URATURD
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North Korea's army chief of staff executed: report. Apparently the missle launch did not go well!
North Korea's army chief of staff has been executed, South Korean media reported Wednesday, in what would amount to the latest in a series of purges and executions of top officials by leader Kim Jong-Un.
Ri Yong-Gil, Chief of the Korean People's Army (KPA) General Staff, was executed earlier this month for forming a political faction and corruption, Yonhap news agency said, citing a source familiar with North Korean affairs.
The report came at a time of highly elevated tensions on the divided Korean peninsula following the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.
Ri was often seen accompanying Kim Jong-Un on inspection tours, but his name was conspicuously missing from state media reports of a recent major party meeting and celebrations over Sunday's rocket launch.
"The execution... suggests that Kim Jong-Un still feels insecure about his grip on the country's powerful military," Yonhap quoted the source as saying.
"It shows that Kim's reign of terror still persists," the source was quoted as saying.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) in Seoul declined to comment on the report.
In May last year the NIS said Kim had his defence chief, Hyon Yong-Chol, executed -- reportedly with the use of an anti-aircraft gun.
Hyon's fate was never confirmed by Pyongyang but he has never been seen or heard of since. Some analysts have suggested he was purged and imprisoned.
Reports -- some confirmed, some not -- of purges, executions and disappearances have been common since Kim took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.
A large number of senior officials, especially military cadres, were removed or demoted as the young leader sought to solidify his control over the powerful army.
In the most high-profile case, Kim had his influential uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, executed in December 2013 for charges including treason and corruption.
Goat arrested for grazing in a judges garden:A goat has been arrested in India accused of repeatedly damaging a judge's garden by eating flowers and plants there.
A goat has been arrested in India accused of repeatedly damaging a judge's garden by eating flowers and plants there.
The animal, called Babli, and its owner Abdul Hassan were taken into custody in Chhattisgarh state after the judge, who is a neighbour, filed a complaint to police.
Mr Hassan has been charged with damaging and destroying other's property and trespass - and faces over two years in prison if proven guilty.
Judge Hemant Ratre had been angered by the goat's trespassing and issued an arrest order as officers sprang into action.
He claimed the black goat often scaled the boundary wall and devoured flowers and vegetables on his property.
The female animal and its owner faced charges of causing mischief and damage to property but were later released on bail.
Mr Hassan has admitted the goat's guilt and promised the animal would not damage the garden again.
"My goat has been brought to the police station. It ate up the flowers and vegetables on the lawn of the judge," he said.
TV footage showed the goat now tethered to stop it escaping.
Assistant sub-inspector R Srivastav said: "The goat's owner has been told several times by the judge's representative not to let the animal graze on other people's lawns.
"The goat would eat up all the plants. We received a written complaint from the judge's office on the basis of which we have registered a case.
"An investigation is on and the goat has been arrested."
Another officer Ram Sewak Paikra later said: "The goat and the owner were under police custody and are out, as both the sections 427 and 447 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) are bailable offences."
Michigan Judge locks up three children:
In Michigan, Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Gorcyca compared three Bloomfield Hills children in a family to cult leader Charles Manson, and then remanded them to custody until they reach adulthood- for refusing to have lunch with their father, or speak to him. Detroit News reports that the parents are a pediatric ophthalmologist and a General Motors engineer who have been involved in a contentious divorce since 2009. The children are 9, 10 and 15. Last month the judge claimed that the children were in contempt of court for refusing to have lunch with, or speak to, the father. The children claim that they do not want to speak with the father because he is abusive. The oldest child explained to the court in a show-cause hearing that he had witnessed the father abuse the mother.
According to the transcript, the 15-year-old first apologized to Gorcyca, but then explained that his father is “violent,”- and that is why he does not want to maintain the relationship.
[15 y/o boy]: “Okay, so I–I do apologize if I–I didn’t understand the rules of the–like the–with–with–like apologize for whatever I did to you, but I do not apologize for–for not talking to him because I have a reason for that and that’s because he’s violent and he–I saw him hit my mom and I’m not going to talk to him.”
Gorcyca’s verbal reaction then borders on the surreal. She tells the boy, “You’re a contemptuous, defiant young man and I am ordering you to spend the rest of the Summer–and we’ll review it–review it when school starts, and you may be going to school there…”
The boy interjects saying that he believed the rules involved not “hitting someone.”
“I ordered you,” Gorcyca replied. “I will say this again, and apparently you’re—you’re supposed to have a high IQ, which I’m doubting right now because of the way you act. You’re very defiant, you have no manners. … There is no reason why you do not have a relationship with your father. Your father has never been charged with anything. Your father’s never been convicted of anything. Your father doesn’t have a personal protection order against him. Your father is well-liked and loved by the community, his co-workers, his family [and] his colleagues. You, young man, have got it wrong. I think your father is a great man who has gone through hoops for you to have a relationship with you.”
Then, in a bizarre twist, Gorcyca brings Charles Manson into the discussion:
“Mother, I appreciate that you did say that. It probably was way too late. Your children—you need to do a research program on Charlie Manson and the cult that he has. Your behavior in the hall with me months ago, your behavior in this courtroom, your behavior back there, is unlike anything I have seen in 46,000 cases.
“You, young man, are the worst one. So you have bought yourself living in Children’s Village, going to the bathroom in public, and maybe summer school.”
Believe it or not it gets worse, when Gorcyca starts in on the 9 and 10-year old. At one point, the 10-year-old tells the judge that he’ll just go ahead and go to jail with his brother. ABA Journal reports:
Later, Gorcyca questioned the two younger children, who at first indicated they would try to communicate with their father during visits. Both children were also represented by lawyers.
Gorcyca said all three children should start by having lunch with their father in the cafeteria. At that point, the 10-year-old boy said he would go to Children’s Village and the 9-year-old girl said she didn’t want to have lunch with her father.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Gorcyca said. “One day you can watch this video and realize that you too have been brainwashed. …. Your dad is a good man. And wipe that smirk off your face.”
The 10-year-old tells the judge it’s not a smirk, and she replies, “You’re a defiant, contemptuous young man and the court finds both of you in direct contempt. You both are going to live in Children’s Village.”
Gorcyca told all the children that her placement order was being made over the objections of both parents. While at Children’s Village, they could not visit with their mother, the judge said. She also ordered that the siblings be kept from interacting with each other. She promised to review her order when they are ready to have lunch or dinner with their father and be “normal human beings.”
This judge is not only unfit to be on a bench or hold a bar license. She needs to be residing in a mental institution.
Show cause hearing transcript
Court Order and Writ of Habeas Corpus
Author’s note. This post has been updated to reflect a correction. This quote:
[15 y/o boy]: “Okay, so I–I do apologize if I–I didn’t understand the rules of the–like the–with–with–like apologize for whatever I did to you, but I do not apologize for–for not talking to him because I have a reason for that and that’s because he’s violent and he–I saw him hit my mom and I’m not going to talk to him.”
originally and incorrectly read:
[15 y/o boy]: “Okay, so I–I do apologize if I–I didn’t understand the rules of the–like the–with–with–like apologize for whatever I did to you, but I do apologize for–for not talking to him because I have a reason for that and that’s because he’s violent and he–I saw him hit my mom and I’m not going to talk to him.”
Soldiers OF ODIN:
Finland's 'Soldiers of Odin' face off against huggy ladies.
Fierce-looking squads calling themselves the Soldiers of Odin have been patrolling Finnish streets in recent months claiming to protect locals from asylum seekers, but lately they've been challenged by an unexpected crew: smiling women serving up hugs.
In the small town of Kemi, an hour's drive south of the Arctic Circle, a group of stocky men in black bomber jackets brave freezing wintry weather of minus 15 degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit) to walk the streets, insisting they're needed to protect local women and children from what their website calls "Islamic intruders."
The handful of Odins -- led by founder Mika Ranta, a 29-year-old truck driver who named the group after an ancient Norse and Germanic god -- keep their eyes peeled for trouble, though no asylum seekers are seen out on the streets when AFP greets the patrol.
The group claims volunteer patrols are active in at least 20 Finnish towns, clad in the group's black hats and jackets emblazoned with "S.O.O." for Soldiers of Odin.
But it was here in Kemi, a working class town known for its forestry industry, that the Odins first began their patrols in October.
They started after an unprecedented flow of mostly Iraqi migrants arrived via the Swedish-Finnish border, many of them crossing through Kemi on their way to towns further south in Finland.
Finland, a country of 5.4 million people, received over 32,000 asylum seekers last year, one of the highest amounts in Europe per capita.
The Odins -- made up mostly of working class men aged around 20 to 40 -- claim the influx has led to a rise in crime.
Police disagree, but Ranta is undeterred and insists their presence will prove necessary in a few months when crowds hit the lakeside beaches in summer and "rape attacks will be starting," he told AFP.
- Neo-Nazi links -
Finnish media have reported widely on the Odins' links to neo-Nazi movements.
Ranta, who was convicted of a 2005 racially-motivated attack against two immigrants, admits readily to being a neo-Nazi -- "Yes, I am" -- but insists his ideology and membership in the Finnish Resistance Movement has nothing to do with the patrols.
"Just because I am, as the founder or whatever, it doesn't mean the whole group are (neo-Nazis)... We're just a street patrol group, so why are people making it into something else?," Ranta argued.
The Odins claim to have around 600 members in Finland, and support groups emerging in the Nordic countries and the US.
Neither the police nor the patrols have reported any violent incidents so far, but authorities are unhappy about their presence.
Finnish police have repeatedly insisted they have no right to intervene.
And the government has condemned their existence, with Interior Minister Petteri Orpo denouncing their "extremist features".
- 'Permission to hug' -
A group of women are now intent on showing that Finland is a tolerant, safe place.
The Sisters of Kyllikki -- named after a joyful female character of Finnish mythology who likes to dance -- are mothers, pensioners and professionals who met up on Facebook.
They're countering the Odin patrols by greeting strangers with a smile and a ticket granting them "permission to hug."
In Kemi, some of the passers-by look alarmed when the women approach: talking to strangers, let alone hugging them, is unusual in taciturn Finland where respecting others' privacy is highly valued.
But the women believe fear and insecurity can be overcome with simple acts of kindness.
"We're here to show that Kemi is safe and peaceful and people should be nicer to each other," explained Katja Hietala, the head of the Kemi branch.
A local woman in her mid-20s said she was supportive of the Sisters and the migrants.
"I'm more afraid of the Soldiers of Odin because they themselves are a lot scarier than anyone else who walks about here," she said, refusing to give her name for fear of reprisals on social media.
The Sisters are not the only ones challenging the Odins.
Recently a troupe of clowns calling themselves "Loldiers of Odin" -- using the online acronym for Laughing Out Loud LOL -- has turned up to mock the Odins during their patrols in Tampere in central Finland, sporting colourful garb and dancing around the patrols in a humourous spoof.
< Message edited by URATURD -- 2/10/2016 7:28:00 AM >
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YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY MAKE IT ALL UP - 
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