Crime // Current TV

Tennessee police ignore pot at state official’s home

By David Edwards Wednesday, February 8, 2012 10:09 EST Authorities in Tennessee... more

KB723
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3 days ago
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26 comments

Crimes of the TSA Agents

A report the Transportation Security Administration doesn’t want you to see:... more

wbradleyjr1
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3 days ago
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3 comments

Marine's failed suicide attempt lands him jail sentence

In 2010, 37 active Marines in the US Military committed suicide. Had Pvt. Lazzaric T. Caldwell been successful in his attempt, he would’ve been number 38.
Since discharged, Pvt. Caldwell has battled post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses. In his latest battle, however, he’s fighting the Armed Forces.
Pvt. Lazzaric T. Caldwell was stationed in Okinawa, Japan when he attempted suicide in 2010. Caldwell has survived thankfully and is still around, but so are his troubles. He is taking the Marines to court after the US Military sentenced him to 180 days in jail for his attempted suicide.

Caldwell argues that the military should be trying to help servicemen who have been driven to suicide due to active duty, not punish them. Taking into account the US Armed Forces as a whole, Marine suicides are only but a fraction. In 2009, the figure of active-duty suicide extended to 309, and the number of attempts — more than 1,000 — exceeded the number of battlefield casualties that year.

Although the Military insists that they are trying to bring that number down, Caldwell says sending their own men and women to jail for their actions isn’t the right way to do it.

"I thought it was unfair and I thought it was just kind of morally wrong to punish somebody for something of that nature," Caldwell tells The Associated Press. "Seeing the kind of state I was in, there should have been a way of getting help instead of just a punishment.”

Navy Lt. Mike Hanzel is representing Caldwell as the discharged Marine attempts to fight that sentence and agrees that this is something that should be highlighted. As more servicemen attempt suicide, the Military should be digging for solutions, not dishing out sentences.

"I think it definitely touches important issues which are affecting all the branches of the armed forces right now," Hanzel adds to the AP via email.

"(I)f you succeed in committing suicide your service is treated honorably and your family receives full benefits," Hanzel says. "(I)f you are unsuccessful in a genuine suicide attempt, you can receive a federal conviction and get a bad-conduct discharge and jail time, which is what happened to Pvt Caldwell."

Caldwell was not sentenced for his suicide attempt, per se. Instead, rather, he was brought to military tribunal with the charge of "intentional self-injury without intent to avoid service.” The government says this charge is in place to maintain discipline within the armed forces.

Retired Army Judge Advocate Victor M. Hansen tells the AP that cases such as Caldwell rarely make it to court. "It happens but it doesn't happen a lot," he says.
Despite the government’s insistence that the rule is good for the armed forces, the Marine Corps experienced a record number of suicide attempts in 2011. In the last year, a total of 175 active servicemen attempting to take their lives.
http://rt.com/usa/news/suicide-attempt-caldwell-military-461/In 2010, 37 active Marines in the US Military committed suicide. Had Pvt. Lazzaric T.... more

MotherForTruth
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The Most Basic Form of Mind Control Is Repetition

An interesting video of images and sound about David Fincher, Stanley Kubrick, how to... more

maasanova
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Monterey Park Police Shooting

Police do not disarm suspect, but shoot him 10 times after tazering him

JonRaymond
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8 days ago
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Rabbi Defends Former Publisher For Saying Obama Should Be Assassinated

A rabbi defends 'poor man' Andrew Adler for saying Obama should be... more

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10 days ago
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Police mistake marathon for gay pride parade

Police in the Kaliningrad region have mistaken a marathon for a gay pride parade.... more

maasanova
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19 days ago
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2 comments

Most Criminals and Felons are Democrats

And since Democrats can be sensitive on this point, I will add immediately that the reverse is not true. Most Democrats are not felons.

That most felons are Democrats is not a secret — but it does seem to be a secret from the Seattle Times, which yesterday put out this extensively researched article, but never mentions that fact. (Party leaders know that most felons are Democrats, as one can see by noting that the Democrats generally support extending voting rights to felons and that the Republicans generally oppose that extension.)

How do we know that most felons are Democrats? Two ways, broadly speaking. First, felons belong to groups that are more likely to be Democrats. Those who are bothered by this line of argument should know that it is the same line of argument often used by Paul Berendt, the state Democratic chairman. More than once, I have heard him argue that since felons are more likely to be men (true) and men are more likely to vote for Republicans than women (also true), then more felons must have voted for Republican Dino Rossi than for Democrat Christine Gregoire. His analysis is not wrong; if all we knew about felons is that they were mostly men, I would agree that it would be likely that more of them voted for Rossi than for Gregoire.

But it is incomplete, because we know many other things about felons. Let me add in more of what we know and you will see that these other factors outweigh Berendt's single factor. First, felons are more likely to be single. Singles are more likely to be Democrats than married people. Second, felons are poorer than the average person. Poorer people are more likely to be Democrats. Third, felons are more likely to be black or Hispanic. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be Democrats, much more likely in the case of blacks. Fourth, felons are more likely to come from urban areas. Those from urban areas are more likely to be Democrats. You can now see why anyone familiar with American voting patterns would expect most felons to be Democrats. (Does Berendt know this? I am not sure and would not want to guess without more knowledge of the man.)

Second, although secret ballots prevent us from looking at felons' votes, we do have the next best thing, their party registrations in the state of Florida, something I discussed at length in this post. Briefly, a newspaper that endorsed Al Gore in 2000, the Palm Beach Post, found about 5,600 felons who had voted illegally in the 2000 election and found that 68 percent of them were registered Democrats. (The Miami Herald, which also endorsed Gore, did a similar investigation and came up with similar results.) That 68 percent is about what most students of American voting patterns would expect, given what else we know about felons.

Can we extend this directly to Washington state? Not quite, as I explained in my January post, because the two states have such different rules for restoring voting rights to felons. And it is also true that Washington does not have as large a population of pro-Democratic minorities as Florida does. So, if we had registration data by party in Washington state, I would expect we would find that our felons are not 68 percent Democrats, but somewhere between 50 and 60 percent Democrats. That would still be enough to have tipped the election to Gregoire easily.

And we should not forget another point that I have mentioned before &mdash although the Seattle Times does not mention it. When these searches for felons on the voting lists are made, they certainly miss many felons. Relying, as they do, on name matches, they will miss any felon who changes his name. And in Washington (and probably Florida), they will miss those who committed their crimes in another state. (Washington forbids them from voting if they could not vote in the state where they committed their crimes.) More than 5,600 felons voted illegally in Florida in 2000; more than 1,000 felons voted illegally in Washington in 2004. Almost certainly many more, in both elections. http://soundpolitics.com/archives/004473.htmlAnd since Democrats can be sensitive on this point, I will add immediately that the... more

congoboy
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20 days ago
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Mom Offers Sex From Daughter To Pawn Shop Owner In Exchange For Laptop (SHOCK VIDEO)

Mom offers sex from daughter to pawn shop owner in exchange for laptop A Detroit... more

starfan82
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22 days ago
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$44 Million Hospital Bill Almost Kills Man

The definition of insanity.

Progresshiv
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26 days ago
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BURGLAR VACUUMED HOME, FOLDED LAUNDRY AND COOKED DINNER..WTF..lol

BURGLAR VACUUMED HOME, FOLDED LAUNDRY AND COOKED DINNER..WTF..lol... more

Wizzane
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3 hours ago
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Safe House (2012) review

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-houston/safe-house-2012-review-review Denzel... more

evilbutters
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1 day ago
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Obama Administration to Return Major Donations Tied to Mexican Gangsters Seeking US Pardons

Almost got caught with hand in the cookie jar. *** Two American brothers of a... more

maasanova
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4 days ago
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Josh Powell Explosion Kills Two Sons, Susan Powell Still Missing

Josh Powell, husband to missing Washington woman Susan Powell, killed himself and his... more

GossipandGab
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5 days ago
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Dutch Court Rules Stealing In Virtual World Is Theft In Real Life

The amulet and mask were a 13-year-old boy’s virtual possessions in an online... more

maasanova
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10 days ago
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8 comments

Colorado Republican faces questions after claiming immunity during a DUI stop

By Megan Carpentier Wednesday, February 1, 2012 8:50 EST Colorado state Rep. Laura... more

KB723
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10 days ago
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93 comments

Raise the Crime Rate, an article on the abysmal state of American prisons

From the article... "Statistics are notoriously slippery, but the figures that... more

Saladin
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11 days ago
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26 comments

Why we should be furious the Haditha massacre Marines got no jail time

The “integrity” of the United States justice system is a façade;... more

maasanova
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11 days ago
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0 comments

International Boycott Of The Arabic Drug Empire / Phase 4

For the first time in over 3 years the re-posting of the, International Boycott Of... more

Henry_Massingale
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14 days ago
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Obama meets with George H.W. and Jeb Bush

The cozy relationship between Barack Obama and the Bush family is a curious as Bill... more

maasanova
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14 days ago
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87 comments

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