crazy bitches making headlines.

▲▲▲ hypocrites, muttonheads, sociopaths, sadists, masochists, and plain old-fashioned batshit crazy.

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sisters renua shinde, seema gavit, to be first women executed in india

delhi: two sisters who kidnapped 13 young children and forced them to work as pickpockets before murdering them are to become the first women to be executed in india.

RENUKA SHINDE and SEEMA GAVIT became india's most notorious serial killers when they were convicted of child murders in 2001 and sentenced to death. they were charged with 13 kidnappings and 10 murders and were found guilty of five killings.

now, 13 years after their convictions, they are to be hanged at maharashtra's yerwada jail after india's president rejected their final appeal for mercy.

their imminent executions are revived painful memories in india of some of the most brutal crimes in its recent history. one of the victims was an infant under two years old who died after his head was smashed against an electricity pole.

the sisters themselves were barely adults when they began their killing spree -- gavit was just 15 when she killed her first victim and her older sister was 17.

they had been inducted into a life of crime by their mother ANJANA, who taught them how to pick pockets in crowded market places and during religious festivals in small towns throughout maharashtra.

they moved between nashik, kolhapur, and pune, kidnapping children they found in the street and using them as decoys to distract their marks while they picked their pockets, or to elicit sympathy if they were caught.

the sisters' last victim, it emerged in court, was killed as an act of revenge plotted by their mother against her estranged husband, seema's father, who has abandoned her, remarried and had children with his new wife. the sisters helped kidnap his nine-year-old daughter kranti, who was then killed by their mother and dumped in a field.

they were arrested when kranti's mother voiced her suspicions about her husband's ex-wife to the police.

judges at the supreme court aid the murders had been carried out casually and unnecesarily.

"they very cleverly executed their plans of kidnapping the children and the moment they were no longer useful, they killed him," they said.

anjana died in prison before the trail and her daughters maintained they were innocent.

their lawyer said they were wrongly convicted on the evidence of shinde's husband who had initially confessed to his own involvement but later changed his story and gave evidence against them in return for immunity.

dean nelson | august 19, 2014. the sydney morning herald.

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RIP FREE SPEECH: protestors can now be charged $750 or 2 years gaol for attending protests in victoria.

on tuesday the legislative council of victoria passed the summary offence act of 2013, which outlaws the right to protest in victoria, by a vote of 20-18.

from september onwards the police in victoria will have the power to "move on" groups of people at their will, including those involved in peaceful protests and pickets. those who refuse to comply with these orders can be issued with fines of $750, exclusion orders, and gaol terms up to 2 years.

though clearly aimed at disrupting the tunnel picket campaign against the east west link, in future this law has the potential to be used against anyone -- including trade unions and community groups.

even die-hard conservatives question whether the new laws are too heavy handed. tim wilson, former head of the ipa and current human rights commissioner told the age he thought the laws were "excessive."

"it unnecessarily gives police too much power to move on protestors unjustifiably," he said. "i have an issue with the low bar that is being set to give police the powers to move people on."

kieran adair | march 11, 2014 talking points .au

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mom stealing candy from drugstore leaves baby behind, police say.

so much for no child left behind.

a stroller-toting mom who used her 1-year-old son as cover during a massive candy shoplifting spree at a downtown duane reade used the tot's pram as a battering ram when workers confronted her -- and then ran away without the baby, the nypd said.

MICHELLE CALDERON, 24, piled more than $250 worth of candy into the bottom of her son's stroller at the 100 broadway store at 2:42 am oct. 7, police said.

calderon, who was arrested in june for smuggling an envelope of cocaine into rikers island and was out on $50 cash bail, had help from RAYMOND LEBRON (above), 20, who grabbed cough drops and gum from the aisles, and DARNELL JOHNSON (below), 26, who served as a lookout inside the store, police said.

but when the trio tried to leave the store without paying, a worker confronted the group and tried to take back the stolen items: $170 worth of halls throat drops, $59 worth of wrigley's gum, $43 worth of dentyne gum and $15 worth of tic tacs, police said.

lebron hit the worker in the face twice -- cutting the worker's chin and throat -- while calderon used her stroller to push the worker out of the store, ramming him down onto the sidewalk, according to the manhattan district attorney's criminal complaint.

the worker grabbed the stroller and held onto it in an effort to keep the trio from fleeing, but they dashed off anyway, leaving the stroller and the young child behind, the criminal complaint said.

all three suspects were later caught and charged with robbery, abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the DA's office.

calderon was being held at rickers on $15,000 bail on wednesday, records show.

police said the child was taken away by administration for children's services.

heather holland | october 16, 2013 dna info new york.

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navy wife accused of neglecting her baby to death.

[via archives] an 18-month-old girl was found dead, and police say it was the result of neglect at the hands of the child's mother.

the mother, 21-year-old RICHAEL RHOADES, is a navy wife who told police she was so depressed, she stopped caring for her two children.

police found the baby girl dead in a sealed box in the woman's naval home in bremerton. they think the 18-month-old has been dead since before thanksgiving.

from neighbors to seasoned police investigators -- and even the navy, this case is beyond shocking.

"this i sad, it's a serious concern of ours and we're perplexed," said navy spokesman tom danaher.

no one knew the horror inside the jackson park naval community townhouse. police say for weeks a helpless baby girl was neglected to death by her own mother.

police say the trouble began when baby brenda got sick and her mother did nothing. police say rhoades told them she didn't go to the doctor because she was worried someone would see the condition of the children and know she was neglecting them.

court documents revealed the mother rarely fed or bathed her children -- sometimes giving the baby only a bottle of milk a day. she told police for weeks her 3-year-old son fended for himself.

she told police that in mid-november, brenda had a fever of 102. she says she gave her baby aspirin, then left her alone in the playpen for nearly two days, and when she finally checked on the baby, she was dead. the baby was slumped up against her bedroom door.

not knowing what to do with the baby, she put her in a garbage bag, then in a box and taped it shut. the mother said she didn't call the police because she panicked.

instead, the first thing she did was play video games, and days later, she went to neighbors for thanksgiving dinner. all the while, her baby was dead in a box on her front porch.

it was the baby's father who first made the gruesome discovery. the navy says petty officer michael rhoades had been on the submarine uss maine for more than two months. when he got home on sunday, he found his baby girl's body in a box and found his neglected 3-year-old-son.

in court documents, richael rhoades says she told her husband how the baby died, they then ate dinner, had sex, and she says the next day, michael rhoades called navy security.

"there are so many options for us as navy wives to ask for help when something is that severe," says neighbor lisa bragg. her husband has been gone since january on an aircraft carrier.

richael says she blames her depression on her recent move to washington. her husband's sub used to be stationed in georgia, but in august, they got transferred here. she's been alone with the kids while her husband was on the sub. she claims she was suicidal.

the mother now faces possible charges of second-degree murder. their 3-year-old son is currently in protective custody.

katu.com | december 14, 2005 (last updated october 29, 2013)

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this entire subreddit.

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police beat boys who ran away from salvation army home, hearing told.

NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE beat boys who ran away from a SALVATION ARMY home where they were being abused, a hearing in sydney has been told.

mark stiles told the royal commission he was 12 when he was sexually abused at the GILL MEMORIAL HOME in goulburn nsw, by CAPTAIN RUSSELL WALKER, who would create circumstances to be alone with him.

stiles said he would be woken up at 3 am and taken to the bathroom by walker. he said the abuse happened four times a week over the 14-month period he was at gill, in 1971 and 1972.

he was too scared to tell anyone, the commission heard. he ran away twice. the first time he and another boy were picked up by a police car not far from the home.

stiles said he had told police he had been physically abused by CAPTAIN LAWRENCE WILSON, who was managing the home, and sexually abused by walker.

the commission has received numerous allegations about both men. wilson died in 2007, while walker has been notified of the hearing.

"police just gave us a flogging by belting me across the neck and the side of the head and took us back to the home," stiles said.

after police informed the management at gill about complained "the beatings and punishment was so severe that i said nothing from then on," stiles said.

he told john agius sc for the nsw police he would be willing to help identify the police officers.

stiles described wilson has a violent man who had once kicked an eight-year-old boy down the length of the dining hall and walker had kicked him back again.

another witness said when he was five years old at the home he was punished repeatedly for wetting his bed. his face was rubbed in the wet sheets. he was also forced to sweep the playground with a toothbrush.

the commission also heard from kevin marshall, a resident at a salvation army boys home in bexley, in southern sydney, for eight years from 1966.

he said the manager of bexley at the time was a caption wilson and he had arranged for boys to go to a camp on weekend outings.

"i was also aware of boys being sexually abused at camp and in some cases being sent to salvation army members' houses after church where sexual abuse occurred," he told the commission.

australian ap | february 3, 2014 the guardian.com

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lunches seized from kids in debt at salt lake city elementary.

up to 40 kids at uintah elementary in salt lake city picked up their lunches tuesday, then watched as the meals were taken and thrown away because of outstanding balances on their accounts -- a move that shocked and angered parents.

"it was pretty traumatic and humiliating," said erica lukes, who 11-year-old daughter had her cafeteria lunch taken from her as she stood in line tuesday at the uintah elementary school, 1571 e. 1300 south.

lukes said as far as she knew, she was all paid up. "i think it's despicable," she said. "these are young children that shouldn't be punished or humiliated for something the parents obviously need to clear up."

jason olsen, a salt lake city district spokesman, said the district's child-nutrition department became aware that uintah had a large number of students who owed money for lunches.

as a result, the child-nutrition manager visited the school and decided to withhold lunches to deal with the issue, he said.

but cafeteria workers weren't able to see which children owed money until they had already received lunches, olsen explained.

the workers then took those lunches from the students and threw them away, he said, because once the food is served to one student it can't be served to another.

children whose lunches were taken were given milk and fruit instead.

olsen said school officials told the district that their staffers typically tell students about any balances as they go through the lunch line and send home notifications to parents each week.

the district attempted to contact parents with balances via phone monday and tuesday, olsen said, but weren't able to reach them all before the child-nutrition manager decided to take away the students' lunches.

"something's not working, and that's what the school and child-nutrition department are going to work on together," olsen said of the notifications.

he said there's no plan to use the same tactic at other district schools.

"this can easily be prevented," olsen said. "we need to make sure proper notification goes out to the parents and they have time to put money in the accounts."

but olsen said he would not describe the tactic as a mistake.

"if students were humiliated and upset," olsen said, "that's very unfortunate and not what we wanted to happen."

however, after further investigation, olsen released an updated statement that was also posted to the district's facebook page. it said: "this situation could have and should have been handled in a different manner. we apologize."

the post adds: "we understand the feelings of upset parents and students who say this was an embarrassing and humiliating situation. we again apologize and commit to working with parents in rectifying this situation and to ensuring students are never treated in this manner again."

olsen said it's standard in the district to give kids fruit and milk in lieu of lunch if they don't have the money to pay for lunch.

he said it's unclear how uintah had been handling such situations before this week. attempts to reach uintah's principal were unsuccessful.

olsen said the district encourages parents to use its electronic system to pay for lunches and set up email notifications. he said the software for the system is new this year, thought it's not much different than the old one.

lukes said she never received a notification that her daughter would have her lunch taken.

she said it was a difficult day for her daughter and other kids. she said her daughter told her one of the cafeteria workers cried at the sight. and her daughter's best friend was so upset that she went home tuesday night and made lunches for all the students who had their taken, she said.

"you would think in a public school system your child wouldn't be turned away from lunch," lukes said, "especially when people usually settle their balances."

lisa schencker | january 29th, 2014 the salt lake tribune.

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24 house republicans just voted to deny the reality of climate change.

the house energy and commerce committee tuesday voted down an amendment that would have stated conclusively that climate change is occurring.

e&c committee members voted 24-20 against the amendment, introduced by rep. jan schakowsky (d-il) to h.r. 3826, the electricity security and affordability act. that bill, if it makes it through congress, would put an end to epa regulations on emissions for new power plants until technologies like carbon capture and storage are commercially viable in at least six states for one year. it passed in tuesday's committee, but the amendment, which would have placed on the record that the committee accepts that climate change is happening, did not.

twenty-four e&c members -- all republicans -- voted against the amendment. among them was e&c chair rep. FRED UPTON (r-mi), who has said before that he doesn't think climate change is caused by human activity, and JOE BARTON (r-tx), who also questions humans' role in climate change. in total, the republicans who voted to deny climate change have accepted about $9.3 million in career contributions from the oil, gas and coal industries, according to analysis by the cap action war room.

this isn't the first time house republicans have rejected amendments stating the reality of climate change. in 2011, house republicans voted down amendments that called on congress to accept that climate change is real, man-made, and a human health threat.

scientists, of course, disagree with the committee members. ninety-seven percent of scientific studies that take a stance on climate change agree that human activity is causing climate change. in october, a study found that temperatures in the canadian arctic today are warmer than at any point in the last 44,000 years and possibly even as far back as 120,000 years.

"a key piece here is just how unprecedented the warming of arctic canada is," gifford miller, uc boulder institute of arctic and alpine research associate director and lead author of the study said. "this study really says the warning we are seeing is outside any kind of known natural variability, and it has to be due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

katie valentine | january 28, 2014 thinkprogress.org

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british medical council bars doctor who linked vaccine with autism.

[via archives] a doctor whose research and public statements caused widespread alarm that a common childhood vaccine could cause autism was banned from practicing medicine in his native britain for ethical lapses, including conducting invasive medical procedures on children they did not need.

the general medical council applied its most severe sanction against the doctor, ANDREW WAKEFIELD, 53, who abandoned his medical practice in britain in 2004 as questions intensified about his research and set up a center to study childhood developmental disorders in texas, despite not being licensed as a physician there.

in january, after the longest investigation in its history, the council found several instances of what it said was unprofessional conduct by dr. wakefield. it cited his taking blood samples for his study from children at his son's birthday party; he paid each child £5, about $7.20 today, and joked about it later. it also noted that part of the costs of dr. wakefield's research was paid by lawyers for parents seeking to sue vaccine makers for damages.

dr. wakefield left the texas center in february, but continued to speak out against his treatment in britain, as he did in interviews in new york on monday, when he called the british decision to strike him off the medical register an effort to "discredit and silence" him. he said he would appeal the decision, which will take effect, unless suspended for legal reasons, within 28 days.

the disciplinary tribunal's action came after more than a decade of controversy over the links dr. wakefield and associates in britain, as well as supporters among parents of some autistic children in britain and the united states, have made between autism and a commonly used vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. the suggestion of a link caused use of the vaccine in britain and elsewhere in the world to plummet, a development that critics of dr. wakefield said contributed to a sharp rise in measles cases in countries where the vaccine was in use.

most scientific papers have failed to find any links between vaccines and autism.

the furor was touched off by a 1998 article in the lancet, a british medical journal. the journal retracted the study in february after the medical council in london conclude in january that dr. wakefield had been dishonest and that he had violated ethical rules.

the council said he had shown "a callous disregard" for the suffering of children involved in his research. the ruling banning him from practicing medicine on tuesday was a sequel to the january finding.

dr. surendra kumar, the medical council's chairman, said that dr. wakefield had "brought the medical profession into disrepute' and that his behavior constituted "multiple separate instances of professional misconduct." in all, dr. wakefield was found guilty of more than 30 charges.

"the panel concluded," dr. kumar siad, "that it is the only sanction that is appropriate to protect patients and is in the wider public interest, including the maintenance of public trust and confidence in the profession." he said the sanction was "proportionate to the serious and wide-ranging findings made against him."

the council also barred from practice one of dr. wakefield's associates, dr. JOHN WALKER-SMITH, 73, who had been found guilty of professional misconduct and retired from medicine 10 years ago. a second associate, dr. simon murch, was found not guilty of professional misconduct and allowed to continue practicing.

dr. wakefield resigned in february from his position as a staff researcher at thoughtful house, an alternative medicine clinic in austin, texas. a spokeswoman for the clinic said she did not know where dr. wakefield worked now.

a 2007 annual report for the clinic has a picture of dr. wakefield looking into a microscope with a caption that reads: "where would we be without dr. wakefield and your entire team? thank you for your courageous efforts in swimming against the tide. without you we would still be hearing, 'there is nothing we can do.' because of you we know the hope is great and the progress is attainable."

in new york on monday, dr. wakefield rejected the medical council's findings. in an interview with the "today" show on nbc, he described the ban on his practicing as "a little bump in the road" and said the council's decision had been predetermined "from the outset." he also said he would continue his research into the link between vaccines and autism.

"these parents are not going away," he said. "the children are not going away. and i am most certainly not going away."

john f. burns | may 24, 2010 the new york times.

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georgia GOPer attacking free school lunch expensed $4,200 in meals.

rep. JACK KINGSTON (r-ga) warned that there's "no such thing as free lunch" for school children in georgia, but he seems to have enjoyed a few.

an investigation by georgia's wsav channel 3 found that kingston, who is currently running for senate and recently suggested student work cleaning cafeterias in exchange for lunch, had expensed as much as $4,182 worth of lunches for his office over the past three years.

 "kingston and his staff expensed nearly $4,200 in meals for business purposes to his congressional office, paid for by the american taxpayer," wsav 3's dan kartunen reported. the amount could have purchased nearly 2,000 georgia school lunches.

wsav also found that kingston also racked up $4,289 of free meals paid for by third-party groups like the georgia bankers association and the congressional institute. kingston has also travelled to a handful of continents on congressional business racking up $4,313 in costs. those expenses include more than just meals. what's more, kingston also expensed $145,391 worth of meals for campaign events.

in december kingston, who is against a federal lunch program, also argued that poor students should sweep floors in exchange for lunch.

"but one of the things i've talked to the secretary of agriculture about: why don't you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lunch? or maybe sweep the floor of the cafeteria -- and yes, i understand that would be an administrative problem, and i understand that it would probably lose you money," kingston said. "but think what we would gain as a society in getting people -- getting the myth out of their head that there is such a thing as free lunch."

kingston was widely criticized for the remark. he defended the proposal as a "discussion about the work ethic in america."

daniel strauss | january 10, 2014 talking points memo livewire.

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carl tanzler.

CARL TANZLER, or sometimes COUNT CARL VON COSEL (february 8, 1877 - july 3, 1952), was a german-born radiologic technologist at the united states marine hospital in key west, florida who developed a morbid obsession for a young cuban-american tuberculosis patient, elena milagro "helen" de hoyos (july 31, 1909 - october 25th, 1931), that carried on well after the disease had caused her death. in 1933, almost two years after her death, tanzler removed hoyos's body from its tomb, and lived with the corpse at his home for seven years until its discovery by hoyos's relatives and authorities in 1940.

  on april 22, 1930, while working at the marine hospital in key west, tanzler met maria elena milagro "helen" de hoyos, a local cuban woman who had been brought to the hospital for an examination by her mother. tanzler immediately recognized her as the beautiful dark-haired woman that had been revealed to him in his earlier "visions." by all accounts, hoyos was viewed as a local beauty in key west.

hoyos was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis, a typically fatal disease at the time, that eventually claimed the lives of almost her entire immediate family. tanzler, with his self-professed medical knowledge, attempted to treat and cure hoyos with a variety of medicines, as well as x-ray and electrical equipment, that were brought tot he hoyoses' home. tanzler showered hoyos with gifts of jewelry and clothing, and allegedly professed his love to her, but no evidence has surfaced to show that any of his affection was reciprocated by hoyos.

despite tanzler's best efforts, hoyos died of terminal tuberculosis at her parents' home in key west on october 25, 1931. tanzler paid for her funeral, and with the permission of her family he then commissioned the construction of an above ground mausoleum in the key west cemetery, which he visited almost every night.

one evening in april, 1933, tanzler crept through the cemetery where hoyos was buried and removed her body from the mausoleum, carting it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transporting it to his home. he reportedly said that elena's spirit would come to him when he would sit by her grave and serenade her corpse with a favorite spanish song. he also said that she would often tell him to take her from the grave. tanzler attached the corpse's bones together with wire and coat hangers, and fitted the face with glass eyes. as the skin of the corpse decomposed, tanzler replaced it with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of paris. as the hair fell out of the decomposing scalp, tanzler fashioned a wig from hoyos's hair that had been collected by her mother and given to tanzler not long after her burial in 1931. tanzler filled the corpse's abdominal and chest cavity with rags to keep the original form, dressed hoyos's remains in stockings, jewelry, and gloves, and kept the body in his bed. tanzler also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents, to mask the odor and forestall the effects of the corpse's decomposition.

in october, 1940, elena's sister florinda heard rumors of tanzler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister, and confronted tanzler at his home, where hoyos's body was eventually discovered. florinda notified the authorities, and tanzler was arrested and detained. tanzler was psychiatrically examined, and found mentally competent to stand trial on the charge of "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization." after a preliminary hearing on october 9, 1940 at the monroe county courthouse in key west, tanzler was held to answer on the charge, but the case was eventually dropped and he was released, as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.

shortly after the corpse's discovery by authorities, hoyos's body was examined by physicians and pathologists, and put on public display at the dean-lopez funeral home, where it was viewed by as many as 6,800 people. hoyos's body was eventually returned to the key west cemetery where the remains were buried in an unmarked grave, in a secret location, to prevent further tampering.

the facts underlying the case and the preliminary hearing drew much interest from the media at the time (most notably, from the key west citizen and miami herald), and created a sensation among the public, both regionally and nationwide. the public mood was generally sympathetic to tanzler, whom many viewed as an eccentric "romantic."

though not reported contemporaneously, research (most notably by authors harrison and swicegood) has revealed evidence of tanzler's necrophilia with hoyos's corpse. two physicians (dr. depoo and dr. foraker) who attended the 1940 autopsy of hoyos's remains recalled in 1972 that a paper tube had been inserted in the vaginal area of the corpse that allowed for intercourse. others contend that since no evidence of necrophilia was presented at the 1940 preliminary hearing, and because the physicians' "proof" surfaced in 1972, over 30 years after the case had been dismissed, the necrophilia allegation is questionable. while no existing contemporary photographs of the autopsy or photographs taken at the public display show a tube, the necrophilia claim was repeated by the HBO autopsy program in 2005.

wikipedia.

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"die, my daughter, die!"

teenager tina isa was bright, popular and thoroughly american -- so much so that her immigrant parents decided to kill her.

"where were you, bitch?" MARIA ISA snapped as her daughter, tina, 16, entered the family apartment on the south side of st. louis.

"working!" tina shot back. she had just finished her first day as a counter girl at a wendy's fast-food restaurant, a job she had taken without her parents' permission.

"we do not accept that to work!" interrupted tina's father, ZEIN ISA, a palestinian-born grocer who brought his family to the u.s. in 1985.

"why are you doing this to us, tina?" asked maria angrily.

"i am not doing anything to do," tina bristled.

"you are a she-devil!" hissed zein. and what about tina's boyfriend, he wanted to know -- clifford walker, a young black man who had just walked her home from work.

"he wants to sleep with you in bed," zein shouted. "don't you feel any shame? don't you have a conscience? it's fornication!"

with that, her parents threatened to throw tina out of the apartment; rebelliously, she challenged them to do it. "listen, my dear daughter," her father finally replied. "do you know that this is the last day? tonight you're going to die?"

"huh?" said tina, bewildered.

"do you know that you are going to die tonight?"

suddenly, realizing he was serious, tina let out a long scream. then there was a crash, and the girl's shrieks became muffled, as if someone were trying to cover her mouth.

"keep still, tina!" her father shouted.

"mother, please help me!" tina cried.

but her mother would not help. instead she held her struggling daughter down as zein began stabbing tina in the chest with a seven-inch boning knife.

"no, please!" tina cried.

"shut up!" her mother shouted.

"no! no!" tina shrieked.

"die! die quickly! die quickly!" her father shouted in arabic.

tina managed to scream again.

"quiet, little one!" her father said, stabbing her the last of six times. "die, my daughter, die!"

and then there was silence.

unknown to the isas, every shout, every cry of pain uttered during tina's murder on nov. 6, 1989, was being taped by the fbi. for about two years the agency had been investigating whether zein isa was involved in terrorist activities for the palestine liberation organization -- though he denies it. unfortunately for tina, no one was listening at the time of her death. but the next morning, a horrified fbi agent heard the chilling seven-minute recording of the killing and immediately notified st. louis police. the isas had already told authorities of the stabbing, claiming she came after them with a knife. the couple were promptly arrested.

yet the murder still defies understanding, reflecting as it does cultural and generational conflicts that seem utterly alien to most americans. neither zein, 60, nor his brazilian-born wife, maria, 48, has assimilated into u.s. culture like tina, the youngest of their seven children. "she was so american," says roosevelt high school classmate jeannie chapman. tina was an honors student, but she was also a free spirit, says chapman. she once cut a hold in her required hairnet in cooking class so her black curly hair, swept up on one side with styling gel, wouldn't be matted. "and when we ran laps around the school halls for soccer training," chapman recalls, "tina would cut through the cafeteria and laugh at us."

such antics were not permitted at home. "most parents are strict, but hers were abnormally strict," says another classmate, melika poindexter. tina's parents disapproved of her playing soccer and tennis on school teams and of making the cheerleading squad. she was forbidden to go on school trips, to go to concerts, to visit friends on weekends and to date. "her close friends told us that she often came to school with bruises and welts and that she had been physically abused by her parents," says st. louis homicide detective harry hegger. "at one point she had had hot coffee thrown at her."

during her junior year, tina defied her parents and went to the school prom. her parents went after her. "her mother and sisters -- even a male relative -- followed her into the women's bathroom," recalls her friend jackie hall. "she was crying... it was pretty awful."

the biggest issue, apparently, was tina's chastity. her parents wanted to arrange a marriage for her, as they had for three of her older sisters, says another sister, FATIMA ABDELJABBAR, 25. her father expected tina to return to his native village of beiteen in the west bank as a virgin to marry a relative of one of his sons-in-law and to live in the family home. "he wanted her to have the house, the land, everything," abdeljabbar says. "my dad was that kind of person. he loved her the most. i swear to god, even though she's laying in her grave right now. she was the apple of his eye."

tina had other plans. she hoped to enter st. louis university and study aeronautical engineering. "she wanted to be a pilot," says jackie hall. "she used to say her parents didn't want her to do anything like that and how much pressure she was under."

at her parents' trial last fall, defense witness NICOLAS GAVRIELIDES, a state university of new york anthropology professor who was born and raised in jerusalem, testified that the way tina lived had offended her father's sense of honor. "everyone growing up in the middle east knows being killed is a possible consequence of dishonoring the family," he said. however, victor le vine, professor of jewish and near eastern studies at washington university in st. louis, disagrees. "this is certainly aberrant behavior," he says. "palestinians and other arab refugees in the united states would regard it with horror."

apparently zein was being goaded by his older daughters to do something about tina. the fbi overheard zein talking to one of them, SORAIA ISA, 24, who suggested locking tina in the basement and proposed hiring "a black guy who's always in trouble" to kill tina. but zein rejected that, saying he couldn't have a stranger "do my job." (the fbi says it took no action after hearing this being zein often made empty threats.)

in october zein and maria isa, having discharged successfully what they seem to have regarded as their obligations as parents, were convicted of first-degree murder. last month, just before christmas, they were sentenced to death by lethal injection. they showed now remorse. "my daughter was very disrespectful and very rebellious," maria told judge charles shaw. "we should not have to pay with our lives for something she did."

joe treen | january 20, 1992 people.com

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new mexico bill would criminalize abortions after rape as "tampering with evidence."

a republican lawmaker in new mexico introduced a bill on wednesday that would legally require victimes of rape to carry their pregnancies to term in order to use the evidence for a sexual assault trial.

house bill 206, introduced by state rep. CATHRYNN BROWN (r), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for "tampering with evidence."

"tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime," the bill says.

pat davis of progressnow new mexico, a progressive nonprofit opposing the bill, called it "blatantly unconstitutional" on thursday.

"the bill turns victims of rape and incest into felons and forces them to become incubators of evidence for the state," he said. "according to republican philosophy, victims who are "legitimately raped" will now have to carry the fetus to term in order to prove their case."

the bill is unlikely to pass, as democrats have a majority in both chambers of new mexico's state legislature.

UPDATE -- brown said in a statement thursday that she introduced the bill with the goal of punishing the person who commits incest or rape and then procures or facilitates an abortion to destroy the evidence of the crime.

"new mexico needs to strengthen its laws to deter sex offenders," said brown. "by adding this law in new mexico, we can help to protect women across our state."

laura bassett | january 24, 2013 the huffington post 

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russia moves to enact anti-gay law nationwide.

kissing his boyfriend during a protest in front of russia's parliament earned pavel samburov 30 hours of detention and the equivalent of a $16 fine on a charge of "hooliganism." but if a bill that comes up for a first vote later this month becomes law, such a public kiss could be defined as illegal "homosexual propaganda" and bring a find of up to $16,000.

the legislation being pushed by the kremlin and russian orthodox church would make it illegal nationwide to provide minors with information that is defined as "propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism." it includes a ban on holding public events that promote gay rights. st. petersburg and a number of other russian cities already have similar laws on their books.

the bill is in part of an effort to promote traditional russian values as opposed to western liberalism, which the kremlin and church see as corrupting russian youth by extension contributing to a wave of protest against president vladimir putin's rule.

the lanky and longhaired samburov is the founder of the rainbow association, which unites gay activists throughout russia. the gay rights group has joined anti-putin marches in moscow over the past year, its rainbow flag waving along with those of other opposition groups.

other laws that the kremlin says are intended to protect young russians have been hastily adopted in recent months, including some that allow banning and blocking web content and print publications that are deemed "extremist" or unfit for young audiences.

denis volkov, a sociologist with the levada center, an independent pollster, says the anti-gay bill fits the "general logic" of a government intent on limiting various rights.

but in this case, the move has been met mostly with either indifference or open enthusiasm by average russians. levada polls conducted last year show that almost two thirds of russians find homosexuality "morally unacceptable and worth condemning." about half are against gay rallies and same-sex marriage; almost a third think homosexuality is the result of "a sickness or psychological trauma," the levada surveys show.

russia's widespread hostility to homosexuality is shared by the political and religious elite.

lawmakers have accused gays of decreasing russia's already low birth rates and said they should be barred from government jobs, undergo forced medical treatment or be exiled. orthodox activists criticized u.s. company pepsico for using a "gay" rainbow on cartons of its dairy products. an executive with a government-run television network said in a nationally televised talk show that gays should be prohibited from donating blood, sperm and organs for transplants, while after death their hearts should be burned or buried.

the anti-gay sentiment was seen sunday in voronezh, a city south of moscow, where a handful of gay activists protesting against the parliament bill were attacked by a much larger group of anti-gay activists who hit them with snowballs.

the gay rights protest that won samburov a fine took place in december. seconds after samburov and his boyfriend kissed, militant activists with the orthodox church pelted them with eggs. police intervened, rounding up the gay activists and keeping them for 30 hours first in a frozen van and then in an unheated detention center. the orthodox activists were also rounded up, but were released much earlier.

those behind the bill say minors need to be protected from "homosexual propaganda" because they are unable to evaluate the information critically. "this propaganda goes through the mass media and public events that propagate homosexuality as normal behavior," the bill reads.

cities started adopting anti-gay laws in 2006. only one person has been prosecuted so far under a law specifically targeted at gays: nikolai alexeyev, a gay rights campaigner, was fined the equivalent of $160 after a one-man protest last summer in st. petersburg.

in november, a st. petersburg court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the trade union of russian citizens, a small group of orthodox conservatives and putin loyalists, against pop star madonna. the group sought $10.7 million in damages for what it says was "propaganda of perversion" when madonna spoke up for gay rights during a show three months earlier.

the federal bill's expected adoption comes 20 years after a stalinist-era law punishing homosexuality with up to five years in prison was removed from russia's penal code as part of the democratic reforms that followed the soviet union's collapse.

most of the other former soviet republics also decriminalized homosexuality, and attitudes toward gays have become a litmus test of democratic freedoms. while gay pride parades are held in the three former soviet baltic states, all today members of the european union, same-sex love remains a crime in authoritarian turkmenistan and uzbekistan.

in russia, gays have been whipsawed by official pressure and persistent homophobia. there are no reliable estimates of how many gays and lesbians live in russia, and only a few big cities such as moscow and st. petersburg have gay nightclubs and gyms. even there, gays do not feel secure.

when a dozen masked men entered a moscow night  club during a "coming out party" that campaigner samburov organized in october, he thought they were part of the show. but then one of the masked men yelled, "have you ordered up a fight? here you go!" the men overturned tables, smashed dishes and beat, kicked and sprayed mace at the five dozen men and women who had gathered at the gay-friendly freedays club, samburov and the club's administration said.

four club patrons were injured, including a young woman who got broken glass in her eye, police said. although a police station was nearby, samburov said, it took police officers half and hour to arrive. the attackers remain unidentified.

on the next day, an orthodox priest said he regretted that his religious role had not allowed him to participate in the beating.

"until this scum gets off of of russian land, i fully share the views of those who are trying to purge our motherland of it," REV. SERGIY RYBKO was quoted as saying by the orthodoxy and world online magazine. "we either become a tolerant western state where everything is allowed -- and lose our christianity and moral foundations -- or we will be a christian people who live in our god-protected land in purity and godliness."

in other parts of russia, gays feel even less secure. bagaudin abduljalilov moved to moscow from dagestan, a predominantly muslim region in southern russia where he says some gays have been beaten and had their hands cut off, sometimes by their own relatives, for bringing shame on their families.

"you don't have any human rights down there," he said. "anything can be done to you with impunity."

shortly before moving to moscow, abduljalilov left islam to become a protestant christian, but was expelled from a seminary after telling the dean he was gay. he also has had trouble finding a job as a television journalist because of discrimination against people from dagestan.

"i love russia, but i want another russia," said abduljalilov, 30, who now works as a clerk. "it's a pity i can't spend my life on creative projects instead of banging my head against the wall and repeating, 'i'm normal, i'm normal.'"

mansur mirovalev | january 21, 2013 associated press 

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sa's zuma "showered to avoid hiv."

south african ex-deputy president JACOB ZUMA said he showered after sex with an hiv-positive woman, thinking it would reduce his risk of being infected.

this emerged as he was cross-questioned during his trial for rape. he denies rape but admits to consensual sex, and said he was ready to marry his accuser.

remarks about hiv made by mr. zuma in court earlier this week have angered aids educators. more than 5m south africans have hiv - the highest number in the world.

mr. zuma - previously seen as a possible future president - retains considerable popularity. his supporters see the charge as a political conspiracy.

mr. zuma said in court on wednesday he had left his bedroom after having sex with the woman and taken a shower because this "would minimise the risk of contracting the disease [hiv]".

he also said that he was prepared to marry the woman who accused him of rape, and that her aunts were discussing the possibility of marriage and a bride price as zulu tradition dictates. "yes, if we had reached an agreement with that, i would have had my cows ready," mr. zuma told the court, referring to "lobola": the traditional donation of animals by a husband to his bride's family.

mr. zuma was being cross-examined by prosecutor charin de beer, after testifying in his defence on monday and tuesday.

mr. zuma's testimony that he did not use a condom during the encounter, despite knowing the woman was hiv-positive, caused dismay among local aids activists.

before being sacked as deputy president last year, mr. zuma headed the government's national aids council and the moral regeneration campaign.

mr. zuma said he normally uses condoms, but did not have one available on the night of the alleged rape. having unprotected sex is thought to be the main way in which aids spread in africa.

mr. zuma, 63, insisted that the woman, 31, who may not be named, had initiated the sexual encounter.

last week, the defence failed in an application to have the rape charge dropped.

the case has attracted huge publicity and court sessions have drawn demonstrations by groups both for and against mr. zuma.

mr. zuma - a veteran of the anc struggle to end apartheid and favourite of the party's left wing - was once thought a likely successor to thabo mbeki as south african president. but the allegations of rape and corruption are thought by many to have ended that prospect.

a separate corruption trial is scheduled to begin in the durban high court in july. mr. zuma denies the corruption charge.

april 5, 2006 bbc news

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in addition to taxing the poor, louisiana will stop providing end-of-life care to low-income americans.

this week, potential republican presidential contender GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (r-la) rolled out one of the country's most regressive tax proposals, a plan that would shift louisiana's tax burden away from the wealthy by raising taxes on the bottom 80 percent of state residents. apparently, the "austerity" measures don't stop there.

according to new orleans cbs affiliate wwltv, louisiana residents over the age of 21 who are on medicaid -- the public insurance program for disabled and poor americans -- will stop receiving hospice care benefits at the end of this month. that means that low-income louisianans with terminal illnesses, debilitating disabilities, and chronic long-term medical problems will no longer have access to the essential home and medical care that they need.

and while the cuts are intended to help the state balance its budget, critics point out that it is more likely to increase health care costs by pushing previously-insured americans with costly medical conditions into private hospitals and emergency rooms where they will not be able to afford their treatments:

the louisiana department of health and hospitals say the elimination of hospice care for medicaid patients will mean nearly $3.3 million in savings this year alone. in 2014, it'll mean $8.3 million in savings.

however, burns believes the state will end up paying much more with terminally ill patients forced to turn to local hospitals.

"they'll just go in and out of the hospitals, maybe go to icus, and they won't be able to have their family around them with hospice care," said burns.

dhh says there were 5,819 recipients of hospice services through louisiana medicaid in the previous fiscal year.

by the louisiana dhh's own estimates, the cuts to medicaid hospice-care beneficiaries are only expected to reduce the state's projected $900 million budget deficit by 0.92 percent in 2014. these cuts will be imposed on top of the already draconian cutbacks to public education and health care programs that jindal has in the pipeline.

battles over medicaid funding, particularly for those in need of long-term, specialized care, are nothing new. state budget cuts to the medicaid program have long left disabled and special-needs americans by the wayside, even in progressive states such as california. but one of the easiest ways for states to address their perennial public health funding issues is for them to participate in obamacare's medicaid expansion, which the federal government will fund for the first several years.

jindal, however, has refused to participate in the expansion, calling it a "bad idea" that is "expensive for taxpayers." ironically, louisiana already takes in considerably more tax revenue from the federal government than it pays out, and jindal's medicaid cuts -- coupled with his refusal to expand medicaid -- will likely exacerbate that dynamic by forcing americans across the country to subsidize care for louisianans who have fallen through the safety net.

sy mukherjee | january 17, 2013 thinkprogress.org 

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carmen ortiz releases totally bogus statement concerning the aaron swartz prosecution.

after staying silent or issuing "no comments" for nearly a week, CARMEN ORTIZ, the u.s. attorney in charge of the prosecution against aaron swartz has finally released a statement about swartz, his suicide, and her possible role in the suicide:

january 16, 2013

statement of united states attorney carmen m. ortiz regarding the death of aaron swartz

as a parent and a sister, i can only imagine the pain felt by the family and friends of aaron swartz, and i want to extend my heartfelt sympathy to everyone who knew and loved this young man. i know that there is little i can say to abate the anger felt by those who believe that this office's prosecution of mr. swartz was unwarranted and somehow led to the tragic result of him taking his own life.

i must, however, make clear that this office's conduct was appropriate in bring and handling this case. the career prosecutors handling this matter took on the difficult task of enforcing a law they had taken an oath to uphold, and did so reasonably. the prosecutors recognized that there was no evidence against mr. swartz indicating that he committed his acts for personal financial gain, and they recognized that his conduct - while a violation of the law - did not warrant the severe punishments authorized by congress and called for by the sentencing guidelines in appropriate cases. that is why in the discussions with his counsel about a resolution of the case this office sought and appropriate sentence that matched the alleged conduct - a sentence that we would recommend to the judge of six months in a low security setting. while at the same time, his defense counsel would have been free to recommend a sentence of probation. ultimately, any sentence imposed would have been up to the judge. at no time did this office ever seek - or ever tell mr. swartz's attorneys that it intended to seek - a maximum penalties under the law.

as federal prosecutors, our mission includes protecting the use of computers and the internet by enforcing the law as fairly and responsibly as possible. we strive to do our best to fulfill this mission every day.

this statement is completely hogwash, frankly. if what she claims is true -- that they recognized "his conduct - while a violation of the law - did not warrant the severe punishments authorized by congress and called for by the sentencing guidelines in appropriate cases" then they would not have piled on more charges in the indictment in september. the original indictment, which had four charges against swartz, had a maximum potential jail time of 35 years. and, ortiz's own press release trumpeted that fact:

aaron swartz, 24, was charged in an indictment with wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer. if convicted on these charges, swartz faces up to 35 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture and a fine of up to $1 million.

and, then in september, nine more charges were added, which brought the total possible time up to 50 years. if ortiz truly believed that his conduct did not warrant such "severe punishment" then she would not have trumpeted the 35 years in the first place, nor would she have piled on more charges. that would serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever if her claim here was true.

furthermore, as swartz's lawyers have made clear, ortiz and her assistant, STEPHEN HEYMANN were pretty explicit to swartz's lawyers that if he did not take their plea bargain offer, the next offer would be more jail time, and if he chose not to accept the offer, they'd seek at least seven years for swartz in court. tossing out that six month claim as if it were proof of some sort dealing on ortiz's part is flat out insulting to the intelligence of any thinking person, and downright offensive to the memory of aaron.

how would ortiz like it if her own child was accused on trumped up charges and threatened with 35 or more years in prison in press releases -- and then told to "settle" for just six months. i doubt she would find that to be "fair."

as time lee explains, the whole "plea bargain" system is a farce, allowing prosecutors to effectively bring forth these massive "possible" punishments to effectively force someone into pleading guilty without ever going to trial. going to trial is dangerous, because the prosecutors effectively make sure that anyone who does exercise a right to a trial is likely to get much more time in jail:

if ortiz thought swartz only deserved to spend 6 months in jail, why did she charge him with the crimes carrying a maximum penalty of 50 years? it's a common way of gaining leverage during plea bargaining. had swartz chosen to plead not guilty, the offer of six months in jail would have evaporated. upon conviction, prosecutors likely would have sought the maximum penalty available under the law. and while the judge would have been unlikely to sentence him to the full 50 years, it's not hard to imagine him being sentenced to 10 years.

in this hypothetical scenario, those 10 years in prison would, practically speaking, have consisted of six months for his original crime (the sentence ortiz actually thought he deserved) plus a nine-and-a-half year prison term for exercising his constitutional right to a trial.

as he further notes, no judge would impose a harsher sentence on someone for exercising other rights -- such as taking the fifth, hiring a lawyer or confronting an accuser. yet, if you demand your right to a trial, the u.s. attorneys have effectively rigged the system so that defendants are punished. and that gives them immense power.

thanks in part to this kind of coercion, more than 90 percent of defendants waive their right to a jury trial. for the majority of defendants, then, the plea bargaining process is the justice system. as a result, prosecutors wield an immense amount of power with very little accountability.

it's not surprising that ortiz doesn't see anything wrong with this system. powerful people rarely see their own power as problematic. but the rest of us should be outraged-not just by ortiz's conduct, but by a system that treats thousands of defendants less famous than swartz the same way.

this is not a new problem. a year and a half ago, the ny times had a feature article highlighting this very problem, which it calls "the trial penalty."

also, while ortiz claims that the final sentence "would have been up to the judge" and even suggests that sine defense counsel could have recommended just probation, the judge might have been more lenient, she must know that it is quite rare for judges to issue sentences more lenient than was prosecutors put forth from a plea bargain. in fact, judges will often issue harsher sentences than what the prosecutors "agreed" to with the defendant, since the judge is not bound to the terms of the agreement specifically.

many countries do not allow plea bargaining, because they recognize how it can be used for coercion. meanwhile, studies have shown that plea bargains quite frequently can lead to innocent people accepting a deal recognizing that it's much better to do that than risk a trial where the punishment would be much, much higher. yes, more innocent people do stand up against such offers than guilty ones (according to the same study), but a large number of innocent people feel compelled to just take the deal.

basically, this whole system is wide open to abuse, and it's clear from ortiz's actions that she, too, was abusing the system in this manner: pushing for super high possible jail time as a huge and scary weapon to try to pressure swartz into accepting a lower rate -- but also making him a convicted felon. using the plea offer as some sort of "proof" of reasonableness is really quite incredible and despicable. it's like pointing a gun at someone, telling them that you're planning to shoot them... and then saying that if they agree to confess to something they don't believe, you'll just pinch them instead. and then, when they complain, you say "well, clearly, i just thought the pinch was appropriate." that's clearly a bullshit explanation. ortiz was better off with "no comment" than trying to pass this off as a reasonable claim.

mike masnick | january 17, 2013 techdirt