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04 Nov 2011 09:06

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U.S.: Judge won’t face charges, may lose job over brutal spanking incident

  • We believe that there was a criminal offense involved and that there was substantial evidence to indicate that and under normal circumstances … a charge could have been made.
  • Rockport, Texas Police Chief Tim Jayroe • Discussing the case of Hillary Adams, the 23-year-old who posted a video of her father — a Texas judge — brutally spanking her with a belt. The video, from 2004, would have been worthy of criminal charges against William Adams, according to Jayroe … if the statute of limitations had not run out. Considering the damage to William Adams’ reputation as a result of the release of the video, it may be enough to derail his career as a judge that focuses on child abuse cases. “I would think it would be very difficult,” noted Aransas, Texas, County Judge C.H. “Burt” Mills Jr. “Personally I don’t see how he can recover from this.” For William Adams’ part, he claims the situation looks worse than it is, and in a statement he released to the press, claimed the video was intended as blackmail: “Hillary warned her father if he reduced her financial support, and took away her Mercedes automobile, which her father had provided, he would live to regret it.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Nov 2011 11:01

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U.S.: A judge and his daughter relive brutal domestic incident in public eye

  • Yesterday, this brutal video made the rounds. In it, a then-16-year-old girl was brutally attacked by her father for downloading music illegally on the internet back in 2004. (Warning: it’s a tough watch.) The girl, Hillary Adams, now 23, released the video as her parents were in the midst of a custody battle. She secretly taped the incident and only told him about the video recently. “I told him I had the video,” she said. “He didn’t seem to think anything of it, and basically dared me to post it.” On its own, it seems like a harsh overreaction, but it’s made all the worse when you consider that the father in the video is a county judge who specializes in child abuse cases. You’d imagine that this would be the kind of case he’d have to deal with at his job. Based on comments the Texas judge has made, he may not be very remorseful over the incident. Here are some reactions:
  • father Aransas County, Texas Court-at-Law Judge William Adams defended the 2004 incident like so: “In my mind, I haven’t done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing. And I did lose my temper, but I’ve since apologized.”
  • daughter Here’s how his daughter, Hillary, reacted to that statement: “It’s a shining perfect example of his personality and he believes he can do no wrong. … He will cover up rather than admit to what he did and try to come clean, which is what I really want him to do.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2011 10:11

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World: This is unexpected: The Vatican releases internal files in priest abuse case

  • what In a surprise move for an organization famously known for it secrecy, the Vatican released a series of internal files on the late Rev. Andrew Ronan, who has been accused of child abuse in both Ireland and the U.S.
  • why According to Vatican attorney Jeffrey Lena, the move is meant to “calm down those people who are too quick to make sensational and unfair comments without taking the time to get an adequate understanding of the facts.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Mar 2011 10:41

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World: Pedophilia bust update: One guy had millions of pictures. Yuck.

  • 2 million number of photos a Bosnian man recently caught in a child porn bust had in his possession, authorities say
  • 4,000 number of videos the man had; he was just one of 70,000 members of the recently-broken-up ring source
  • » And worse: The unidentified man, referred to as an “important member” of the pedophilia ring, had a suitcase full of children’s clothes. Officials say he was “producing and posting online child sexual abuse materials.” Ugh. Disgusting.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Dec 2010 15:10

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Culture: Here’s a photo of Ducktales because we wanted to post one

  • Last night we read about this utterly bizarre idea to have people change their Facebook profile pictures to those of cartoon characters … to help speak out against child abuse. Now, the connection there is tenuous at best, so we ignored it … until we realized we could post a picture of Scrooge McDuck on the site for no apparent reason other to amuse ourselves. So here it is. Ducktales! A whoo-hoo! Tomorrow, Chip ‘N’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. (OK, ok, because we know that there are hardcore types out there, we’ll note that this image predates Ducktales by a few years, and that the history of the Scrooge McDuck character is utterly fascinating.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Apr 2010 10:07

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World: Did a Pope know about sex abuse claims nearly fifty years ago?

Pope Paul VI, shown in 1968, reportedly received a letter about sex abuse claims as early as 1963. A senior church official denies this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2010 13:57

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Music: Pete Townsend’s child-porn arrest dogging him at Super Bowl. Why?

  • then The Who’s Pete Townsend was put on a sex-offender list for registering for a child porn site in 1999. He claimed it was for book research. Despite the case, Townsend was not found in possession of any images by Scotland Yard and had cooperated with the investigation. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
  • now Townsend, who’s playing at the Super Bowl tonight, is getting an earful from Child AbuseWatch, which is using the case to draw attention to child abuse issues. Townsend’s take? “It’s an issue that’s very difficult to deal with in sound bites.… I kind of feel like we’re all on the same side.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Feb 2010 20:47

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U.S.: Jesus wouldn’t approve: A cardinal deposed in abuse scandal

  • For five hours last month, Cardinal Roger Mahony answered the questions. The L.A.-based leader of the largest Catholic archdiocese in the U.S. was interviewed as part of a civil trial regarding one of his former priests in a child molestation case. Michael Baker, the priest in question, has been defrocked and is serving ten years in prison. Despite the grilling, Mahony isn’t the target of the investigation, authorities say. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2009 17:59

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U.S.: Have nothing better to do today? Read Phillip Garrido’s blog

  • The Creator has given me the ability to speak in the tongue of angels in order to provide a wake-up call that will in time include the salvation of the entire world.
  • Phillip Garrido • In a post on his bat#(&! isane blog, “Voices Revealed.” He’s been updating it in bits and pieces over the last couple of years, although things have picked up in the last couple of weeks. It must’ve been a sign he was about to be arrested. In other news, the authorities noted that the giveaway in the Jaycee Dugard case was the fact that his children seemed like robots. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2009 22:31

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Culture: Joe Jackson: Where was the Michael love when he was alive?

  • I wish the world had recognized him when he were living. Right now he’s bigger than ever. But I wish he was here to see all this, to hear all this.
  • Joe Jackson • Michael Jackson’s dad, on the death of his son and the huge torrent of response the superstar has gotten posthumously, including at the BET awards, where Joe discussed his son’s life. It’s true – ultimately, the child abuse allegations took the swagger out of Michael’s step, and it seems like we forgot about what we had when he was still alive. We blame ourselves. Sorry, Joe. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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