Cardinal Bernard Law, symbol of church sex abuse scandal, dead at 86
Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Boston archbishop who resigned in disgrace during the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, has died, the Vatican confirmed. He was 86.
The Doctor of Common Sense
Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Boston archbishop who resigned in disgrace during the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, has died, the Vatican confirmed. He was 86.
Thousands watched at a packed stadium in southern China this past weekend as 10 people were publicly sentenced to death and then promptly taken away to be executed.
The 10 Chinese convicts were found guilty of mostly drug-related crimes by China’s criminal justice system, which has a 99.9 percent conviction rate. At a sports stadium in Lufeng, Guangdong Province, they were condemned to death before thousands of onlookers, including young school children, The Paper reported.
Lufeng has been the focus of a major State Anti-Drug Committee war on drugs, according to the South China Morning Post. Thousands of Chinese law enforcement officials raided a local village three years ago, seizing 3 metric tons of crystal meth and arresting around 200 people.
At a similar conviction conference this past summer, 18 people were convicted of drug-related crimes. Thirteen convicts were sentenced to death, and eight were executed immediately afterwards.
Five drug criminals were sentenced to death and executed after another meeting in Lufeng in 2015.
China does not publicly release information on the number of people executed each year, but China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world combined, Amnesty International revealed in a report released earlier this year. The human rights organization asserted that while 1,032 people were executed in 23 countries (excluding China) last year, China sentenced thousands to death and executed them.
Thousands Watch As China Sentences 10 To Death In A Packed Sports Stadium
A Southwest Airlines pilot was forced to declare an emergency on Saturday after a passenger repeatedly told a flight attendant she would “kill everybody” on the plane.
The trouble started after the female passenger disabled a smoke detector aboard Southwest Flight 2943 from Portland, Ore., to Sacramento, and proceeded to smoke onboard, Southwest confirmed to Fox News. After she was caught, the woman created a “disturbance” which was captured on video by a fellow passenger.
“I have a destination for this, I have a destination for myself, and I need to go there,” the woman can be heard saying in footage provided to KOIN 6.
“I swear, if you … land, I will kill everybody on this [expletive deleted] plane,” she shouted. “I will kill everybody on this [expletive deleted] plane!”
A man can then be seen stepping into the frame to confront the irate passenger.
The woman, who was later identified as 24-year-old Valerie Curbelo of Sandy, Ore., was physically restrained for the remainder of the flight, according to KOVR, although Southwest has not confirmed those details.
“Our Crew in command of Flight 2943 traveling from Portland on Saturday afternoon safely landed on-time in Sacramento following an inflight disturbance,” said Southwest in a statement. “Our reports from Flight Attendants indicate a customer violated federal laws by both smoking onboard an aircraft and by tampering with a smoke detector in an aircraft restroom. Our Crew enforced the regulation and that was followed by the passenger outburst.”
“The safety of our Crew and Passengers is our top priority and we take all threats seriously. The pilots declared an emergency to receive priority handling from air traffic controllers, and our crew handled the situation onboard until the plane landed and local authorities stepped in.”
urbelo is currently booked in the Sacramento county jail for making criminal threats, KOVR adds. She cited “anxiety” as the reason she lit up a cigarette aboard the flight.
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/12/11/passenger-threatens-to-kill-everybody-on-plane-after-being-caught-smoking.html
Judge Releases 19-Year-Old Charged in Facebook Video Torture of Disabled Chicago Teen
Brittany Covington, 19, pleaded guilty to a hate crime in court on Friday, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The suspect also “pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and intimidation charges. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped additional charges, including kidnapping,” the Tribunesaid.
Despite the guilty plea, Cook County Circuit Judge William Hooks released Covington without jail time. Telling Covington, “Do not mess this up,” Judge Hooks imposed 200 hours of community service and banned Covington from using social media and having contact with her co-defendants for four years.
The judge did not assign jail time because, he said, “I’m not sure if I did that you’d be coming out any better.”Hooks insisted that his sentence would give Covington the chance to put her life on a productive path.
Covington is the first of the four defendants who were arrested early this year for the attack posted to Facebook.
In January, four Chicago teens were arrested after police were alerted to a Facebook live video showing the assailants beating and at one point slashing a victim tied up in a Chicago apartment. During the video of the attack, the suspects are heard saying, “F*** white people,” and “f*** Trump.”
The victim turned out to be a disabled white teen from nearby Rockford, Illinois. A GoFundMe campaign was set up for his benefit days after the reports broke.
Four black residents of Chicago – Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper, and Brittany Covington, all 18 years old; and 24-year-old Tanishia Covington – were charged with battery, kidnapping, and hate crimes in connection with the attack.
Chicago police called the incident “sickening.”
“It’s sickening. It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that. I’ve been a cop for 28 years, and I’ve seen things you shouldn’t see in a lifetime,” police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. “It still amazes me how you still see things you just shouldn’t. So I’m not going to say it shocked me, but it was sickening.”
Cases for the other three defendants are pending.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/09/judge-releases-19-year-old-charged-facebook-video-torture-disabled-chicago-teen/
Vandal who left bacon inside mosque gets 15 years in prison
A man who vandalized a Central Florida mosque by smashing windows and lights with a machete and leaving bacon at the scene pleaded guilty to criminal mischief to a place of worship.
The state attorney’s office serving Brevard and Seminole counties said Michael Wolfe was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation after he pleaded guilty Tuesday. The sentence had a hate crime enhancement.
The 37-year-old was sentenced as a habitual offender. Titusville police arrested Wolfe in January 2016 after the New Year’s Day vandalism. A surveillance video showed him smashing lights, cameras and windows with a machete.
Bacon was left by the front door. Consumption of pork and pork products made from pork is forbidden in Islam.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-reg-mosque-vandal-sentenced-20171206-story.html
A police department in Oklahoma released body camera footage Monday of former State Senator Ralph Shortey caught in a hotel room with an underage boy, days after he pleaded guilty to child prostitution and pornography charges.
The Moore Police Department released the footage of the encounter that occurred early on March 9 at a Super 8 Motel in Moore, Okla., FOX59 reported.
The footage showed police knocking on the door of a room occupied by Shortey — a Republican — and the underage male. Police said they went to the room after receiving a welfare check call placed by the teen boy’s father.
“So, what are they saying?” one of the officers asked the other.
“Well, drug-related, maybe,” an officer replied. “Maybe was coming here to buy some weed. Either here for narcotics, or prostitution for narcotics.”
“Like the kid’s prostituting himself out?” the other officer asked.
The officers said they smelled marijuana and later discovered a small amount of it in the room along with condoms and lotion found in a backpack that belonged to Shortey, FOX25 News reported.
“Hey, it’s Moore Police Department, man. We just need to check on your welfare, make sure you’re OK. We’re not going away,” the officers were heard saying.
Later the officers were heard talking to someone inside and telling the person to hurry up and get dressed.
The video cuts when the teenager appeared and then picks back up to the officers speaking to Shortey, who was hiding behind the door.
“Come out,” an officer ordered Shortey. “Now, you’re getting me worried, show me your hands.”
Shortey appeared and was wearing a shirt with a reference to the Bible verse from Ephesians 5:22, which called for women to “submit to their husbands,” FOX25 News reported.
The officers told Shortey he was with a 17-year-old male but the former state senator replied, “Can you show me that he’s only 17?”
“I can’t,” an officer replied. “But I can convince you that he is. I can put you in handcuffs and throw you in the back of the car.”
The officers asked what Shortey was doing in the room with the teenager and he said they were having a conversation.
The former state senator was eventually arrested. Police accused Shortey of hiring the 17-year-old for sex.
A police report indicated a search of the teen’s tablet computer uncovered a series of sexually explicit exchanges in which Shortey referred to him as “baby boy” and offered him cash in exchange for “sexual stuff.”
The FBI became involved in the case following Shortey’s arrest and searched his Oklahoma City home.
The married father of four resigned in March after he was arrested on state charges of engaging in child prostitution and transporting a minor for prostitution.
Last Thursday, Shortey pleaded guilty to the charges in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping three child pornography charges against him. He faces between 10 years and life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for child sex trafficking. The judge did not set a sentencing date.
https://nypost.com/2017/12/05/video-shows-oklahoma-senator-caught-with-underage-boy-in-hotel/