As expected, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London today on a European Arrest Warrant for sexual assault charges filed by two women in Sweden. Assange is due to appear in court later today.
Send an email to Jeff Neumann, the author of this post, at jeff@gawker.com.
Over the last year, Chicago police have used tasers on people 683 times — an increase from just 197 times in 2009. That's because the police department more than doubled its taser arsenal, and stopped investigating every taser-related incident.
In an annual report released today by the Independent Police Review Authority, the department's decision last year to increase taser use is said to be making people safer, as well as helping to "defuse" tense situations. And really, what better way to break up an argument than by electrocuting someone? According to Chicago's WGN News:
As a result, the agency said it has decided against investigating every time an officer uses a Taser, saying the hundreds of incidents were "overwhelming" its resources. Instead, it will do so only if allegations of misconduct are made, serious injury or death resulted, or a minor or senior citizen was targeted.
So basically the only way for a police taser incident to be investigated in Chicago is if someone dies, or if children or old people are fried by a trigger happy cop. At this rate, pretty soon they'll be tasering people for jaywalking.
[via FARK; Image via AP]
Send an email to Jeff Neumann, the author of this post, at jeff@gawker.com.
Say NO to Congress mandating open 'gays' in military
Petition demands Senate stop push for social experimentation in armed forces
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Although top military leaders and troop surveys are offering compelling evidence that congressional repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" will severely impact recruiting, retention, unit cohesion and morale, and even – in the words of the nation's Marine Corps commandant – cause "disruption of the successful execution of our current combat mission," Democrat senators are intent on abolishing the armed forces' policy on homosexuality that has been part of military culture and discipline since the days of George Washington.
But now you can tell Congress that George Washington actually knew what he was doing when he determined that homosexuality in a team of fighters disrupts morale, damages unit cohesion and hurts military readiness.
WND has launched a petition urging President Obama and members of Congress to cease trying to "overturn the proven and time-tested warrior culture of the finest fighting force in history":
The petition says:
To: Barack Obama and all members of the United States Congress
Whereas, today's lame-duck Congress, recently repudiated by voters for pushing a progressive-left agenda on America, is nevertheless attempting in the last few days of its legislative session to impose – during wartime – a radical social experiment on the nation's armed forces by mandating inclusion of open homosexuals;
Whereas, a Pentagon survey of personnel in the various armed services shows that repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is opposed by large numbers of America's fighting men and women and would likely create a major retention problem at a time when the military is already shorthanded;
Whereas, Sen. John McCain has warned, based on the Pentagon's statistics, that 264,600 men and women would likely "leave the military earlier than they had planned" if open homosexuality is allowed, and some military analysts say the number leaving could well be double that, thereby endangering the viability of America's all-voluntary military;
Whereas, in another poll conducted by the Military Times – asking "If the 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' policy is overturned and gays are allowed to serve openly, how would you respond?" – nearly 10 percent said, "I would not re-enlist or extend my service" while another 14 percent said, "I would consider not re-enlisting or extending my service";
Whereas, the U.S. military, ever since the era of George Washington, has held that open homosexuals are disruptive to morale, unit cohesion and military readiness;
Whereas, that view is confirmed by military leaders today, including Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Amos who recently testified that a majority of combat Marines oppose permitting open homosexuality in their ranks, that repealing current policy "would absolutely have an impact on combat units" and that "the potential exists for disruption of the successful execution of our current combat mission should repeal be implemented at this time";
Whereas, over 1,100 retired generals and admirals – who understand better than anyone the real-world repercussions of mandating inclusion of open homosexuals in the intensely tight-knit, close-quarters environment of soldiers at war – have signed a petition urging retention of the current policy and opposing repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell":The petition goes on to demand that senators honor the "clear wishes of the voters they serve, as well as the wishes of the U.S. military, by immediately ceasing … efforts to overturn the proven and time-tested warrior culture of the finest fighting force in history."
"If 12.6 percent of the military left earlier, that translates into 264,600 men and women who would leave the military earlier than they had planned … Do you think that's a good idea to replace 265,000 troops … in a time of war?" he asked.
Military analyst Bob Maginnis, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council, went further.
"Twelve-point-six percent is just the people who said they would leave," Maginnis warned. "If you add in the number who said they 'might' leave, you get 23.7 percent. That would be 528,000, when you count both active duty and reserves.
"And that's only if you trust their numbers," Maginnis continued. "They have a real problem with their numbers. It's skewed toward noncombatants, and the Air Force had much larger proportional participation than the Army, so the numbers are totally unreliable.
At the same time McCain's comments were made, commanders of the Army, Air Force and Marines cautioned that change a sudden change to allow open homosexuals in Congress would cause problems.
It was Maginnis who explained that the military's "survey" about homosexuality in the ranks failed.
"I don't think people understand how they have spun these numbers. Not only is the survey biased, the way they combined their percentages is skewed. They say 50 or 55 percent of the troops support repeal, but that's not true. The big slice of that 55 percent is 'mixed', some positive, some negative." The truth is, it was 30 percent negative, and 15 or 20 percent positive."
Maginnis said the results of the survey consistently show that two service members oppose DADT repeal for every supporter.
Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Amos acknowledged that a clear majority of combat Marines oppose permitting open homosexuality in the ranks.
"Their message is that the potential exists for disruption of the successful execution of our current combat mission should repeal be implemented at this time," said Amos.
Further, such changes would put any Christian chaplain in an impossible situation.
"If you have strongly held religious beliefs you'll have cognitive dissonance, and it'll be very difficult to overcome. The military is ignoring privacy concerns, and you'll be told you'll have to room with a homosexual. Your commander will tell you that you will never be propositioned and your roommate will never leer at you, so your deeply held religious beliefs will be of no consequence," Maginnis said.
"Ever since George Washington the military has been programmed to believe homosexuals are disruptive to morale and unit cohesiveness, and are a readiness problem. You have to expunge all those negative thoughts you have about homosexuality and replace them with what you're told by the chain of command about what's right and wrong," he warned.
Sign WND's petition demanding Congress stop its plan to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."
University: Dump Christian beliefs on homosexuality, or else
Demands student get re-educated, attend 'pride' event
By Drew Zahn
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Jen Keeton
Augusta State University graduate student Jen Keeton alleges school officials demand she be re-educated in morality, giving her the choice of giving up her Christian beliefs on homosexuality or being expelled from the school's counseling program.
But now, after months of battling the university in court, a pair of free-speech organizations have joined her in the fight.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the National Association of Scholars have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, asserting it a violation of the First Amendment for the Georgia university's officials to require Keeton's beliefs be "influenced" by remedial sensitivity training or face expulsion.
According to a complaint filed against the school earlier this year, school officials demanded Keeton, 24, go through a "remediation" program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a "state of being" as a professor said.
Specifically, the remediation program was to include "sensitivity training" on homosexual issues, additional outside study on literature promoting homosexuality and the plan that she attend a "gay pride parade" and report on it.
"Besides violating Keeton's own First Amendment rights," writes University of California Los Angeles law professor Eugene Volokh in the brief, "the university's retaliation also sent a powerful message to other students: If you express views like Keeton's, prepare to suffer the same consequences – prepare to incur many hours of extra obligations, and to put yourself at risk of expulsion."
Keeton's original lawsuit, filed by attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund, asserted the school cannot violate the Constitution by demanding that a person's beliefs be changed.
University "faculty have promised to expel Miss Keeton from the graduate Counselor Education program, not because of poor academic showing or demonstrated deficiencies in clinical performance, but simply because she has communicated both inside and outside the classroom that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity," the law firm explained.
Keeton's own e-mail response to the faculty members who allegedly were pressuring her to adopt a pro-homosexual belief system defines the dispute.
"At times you said that I must alter my beliefs because they are unethical. ... Other times you said that I can keep my beliefs so long as they are only personal and I don't believe that anyone else should believe like me. But that is just another way of saying that I must alter my beliefs, because my beliefs are about absolute truth. ... In order to finish the counseling program you are requiring me to alter my objective beliefs and also to commit now that if I ever may have a client who wants me to affirm their decision to have an abortion or engage in gay, lesbian or transgender behavior, I will do that. I can't alter my biblical beliefs, and I will not affirm the morality of those behaviors in a counseling situation," she wrote.
According to court documents, Keeton faces the "remediation" requirement because she supposedly (1) "voiced disagreement in several class discussions and in written assignments with the gay and lesbian 'lifestyle,'" (2) "stated in one paper that she believes GLBTQ 'lifestyles' to be identity confusion," (3) "relayed [to another student] her interest in conversion therapy for GLBTQ populations" and (4) "tried to convince other students to support and believe her views."
School authorities cited the American Counseling Association's code of ethics and said students would be required to adopt its provisions to obtain a degree in counseling.
Faculty members, therefore, had demanded Keeton "attend at least three workshops … which emphasize … diversity training sensitive toward working with GLBTQ populations." They also wanted her to "develop" her knowledge of homosexuality by reading 10 articles and increasing her exposure to homosexuals and lesbians by attending "the Gay Pride Parade."
"Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform," said ADF Senior Counsel David French. "Abandoning one's own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop. Jennifer's only crime was to have the beliefs that she does."
He added that a public university student "shouldn't be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that's exactly what's happening here."
Keeton's original request for an injunction preventing Augusta State from expelling her over refusal to comply with the remediation program was denied in August by U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall.
"[T]his is not a case pitting Christianity against homosexuality," Hall wrote in his opinion. "Matters of educational policy should be left to educators, and it is not the proper role of federal judges to second guess an educator's professional judgment."
He added, "Whether I would have imposed the remediation plan, or what I would have included in the plan itself, is not the question, for the Supreme Court instructs that educators, not federal judges, are the ones that choose among pedagogical approaches."
The FIRE and NAS friend-of-the-court brief explains, however, "A university does have great latitude in deciding what all of its students in a particular program or course must learn. But it does not have such latitude in imposing special curricular burdens on students who express certain views, whether anti-homosexuality, anti-war, pro-gun rights, anti-religious, or whatever else."
The brief concludes, "Unless the district court's decision is reversed, it threatens to become a road map for other public universities that want to restrict a wide range of speech (not at all limited to anti-homosexuality speech) by a wide range of students (not at all limited to counseling students)."
Police: 12-year-old Virginia girl kidnapped; her mother's body found
(CNN) -- Police issued an Amber Alert for a 12-year-old girl who they suspect has been kidnapped after finding her mother dead inside a Salem, Virginia, home.
Brittany Mae Smith was last seen "several days ago," according to a Roanoke County statement issued Monday. Police launched a search for Jeffrey Scott Easley, 32, whom authorities describe as a friend of the dead mother.
"Police have said that the young lady is in extreme danger," said Teresa Hamilton Hall, public information director for Roanoke County.
Roanoke County police went to the Salem residence around 9:30 a.m. Monday after concerned co-workers of Tina Smith, the girl's mother, contacted them. Police found the 41-year-old woman's body inside, and authorities said they were investigating the death as a possible homicide.
Police soon got information that Brittany Smith's whereabouts were unknown, leading them to issue the statewide alert.
"We found out pretty quickly that (Brittany) had not shown up for school. Nobody seemed to know where she was. We're concerned that her disappearance is going to be, at least a good possibility, it has something to do with the homicide," Roanoke County police Lt. Chuck Mason said, according to CNN affiliate WSET-TV of Lynchburg, Virginia.
Virginia's Amber Alert website noted early Monday evening that Easley's car, a 2000 red Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, has been found. But authorities are still looking for Tina Smith's vehicle, a silver 2005 Dodge Neon four-door sedan with Virginia license plates.
Easley, a 265-pound white male, is 5 feet, 11 inches tall, has brown hair and hazel eyes, the Amber Alert says.
Brittany Smith is 5 feet tall, weighs 100 pounds, and has straight brown hair and brown eyes.
Hall said authorities don't yet have a specific search area as they are uncertain which direction Easley might be heading or how far he might have gotten. They have asked anyone with information to call 911 or Roanoke County police at 540-777-8641.
CNN's Greg Botelho and Alexis Weed contributed to this report.
Canada concern at Iran death penalty for web designer
Canada is "deeply concerned" over a reported death sentence given to an Iranian-born Canadian for allegedly designing an adult website, an official has said.
Saeed Malekpour was convicted in Iran of designing and moderating adult sites, according to a campaign run by the 35-year-old's supporters.
Canada's foreign ministry said the legal process was highly questionable.
Mr Malekpour, 35, has reportedly been detained in Iran since 2008.
"Canada remains deeply concerned by the continued flagrant disregard of the Iranian authorities for the rights of Iranians," said Alain Cacchione, a spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon.
He added: "This appears to be another case in which someone in Iran is facing a death sentence after a highly questionable process."
'Insulting Islam'
Mr Malekpour was convicted of designing and moderating adult websites, "agitation against the regime" in Tehran and "insulting the sanctity of Islam", according to the Campaign for Release of Saeed Malekpour.
The campaign says the Iranian-born Canadian worked as a freelance website developer and created a software program that allowed designers to upload photos to their websites.
That software was then used, without Mr Malekpour's knowledge, for the creation of an adult website, the support site says.
Mr Malekpour moved to Canada in 2004 but was arrested in Iran in 2008 during a trip to visit his father.
He was sentenced to death on Saturday, according the campaign's website.
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About these results
Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi 'has price on her head'
Ashiq Masih has the look of a hunted man - gaunt, anxious and exhausted.
Though he is guilty of nothing, this Pakistani labourer is on the run - with his five children.
His wife, Asia Bibi, has been sentenced to death for blaspheming against Islam. That is enough to make the entire family a target.
They stay hidden by day, so we met them after dark.
Mr Masih told us they move constantly, trying to stay one step ahead of the anonymous callers who have been menacing them.
"I ask who they are, but they refuse to tell me," he said.
Continue reading the main story“Start Quote
In the village they tried to put a noose around my neck, so that they could kill me”
End Quote
Asia Bibi
"They say 'we'll deal with you if we get our hands on you'. Now everyone knows about us, so I am hiding my kids here and there. I don't allow them to go out. Anyone can harm them," he added.
Ashiq Masih says his daughters still cry for their mother and ask if she will be home in time for Christmas.
He insists that Asia Bibi is innocent and will be freed, but he worries about what will happen next.
"When she comes out, how she can live safely?" he asks.
"No one will let her live. The mullahs are saying they will kill her when she comes out."
Asia Bibi, an illiterate farm worker from rural Punjab, is the first woman sentenced to hang under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law.
'Old score'
As well as the death penalty hanging over her, Asia Bibi now has a price on her head.
Asia Bibi's was the only Christian household in her village
A radical cleric has promised 500,000 Pakistani rupees (£3,700; $5,800) to anyone prepared to "finish her". He suggested that the Taliban might be happy to do it.
Asia Bibi's troubles began in June 2009 in her village, Ittan Wali, a patchwork of lush fields and dusty streets.
Hers was the only Christian household.
She was picking berries alongside local Muslim women, when a row developed over sharing water.
Days later, the women claimed she had insulted the Prophet Muhammad. Soon, Asia Bibi was being pursued by a mob.
"In the village they tried to put a noose around my neck, so that they could kill me," she said in a brief appearance outside her jail cell.
Anarchy threat
Asia Bibi says she was falsely accused to settle an old score. That is often the case with the blasphemy law, critics say.
Continue reading the main story“Start Quote
If the law punishes someone for blasphemy, and that person is pardoned, then we will also take the law in our hands”
End Quote
Qari Mohammed Salim
Imam
At the village mosque, we found no mercy for her.
The imam, Qari Mohammed Salim, told us he cried with joy when sentence was passed on Asia Bibi.
He helped to bring the case against her and says she will be made to pay, one way or the other.
"If the law punishes someone for blasphemy, and that person is pardoned, then we will also take the law in our hands," he said.
Her case has provoked concern abroad, with Pope Benedict XVI joining the calls for her release.
In Pakistan, Islamic parties have been out on the streets, threatening anarchy if she is freed, or if there is any attempt to amend the blasphemy law.
Under Pakistan's penal code, anyone who "defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet" can be punished by death or life imprisonment. Death sentences have always been overturned on appeal.
Human right groups and Christian organisations want the law abolished.
"It was designed as an instrument of persecution," says Ali Hasan Dayan, of Human Rights Watch in Pakistan. "It's discriminatory and abusive."
'Hanging sword'
While most of those charged under the law are Muslims, campaigners say it is an easy tool for targeting minorities, in this overwhelmingly Muslim state.
Pakistan's Christian community has been praying for Asia Bibi
"It is a hanging sword on the neck of all minorities, especially Christians," says Shahzad Kamran, of the Sharing Life Ministry, which ministers to prisoners, including Asia Bibi.
"In our churches, homes and workplaces we feel fear," he says.
"It's very easy to make this accusation because of a grudge, or for revenge. Anyone can accuse you.
"Even our little children are afraid that if they say something wrong at school, they will be charged with blasphemy."
Asia Bibi's story has sparked a public debate in Pakistan about reforming the law, but it is a touchy - and risky - subject which many politicians would prefer to ignore.
Campaigners fear that the talk about reform of the blasphemy laws will amount to no more than that.
Beheading threat
When Pakistan's Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, raised the issue six months ago, he was threatened with death.
Asia Bibi is said to be one of dozens of innocent people accused of blasphemy every year
"I was told I could be beheaded if I proposed any change," he told us.
"But I am committed to the principle of justice for the people of Pakistan. I am ready to die for this cause, and I will not compromise".
Mr Bhatti, himself a Christian, hopes that Asia Bibi will win an appeal to the High Court, or be pardoned by Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari.
He says she is one of dozens of innocent people who are accused every year.
"I will go to every knock for justice on her behalf and I will take all steps for her protection".
But even behind bars Asia Bibi may not be safe.
Several people accused of blasphemy have been killed in jail.
Thirty-four people connected with blasphemy cases have been killed since the law was hardened in 1986, according to Pakistan's Justice and Peace Commission, a Catholic campaign group.
The death toll includes those accused, their relatives, and even a judge.
In a neglected graveyard by a railway track in the city of Faisalabad, we found two of the latest victims of the blasphemy law.
'Electric shock'
They are brothers, buried side by side, together in death, as they were in life.
Rashid Emmanuel was a pastor.
Relatives of Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel pray at their graves
His brother, Sajid, was an MBA student. They were gunned down in July during their trial - inside a courthouse, in handcuffs and in police custody.
Relatives, who asked not to be identified, said the blasphemy charges were brought because of a land dispute.
After the killings, the extended family had to leave home and move to another city. They say they will be moving again soon.
"We don't feel safe," one relative told us.
"We are shocked, like an electric shock. We are going from one place to another to defend ourselves, and secure our family members."
Once a month they come to the cemetery to pray at the graves of their lost loved ones.
They are too frightened to visit more often.
They bow their heads and mourn for two men who they say were killed for nothing - except being Christian.
