I suppose the legality of torturing anyone, let alone disabled students, depends upon the definition of torture. But apparently the law doesn’t consider what was done in the video below to be torture or illegal.  By any reasonable person’s viewpoint, the video certainly appears to be showing a disabled student being tortured at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center.

According to change.org, the teachers and staff at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, a special needs school in Canton, Massachusetts have allegedly been forcibly restraining and subjecting autistic and disabled children and teenagers to powerful electric shocks, “stronger than police stuns guns”, ostensibly Tasers. This was apparently a behavior modification method to control behavior the staff was not pleased with. Some of the alleged undesired behavior consisted of “closing their eyes for 15 seconds while at their desk”, “asking to go to the bathroom” and other ridiculous reasons.

I’m not sure what is more shocking, the method of torture used (I call it torture) or that the perpetrators were teachers and/or staff; was witnessed by other teachers and/or staff; and it must have been both known and approved by the top administration. They would have been good students for Josef Mengele, the German SS Officer and physician also known as the Angel of Death.

According to change.org, the school’s founder, Dr. Matthew Israel, resigned after being charged with misleading a grand jury by destroying video footage of students being shocked. However, also according to change.org, this shocking practice is continuing because it is apparently not illegal which is in itself shocking. Please sign the petition to change the law and make this a criminal act.

But first, watch the video and decide for yourself if this is torture.

At least, New York State is doing something to safeguard the civil rights of the disabled. Governor Cuomo proposed legislation to create a new Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. The Governor’s Justice Center will give the state the strongest standards and practices in the nation to protect these vulnerable New Yorkers. If you live in another state, contact your governor, legislators and state senators to enact similar legislation and provide them with this URL http://www.governor.ny.gov/Justice4SpecialNeeds/home.

The Justice Center will have a Special Prosecutor and Inspector General who will investigate reports of abuse and neglect and prosecute allegations of criminal offenses. It will also include a 24/7 hotline run by trained professionals and a statewide register of workers who have committed serious acts of abuse and will be prohibited from ever working with people with special needs and disabilities.

You’re dead (but not if you pay me money). That’s what the scam email I just received said. The email came from a killer who claimed to have been paid a “ransom” in advance, by someone I call a friend, to terminate (kill) me for some undisclosed reason and warned me not to call the police. The hit man who was hired to kill me fortunately took pity on me and my kids and offered to help me.

The killer claims to have followed me closely for a while but apparently didn’t know that I don’t have any kids although my dog is just as important to me. I believe the email was sent from another country but it claims to have come from “dead [info@dead.com]“. After looking at the email headers, I found that it really came from el_abudumohammed@rocketmail.com.

I’m starting to like these scam emails because it gives me something to write about. Unfortunately, some people will actually respond to these emails and eventually send money.

If you receive one of these emails, wasn’t sure about its validity, and are fortunate enough to have searched on Google to read about it and found this article, please delete the email immediately and don’t worry about it. If after reading my email, you’re still not sure just call the police. Just don’t worry about the professional assassin or send any money!

This is what the killer’s email said:

“This is the only way I could contact you for now,I want you to be very careful about this and keep this secret with you until I make out space for us to see.

You have no need of knowing who I am or where i am from.I know this may sound very surprising to you but it’s the situation.I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer.

It’s someone I believe you call a friend, I have followed you closely for a while now and have seen that you are innocent of the accusations leveled against you.

Do not contact the police or try to send a copy of this to them,because if you do, I will know,and I might be pushed to do what I have been paid to do.Besides, this is the first time I turn out to be a betrayer in my job.

I took pity on you and your kids… That is why I have made up my mind to help you if you are willing to help yourself.”

If you wondered about an email like this for even a second, make sure you also read “Are You Receiving Threatening Calls from the DEA, FBI or Police Demanding Money?“

I just received a traffic ticket scam email. I receive scam emails every day but this is the first time I’ve seen one telling me that I received a speeding ticket violation and provided a link to enter a plea.

I have no idea what’s on the other end of the link in the e-mail because I didn’t want to find out but it is an obvious scam.  It is most likely a simple fraud trying to get the recipient to pay money for the fake traffic ticket.  However, it could be anything from advertising to software designed to report back your usernames and passwords or Extortion-ware which is a fraud perpetrated by a malicious virus designed to make your computer inoperable and then tries to get you to pay money to remove the virus but all that happens is you pay money in the virus stays on your computer.

If you get any variation of a traffic ticket email advising that you have a traffic ticket, traffic summons or traffic violation, just delete it and do not click on the link.  Clicking on the link could immediately infect your computer or just leave you with a little less money.

Following is what the traffic ticket e-mail looked like:

Subject line: NYC Traffic Ticket N(ID: 011407456)

New York State ” Department of Motor Vehicles
UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET
POLICE AGENCY
NEW YORK STATE POLICE

Local Police Code

THE PERSON DESCRIBED ABOVE IS CHARGED AS FOLLOWS

Time: 3:13 AM
Date of Offense: 03/12/2011

IN VIOLATION OF
NYS V AND T LAW Description of Violation:
SPEED OVER 55 ZONE
TO PLEAD, PRINT CLICK HERE AND FILL OUT THE FORM
(I replaced the link and it’s safe to click on “CLICK HERE” which will take you to traffic ticket information)

Also see my article about another scam involving more serious sounding crimes: “Are You Receiving Threatening Calls from the DEA, FBI or Police Demanding Money?”

Nightline aired a story about people who have purchased drugs online and later received threatening phone calls from someone claiming to be a DEA agent, FBI agent, police officer or detective. The fake agent will accuse you of ordering drugs illegally and offer a deal or a plea bargain for you to pay a civil penalty and avoid going to court. You may even be threatened with immediate arrest if you do not pay the civil penalty and you are probably given a short period of time to think about it.

This was reported as a new scam but has been around for a while in many variations. The particular variation reported on Nightline involved people purchasing Viagra or another drug online. The first part of the scam is that you may have paid for fake Viagra or other drug. But then you receive the phone call when they get you for real money by pretending to be a federal agent.

I never received any of these telephone calls but I never ordered any drugs online. However, I often receive fake e-mails from the FBI. You should know that no DEA agent, FBI agent or police officer will ever offer to get charges dropped for payment of a civil fine. If you are ever assessed with a fine because of a crime, you would first have to be convicted, it would be assessed by a real judge and it would be a criminal fine not a civil fine. At that time, you would actually be in a real court room in front of a real judge.

If a real crime had been committed, it is possible that you could receive a call from a police officer but instead of demanding money, the police officer will be asking you to come down to the police station to “give your side of the story”. You should never go to the police station to give your side of the story. Instead, you should politely decline. Instead, you should call a criminal defense lawyer. But never, never, ever give or send money to someone claiming to be an agent or law enforcement officer.

Nightline also reported that, in one instance, fake police officers drove to the person’s house. If you have police officers at your front door who have arrived in unmarked cars, call 911 and verify that real police officers are at your house.

I don’t think Trayvon Martin’s killing was racist.  George Zimmerman may have stereotyped attitudes about blacks but I have not seen any evidence that he hated or even disliked blacks. The difference is a matter of ignorance versus ignorance together with other mental factors causing hatred, the latter often leading to the commission of a crime.

I don’t believe that anyone doesn’t have stereotyped ideas about other races, cultures or groups. I’m sure that all blacks have certain stereotyped attitudes about whites and the same applies for other races, backgrounds and even groups of the same backgrounds.  It’s just that only a very few harbor or exhibit hatred.

This does not mean that George Zimmerman should not be prosecuted, just not for a hate crime. I believe George Zimmerman is guilty of being a “frustrated cop” and running around a neighborhood with a gun and no training try to be the neighborhood hero cop. He made a bad decision to patrol his neighborhood with a gun, possibly for a good reason but that does not mean he should not be prosecuted. Robin Hood may have stolen from the rich to give to the poor but that’s still a crime. The right decision would have been to patrol the neighborhood without a lethal weapon or to apply for a job as a police officer, deputy sheriff or volunteer as a reserve police officer or reserve deputy sheriff where he would have obtained the proper training.

Should the Florida law “Stand Your Ground” prevent George Zimmerman from being arrested for Trayvon Martin’s killing?

I don’t understand why “Stand Your Ground” has been discussed as the reason for George Zimmerman not being arrested. I fail to see how the “Stand Your Ground” law applies at all here. If the news accounts are accurate, George Zimmerman was pursuing Trayvon Martin and was even warned by the 911 operator not to do so. The “Stand Your Ground” law does not protect an aggressive action such as pursuing another person.  If it is true that the “Stand Your Ground” law was the reason for failing to make an arrest, someone should be fired for misapplying the law.

What about George Zimmerman being attacked by Trayvon Martin? Was George Zimmerman acting in self defense? Did he have an injury from being assaulted by Trayvon Martin? Does it even matter? Having been pursued, it seems to me that Trayvon Martin is the one who should have been able to take advantage of “Stand Your Ground”.  It has been reported that George Zimmerman acted in self-defense but it is likely that Trayvon Martin was the one who acted in self-defense after being pursued.  It should be noted that George Zimmerman is not a law enforcement officer and Trayvon Martin would have had the right to stand his ground.

Also see: Neighborhood Watch Shooter Not Arrested in Florida

Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old Black high school junior of Miami Gardens, was allegedly pleading for help when he was shot by George Zimmerman, a criminal justice student who was licensed to carry a firearm and volunteered for neighborhood watch duty. Trayvon Martin was on his way home from a store where he went to purchase Skittles and iced tea.

A 911 tape played on the news seems to indicate that the neighborhood watchman was following Trayvon and was told by the 911 operator not to follow him. I learned long ago not to trust what is reported in the news but after hearing several actual 911 tapes on the news and other items reported which seem to coincide with the 911 tapes, I was very surprised that he was not arrested.

Trayvon Martin’s mother claims that the screaming heard in one of the 911 audiotapes is her son, while the shooter claims he was screaming.  I don’t believe that anyone can credibly believe that the screaming heard is that of the shooter.  With that assumption, it must be assumed that the shooter is lying.  Some people have claimed that the shooter sounds like he may have been drinking or using drugs because he sounds like he is learning on the 911 tape.  That may be true and it may be completely false, but unfortunately he was not tested by the police so we will never know.

It was reported that George Zimmerman called 911 well over 40 times.  Some of those audio tapes have been played on the news and it sounds like George Zimmerman may have been a frustrated cop.  I believe he was looking for trouble so he could be the hero and he may have manufactured a dangerous Trayvon Martin out of his imagination.  Just from listening to the 911 tapes, it seems that there is probable cause to make an arrest.  Unfortunately, he he seems like a troubled person with self-esteem and psychological issues who should never have been allowed to carry a gun.

I’m sure that the neighborhood watchman did not receive any training and was not required to have any training as a neighborhood watchman and probably received no training for carrying a gun. Why the community allowed a neighborhood watchman to patrol the neighborhood with a gun and no training is a question that will likely be answered in a civil lawsuit.

I am the Commanding Officer of an Auxiliary Police unit. Auxiliary Police Officers (similar to Reserve Police) receive a substantial amount of state required training for peace officers. Some Auxiliary Police Officers are permitted to carry guns but must receive the same training as regular police officers. One of the Auxiliary Police Officers in my unit was working (off-duty) as a bouncer and shot a gang member with a licensed privately owned gun during an altercation between the gang member and a second Auxiliary Police Officer who was also working off-duty as a bouncer. Surprisingly, the Auxiliary Police Officer was arrested because the gang member had been shot in the buttocks which means that he may have no longer been threat because his back was facing the shooter. I was surprised that he was arrested because it is possible that he turned around quickly and was shot from behind during the excitement during the altercation and that would be considered legally justifiable.  The judge later dismissed the case against the Auxiliary Police Officer.

I always caution people not to rush to judgment and not to believe what they hear in the news but in the case of Trayvon Martin I couldn’t follow my own advice and I am appalled that an arrest was not made. This time, I will be able to understand if his family believes he was murdered.  I also share the belief that the investigation of this shooting has been mishandled since the first minute.

Also see: Was Trayvon Martin’s Killing Racial? Was George Zimmerman acting in self defense? Can he use “Stand Your Ground” as a defense?

News articles about the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin:
ABC News
Miami Herald

While watching “Dead Men Talking – Final Exit” on MSNBC, I saw the tragic story of 19-year-old Ryan Sadowski who committed suicide by hanging after becoming more and more despondent. He had a criminal history with several convictions but tried to turn his life around by enlisting in the Marines. After several postponements and eventually being rejected by the Marines because of his convictions, Ryan apparently saw no way out and sadly took his life.

It is possible to obtain a waiver to enlist in the military with a criminal conviction but an enlistment waiver can be difficult to obtain. The various military branches have their own definitions of what they consider a felony. However, many states allow you to expunge a felony conviction and reduce it to a misdemeanor.

I believe the U.S. Armed Forces should make a substantial effort to find positions for people with a criminal conviction. The structure and education provided by the military could substantially reduce recidivism which would substantially reduce the cost to society.

How many days in a hotel would you want for two years in prison?  Not enough?  How about some Tiffany jewelry to wear for a few days?

California roommates, one a paralegal and the other an elementary school teacher, may have wanted just a little bit more.  Possibly a private jet to fly to New York City, five rooms at the Marriott hotel (I wonder what they were planning to do with five rooms but what’s the difference when you’re not paying for it), and some shopping at Tiffany and Mountblanc.

Alexa Johzen Polar, 34, a paralegal, from Garden Grove, Calif., and Robin Antonella Pabello, 33, an elementary school teacher also of Garden Grove, Calif., plead not guilty to charges of stealing a $19,500 check from a law firm in Newport Beach, Calif., and changing the amount to more than $285,000.  It hasn’t been proved yet that they did this but, if they did, I wonder how long they thought it would take to get caught.

The jewelry from Tiffany was not very useful but shopping at Mountblanc was probably the smartest part of the plan because the stolen money can be used to buy a really nice pen to forge some more checks and a really nice watch to count the minutes until they go to prison.  Unfortunately, they won’t be able to use the watch or the pen in prison.

Coincidentally, bail was set at $285,000 each.  The defendants face a maximum of six years and four months in prison.  The rooms are a lot smaller than the hotel, the beds are not very comfortable, and they will have to take a bus instead of a jet to prison but it must have been fun while it lasted.

Dr. Conrad Murray will likely get the maximum sentence for the death of Michael Jackson because of the following reasons:

• The deceased is Michael Jackson.
• Providing propofol as a sleeping aid was unconscionable.
• Providing propofol as a sleeping aid without the proper medical equipment and without constant medical supervision is beyond unconscionable and is reckless enough to have resulted in the guilty verdict.
• The maximum sentence will not provide much jail time.
• Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor chose to remand Dr. Conrad Murray to custody to be held without bail instead of releasing him pending sentencing.

In remanding Dr. Conrad Murray to custody, Judge Michael Pastor cited the gravity of the crime; ties outside of the country; and that he is a threat to public safety. Judge Pastor said, “This is a crime where the end result was the death of a human being. That factor demonstrates rather dramatically that the public should be protected.”

It’s unfortunate that Judge Pastor cited public safety as a factor not to grant bail. There is clearly no threat to public safety that any reasonable person could find. Dr. Murray committed an incredibly reckless act which resulted in the death of his patient but there is no possibility that any sane person could believe that Dr. Murray will give propofol to anyone else let alone kill anyone else either before or after his medical license is revoked.

If there is any concern that Dr. Murray could flee the country, his passport can be taken by the court.  With all of the publicity, he has become an easily recognized figure and it would be extremely unlikely that he would be able to get on a plane with or without a passport.

Even the gravity of the crime is not severe.  While the Michael Jackson’s death is a huge loss to the world of music, his fans and his family, Dr. Murray certainly did not intend to kill Michael Jackson.

Dr. Conrad Murray is guilty of being an idiot who deserves jail time for being criminally reckless.  Unfortunately because the system is a farce, he deserves more jail time than he will serve.  However, there is no rational legal reason to withhold bail pending sentencing.  Perhaps the judge held him without bail because he knew that Conrad Murray would not serve much time.

After seeing Dr. Murray’s interview on the Today show with Savannah Guthrie, I was left with the feeling that Dr. Murray was lying and dumb enough to think that anyone would believe him.  I also got the feeling that he believed his own lies which could be why he thinks other people will believe him.

In an appeals court in Italy, prosecutors asked the jury in their closing argument to keep in mind the victim and to imagine themselves in the shoes of her mother. Apparently, that’s more important than any evidence against Amanda Knox.

Let’s just convict anyone to get some measure of justice for the victim. It doesn’t really matter who should be convicted, but since Amanda Knox was already convicted, just keep in mind the victim and her family. This sounds like a witch trial to me.