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Liberal_in_LA

Liberal_in_LA's Journal
Liberal_in_LA's Journal
September 6, 2014

cops stop car rushing shot teen to hospital. delay car until he dies.

Gerardo's girlfriend, Destiny Chavez, and several friends put him in a car and were rushing him to an emergency room when their car was stopped by San Jose police near Story and South White roads, said the suit filed by attorney John Burris on behalf of Gerardo's father, Fernando Medina.

"Instead of rendering aid and calling for medical assistance," officers conducted a felony car stop without reasonable suspicion that anyone inside had committed a crime, the suit said.

Officers removed the passengers and questioned them, "despite their pleas for the officers to help decedent Medina," the suit said. "The defendant officers then dragged decedent Medina out of the car before finally summoning medical assistance for him."

Gerardo died at Regional Medical Center in San Jose. The lawsuit said officers were to blame for delaying medical care "that could have saved decedent Medina's life."

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Cops-sued-for-stopping-car-with-gunshot-victim-5734684.php

September 6, 2014

An imperfect pet owner does not equal an unfit one


Rosa Torres' dog disappeared from her backyard, landed in a shelter with no tags or ID and was bailed out by an animal rescue group, Karma Rescue. The group adopted the dog out to a new home the next day even though it had received calls and emails from Torres trying to reclaim her lost pet.

It bothered me that Karma Rescue didn't respond to Torres until her dog had already been placed with the new family. Her application — to adopt her own dog — didn't meet their standards, the group said in a statement on Monday.

The column caused a storm in a rescue world made up of thousands of passionate volunteers who don't always agree on how best to save unwanted dogs and cats. And it infuriated animal-loving readers already frustrated by bad experiences with rescue groups.

Karma Rescue had plenty of defenders, who said I'd unfairly cast the group as the villain in this drama, when I should have blamed the irresponsible dog owner.

"I have no doubt that Torres loved" her dog, wrote Linda Wendell Henry, owner of a rescued dog. "But let's face it, love alone is not enough."

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0308-banks-rescue-dogs-20140308-column.html
September 5, 2014

$41-million settlement in 'Central Park Five' case gets final approval

A federal judge approved a $41-million settlement Friday for five black and Latino men who were wrongly accused in the brutal rape and beating of a Central Park jogger in 1989.

While admitting no wrongdoing, the city will make the payouts to Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana Jr., Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise, each of whom served between six and 13 years in prison after the vicious attack captivated the media during a time when New York City was rife with crime and violence.
lRelated Central Park Five: Money was not the issue in settlement with NYC

Eventually, admitted serial rapist Matias Reyes told police he committed the assault, and DNA evidence confirmed the claim.

McCray, Richardson, Santana Jr. and Salaam will each receive $7,125,000, according to court records, and Wise will be paid $12,250,000. Each defendant was to be paid roughly $1 million for each year they were wrongly imprisoned, according to the terms of the settlement.



http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-central-park-five-settlement-20140905-story.html
The five filed a federal lawsuit in 2003, a year after their convictions were overturned, claiming police coerced their confessions. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration fought the legal challenge for years, but freshman mayor Bill de Blasio has championed the men's case.

September 5, 2014

'Gut-wrenching sobs' ring out in court as Bob McDonnell and wife found guilty


heading to car after guilty verdict


In addition to lending the McDonnells his Ferrari (pictured with the former governor behind the wheel) Williams also provided three loans totaling $120,000

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Once considered one of America's most popular governors and even vetted to be running mate to Mitt Romney in 2012, McDonnell now faces as much as 25 years in prison.
The man with the money: Jonnie Wiliams bought the McDonnells lavish gifts in exchange for favors and then got himself off the legal hook by testifying against them with immunity

The man with the money: Jonnie Wiliams bought the McDonnells lavish gifts in exchange for favors and then got himself off the legal hook by testifying against them with immunity

The couple left the courtroom separately and remained apart. Bob McDonnell left first and walked into a witness waiting room.

A loudly weeping Maureen McDonnell came out later, hugging one of her daughters. She went into a separate waiting room.

'My trust remains in the Lord,' was about all the ex-governor told reporters who were mobbed outside the courtroom at the conclusion of the marathon trial.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2744055/Former-Virginia-governor-Bob-McDonnell-wife-guilty-selling-influence-vitamin-executive.html
September 4, 2014

male rape victim has to pay child support - he was 14, she was 20 during relationship

Arizona rape victim has to pay child support for daughter he didn’t know existed
Nick Olivas had a relationship with a 20-year-old woman when he was 14, but didn’t know until 8 years ago that he fathered a daughter. Now he is being required to pay more than $15,000 in back child support.


An Arizona man recently discovered he owes more than $15,000 in child support — for a daughter he never knew he had.

The state two years ago served Nick Olivas, who had a passing fling with a 20-year-old woman when he was 14, demanding he pay to support a then-6-year-old daughter.

“It was a shock,” Olivas, now 24, told the Arizona Republic. “I was living my life and enjoying being young. To find out you have a 6-year-old? It’s unexplainable. It freaked me out.”

Olivas now feels the mother of his child, with whom he grew apart, took advantage of him during a troubled time while he was in high school. And by state law, he is a rape victim — anyone younger than 15 years old cannot consent to sex with an adult.

At the time, Olivas said he never considered pressing charges.

The state eventually had to track down the medical assistant after he panicked and ignored the legal documents to get a paternity test and pay $15,000 in back child support, plus medical bills going back to the child’s birth and a 10% interest.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/arizona-rape-victim-pay-child-support-daughter-didn-existed-article-1.1927767#ixzz3CNRbEFs7
September 4, 2014

vet on dialysis lives in his SUV


Portrait of Billie and David Reiss, who have been living in their vehicle for the past six and a half years. They are staying in a motel in Santa Clara Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. David has cryoglobulinemia vasculitis and is disabled. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

SANTA CLARA -- David Reiss keeps his Army discharge documents beneath the seat in his 2000 Ford Expedition. It's as safe as anyplace because everything he and wife Billie own is in the SUV.

For much of the last five-and-a-half years, "home" has been a succession of vehicles, worsening his already poor health and leaving him to think that "I was going to die in the car."

Last week David, 56, who is on dialysis, received a godsend: a veterans housing subsidy. But until they are able to find a landlord that will accept their voucher, which has been increasingly difficult in the tight local rental market, David remains part of an especially troubling segment of the local homeless population: those who served their country.

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"This is our lives," said Billie, 41, who has become her husband's full-time caregiver. "I wish things had happened differently, but we can't change that. But maybe reading this will help somebody else's life. I see people in the position we were in, and I want them to know that there is hope, even if it's a long road."

The voucher means they will have to pay only about 30 percent of disability toward rent, and they've begun looking for an apartment. But it's taking an average of three months for voucher recipients to find housing in the hot rental market, the county's Le said.

They hope living in the SUV soon will be in their rear-view mirror.

"Being indoors makes all the difference," David said. "It's amazing how good I feel after some time inside.


http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_26461884/homeless-veteran-living-an-suv-battles-declining-health
September 4, 2014

The 5-ton, 12 mile/gallon Unimog Arnold Schwarzenegger bought after signing strict emissions law

The 5-ton, 12 mile/gallon Unimog Arnold Schwarzenegger bought after signing strict emissions law goes on sale for $273,250

The former California governor had the 1977 Unimog U1300 refitted to his specs in 2012
Scharzenegger signed a law in 2006 top help pave the way toward a 54.5-mpg fuel economy standard by 2025
Unimogs are a heavy-duty Mercedes truck known worldwide for their ruggedness and off-roading capabilities






Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2743850/The-5-ton-12-mile-gallon-Unimog-Arnold-Schwarzenegger-bought-signing-strict-emissions-law-goes-sale-273-250.html#ixzz3CNN6SW8Y

September 4, 2014

heartless selfie of the year = cop takes selfie in presence of desparate man's suicide

Policeman caught taking selfie as suicide victim jumps from bridge behind him

The officer is now being investigated after posed for the shot during the clearly distressed man's final moments



A policeman has been caught taking a selfie as a man prepared to jump to his death from a bridge.

During the desperate man's final moments, the selfie-obsessed cop is seen posing for a snapshot just feet away.

The man is caught in the background of the policeman's shot, clinging to the bridge in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Just seconds later he leapt almost 600ft to his death, after attempts by other officers to talk him down failed.

But a picture of the policeman's heartless selfie has sparked fury in Turkey, and the officer in question now faces an investigation.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/policeman-caught-taking-selfie-suicide-4156755#ixzz3CNLO0o8Y

September 4, 2014

The thrice married rightwing radio Dennis Prager was giving out marriage advice again today

his ideal = man dominating the woman. Women does all the houshold stuff including getting up check on kids. Otherwise he would be unhappy. And, in his opinion, most women would be unhappy unless dominated by their man.

September 4, 2014

Plunge in California kindergartners' vaccination rate worries health officials

California parents are deciding against vaccinating their kindergarten-age children at twice the rate they did seven years ago, a fact public health experts said is contributing to the reemergence of measles across the state and may lead to outbreaks of other serious diseases.

The percentage of kindergartens in which at least 8% of students are not fully vaccinated because of personal beliefs has more than doubled as well, according to data on file with the state. That threshold is significant because communities must be immunized at a high rate to avoid widespread disease outbreaks. It is a concept known as herd immunity, and for measles and whooping cough at least 92% of kids need to be immune, experts say.

High vaccination levels in the U.S. have helped millions of children avoid serious diseases and saved tens of thousands a year from paralysis, birth defects and death, experts say. But the risk of infectious disease remains a concern. Recent measles cases, for example, were brought into the country by travelers and quickly spread to several unvaccinated individuals.

"Five days a week, [children are] in their small classroom," said Shannon Stokley, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "That's the perfect conditions for spreading germs and spreading infections."

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-school-vaccines-20140903-story.html#page=1

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