Year: 2014

Categories
Featured News sexual assault

Teen From Trinidad Arrested For Raping His 10 Year Old Sister And Sexually Assaulting His Mom

According to reports from the Trinidad Newsday an 18 year old man boy was arrested by police in connection with three counts of rape of his ten-year-old sister and grievous sexual assault against their 44-year-old mother. What makes this even crazier is how blatant he was in his wrongdoings. While out with his mother last year August he actually asked his mother to have sex with him. He obviously has no shame. She refused his request but reports say that he allegedly stripped and rubbed his privates against her. She filed a report against him.

But that was just one incident. On December 28, his sister tearfully confessed to an aunt that she was raped on at least three different occasions by her brother. The 18 year old was arrested Tuesday and was denied bail by Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan in the Couva Magistrates’ Court.

h/t – trinikid

Categories
Celebrities Entertainment Featured

Gay Russian Artist Responds To Garage Magazine’s Racist ‘Black Woman’ Chair With NSFW Image

A gay artist from Russia has created a flipped image in response to the controversial photo of Garage Magazine’s white, female editor-in-chief sitting on a “black woman” chair.

The Russian editor-in-chief of Garage magazine, Dasha Zhukova, came under fire for an editorial photo showing her seated atop a chair designed to look like a black woman with a belt around her waist and thighs and her legs up in the air.

The photo, which offended many, began circulating on Monday, Jan. 20, which was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Zhukova eventually apologized and called the decision to appear with such a racially insensitive piece of art “regrettable.” She also reasoned that designer Bjarne Melgaard’s actual intent was a “commentary on gender and racial politics.”

But, some did not find the apology sufficient.

Original Photo:

 

h/t – huffingtonpost

Categories
News

Boy, 10, born without any arms masters playing the trumpet with his TOES – Video

Wallace was born without any arms so in order to function in his daily life, he uses his toes as other people would use their fingers.

Jahmir Wallace may not have arms but he doesn’t need them to play the trumpet

Jahmir uses his toes the way other people would use their fingers

His inspiration for music is Stevie Wonder and he’s been wanting to play the trumpet ever since the third grade.

With hard work and an inspiring and positive attitude, Jahmir’s dream has become a reality and his classmates and teachers are thrilled to see him play.

‘My older sister used to play the piano.  So I thought maybe I should try an instrument. I thought maybe I could try and figure out new things,’ he said to WPTV.

Wallace remembers the first time he played a note on the trumpet four months ago and it filled him with sheer joy.

‘I kind of felt excited.  I kind of felt like ‘oh man this is kind of comfortable’ and it kind of felt like this might be the one for me,’ he said.

Teachers and employees at a local music store made Wallace a special stand to hold the horn so he could play the trumpet with ease.

Jahmir’s teachers are impressed by his playing abilities and his confidence.

‘To see how he moves his toes like we move our fingers,’ said Raffaele LaForgia, principal of Green Street Elementary. ‘It’s amazing.’

Jahmir’s teacher Desiree Kratzner taught him how to play the trumpet and inspired him to excel

Jahmir is one of 40 students who played in the winter concert on Friday

Wallace loves playing the trumpet, but he wouldn’t have been able to hone his skill had it not been for his teacher Desiree Kratzer who taught him to play.

Kratzer is ‘Very important because if it wasn’t for her I would never know what the trumpet was,’ he said.

WPTV reports that Jahmir’s favorite song in the concert is ‘Go Tell Aunt Rhodie.’ Fox News reports that his favorite song of all time is ‘I believe I can fly’.

Wallace had some uplifting words for kids who wanted to try an instrument but who may feel intimidated by the thought of it for whatever reason.

Jahmir says that anyone who wants to play an instrument should try because they may end up loving it

Read more DailyMail

Categories
News

Maryland Mall Shooting May Have Been Domestic Dispute

Police investigating a shooting at a Maryland mall that left three dead, including the suspected shooter, are considering the possibility it was a domestic dispute involving a man, his estranged girlfriend, and her boyfriend, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Before confirming that, law enforcement is trying to make sure they have the identities of the dead correct, and trying to rule out any other possibilities, sources said.

At a news conference this afternoon, Howard County Police Department Chief Bill McMahon said police were not yet releasing the identities of the three dead, and said they were still investigating a possible motive, but they were sure the incident was over.

“We are very confident that it was a single shooter, that there is no other shooter in the mall,” McMahon said.

“All of the activity took place at one time, in one store,” he said, though he would not identify which store.

One of the three dead was found near a gun and ammunition, and was believed to have likely been the shooter, police said. There were no reports of any shots fired since that body was discovered.

Aside from the three dead, five people were injured, one who was shot and the others as they were trying to get away.

Police started getting 911 calls about a possible shooting at the mall at around 11:15 a.m., and it was immediately put on lockdown, McMahon said.

Witnesses described hearing five or six pops, which sparked panic.

“I didn’t know what I thought it was and then I saw the other people like starting to run and then there were these others, next to me, like that’s definitely a gunshot, so I just took off running for the entrance,” shopper Christine Cruz said.

Elizabeth Braun, 31, of Westminster, Md. told ABC News she realized something was wrong when she started to see people running panicked.

“I was actually in the mall about to make my purchase, I saw people running into the store,” said Braun. “The sales clerk was like ‘let’s go'”

Braun said she hid with at approximately 50 other people in a Victoria’s Secret storage room to stay out of harm’s way. Employees closed the stores metal gates to seal off the interior entrance that connected to the mall.

“Mostly [it] was pretty calm, mostly people were trying to figure what was going on,” Braun said of the people in the storage room.

Braun said entered through the food court around 11 a.m. and thought the mall seemed more empty than usual.

“I thought I must have gotten there here really early,” she said.

“It’s one of the two malls you would go to,” if you live in the area, she said. “I guess everyone is in this naive state of mind that this would never happen to them.”

The two-story mall is about 40 minutes outside Washington, D.C., and has a movie theater in addition to a number of shops.

ABC News’ Mike Levine contributed to this report.

h/t – abcnews

Categories
Politics Texas

Judge Orders Pregnant Brain – dead Woman By Taken Off Life Support

It was her wish, and that of her family that she be taken off life support if that decision had to be made, but thanks to the “small government” Republican controlled state of Texas, she was kept on life support against the wish of her family.

Chalk this one up for the Republican’s idea of small, non intrusive, government.

A federal judge ordered Friday night that Marlise Muñoz, the Texas woman who has been kept on life support against her and her family’s will, be removed from her ventilator and respirator.

Muñoz has been legally dead since she collapsed on her kitchen floor in November, but the state has kept her on a ventilator because she was pregnant. Lawyers for the John Peter Smith Hospital, where Muñoz is being kept, cited an obscure state law that stipulates that hospitals are required not to remove “life-sustaining treatment” from pregnant women to argue that such life support was necessary.

However, lawyers both for Muñoz’s family and for John Peter Smith Hospital acknowledged Friday that the fetus was “non-viable.” Earlier, attorneys simply had indicated that the fetus suffered “abnormalities,” but did not say whether it could viably live outside of the womb.

Muñoz’s case has sparked a conversation about the bodily autonomy of pregnant women when it comes to end-of-life wishes. Texas is one of 12 states that invalidates a woman’s wishes if she is pregnant.

Categories
Gun Control gun control Music Politics

This Artist Turns Guns into Musical Instruments

Pedro Reyes says being Mexican is like living in an apartment where an upstairs neighbor has a leaking swimming pool.

“Just what is leaking,” says Reyes, “is hundreds of thousands of guns.”

He wants people to think about the availability of guns in the United States, and the impact that has in Mexico.

At the University of South Florida in Tampa, he recently held a series of workshops and a performance, using theater to encourage a discussion about guns. It’s called “Legislative Theater,” a style of performance pioneered in Latin America in the 1960s to influence social change.

In Tampa, Reyes called his project “The Amendment to the Amendment.” Specifically, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms. Reyes asks his actors and the audience to consider if there are possible changes that might improve the amendment

Reyes believes art should address social issues like gun violence, even when they’re difficult and controversial. “We have to be allowed to ask questions,” he says. “If you are not allowed to ask questions, you are not free.”

Reyes also addresses the issue of gun violence in another way, by using guns themselves. His first project began in 2007 in the Mexican city of Culiacan. As part of a campaign to curb shootings, the city collected 1,527 guns. He used them to create art.

“Those 1,527 guns were melted and made into the same number of shovels,” he says. “So for every gun now, there’s a shovel. And with every shovel, we planted a tree.”

Now Reyes is working on a new project. It is one that transforms guns into something more musical.

An exhibition of the work is on display at the University of South Florida’s Contemporary Art Museum. It’s called “Disarm,” and consists of guns that have been turned into musical instruments.

Categories
Featured News shooting

Teenage mom, 17, shot dead ‘by her 14-year-old brother because she accidentally bleached his clothes’

The relatives of a teenage mother say she was shot and killed by her 14-year-old brother because of an argument over laundry.

Justice Toliver, 17, was allegedly killed by her younger brother Mario because she bleached his clothes.

The shooting took place just after noon on Thursday in Oakland, California, according to police spokeswoman Johnna Watson.

Justice Toliver, 17, was allegedly killed by her 14-year-old brother because she bleached his clothes

JusticeToliver, 17, was the mother to a three-year-old daughter and had just got a new job, her family said

The girl was discovered in a Chinatown apartment with a fatal gunshot wound. The victim was pronounced dead by emergency medical workers.

The teenage suspect is now on the run with relatives pleading for him to hand himself into police. They say that they have no idea how he got a gun.

Family members told KTVU-TV that Miss Toliver had a three-year-old daughter and had just started a new job.

The suspect’s grandmother begged her grandson to hand himself in. She told ABC7: ‘So once again, grandson, grandma is asking you, please do the right thing, please. And I love you, I love you with all my heart.’

Police have not confirmed a motive. The investigation is ongoing.

Rell Toliver, who is believed to be a relation of Miss Toliver, posted grief-stricken messages on Twitter following the young woman’s death.

He wrote: ‘I know you gon watch over me Baby Girl. I love you so much. I was just witchu on New years this s*** gotta be a dream. Watch over me Justice ily.’

Miss Toliver was allegedly killed by her 14-year-old brother after she spilled bleach on his clothes

Mario Toliver, the teenagers’ father, reacted with complete shock over the news that his son had allegedly killed his daughter

Read more: DailyMail

Categories
Politics

Lamar Alexander’s Former Chief of Staff Commits Suicide

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, a former chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), was found dead Thursday in Carroll County, Md., following charges that he possessed and distributed child pornography. The Maryland medical examiner’s office confirmed Friday afternoon that the cause of death was suicide.

“At approximately 12pm yesterday, Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a private residence … for a report of an unconscious male, believed to be deceased,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Friday. “Family members reported finding 35-year old Jesse Ryan Loskarn unresponsive in his basement where he’d been residing with family since this past December.”

Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Maryland medical examiner’s office, told the Los Angeles Times that Loskarn had died by hanging himself.

Loskarn had been arrested in December by U.S. Postal Service investigators on charges that he possessed and distributed child pornography after a raid on his home.

As a grand jury began its proceedings, Loskarn was released from custody and was residing at his parents’ home in Maryland. He was ordered not to use the Internet and to wear an ankle bracelet to track his movements.

The complaint filed against him alleged that he possessed a hard drive filled with “hundreds of videos depicting underage boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

Loskarn had served as Alexander’s chief of staff for two years. The senator said in a December news release that he was “stunned, surprised and disappointed” by the allegations. On Friday, Alexander said, “For everyone involved, this is a sad and tragic story from beginning to end.”

Loskarn’s parents, Chuck and Gay Loskarn, also released a statement Friday.

“We loved our son very much, and we’re devastated by his death,” they said. “Please respect our privacy at this difficult time and let us grieve in peace. Pray for him, his family and friends.”

Prior to joining Alexander’s office, Loskarn had served as communications director for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) from 2003 to 2007. In a statement to HuffPost, Blackburn said, “We received the news with sadness and are keeping his family in our thoughts and prayers.”

This story has been updated with comments from the medical examiner’s office, Loskarn’s parents, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

Categories
Politics

Virginia Legislature Prohibits American Flags on Sticks – Allows Guns

What is the bigger risk inside a state capitol building: openly carrying an American flag or an assault rifle?

In Virginia, visitors to the state legislature cannot bring American flags and signs affixed to sticks, because capitol security considers sticks a public threat. Firearms, however, are allowed.

A group of gun violence prevention activists discovered this when they arrived on Monday to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event. According to Virginia Capitol Police, the groups were informed beforehand of the restriction barring sticks at permitted rallies, because they can be used as weapons.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Gena Reeder said they were aware of the rules, but “certainly not in our wildest imagination thought that could apply to the American flag.”

While the moms tore out the dowels of their flags, capitol grounds visitors with firearms were ushered through the entrance. That day, Virginia Citizens Defense League and other gun rights groups organized a “Guns Save Lives” day. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that about half of the crowd was armed, packing weapons that ranged from handguns to assault rifles.

The anti-gun violence activists couldn’t reconcile this conflicting message in their heads, Reeder explained. “We are sending a message that you cannot hand carry an American flag into a state capitol, but you can bring a loaded weapon,” Reeder told ThinkProgress. “Are guns becoming more patriotic than an American flag?

h/t ThinkProgress

Categories
MSNBC Politics

Priorities – MSNBC Interrupted Congresswoman for Justin Bieber News – Video

What is wrong with these people?

Categories
Politics

New Poll: The Christie Ship is Sinkin’

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Following a second week of revelations about “Bridgegate,” Gov. Chris Christie’s job approval and favorability ratings have dropped dramatically among New Jerseyans, with Democrats driving the decline, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. Following more than a year of strong bipartisan support, Christie’s favorability rating is now 46 percent favorable to 43 percent unfavorable, down from 65 percent favorable just before his landslide re-election. This drop in support is led by a 26-point decline among Democrats.

Voters are slightly more positive about Christie’s performance as governor, with 53 percent approving how he handles the job. But this is down 15 points since November; well below the 66 to 73 percent support Christie had enjoyed throughout the year since Superstorm Sandy. Asked to grade the Governor, 43 percent now award Christie an A or B – down 16 points– and 29 percent assign either a D or F, compared to just 18 percent two months ago.

Christie’s ratings drop is driven by a very large decline among Democrats while most Republicans – and many independents – continue to stand by the Governor. In November, 45 percent of Democrats were favorable, but with new challenges to Christie’s bipartisan leadership, only 19 percent of Democrats are now positive. Democratic approval of Christie’s job performance has dropped  from 51 percent to 29 percent. While noticeably down from November, Republicans are still very positive: 78 percent feel favorable, and 83 percent approve of the job Christie is doing. Independent support has also dropped, but a majority continues to favor Christie.

Categories
Politics

Another Republican Activist Leaves The Republican Party

Gay political activist and longtime Republican, Jimmy LaSalvia, did not merely leave the GOP last week. He loudly denounced his former party for its “culture of intolerance” and predicted it will never “win another Presidential election.”

LaSalvia, who founded GOProud, and now plans to become independent, came to the inescapable conclusion that the party is just hopelessly “out of touch with life in America.”

“The changes the Republican Party is implementing really amount to nothing more than lipstick on a pig,” LaSalvia said on Yahoo! and ABC News program Top Line, echoing President Obama’s observation in 2008. “It’s a culture of intolerance that I just don’t think any amount of policy changes can fix.”

The 2012 election that sealed the deal for LaSalvia.

“It was the Romney campaign that really got me to understand just how severe the problem is,” LaSalvia told Top Line. “And after [that], I just thought, ‘I don’t know if [the GOP] will ever win another Presidential election again.’”

HIs analysis was as practical as it was brutal. The GOP is doomed because it continues to cater to intolerant people rather than tell them the word has changed and they need to get with it.

“The object of political parties is to win elections, and I’ve determined that the Republicans can never win a national election again, and so at that point, what’s the point?” While LaSalvia still identifies as a conservative, he feels he won’t be alone as an independent.

Exit mobile version