Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t weigh in on the case of a teenager convicted of rape and murder whose story was documented in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer.” As is typical, the justices did not explain their decision declining to take the case. The justices’ decision leaves in place a lower court ruling against Brendan Dassey.

Dassey was 16 years old when he confessed to Wisconsin authorities that he had joined his uncle in raping and murdering photographer Teresa Halbach before burning her body in a bonfire. Dassey’s attorneys, however, say he’s borderline intellectually disabled and was manipulated by experienced police officers into accepting their story of how Halbach’s murder happened. They wanted his confession thrown out and a new trial.   Continue reading “Supreme Court declines to hear ‘Making a Murderer’ case”

Daily Mail

What started as a fun day out with friends, ended with a violent arrest, caught on cell phone camera, with five officers trying to subdue a 20 year-old woman.

Samantha Luna, 20,  of Arcata, California posted five videos on Facebook that document her run-in with Humboldt State University police officers on June 17.   In the account she posts with the video she says that she and her friends were initially stopped ‘for my friend sticking her head out of the sun roof.’   Continue reading “Disturbing video shows cops dragging a US college student, 20, out of a car by her hair”

AlterNet – by Jessica Sutherland

Addiction profiteer and OxyContin creator Purdue Pharma just can’t get a break. The privately held pill-pusher palace faces myriad lawsuits for being a driving force in the addiction crisis currently gripping the nation, most recently coming from the state of Massachusetts on June 12. Then, the opiate factory announced massive layoffs this week, the second such move of 2018, along with a focus shift to drugs that actually help people rather than kill them.   Continue reading “600-Pound Heroin Spoon Sculpture Placed Outside OxyContin Creator’s Corporate Headquarters by Protesters”

Yahoo News

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — With Gary Ramey’s fledgling gun-making business taking off in retail stores, he decided to start offering one of his handguns for sale on his website.

That didn’t sit well with the company he used to process payments, and they informed him they were dropping his account. Another credit card processing firm told him the same thing: They wouldn’t do business with him.  Continue reading “Gun industry sees banks as new threat to 2nd Amendment”

Yahoo News

The board of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, made the unanimous decision to remove the name of author Laura Ingalls Wilder from a major children’s book award at a meeting in New Orleans on Saturday.

The name of the prize has been changed from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the Guardian reports.  Continue reading “Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name removed from award over racism concerns”

Yahoo News

El Paso (United States) (AFP) – For volunteer activists working with immigrants, those who profit from the migrants’ plight are “sick.”

But illegal migration is big business in the border state of Texas, generating jobs for private prison operators, money lenders and storefront lawyers.  Continue reading “In Texas border towns, illegal immigration is big business”

The Intercept – by Ryan Gallagher, Henrik Moltke

THE SECRETS ARE hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not publicly known. They are an integral part of one of the world’s largest telecommunications networks – and they are also linked to a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.   Continue reading “The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs In Eight U.S. Cities”

Slinter – by Paul Blest

Abolishing ICE is quickly becoming a popular position in the Democratic Party. New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon called for ICE to be abolished last week, and a number of congressional candidatesincluding Deb Haaland, who won her primary in New Mexico earlier this month, have done the same. This week, three Democratic members of Congress have joined them.

On Saturday, Rep. Jim McGovern called for abolishing ICE at a town hall in Massachusetts.  Continue reading “Multiple Congressional Democrats Call For Abolishing ICE”

Yahoo News

A woman in Arizona made the brave choice this week, to make a very private loss — a miscarriage — into a public discussion, in the hopes that her story can save other women from what she went through at her local Walgreens. The pharmacist there refused to fill the prescription required to help her end her pregnancy, citing moral objections, even though her fetus no longer had a heartbeat.

Because of a previous miscarriage, her doctor was closely monitoring her, Nicole Arteaga explained on Facebook. But on Tuesday, two months into her pregnancy, he discovered there was no fetal development or heartbeat and said she could either have a surgical D&C (dilation and curettage) procedure at the hospital or take prescription medication at home to induce contractions. When she went to pick up her medication, the pharmacist refused to give it to her.   Continue reading “Walgreens pharmacist denies woman miscarriage medication due to his beliefs”

ABC 15 Arizona

PHOENIX – A blind man is pleading for the charges against him to be dropped after, what he calls, an honest misunderstanding.

Marco Zepeda says on Friday he was trying to find an open urinal in the QuikTrip restroom at 83rd Avenue and McDowell Road.

“I didn’t hear anybody coming out,” he said, adding he was snapping his finger and skimming his hand against the wall to navigate due to his blindness.   Continue reading “Blind man fighting arrest for assault of Phoenix police officer”

Thought Co. – by David Emery

The viral text below claims that President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama surrendered their Illinois law licenses to avoid criminal prosecution. This viral message has been circulating since June 2010 and is mostly considered a false statement.

The following email text was contributed in June 2012 and focuses on a story about how they voluntarily relinquished their law licenses in the name of lies on the bar application and rumors of insurance fraud.   Continue reading “What Happened to the Obama’s Law License”

The Hill

Harley-Davidson will move the production of motorcycles bound for European countries out of the United States, citing rising costs from European Union (EU) tariffs on their products.

The company said in a filing Monday that the EU tariffs on motorcycles exported from the U.S. rose from 6 percent to 31 percent, the Associated Press reported. Motorcycles bound for European countries will now be produced in overseas factories.   Continue reading “Harley-Davidson to move production for some motorcycles out of US after EU tariffs”

New York Times

HARLINGEN, Tex. — The business of housing, transporting and watching over migrant children detained along the southwest border is not a multimillion-dollar business.

It’s a billion-dollar one.

The nonprofit Southwest Key Programs has won at least $955 million in federal contracts since 2015 to run shelters and provide other services to immigrant children in federal custody. Its shelter for migrant boys at a former Walmart Supercenter in South Texas has been the focus of nationwide scrutiny, but Southwest Key is but one player in the lucrative, secretive world of the migrant-shelter business. About a dozen contractors operate more than 30 facilities in Texas alone, with numerous others contracted for about 100 shelters in 16 other states.

Continue reading “The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children”

Fox News

After three years of discussion, the City Council in Alexandria, Va., voted Saturday to remove the name of Jefferson Davis from a city highway.

Jefferson Davis Highway, named for the only president of the Confederacy, will be renamed Richmond Highway, council members decided in a 6-0 vote.   Continue reading “Virginia city votes to remove Jefferson Davis’ name from highway”

PJ Media – by Debra Heine

“Occupy” protesters have been camping outside an ICE office in Portland, Oregon, leading the facility to temporarily shut down.  The occupiers say that they won’t leave until the Trump administration revokes its “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

Since Sunday the agitators, whose numbers are increasing, have been engaged in activities such as blocking the entrance to the building…   Continue reading “Portland Occupiers Shut Down ICE Office, Replace American Flag with ‘Refugees Welcome’ Flag”

“An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. ‘A fight is going on inside me,’ he said to the boy. ‘It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil — he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.’

He continued, ‘The other is good — he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you — and inside every other person, too.’  Continue reading “Cherokee Legend”

Yahoo News

BEIJING (Reuters) – China must lead the way in reforming global governance, the foreign ministry on Saturday cited President Xi Jinping as saying, as Beijing looks to increase its world influence.

China has sought a greater say in global organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and United Nations, in line with its growing economic and diplomatic clout.   Continue reading “Xi says China must lead way in reform of global governance”