Parliament swore in a former mayor as the country’s new president after an election he called a triumph for democracy 25 years after communism ended.
Pro-Western Klaus Iohannis, 55, promises a different style from combative outgoing leader Traian Basescu, who left office Sunday having served 10 years.
Iohannis vowed to fight corruption and build ‘‘a powerful nation,’’ as he took an oath Sunday before Parliament, then headed to the presidential palace to formally take over from Basescu.
‘‘Mentalities must be chang-ed,’’ he told lawmakers and dignitaries. ‘‘I want a Romania where there is no place for putting on a show’’ in politics.
He surprisingly defeated Prime Minister Victor Ponta in the Nov. 16 runoff, tapping into anger from thousands of overseas voters who were unable to vote in the first round. Iohannis received hundreds of thousands of votes from Romanians who work abroad, which he called ‘‘a triumph for democracy.’’
I've still got plenty.
Related: Romania Pontas
Time for me to kick, too.
--more--"
"Presidential vote falls short in Greece" New York Times December 24, 2014
ATHENS — Greece’s Parliament failed Tuesday to elect a new president in the second of three rounds of voting that will either enable the coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to remain in power or lead to a general election and new political and financial upheaval.
The coalition’s candidate, Stavros Dimas, performed better than expected, raising the government’s hopes before the final round of voting next Monday, though he still fell short of the majority required.
The government has put in place an economic program that includes unpopular austerity measures demanded by Greece’s international creditors. If an election were called, opinion polls suggest that a leftist party that opposes those measures would win.
A total of 168 lawmakers in Greece’s 300-seat Parliament backed Dimas, a former European commissioner, with 131 voting against him and one absent. The support was short of the 200 votes needed in the second round of voting. But the backing for Dimas rose from the 160 amassed in the first round last week and was closer to the 180 votes required next week, when the threshold for approval drops.
The increase in support followed an offer by Samaras on Sunday to set a date for early elections toward the end of next year — before his coalition’s term ends in June 2016 — in exchange for support for his presidential candidate. Samaras also proposed broadening his government to include “pro-European personalities” in a bid to appeal to undecided opposition lawmakers.
The Samaras coalition controls 155 of the Greek Parliament’s 300 seats. If the government’s candidate fails to attract the votes needed in the third round, elections will be called for late January or early February.
--more--"
"Greece heading to early elections after presidential vote fails" by Niki Kitsantonis, New York Times December 30, 2014
ATHENS — Greece’s Parliament failed to elect a new president Monday in the final round of a three-stage vote, paving the way for early general elections that could open the door to a leftist party that opposes the terms of the country’s international bailouts.
They oppose the debt en$lavement that comes with them.
**********
“The country has no time to lose,” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said. “We did what we could to elect a president and avert early elections and the dangers they entail. Now, what Parliament failed to do, the people must do.”
Speaking after the vote, Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the opposition Syriza party that is ahead in opinion polls, was jubilant and called it “a historic day for Greek democracy.”
Don't let them steal it this time.
“Greek MPs showed that democracy cannot be blackmailed, however much pressure is exerted,” he said. “Today the government of Mr. Samaras, which has looted society for the past 2½ years, belongs to the past.”
The new political upheaval in Greece has not caused panic like that felt across the eurozone in 2012, when it seemed possible that the country could be forced to abandon the euro, which shook the bloc that shares that currency.
The prospect of elections has unsettled international markets and Greece’s creditors, however, because the leftist Syriza, which has pledged to renegotiate the country’s international bailouts and to seek a write-down of Greece’s huge debt, is expected to win.
Polls show the leftists firmly ahead of Samaras’ conservative New Democracy party, although Syriza’s lead has narrowed as the prospect of protracted political and financial uncertainty has grown.
The FIX is IN AGAIN!
In an interview with state television over the weekend, Samaras pushed opposition legislators to align with the government in Monday’s vote, saying that failing to elect a president would be “political blackmail” and would result in “pointless upheaval” for the country.
Despite furious lobbying by the government, the governing coalition’s candidate, Stavros Dimas, a former European commissioner, received only 168 votes, the same number as in the second ballot last week and eight more than in the first vote on Dec. 17.
Samaras accused Syriza of “foolish bravado,” adding that the leftists’ economic program was “full of unilateral moves” that would jeopardize the country’s fragile return to growth.
Meaning the bankers will bend them over but good!
--more--"
Early elections could be held on Jan. 25.
Related: The euro trades at nearly a two-year low amid Greece’s turmoil
Nothing to fear, though.
LAST DAY UPDATES:
"Stock market slips amid worry about Greece
Lingering concerns about the political future of Greece pushed US and global stock markets lower amid slow trading ahead of the holiday. Greek stocks stabilized on Tuesday following Monday’s volatility, after the government was forced to call elections that could create more economic turmoil. ‘An election puts all sorts of doubt on the future of the bailout agreement,’ said one market strategist. Stocks were expected to be quiet on Wednesday. In other markets, the dollar fell against the euro and yen. Gold continued its march higher. Silver and copper also rose."
Money and its tie to politics are very important, but life is more preciou$:
"Italian prosecutors order ferry back to Italy" Associated Press December 31, 2014
BRINDISI, Italy — Italian authorities warned Tuesday that more bodies will probably be found when the blackened hulk of a Greek ferry is towed to Italy, as part of a criminal investigation amid confusion over the number of missing due to huge discrepancies between the names on the manifest and those rescued.
The fire-tinged Norman Atlantic was adrift for a third day off the Albanian coast, where two sailors were killed earlier Tuesday when a tow line attempting to secure it to a tugboat apparently snapped, Albanian officials said. Three of the victims were Italian truck drivers who worked for the Naples-based Eurofish company and had gone to pick up eel shipments in Greece.
More than 400 people were rescued from the ferry, most in daring, nighttime helicopter sorties amid high winds and seas, after a fire broke out before dawn Sunday on a car deck. Both Italian and Greek authorities have announced criminal investigations into the cause of the blaze.
**********
Greek maritime officials, meanwhile, revealed that the first word about the problems on board the ship came from a passenger, not the crew....
Uh-oh.
Meanwhile, Italian authorities took control Tuesday of a cargo ship carrying hundreds of migrants after the crew disappeared and set it on a programmed route to crash into a coast, officials said.
The alarm was first raised about the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M after a passenger sent a distress call Tuesday when the ship was off Greece.
Again? For real?
--more--"
Time for me to ship on out.
Murder at Myanmar Copper Mine
"Woman fatally shot at Myanmar mine protest" Associated Press December 23, 2014
YANGON, Myanmar — A woman was fatally shot Monday during a crackdown on protesters at a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine in northwestern Myanmar.
Khin San Hlaing, a lawmaker from the National League for Democracy party, said the confrontation at the Letpadaung copper-mine project occurred as police and Chinese workers erected a fence on land that the villagers claimed as theirs.
She said a woman in her 50s was shot in the head, though it was not clear whether she was shot by police or mining company security personnel. Photos taken at the scene showed the dead woman bleeding from her head, and a wounded man sitting with blood on his thigh. Khin San Hlaing said 12 people were wounded, with nine hospitalized, including two in critical condition.
An official from the mine expressed sorry Tuesday at the death and said it will impact the company’s relationship with the community. “We have lost a member of the Letpadaung family and we feel very sorry,’’ said Cao Desheng, a public relations officer from Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd.
--more--"
YANGON, Myanmar — A woman was fatally shot Monday during a crackdown on protesters at a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine in northwestern Myanmar.
Khin San Hlaing, a lawmaker from the National League for Democracy party, said the confrontation at the Letpadaung copper-mine project occurred as police and Chinese workers erected a fence on land that the villagers claimed as theirs.
She said a woman in her 50s was shot in the head, though it was not clear whether she was shot by police or mining company security personnel. Photos taken at the scene showed the dead woman bleeding from her head, and a wounded man sitting with blood on his thigh. Khin San Hlaing said 12 people were wounded, with nine hospitalized, including two in critical condition.
An official from the mine expressed sorry Tuesday at the death and said it will impact the company’s relationship with the community. “We have lost a member of the Letpadaung family and we feel very sorry,’’ said Cao Desheng, a public relations officer from Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd.
--more--"
Cambodian Crisis
"Cambodian villagers angry over HIV outbreak" Associated Press December 19, 2014
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia’s prime minister appealed Thursday to villagers in northwestern Cambodia not to lynch an unlicensed medical practitioner who they suspect caused more than 100 people to become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
A joint statement from the ministry and the World Health Organization said some people who tested positive for the disease had earlier received care from the unlicensed medical practitioner. HIV spreads through the transmission of bodily fluids, such as the reuse of syringes or needles.
Reports in the Phnom Penh Post and other newspapers said the practitioner was taken into protective custody by police after threats from villagers. Prime Minister Hun Sen urged authorities to give the man full protection.
Hun Sen said health officials should be allowed time to make a full investigation.
The Health Ministry said a team including experts from US and UN agencies was sent to Battambang province ‘‘to determine the source, extent, and chain of transmission.’’
--more--"
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia’s prime minister appealed Thursday to villagers in northwestern Cambodia not to lynch an unlicensed medical practitioner who they suspect caused more than 100 people to become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
A joint statement from the ministry and the World Health Organization said some people who tested positive for the disease had earlier received care from the unlicensed medical practitioner. HIV spreads through the transmission of bodily fluids, such as the reuse of syringes or needles.
Reports in the Phnom Penh Post and other newspapers said the practitioner was taken into protective custody by police after threats from villagers. Prime Minister Hun Sen urged authorities to give the man full protection.
Hun Sen said health officials should be allowed time to make a full investigation.
The Health Ministry said a team including experts from US and UN agencies was sent to Battambang province ‘‘to determine the source, extent, and chain of transmission.’’
--more--"
Monkey Shines in India
"Life-saving monkey steps in to aid a friend after electric shock" Associated Press December 26, 2014
NEW DELHI — Onlookers at a train station in northern India watched in awe as a monkey came to the rescue of an injured friend — resuscitating another monkey that had been electrically shocked and knocked unconscious.
Certain humans torture using such methods, and are considered heroes.
The injured rhesus monkey had fallen between the tracks, apparently after touching high-tension wires at the train station in the north Indian city of Kanpur.
His companion came to the rescue and was captured on camera lifting the friend’s motionless body, shaking it, dipping it into a mud puddle, and biting its head and skin — working until the hurt monkey regained consciousness.
The first monkey, completely covered in mud, opened its eyes and began moving again.
Crowds of travelers watched the Sunday scene in amazement, filming and snapping pictures.
Rhesus macaque monkeys have a high degree of social behavior and show an array of cognitive abilities in psychological tests, including self-initiative and understanding of simple rules. Most of the studies have been done on rhesus monkeys from northern India.
The monkeys are used widely in science and medical research because they are widely available and easy to maintain in the laboratory.
The rhesus factor, a factor in blood typing, takes its name from the species.
--more--"
Also see: Pakistan court suspends detention of Mumbai attack planner
Try to think of it as a Xmas present.
Animals treat each other better than humans.
LAST DAY UPDATE: Alleged leader of Mumbai attacks faces new charge
It's the "latest twist demonstrating the pressure the government is under to keep Lakhvi behind bars because of diplomatic protests by India and concerns expressed by the United States."
NEW DELHI — Onlookers at a train station in northern India watched in awe as a monkey came to the rescue of an injured friend — resuscitating another monkey that had been electrically shocked and knocked unconscious.
Certain humans torture using such methods, and are considered heroes.
The injured rhesus monkey had fallen between the tracks, apparently after touching high-tension wires at the train station in the north Indian city of Kanpur.
His companion came to the rescue and was captured on camera lifting the friend’s motionless body, shaking it, dipping it into a mud puddle, and biting its head and skin — working until the hurt monkey regained consciousness.
The first monkey, completely covered in mud, opened its eyes and began moving again.
Crowds of travelers watched the Sunday scene in amazement, filming and snapping pictures.
Rhesus macaque monkeys have a high degree of social behavior and show an array of cognitive abilities in psychological tests, including self-initiative and understanding of simple rules. Most of the studies have been done on rhesus monkeys from northern India.
The monkeys are used widely in science and medical research because they are widely available and easy to maintain in the laboratory.
The rhesus factor, a factor in blood typing, takes its name from the species.
--more--"
Also see: Pakistan court suspends detention of Mumbai attack planner
Try to think of it as a Xmas present.
Animals treat each other better than humans.
LAST DAY UPDATE: Alleged leader of Mumbai attacks faces new charge
It's the "latest twist demonstrating the pressure the government is under to keep Lakhvi behind bars because of diplomatic protests by India and concerns expressed by the United States."
The Globe is a Jungle
"22 indicted in multistate dog-fighting ring" Associated Press December 23, 2014
BALTIMORE — After the raid of a multistate dog-fighting ring, 22 people face charges and hundreds of dogs have been placed in shelters, authorities said Monday.
A Baltimore grand jury returned indictments against 22 people involved in the ring, 14 of whom were in custody. They all face charges of animal cruelty, dog fighting, and conspiracy.
The indictments came last week after a yearlong investigation. Authorities raided 18 locations in the Baltimore area and a compound in West Virginia. The ring also had links in New York and in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., where several alleged members were part of a dog-fighting bust in April 2013.
In all, authorities said they recovered 225 dogs, including 50 puppies, and at least 20 weapons. At least one dog had died after a fight, officials said.
‘‘These indictments bring into the light a form of brutality that for too long has unfolded in the forgotten basements and backyards of Baltimore and beyond,’’ said Thiru Vignarajah of the major investigations unit at the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office.
--more--"
Related(?): 13 puppies snatched from Manchester pet store
"Oldest of zoo gorillas turns 58 at Ohio facility" Associated Press December 23, 2014
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The first gorilla born in a zoo turned 58 on Monday with a celebration transmitted live to online viewers from her Ohio home.
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium says the female western lowland gorilla, named Colo, celebrated her birthday with an Ohio-shaped cake made of peanut butter, applesauce, honey, shredded carrots, and Greek yogurt frosting.
Colo was born at the zoo in 1956. Officials there say she is the oldest gorilla in any zoo. She is the mother of three, and her family tree includes more than two dozen descendants living at zoos across the country.
Meanwhile, in Argentina on Monday, a court ruled that an orangutan who has lived 20 years at the Buenos Aires zoo is entitled to some legal rights enjoyed by humans, a decision the ape’s attorney called unprecedented.
--more--"
Also see:
Nature center wants dead mice to feed to its animals
For six lucky families, Christmas elves bring kittens
Feline fame in cyberspace gives species a boost
Dog believed stolen from Dorchester yard
PETA wins suit for names of UConn researchers
Kinda going up the food chain there.
BALTIMORE — After the raid of a multistate dog-fighting ring, 22 people face charges and hundreds of dogs have been placed in shelters, authorities said Monday.
A Baltimore grand jury returned indictments against 22 people involved in the ring, 14 of whom were in custody. They all face charges of animal cruelty, dog fighting, and conspiracy.
The indictments came last week after a yearlong investigation. Authorities raided 18 locations in the Baltimore area and a compound in West Virginia. The ring also had links in New York and in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., where several alleged members were part of a dog-fighting bust in April 2013.
In all, authorities said they recovered 225 dogs, including 50 puppies, and at least 20 weapons. At least one dog had died after a fight, officials said.
‘‘These indictments bring into the light a form of brutality that for too long has unfolded in the forgotten basements and backyards of Baltimore and beyond,’’ said Thiru Vignarajah of the major investigations unit at the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office.
--more--"
Related(?): 13 puppies snatched from Manchester pet store
"Oldest of zoo gorillas turns 58 at Ohio facility" Associated Press December 23, 2014
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The first gorilla born in a zoo turned 58 on Monday with a celebration transmitted live to online viewers from her Ohio home.
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium says the female western lowland gorilla, named Colo, celebrated her birthday with an Ohio-shaped cake made of peanut butter, applesauce, honey, shredded carrots, and Greek yogurt frosting.
Colo was born at the zoo in 1956. Officials there say she is the oldest gorilla in any zoo. She is the mother of three, and her family tree includes more than two dozen descendants living at zoos across the country.
Meanwhile, in Argentina on Monday, a court ruled that an orangutan who has lived 20 years at the Buenos Aires zoo is entitled to some legal rights enjoyed by humans, a decision the ape’s attorney called unprecedented.
--more--"
Also see:
Nature center wants dead mice to feed to its animals
For six lucky families, Christmas elves bring kittens
Feline fame in cyberspace gives species a boost
Dog believed stolen from Dorchester yard
PETA wins suit for names of UConn researchers
Kinda going up the food chain there.
Bearing an Eviction
Bear loose in suburban Phoenix is finally wrangled
The bear was captured Christmas morning in the backyard of an empty home.
The bear was captured Christmas morning in the backyard of an empty home.
New Hampshire Hunter Shoots at Home
"N.H. hunter faces charges after bullet penetrates home" by Trisha Thadani, Globe Correspondent December 16, 2014
Raymond and Sandra Gladu were sitting in their living room Monday in Pelham, N.H., when suddenly they heard a loud bang, saw a cloud of dust appear over Raymond’s head, and found a bullet hole in the wall.
Then came a knock on the door. Michael Crooker, 25, was there to apologize for shooting a 12-gauge shotgun in the direction of their home.
Crooker, of Pelham, had been trying to shoot a deer in the nearby woods, but he missed and the bullet went through the Gladus’ Campbell Road home, Pelham police said.
No one was injured. But the Gladus were “in absolute disbelief” and “emotionally upset,” police said.
Would they feel differently if it were a bear?
Crooker was arrested and charged with felony reckless conduct, shooting a firearm within 300 feet of an occupied dwelling, unlawful use of a firearm, negligent discharge of firearms, and attempting to shoot a deer out of season, police said.
He was released on bail and was scheduled to appear Jan. 26 in 10th Circuit District Court in Salem, N.H., according to police.
Sergeant Michael Pickles said in a telephone interview that he did not know if Crooker was a licensed hunter but, regardless, he was hunting eight days after the hunting season ended on Dec. 7 in New Hampshire.
During the season, which begins Nov. 12, Pickles said, police respond to a lot of calls that involve hunting.
Recently, police said they have responded to nine complaints of hunters shooting too close to people’s homes.
--more--"
Raymond and Sandra Gladu were sitting in their living room Monday in Pelham, N.H., when suddenly they heard a loud bang, saw a cloud of dust appear over Raymond’s head, and found a bullet hole in the wall.
Then came a knock on the door. Michael Crooker, 25, was there to apologize for shooting a 12-gauge shotgun in the direction of their home.
Crooker, of Pelham, had been trying to shoot a deer in the nearby woods, but he missed and the bullet went through the Gladus’ Campbell Road home, Pelham police said.
No one was injured. But the Gladus were “in absolute disbelief” and “emotionally upset,” police said.
Would they feel differently if it were a bear?
Crooker was arrested and charged with felony reckless conduct, shooting a firearm within 300 feet of an occupied dwelling, unlawful use of a firearm, negligent discharge of firearms, and attempting to shoot a deer out of season, police said.
He was released on bail and was scheduled to appear Jan. 26 in 10th Circuit District Court in Salem, N.H., according to police.
Sergeant Michael Pickles said in a telephone interview that he did not know if Crooker was a licensed hunter but, regardless, he was hunting eight days after the hunting season ended on Dec. 7 in New Hampshire.
During the season, which begins Nov. 12, Pickles said, police respond to a lot of calls that involve hunting.
Recently, police said they have responded to nine complaints of hunters shooting too close to people’s homes.
--more--"
South Carolina Stingy About Justice For Stinney
It took how long?
"Judge: Boy, 14, shouldn’t have been executed in SC" by Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press December 18, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. — More than 70 years after South Carolina sent a 14-year-old black youth to the electric chair in the killings of two white girls in a segregated mill town, a judge threw out the conviction, saying the state committed a great injustice.
Why mu$t it always take them $o long to admit it?
George Stinney was arrested, convicted of murder in a one-day trial, and executed in 1944 — all in the span of about three months and without an appeal.
Justice delayed is justice denied, but that's taking it a bit far.
The speed in which the state meted out justice against the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century was shocking and extremely unfair, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen wrote in her ruling Wednesday.
Investigators arrested Stinney, saying witnesses saw him with the girls as they picked flowers. He was kept away from his parents after his arrest, and authorities later said he confessed.
His supporters said he was a small, frail boy so scared that he said whatever he thought would make the authorities happy.
Like what torture would do.
They said there was no physical evidence linking him to the deaths....
--more--"
Related: Court considers new trial in 1944 case
Also see: Body of autistic boy, 4, found in S.C. pond
Looks like murder to me.
The culprit?
"The ultimate cause of autism remains a mystery in most cases, but he findings add to other research suggesting the environment plays a role in the development of autism, a developmental disorder marked by repetitive behaviors and trouble communicating and socializing."
Yeah, it's anything and everything but the damn vaccines.
Time to get back to work.
"Judge: Boy, 14, shouldn’t have been executed in SC" by Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press December 18, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. — More than 70 years after South Carolina sent a 14-year-old black youth to the electric chair in the killings of two white girls in a segregated mill town, a judge threw out the conviction, saying the state committed a great injustice.
Why mu$t it always take them $o long to admit it?
George Stinney was arrested, convicted of murder in a one-day trial, and executed in 1944 — all in the span of about three months and without an appeal.
Justice delayed is justice denied, but that's taking it a bit far.
The speed in which the state meted out justice against the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century was shocking and extremely unfair, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen wrote in her ruling Wednesday.
Investigators arrested Stinney, saying witnesses saw him with the girls as they picked flowers. He was kept away from his parents after his arrest, and authorities later said he confessed.
His supporters said he was a small, frail boy so scared that he said whatever he thought would make the authorities happy.
Like what torture would do.
They said there was no physical evidence linking him to the deaths....
--more--"
Related: Court considers new trial in 1944 case
Also see: Body of autistic boy, 4, found in S.C. pond
Looks like murder to me.
The culprit?
"The ultimate cause of autism remains a mystery in most cases, but he findings add to other research suggesting the environment plays a role in the development of autism, a developmental disorder marked by repetitive behaviors and trouble communicating and socializing."
Yeah, it's anything and everything but the damn vaccines.
Time to get back to work.
Kelley’s Hero
Related: Kelley’s Escapade
"Mom jailed in custody case" by Kathy McCormack, Associated Press December 19, 2014
LANCASTER, N.H. — A woman who was accused of fleeing with her daughter to Central America in a custody dispute 10 years ago and recently returned home was sent to jail on Thursday to await trial.
Genevieve Kelley returned to New Hampshire last month to face a custodial interference charge in Coos County. She will not disclose the location of her daughter, 18-year-old Mary Nunes, but said she is safe.
Kelley had been free on bail. But a judge on Thursday reset her bail at $250,000 cash after prosecutors raised questions about whether she has failed to turn over passports she may hold in other names.
The judge did not rule on the prosecutor’s request to order that Nunes be brought out of hiding, but said he does not have the authority to force her to undergo a psychological evaluation. County Attorney John McCormick had wanted the court to order an evaluation and treatment of Nunes free from her mother’s influence.
Kelley, of Whitefield, is under orders to have no contact with her daughter. Her lawyer, John McKinnon, said the prosecutor has no legal basis to support the request.
McKinnon said an 18-year-old cannot be forced to appear before the court ‘‘without her even being accused of having committed a crime or being a threat to herself or anyone else.’’
In October 2003, Kelley canceled a daughter-father visit and reported to the state Division of Children, Youth and Families that Nunes was abused by her father. Police and state investigators felt he was unfairly accused, and he was never charged.
By November 2004, Kelley had moved to Colorado with her daughter and they were ordered to appear for an evaluation, but never showed up. McCormick said in a motion that Kelley fled with her 8-year-old daughter amid the litigation over the child’s visitation schedule with Mark Nunes, the child’s father and Kelley’s ex-husband.
The following December, Mark Nunes was given custody of Mary, but she had already disappeared with her mother. Kelley was indicted in 2005.
Nunes last saw his daughter when she was 7, and hopes to reunite with her.
--more--"
Maybe doing an interview with the Globe was a mistake.
UPDATE: Judge rules teen in N.H. custody case may be questioned
"Mom jailed in custody case" by Kathy McCormack, Associated Press December 19, 2014
LANCASTER, N.H. — A woman who was accused of fleeing with her daughter to Central America in a custody dispute 10 years ago and recently returned home was sent to jail on Thursday to await trial.
Genevieve Kelley returned to New Hampshire last month to face a custodial interference charge in Coos County. She will not disclose the location of her daughter, 18-year-old Mary Nunes, but said she is safe.
Kelley had been free on bail. But a judge on Thursday reset her bail at $250,000 cash after prosecutors raised questions about whether she has failed to turn over passports she may hold in other names.
The judge did not rule on the prosecutor’s request to order that Nunes be brought out of hiding, but said he does not have the authority to force her to undergo a psychological evaluation. County Attorney John McCormick had wanted the court to order an evaluation and treatment of Nunes free from her mother’s influence.
Kelley, of Whitefield, is under orders to have no contact with her daughter. Her lawyer, John McKinnon, said the prosecutor has no legal basis to support the request.
McKinnon said an 18-year-old cannot be forced to appear before the court ‘‘without her even being accused of having committed a crime or being a threat to herself or anyone else.’’
In October 2003, Kelley canceled a daughter-father visit and reported to the state Division of Children, Youth and Families that Nunes was abused by her father. Police and state investigators felt he was unfairly accused, and he was never charged.
By November 2004, Kelley had moved to Colorado with her daughter and they were ordered to appear for an evaluation, but never showed up. McCormick said in a motion that Kelley fled with her 8-year-old daughter amid the litigation over the child’s visitation schedule with Mark Nunes, the child’s father and Kelley’s ex-husband.
The following December, Mark Nunes was given custody of Mary, but she had already disappeared with her mother. Kelley was indicted in 2005.
Nunes last saw his daughter when she was 7, and hopes to reunite with her.
--more--"
Maybe doing an interview with the Globe was a mistake.
UPDATE: Judge rules teen in N.H. custody case may be questioned
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