July 26, 2023

Billionaire Leon Black raped autistic teen at Epstein's townhouse, lawsuit says

A federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday accuses billionaire Leon Black of raping a then-16-year-old girl with Down syndrome and autism in 2002 at the Manhattan townhouse of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

An attorney for Black, who co-founded the investment firm Apollo Global Management Inc. and was an associate of Epstein's, has denied the allegations, calling them "frivolous and sanctionable."

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, was trafficked to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

The plaintiff, who is now in her late 30s, was born with mosaic Down syndrome and has a "developmental age" of around 12 years old, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that she was preparing to give Black a massage when he pinned her down and penetrated her with "adult toys" in an attack that left her bleeding. It states that Epstein later found her crying, but refused her request to see a doctor, saying Maxwell would take care of her instead.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lawsuit-accuses-billionaire-leon-black-raping-autistic-teenager-jeffre-rcna96373

Is there no end to this depravity? Burn in hell on earth!

July 26, 2023

US pastor arrested for killing of eight-year-old girl unsolved for half a century

US pastor arrested for killing of eight-year-old girl unsolved for half a century
David Zandstra, 83, has been charged with murder and kidnapping of Gretchen Harrington in Pennsylvania in 1975

Ramon Antonio Vargas and agencies
Wed 26 Jul 2023 10.00 EDT
For nearly half of a century, police investigators in a south-eastern Pennsylvania community had struggled to figure out who had taken eight-year-old Gretchen Harrington into the woods, struck her in the head and killed her.

All signs now indicate it was the Christian pastor in charge of the Bible camp to which Harrington was heading in 1975 when some of her loved ones last saw her alive, authorities alleged in a bombshell news conference this week.

David Zandstra, 83, faces charges of murder and kidnapping after his recent arrest in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta in connection with Harrington’s death, the district attorney of Delaware county, Jack Stollsteimer, told reporters at the briefing. He has purportedly confessed to the slaying, prompting Stollsteimer to call him “a monster” who inflicted “every parent’s worst nightmare” on Harrington’s family.

“This is a man who is a remorseless child predator who acted as if he was a friend, a neighbor, and a man of God, and he killed this poor little girl,” Stollsteimer said. The DA added that, until his arrest, Zandstra “acted if he was a [Harrington] family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that but for years”.

Notably, authorities also said they were comparing Zandstra’s DNA to evidence collected from open cases in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. They have said that Zandstra also lived not only in Georgia but also Texas, and they want to establish whether Harrington was his only apparent victim.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/26/gretchen-harrington-murder-david-zandstra-pennsylvania

Yet another sanctimonious bastard! This is one reason I contribute a modest amount to DNSAolves.com monthly.

July 26, 2023

Biden's dog Commander has been biting Secret Service agents

President Biden's dog Commander has found himself in the doghouse after a series of incidents where he bit Secret Service officers on duty at the White House.

The German shepherd bit several Secret Service agents a total of 10 times during the four-month period between October 2022 and January 2023, records show. One incident resulted in an agent getting sent to the hospital for treatment.

Tipped to the incidents, the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit to get access to 194 pages of emails and texts where Secret Service agents and officials described aggressive encounters with Commander.

For example, on Oct. 26, Commander charged at an agent while on a walk with first lady Jill Biden.

"The First Lady couldn't regain control of Commander and he continued to circle me. I believe it's only a matter of time before an agent/officer is attacked or bit," an email about a Secret Service official said. The names of most agents and officials were redacted.

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/25/1189957208/biden-dog-commander-bites-secret-service-agents

We know that the Secret Service needs cleaning out. Maybe Commander is doing the work for us. Dogs know.

July 25, 2023

TikToker who debunked Jason Aldean's 'Try That in a Small Town' video receives racist hate mail

A graphic designer and activist who made TikTok content debunking the claim by Jason Aldean that his controversial music video only uses "real news footage" has been facing a wave of racist and violent hate mail by defenders of his song.

Destinee Stark is among the first who publicly criticized Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" for the song's lyrics and for featuring a Tennessee courthouse where a Black teenager was lynched in 1927. A former fan of the country star, Stark first heard the song about two weeks ago and then saw the music video.

The more she thought about the words and images, the angrier she became, Stark told NBC News on Monday.

"I get online all the time and I share my, like, opinions online all the time. It's, you know, something that I do," Stark said. "And that first video that I made, I posted it at like ... 11:30 p.m. ... I didn't think it would go anywhere. And I woke up to like thousands of messages about it."

Last week Country Music Television, which initially aired the video, pulled it from rotation. But after Aldean defended the music video by stating that "there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage," Stark said it was easy to prove him wrong.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/tiktoker-debunked-jason-aldeans-try-small-town-video-receives-racist-h-rcna95996

Because if course she did. Racists gonna racist.

July 24, 2023

Northwestern athlete says she faced hazing 'punishment' after catching Covid

The hazing scandal at Northwestern University has widened to include a volleyball player who on Monday became the first female athlete to sue the university over allegations she was retaliated against for reporting mistreatment. On the same day, a new lawsuit by former Northwestern quarterback Lloyd Yates was also filed.

“This shows that it isn’t just men,” said Parker Stinar, one of the athlete’s attorneys. “It isn’t just football players.”

Northwestern is facing multiple lawsuits, including the one on behalf of Yates, which alleges hazing that includes sexual abuse. The scandal centers on a problem that seems to extend far beyond sports. While major college sports programs have become multimillion-dollar business, hazing appears to remain a problematic tradition within them.

“This is the first in a series of lawsuits,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, adding he plans on filing more than 30 over the coming weeks.

Northwestern’s football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, was fired after a university investigation found allegations of hazing by 11 current or former players, including “forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature,” the school’s president, Michael Schill, said. One previous lawsuit accuses Fitzgerald of enabling a culture of racism, including forcing players of color to cut their hair and behave differently to be more in line with the “Wildcat Way.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jul/24/northwestern-athlete-says-she-faced-hazing-punishment-after-catching-covid

This, from the "Vandy of the north". Good grief.

July 24, 2023

The Keys to Mental Illness May Be Hiding Within Amish Genes

One Amish family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had known for some time their son was deeply troubled and unhappy. Now in his early twenties, he had not flourished, and had not found his way as a productive member of their farming community of 40,000 Old Order Amish. The family faced many barriers to address their son’s mental health.

When cases like these reach a crisis point, the Amish community provides support groups for people whose mental illness impacts their ability to function, Susan Shaub, a registered nurse and the nurse coordinator for the Amish Research Center (ARC) in Lancaster, told The Daily Beast. They assist them with finding work, usually within the community, that accommodates their functional level. They assist them with handling finances and hold benefit sales to raise money to cover expenses.

Often, these support personnel also enroll the impacted person in medical research studies related to mental health at the ARC.

“Amish family members are more likely to participate in a study if they know some of their siblings have participated,” said Shaub, who has worked at the ARC since 2004. “Those with siblings who have significant mental health issues often take part in hopes of the research leading to improved treatments.”

For nearly half a century, medical researchers working with the Amish have uncovered important breakthroughs. According to Seth Ament, a geneticist and neuroscientist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, studies in the Amish have led to the discovery of many genes and genetic associations relevant to cardiometabolic traits, bipolar disorders, brain aging, and autism. One of the genetic variants enriched in the Amish population, Ament added, is associated with increased risk for long-QT syndrome, a form of heart arrhythmia that can lead to sudden death due to heart attacks, sometimes without any prior symptoms.

“What is unique in the Old Order Amish is that the burdens associated with these diseases are spread across the entire family because they are essentially one 40,000-person family,” Ament told The Daily Beast. “Because the Amish family is so large there are opportunities to develop precision medicine strategies in the Amish that may be applied in the future to the broader population.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/amish-genes-may-hold-the-keys-to-treating-mental-illness?ref=home

One of the most fascinating articles I've read in just about forever. There are other closed groups with similar problems but only some Hasidic Jews have been as open about sharing and few care for their sick as well.

July 24, 2023

Northwestern Players Assaulted Their Own Coaches: Lawsuit

A former Northwestern football player filed a bombshell lawsuit on Monday accusing the university of failing to stop rampant hazing on the team, and claiming that some members of the coaching staff were also aware of—and sometimes subjected to—the abuse.

In a 52-page lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, former quarterback Lloyd Yates alleges that he suffered unwanted sexual, physical, and emotional harassment while he was on the team from 2015 to 2018. During that time, the lawsuit alleges, Yates and his teammates were subjected to a hazing ritual centered around “running,” a practice used to punish usually younger team members for any mistakes on the field.

If a player was told to “run,” he would be forcibly restrained by his fellow players, who would rub “their genital areas against the teammates’ genitals, face, and buttocks while rocking back and forth without consent of the teammate,” the lawsuit states. And players were not the only ones subjected to this hazing.

“On more than one occasion, assistant coaches were ‘ran’ by players,” the lawsuit states. “During a training session during the Fall of 2015 or Spring of 2016, a strength and conditioning coach was ‘ran’ by members of the football team, on the field, in front of the entire team and coaching staff.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/northwestern-football-players-assaulted-their-own-coaches-new-lawsuit-claims?ref=home

Of all places I never would have expected it from! There are also allegations concerning women's volleyball and other sports.

July 24, 2023

I'm baaaack!

I'm baaaack!
(In case anyone hadn't noticed.) And in my usual Monday morning sharp-tongued, sarcastic form, too. Did y'all miss me? I was in Tennessee, visiting daughter and grandchildren and generally taking a social media break. It was fun, but I'm glad to be home. I think my cats were happy to see me too, although Empress Josephine regarded me somewhat sourly, as is her usual wont, but perhaps more so than usual, as if to say, "Who was that giant guy feeding us?" Well, Husband is rather taller than I am. Countess Marguerite Hissenspitz, however, wound around my ankles purring and allowed herself to be stroked down her back, which is a fairly new development. Life is good.

Did y'all miss me?

July 24, 2023

Why Do Neo-Nazis Keep Getting Arrested For Child Sexual Abuse Material?

Last June, according to court documents, Jared Boyce crammed himself into the back of a U-Haul with his fellow members of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, to protest an LGBTQ pride event in Idaho and slur attendees as “groomers.” Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the hateful crew wearing matching khaki pants, it’s unlikely Boyce knew this would result in him eventually being sentenced to a year in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor.

Once the group pulled up to the event, they were all promptly arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a riot. Less than a month later, police seized Boyce's phone. While they weren't actively searching for illegal sexual material on it, they found 22 photos of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM. According to court documents, these photos "involve children from toddlers to prepubescents performing sexual acts on adults or other children, as well as images of children exposing their genitals." The 28-year-old had also, police found, sent a picture of his penis to a 16-year-old girl.

"Don’t believe the media," Boyce reportedly told his mother following his initial arrest. "We were just there because they’re grooming kids.”

Boyce plead guilty to nine felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor earlier this year. The Patriot Front member is hardly the first person connected to neo-Nazi groups to be caught with CSAM.

In just the past few months, at least two neo-Nazis in the UK were sentenced to time in prison for having or distributing CSAM. Luca Benincasa, a 20-year-old from Cardiff who was a cell leader for the neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division, was sentenced to nine years for possession of documents likely to be useful to a terrorist, being a member of a banned group, and possessing indecent photos of children.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akvbw/why-do-neo-nazis-keep-getting-arrested-for-child-porn

So far it's about 90 to 1, but they keep claiming it's because they get arrested and searched, etc. Well, stop committing crimes and you won't get arrested and searched!

July 24, 2023

Inside the Republican effort to force millions of farm animals back into cages

By Kenny Torrella

You may not have noticed it, but the grocery store egg aisle has increasingly been going cage-free. In 2015, just a few percent of eggs sold in the US came from hens that weren’t confined in tiny cages. Today, it’s close to 40 percent. That swift change has come in part because eight states have prohibited the sale of eggs from caged hens; some of those states have also prohibited the sale of pork and veal from cruelly confined animals.

While some cage-free conditions are far from humane, the shift in farming practices represents one of the few examples of progress in the decades-long fight against animal factory farming. Now a GOP-led bill in Congress could blow it all up.

The EATS Act, short for Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression, was introduced last month by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) with a companion bill in the House from Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), and would prohibit state and local governments from setting standards for how agricultural products imported from other states are produced. The bill’s language is not only sweeping, but vague, and some of its potential effects are unclear. For example, it covers the “preharvest” production of agricultural products, but “preharvest” isn’t defined.

If enacted, and if it were to survive likely court challenges, the EATS Act would open up all those cage-free laws to lawsuits, potentially erasing decades of progress for animals suffering on factory farms. The bill would also threaten other farmed animal welfare laws, like California’s and New York City’s prohibitions on the sale of foie gras, a product made by force-feeding ducks and geese. (Disclosure: Prior to Vox, I worked at animal welfare groups that advocated for cage-free laws and opposed legislation similar to the EATS Act.)

https://www.vox.com/

Of course it would come from these a-holes from these s-hole places. (On reflection, I should really stop calling people a-holes. Those things serve a useful purpose.)