Brooklyn, New York Landlord Liable for $3.3 million For Harassing Elder Tenants

Prospect Park Residence

Photo: AP

[From article]
The owner of a Brooklyn assisted living facility who came under fire for attempting to evict his elderly patrons — and allegedly trying to force them out through nefarious means — will have to shell out $3.35 million to the remaining tenants as part of a settlement agreement, a Brooklyn judge has ordered.
Prospect Park Residence owner Haysha Deitsch must now pay the remaining five nonagenarians still living in the once-lavish facility the bulk of the settlement in a series of installments.
If he doesn’t stick to the court’s payment schedule, the seniors get more time to move, and more money, said attorney Fred Millett.
The two-year legal saga began in March 2014 when Deitsch abruptly gave his patrons just three months to scram — allegedly so he could sell the lucrative real estate to a development company.
A number, fearing eviction, did move out — but seven tenants stood their ground and fought the order.
Originally dubbed “the Prospect Park 7” the remaining five will have to relocate by August 31st of this year. Two of the original plaintiffs have died over the course of the legal battle.
The tenants originally filed suit claiming the eviction went against their tenant agreements, and didn’t offer enough support for relocation.
Brooklyn Judge Wayne Saitta ordered that Deitsch keep the residence open during the case, but residents soon claimed he was feeding them rotten food, hiking rent, and depriving them of central air-conditioning during the hot summer months.
Deitsch even filed a $50 million countersuit in March of this year, claiming the residents were taking part in a “scheme” to obstruct his sale of the property.
The heft of the settlement will go the five still residing in the dilapidated 134-unit living facility, while a small portion will be given to 4 former residents who moved out under Deitsch’s threat of eviction but were still involved in the suit.
“It is definitely a win for our clients,” said attorney Fred Millet, who represented the plaintiffs. “With the settlement they were able to make plans to move elsewhere, and the money to make that happen.”
But the elderly and soon-to-be-homeless tenants will face some obstacles, the attorney said.
“The problem is there aren’t a lot of adult care facilities in Brooklyn,” he explained. “And while this settlement gives them the time and money to make the transition happen, a lot of these facilities are very expensive. Prospect Park residence was comparatively affordable, so that might make it more difficult.”
Millet says his firm and the plaintiffs will continue with their suit against the Department of Health, who green-lighted Deitsch’s original eviction plan.
Meanwhile, the whole payout will go to the seniors, as Millet and his firm represented them pro bono.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/01/forcing-elderly-out-will-cost-brooklyn-building-owner-millions/

Forcing elderly out will cost Brooklyn building owner millions
By Emily Saul
New York Post
June 1, 2016 | 4:01pm

Study Indicates DNA Damage From Marijuana Use

[From article]
Smoking cannabis can alter a person's DNA, causing mutations that expose a user to serious illnesses, experts have warned.
Furthermore, the heightened risk is not exclusive to the marijuana user, a study has shown.
The disease-causing mutations are passed on to their children, and several future generations, it has emerged.
Though the link between cannabis and severe illnesses, such as cancer, has previously been documented, how this occurs and the implications for future generations was not well understood.
'With cannabis use increasing globally in recent years, this has a concerning impact for the population.'
While a person may appear healthy and lead a normal life, the unseen damage to their DNA could also be passed on to their children, and cause illness for several generations to come.
'Even if a mother has never used cannabis in her life, the mutations passed on by a father's sperm can cause serious and fatal illnesses in their children,' Dr Reece said.
'The parents may not realise that they are carrying these mutations, which can lie dormant and may only affect generations down the track, which is the most alarming aspect.'
Dr Reece said that when the chemicals in cannabis altered a user's DNA structure it could lead to slow cell growth and have serious implications for the fetal development of babies, potentially causing limbs or vital organs not to develop properly or cause cancers.
He said: 'The worst cancers are reported in the first few years of life in children exposed in utero to cannabis effects.'
Dr Reece said the finding was of major importance due to the fact cannabis use is increasing in many nations around the world, as many countries begin to legalize its use.
'Some people may say that previous data collected doesn't show there are serious effects from using cannabis, but many authorities acknowledge that there is now a much larger consumption of cannabis use compared to previous years,' he added.
The study carries implications for researchers, medical health professionals and governments in regulating drug use and protecting those who are most vulnerable.
The research has been published in the journal Mutation Research – Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3607444/Smoking-cannabis-ALTERS-DNA-causing-mutations-trigger-illness-including-cancer.html

Smoking cannabis ALTERS your DNA 'causing mutations that can trigger serious illness, including cancer'
Smoking cannabis alters a person's DNA, causing mutations, experts say
These mutations can trigger serious illness, including cancer
Mutations passed to children and future generations, raising their risk too
By Lizzie Parry For Dailymail.com
Published: 15:07 EST, 24 May 2016 | Updated: 16:44 EST, 24 May 2016

Five Wrongfully Convicted Of Homicide Awarded $40 million

Eric Glisson, right, with his lawyer Peter Cross

[From article]

Five innocent people who each spent nearly 20 years in the slammer for a murder they didn’t commit are dropping their malicious-prosecution suits in exchange for $40 million, Peter Cross, a lawyer for one of the ex-inmates, said Thursday.
Eric Glisson, Cathy Watkins, Carlos Perez, Devon Ayers and Michael Cosme were found guilty in the 1995 shooting of livery driver Baithe Diop, who was killed in The Bronx amid a rash of 1990s cabby holdups.
While in jail, Glisson learned Diop was actually killed by the Sex Money Murder gang, and he sent a letter with that info to the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/22/five-wrongfully-jailed-murderers-get-40m-payout/

Five wrongfully jailed ‘murderers’ get $40M payout
By Bruce Golding
New York Post
April 22, 2016 | 2:41am

College Tribunals For Rape. Civil or Criminal?

Students appear confused by the lack of transparency of this bureaucracy, and skeptical of it. Is the newest bureaucracy performing criminal investigations and findings? Or policy, i.e., administrative investigations and findings? Students need to be clear about what this omniscient academic bureaucratic utopia is doing. Are students told they can pursue their complaints criminally in addition to what the university does? Do campus police refer complaints they receive to the district attorney or to the administration? What system does the campus police use for their legal duties? What the academic bureaucracy tells them or state law?

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/24/odr-hears-34-cases/

After 34 Cases, Central Sexual Harassment Office Aims to Increase Staff
By ANDREW M. DUEHREN ,

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
February 24, 2016

Woman Employee of Yoga Emperor Wins $7 million Damage Award For Sexual Harassment, Retaliation

Choudhury leads a gigantic yoga class at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 27, 2003.

Photo: AP

[From article]
A man who made an empire out of his high-heat brand of yoga has been ordered to pay well over $7 million to a former legal adviser who said he sexually harassed her.
A Los Angeles jury ordered Bikram yoga founder Bikram Choudhury to pay $6.5 million in punitive damages Tuesday on top of $924,000 in compensatory damages he was ordered to pay in the same case a day earlier.
The woman, Minakshi “Miki” Jafa-Bodden, had said Choudhury sexually harassed her and wrongfully fired her for investigating another woman’s rape allegation.
[. . .]
Jafa-Bodden worked as head of legal and international affairs at Choudhury’s Los Angeles yoga school from spring 2011 until March 2013, when she said she was abruptly fired from her six-figure position for refusing to cover up an investigation into a rape allegation.
“Jafa-Bodden faced retaliation and intimidation when she refused to stay silent about witnessing illegal behavior,” her attorney, Mark Quigley, said in a statement.
Additionally, Jafa-Bodden said Choudhury sexually harassed and inappropriately touched her, and tried to get her to stay with him in a hotel suite.
Choudhury, 69, has built an empire around Bikram yoga, a rigorous, 90-minute routine performed in a room that can reach more than 100 degrees. The technique is taught at more than 650 studios worldwide and has drawn a throng of devoted followers.
[. . .]
Jafa-Bodden’s wrongful termination lawsuit is separate from sexual assault lawsuits filed by six other women, five of whom accuse Choudhury of raping them. One of those lawsuits is in the process of being settled while the rest are set for trial later this year.
His attorneys have said he never sexually assaulted any of the women suing him and that prosecutors had declined to bring charges in their cases.
Mary Shea, one of the attorneys representing the women filing the assault lawsuits, said prosecutors never investigated the allegations and that just because charges weren’t filed doesn’t mean the women aren’t telling the truth.
“These are all very brave women who’ve had the courage to stand up against very serious opposition and public scrutiny,” she said. “If anything, this (verdict) has given them the confidence to go forward and speak their truth.”

http://nypost.com/2016/01/27/bikram-yoga-founder-ordered-to-pay-7-4m-for-sex-harassment/

Bikram yoga founder ordered to pay $7.4M for sex harassment
By Associated Press
New York Post
January 27, 2016 | 9:04am

New York City Man Freed After Wrongful Conviction. Dies Before Receiving Damage Award

Lopez is seen speaking to his mother on the phone while standing in between his brother and wife the day he was released from prison.

Photo: Spencer Burnett

[From article]
The family of a man who spent more than two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit will finally collect the windfall settlement he never lived to see.
The wife and daughter of William Lopez — who was wrongfully convicted for a 1989 murder — were awarded a $4.2 million settlement from the state Tuesday, according to the family’s lawyer, Dennis Kelly.
The family has yet to settle a separate ongoing lawsuit against the city seeking an additional $15 million.
“This vindicates Willie’s claim of innocence that he maintained for 23 years,” Kelly told The Post one day after the legal victory.
“He lost 23 years of his life, and his family is very happy that this didn’t have to go to trial.”
Lopez was sprung from prison in January 2013 after years of trying to establish his innocence, but his freedom was short-lived. He died in September of 2014 — days before the 55-year-old’s lawsuit for false imprisonment was set to begin.
While his time on the outside gave him an opportunity to reconnect with his wife, Alice and his daughter, Crystal, Lopez struggled financially and depended on the generosity of friends and family to get by.

http://nypost.com/2016/01/20/wrongfully-jailed-man-doesnt-live-long-enough-to-get-4-2-million-settlement/

Wrongfully jailed man doesn’t live long enough to get $4.2M settlement
By Shawn Cohen and Daniel Prendergast
New York Post
January 20, 2016 | 4:55pm

Judge Judy Awards Damages To Man Whose Confederate Flag Was Vandalized By Three Teens

[From article]

The plaintiff, Jesse Huggins, said he was at a party when he received a phone call telling him his truck and flag were vandalized outside.
When he reached the truck he found the flag, defaced, on the hood with a large scratch on the vehicle’s tailgate.
The teenage defendants, Nicholas Nolan, Christopher Easley and Bailey Forsten, claimed to have found the flag on the ground before they drove around with it, urinated on it and returned it to the scene.
Judy didn’t buy the story as the disrespectful defendants acted foolishly, laughing and avoiding her questions, throughout the hearing.
She awarded Huggins the $2,500 in damages he was seeking as she admonished the defendants.

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/11/21/judge-judy-blows-up-laying-into-mouthy-confederate-flag-vandalizers-you-three-are-a-bunch-of-morons-276360

Judge Judy blows up, laying into mouthy Confederate flag vandalizers: ‘You three are a bunch of morons’
November 21, 2015

Carmine Sabia

https://youtu.be/IqXqV46mdtw

Federal Jury Declares Washington DC Man Was Framed By Police Who Are Liable For Substantial Damages

Donald Gates arrives at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5. 
(Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)

[From article]
A federal jury on Wednesday found that D.C. police framed an innocent man for a 1981 rape and murder, making the District liable for damages after he was imprisoned for 27 years.
Jurors found that two D.C. homicide detectives fabricated all or part of a confession purportedly made by the wrongly accused Donald E. Gates to a police informant. The detectives also withheld other evidence from Gates before he was convicted in the fatal attack on a 21-year-old Georgetown University student in Rock Creek Park, jurors found.
Gates, now 64, was exonerated in the June 1981 killing and released from prison in 2009 after DNA testing.
Following Wednesday’s verdict, Gates’s attorneys said the detectives’ conduct warranted investigation into their handling of other cases.
[. . .]
“It feels like the God of the King James Bible is real, and he answered my prayers,” Gates, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn., said as he left the courtroom. “Justice is on the way to being fulfilled. . . . It’s one of the happiest days of my life.”
[. . .]
Gates’s case was the first federal civil rights claim for damages involving a wrongful conviction in the District.
By law, jurors face no limit on how much money they can award Gates in compensatory damages.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-police-framed-man-imprisoned-27-years-for-1981-murder-us-jury-finds/2015/11/18/7a454054-8e04-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html

D.C. police framed man imprisoned 27 years for 1981 murder, U.S. jury finds
By Spencer S. Hsu

November 18, 2015 at 10:19 PM

Irregular Sleep Habits Damage Genes, May Have Link To Cancer

Researchers in Sweden have discovered that missing a single night of sleep can alter the genes that control our body's cellular biological clocks. Disrupted biological clocks can affect everything from changes in our body temperature, appetite and even brain activity.

[From article]
Researchers warn that though further testing on humans is needed, women with a family history of breast cancer should avoid working shifts that contribute to poor sleep patterns. The study also found that the mice with poor sleeping patterns were 20 percent heavier, despite consuming the same diet as the other mice.
Previous studies in people have indicated that shift workers and flight attendants have a higher risk of diseases like breast cancer.
[. . .]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that insufficient sleep and sleep disruption is considered a public health epidemic. CDC recommends people go to bed around the same time each night and rise at the same time in the morning to help build healthy sleep hygiene.

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2015/07/21/study-irregular-sleeping-patterns-linked-to-cancer/

Study: Irregular Sleeping Patterns Linked To Cancer
July 21, 2015 12:13 PM

* * *

[From article]
You might think losing the odd night's sleep is harmless. Most of us simply up our caffeine intake and power through the next day.
But a new study has found that pulling an all-nighter may have more serious implications for our bodies that previously thought.
Researchers in Sweden have discovered that missing a single night of sleep can alter the genes that control our body's cellular biological clocks.
Disrupted biological clocks can affect everything from changes in our body temperature, appetite and even brain activity.
'Previous research has shown that our metabolism is negatively affected by sleep loss,' said Jonathan Cedernaes, lead author and a researcher at Uppsala University.
Sleep loss has also been linked to an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3169794/Just-ONE-night-bad-sleep-alter-genes-Pulling-nighter-damages-DNA-biological-clocks-claims-study.html

Just ONE night of bad sleep can alter your genes: Pulling an all-nighter damages the DNA in our biological clocks, claims study
Disruption to biological clock genes can increase risk of disease
It can also impact our body temperature, appetite and brain activity
But researchers are unsure if the disruption to genes is permanent
By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:25 EST, 21 July 2015 | UPDATED: 19:16 EST, 21 July 2015

Botched Museum Restoration In Turkey Damages Roman Mosaics From 2nd to 6th Century

Misplaced stones in different colors have ruined the ancient artworks.
Photo: Hürriyet

Is this more intentional destruction in the Middle East? Islamist terrorists destroy churches and art from Middle Ages. In Afghanistan Muslim terrorists destroyed a huge sculpture of Buddha. 

[From article]
Restoration work on a series of Roman mosaics in Turkey dating from the 2nd century to the 6th century has gone horribly wrong thanks to a botched repair job at the Hatay Archaeological Museum in the southern city of Antakya, the BBC reports.
Local craftsman Mehmet Daskapan raised his concerns about the repair quality in an interview with a local paper four months ago. “Valuable pieces from the Roman period have been ruined," he told Antakya Gazetesi at the time. “They have become caricatures of their former selves."
Before and after photos taken by Daskapan show the extent of the damage. Some of the mosaic stones have been replaced with stones of different shapes and colors. Consequently, the facial expressions now appear awry and skewed.
According to the Turkish daily Hürriyet, at least ten artworks in the country's second largest mosaic museum were affected.


Turkey's Culture Ministry has ordered an investigation into the damage
Photo: Hürriyet
news.artnet.com/in-brief/botched-repair-roman-mosaics-turkey-294514

Botched Repair Ruins Priceless Roman Mosaics in Turkey
Henri Neuendorf
Tuesday, May 5, 2015

US Court Awards $218 million Damages For Palestinian Attacks

Attorney Kent Yalowitz, representing those affected by attacks in Israel in the early 2000s, comments about the conclusion of he case outside a federal courthouse in New York Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. The court found the Palestinian authorities liable in the attacks, with jurors awarding the victims $218.5 million in damages at a civil trial.

(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

[From article]

The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority were the catalysts for a series of terrorist attacks in the early 2000s in Israel that killed or wounded several Americans, a U.S. jury found Monday at a high-stakes civil trial.
In finding the Palestinian authorities liable in the attacks, jurors awarded the victims $218.5 million in damages for the bloodshed. The U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act could allow for that to be tripled.
The case in Manhattan and another in Brooklyn have been viewed as the most notable attempts by American victims of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to use U.S. courts to seek damages that could reach into the billions of dollars.
The PLO and Palestinian Authority had no immediate comment. None of the victims was in the courtroom Monday for the verdict.
In closing arguments, plaintiff attorney Kent Yalowitz had urged the Manhattan jury to order the PLO and Palestinian Authority to pay $350 million for providing material support to terrorists involved in six bombings and shootings from 2002 to 2004.
No amount could make up for the human toll, he said. "But if the only thing you can give them is money, then money has to stand in as compensation for the unspeakable loss," he added.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/23/us-jury-palestinian-authorities-liable-for-israeli-terror-attacks-2185m-in/

US jury: Palestinian authorities liable for Israeli terror attacks, $218.5M in damages awarded
Published February 23, 201

Associated Press

Fox News

Connecticut Man Freed After Wrongful Rape and Murder Conviction. Awarded $6 million by State

Kenneth Ireland (pictured), 44, was awarded $6million from the state of Connecticut after being wrongly jailed for 21 years.

[From article]
A man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 21 years for the rape and murder of a mother of four was awarded $6million from the state of Connecticut.


Mr Ireland was imprisoned at the age of 18 for the rape and murder of Barbara Pelkey (left) and was released in 2009 after the Connecticut Innocence Project reviewed his case and initiated new DNA testing.

Kenneth Ireland, 44, was jailed when he was 18 and released in 2009 after DNA tests proved another man fatally beat and raped 30-year-old Barbara Pelkey in Wallingford.
The other man, Kevin Benefield, is serving a 60-year prison sentence for killing the mother-of-four.


Kevin Benefield was found guilty for the murder and is now serving a 60-year prison sentence.

Mr Ireland was issued the award yesterday under Connecticut's wrongful incarceration compensation law.
State claims commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr issued the award to Mr Ireland and said in a report: 'No words or dollar amount will suffice to give him back the time that he lost and the misery that he endured.
'Mr. Ireland was wrongfully convicted and was labeled a murderer and sex offender and was forced to spend a long portion of his life in maximum security prisons.
'He experienced 21 years of violence, sleepless nights and the constant fear and hopelessness that he would die in prison as an innocent man.'
The new DNA testing came after the Connecticut Innocence Project, which looks into potentially wrong convictions, began reviewing Ireland's case in 2007
[. . .]
In 1987 two people came forward to the police and said Mr Ireland and another man had made incriminating statements regarding their involvement in Mrs Pelkey's murder.
A third person came forward a few months later and said Mr Ireland had confessed to the killing.
The third witness later admitted she was drunk at the time and may have imagined that the statements were made.
Mr Ireland was charged based on these witness statements.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2932162/Connecticut-man-wrongly-jailed-21-years-gets-6M-award.html

Connecticut man gets $6m award after being wrongly jailed for 21 YEARS for rape and murder
Kenneth Ireland, 44, was freed in 2009 after DNA tests cleared him of killing mother-of-four Barbara Pelkey
Was exonerated after Connecticut Innocence Project reviewed his case
Mr Ireland said he plans to travel and 'see things I've missed'
First award under state's wrongful incarceration compensation law
By ANNETA KONSTANTINIDES FOR MAILONLINE and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 19:18 EST, 29 January 2015 | UPDATED: 14:36 EST, 30 January 2015

Pope Warns of Bureaucracy Becoming Harmful To Humans

Pope Francis  

Photo: AP

[From article]
Europe’s era of philosophy and “great ideas” has been replaced by the "bureaucratic technicalities” of European Union institutions, Pope Francis has warned.
In a speech that was highly critical of contemporary political culture, the Pope told the European Parliament that the EU was in danger of being seen as “downright harmful” to Europe’s peoples.
“In recent years, as the EU has expanded, there has been growing mistrust on the part of citizens towards institutions considered to be aloof, engaged in laying down rules perceived as insensitive to individual peoples, if not downright harmful,” he told MEPs.
“The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions.”
[. . .]
Using words that could equally be addressed to multinational corporations or powerful EU institutions such as the European Central Bank, Pope Francis described democracy as being at risk from “unseen empires”.
“The true strength of our democracies – understood as expressions of the political will of the people – must not be allowed to collapse under the pressure of multinational interests which are not universal, which weaken them and turn them into uniform systems of economic power at the service of unseen empires,” he said.
[. . .]
“In my view, one of the most common diseases in Europe today is the loneliness typical of those who have no connection with others. This is especially true of the elderly, who are often abandoned to their fate, and also in the young who lack clear points of reference and opportunities for the future,” he said

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11252345/Pope-Francis-warns-European-ideal-replaced-by-bureaucratic-technicalities-of-EU.html

Pope Francis warns 'bureaucracy is crushing Europe'
Pope Francis warns that EU is in danger of being "perceived as insensitive to individual peoples, if not downright harmful"
By Bruno Waterfield, Strasbourg
10:33AM GMT 25 Nov 2014

NY Grandfather Stole Damage Award For Death Of Son, From Granddaughter

Rebecca Schaefer, 13, wears a locket with a picture of her father, Scott Eriksen. 
Photo: Victor Alcorn (2)

[From article]
A heartless Long Island grandpa stole a $2 million wrongful-death payout from his dead son’s young daughter — and blew it on a luxury car, a new house and a nightclub investment before his arrest last week, officials said.
“I was really happy that my grandfather was arrested and put in jail because he deserves it,” Rebecca Schaefer, now 13, told the Post. “I’m so angry with him for what he did.”
Gary Eriksen, whose son, Scott, died in police custody in 2005, secured the windfall in 2011 after filing a federal police-brutality lawsuit and presenting himself as the next of kin.
But the greedy grandfather never mentioned the existence of Scott’s daughter, Rebecca, and tried to cut her out of the cash when she emerged in 2012, her lawyer told The Post.

http://nypost.com/2014/11/28/grandpa-charged-with-stealing-2m-from-dead-sons-daughter/

Grandpa allegedly stole $2M from dead son’s daughter
By Selim Algar
New York Post
November 28, 2014 | 10:43pm

NYC Man Freed After 23 Years In Prison For Wrongful Conviction Dies As Damage Trial Was About To Begin

William Lopez

Photo: Spencer Burnett

[From article]
Jailed more than two decades for a crime he did not commit, William Lopez’s brief taste of freedom came to a sudden, tragic end Saturday when he man died just days before his $124 million lawsuit for false imprisonment was set to start.
The 55-year-old Bronx man had finally been freed in January 2013, after 23 years behind bars for murder, but a massive asthma attack ended Lopez’s short post-prison life at about 1 a.m. Saturday, his lawyer told The Post.
Supporters said his unexpected demise denied him the justice he deserved.
[. . .]
The case against him was very weak. One witness gave a description that did not match Lopez’s profile. The other had just finished a crack binge when the murder took place, and later recanted.
“In short, the prosecution’s evidence was flimsy to begin with and has since been reduced to rubble,” federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote before releasing Lopez.

http://nypost.com/2014/09/22/exonerated-man-who-served-23-years-in-prison-suddenly-dies/

Exonerated man who served 23 years in prison suddenly dies
By Josh Saul and Leonard Greene
New York Post
September 22, 2014 | 1:10am

NY Man Awarded $10 Million for Wrongful Conviction, 16 Years in Prison

Jabbar Collins leaves Brooklyn federal court with his lawyers July 29.
Photo: Stephen Yang

[From article]
“I think the case exposed that the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office under Charles Hynes was a cesspool, and I’m glad that Hynes is no longer in office and that Jabbar Collins has achieved justice,” said Collins’ lawyer, Joel Rudin.
Top city lawyer Zachary Carter made the settlement offer Monday, and Collins decided to accept, Rudin said.
The case exposed controversial allegations about the DA’s office, including that prosecutors kept witnesses in hotel rooms until they agreed to give false testimony, the suit claimed.
One witness also said former Brooklyn prosecutor Michael Vecchione threatened to pummel him with a coffee table if he refused to take the stand against Collins at the original trial.

http://nypost.com/2014/08/19/man-who-spent-16-years-behind-bars-gets-10m-for-wrongful-conviction/

Man who spent 16 years behind bars gets $10M for wrongful conviction
By Josh Saul
New York Post
August 19, 2014 | 2:20pm

Is Psychiatry Harmless?

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right." - Thomas Paine 

Here's an aphorism that applies to psychiatry. Two corollaries: Pre Homeric Greek philosopher Cleobulous: "Chief source of evil among men is excessive good." and George Bernard Shaw: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." 

Lasting Negative Effects of Kelo, Property Taking By Government

[From article]
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that the city of New London and a nonprofit quasi-public entity that the city had set up, then called the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), were entitled to seize, in a process known as eminent domain, the homes and businesses of Kelo, the Cristofaros, and five other nearby property owners in the name of “economic development” that would generate “new jobs and increased revenue,” in the words of since-retired Justice John Paul Stevens, author of the majority opinion.
[. . .]
The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment bars governments from taking private property unless the taking is for a “public use.” Historically “public use,” as courts had interpreted it, meant a road, a bridge, a public school, or some other government structure. But in the Kelo decision, the High Court majority declared that “economic development” that would involve using eminent domain to transfer the property of one private owner to a different but more economically ambitious private owner — such as a hotel — qualified as a public use just as much as, say, a new city library.
[. . .]
After Kelo, more than 40 state legislatures passed laws that banned or restricted the use of eminent domain for the purpose of economic rejuvenation, especially when it meant displacing homeowners. At least seven states amended their constitutions to ban the use of eminent domain for economic development, and some state courts explicitly rejected the Kelo ruling as precedent for interpreting those states’ own taking laws.
[. . .]
The Berman and Kelo rulings affirmed a particular kind of liberal vision: that large-scale and intricate government plans trump individuals’ property rights. The Berman case involved a thriving department store in Southwest that could not in any way have been said to be a slum property and whose owners wanted it to stay where it was — just as Susette Kelo and the Cristofaros wanted to stay where they were.
[. . .]
In a footnote to his majority opinion in Kelo, Justice Stevens rejected this contention, reiterating that the “development plan was not intended to serve the interests of Pfizer, Inc., or any other private entity, but rather to revitalize the local economy by creating temporary and permanent jobs, encouraging spin-off economic activities and maximizing public access to the waterfront.” Still, it couldn’t help but be noticed that a Pfizer executive, George Milne Jr., head of the company’s research operations, was a board member of the NLDC. Or that David Burnett, husband of the NLDC’s chairman, Claire Gaudiani, then the president of Connecticut College, one of New London’s three institutions of higher learning, worked under Milne at Pfizer. In a 2001 interview with the Hartford Courant that he undoubtedly later regretted, Burnett said, “Pfizer wants a nice place to operate. We don’t want to be surrounded by tenements.”
[. . .]
The NLDC might have won its case in the courts of law, but it did everything to lose it in the court of public opinion, its critics alleged: having real estate agents harass elderly Fort Trumbull owners on the telephone; showing up on their front porches waving contracts as they were sitting down to their Italian Sunday lunches; in the case of Billy Von Winkle, locking the tenants out of a Fort Trumbull apartment house he owned; trying to extract “rent” from those who resisted on the theory that the NLDC already had title to their properties; and immediately bulldozing the homes of everyone who sold, so as to isolate the seven holdouts psychologically and physically.
[. . .]
Susette Kelo and the Cristofaros, who held out the longest, got nearly half a million dollars apiece. Kelo was allowed to have her pink house disassembled and then reassembled on a lot in downtown New London as a monument to her struggle. She moved to Groton. The Cristofaro house was bulldozed in 2007, but New London, at Michael Cristofaro’s insistence, placed a plaque on a bluff overlooking the Thames in memory of his mother, Margherita, who had died in 2003, while the lawsuit was pending (Pasquale Cristofaro died in 2009). Michael Cristofaro, who had lived in New London all his life, moved to Waterford.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/kelo-revisited_776021.html

‘Kelo’ Revisited
Properties were seized and a neighborhood razed in the name of ‘economic development’ that never came
FEB 10, 2014, VOL. 19, NO. 21
BY CHARLOTTE ALLEN

Boys Hurt More Than Girls in Dysfunctional Families

[From article]
The social scientific evidence about the connection between violence and broken homes could not be clearer. My own research suggests that boys living in single mother homes are almost twice as likely to end up delinquent compared to boys who enjoy good relationships with their father. Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson has written that "Family structure is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, predictor of variations in urban violence across cities in the United States." His views are echoed by the eminent criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi, who have written that "such family measures as the percentage of the population divorced, the percentage of households headed by women, and the percentage of unattached individuals in the community are among the most powerful predictors of crime rates."
Why is fatherlessness such a big deal for our boys (almost all of these incidents involve boys)? Putting the argument positively, sociologist David Popenoe notesthat "fathers are important to their sons as role models. They are important for maintaining authority and discipline. And they are important in helping their sons to develop both self-control and feelings of empathy toward others, character traits that are found to be lacking in violent youth."

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366405/sons-divorce-school-shooters-w-bradford-wilcox

Sons of Divorce, School Shooters
By W. Bradford Wilcox
December 16, 2013 12:06 PM

* * *

[From article]
Even the most conscientious mother can’t always protect a boy, particularly a restless and impulsive one, from a culture in which gangs have replaced fathers, the threat of violence looms, and schools are filled with apathetic or hostile males. A highly publicized recent study by the Equality of Opportunity Project comparing social mobility by region found that areas with high proportions of single-parent families have less mobility—including for kids whose parents are married. The reverse also held, the study discovered: areas with a high proportion of married-couple families improve the lot of all children, including those from single-parent homes. In fact, a community’s dominant family structure was the strongest predictor of mobility—bigger than race or education levels. This research suggests that having plenty of married fathers around creates cultural capital that helps not just, say, the coach’s son, but every member of the Little League team.

http://www.city-journal.org/2013/23_4_boy-trouble.html

KAY S. HYMOWITZ
Boy Trouble
Family breakdown disproportionately harms young males—and they’re falling further behind.
City Journal
Autumn 2013, Vol. 23, No. 4

Human Liver Harmed By Abuse of Supplements

[From article]
Dr. Victor Navarro, the chairman of the hepatology division at Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, said that while liver injuries linked to supplements were alarming, he believed that a majority of supplements were generally safe. Most of the liver injuries tracked by a network of medical officials are caused by prescription drugs used to treat things like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, he said.
[. . .]
The new research found that many of the products implicated in liver injuries were bodybuilding supplements spiked with unlisted steroids, and herbal pills and powders promising to increase energy and help consumers lose weight.
[. . .]
Duffy MacKay, a spokesman for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group. “It’s the fringe of the industry, but as you can see, it is affecting some consumers.” More popular supplements like vitamins, minerals, probiotics and fish oil had not been linked to “patterns of adverse effects,” he said.
[. . .]
“There is this belief that if something is natural, then it must be safe and it must be good,”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/us/spike-in-harm-to-liver-is-tied-to-dietary-aids.html?_r=0

Spike in Harm to Liver Is Tied to Dietary Aids
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Published: December 21, 2013