https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cn87608w389o
German Navy blasts out Darth Vader theme on Thames

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/17/health/atlanta-ga-emory-hospital-skull-lawsuit/index.html
After a brain bleed, a Georgia hospital temporarily removed part of a man’s skull. Employees lost the bone, lawsuit says

https://www.ajc.com/news/health-new...k-for-replacement/TG2NZMIEWRG55IAKUGVZRELZMA/
Lawsuit claims Emory lost part of patient’s skull, billed him $19K for replacement
Legal action seeks compensation, damages after man says he was charged $146,845 for things that were a direct result of the hospital’s mistake


"Glass houses, my friends. Who amongst us hasn’t misplaced a piece of a persons skull?"

 

"Glass houses, my friends. Who amongst us hasn’t misplaced a piece of a persons skull?"

I usually find them in the basement.

 

Spoiler

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74lwnz4wlwo
Woman admits being part of monkey torture network

 

Spoiler

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74lwnz4wlwo
Woman admits being part of monkey torture network

Check her basement for skull flaps.

 

Check her basement for skull flaps.

That's how it starts.

 

https://sfstandard.com/2024/08/20/gregory-acosta-alvarez-fbi-truck-burglary/
Man stole grenades, ballistic vests from FBI van and traded for meth in SF, feds say

Gregory Acosta Alvarez was arrested after allegedly burglarizing an FBI-issued Ford F-150 truck parked in the SoMa neighborhood on Aug. 7. Authorities say Alvarez stole dozens of items, including 23 flash-bang grenades, a gas deployment gun and a ballistic vest. The flash bangs were worth about $100 each; body armor he is accused of taking was valued at $1,500, according to an FBI affidavit.
Acosta Alvarez told officers he traded the stolen ballistic vest and gas gun to another individual for $20 worth of methamphetamine.

 

 

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/lo...illa-making-machine-in-logan-heights/3599540/
Firefighters rescue man caught in tortilla-making machine in Logan Heights

Spoiler

The poor guy needed more pain meds.

 

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/lo...illa-making-machine-in-logan-heights/3599540/
Firefighters rescue man caught in tortilla-making machine in Logan Heights

Spoiler

The poor guy needed more pain meds.

I hope they cleaned all of the skull flaps out of the machine.

 

 

Parents still let their kids read books?

I thought it was all iPhone, all the time now.

 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/innocent-man-jailed-11-years-29816928
Innocent man jailed for 11 years for murder he didn't commit charged £37,000 for board in prison

An innocent man who spent 11 years and 43 days in prison for a crime he didn’t commit has demanded £37,000 which was deducted from his compensation package for board during his time in prison. Michael O’Brien, 54, was 19 when he was arrested and later charged for the murder of businessman Phillip Saunders in Cardiff in 1987.

Mr Saunders, a newsagent who had been to the pub after finishing a day's work, was found in his garden having been brutally beaten with a spade for his takings. But it later emerged Mr O’Brien didn’t commit the crime and Mr Saunders’ loved ones remain without answers 37 years later.

On the night of Mr Saunders' murder Mr O'Brien was out stealing a car with Ellis Sherwood and Darren Hall. When he was initially pulled in by South Wales Police as part of their murder inquiry he never thought he would lose more than a decade of his life behind bars.

Mr O’Brien spent 11 years in prison before his conviction was quashed and he was awarded more than £600,000 in compensation by the UK Government. But £37,000 was deducted from that final compensation fee for things like food and a bed, referred to as a board and lodging charge, during those 11 years.

 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/innocent-man-jailed-11-years-29816928
Innocent man jailed for 11 years for murder he didn't commit charged £37,000 for board in prison

Their logic being: "gee ... since this guy was wrongly incarcerated, he didn't belong in jail in the first place, so he was freeloading on the taxpayers' penny while the prison staff took care of all his needs! ... it's only fair to charge the dude for those expenses"

 

Their logic being: "gee ... since this guy was wrongly incarcerated, he didn't belong in jail in the first place, so he was freeloading on the taxpayers' penny while the prison staff took care of all his needs! ... it's only fair to charge the dude for those expenses"

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice responded: "Financial awards made after August 6, 2023 as part of the Miscarriage of Justice scheme will not have saved living expenses deducted. However, in line with the standard approach to changes in government policy, the change announced last year does not apply retrospectively.”

Sure, that's how 'subjects' are treated vs citizens.

 

Their logic being: "gee ... since this guy was wrongly incarcerated, he didn't belong in jail in the first place, so he was freeloading on the taxpayers' penny while the prison staff took care of all his needs! ... it's only fair to charge the dude for those expenses"

At least they didn't go back and charge him for car theft, since that was what he was doing instead of killing the guy.

Here, as a rule, someone that is exonerated does not receive anything more than an apology (and sometimes not even that).

I believe that a person that is exonerated (not someone that was freed on a technicality, but someone that has been shown to actually be innocent) should be compensated pretty generously. In terms of money, it would depend on what led to the wrongful conviction. If there was ANY misconduct or errors made on the part of the court or other government entities, then it should be substantial. Furthermore, there should automatically be an investigation into the matter and the people responsible should be held accountable with significant penalties. That's the only way that there will be real motivation for those involved in bringing cases to trial to get it right. But if there was nothing faulty with the trial and twelve people on a jury found them guilty, who's to blame? The jurors? What if the person is exonerated because evidence is found, or new technology is applied to existing evidence, that was not available at the time of the trial? Who's to blame? At the end of the day, bad things happen to people all the time and we don't always get what we "deserve" to make it right.

But another matter entirely is support once someone is exonerated and released. If you are released on probation, there are usually a number of support services to help them make the transition back to the outside world (though it can certainly be argued how good/effective it is). But someone that is released because their conviction was vacated is usually just released and are on their own. I think they are owed significant free support to help them transition back and well as possible. Job training and/or education should almost always be offered. Housing support (in decent housing) should be provided for some length of time, as well as free heath care, particularly for conditions that developed, or were made worse, during incarceration. A reasonable stipend for food and other necessities should also be made. These can be weened off over some defined period of time, based on the individual circumstances.

As for not going back and making things retroactive, I'm generally in favor of that as a matter of good policy, though exceptions can and do exist, of course.. When things can be made retroactive, it automatically opens the door for abuse. People have motivation to look back and identify this or that and then push for changes in the law that, if retroactive, entitle them to a windfall. That sword cuts both ways, too. It is almost never possible to pass a law that makes something illegal and then go back and punish someone that broke the law before it was passed (ex post facto). No matter how much it is obvious that it "should" have been illegal or the offender "deserves" to be punished. The prohibitions against ex post facto laws are not really about fairness on an individual basis, but as a means to prevent abuse by the government.

 

My problem is not it being retroactive/ex post facto laws or not, it should have never been part of the law, ever, to reimburse prison expenses of lodging and food of the exonerated, period, end...

https://theweek.com/news/crime/961824/why-cleared-inmates-have-to-pay-back-prisons-from-compensation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Buckethead

The rules date back to a House of Lords decision in 2007 relating to cousins Vincent Hickey and Michael Hickey, who were wrongly convicted of the murder of paperboy Carl Bridgewater in 1978. After the two men were freed by the Court of Appeal in 1997, then home secretary Jack Straw decided they were entitled to compensation, which amounted to £1 million and £550,000 respectively.

But “in each case, a 25% deduction was made from the section of their compensation which reflected their loss of earnings while in prison”, the BBC reported, “because of the living expenses they had not had to fund”.

The cousins appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but the court “ruled in favour of the law lords’ decision”.

Conservative MP Bob Neill, chair of the Justice Select Committee, told BBC Radio 4. that it was “clearly not right” for somebody like Malkinson to have to pay back the state “for the privilege of having been wrong incarcerated”.

 

 

Good Lord .. I feel for the poor woman. May she find peace away from that POS of a company. Rest in peace.