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Ex-internal affairs officer alleges retaliation, harassment from LAPD
A decorated Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant once assigned to the internal affairs division testified in federal court this week that he was retaliated against by his superiors after he unearthed evidence undermining a decades-old murder conviction.
Jim Gavin is suing his department for allegedly waging a campaign of harassment against him and his police officer wife in the wake of his work on the case of convicted killer Bruce Lisker. Lisker was convicted of killing his mother in 1985 and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
Gavin was a sergeant in internal affairs five years ago when he received a complaint from Lisker alleging that he was the victim of a sloppy, dishonest investigation by an LAPD detective. Gavin began delving into the allegations and soon discovered evidence supporting Lisker's claim. For example, he found that bloody shoe prints, presumably left by the killer and attributed to Lisker at trial, did not match Lisker's shoes.
Gavin told jurors that after uncovering the potentially exculpatory evidence, he was ordered to cut short his investigation by his then-boss, Lt. Mike Williams, who has since been promoted to captain.
Gavin said he was initially told that discrepancies in Det. Andrew Monsue's original homicide investigation would be presented to the chief of police and the district attorney. When that didn't happen, Gavin said, he provided some of the information to Lisker's defense team and to reporters for the Los Angeles Times. A decorated Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant once assigned to the internal affairs division testified in federal court this we... more -
Bhutto Protegee Tackles Sex Harassment in Pakistan
Humera Alwani drafted a workplace sexual harassment bill in 2006 when she was a first-term member of the Sindh provincial assembly. But as a member of the opposition Pakistan People's Party she didn't get very far.
This year, after taking her oath of office for a second term on April 5 and with her party now in control, she's confident the bill has a better future.
Sindh's chief minister has approved the draft law for presentation to the provincial cabinet, Alwani says. Within a month she expects it to be discussed in the Sindh assembly, where she's pretty sure it will get passed, since her party is now in power.
The bill imposes strict warnings, demotions, terminations and fines of up to $700 on those found guilty of harassing women at work in Sindh, the second most populous of Pakistan's four provinces. In the most serious cases--sexual assault and repeat offenses--perpetrators could face jail time as well as fines. Non-payment of fines can lead to imprisonment of up to 30 days. The law also recommends that the person who was harassed receive half the fine as compensation.
The bill requires a district judge to rule on a complaint within 30 days. The judge would be advised by a local government representative or employer's committee charged with looking into the complaint.
Alwani says her slain party leader, Benazir Bhutto, a two-time prime minister, spurred her work on the bill. Two years ago, while Bhutto was in self-exile, Alwani says Bhutto called her for a meeting in Dubai and encouraged her to keep working on the bill.
"It was she who gave me strength and courage to work on this issue," Alwani says. "She empowered women within the party and gave us a chance to be part of the legislature."
Alwani says Bhutto gave party campaign slots to female workers without any special political ties while other party leaders favored female relatives of male politicians.
**Read More** Humera Alwani drafted a workplace sexual harassment bill in 2006 when she was a first-term member of the Sindh provincial assembly. Bu... more -
Cop pulls over woman for her phone number
Ever get stopped by a cop for something you're sure you didn't do?
Then you'll know just how one woman felt when she was pulled over for no apparent reason in the city of Berwick, Pennsylvania in the spring of last year.
The officer turned on the red and blue lights mounted on his pick-up truck, got out of the vehicle, approached the driver and began to ask the usual questions about licence and registration.
But then the queries turned personal. He asked if she was married or had a boyfriend. And then he tried to get her phone number. The startled woman realized she'd only been stopped because he was looking for a date, and she promptly issued an official complaint to the local police department.
More than a year later, she finally got her day in court. And now 32-year-old Steve Klinger, a part time officer with the local force, is finding out how the other half lives. He's been sentenced to a month in jail for acting outside his authority.
The corrupt cop has traded in his blue uniform for an orange prison one, and won't be rejoining his comrades in arms when he gets out. He's been kicked off the force and is now unemployed.
In addition to his 30 days in the pokey, Klinger also received a $1,000 fine for his actions and three more days for driving drunk in a separate incident. He was found to be five times over the legal limit when he was stopped in July 2007.
The former lawman apologized to the judge for his actions and told him he's now undergoing rehab for an alcohol problem. Ever get stopped by a cop for something you're sure you didn't do? ... more -
Englishman wins Irish race case
An English pipe fitter has been awarded 20,000 euro (£15,630) in compensation after being racially abused in his Irish workplace.
The man, who was based in Dublin, complained that colleagues had taunted him because of where he came from.
They would say "send the Brit in" to clear the way if they had to enter potentially dangerous spaces at work.
Negative reports about England's performance in the 2006 World Cup were also read aloud in his presence.
He said some colleagues never spoke to him and others deliberately sang Irish songs of a political nature in his presence.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, told an equality tribunal that shortly after joining the firm in April 2006 the abuse reached a point where he ate lunch in his car instead of the canteen.
A bit of piss taking is one thing, but to have it that an employee can't have lunch with others or that some would never talk to him, is beyond. An English pipe fitter has been awarded 20,000 euro (£15,630) in compensation after being racially abused in his Irish workplace. ... more -
Trolls in our midst: the crazy world of online harrassment and how to deal with it
The New York Times today reports on the world on online trolls, and how to deal with the pesky critters whose raison d'etre is to mess with you online. Have they not got owt better to do?
It's a fantastic article, and reveals the shocking extent that trolls go to harrass and upset people - both on and offline.
One afternoon in the spring of 2006, for reasons unknown to those who knew him, Mitchell Henderson, a seventh grader from Rochester, Minn., took a .22-caliber rifle down from a shelf in his parents’ bedroom closet and shot himself in the head. The next morning, Mitchell’s school assembled in the gym to begin mourning. His classmates created a virtual memorial on MySpace and garlanded it with remembrances. One wrote that Mitchell was “an hero to take that shot, to leave us all behind. God do we wish we could take it back. . . . ” Someone e-mailed a clipping of Mitchell’s newspaper obituary to MyDeathSpace.com, a Web site that links to the MySpace pages of the dead. From MyDeathSpace, Mitchell’s page came to the attention of an Internet message board known as /b/ and the “trolls,” as they have come to be called, who dwell there.
The trolls were awakened...
Measured in terms of depravity, insularity and traffic-driven turnover, the culture of /b/ has little precedent. /b/ reads like the inside of a high-school bathroom stall, or an obscene telephone party line, or a blog with no posts and all comments filled with slang that you are too old to understand.
Something about Mitchell Henderson struck the denizens of /b/ as funny. They were especially amused by a reference on his MySpace page to a lost iPod. Mitchell Henderson, /b/ decided, had killed himself over a lost iPod. The “an hero” meme was born. Within hours, the anonymous multitudes were wrapping the tragedy of Mitchell’s death in absurdity.
Someone hacked Henderson’s MySpace page and gave him the face of a zombie. Someone placed an iPod on Henderson’s grave, took a picture and posted it to /b/. Henderson’s face was appended to dancing iPods, spinning iPods, hardcore porn scenes. A dramatic re-enactment of Henderson’s demise appeared on YouTube, complete with shattered iPod. The phone began ringing at Mitchell’s parents’ home. “It sounded like kids,” remembers Mitchell’s father, Mark Henderson, a 44-year-old I.T. executive. “They’d say, ‘Hi, this is Mitchell, I’m at the cemetery.’ ‘Hi, I’ve got Mitchell’s iPod.’ ‘Hi, I’m Mitchell’s ghost, the front door is locked. Can you come down and let me in?’ ” He sighed. “It really got to my wife.” The calls continued for a year and a half.
The article goes on to illuminate how trolls operate, and explain how you can combat them with some insider tricks. Have you been trolled online? What do you do to protect / divert yourself from those characters on the interweb who seek to mess with your head? The New York Times today reports on the world on online trolls, and how to deal with the pesky critters whose raison d'etre is to... more -
Sri Lanka Journalists Harassed: Media Group
Journalists covering Sri Lanka's war with Tamil Tiger rebels are being harassed despite a government pledge to take action to protect the press, a rights group said Friday.
The Free Media Movement (FMM) reported eight incidents of threats and intimidation, just two weeks after a ministerial committee was formed to look at the issue of media rights.
The incidents included verbal death threats, assaults in public places and visits to journalists' homes by people claiming to be from the police, the statement said.
"It is apparent that the cabinet sub-committee... is powerless to foster media freedom and the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka, or investigate meaningfully the violence directed at journalists," the FMM said.
The rights group demanded a probe into the recent incidents and asked the committee to tell police to respect journalists.
In June, Sri Lanka's hawkish defence ministry published several editorials which labelled journalists and reporters "cowboy defence analysts" and "enemies of the state."
The defence ministry presented reporters with a stark choice of being either pro-government or "pro-terrorist" -- sparking renewed alarm among media rights activists about freedom of the press in Sri Lanka.
Since August 2005, 12 media workers have been killed in Sri Lanka, which is regarded as the second-most dangerous place for journalists after Iraq.
Eleven of them died in government-controlled areas and no one has been brought to justice in connection with the deaths.
Sri Lanka's bitter ethnic war, which has left thousands of people dead, has escalated sharply since January, when the government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the Tamil Tigers. Journalists covering Sri Lanka's war with Tamil Tiger rebels are being harassed despite a government pledge to take action to pro... more -
Muslim women rappers face threats and intimidation
Muslim rap is developing a large following in the US and UK, yet female artists trying to break into the scene are often intimidated, or even threatened, reports the New Statesman today.
Women rappers like Neelo fer Mir, Lady Dizzla, Lyrical Lailah and Deeyah have all had success in the increasingly popular Islamic hip-hop scene, but its been tempered by criticism of their 'un-Islamic' ways, discouragement from all and sundry that they should express themselves through music, alienation from the Muslim community, misunderstanding of women's reasons for getting involved in music (like accusations of using it simply to have access to sex and alcohol), criticism of their immodest clothes, death threats, and even violent attacks on stage.
Can artistic creativity in the modern world exist happily alongside the traditional responsibilities of devout Muslim life? Would male Muslim hip hop artists get the same hassle? How do you find some common ground between your modern life and your traditional, maybe even conservative, heritage? Muslim rap is developing a large following in the US and UK, yet female artists trying to break into the scene are often intimidated, ... more -
Signs of division on Egypt's brow
"The zebiba used to be the mark of an elderly Muslim man, the fruit of a lifetime's devotion, but it is increasingly seen on the faces of young Egyptians.
Literally meaning "a raisin", the zebiba is a patch of hardened skin where the forehead touches the ground during Muslim prayers.
Some welcome the trend as a sign of devotion, others say it is ostentatious piety.
Worse still there are fears public displays of faith like the zebiba and the hijab, or headscarf, are spilling over into vigilantism.
Liberals or Christians who don't conform in the workplace or on the street say they are being harassed." "The zebiba used to be the mark of an elderly Muslim man, the fruit of a lifetime's devotion, but it is increasingly seen on... more -
Famous NYC restaurant is racist, sexist - and coming to San Francisco!
Central Park's famous Tavern on the Green Restaurant has just offered a $2.2 million settlement to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit filed last fall by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What were they guilty of, you ask?
"In a news release announcing the settlement, the commission said on Monday that Tavern on the Green had 'engaged in severe and pervasive sexual, racial and national origin harassment of female, black and Hispanic employees.'
"The federal commission said the sexual harassment had included graphic comments and demands for sexual acts, as well as groping of women’s buttocks and breasts.
"When the commission filed the lawsuit last September, it also said a top manager had engaged in severe harassment of black employees and had harassed Hispanic employees, sometimes addressing them as 'ignorant immigrants' and ridiculing their accents.
"Moreover, the commission said the restaurant had retaliated against employees for refusing to consent to the harassment or for objecting to it."
...
"When the E.E.O.C. filed the case last September, it asserted that the restaurant — not just one manager — was guilty of sexual harassment because it 'knew or should have known of the severe and pervasive harassment, yet failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly the harassing behavior.'"
And now the very same restaurant is scheduled to open a San Francisco branch in summer 2009. Tavern on the Green will take over the top floor of Yerba Buena's Metreon, making it the city's largest restaurant. Is this the type of establishment San Franciscans want in their city? My guess is no. Central Park's famous Tavern on the Green Restaurant has just offered a $2.2 million settlement to settle a racial discrimination... more -
8 teens charged in videotaped attack
What's happening to our kids? Eight teenagers have been arrested after filming the beating of another teen and threatening to post the video on the Internet, sheriff's officials said.
Victoria Lindsay was attacked on March 30 by six teenage girls when she arrived at a friend's home, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
Two girls confronted Lindsay when she walked in, yelling and threatening her, an arrest report showed. Another girl struck her in the head several times and then slammed her head into the bedroom wall, knocking her unconscious.
When she woke up, she was on the couch in the living room surrounded by the six girls. The teens blocked the door, held Lindsay down and began beating her, the report said. Two teenage boys waited outside the home as lookouts.
"That is animalistic behavior. It's pack mentality. They lured her there to beat her," Sheriff Grady Judd said.
All eight were charged last week with battery and false imprisonment, which are third-degree felonies, the report said.
"When we had them in custody at the station, they were laughing about it, saying, 'Well, I guess this spring break we won't go to the beach," Judd told The Early Show. "One of the suspects asked the detective, 'Am I going to get to go to cheerleading practice tomorrow?"
"They showed absolutely no remorse at all," Judd said.
As far as I'm concerned, MySpace is the anti-Christ for children."
Lindsay was taken to the hospital by ambulance and treated for a concussion, damage to her left eye and left ear, and numerous bruises, the report said.
Lindsay's father, Patrick, said the teens' motivation for the attack was to produce a video that would become popular on YouTube, a video-sharing Web site. What's happening to our kids? Eight teenagers have been arrested after filming the beating of another teen and threatening to pos... more -
The Son
This is raw. There was no rehearsing or scripting, no coaching or directing. Everything J says he says for the first time. He just started talking and we (the producers) scurried to turn on the cameras so as to not miss whatever might happen. We didn't say a word. In fact, it was our silence that told him we were listening. Everything J does is part of his daily routine and it was captured in that moment. We didn't even have enough time to prepare a mic or adjust the lighting. The reality of every photo, book, and everything you see, hear, and feel, means something to J, and to his story. This is raw. There was no rehearsing or scripting, no coaching or directing. Everything J says he says for the first time. He just sta... more
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Scientology: Bad things happen in threes
an active anti-scientolgist gets barred from attending a public street fair and then is harrassed by idiots. what have YOU done?
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Draft Al Gore in CA: Calling all Gore Supporters to Serve NOW!
This is interesting because:
1) Imagine the draft Gore effort succeeds and his name is ont he CA primary ballot.
2) imagine he does not make a specific request to have his name removed from the ballot.
3) He wins or does very well in CA, along with NY, NJ
4) He enters the race, wins the nomination and the Presidency. This is interesting because: 1) Imagine the draft Gore effort succeeds and his name is ont he CA primary ballot. ... more -
'Draft Gore' takes its campaign to TV
Okay - all Americans that want Al Gore to run for President in 2008 - please follow this link and add your comments about this USAToday article. Let the mainstream media realize there is powerful grassroots support for Al Gore! Thank You. Okay - all Americans that want Al Gore to run for President in 2008 - please follow this link and add your comments about this USAToda... more
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Harassment
