The World Events Thread

[Gurn]

Time to pull out your house insurance and see if this is covered.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/police-blew-up-an-innocent-mans-house-in-search-of-an-armed-shoplifter-too-bad-court-rules/ar-AAJzUn7?ocid=spartandhp

"

When they were finished, it looked as though the Greenwood Village, Colo., police had blasted rockets through the house.

Projectiles were still lodged in the walls. Glass and wooden paneling crumbled on the ground below the gaping holes, and inside, the family’s belongings and furniture appeared thrashed in a heap of insulation and drywall. Leo Lech, who rented the home to his son, thought it looked like al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s compound after the raid that killed him. 

But now it was just a neighborhood crime scene, the suburban home where an armed Walmart shoplifting suspect randomly barricaded himself after fleeing the store on a June afternoon in 2015. For 19 hours, the suspect holed up in a bathroom as a SWAT team fired gas munition and 40-millimeter rounds through the windows, drove an armored vehicle through the doors, tossed flash-bang grenades inside and used explosives to blow out the walls.

The suspect was captured alive, but the home was utterly destroyed, eventually condemned to be demolished by the City of Greenwood Village.

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That left Leo Lech’s son, John Lech — who lived there with his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son — without a home. The city refused to compensate the Lech family for their losses but offered $5,000 in temporary rental assistance and for the insurance deductible.

Now, after the Leches sued, a federal appeals court has decided what else the city owes the Lech family for destroying their house more than four years ago: nothing.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously ruled that the city is not required to compensate the Lech family for their lost home because it was destroyed by police while they were trying to enforce the law, rather than taken by eminent domain.

The Lechs had sued under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which guarantees citizens compensation if their property is seized by the government for public use. But the court said that Greenwood Village was acting within its “police power” when it damaged the house, which the court said doesn’t qualify as a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment. The court acknowledged that this may seem “unfair,” but when police have to protect the public, they can’t be “burdened with the condition” that they compensate whoever is damaged by their actions along the way.

“It just goes to show that they can blow up your house, throw you out on the streets and say, ‘See you later. Deal with it,’ ” Leo Lech said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday. “What happened to us should never happen in this country, ever.”

Leo Lech said he is considering appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. Police must be forced to draw the line at some point, he said — preferably before a house is wholly gutted — and be held accountable if innocent bystanders lose everything as a result of the actions of law enforcement.

In June 2015, the standoff at Lech’s suburban Denver home captivated and alarmed the public, as their house at the end of the street, one located by a baseball field complex and a park, suddenly turned into a quasi-war zone.

The suspect, Robert Jonathan Seacat, had stolen a shirt and a couple of belts from a Walmart in neighboring Aurora, Colo., and then fled in a Lexus, according to a police affidavit. A police officer pursued him in a high-speed chase until Seacat parked his car near a light rail station, hopped a nearby fence leading to the interstate, and then crossed five lanes of traffic on foot. He climbed the fence on the other side — and then, shortly thereafter, came upon the Lech residence.

A 9-year-old boy, John Lech’s girlfriend’s son, was home alone at the time, waiting for his mom to return from the grocery store, Lech said. He told police he was watching YouTube videos in his room when he heard the alarm trip, according to the affidavit. He emerged to find a man walking up the stairs, holding a gun. “He said, ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just want to get away,' " Lech said. Minutes later, the boy walked out of the house unharmed.

Seacat then began searching the house for car keys. But by the time he got in the car parked in Lech’s garage, police had pulled into the driveway. Seacat fired a shot at them through the garage, the affidavit says.

Thus began the 19-hour standoff.

“They proceed to destroy the house — room by room, by room, by room,” Lech said. “This is one guy with a handgun. This guy was sleeping. This guy was eating. This guy was just hanging out in this house. I mean, they proceeded to blow up the entire house.”

SWAT officers attempted to enter the home on one occasion but retreated after believing they heard Seacat fire several rounds. After other tactics, including tear gas, robots and police negotiations, repeatedly failed, SWAT officers tried again to enter the home at 8:21 a.m. the next morning. They found him holed up in a bathroom with a stash of drugs, where he was disarmed and arrested.

When the Lech family was allowed back on the property to retrieve their belongings, they were aghast at what they found.

John Lech, his girlfriend and her son moved in with Leo Lech and his wife, who lived 30 miles away, requiring John to change jobs. The $5,000 offered by the city “was insulting,” Leo Lech said.

His out-of-pocket expenses to rebuild the house cost him nearly $400,000, he said.

“This has ruined our lives,” he said.

The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday, but police have previously defended their actions during the standoff.

“My mission is to get that individual out unharmed and make sure my team and everyone else around including the community goes home unharmed,” Greenwood Village Police Commander Dustin Varney said in 2015, KUSA reported. “Sometimes that means property gets damaged, and I am sorry for that.”

State and federal courts have ruled differently in cases involving innocent homeowners caught in the crosshairs of deadly police raids, although the 10th Circuit was more persuaded by courts ruling in police’s favor.

Lech’s lawyers pointed to a 1991 Minnesota case in which the state Supreme Court sided with a woman whose house was damaged by police with tear gas as they sought to apprehend a suspect. In a 1980 Houston case, the Texas Supreme Court sided with a couple whose home was badly damaged as police sought to apprehend three suspects who barricaded themselves inside.

In that case, the Texas court turned up its nose at the principle the 10th circuit stuck to so closely in its ruling: that unless a government’s action is clearly labeled “eminent domain,” citizens aren’t entitled to compensation if the police destroy their property as a matter of business.

“This court has moved beyond the earlier notion that the government’s duty to pay for taking property rights is excused by labeling the taking as an exercise of police powers,” the Texas court wrote at the time.

Today, the Leches’ Greenwood Village home has been rebuilt. Lech says he is now dipping into his 401(k) to afford the legal battle but intends to continue as long as he is able. He says he thinks he has too much bad luck to make it to the Supreme Court but believes sooner or later that someone else like him will get there.

“This can’t go on in this country,” he said. “There has to be a limit. There has to be accountability.”

[Gurn]

12 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

And you can bet that Big Brother will be tracking your every transaction.  Including the ones where you wanted to save a few bucks by not having to pay taxes.  Including the ones where they will come knocking on your door because you bought large amounts of fertilizer, even if it was for a legitimate purpose (such as your farm).  Including the income that you wanted to avoid reporting, but now have to because it's handled on a digital platform with traceability.

 

Add in, what happens when the government tells you your "stable coin" can only be redeemed in Whitehorse or Fort McMurray?

[RUPERTKBD]

At first, I asked myself how could something this stupid possibly happen?............

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/us/oklahoma-flu-shot-mix-up/index.html

Quote

Ten people at a care facility in Oklahoma were hospitalized after they were injected with insulin instead of a flu shot, police said.

Eight of the patients were residents of Jacquelyn House and two were employees, Sgt. Jim Warring, with Bartlesville Police Department told CNN. The facility serves intellectually and developmentally disabled people, according to the website of AbilityWorks, the company that owns the eight-resident site.

EMS and fire crews responding Wednesday afternoon "found ... multiple unresponsive people," police Chief Tracy Roles said during a news conference covered by CNN affiliate KTUL.

Most patients' suffering symptoms after the medication was administered "were not able to explain the issues," Warring said. "Many of them are not vocal and not able to walk."

"All these people are symptomatic, lying on the ground, needing help, but can't communicate what they need," Roles said. "That's why I give a lot of praise to the fire and EMS staff for doing an outstanding job of identifying the problem."

The pharmacist who injected the insulin was a contractor and went to the facility on Wednesday to administer the flu shot to residents and employees, Rebecca Ingram, CEO of AbilityWorks of Oklahoma, said in a statement.

Ingram said all people who received the injection had reactions and were taken to Jane Phillips Hospital in Bartlesville.

Several remained hospitalized Thursday due to the long-acting insulin that was administered, police said.

Ingram didn't discuss whether the residents and employees were injected insulin but said authorities were investigating the "cause of the reactions to the injections."

"I've never seen where there's been some sort of medical misadventure to this magnitude," Roles said. "But again, it could have been a lot worse. Not to downplay where we are, but thinking about where we could be, it could certainly have been very, very tragic."

Tony D. Sellars, director of communications for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said his agency will review the facility's report on the incident "to determine if we need to follow up or if their action was sufficient."

"There is no reason to suggest at this point that the facility should have had a reasonable suspicion that this sort of error would occur or be preventable on their part," Sellars said.

An investigation was still underway on Thursday.

 

.....and then I saw "Oklahoma"....

[Shift-4]

3 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

 

.....and then I saw "Oklahoma"....

I heard that place is da bomb  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too soon?

[RUPERTKBD]

11 minutes ago, Shift-4 said:

I heard that place is da bomb  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too soon?

Nah. Any state who's motto is "Oklahoma is OK" deserves any mockery that comes their way....... Actually, I've always wondered how the meeting went, when they adopted that motto....

 

"Okay fellas, it's 4:30 on a Friday and we still have to decide on the state motto.....

 

....we've got, Oklahoma! The circus has been here twice! and Oklahoma is OK!......show of hands?"

[CBH1926]

1 hour ago, RUPERTKBD said:

At first, I asked myself how could something this stupid possibly happen?............

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/us/oklahoma-flu-shot-mix-up/index.html

.....and then I saw "Oklahoma"....

Medical mistakes injure and kill people all the time.

 

The bottom line is 30,000 people plus die every year from medical errors in Canada,” she said. “It is the third leading cause of death over cars accidents and opioids. The first is heart, the second is cancer and the third is medical errors.”

https://www.summerlandreview.com/news/okanagan-woman-hopes-to-bring-attention-to-high-number-of-medical-errors-in-canada/

[Lancaster]

16 hours ago, CBH1926 said:

Medical mistakes injure and kill people all the time.

 

The bottom line is 30,000 people plus die every year from medical errors in Canada,” she said. “It is the third leading cause of death over cars accidents and opioids. The first is heart, the second is cancer and the third is medical errors.”

https://www.summerlandreview.com/news/okanagan-woman-hopes-to-bring-attention-to-high-number-of-medical-errors-in-canada/

I'm just always shocked that no one ever noticed anything was off.  

 

There's like 4+ people in the operating room and no one goes, "Oh hey.... I don't think we're supposed to leave scissors inside the patient's body....."

[CBH1926]

6 hours ago, Lancaster said:

I'm just always shocked that no one ever noticed anything was off.  

 

There's like 4+ people in the operating room and no one goes, "Oh hey.... I don't think we're supposed to leave scissors inside the patient's body....."

Just saw this today.

Medical device used during labour falls out of patient 10 weeks later

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/fetal-monitor-left-inside-surgical-medical-error-1.5349111

[Alflives]

23 hours ago, CBH1926 said:

Medical mistakes injure and kill people all the time.

 

The bottom line is 30,000 people plus die every year from medical errors in Canada,” she said. “It is the third leading cause of death over cars accidents and opioids. The first is heart, the second is cancer and the third is medical errors.”

https://www.summerlandreview.com/news/okanagan-woman-hopes-to-bring-attention-to-high-number-of-medical-errors-in-canada/

Is this just us, or is that number similar in other countries?  Usually the Yanks are 10 times our numbers.  So that would be 300,000 medical error deaths for them.  

[CBH1926]

11 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Is this just us, or is that number similar in other countries?  Usually the Yanks are 10 times our numbers.  So that would be 300,000 medical error deaths for them.  

US and Canada have similar numbers.

In comparison with Germany, France, Netherlands etc., Canada is on the bottom.

 

[kurtis]

Another crappy game.... Sigh.. 

[RUPERTKBD]

Some Italian drug dealers have a beef......or should I say "pork"?

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/feral-hogs-find-and-destroy-cocaine-worth-dollar22000-hidden-in-woods/ar-BBWHFaO?li=AAggFp4

Quote

 

A stash of cocaine worth $22,000 (C$29,000) hidden in an Italian forest by a gang of suspected drug dealers was reportedly destroyed by wild boars.

Police dismantled the smuggling operation in Tuscany after placing a wiretap on members of the gang, which consisted of three Albanians and an Italian, The Local reported. While listening on a call, officials overheard a person complaining about the damage caused by the hogs.

Four suspects were arrested on drug charges after the bust, which left two members in jail and two under house arrest, Italian newspaper Il Tirreno reported.

 

The gang came to the attention of police during an investigation into the killing of a 21-year-old Albanian in May last year, the newspaper reported. The scheme allegedly funneled drugs from a supply channel in Perugia to various provinces, including Siena and Arezzo.

The drug stash was hidden in a forest area in the Valdichiana valley. The law enforcement probe, which spanned between September 2018 and March 2019, discovered one of the gang members was allegedly distributing drugs via a nightclub in Arezzo. 

The suspects sold approximately two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of cocaine every month, which netted the gang the equivalent of between $90 and $120 per gram, Il Tirreno reported. An unknown number of boars allegedly dug up and destroyed the gang's packages, dispersing their contents in the woods.

It was not immediately known what happened to the curious animals.

But it's not just drug dealers outraged by the rising wild boar population in Italy. This month saw an unprecedented protest in Rome by farmers calling for action from the government, complaining the animals are to blame for land damage and road accidents, The Guardian reported.

"It is no longer just a question of compensation, but a matter of personal safety and it must be resolved," said Ettore Prandini, president of farming association Coldiretti.

"Ministries and leaders of regions and municipalities must act in a concerted manner to draw up an extraordinary plan without administrative obstacles, otherwise the problem is destined to get worse," Prandini added. Officials said the numbers of wild boar in Italy, about two million, have doubled since 2015 and are responsible for about 10,000 road accidents every year.

The impact of wild hogs sparked a viral meme earlier this year after a Twitter user chimed into a discussion about U.S. gun control to ask to he could kill "30-50 feral hogs" without a firearm. There are currently more than six million feral hogs spanning at least 35 states in America.

 

At first they were unsure what had happened to the stash, but they finally realized that the hogs were the culprits when they were discovered with several hookers and loudly blasting Hip Hop...

[RUPERTKBD]

***Warning*** This article is disturbing and may be hard for you to read:

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/13/us/philadelphia-caretaker-murder-charge/index.html

Quote

After police found 4-year-old Zya Singleton badly injured, her caretaker told them that the girl had fallen out a second-floor window while playing with a cat.

But doctors examining the child after the October 30 incident quickly found inconsistencies with that story, officials with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said this week.

Medical examiners found evidence of "bite marks, open wounds" on Zya's "face and scalp, cigarette and other larger burns to her left arm and thigh, puncture wounds and signs of malnourishment," prosecutors said Tuesday in a news release.

"It became clear very soon after doctors were able to try and stabilize her that this was a case of long-term child abuse, not a fall out of a window," Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Chesley Lightsey said Tuesday during a news conference.

Zya Singleton was pronounced dead on November 3.

Now, Samilya Brown, her 38-year-old caretaker, is charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and other related charges in what District Attorney Larry Krasner called a "horrific, heartbreaking case of abuse, neglect, and murder of an innocent, defenseless child."

Brown's attorney with The Defender Association of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment.

Burns, broken bones and homemade stitches

Zya died from complications including sepsis related to homemade attempts to treat some of her injuries, Lightsey said.

When police first arrived at the home on October 30, Zya was in the second-floor bathroom being put in cold water, Lightsey said. She was then taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and then to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment.

Zya was missing almost the entire part of her lip up through her nose, the result of an injury that had never been treated by a doctor, Lightsey said. She also had homemade stitches in her mouth and on her head, where she had open wounds, the prosecutor said.

In addition, Zya had burns over significant parts of her body that hadn't been treated, and she had broken bones in her arms that appeared to be from some kind of restraint, Lightsey explained.

Zya's biological mother had voluntarily given the girl to Brown because she was unable to care for the child, and Zya had been living with Brown for about two years, Lightsey said. Four other children, ranging in age from 2 to 13, have since been removed from Brown's home and sent to live with their biological fathers, the prosecutor said.

Zya's biological mother, Jasmine Singleton, told CNN affiliate KYW that she saw Zya after being told she was in the hospital.

"You can't prepare no mom for what I walked in that room and saw. My baby's face was destroyed, all she had was eyes and a head that was taped up with burns on her body. I walked into the room and walked out," Singleton said.

 

I don't believe in Hell, but it's times like this that I wish I was wrong....just so this b!tch could burn in it for eternity....

 

What must that poor child's, too short, life must have been like....

[Duodenum]

Surprised nobody has brought up Bolivia right now. It's a mess over there. 

[nuckin_futz]

15 hours ago, Duodenum said:

Surprised nobody has brought up Bolivia right now. It's a mess over there. 

I saw that Evo had to run for his life.

[Kragar]

Got a bit of a feel good story that I don't think deserved its own thread.  Well done, ma'am.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bodybuilding-grandma-82-beats-home-162109002.html

 

Quote

As the saying goes, age is but a number — and an 82-year-old grandmother proved that this week after beating up a man who tried to break into her home.

 

Willie Murphy heard a man pounding on the door of her Rochester, New York, home Thursday around 11 p.m. local time, she told local ABC affiliate WHAM.  The man yelled to Murphy that he needed an ambulance, calling out “I’m sick, I’m sick,” however, she didn’t open the door.

 

Murphy told the outlet that she called the police, but before they could arrive the suspect became agitated.  “I hear a loud noise,” she told WHAM. “I’m thinking, ‘What the heck was that?’ The young man is in my home. He broke the door.” 

 

Little did the man know, he “picked the wrong house to break into,” said Murphy, an award-winning bodybuilder who hits the gym nearly every day.  “It’s kind of semi-dark and I’m alone, and I’m old. But guess what, I’m tough,” she added.

 

“I took that table and I went to working on him,” she told the outlet. “And guess what? The table broke.”  She didn’t stop there — Murphy continued to hit the man with the metal legs of the table and then was “jumping on him” until he was down on the ground.

 

 

Trying to keep the man on the floor, Murphy grabbed a bottle of baby shampoo from her kitchen and squirted it in his face.  Finally, Murphy grabbed a broom and continued to hit the suspect with it until the intruder was ready to “get the heck out of there,” she told WHAM.

 

“I’m trying to help him get out of the house, but he’s too heavy. I can’t move him. He’s dead weight,” she said, explaining that the police arrived shortly after.

“So they come in,” she added to the outlet. “He’s laying down already because I had really did a number on that man. I’m serious.” The man was transported in an ambulance upon the officer’s arrival.

 

The police were impressed with Murphy’s actions — applauding her on a job well done. “Ms. Murphy standing shoulder to shoulder with Genesee Section Officers after an intruder attempted to break into her home. Ms. Murphy is tough as nails & fended off the intruder. Ms. Murphy standing with some of the officers that responded to her home,” the Rochester Police Department wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of the officers with Murphy.

 

[riffraff]

4 minutes ago, Kragar said:

Got a bit of a feel good story that I don't think deserved its own thread.  Well done, ma'am.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bodybuilding-grandma-82-beats-home-162109002.html

 

 

“He’s fallen! And he can’t get up!”

[RUPERTKBD]

It's sad to know that scumbags like this exist in society...but here you have it:

 

 

To put this in context, the sign was placed outside the home of a family with a baby that has two rare genetic disorders. The medical treatments are very expensive and the parents have no choice but to ask for donations for their son....

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/19/us/baby-rare-disorders-hateful-sign-trnd/?hpt=ob_blogfooterold

 

Here's hoping that Santa brings this asshole all the coal in Kentucky this Christmas....

[MoneypuckOverlord]

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/27/us/port-neches-plant-explosion/index.html

 

 

Quote

 

(CNN)Hours after explosions rocked a Texas chemical plant outside Houston early Wednesday, officials said there is no way to know how long a fire at the site will burn.

An early morning explosion at the TPC Group plant damaged the small city of Port Neches and injured at least three employees. A series of smaller explosions occurred throughout the day, and a larger one in the afternoon launched a tower into the air with balls of fire, authorities told reporters Wednesday night.

A mandatory evacuation was issued for areas within a 4-mile radius of plant because of the potential for more explosions.

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick, who issued the mandatory evacuation, said the initial explosion knocked out power to the plant. Authorities have no "ability to check the volume of available chemicals" and "no way to calculate burn rates" going forward, he said.

At least three tanks were on fire, and emergency response teams were on the plant site working to prevent the blaze from spreading, Troy Monk, director of health safety and security for TPC Group, which operates the Port Neches manufacturing plant about 90 miles east of Houston, told reporters.

 

 

 

[MoneypuckOverlord]

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/27/us/port-neches-plant-explosion/index.html

 

 

Quote

 

(CNN)Hours after explosions rocked a Texas chemical plant outside Houston early Wednesday, officials said there is no way to know how long a fire at the site will burn.

An early morning explosion at the TPC Group plant damaged the small city of Port Neches and injured at least three employees. A series of smaller explosions occurred throughout the day, and a larger one in the afternoon launched a tower into the air with balls of fire, authorities told reporters Wednesday night.

A mandatory evacuation was issued for areas within a 4-mile radius of plant because of the potential for more explosions.

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick, who issued the mandatory evacuation, said the initial explosion knocked out power to the plant. Authorities have no "ability to check the volume of available chemicals" and "no way to calculate burn rates" going forward, he said.

At least three tanks were on fire, and emergency response teams were on the plant site working to prevent the blaze from spreading, Troy Monk, director of health safety and security for TPC Group, which operates the Port Neches manufacturing plant about 90 miles east of Houston, told reporters.