Found on Flickr with only a few rights reserved.
It’s quite suspicious that, Co-Founder of Reddit and RSS, Aaron Swartz, committed suicide this weekend in his Brooklyn, NY apartment. It’s even more disturbing to hear that he had been facing charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act where he could have been potentially seeing 35 years in prison and up to $1 million dollars in fines.
Justice
What is a 62 year old man’s motives for killing two fire fighters and trying to burn down the whole neighborhood? No one knows for sure, but he did leave a note explaining that, “I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best — killing people.” Is this just a coincidence after the Newton Shooting, or do should we really be focused on gun control? William Spengler, shot two fire fighters and injured two with a semi automatic rifle, the same gun used in the Sandy Hook Shooting.
Did Not Rise To The Occasion
Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik, LLP, a New York-based law firm settled claims for more than 10,000 first responders in the 9/11 tragedy and is now representing nine victims in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting. The survivors are alleging negligence and a lack of sufficient security on behalf of Cinemark and the Century 16 Theater where the event occurred. Though it is the seventh lawsuit filed regarding the horrific July 20 events, it is unique in that its the first to specifically name employees. These employees include the owner, general manager, and manager of the theater. The nine victims are seeking millions of dollars in damages. Read More
Donors beware
Are you an organ donor? If so, you may want to pay attention. A lawsuit was recently filed against the New York Organ Donor network. Whistleblower Patrick McMahon alleged that the Donor Network harvested organs prematurely. Inside the lawsuit, McMahon explains how he witnessed a case where a patient was classified as brain dead, about to have their organs harvested, and then needed tranquilizer medication because they were not immobile. Doctors are pressured to declare patients brain-dead when there still may have been a means to save the patient. At the same time, families of patients were pressured give consent to the donor network if the patient was not already a donor.
Firefighter
This week New York’s Fire Department hit headlines with a civil rights issue that has everyone heated! The FDNY decided to administer a new entrance exam in an effort to hire new firefighters for the first time in 5 years. However, some of the existing New York firefighters feel that the FDNY are pandering to minorities by lowering the standards of the entrance exam to accommodate diversity. The FDNY’s lack of racial diversity has been a subject of ridicule for the past several years. There is no doubt that the diversity in the FDNY is surprisingly pitiful, 91% white, and only 3% black, shocking I know! But the department is walking a fine line between promoting equal employment opportunity and tilting the scales to help minorities. Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that “retroactive seniority and priority hiring of 293 minorities” would begin “immediately”. This decision caused an uproar resulting in 200 firefighters protesting outside of the courthouse in Brooklyn, NY.