Mississippi third-grader forced to remove ‘Jesus Loves Me’ mask: lawsuit
A third-grade pupil in Mississippi was robbed of her First Amendment rights when her school forced her to take off a mask that said “Jesus Loves Me,” a new lawsuit claims.
Lydia Booth, 9, was ordered by her principal to remove the mask Oct. 13 at Simpson Central Elementary School in Pinola — claiming that it went against district policy, news station WLBT reported.
The school later issued a statement banning any mask that displays “political, religious, sexual or any inappropriate symbols, gestures or statements that may be offensive, disruptive or deemed distractive to the school environment.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit Monday on her family’s behalf claiming the district violated her free speech.
“Public schools have a duty to respect the free expression of students that the First Amendment guarantees to them,” ADF attorney Michael Ross said.
“Other students within the school district have freely worn masks with the logos of local sports teams or even the words ‘Black Lives Matter.’ This student deserves an equal opportunity to peacefully express her beliefs.”
Tyson Langhofer, who is senior counsel at the ADF, added that the school’s actions upset the third-grader, news station WBRC reported.
“She’s told her parents she wants to be a missionary and that’s why she wants to wear this mask,” Langhofer said. “It made her really sad when she was forced to remove this mask because the message means something to her and it’s her choice to wear it.”
An attorney for the Simpson County School Board said the district hasn’t been served in the lawsuit but doesn’t comment on potential litigation, WBRC reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/third-graders-jesus-loves-me-face-mask-sparks-lawsuit/
Photo Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom
Dismembered bodies of Mexican boys discovered in man’s delivery cart
A traffic agent in Mexico City made a gruesome discovery while helping a man pushing a delivery cart — the dismembered remains of two boys — when a bag ripped open, revealing “very white meat,” according to a report.
Héctor Efraín Tolentino de Jesús, 14, and his pal Alán Yair Silvestre Becerril, 12, vanished after going out to sell candy near their home in the city’s historic center, the Sun reported.
Four days later, on Oct. 31, a man identified as Edgar Zuñiga walked by two officers from the Secretariat of Citizen Security who saw him pushing a cart piled with plastic crates, according to the outlet.
Suddenly, two of the containers fell off the cart and out tumbled three plastic trash bags, prompting one officer to lend a hand — but one of them ripped open and revealed what officials described as “very white meat.”
The cop was horrified when he realized that he was staring at chopped-up body parts, including an arm, a shoulder and an ear, the Sun reported.
Forensic evidence has revealed the boys were tortured and mutilated.
The suspect claimed he was just a poor drug addict who had been paid “two grams of cocaine” to remove the crates, according to local reports.
According to the grieving families, the boys left their homes about 9:30 p.m. Oct. 27 to sell the candy before visiting the church of San Hipólito to celebrate the festival of San Judas Tadeo.
The boys planned to visit Héctor’s girlfriend later but never made it, according to the report.
When Héctor’s family called his cellphone around midnight, a man answered, but immediately hung up, they said.
“They do not have enemies, they do not take drugs, they are not in a gang, they are not in any type of illicit activity,” the relatives told local media at the time of their disappearance.
The investigation continues.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/dismembered-bodies-of-mexican-boys-discovered-on-mans-cart/
Photo Credit: JesúsFiscalia
Toddler released from hospital after drinking toilet cleaner dies
A 2-year-old British girl was rushed to a hospital when she began vomiting a “bright pink” fluid after swallowing toilet cleaner — but was declared well enough to be discharged a week before she died, according to an inquest.
Arietta-Grace Barnett cried, “Ow, Mummy, help me!” after ingesting the toxic substance while playing with her 4-year-old sister at their home in the village of Sarisbury on June 28, 2019, the Sun reported.
The toddler’s mom rushed her to Southampton General Hospital, which discharged her on July 2 with potential gastroenteritis — but she was readmitted July 9 when she vomited blood and had a nosebleed, according to the outlet.
She died later that day after suffering cardiac arrest.
Arietta-Grace is believed to have swallowed a Toilet Duck capsule upstairs while her mom was downstairs, according to coroner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, the BBC reported.
She said it was unclear why the substance the girl threw up was pink when the capsule she was suspected to have swallowed was a blue-green color.
The coroner said the mother, Lucy Cook, had pink hair at the time of the incident but had told doctors she had no hair dye on the premises.
“We couldn’t make sense of why the vomit was bright pink,” Dr. Nicola Trevelyan, a pediatrician at the hospital, said at the inquest, adding that “products that look like sweets will attract children to play with them.”
The doctor said that although Arietta-Grace continued to have difficulty consuming fluids and food at the hospital, she later stopped vomiting and appeared to improve.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/2-year-old-in-the-uk-dies-after-drinking-toilet-cleaner/
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Oregon could become 1st US state to decriminalize heroin, cocaine, other hard drugs
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — In what would be a first in the U.S., possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other hard drugs could be decriminalized in Oregon under a ballot measure that voters are deciding on in Tuesday’s election.
Measure 110 is one of the most watched initiatives in Oregon because it would drastically change how the state’s justice system treats people caught with amounts for their personal use.
Instead of being arrested, going to trial and facing possible jail time, the users would have the option of paying $100 fines or attending new, free addiction recovery centers.
The centers would be funded by tax revenue from retail marijuana sales in the state that was the country’s first to decriminalize marijuana possession.
It may sound like a radical concept even in one of the most progressive U.S. states — but countries including Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland have already decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, according to the United Nations.
Portugal’s 2000 decriminalization brought no surge in drug use. Drug deaths fell while the number of people treated for drug addiction in the country rose 20% from 2001 to 2008 and then stabilized, Portuguese officials have said.
The U.N. Chief Executives Board for Coordination, chaired by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is also advocating a different approach.
In a 2019 report, the board announced its commitment to “promote alternatives to conviction and punishment in appropriate cases, including the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use.”
Doing so would also “address prison overcrowding and overincarceration by people accused of drug crimes,” said the board, which is made up of the leaders of all U.N. agencies, funds and other bodies.
Oregon’s measure is backed by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.
“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” the groups said in a statement.
Opponents include two dozen district attorneys who urged a no vote, saying the measure “recklessly decriminalizes possession of the most dangerous types of drugs (and) will lead to an increase in acceptability of dangerous drugs.”
Three other district attorneys back the measure, including the top prosecutor in Oregon’s most populous county, which includes Portland, the state’s largest city.
“Misguided drug laws have created deep disparities in the justice system,” said Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt. “Arresting people with addictions is a cruel punishment because it slaps them with a lifelong criminal record that can ruin lives.”
Jimmy Jones, executive director of Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action, a group that helps homeless people, said arresting people who are using but not dealing hard drugs makes life extremely difficult for them.
“Every time that this happens, not only does that individual enter the criminal justice system but it makes it very difficult for us, on the back end, to house any of these folks because a lot of landlords won’t touch people with recent criminal history,” Jones said. “They won’t touch people with possession charges.”
The measure would decriminalize possession of less than one gram of heroin or methamphetamine; two grams of cocaine; 12 grams of psilocybin mushrooms; 40 doses of LSD, oxycodone or methadone; and one gram or five pills of MDMA.
The new addiction recovery centers that would be launched in the state would be funded by tax revenues from Oregon’s legal, regulated marijuana industry.
Marijuana tax revenues collected by the state in excess of $45 million annually would fund the centers. Doing so would reduce the amount given to schools, the state police, mental health programs and local governments, according to the ballot measure’s financial impact statement published by the Oregon secretary of state.
The Oregon revenue department said it received about $133 million in marijuana taxes during the most recent fiscal year that started in July 2019 and ended last June.
Opponents have seized on the funding reductions in an attempt to sway voters to vote against the measure and have also said that decriminalizing hard drugs would make young people more likely to start using them.
The state’s voters in 2014 legalized recreational use and sale of marijuana. But it passed by fewer than 200,000 votes of the 1.5 million counted.
Given that margin, the more controversial hard drugs decriminalization measure is unlikely to pass, said Catherine Bolzendahl, director of Oregon State University’s School of Public Policy.
But Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, said it’s hard to gauge the outcome because voter participation seems headed for a historic high, with many first-time voters.
“We don’t know as much about their preferences,” Nichols said.
If Oregon’s voters reject Measure 110, “it may well pass next time, which has been the model for marijuana legalization, for instance, across the country,” Nichols said.
The measure’s political action committee, More Treatment for a Better Oregon: Yes on 110, received a $500,000 donation from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which supports science and education work and promotes criminal justice reform.
“If the measure passes, Oregon will shift to a health-based approach to drugs and addiction,” the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s website says.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/oregon-could-become-1st-us-state-to-decriminalize-heroin-cocaine-other-hard-drugs/article_bd4e9fe6-2685-5fb9-91c2-45d470506808.html?block_id=985917
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LSU frat member arrested after hazing landed pledge on life support
A Louisiana State University fraternity brother has been arrested for his role in a hazing incident that landed a pledge on life support, school officials said.
Phi Kappa Psi member Terry Pat Reynolds II, 21, was taken into custody Monday on charges of criminal and misdemeanor hazing and of failure to seek assistance, LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard III said.
The unidentified victim was unresponsive, foaming at the mouth and had to be placed on life support when other fraternity members dropped him off at the hospital around 3 a.m. Oct. 19, news station WBRZ reported.
Hospital staff told authorities he had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.451% — nearly six times the level considered legal proof of intoxication.
Detectives said they identified Reynolds as a suspect after reviewing texts from the students who brought the victim there.
The messages showed Reynolds had invited prospective fraternity members to his off-campus home in a GroupMe message on Oct. 18.
“If you’re not doing s–t get over to my place, need a few,” the messages said, WBRZ reported.
“Hope you’re ready to get hammered if you pull up,” he added.
Police said the pledges who showed up were made to drink booze, then prevented from leaving until they finished entire bottles.
Witnesses said Reynolds also gave more bottles of alcohol to drink to those who didn’t finish theirs fast enough.
Later in the evening, Reynolds sent more texts that suggested that some of the pledges had been overserved.
“There’s at least 10 of them blackout they need rides,” he wrote, the outlet reported.
Police said Reynolds never sought medical help for any of them.
The victim has since been released from the hospital and Phi Kappa Psi fraternity was suspended last week over the incident, according to WBRZ.
“The university has stated on multiple occasions that hazing will not be tolerated and the university acts swiftly when any hazing allegations are brought forth,” Ballard said in a statement.
Reynolds was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish jail, where he was released on $13,500 bond.
With Post wires
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/03/lsu-frat-member-arrested-after-hazing-landed-pledge-on-life-support/
Photo Credit: EBRSO
Man in China beats wife to death in street while bystanders watch
Disturbing images show a man in China viciously beat his wife to death on a crowded street while bystanders look on — but do nothing to intervene.
Photos of the attack, which have gone viral since surfacing online this weekend, show the man pounding his helpless wife with a wooden stool and a rock in front of several passersby.
State media said the incident happened Saturday after the married couple accidentally struck a vehicle while driving an electric scooter in the eastern Chinese city of Shuozhou — with the man taking his anger out on his wife.
The images show cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, including children, simply watching the sidewalk attack.
“The suspect is in the custody of public security organs and the case is being fully investigated,” police told Reuters.
Photos published online by the Sun show the woman sitting on the sidewalk trying to fend off her husband’s attack, then lying down on the sidewalk while the attack continues.
“He’s not holding a machine gun,” one online commenter wrote. “Why did no one step forward to control him?”
The incident has sparked widespread outrage over China’s relaxed attitude toward domestic violence.
The Asian nation introduced a law in 2015 making domestic violence illegal, but critics say the legislation is largely ignored. At the time, the All-China Women’s Federation estimated that one in four Chinese women suffer from domestic violence during their marriages.
In 2017, China enacted a “good Samaritan” law that removed civil liability for individuals who intervene in domestic violence attacks.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/03/man-in-china-beats-wife-to-death-while-bystanders-watch/
Photo Credit: Weibo
Dead people caught voting in NYC, elections records show
Ballots have been mailed in to the New York City Board of Elections in the name of dead voters, The Post has learned.
Records show that the elections board received an absentee ballot from a Frances Reckhow of Staten Island, a registered Democrat.
The BOE mailed an absentee ballot requested by Frances M. Reckhow of Bedell Avenue on Sept. 24.
Reckhow supposedly mailed the ballot back on Oct. 6 and the BOE received it and declared it valid on Oct. 8, tracking records show.
But there’s a problem: Frances Reckhow, who was born on July 6, 1915 and would be 105 today, died in 2012, according to an obituary filed with The Staten Advance.
Her daughter, Carol Huben, a registered Republican according to voting records, is listed as residing at the same address as her late mother.
Huben did not return phone messages for comment. The Board of Elections said they will look into it.
An absentee ballot was also mailed from a Gertrude Nizzere, also a registered Democrat, who was born on Feb. 7, 1919 and would be 101 today.
The BOE said someone identifying as Gertrude Nizzere, with an address of Shore Road in Brooklyn, requested an absentee ballot in September..
Records show the Nizzere ballot was mailed on Oct. 9 and it was received back by the BOE on Oct.13, which declared the ballot valid on Oct. 25.
But after further review, the agency on Oct. 30 declared the Nizzere ballot received “Invalid” because a search found the voter was “Deceased,” its records show.
The Staten Island Republican Party, which is closely scrutinizing the absentee ballots, flagged the two records to The Post and is referring the matter to the police and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon’s office.
A close outcome is expected between first-term Democratic Rep. Max Rose and Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis for the 11th congressional seat covering Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, including Rekhow and Nizzere’s addresses.
“People should be on the alert for dead people voting. There are people using the names of dead voters to cast ballots,” said Staten Island GOP chairman Brendan Lantry.
“I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Lantry. “We’re requesting that the NYPD and the Staten Island District Attorney’s office investigate.
Republicans discovered that Nizzere died on July 4, 2016 and is buried in Calverton cemetery.
Filling out a ballot in a dead person’s name is fraud and has resulted in prosecutions elsewhere, including recently on Long Island, where a voter was accused of forging his dead mom’s name on an absentee ballot.
The Board of Elections said it was looking into the matter. The absentee ballots don’t get counted until six days after Election Day in New York.
President Trump has raised concerns about mail-in balloting, including after the city BOE was forced to resend nearly 100,000 absentee ballots to Brooklyn voters after a vendor provided the wrong return envelopes with other people’s names.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/02/dead-people-caught-voting-in-nyc-elections-records-show/
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he’s ‘100% sure’ he will never box professionally again
(CNN) — Since retiring from professional boxing with an unmatched 50-0 record, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has turned his attention to promoting and mentoring the next generation of fighters.
Despite still being deeply involved in the sport on a daily basis, Mayweather says there is no temptation for him to come out of retirement.
“As of right now, I’m doing exhibitions,” Mayweather told CNN en Español’s Raul Saenz. “I’m 100% sure that I’m not fighting against any boxer anymore. So, that’s out of the question. I mean, just my faculties mean a lot to me. Money don’t make me, I make money and my health is more important than money.
“As far as me doing exhibitions and me fighting MMA guys, will I do that in a box ring? Absolutely.”
Considered one of the sport’s all-time greats, Forbes estimates Mayweather’s fight against Conor McGregor in Las Vegas in 2017 generated more than $550 million in revenue. Mayweather earned a reported $275 million, a sum generated both from his roles as fighter and also promoter.
Outside of the boxing ring, Mayweather was arrested in September 2010 after authorities said he punched Josie Harris — the mother of three of his children at his Las Vegas home — where she was living with his two young sons and a daughter.
The fighter pleaded guilty 14 months later to a reduced charge of misdemeanor battery and two counts of harassment.
‘The real atmosphere’
Mayweather was speaking to CNNEE ahead of one his fighters Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who boasts a so far unbeaten 23-0 record, taking on Leo Santa Cruz this Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.
While most sporting events around the world have been played without fans in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic, this weekend’s bout has been moved from what would have been an empty Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut to Texas’ Alamodome, where around 10,000 fans are expected.
The NBA was widely praised for the success of its Disney World bubble, during which just two cases of Covid-19 were recorded, but Mayweather believes one of the crucial elements that most impacts sport at the highest level was missing.
“I’m happy we were able to move this to San Antonio so we can have the crowd, the real atmosphere,” Mayweather said. “Because when I be looking at boxing and there’s no crowd, I feel like I’m watching sparring boxing in a boxing gym. When there’s a crowd, there’s a different outcome.
“It’s no different from basketball. Congratulations to the Lakers, but it was like they were [playing] pickup ball because it was in a gym. But even if they were playing pick up, they are pickup champions. But I like it better with a crowd, because the crowd can shape things up a little bit.
“The crowd … if it’s on a basketball [court] or if it’s in an arena as far as with boxing … the crowd can shape things up and I like to see things up shook up a little, it’s a little bit better. So you’ve gotta deal with pressure when you’re on an elite stage.”
Davis, still only 25, is widely regarded as one of the most exciting and explosive fighters in the lower weight divisions. In Santa Cruz, a four-division champion, he faces by some distance his most accomplished opponent to date.
Davis has moved down a weight class to fight Santa Cruz for his WBA super featherweight title, though Davis’ WBA lightweight title will also be on the line.
Being a smaller boxer mentored by Mayweather has naturally put additional pressure and expectations on Davis’ shoulders. However, Mayweather believes it’s time for both of these fighters to create their own legacy.
“Anything I [do] now, my money is guaranteed because my name is engraved in stone,” he said. “I’ve proven myself for over twenty years of what I can do, and the numbers I can do on pay per view as well as streaming, so I’ve showed what I can do.
“Now it’s time for these young fighters to go out there on Halloween and show what they can do and I’m pretty sure Leo is in tip top shape, because Tank is in tip top shape and they need to go out there and do what they do .
“They are gonna have a crowd and we want the crowd to shake some things up to see what these guys can do under pressure.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/floyd-mayweather-jr-says-hes-100-sure-he-will-never-box-professionally-again/article_113c7797-92e9-5862-8776-08f71a81fb63.html
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Christian Petersen
Noose displayed at Missouri poll covered up amid complaints of voter intimidation
GALENA, Mo. (AP) — A replica hangman’s noose on display near voting booths in a southwest Missouri county building has been covered up following complaints from Democrats that it amounted to intimidation of Black voters.
The Missouri Democratic Party released a photo Friday of the display with several voting booths nearby in a hallway of the Stone County building in downtown Galena about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Branson, The Kansas City Star reported. The noose was hanging in the corner of a display cabinet next to photos.
Stone County Clerk Cindy Elmore said the display was put up several years ago and “has nothing to do with the election office.” She said it was a historical exhibit with a replica noose marking the last legal execution by hanging in the state, which occurred in Stone County in 1937.
Elmore said the noose was covered up Friday morning.
Clem Smith, the acting chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, said the noose’s display next to voting booths amounted to intimidation of Black voters. Smith said in a statement that this “symbol’s purpose is to stoke the fires of racial prejudice and strike fear in the hearts of people of color.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/noose-displayed-at-missouri-poll-covered-up-amid-complaints-of-voter-intimidation/article_60bf7f39-956f-52bd-8e96-abdcafc656b1.html
Photo Credit: Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee
Dad recalls terrifying moment daughter, 8, was shot while trick-or-treating
The eight-year-old bystander shot in the leg while trick-or-treating in Harlem on Halloween is in good spirits but a lot of pain, according to her father, who recounted the harrowing moment to The Post on Sunday.
“We were walking to meet my wife at the CVS. I then see a guy with a look on his face and he pulls back his jacket and I see his gun,” recalled the father, who asked that his name be withheld.
“I hear shots. I pushed my youngest out of the way and then grab her but she’s yelling, ‘My leg!’”
The dad — who was hit in the arm — ran into the street with his daughter and hopped into an empty, off-duty taxicab, whose driver took them to a nearby hospital, he said.
“On Halloween a kid trick-or-treating can’t be safe in New York? How crazy is that?” he said.
The 39-year-old Harlemite said his 8-year-old dressed up as a “space girl,” while his younger daughter had gone as Elsa from “Frozen.”
“Halloween didn’t seem to be in the cards this year but the kids begged me to go trick-and-treating,” said the dad.
Police said the father-daughter pair and a third bystander got caught in the middle of a verbal dispute between two men in their twenties, which escalated into gunfire.
Neither gunman has been apprehended. Police said one of the men was last seen wearing a green and black jacket.
The young victim’s father said the girl’s shin bone was shattered — and doctors have yet to determine how much rehabilitation or surgery she’ll need.
The city has grappled with a surge in gun violence over the past several months.
“Before this I was against gun violence like everyone, but now I’m like this has to stop,” the dad told The Post.
“I mean, how this guy miss who he’s shooting at and hits us. It’s crazy!” he said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/01/dad-recalls-moment-daughter-8-was-shot-while-trick-or-treating/
Photo Credit: Robert Mecea