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dankusner · 1 month

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KREEP Sherre Neilon Sweet...

The girl said Hernandez, who was a janitor with the Irving ISD, was a father figure who often took her to soccer practice and attended games her mother missed.

“What did you call him?” asked assistant district attorney Sherre Thomas.

Baby’s death in portable toilet a focus of Irving rapist’s trial Baby Brianna knew only the inside of a porta-potty.

That’s where her mother gave birth to her. That’s where the newborn took her first breaths, contaminating her little body with blue liquid chemicals and other people’s feces. And that’s where, prosecutors allege, her father left her to die.

The baby’s father, 54-year-old Mauricio Hernandez, now stands trial in connection with the crime. He raped and impregnated a 13-year-old relative and is accused of causing the baby’s death by giving the teenager pills to terminate the pregnancy and abandoning Brianna when she was born into a portable toilet.

Hernandez pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated sexual assault of a child, for which he faces up to life in prison. He also faces a capital murder charge that prosecutors aren’t pursuing; they will instead ask a Dallas County jury to consider the baby’s death in determining his punishment for the sex assault.

“We’re going to ask you for justice for baby Brianna,” Assistant District Attorney Sherre Thomas said during opening statements.

Testimony will continue Thursday in state District Judge Ernest White’s court.

Prosecutors say Hernandez acted as a father figure to the 13-year-old, taking an interest in her life and driving her to soccer practice. He had sex with her several times and, when he found out she was pregnant, gave her three pills to induce an abortion.

Hernandez’s defense attorney said the girl hid her pregnancy. He said his client thought she was only a few months along when he gave her the pills.

On the morning of April 20, 2013, the girl, then 14, was supposed to play a soccer game. Instead, prosecutors say, she went into labor in her lime-green soccer uniform, moving from Hernandez’s pickup to a nearby porta-potty to deliver the baby.

“This eighth-grader sat alone in a pickup truck. An eighth-grader, whose body shouldn’t even have a child. And she struggled,” said Thomas, who is trying the case with fellow prosecutor Geoffrey Keller.

Once inside the portable toilet, the girl heard a “large plop,” looked into the waste tank and saw a “small hand in the blue water,” according to the police report.

The girl left and baby Brianna drowned, the medical examiner testified Wednesday. She had a head full of dark hair, weighed between 5 and 8 pounds and was covered in towelettes, stained cobalt-blue from the toilet’s chemicals, according to crime scene photos and the medical examiner.

The Dallas Morning News does not typically name victims of sexual assault. The girl is not facing criminal charges.

Defense attorney Andy Beach acknowledged the case “screams out for moral outrage” but said his client deeply regrets what he did. He portrayed Hernandez as a father and immigrant from El Salvador who worked hard all his life, once earning recognition as the Irving Independent School District’s employee of the month for his work as a janitor.

He said his client is not a pedophile but walked into the “tangled web” of a complicated family dynamic and “gave in” to sexual temptation.

While Beach said there is “no excuse” for a grown man to have sex with a child, he said Hernandez cried during a police interview and told authorities, “I knew I had done wrong. … God will punish me.”

“God does not reject a broken and contrite heart,” Beach told jurors. “I hope you’ll keep an open mind.”

Prosecutors questioned why Hernandez, who was nearby when the girl gave birth, didn’t try to save the baby. An Irving police detective testified that Hernandez told him he knew the girl gave birth in the porta-potty but didn’t do anything because the soccer fields were crowded.

“He didn’t want to draw attention and create scandal,” detective Jason Maguire said.

The girl, suffering from bleeding and complications from the birth, was hospitalized for three days after going into labor, a nurse testified.

When she was released, the family had a funeral for Brianna. Rita Lopez, whose husband coached the girl’s soccer team, testified that she was given the task of picking out Brianna’s burial dress.

She bought a white one, typically reserved for a baby’s christening celebration. She bought the smallest one she could find.

MS. LESA SHERRE 'SHERRE THOMAS' THOMAS Eligible to Practice in Texas

LAW OFFICE OF JAMES VASILAS

Bar Card Number: 24039201 TX License Date: 05/05/2003

Primary Practice Location: Dallas , Texas

13747 Montfort Dr Ste 250 Dallas, TX 75240-4459

Thank you for reaching out. I am not sure what you mean by “graduates” and “graduation.” Perhaps you are referring to a case that has a signed expunction order? If you have questions about the expunction process, please contact an attorney. You can speak to an attorney for free by contacting the Travis County Law Library and asking for an expunction reference attorney. If you have complaints about behavior you believe is unlawful, you can contact 311 to make a complaint, or 911 if someone is in danger.

I hope this helps,

Krystal Muller

Planner, Sr.

Travis County District Attorney’s Office

Hundreds clear their record at first-ever Travis County Expunction Expo

AUSTIN, TEXAS (KXAN) — In less than 20 minutes, hundreds of people got the green light to move their lives forward during a Travis County Expunction Expo.

The Travis County District Clerk’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and the County Attorney’s Office teamed up to hold the first-ever event in Travis County.

“This great collaborative effort will extend the ability of our community to provide supportive and accessible ways for individuals to remove obstacles that prevent people from living their lives to the fullest potential,” said Travis County District Clerk Velva Price.

Expunction is a legal process where arrests or charges are removed from your criminal record.

Though 498 people applied for the expunction event, it was limited to 375 applicants. More than 50 lawyers volunteered for it.

“I just witnessed when I was upstairs a woman come up to us when she was done. She looked at all of us and said ‘This is it, this is all?’ We said, ‘yes.’ She just got really emotional about it,” said Alisa De Luna, Executive Director for Volunteer Legal Services Central Texas. “One woman said she’s been waiting for 10 years to become a nurse. She needed to clear up her background in order to do that. Now she can.”

According to Texas law, you may qualify for an expunction if any of the following apply:

You were arrested but a charge was NEVER FILED or was no-billed by the grand jury. You have a criminal charge that was DISMISSED You were arrested but a charge was NEVER FILED or was no-billed by the grand jury. You successfully completed a DIVERSION PROGRAM, such as Pretrial Diversion, Drug Court, etc. You were ACQUITTED on your charge by a judge or jury (usually by a finding of “Not Guilty”) or appellate court. You were convicted of a crime but later PARDONED by the Governor of Texas or the President of the United States. Individuals with arrest records often find it hard to obtain jobs, housing, or financial aid for college. KXAN’s Kaitlyn Karmout talked to one woman getting her record cleared whose been told no many times.

“They’ve put a hold on my life, three different charges on my background. I had been arrested, just never completely charged,” said the Expunction Expo Attendee.

Her charges were eventually dismissed, yet still showed up on her record.

“I had applied to go on a field trip with my 6-year-old. That was one of the things I was nervous about, because you have to have a background check,” she said. “It’s an embarrassing thing to have to worry about. If you’re going to get denied. It’s held me from getting a job before.”

Travis County officials said they modeled the event after a similar one held in Dallas County for the last three years.

In 2019, the Dallas County District Attorney’s office reported 1,281 applicants, the highest number since they began hosting the expo in 2017. 577 people met the requirements and were invited to attend. After the September 2019 event, the D.A.’s office reported 330 people were granted an expunction.

If a person qualifies, they can apply to be granted an expunction. To make an appointment, you can follow this link. This will allow you to pull up your criminal history report. From there, you call the Expunction Reference Attorney: 512-854-1631

Three parts: The Dallas County Expunction Expo consists of three parts: the pre-screening period, pre-qualification clinic, and graduation ceremony.

Travis County officials said they modeled the event after a similar one held in Dallas County for the last three years.

Atty Kenneth G Wincorn

MR. KENNETH G. 'KEN' WINCORN Eligible to Practice in Texas

KENNETH G WINCORN & ASSOCIATES PC

Bar Card Number: 21754500 TX License Date: 04/20/1972

Primary Practice Location: Richardson , Texas

100 N Central Expy Ste 1310 Richardson, TX 75080-5329

youtube

Apr 22, 2024, at 4:11 AM, Facebook Friend Suggestions Re: 👤 Atty Kenneth G Wincorn is a new friend suggestion for you

Profile photo for William Lionheart William Lionheart · Follow Logistics Analyst (2017–present)Updated 2y Related Does a Facebook friend suggestion appear to a person when you view their profile? 2018 Response: Through my own and others experiences, the list of suggested friends shows that people who have viewed your profile show up there. Though it won’t show everyone, and not everyone really has viewed your profile, our experiences have been pretty creepy and sometimes alarming. There have been many instances where people located in different areas where there are no common friends show up in that list and then later reveal themselves to us in some way, whether in public or through Facebook. It’s creepy. I wish they would just come out and be honest about who creeps on your page.

The logical answer based on what Facebook says about it’s algorithms and being connected through a common network of people would be no.

2022 Update - I am 100% confident that this happens now with all social apps and smart devices. Go on dating Apps? A person you looked at may get suggested as a friend. Go to the store and buy something? You will start to see ads on specific things you bought. Have a very random conversation about a topic from your head? Subjects about it start to show up everywhere! 526.7K views View 162 upvotes

Former Staff Pastor at Watermark Community Church

Former SVP Human Resources at BancTec, Inc

Studied at Angelo State University

Studied at Baylor University

Melissa Hayward is a new friend suggestion for you On Apr 25, 2024, at 10:22 AM,

Melissa S. Hayward Partner at Hayward PLLC 10501 N Central Expy #106, Dallas, TX 75231 Bar Card Number: 24044908

On Apr 26, 2024, at 11:37 AM, Re: 👤 Taylor Brannon is a new friend suggestion for you

Former Parks and Recreation Board Member City of Dallas Jun 2006 - Apr 2012 · 5 yrs 11 mos Dallas/Fort Worth AreaDallas/Fort Worth Area Parks and Recreation Board Member District # 7 at City of Dallas

Steve Brown is a new friend suggestion for you On Apr 29, 2024, at 9:21 AM,

Kate Kilanowski is a new friend suggestion for you On Mar 26, 2024, at 12:07 PM

Kathleen "Kate" Kilanowski 2nd degree connection 2nd Equity Partner at Cagle Pugh, Ltd. LLP - Dallas Managing Partner MS. KATHLEEN MICHELLE KILANOWSKI Eligible to Practice in Texas Cagle Pugh, Ltd. LLP Bar Card Number: 24053303 TX License Date: 05/04/2006

PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO SET TRIAL ON THE NON-JURY DOCKET

Jeff Buchwald is a new friend suggestion for you On May 6, 2024, at 10:46 AM,

MR. JEFF P. BUCHWALD Eligible to Practice in Texas Law Office of Jeff Buchwald Bar Card Number: 03293300 TX License Date: 11/07/1986

Brooke Clanton is a new friend suggestion for you On May 7, 2024, at 10:38 AM,

#Youtube

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3thurs · 6 months

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Third Thursday events and exhibitions for December 21

The next Third Thursday — the monthly evening of art in Athens, Georgia — is scheduled for Thursday, December 21, from 6 to 9 p.m. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. This schedule and each venue’s location and hours of operation are available at 3thurs.org.

Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

Yoga in the Galleries, 6 p.m. — This free yoga class surrounded by works of art in the galleries is led by instructors from Five Points Yoga and open to both beginner and experienced yogis. Sanitized mats are provided. Space is limited and spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis; tickets are available at the front desk starting at 5:15 p.m.

On view:

“Nancy Baker Cahill: Through Lines” — Baker Cahill’s first solo museum show expands upon her background in traditional media and redefines the possibilities of drawing in contemporary art through augmented reality.

“In Dialogue: Power Couple: Pierre and Louise Daura in Paris” — Portraits of Joaquín Torres-García’s daughters by Pierre Daura and Louise Heron Blair.

“Decade of Tradition: Highlights from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection” — Selections from Larry and Brenda Thompson’s gift of works by African American artists.

“Power and Piety in 17th-Century Spanish Art” — Works by premiere Spanish baroque painters such as Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Murillo, Pedro Orrente and others, on loan from Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery.

Permanent collection: A wide range of the museum’s permanent collection is always on view, featuring painting, sculpture, works on paper and decorative arts from the Renaissance to the present.

The museum’s days of operation are Tuesday – Sunday. Reserve a free ticket and see our policies at https://georgiamuseum.org/visit/.

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art

ATHICA@675 Pulaski St., Suite 1200:

Closed this Third Thursday.

ATHICA@CINÉ Gallery:

“Six from the Elephant 6 Circle” — Featuring work by artists who helped make the scene.

Lyndon House Arts Center

“Memory Worker: Kelly Taylor Mitchell” — Mitchell’s multidisciplinary practice centers oral history and ancestral memory, real and imagined, woven into the fabric of the African Diaspora. Her work is deeply invested in labor-intensive making, slowness and homespun passed-down processes resulting in works of printmaking, papermaking, performance, book arts and textiles.

“Tell Me A Story: Works by Jasmine Best” — Best, a current master of fine arts candidate at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, uses her memories and manipulations of them to create dialogues about the Black female identity. She explores the folk story traditions of the Black South through tangible and traditional mediums such as fabric and yarn combined with digital sewing.

“Maquettes by Abraham Tesser” — Abraham Tesser is an Athens-based artist and furniture maker who creates magic with wood. He has exhibited large-scale pieces at the Lyndon House Arts Center over the years; however, this exhibition looks at his maquettes, or scale models in wood used as drafts or “drawings” for bigger pieces.

“The Image Moves: New Film and Video Work by Athens Artists” — Guest curated by Keith Wilson, this show features a non-narrative, experimental and personal approach to the time-based mediums of film and video. Artists include Drew Gebhardt, Katz Tepper, Jaime Bull, Selia Hooten, Vivian Liddell, CC Calloway, Shawn Campbell and AJ Aremu.

“The 8th Collegiate Paper Art Triennial” — This exhibition celebrates the pinnacle of student creativity in paper art. Jurors Mina Takahashi, Karen Kunc and Erin Zona meticulously selected 40 outstanding pieces crafted by 36 students hailing from 11 distinguished institutions.

“Growing Together” — A solo exhibition by artist Ato Ribeiro. Born in Philadelphia, he spent his childhood and adolescence in Accra, Ghana. The articulation of his West African heritage and his African American identity is evident in his wooden assemblages that reference both Ghanian strip-woven kente cloth and Black quilting traditions of the American South.

The Athenaeum

Closed this Third Thursday.

The Classic Center

Galleries are closed due to events in the building.

tiny ATH gallery

“Elizabeth Collins Hanes: Freaks of Nature” — Hanes is a recent winner of a coveted Kentucky Festival of the Arts Merit Award. She says, “I have always been a collector of interesting things. I decided to focus on incorporating my collected treasures into a cohesive body of sculptures called ‘Freaks of Nature.’

Some items I use have been given to me, but mostly I use things I find when exploring.”

ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery

“J. Grant Brittain: 80’s Skate Photography” — San Diego-based Brittain, known for his 60+ covers of Transworld Skateboarding Magazine, countless iconic images of the skate greats, and his recently published 1980s skateboarding photography book, “PUSH,” inspired generations of young people to pick up a camera or a skateboard. Over 35 images from Brittain’s iconic work in the 1980s, which captured the evolution of skateboarding from its origins in southern California into a national cultural phenomenon, are on view.

—

Third Thursday was established in 2012 to encourage attendance at Athens’ established art venues through coordination and co-promotion by the organizing entities.

Contact: Michael Lachowski, Georgia Museum of Art, [email protected].

#athensga #art #free #3thurs #uga #downtownathens #athens #visitathensga #museum #downtownathensga

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omdataentryindia · 6 months

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7 Major Benefits of Outsourcing Transcription Services

Transcribing is one of the most outsourced services available today since it's a labor-intensive, time-consuming task that demands extreme focus. Companies that outsource transcribing use qualified individuals with specialized knowledge in transcription. Businesses that outsource transcription services can obtain affordable, high-quality transcripts on schedule. This enables companies to concentrate on their main business operations. This blog will define transcription, and discuss the major advantages of outsourcing transcription services for a successful business.

What Is Transcription?

The act of typing out audio from a speech or video recording to obtain a written record of what was said and by whom is known as transcription. Many of the top transcription services provide timestamps so you know when anything is said in the tape, making it easy to identify and go back to later if necessary.

What Are Outsourcing Transcription Services?

Any company may avoid the expense of hiring staff internally by using a transcription service that is offered by a third party. Outsourcing transcription services is a critical component of every organization's plan for success and growth. Not only that, but a high-quality transcription service will save you time, effort, and resources, easing the pressure on HR.

Who Needs Outsourcing Transcription Services?

Transcription services are in high demand in the legal field. Attorneys, jurors, and judges frequently demand audio footage to be transcribed before it can be submitted in court. This is because written evidence is significantly less confusing than audio or video evidence.

Transcription services are also used in academia. This is especially true in post-graduate courses, where students with restricted time and who are unable to attend lectures can read the course materials in lecture transcripts.

Transcribers are frequently hired by reporters to transfer audio recordings of interviews into written form. This improved form of a conversation is easier to navigate, summarize, and review.

Podcasters frequently seek the services of a transcriber to turn their podcasts into text to make their content more adaptable, easier to find, and available in a variety of formats. As a result, they may see an increase in popularity and views.

7 Major Outsourcing Benefits Of Transcription Services

Let's examine some of the major benefits of outsourcing transcription services and discover what makes them exceptional.

Superior Quality:

Customers can be certain of receiving high-quality transcripts that are well-edited, and free of simple language and grammatical mistakes when they select a reputable transcription service provider. The in-house transcriber may lack the experience necessary to generate transcripts that are extremely accurate and understandable.

2.Affordable Price:

Most providers now provide transcription service packages with a variety of add-ons at a reasonable price. Transcription services are often paid per audio minute. As a result, outsourcing transcription work is more cost-effective than investing in training an in-house staff.

3. Exceptional Capability:

The majority of translation service companies have a team of experts who are qualified to give accurate and thorough transcription. They provide transcripts with the highest caliber of language and precise technical terms and expressions. The staff of native speakers at the transcription service provider may also translate the transcripts into several languages for the client.

4. Turnaround Time:

The outsourcing transcription service provider carefully respects the deadlines set by the client. The supplier offers to deliver high-quality transcription services on time, so the client can plan for a quick response on time.

5. Multiple Formats:

The client may send in any audio or video file type, including mp3, .mp4, .wav, .wma, etc. Depending on the client's request, the transcription service provider can deliver the transcripts in .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .pdf, etc.

6. Availability Of Trained Competent Professionals:

Transcription outsourcing companies hire experienced, talented, and well-trained transcriptionists with extensive experience dealing with a wide range of clients. As a result, high-quality, accurate transcription is delivered consistently. It is difficult to consistently attain the same level of output from in-house professionals.

7. Provides Flexibility:

The volume of transcription work required by a company is generally accompanied by inconsistency and variation in productivity in other fundamental business activities. An unexpected increase in work can be easily handled by an outsourcing transcription provider. To fulfill the vast amount of transcription's deadline, service providers engage retainers for a brief period of time and take off during quiet periods. Dealing with in-house personnel is substantially more difficult in both circumstances.

How To Choose The Right Transcription Outsourcing Partner?

Excellent Transcription:

One of the reasons individuals use a professional transcription service is to obtain the quality that in-house transcription may not provide. As a result, the transcription service provider must provide high-quality, precise transcription that is clear and simple to understand.

ISO/IEC-Certified:

The outsourcing transcription service provider must have a security architecture in place to protect the client's data and ensure confidentiality. Ideally, security system suppliers who have received ISO/IEC certification are more reliable and trustworthy.

Expertise:

To offer high-quality transcripts that are accurate and relevant for the given subject area, the service provider must have a team of highly experienced subject-matter specialists.

Source Of: https://dataentrywiki.blogspot.com/2023/10/7-major-benefits-of-outsourcing-transcription-services-.html

#Best Transcription Services #Outsource Transcription Services #Professional Transcription Services #Transcription Outsourcing #Transcription Services #Transcription Services Companies

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shamisxgentile · 1 year

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Lack Of Durability Leads Galaxy Fold, Flip Prospects To Consider Class Motion Suit In Opposition To Samsung

But whereas techies and law geeks ponder, do you've got to, common iPhone or Android owner, give a damn? Because the fate of your favourite smartphone or tablet may hinge on what 10 jurors and one decide resolve in San Jose, Calif. And sadly, whether Apple or Samsung wins , it's customers who are most likely to lose. Let's parse out what this case means in normalese (for U.S. prospects no much less than, since Apple-Samsung litigation has also spread samsung privacy lawsuit to some 10 countries worldwide). There have been loads of sweeping declarations about how this could affect the competitive landscape within the tech business. The court docket's determination might "present the basis for negotiating the terms and cost of licensing and cross-licensing of patents -- or for preserving sure patented features unique to a minimal of one company," declared The New York Times.

The device utilized hardware elements from Samsung’s Galaxy S7; such as expandable storage and IP68 water resistance. The device additionally touted new features corresponding to a dual-sided curved show samsung privacy lawsuit in addition to assist for HDR color. Samsung issued a recall on the device, offering a brand new system that includes a battery from a special provider.

BIPA units forth the means by which a private entity might obtain, gather, retailer, and switch a person’s biometric information and permits employees to file a lawsuit if the info is unlawfully collected, misused, or lost. By excluding benchmark apps from GOS throttling, measurements of telephone performance that are used in advertising claims, may not mirror real-life use. People who purchase Samsung Galaxy phones pay a premium for enhanced efficiency and will not be getting the worth that they paid for.

The settlement was preliminarily permitted by the District Court on August 19, 2020. Thereafter, cases were filed by Labaton Sucharow LLP and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. The circumstances were consolidated and transferred to the United States District Court in San Francisco. The three firms collectively litigated the case for almost 5 years, before Judge James Donato, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Our Cyber Risk & Data Privacy Summit brings together trade consultants to discuss greatest practices on managing cyber dangers and share insights into the newest data privacy tendencies.

His work has been quoted by numerous high news organizations, and he was recently named one of many world's top 10 “power cell influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach labored as an govt in marketing and enterprise growth with two personal telcos. If you thought half a billion dollars was a giant samsung privacy lawsuit sum, simply wait until you see what Samsung is facing as the outcome of a recently filed lawsuit. The South Korean firm bought more than 4 million units in Australia last yr, according to analysis agency Canalys.

#law firm

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mikaylaology · 3 years

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Wigs: More than just an accessory

Field Assignment: Chapter one (9/5/2021)

Whether for style, religion or fun people have worn hair and hair extensions for centuries. The earliest sightings of these popular accessories is dated around 2700 B.C.E worn by Egyptians. They secured their wigs with an adhesive mixture of bees wax and resin protecting the wearer from pest and the sun. Wigs in then cemented themselves as a fashion for the powerful. Wigs wear made (and are still made) from a vast assortment of materials such as wool, fabric, paper, animal fur, plastic and of course human hair.

Outside of that Egyptians; and later ancient Chinese, Japanese, Roman, Jewish and Korean societies all adopted the attachment; donned wigs for their ornate appearance and symbolic status. European monarchs like Elizabeth I and Henry XVI gave a whole new meaning to the style in relation to the government. Judges, jurors, lawyers and the sort wore them frequently during the 16th to 20th century. Wigs in then cemented themselves as a fashion for the powerful.

https://blackenuf.mn.co/posts/3240123

I’ve always favored bone straight black wigs. I love the contrast between my natural hair and the wig, the wig making my appreciate my curls more. The wig I wear almost daily, when my hair is prepped, is a Lenore from Outre. This company design different types of wigs ( half wigs, full wigs, lace wigs, etc.), weaves, extensions and any other hair accessorizing product. Outre receives manufacturing from mainly Qingdao Zhongyu Hair Products Co. and Heze Beifang Hair Products Co..

Not much information is made public specifically about these two companies but it can be assumed mostly Chinese citizens working in factories were apart of the building process. Depending on if said laborer works in either an Urban non - private sector or Urban private sector, what region of China they work in or what industry trends are becoming popular many go home with a non livable wage in the Chinese economy and U.S. economy.

https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2021/02/04/us-condemns-systematic-rape-uighur-women-china-xinjang-camp.html

Because of inhuman treatment from work and the insane rate in which the beauty industry has to pump out products some individuals have resorted to strikes. At the own risk of their jobs, the demand of labor benefits is justified reason even if it some homeless or starved. Many don’t have the option though. The hair itself is taken mostly from the forced labor religious groups like Uighurs and impoverished women or trafficked women who all face extreme violence if they don’t contribute

“China supplies more than 80% of the world’s human-hair products that are used by wig makers. These hair products have been proven to come from the concentration camps in East Turkestan, with one Chinese hair exporter saying, ‘We have our own manufacturer, we just go [to East Turkestan] to source materials,’ in response to questioning about their product named, ‘dark brown virgin Xinjiang human hair.’,”

"Shave their Heads. sell THEIR HAIR." - the forced labor BEHIND beauty. Save Uighur. (2020, November 11). https://www.saveuighur.org/shave-their-heads-sell-their-hair-the-forced-labor-behind-beauty/.

youtube

One positive out look is that American wig manufacturers who get supplies from Chine try to accumulate materials through an ethical source. By avoiding companies that take advantage of in house workers and abusive suppliers of the hair, U.S. shops hope that the loss of business will make them rethink their approach and try to improve treatment.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/asia/black-gold-hair-products-forced-labor-xinjiang/

Entrepreneurs like Mikayla Lowe Davis are leaders in ethical sourcing. In a CNN interview about her new salon; Mikki Styles; she expresses her disgust with finding out the weave she was putting in clients hair to make them feel good made other suffer tremendously. The article continues to discuss her journey in creating her own ware housing unit and fully gathering resources from companies that aligned with her human rights morality. Please click here to get a more detailed understanding (The read is worth it!!).

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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Pluralistic: 01 Mar 2020 (Make Mordor great again, N95 Mask of the Red Death, Medicare for All with Covid, Necessity Defense)

Today's links

Trump's rhetoric fits eerily well into the Tolkien canon: AR Moxon makes Mordor great again.

The wealthy are chartering jets to avoid coronavirus: The Masque of the Red Death takes to the skies.

The US already has Medicare for All: The day that Trump declares a national health emergency.

America's uninsured will turn a covid crisis into a covid disaster: Our shared microbial destiny cannot be denied.

Jury refuses to convict Extinction Rebellion activists: Long live the "necessity defense" and the human race it protects.

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Trump's rhetoric fits eerily well into the Tolkien canon (permalink)

AR Moxon's satirical riff on how Trump would play as a Tolkien villain is not only hilarious, it's also exactly the kind of thing the Tolkien estate used to threaten to sue people over.

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1233207274992263168?s=19

(which is why Pat Murphy's astoundingly great genderswapped retelling of The Hobbit, "There and Back Again," is no longer in print.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_and_Back_Again_(novel)

Especially good is how Moxon digs into the way that Tolkien's concept of "races" was uncomfortably close to "racism" (especially orcs, who, honestly, have no conceivable basis for subsisting as a species, let alone a society).

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1233682097463873536

"While I was here, this orc came up —a big guy, very tough, like out of central casting, handsome, could've been a fighting Uruk-hai—and he's crying, weeping, he says 'sir, thank you for the meat.' Incredible. He hadn't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days."

Other Trumpland rhetoric fits in eerily well. Just like Murphy, Moxon claims Hobbits: "We have Hobbits coming in folks, and they're smoking the pipe-weed, and eating second breakfasts, third breakfasts, your breakfasts, your children's breakfasts."

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1233221682309083137

And just as with Murphy, Moxon's satire is full of deep, Silmarillion cuts that demonstrate that his work is coming from a place of deep, if conflicted, affection.

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1233328631734206475

"Fëanor, son of Finwë, King of the Noldor, is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more. We all appreciate his contributions, and we're looking into him, and we're looking very strongly. Nobody was talking about him before me."

(Image: Cornel Zueger, CC BY-SA)

The wealthy are chartering jets to avoid coronavirus (permalink)

Plutes are chartering private jets in the hopes of avoiding #coronavirus, assuming that if they only fly in fart-tubes that other wealthy people have farted in, they won't get sick.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-29/wealthy-jump-to-private-jets-to-duck-airlines-and-cut-virus-risk

To make this pay, you really need to fill that Gulfstream. NYC-London is $140k for a 12-seater — flying those 12 buttery soft asses from JFK to Heathrow in BA First will run you $120K.

So you're basically assuming that if you use the plute-only terminal at LAX (whose management company once threatened to sue me for criticizing it in print!), and LHR (originally royals-only, now open to any oligarch), you'll avoid covid. Presumably because the Better People have Better Masks and the Luxury Decontam Wipes and that will keep the bad stuff at bay. Nevermind that we're finding covid in people who've been in psych ward lockdown for TEN YEARS.

https://twitter.com/AskAKorean/status/1233046896719126533

Elite Panic is definitely a killer. I mean, people have been pointing this out since Poe wrote "Masque of the Red Death" in 1842. You can't shoot germs.

https://www.poemuseum.org/the-masque-of-the-red-death

Humanity has a shared microbial destiny. Crises get resolved by people running TOWARD the problem, not cowering in luxury bunkers while better people do the work. This is the point of my own take on "Masque."

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250242334

Public health crises show that reality has a well-known collectivist bias, and this challenges right wing orthodoxy, which is why the right has only two responses to epidemiology: "It's a hoax" and (later) "Exterminate the dirty poors!"

"The Reactionary Mind," Corey Robin's magnificent 2011 book (updated 2017), traces the history of right-wing thought to find the factor that unites Dominionists, imperialists, white nationalists, libertarians and other strains of right-wing thought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reactionary_Mind

Robin's conclusion: the thing that unites these different strains is a belief that humanity is naturally arrayed in hierarchies, with some people simply born better than the rest of us, and the world is best when the best people are in charge. It's an idea as old as Plato's Republic. Dominionists want Christian men in charge of women and children. Racists want white people in charge of racialized people. Libertarians want bosses in charge of workers. Imperialists want America in charge of the world.

It explains why right-wing movements hang together (because they all agree that the "wrong people" are running things) and why they splinter (once they take power, they can't agree who the "right people" are).

This "divine right of kings/bosses/America/whites/men/Christians" philosophy is coterminal with the idea of the natural leaders having special stuff that makes them better: just as the touch of a king will heal leprosy, so too can you expect that a plute won't have covid. It's wrong, of course — lethally so.

The US already has Medicare for All (permalink)

Did you know the US already has "Medicare for All"? But only under very specific circumstances: under the National Disaster Medical System, if the President declares a public health emergency, the federal government steps in to pay all out-of-pockets.

https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ndms/definitive-care/Pages/coverage-guidelines.aspx

Any medically necessary service which is authorized for reimbursement as long as the patient sustained:

Injuries or illnesses resulting directly from a specified public health emergency;"

("If you have covid symptoms, you're covered")

Injuries, illnesses and conditions requiring medical services necessary to maintain a reasonable level of health temporarily not available as a result of the health emergency

("if you have any other problem and can't get treatment due to covid chaos, you're covered")

As Carlos Mucha points out, Trump declaring a national health emergency would create "Medicare for All with Covid-19," which could easily become just plain Medicare for All, "as surely as the UK's Emergency Hospital Service morphed into the NHS."

America's uninsured will turn a covid crisis into a covid disaster (permalink)

The last time Carl Gibson saw a doctor was 2013, when an arm-sling and an Rx for painkillers ran him $4000, creating a permanent blot on his credit report. He hasn't been since.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/28/coronavirus-millions-of-americans-uninsured

He's not alone. 44% of Americans do not see doctors despite medical necessity, because of cost. About a third of Americans do not fill their prescriptions because they can't afford them.

27.5m Americans don't have health insurance, thanks to a mix of Republican state-houses blocking Medicare expansion and Obamacare's intrinsic shortcomings, which invite price-gouging and under-coverage from America's sociopathic health-insurance industry.

This is terrible under the best of circumstances, but it's the thing that turns a coronavirus emergency into a coronavirus catastrophe. Because Carl Gibson is sneezing into the same air you're breathing.

("All the common people breathing filthy air" -The Pointer Sisters)

Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, is a former pharma lobbyist who has ruled out price controls for a Covid-19 vaccine.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/27/pluralistic-your-daily-link-dose-27-feb-2020/#pandemiccapitalism

And Nancy Pelosi has said that treatment must be "affordable" – not free. What's "affordable" when 61% of Americans don't even have $1,000 saved to cover a medical emergency?

It's hardly a novel observation to say that we have a shared microbial destiny: "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/18/few-americans-have-enough-savings-to-cover-a-1000-emergency.html

Jury refuses to convict Extinction Rebellion activists (permalink)

An Oregon jury has refused to convict a group of climate activists who blocked a rail line that Zenith Energy used to transport tar sands crude. The Extinction Rebellion activists presented a "necessity defense" for their actions.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/28/landmark-win-fight-habitable-future-jury-refuses-convict-climate-activists-who

The activists were charged with trespassing for planting a "victory garden" that blocked the track. There was video. 5 of 6 jurors decided that maintaining the habitability of the only planet in the known universe capable of sustaining human life justified the action.

"We need to take note of the lessons learned by the labor movement—mass civil disobedience works. The climate crisis is a workers' issue, we need to unite to shut down business as usual. Right now." -Margaret Butler

The result was a mistrial, and now the local prosecutors have to decide whether to haul the activists back into court again.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Deluded Sony music exec can't read his own study https://constitutionalcode.blogspot.com/2005/02/us-market-not-antagonistic-towards-drm.html

#15yrsago Euro software patents reanimated through corrupt officials 0wned by Microsoft https://yro.slashdot.org/story/05/02/28/2223232/eu-commission-declines-patent-debate-restart

#15yrsago Comp sci profs smackdown the movie studios https://web.archive.org/web/20050303023425/http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000776.html

#10yrsago Architectural fan-drawings of classic sitcom houses http://origin.www.markmoorefineart.com/artists/mark-bennett

#10yrsago Petition to make "Hella" the prefix for 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 https://www.facebook.com/The-Official-Petition-to-Establish-Hella-as-the-SI-Prefix-for-1027-277479937276/

#10yrsago Cyberwar hype was cooked up to sell Internet-breaking garbage to the military https://www.wired.com/2010/03/cyber-war-hype/

#5yrsago North Korean defectors undermine totalitarianism with smuggled pirate sitcoms https://www.wired.com/2015/03/north-korea/

#1yrago Oakland teachers' union declares total victory after seven-day strike https://oaklandea.org/updates/oea-reaches-tentative-agreement-with-ousd/

#1yrago German Data Privacy Commissioner warns at new Copyright Directive will increase the tech oligopoly, make EU companies dependent on US filter vendors, and subject Europeans to surveillance by US companies https://torrentfreak.com/german-data-privacy-commissioner-sounds-alarm-over-upload-filter-oligopoly-190301/

#1yrago University of California system libraries break off negotiations with Elsevier, will no longer order their journals https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/university-california-boycotts-publishing-giant-elsevier-over-journal-costs-and-open

#1yrago Satanic Panic 2.0: The Momo Challenge hoax https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/momo-challenge-hoax/583825/

#1yrago Striking West Virginia teachers won swift and decisive victory; Oakland next? https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/28/rapid-victory-west-virginia-teacher-strike-shows-what-happens-when-progressives

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/)

Hugo nominators! My story "Unauthorized Bread" is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC's Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I've been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world's prehistory.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Gopher: When Adversarial Interoperability Burrowed Under the Gatekeepers' Fortresses: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/02/24/gopher-when-adversarial-interoperability-burrowed-under-the-gatekeepers-fortresses/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

21 notes · View notes

the-little-crime-writer · 4 years

Text

George Emil Banks

The first call was chilling enough: Two lay shot on a Wilkes-Barre street.

But as Robert Gillespie headed to the scene where George Emil Banks began his massacre 35 years ago this week, the scope of the situation began to mount as the bodies piled up. Gillespie was on Interstate 81 when the next call from a detective informed him of a second crime scene, in Jenkins Township. Four shot dead.

When Gillespie arrived in Wilkes-Barre, he learned that not only were the two there shot outside a home on Schoolhouse Lane — one fatally — but eight more bullet-riddled bodies were inside. Four were children. The two youngest were 1. Decades later, Gillespie can still see them.

“You never forget seeing a child that has been brutally murdered,” said Gillespie, the former Luzerne County district attorney who prosecuted Banks.

Thirty-five years later, Gillespie and Al Flora Jr., one of the attorneys Gillespie battled in the courtroom over Banks’ culpability and competency, reflected on the details and aftermath of the murderous rampage Banks wreaked on the Wyoming Valley on Sept. 25, 1982.

Banks gunned down five of his own children and eight other people on Schoolhouse Lane and in a Jenkins Township trailer park in the largest killing spree by a single mass murderer in Pennsylvania history. Most victims were shot at close range.

After a highly publicized trial that lasted just under two weeks, a jury from Allegheny County found Banks guilty of 13 counts of first-degree murder on June 22, 1983. The next day, the panel returned 12 death sentences and one life sentence for the murders. For the prosecution, the outcome was bittersweet.

“We had done nothing but work toward it for a year and there was some pride, but no pleasure, in hearing the jury actually assert he should be put to death,” Gillespie said. “But if there was ever anyone who deserved the death penalty, in my opinion, it was George Banks.”

Yet Banks, inmate No. AY6066, was never executed. Now 75, he remains on death row at Graterford, a maximum-security prison in Montgomery County. He is a distant shadow of his former self.

First violent crime: 1961

It wasn’t long after Banks was discharged from the Army that he committed his first serious violent crime, the shooting of an unarmed tavern-keeper during a robbery in 1961. He was sentenced to six to 15 years in prison, then was hit with additional time when he briefly escaped in 1964.

Despite the escape attempt, Banks was granted parole in 1969, and his sentence was commuted by Gov. Milton Shapp in 1974.

After prison, Banks was hired by the state, first by the Department of Environmental Resources, then as a guard at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill in Harrisburg.

Weeks before the murder spree, Banks was suspended from prison-guard duty after he locked himself in a guard tower with a shotgun and threatened to kill himself. Fellow guards also had complained Banks had been talking about committing a mass killing.

He was placed on involuntary sick leave and was supposed to see a psychologist on Sept. 29, 1982, but four days earlier he embarked on the unprovoked killing spree that defense attorneys have long argued was a product of paranoid delusion.

The night before the killings, Banks was at a birthday party in Wilkes-Barre where he drank beer, played darts and fawned over a woman’s T-shirt that read “Kill Them All and Let God Sort It Out.”

Banks and the woman switched shirts, and he donned it underneath military-style fatigues the next morning when he methodically began walking through his home firing an AR-15 rifle.

When the rampage ended hours later, Banks had killed 13 people at two homes — seven children, his three live-in girlfriends, an ex-girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend’s mother, and a bystander in the street. Five of the seven children were his own; he has fathered at least seven.

Banks holed up at 24 Monroe St. in Wilkes-Barre, where swarms of police tried to convince him he should give himself up because his five children were alive and in need of blood. A phony radio broadcast was played to support the ruse. Banks finally surrendered after a four-hour standoff.

‘A delusion’

Flora last met with Banks in 2010.

That year, after numerous rounds of appeals, Luzerne County Senior Judge Joseph Augello ruled Banks was too mentally ill to be executed, describing the inmate’s mindset as a “tossed salad of ideas and beliefs.”

Augello wrote that Banks is not competent to be executed “because he has a fixed, false belief, a delusion, that his sentence has been vacated by God, the governor and (former President) George W. Bush. He believes he is in prison illegally, and he should be going home. He should be out there ministering to the people, but there is a conspiracy against him.”

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling in 2012.

At trial, Banks’ bizarre behavior was a constant obstacle, Flora recalled. He refused to cooperate with Flora and fellow defense attorneys Basil Russin and Joseph Sklarosky Sr., who had hoped to have him declared not guilty by reason of insanity.

Banks took the stand in his own defense, then delivered a rambling account of the shootings. During that account, he showed jurors the gory photographs of his victims that his attorneys labored to keep out of trial. Banks, who is bi-racial, then claimed he had only wounded the victims and said racist police officers had fired the fatal shots to frame him.

Prosecutors argued Banks’ motive was based on his fear of losing control over his extended family.

The trial attracted such a throng of attention from relatives, onlookers and national media that presiding Judge Patrick J. Toole instituted a lottery for courtroom seating.

Gillespie said Toole was clear on courtroom decorum: There would be no emotional outbursts from relatives of Banks or his victims.

And while not an outpouring of emotion, Gillespie acknowledged he had to hide tears from the jury at one strenuous point during the proceedings, when a child victim’s young brother testified about reporting the murders to 911 using a phone covered with blood and brain matter.

“No child should ever have to see that and tell a whole bunch of strangers what had happened,” Gillespie said.

Locked in isolation;

Flora, who long has fought to have Banks declared incompetent, said the case is now considered closed, and Banks is destined to die in prison.

“Being locked in a cell 24 hours a day and being in isolation will have a profound effect on someone,” Flora said. “George has significantly deteriorated. He is severely mentally ill … and there is likely no treatment for him.”

Gillespie, now in private practice in Hazleton, said he never thought of Banks as a victim, but as a misogynist who hid behind claims of a racial divide. But, Gillespie conceded, he was smart.

“I thought that George Banks was a very intelligent person,” Gillespie said, noting that during one of his first encounters with Banks, the mass murderer draped himself in a blanket so a psychiatrist couldn’t discern reactions to his analysis.

But Banks’ hatred also defined him, Gillespie said.

“He hated women,” Gillespie said. “He cared for his sons, but he had no feelings at all towards his daughters or stepdaughters. He was, quite frankly, a cold-blooded killer.”

BANKS’ VICTIMS:

Schoolhouse Lane home:

• Regina Clemens, 29: girlfriend, struck by a bullet on her right cheek that spiraled into her heart.

• Susan Yuhas, 23: girlfriend, shot five times while holding his 1-year-old daughter, Mauritania, who was fatally shot in the head.

• Dorothy Lyons, 29: girlfriend, shot in the neck while in a chair.

• Bowendy Banks, 4: son, shot in the left cheek while turning away from his father.

• Montanzima Banks, 6: daughter, shot in the head and chest.

• Foraroude Banks, 1 - son, shot and killed while being held by his half-sister, Nancy Lyons.

• Nancy Lyons, 11: stepdaughter, died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Outside Schoolhouse Lane home:

• Ray Hall Jr., 22: bystander, shot and killed when Banks left the Schoolhouse Lane home.

Heather Highlands mobile homes, Jenkins Township:

• Sharon Mazzillo, 24: former girlfriend, shot in the chest.

• Kissmayu Banks, 5: son, single shot to the forehead.

• Alice Mazzillo, 47: Sharon Mazzillo’s mother, shot in the face.

• Scott Mazzillo, 7: Sharon Mazzillo’s nephew, shot in the head.

• Survivor — Jimmy Olson, 22: bystander, outside Schoolhouse Lane home, gunshot wound to the chest.

#George Banks #tcc true crime #true crime blog #true crime community #true crimes #true crime #real cime post #real crime #tcc real crime #real crime blog #real crimes #real murder #real murders #the serial killer Chronicles

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cypher2 · 5 years

Link

Judge Favors USWNT in Class Certification Ruling, but U.S. Soccer Maintains Defenses in Equal Pay Case

In an important pretrial victory for the U.S. women's national team players who are suing U.S. Soccer for pay equity, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner on Friday certified their case as a class action. In addition, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Carli Lloyd were officially appointed as class representatives.

In perhaps a preview of what’s to come, the federal judge also forcefully rejected legal arguments raised by U.S. Soccer while signaling that the players’ case appears to be strong.

The players proposed three classes. Here's a closer look at what they mean and what the overall ruling means in the bigger picture:

The Injunctive relief class

The first proposed class includes all USWNT players who will be on the team at whatever date the litigation ultimately ends. With potential appeals, the case could conceivably last until 2022 or 2023. While some of the current players will remain on the team at that point, others will have been replaced.

The injunctive relief class will benefit from any court order requiring U.S. Soccer to change its method of pay. This class is not about receiving monetary damages for past wrongs. It’s instead about equitable or injunctive relief, meaning an order to change rules going forward.

Back pay and punitive damages class

The second proposed class includes all USWNT players who have been members of the team at any time from Feb. 4, 2015, through the date of class certification, which is now Nov. 8, 2019. This class would receive any monetary damages ordered by the court should the players prevail in arguing that U.S. Soccer violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII forbids employers from paying employees less on account of their gender. If the players prove that U.S. Soccer broke the law, players in this class would likely be owed “back pay”, meaning compensation they would have earned had U.S. Soccer complied with the law. These players would also receive any damages imposed on U.S. Soccer as a form of punishment (punitive damages).

Fair Labor Standards Act compensation class

The third proposed class includes all USWNT players who have been members of the team at any time from March 8, 2016, to the present. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a comprehensive federal law governing wages. It includes the Equal Pay Act, which is a key area of law for the players. Like Title VII, the Equal Pay Act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate employees’ pay on the basis of gender, among other demographic characteristics.

Players’ class certification arguments clearly convince the court

Judge Klausner, who earned a Bronze Star for his service as a United States Army captain in the Vietnam War and whom President George W. Bush nominated to the bench in 2002, approved all three of the proposed classes.

To reach that determination, the judge had to determine if each of the three classes met four criteria:

1. The proposed class is so numerous that joinder (joining individual claims) of all members would be impracticable.

2. There are questions of law or fact common to the proposed class.

3. The claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the proposed class.

4. The representatives would fairly and adequately protect the interest of the proposed class.

In assessing those criteria, Judge Klausner found ample reasons to support the players’ reasoning.

For instance, Judge Klausner’s written order stresses that the players “have offered evidentiary proof that they had they been paid on the same terms as [the men’s players], they would have earned more money per game and, as a result, more money per year.” In other words, the judge regards the players’ core contention—that they have been illegally paid less than men—to be based on fact and data rather than supposition or suspicion. That doesn’t mean the players have proven their case. As noted below, a jury trial would determine whether or not the law was broken. Still, Judge Klausner clearly sees the players as offering a logical argument grounded in reality.

In that same vein, the judge maintains that the players “have established a likelihood that they will again be wronged in a similar way.” This means there is a potential for repeat harm in the future: if U.S. Soccer broke the law in how they paid the players, that is likely to happen again in the future unless a court stops it.

Judge Klausner also bluntly rejects certain defenses raised by U.S. Soccer. For instance, U.S. Soccer maintains that Morgan, Rapinoe, Lloyd and Sauerbrunn have all been paid more than the highest earning U.S. men's players. Judge Klausner dismisses that possibility as irrelevant in terms of whether U.S. Soccer violated Title VII or the Equal Pay Act.

Indeed, in a sharp critique, Judge Klausner highlights that U.S. Soccer “cites no case law to support this premise.” He also underscores that other courts have “explicitly rejected this argument.” To cement the point, the judge writes that it would be an “absurd result” if women could only negate “obvious disparity” in pay by working twice as many hours.

Judge Klausner also places emphasis on the fact that the players’ alleged injuries go beyond pay. The players maintain that U.S. Soccer has treated them like second-class citizens compared to the men’s players. The women players contend they have been subjected to “unequal working conditions,” including playing on inferior and less-safe surfaces and traveling less often on chartered flights.

Judge Klausner’s order also blasts U.S. Soccer for equating conjecture with legal reasoning. Specifically, the judge takes issue with U.S. Soccer suggesting that more established players on the team might be inclined “to prioritize monetary and injunctive relief that is more favorable to them than to junior, non-contracted players.” Judge Klausner emphasizes that U.S. Soccer has offered no evidence backing up this “speculation” and that courts do “not favor denial class certification on the basis of speculative conflicts.”

Class certification is important, because it ensures that the litigation involves more plaintiffs than are currently listed in the case. The case now represents classes of former, current and future players (they can opt out of the classes and pursue their own cases against U.S. Soccer, but that is unlikely to happen). If the case proves successful at trial, class certification would likely require U.S. Soccer to pay more in monetary damages.

Morgan, Rapinoe, Lloyd and Sauerbrunn have also been designated as class representatives. This means Judge Klausner did not find their positions or backgrounds to contain any relevant conflicts of interest. As class representatives, the four will be obligated to ethically represent everyone in the three classes and also be expected to play active roles in the litigation.

This doesn't spell the end for U.S. Soccer's defense

The players defeating U.S. Soccer on the issue of class certification does not mean that the players will necessarily prevail in a trial. Judge Klausner’s focus was not on whether U.S. Soccer broke the law but rather on whether the players offered sufficiently convincing arguments for purpose of class certification. Those are two different legal considerations and could yield opposite results.

To that point, U.S. Soccer’s core defenses—which include that the players’ own union negotiated the pay policies at the heart of their complaint—remain available. It would be possible for the players to win on class certification and for U.S. Soccer to prevail in a trial. The fact that women players earn less than men counterparts does not, by itself, prove that U.S. Soccer broke the law. In a trial, U.S. Soccer would repeatedly frame pay differences as reflecting calculated and lawful choices by the respective unions for the women and men, with the former securing more guaranteed pay with less upside and the latter obtaining fewer salary guarantees and more lucrative bonuses.

Moreover, even if Judge Klausner is skeptical of some of U.S. Soccer’s defenses, it remains to be seen how jurors would react to competing arguments during a trial. In their complaint filed back in March, the players demanded a jury trial. Jurors, then, would determine whether U.S. Soccer violated the law. A trial would also feature witnesses and the presentation of evidence—the dynamic would be very different than what has occurred to date (that is, pretrial document filings and accompanying hearings).

Still, U.S. Soccer has reason to be concerned that the presiding judge appears supportive of the players’ position. This could motivate U.S. Soccer to offer more favorable settlement terms to the players. The parties have six months to negotiate before a trial starts. Chances are, they’ll strike a deal before May 5 and a trial will be averted. Until then, that date will inch closer and closer.

Michael McCann is SI’s Legal Analyst. He is also an attorney and the Director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.

-----

Important to note, and one reason why Hope might choose not to be included in the class and continue with her own legal case against USSF (which has a trial date set for Oct 2020 - 5 months later than the uswnt case) is that she has stated several times she believes the players will choose to settle on their case rather than let it go to trial and ultimately result in a legally binding court ruling. It’s not a guarantee though - a jury trial could find that ussf has not violated the law and the players could lose - but without letting a case like this travel the full length of the court system and exhaust all outcomes - settling ultimately undermines the chance for the legal system to hold ussf accountable. If the players settle, which has always been ussf’s modus operandi since the beginning of time, then the little bit above about “ In that same vein, the judge maintains that the players “have established a likelihood that they will again be wronged in a similar way.” This means there is a potential for repeat harm in the future: if U.S. Soccer broke the law in how they paid the players, that is likely to happen again in the future unless a court stops it.“ -- will most definitely be true however without a legally binding court decision to stop ussf from doing it again. Settlement in a class action case like this will not benefit the future of women’s soccer progression in this country and will never stop ussf from discriminating against the women’s team as they have all these years. The fact that the judge in this most recent certification ruling seems to acknowledge the uswnt’s case in a favorable way and dismiss some of ussf’s arguments as having no basis in fact is a good sign. But when it really comes down to the nitty gritty ugly side of this case coming closer to the court date, as hope has warned many times in the past, ussf will employ ugly tactics and threats. They will. They have before, they already low key have in a statement about how us soccer funds and pays for the nwsl player’s salaries. And when it comes down to it, when the federation starts to threaten these players contracts, bonus pay, benefits, training and travel amenities, league pay, and ultimately NT scheduled appearances (under the table, behind closed doors, targeting the younger more vulnerable players) the players could collectively agree to settle and keep their standing not only as individuals but as a team. It is sad though, because Hope has also mentioned before that she felt the entire team bringing a case like this as a united front or threatening to strike only as a united front was the best way to actually hold ussf accountable. And in the rulings and court statements so far, this has proven true. A class status is much more powerful than any individual player case could be. It’s unfortunate that the team never decided to take it to this level while she was still on the team - the timing of it all - I personally don’t like the disjointed nature of the two separate cases or the fact the Hope feels she has to battle her own former teammates for a say in a decision making process that could ultimately affect her too, as she was a part of this team’s past and was (potentially in the eyes of a jury) discriminated against and owed damages too if a jury finds that ussf did break the law.

“I’ve always prided myself on standing up for what I believe in,” she said. “And I’ll tell you one thing right now, I don’t care if they offer me a ton of money for a settlement, I will not settle because the only way things change is by changing the course of history and there has to be a court case that actually does that.” -Hope Solo

It makes sense that the players did not want Hope included in the player’s association legal decision making before she was fired, or in the recent mediation talks with this current case. She’s a wolf, she doesn’t back down. She’s always had a loud, persistent voice in the fight for equal pay. And in the past, the team has felt her approach was too sharp edged, too aggressive. Perhaps they still do. But she’s always also been right. She was arguing with facts and numbers for years before any legal case was presented. She was emailing people within ussf for explanations, for answers, and on things that went beyond just the pay structure. She always demanded better treatment, better league conditions, better accountability. She spoke up when everyone told her to shut up, long before the fight for equality went mainstream and became a standing ground for the players to show the world how determined they are. And she still does, even now when she is ignored.

History will tell what happens. I just hope it’s for the benefit of all women’s soccer, or we will continue to see this and future teams have to legally battle this federation for many years to come. And in the midst of all these other national team federations coming forward and offering equal pay to their players, we still see the united states federation - arguably the most powerful, lucrative, and supposedly progressive one in the world - still fighting its own players rather than doing the right thing. They’ve been doing this since the beginning, and they will continue to. Powerful conglomerates like ussf with hundreds of millions of dollars and no one to power check them don’t change their behavior unless they’re legally forced to do so.

#hope solo #uswnt #equal play equal pay #interviews and articles #woso

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sueboohscorner · 4 years

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#Bull Season 4 - Episode 14 - Quid Pro Quo

Bull Season 4 Episode 14 - REVIEW & BREAKDOWN - QUID PRO QUO *************** Spoilers for The Episode 14 are Below *****************

This week on Bull, Dr. Bull is hired by a doctor who is accused by the Manhattan U.S attorney of bribing his way in college, Just as Bull’s ex-wife is going to birth to their baby girl. The first thing we need to look into the relationships that were focused on in the episode which are in the section below. So let us jump into it.

Relationship Central in Bull - Season 4 - Episode 14

1. Bull and Isabella (Issy)

Through the ups and downs that have happened in the past, their lives have been forever altered by the birth of their baby girl. This relationship was the dominant focus of the episode because, throughout the episode, the audience is shown how Jason and Issy have been preparing for Baby Bull as well as their relationship is on show as well, because as the audience has not seen them like this for much of the season except for the few scenes and mentions. Which I Believe is good, because it gives the writers, the chance to develop the relationship off-screen more, and when the audience sees it. It is a treat because MW and YM have solid chemistry together on screen. As the episode begins with a heavily pregnant Issy with baby bull and is in the final stretch of the pregnancy and wants here baby girl out., which the writers have eluded to in the past episodes in particular episode 8, when she is on the stairs, which gave the audience a scene of needing to bring on labor more quickly, earlier on in the episode, Issy is annoyed by Bull, because he is going to work and his world is not stopping for her and his baby girl, which I am under the impression that Bull is nervous and petrified of his baby girl coming and this his way of controlling the nerves is by throwing himself into work to make sure that his mind is occupied. As the episode progress, Bullrushes to be by her side, but it is was the false labor start, we can see that they are both scared of the outcome. In the final scenes of the episode, the audience is treated to a scene of Bull admitting to Issy that he is scared but also happy at the same time as he sits by her bedside as Issy is in labor. By the end of the episode, Bull and Isabella, their lives have been forever altered by a baby bull.

I believe that Jason is in love with Issy and vice versa when she told bull that she was pregnant at the end of season 3, I think that his love for her grew overnight despite how the child was created And Baby Bull was the cherry on the cake for him and as well her, maybe. I hope further episodes of season 4 we get a couple of more scenes with Bull and Issy, well because they had a baby and two I like where the relationship is going on the show. I look forward to seeing more in future episodes of Bull with these two.

Benny and Bull

From the review of the previous episodes, I mention that once baby bull had become more dominant in the show, we were going to have more of a presence of friendship and professionalism between the two. Well, this episode was the start of that trend coming to more apparent in the show, with baby bull about to be arrive any day now, you can see that Benny is concerned for his friend, as he can see that is he running from place to place not taken a break to wait for his newborn baby girl to arrive. For instance, it was shown in a scene after one of the court proceedings that they are waiting for the elevator and he is can see that he has stretched himself and also at the beginning of the episode after, in the car, they had a discussion about him having his baby girl coming. As Baby Bull has arrived, I look forward to seeing how this relationship is going to change over the second half of the season and in the future. If there is another season

Bull and Marrisa

Again this relationship was shown in a small degree at the start of the episode, with a small scene for comic relief, I need to see more development in this relationship. As if the writers in the past have been writing, that this relationship is meant to be close on the friend front. I need to see it, not to be developed off-screen, because the writers are only willing to show small amounts.

Dr. Bull and The TAC Team

Like this episode, we can see as an audience the team is working in perfect fashion for the arrival of Baby Bull. We see that the team is prepared to take on the case in the standard of which Dr. Bull expects but also has trained to do and have been working towards. For instance, chunk having to step in to take over for Bull in the courtroom and the team working towards a common goal for the defense.

Defense Case Strategy

For those people who are interested in the legal side of the case, here is the strategy and what outcome was of the case.

This week on Bull are presented with a case strategy of the following below, with a selection strategy, Bull advises against seating jurors who exhibit tall poppy tendencies”, which in turn who is going to punish for the success of the defendant.

The outcome of the case was that it was withdrawn, because of the limitations on the case.

This week’s case strategy was laid out well in the episode, as it explained theory and it is shown in the practical sense. I look forward to seeing more laid out strategies for cases in the future episodes of season 4.

Best and Worst Moments of the Case

Best Moments of the Episode

1. Shout to the production and camera crew on the show

2. MW and YM’s acting in their scenes together

3. Baby Bull has arrived in the fashion

4. The actor who played a lawyer on the other side was one of the better lawyers that we have seen in a while.

5. Seeing Chunk in the courtroom

And the Worst Moments

1. Bull’s Yelp joke fell flat

2. The actor who played the judge in some moments was not performing at his best

Finally in the last section is the overall thoughts and rating of episode 14 of season 4 of Bull

Overall Thoughts and Rating of The Episode

On Bull, this week was a great solid episode for the season four catalog, this episode was good for drama and the story development of the show overall moving forward, and it gave the audience to some development in Bull and Issy’s relationship, Benny and Bull’s friendship and how the TAC Team can work under pressure. If. Dr. Bull is out of the office because they know their jobs and the common goal of the case. With this drama development, it can give the audience to sink their teeth into the episode and be hooked for the episodes to come. I look forward to seeing more development in these relationships in the future episode, as the promo pictures for the next episode have finally had a focus on Benny and how he is going at the moment. But overall the episode had some great moments and some cringe moments, I hope to see more of this type of episode in the near future rating of 7.5/10

#Bull #Dr.Jason Bull #Dr. Jason Bull #CBS #CBS Bull

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string-cheese-cake · 5 years

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You know what, I'm kinda tired of people misunderstanding what it means to be latinx so I'm just gonna throw my two cents in as Your Local Mexican-American who can't speak for all Latinos (cause all Mexicans are latinos but not all latinos are mexican) but has some decent perspective

First off, I want to acknowledge that while latinos experience oppression (especially as of late) it is different and in many ways less severe than the oppression faced by the black community

Wanna know why? Cause white Latinos are the result of the pairings of south and central native americans and Spanish colonists! However, not all latinos are white latinos, they may be afrolatinx! But my experience is that of a white latino so I'm going to be focusing on that

For some background, the Spanish were not interested in colonizing the Americas (North, central, and south. The rest of Europe was late to the game) as much as it was interested in exploiting it. It was the violent conquistador campaigns and exploitative mining operations that brought the Spanish to the Americas, a new and dangerous world that was seen as unfit for women. With so many Spanish men in the new world and virtually no Spanish women, the colonists took partners from the existing Native populations, with varying degrees of willingness from the natives. From this came a class system based on how Spanish and how wealthy an individual was

After the colonial era which saw exploited labor from both Native American groups and African slaves, the class system slowly began to be based more on an individual's wealth and power rather than their race, but let's not pretend that those with strong Spanish lineages didn't have a huge leg up there.

What really started to change life for Latinos in the modern day United States was the opening up of Texas to Anglos, due to Mexico's difficulty in keeping the territory stable because of its size, distance from Mexico City, and the resistance of Native American groups. The result was the Mexican-American war which resulted in Mexico losing half its territory and the addition of almost the entirety of the American Southwest. As a result, the Mexicans already living in those areas became Americans. Their new government rarely allowed them to keep the land that their families had owned for generations, and at times had grown fairly wealthy from. Their deeds were tossed out and their land split up for white settlers

The Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s saw warfare between Mexican citizens that at times bled into the United States. Certain revolutionaries like Pancho Villa visited terror amd cruelty upon small border towns. This is why many white Americans associate Mexicans with violence and cruelty, even leading some to say that we had a propensity for it due to our race (ok colonizers) . This was also the justification for the indiscriminate murder of hundreds of Mexicans by vigilante citizens, robbers, and sanctioned authorities like the Texas Rangers in the early 1900s

The border between Mexico and America remained open into the nineteenth century, and even into the eighties only a small fee was required to cross, I'm talking dimes and quarters here

However, Latinos were still greatly discriminated against. Segregation era restrictions called out Mexicans by name but lbr, it applied to all latinos. Segregation restricted Latinos in similar ways it restricted Black people. It dictated access to facilities, restaurants, theatres, scools, and even juror seats

During the world wars, latinos along with other poc were sent to the front lines to die over their white counterparts. Even in death, some were denied burial in white graveyards, leading to organizations like the American GI forum

And that was for citizens. Trying to work or live in the us as an immigrant was a long and degrading process. Immigrants were subjected to physical examinations, public bathing, and many were sprayed with carcinogenic pesticides. My grandmother was given an x-ray as part of the immigration process while she was pregnant. She didn't know it could be harmful to the fetus and no one asked if she was pregnant. It resulted in a stillbirth.

Migrant workers were relegated to "low skill" jobs, often as farm workers. They worked long hours for little pay, and were exposed to pesticides that resulted in cancer, birth defects, and in the worst cases, death soon after exposure. Without access to education or childcare, parents brought their children to the feilds, and the cycle of exploitation continued. Thanks to the NFWA, conditions have improved but still aren't ideal, especially for undocumented workers who are at the greatest risk of exploitation

Even through ALL THIS SHIT, Latinos were STILL at risk of deportation, regardless of their citizenship. The American government rounded up Latinos, some of whom had lived in the United States for generations, and deported them to Mexico or South America, places some had never been.

Being a race of mixed people for over five hundred years means that some people have a lot more spanish blood, so much so that they may be blonde, pale, and blue-eyed, and some people have a lot more native blood, so they have broad or prominent noses, dark hair and dark brown skin. And as unpredictable genetics are, appearances may vary wildly even among siblings

In my family alone, which is to my knowledge exclusively descended from Native Americans and Spanish immigrants (with some german in there), we have curly hair, straight hair, auburn and black hair, thin bodies, fat bodies, heights ranging from 6"2' to 5"1', flat and broad noses, hooked noses, arched noses, flat faces, high cheekbones, shades of skin ranging from off-white to cocoa brown, thin lips, full lips, and a wide array of facial and body hair.

And all of these people are equally Latino! Lineages of Spanish colonialists and of Native groups can both validly claim latino heritage, even if they are not mixed

This is why the oppression faced by latinos can be very different depending on the individual. The more non-white you look, the more this history is attached to you. The darker your skin is, the more likely that you will be profiled, deported, arrested, disregarded, assulted, or exploited.

This is why it's inaccurate to say that Latinos are "honorary whites" or "basically white" (this was also an argument used by Anglos to deny that they were oppressing Latinos lmao) Yes, some latinos may be white passing and get preferential treatment over other more visibly non-white minorities, and some even act as oppressors, but there are also many others that are not afforded that luxury. We have a storied past, we have been subjected to A Lot Of Shit, and to loop me in with my oppressors makes me sick to my stomach.

Tldr: some latinos are white passing, but many aren't. We come in all shapes and shades because of our mixed heritage and those who are visibly nonwhite are still subjected to racism so don't equate us to our oppressors because not long ago having a spanish surname meant you couldn't be a cop

#immigration #racisim #mexican #latino #politics #why am i talking #i spent over two hours typing this out please clap and maybe reconsider calling latinos white #OH YEAH AND THIS IS THE ABBREVIATED VERSION i think its fairly comprehensive but i didnt go into detail on ANYTHING

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humantraffickingorganizations · 3 years

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5 Tips About Human Trafficking Advocacy You Can Use Today

And as soon as we're ahead of a jury, we must bear in mind that likely jurors could also believe that they cannot belief the child like a witness as being the juror thinks that the juror would have gotten away or fought off the predator. Jurors will not have an understanding of the coercion, violence and worry that has resulted in a small hurt baby huddling inside of a chair in the corner of our Place of work looking to come across some protection in a or else harmful planet. The kid is fearful to testify in court docket, face their exploiter and “inform on” a person they know incorporates a gun or other weapon which they have got made use of on the kid repeatedly previously.

With OJJDP aid, the Youth Collaboratory formulated a toolkit for youth services suppliers to build their comprehension of the commercial sexual exploitation of child.

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At last, jurors may not recognize the Actual physical injuries which may have resulted in Mind trauma or the psychological scars which can change how a child reacts to activities or how they even remember it. It is our task to coach the public as well as the jurors about what the kid has endured and to understand the courage that it took the child to Stay through and survive these abuse.

One of the most influential groups focusing on The problem in America, the Polaris Project normally takes a comprehensive method of ending modern-day-working day slavery. The organization advocates for more powerful federal and condition legislation, operates the Countrywide Human Trafficking Useful resource Center hotline, offers providers and assist for trafficking victims, and will work with survivors to create extended-expression tactics to ending human trafficking.

Accurately document information and facts regarding the client’s get more info accidents or remedy. Documentation of abuse can be valuable in proving a case in opposition to a trafficker; on the other hand, information about the target will also be employed from them in court.

Avoidance, recognition-creating, good coaching in sufferer identification as well as defense responses and supporting survivors of their recovery are crucial means to counter human trafficking.

You can also find circumstances, like in Uzbekistan, exactly where compelled labor is institutionalized. In the course of the cotton harvest, all Grownups and children are predicted to work in the cotton fields until eventually the crops are harvested. Cultural and social variables may also guide victims not to talk up about becoming trafficked or who their traffickers are, particularly when they originate from groups who lack human legal rights protections.

Poverty also plays a substantial piece in a lot of the other root causes of trafficking, driving individuals to migrate, generating instruction and bonafide work hard to receive, building Restoration and safety from war and disaster unattainable, and a lot more.

Finding out from victims’ ordeals and turning their ideas into concrete actions will bring on a far more victim-centred and successful tactic in combating human trafficking.

Lawful and social expert services methods are offered locally. Health care amenities need to have a listing of assets which can be identified as or shared determined by the affected person’s requirements.

Human trafficking victims have already been located in communities nationwide in the agriculture, hospitality, restaurant, domestic get the job done and other industries, along with in prostitution that is facilitated online, on the street, or in enterprises fronting for prostitution like massage parlors.

#human trafficking advocacy #sex trafficking organizations

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fletchermarple · 7 years

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The Confession Tapes (2017)

Have you watched this new Netflix original true crime show? It’s a flawed, but very interesting documentary series that anyone who is interested in true crime should check out.

Like the name suggests, the show created by Kelly Loudenberg focuses on murder cases in which the main piece of evidence that led to a conviction is a taped confession. Along seven episodes, we get to learn about six cases (the first one takes two episodes), mostly through the testimonies of the defendants, defense lawyers, experts, jurors, prosecutors and investigators.

The show teaches you a couple of things. First, this is is one of the reasons it pays off to know about true crime. With the exception of the first case, all of the defendants involved are led to confess through pretty standard psychological techniques that anyone with basic knowledge of police investigations would recognize. Second, experts say that anyone can fall in the trap of giving an involuntary confession, but here you see that they are all vulnerable people with either very low education or low intelligence, who are not aware of their legal rights and don’t have the means to get a lawyer. It’s the same thing we saw in cases like Brendan Dassey and Jessie Misskelley.

Also, weird and inappropriate behavior after a murder will always put you in the list of suspects. Seriously, all these people acted in ways that any regular person would find odd. The guys on the first case went on a spending spree and laughed when asked by the press about the victims, another guy actually went to a strip club less than a day after his girlfriend was beaten to death.

It’s hard to say if these defendants gave false confessions or are really guilty. In all of the cases there’s at least one clue, confession aside, that makes clear why police focused on them as suspects. I got the feeling that the documentary was trying to point to wrongful convictions, but I don’t think it closes the deal, in part because they are not wasting screen time in investigating further or giving detailed information about the evidence or lack of it. What there is, is presented through the lawyers involved in the case, and we know lawyers can twist the information to suit their narrative.

What it is clear, though, is that in almost every case, it’s the confession that proved to be impossible to ignore by the jury, even when nothing else fit. It’s crazy that some of these confessions are taken seriously when they aren’t supported by the evidence and sometimes even contradicted by it, but paints a scary picture of how far some are willing to go just to close a murder case.

The cases explored are:

Episode 1 and 2, True East: Atif Rafay and his best friend Sebastian Burns are the main suspects in the 1994 horrific killing of Atif’s parents and disabled sister. The two 18 year olds found the trio beaten to death in Atif’s house one night, and apparently had a very strong alibi, but police started suspecting them pretty soon and given how they acted, you can’t really blame them for it. According to the documentary, there’s no physical evidence of their involvement and there was an informant that pointed in another direction, but police still kept their focus on the friends. Because they were canadian citizens, the Canadian police devised a bizarre plot straight out of a bad gangster movie to extract a chilling confession from them.

Episode 3, A Public Apology: Wesley Myers becomes the main suspect in the 1997 death of his girlfriend Theresa Haught, who was burned inside her bar. Despite physical evidence pointing to an unknown man (tested only after the trial), police thinks Myers is their man because he was an alcoholic and he had a tumultuous relationship with the victim. During a long interrogation, they manage to convince him that he’s the murderer, and then he went on to nail his coffin by confessing to both the mother of Theresa and a reporter live, on camera. He later says he’s innocent, but it’s too late.

Episode 4, Trial by Fire: This is a true head scratcher. Karen Boes is accused of deliberately setting a fire in her 14 year old daughter’s room, killing her. However, the documentary claims that Karen left the house 5 minutes before the fire started, and a gas can was found inside the teenager’s room. An arson expert testifies that the fire was started from right outside the girl’s room, the defense’s expert says that’s junk science, and the fire started inside the room (was the girl trying to commit suicide by burning herself? The documentary tells us nothing that would support such a theory). This is also the one case where the “confession” didn’t really seem like one to me, as Karen never openly admits to starting the fire, and it feels like she was convicted over the arson expert’s testimony more than the confession.

Episode 5, 8th and H: It explores the really horrific murder of Catherine Fuller in 1984, beaten and sodomized during an apparent robbery in an alley. Seven black teenagers (the victim was also black, in case you’re wondering) were arrested and tried mostly over the coerced confession of one of them, who was evidently mentally challenged, and another one who got paid each time he was taken in for questioning by police. Meanwhile, a guy who committed a crime very similar to Catherine’s was completely ignored by investigators.

Episode 6, The Labor Day Murders: Two men are found murdered, execution style in a backroad. One of them had 500 in cash taken from his wallet. The guys were involved in some questionable businesses and the list of suspects was insanely long, but in the end police focuses on the nephew of one of the victims. The nephew ends up admitting on tape that he witnessed the murders but didn’t pull the trigger, yet the guy that allegedly shot them is let go because of lack of evidence and the nephew ends up behind bars because of his confession.

Episode 7, Down River: Perhaps the most tragic of all the cases, it tells us the story of Lawrence Delisle, who in 1989 drove his car straight into the Detroit River with his wife and four little kids aboard. He and his wife were able to swim out of the car (although he didn’t know how to swim), but the kids drowned. Lawrence’s version is that it was an accident: his leg was crampy and that the accelerator got stuck. The wife supports his version. Police, however, believe that it was an attempted murder-suicide. The car, after all, was where Lawrence’s father shot himself to death. Why he’d keep it tells you this guy is no ordinary guy. The investigator ends up convincing Lawrence to confess that he deliberately stepped on that accelerator, then he recants. The defense examined the car and indeed it had an issue in which the accelerator got stuck sometimes, yet it was easy to stop the car by removing the key from the ignition. There are a few details that make Lawrence suspicious. One is that he was a mechanic, so he should have been aware of the car’s problem. Second is that the key witness in the trial saw his car three times parked in the spot by the river in the nights leading to the incident, giving credit to the idea that he had scouted the place. This case is particularly interesting because it shows how someone can be tried by the media. The judge didn’t admit the confession in the trial because it was clearly coerced, and at the point of the sentencing he still wasn’t convinced of Lawrence’s guilt. However, the media had widely reported about the content of the confession, so by the time the trial came, all jurors knew about it and clearly considered it in their deliberations.

#true crime #tcoriginal #the confession tapes #true crime shows #netflix

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