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Victims everywhere…Evening Open Thread

Posted: March 20, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: child sexual abuse, Crime, Gun Control, legislation, open thread, SDB Evening News Reads, Senate, social media | Tags: , , , , , , |29 Comments »

$(KGrHqQOKkYE0+BgvkjUBN(F0pVDgw~~_35Good Evening

My kids are still very sick, and it seems to be moving on to other members of the family. I wish I could write more about the links I have to share with you tonight, but the articles speak for themselves.

On the eve of gun control legislation in Colorado: Director of Colorado Prisons Fatally Shot at Home

As Colorado’s governor signed a hard-won package of gun control measures on Wednesday, officials across the state were reeling from the seemingly inexplicable shooting death of the state’s prisons chief, who was gunned down at the front door of his home.

The brazen killing of Tom Clements, a man described by friends and colleagues as a dedicated and thoughtful public servant, left state officials shaken and grasping for answers on Wednesday. State troopers increased security around the State Capitol, and some state workers said Mr. Clements’s death had put them on edge.

The state police said they had known of no specific threats against Mr. Clements before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, when someone approached his house in the pine-fringed hills of the town of Monument, near Colorado Springs, and shot him as he answered the door. Into Wednesday night, investigators were still searching for any trace of his killer, but said they had no suspects or motive.

Police are looking for a boxy two-door car that was seen in the area on the night of the killing.

They said Mr. Clements’s post, overseeing more than 20,000 inmates in Colorado’s prisons and parole system, might have made him a target.

Among his most prominent recent decisions, he denied a request this month from a prominent Saudi-born prisoner convicted of sexually abusing his housekeeper to serve the duration of his sentence in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Clements’s death came just hours before Colorado’s governor, John W. Hickenlooper, signed a bitterly divisive package of gun control measures into law, capping weeks of tumultuous and emotional debate about gun ownership and violence in a state scarred by two mass shootings.

Mike Lupica has another article up today, this one about the news that the assault weapons ban was removed by the Senate. Spineless pols spit on the graves of Newtown victims by not pushing for assault weapons ban

The words of a teary-eyed President and other politicians meant nothing, because they didn’t turn into action, as a ban on assault weapons won’t be included in gun legislation that’s shaping up in the U.S. Senate. After Newtown and the other tragedies, it begs the question, ‘If not now, when?’

[...]

But what does the President say now to the families of the victims of Sandy Hook, and Aurora, Colo., and all the other victims of mass murders and glory killers in this country? What does he say now that it becomes clear that a ban on assault weapons won’t even be legitimately included in the gun legislation being shaped this week in the U.S. Senate?

Any fool knows that Lanza couldn’t possibly have killed as many children as quickly as he did on the morning of Dec. 14 without an assault weapon in his hands. So how does the President and any other big politician who allows the gun nuts from the National Rifle Association to win again answer the larger question about weapons that make killings like the elementary-school massacre ridiculously easy:

RELATED: SENATE PANEL PASSES ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN ON PARTY-LINE VOTE

If not now for a ban for these weapons, when?

If Sandy Hook Elementary doesn’t make every member of Congress take a stand against assault weapons in this country, then what does? How many small coffins do we need the next time?

Maybe Michael Moore does a have a point, according to Tommy Christopher: I Want Michael Moore To Be Wrong About Newtown Crime Scene Photos | Mediaite

And finally another rape victim being bullied, and what do you know….it deals with yet another powerhouse high school football team. Victim bullied after rape allegations against Torrington football players- The Register Citizen

Two Torrington High School football players stand accused of sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. Four others were suspended in a hazing scandal last fall that is still under investigation. One player, the team’s second-highest scorer last fall, was allowed to play even though the team’s coach knew he had been charged with felony robbery and assault.School officials claim that the sexual assault charges against 18-year-olds Edgar Gonzalez and Joan Toribio, the hazing and other incidents are isolated problems and don’t signal a deeper issue with the culture of Torrington High School, its athletic programs or football team.

You need to read the rest of this article from Torrington Connecticut….words cannot express this disgust with the social media and the idiot assholes who use it to harass a 13-year old sexual assault victim.

This is an open thread…

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29 Comments on “Victims everywhere…Evening Open Thread”

  1. JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    March 20, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    be sure you read that entire post from Torrington…sorry for the short post, really…my kids are in bad shape

    • RalphB says:
      March 20, 2013 at 11:31 pm

      Best wishes for all your families health JJ! Thanks for posting the story from Torrington. I read it earlier today and it’s truly sickening.

  2. bostonboomer says:
    March 20, 2013 at 8:35 pm

    Here’s something for you, JJ.

    Kurt Eichenwald: Perpetually Wrong Paul Wolfowitz Is Still Convinced He Knows What Would Have Happened in Iraq If We Hadn’t Invaded

  3. bostonboomer says:
    March 20, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    Poppy Harlow is “outraged” about the criticism of CNN’s Steubenville coverage.

    CNN had no official comment, except to note privately that viral petitions sometimes have a life of their own and start “feeding on itself” whether or not the issue is valid.

    Meanwhile two insiders at CNN exclusively told TheWrap that the controversy had hit reporter Poppy Harlow, covering the events in Steubenville, particularly hard.

    “Poppy is taking this extremely personally as a woman,” said one executive. “She’s outraged that someone would think she’d do such a thing” as slant her coverage toward rapists. “It’s gotten so out of control.”

    The outrage stemmed from Harlow standing outside the courtroom after the verdicts were read on Sunday, visibly moved by watching the young men collapse at the news of conviction. “I’ve never experienced anything like it,” she said on the air. “It’s incredibly emotional, even for an outsider like me. These two young men, with promising futures, star football players, A students, literally watched as their lives fell apart.”

    Rather than balancing Harlow’s report, anchor Candy Crowley asked an expert about the rape conviction’s “lasting effect on two young men.” As critics pointed out, Crowley did not spare a word for the unnamed and unseen victim or the lasting effect on her.

    Indeed, Crowley may regret qualifying the crime as “essentially rape.”

    No word on how Candy Crowley feels. Frankly, I thought she was worse than Poppy, and she was asking the questions.

  4. bostonboomer says:
    March 20, 2013 at 8:58 pm

    Here’s a new article on the Torrington case. It says there are two victims.

    TORRINGTON >> Police confirmed Wednesday that charges against two 18-year-old Torrington High School football players, as well as an unidentified 17-year-old city male, stemmed from the alleged sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls.

    Both Joan Toribio, 330 Highland Ave., and Edgar Gonzalez, 18, of the same address, but different apartments, have pleaded not guilty to felony charges of sexual assault and two charges of risk of injury to a minor. Toribio is charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault, while Gonzalez is charged with one.

    Police spokesman Lt. Mike Emanuel said Toribio’s incidents are seperate, but occurred during the same time frame, around Feb. 10. The Gonzalez incident also occurred around the same time. Emanuel said police learned of the incidents after the parents of one of the victims reported it on Feb. 11.

    The 17-year-old male, a Torrington resident charged on March 4 with second-degree sexual assault stemming from a Fall 2012 incident with one of the same 13-year-old victims, has not been identified due to his age. The charge came from information learned in the original investigation….

    Toribio is now released on $100,000 professional surety bond following the two separate incidents. He is being electronically monitored.

    Emanuel said the charges are related to the same two victims, but that the charges are related to two separate alleged incidents.

  5. Fannie says:
    March 20, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    I want both suspended………..that’ll help women in the long run.

    • bostonboomer says:
      March 20, 2013 at 9:01 pm

      Based on the first article that JJ posted, it sounds like the school is hedging about suspending them from the team.

  6. bostonboomer says:
    March 20, 2013 at 9:02 pm

    Twitter feed for the Torrington reporter.

    https://twitter.com/jessicaglenza

  7. JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    March 20, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    Here is another article from Hartford Courant: 3rd Torrington Teen Arrested On Sexual Assault Charges; Police, Schools Try To Reassure Community – Courant.com

  8. JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    March 21, 2013 at 4:46 am

    Another editorial, this one from the local Torrington paper: EDITORIAL: Bullying of rape victim exposes big problem in Torrington schools- The Register Citizen

    • janicen says:
      March 21, 2013 at 5:46 am

      JJ, I know I’ve never met you, but I care about you. Please take a break and get some rest. You posted this comment in the middle of the night. These are the opening paragraphs of your last three posts:

      I’ve got two sick munchkins, both of them have the flu. And it is not the…oh you’re sick…looks like you have a flu. It is, swab the nose, positive result, you definitely have the flu…so the links will be short and quick.

      This is going to be a pathetic morning round-up. Honestly, I am just too tired for anything other than a link dump, which is what I am giving you.

      My kids are still very sick, and it seems to be moving on to other members of the family. I wish I could write more about the links I have to share with you tonight, but the articles speak for themselves.

      For Christ’s sake enough. Stop. Please get some rest and don’t run yourself into the ground and neglect your family for our sake. I’d rather read an old post from the archives than to think you are killing yourself to get a post up. Please. Rest.

      • bostonboomer says:
        March 21, 2013 at 7:35 am

        I hate to see JJ apologizing like that too, especially because none of her posts have been “pathetic” at all.

        Sometimes writing can help take your mind off other things, but of course JJ you shouldn’t “run yourself into the ground.” We love you!

      • JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
        March 22, 2013 at 3:11 am

        Oh wow, I had not seen these comments until now. I really appreciate them too. It has been a difficult few days, that really have been a difficult few weeks. Funny how even in a house full of people, you can still be so alone.

    • janicen says:
      March 21, 2013 at 7:38 am

      bb makes an excellent point. You have nothing to apologize for.

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