Black 'lynching' ad, Catholic Church sex abuse, elections

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is expected to sign legislation on Friday raising the maximum penalty for fraternity hazing to a felony, carrying up to seven years in prison. The U.S. government on Friday charged a Russian national with playing a key financial role in a Kremlin-backed plan to conduct "information warfare" against the United States, including ongoing attempts to influence next month's congressional elections. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, became the first person charged with a crime for attempting to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, according to a government official with knowledge of the investigation.

https://www.devdiscourse.com/Article/other/224008-us-domestic-news-roundup-black-lynching-ad-catholic-church-sex-abuse-elections 

Some Scottish bishops call for investigation into Viganò’s claims Pope covered-up for abuser

A number of Scottish bishops agree that there should be an investigation following last month’s explosive testimony of Vatican whistleblower Archbishop Viganò. Bishop John Keenan of the Diocese of Paisley, echoing the thoughts of U.S. Bishop Robert Barron, released a message on August 31 saying that the abuse crisis is clearly diabolical. “It is clearly diabolical in origin – a masterpiece of the Devil to undermine every aspect of the Church’s evangelising mission,” he wrote.

http://angelqueen.org/2018/09/14/some-scottish-bishops-call-for-investigation-into-viganos-claims-pope-covered-up-for-abuser/ 

Faces of Innocents: 12 added to Child Victim Toll

In a major breakthrough, police have acknowledged the public interest in the project and provided information on 12 victims missing from the database.
The toll now stands at 223. The updated information - requested under the Official Information Act - was obtained in September last year after the Ombudsman intervened. It covers the period between 2004 and 2017. Police records are incomplete before that.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/99317527/faces-of-innocents-12-added-to-child-victim-toll 

Director Alex Gibney on making of Loughinisland documentary No Stone Unturned

OSCAR-winning documentarian Alex Gibney is well used to exposing corruption within powerful institutions thanks to films which have taken on war crimes (2007's Academy Award-winning Taxi To The Dark Side), child abuse cover-ups in the Catholic Church (Mea Maxiuma Culpa: Silence in The House of God, from 2012) and the Church of Scientology's ultra-controlling and manipulative ways (2015's Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief).
However, the UCLA Film School-trained New York writer/director admits he was shocked by what he discovered while making his new film about the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, which premiered at this year's New York Film Festival and opens in selected Irish cinemas

http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2017/11/10/news/director-alex-gibney-on-making-of-loughinisland-documentary-no-stone-unturned-1182945/ 

New penalties for cybersex trafficking

 Criminal: The rapid rise of cybersex trafficking – the live streaming of sexual exploitation of children – has galvanised international action by police, lawyers and politicians to act quickly to shut down the insidious crime.
THE rapid rise of cybersex trafficking – the live streaming of sexual exploitation of children – has galvanised international action by police, lawyers and politicians to act quickly to shut down the insidious crime.

http://catholicleader.com.au/news/new-penalties-for-cybersex-trafficking 

Barnardo’s black history in the words and pictures of long-forgotten children

To celebrate the start of Black History Month, the charity is sharing its archive of photographs and poignant testimonials with the Observer, at last giving a voice to the orphans it welcomed into its homes 120 years ago
A hidden store of remarkable personal testimonies, told by a selection of black children and teenagers given shelter by the Barnardo’s organisation up to 120 years ago, has been shared with the Observer this weekend, along with a series of original admission photographs.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/01/barnardos-black-history-victorian-archive-children-photos-testimonials 

Netflix crime series "The Keepers" sparks calls for archdiocese to release priest's files

A crime series has prompted new calls for the Baltimore Archdiocese to release documents about a controversial priest.
"The Keepers" is a Netflix documentary series following Father Joseph Maskell and his alleged abuse of teenage girls at a Catholic high school. It explores whether Maskell, who died in 2001, was connected to the unsolved murder of a nun.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/netflix-the-keepers-series-controversy-catholic-church-baltimore-murder/# 

There are 33 boys in this Grade 4 photo. Twelve of them took their own lives.

Trigger warning: This post includes graphic details of child sexual assault and may be triggering for some readers.
Phillip Nagle is just one of countless victims of a paedophile ring operating in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat during the ’60s and ’70s.
He was also the first of five victims called to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which began its first public hearings in Ballarat this week.
While each account was disturbing, one faded old picture displayed by Mr Nagle to the courtroom perfectly encapsulated the torment caused by child sex abuse.

http://www.mamamia.com.au/ballarat-royal-comission/ 

10 things about Fr Maskell, Irish-American priest at centre of Netflix murder documentary The Keepers

NETFLIX’S latest documentary series, The Keepers, examines the case of Sister Catherine ‘Cathy’ Cesnik, a nun who was murdered after disappearing in Baltimore on November 7, 1969.
Her body was found on January 3, 1970 having suffered a skull fracture from a blow to the head. The show examines whether there is a link between her murder and allegations of abuse at a school she taught, Archbishop Keough High School.

http://irishpost.co.uk/10-things-fr-maskell-irish-american-priest-centre-netflix-murder-documentary-keepers/ 

Judge: former Priest John Feit will stand trial in Hidalgo County

The former priest accused of killing a McAllen beauty queen will head to trial in Hidalgo County.
Attorneys for Priest John Feit — who's charged with the murder of McAllen beauty queen Irene Garza in April 1960 — wanted the murder trial moved, arguing wall-to-wall media coverage would make finding an impartial jury difficult.
Prosecutors, though, fought for the trial to take place where the murder occurred: in Hidalgo County.

http://valleycentral.com/news/local/judge-former-priest-john-feit-will-stand-trial-in-hidalgo-county 

The Keepers Netfix Release

Fans of true crime stories are in for a treat with Netflix's upcoming release of The Keepers. The seven-part docuseries, which investigates the 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik, a beloved teacher at an all-girls Catholic school in Baltimore, presents an engrossing tale of corruption, abuse, religious hypocrisy and citywide conspiracy. Here's what you need to know before the show premieres Friday:

https://mic.com/articles/177303/the-keepers-netflix-release-4-things-to-know-about-the-murder-of-sister-cathy-cesnik#.URA8bKapJ 

Archdiocese reaffirms church fully cooperated with 1969 murder investigation

As Netflix prepares to release a seven-part documentary May 19 about the unsolved 1969 murder of a Baltimore nun, officials of the Archdiocese of Baltimore reaffirmed that the church did not attempt to interfere in the investigation of the death of School Sister of Notre Dame Catherine Cesnik.
Sister Cathy, as she was known, had been a popular teacher at Archbishop Keough High School in the 1960s. She was on a year’s leave of absence from the School Sisters of Notre Dame to teach in the Baltimore public school system when she was reported missing after she left her apartment Nov. 7, 1969, and never returned, the Catholic Review reported Jan. 9, 1970.

http://www.catholicreview.org/article/news/local-news/archdiocese-reaffirms-church-fully-cooperated-with-1969-murder-investigation 

'The Keepers' Is A Plea For Justice, Says Teresa Lancaster

In 1994, under the pseudonyms of Jane Doe and Jane Roe, two women filed a civil lawsuit against a Catholic priest named Father Joseph Maskell. He'd been the chaplain of Baltimore's Archbishop Keough, an all-girls high school the women had attended in the late '60s. They alleged that their years there had been riddled with repeated sexual abuse at his hands, and that a beloved nun, Sister Cathy Cesnik, had been murdered to cover up his alleged crimes (Maskell denied the sexual assault accusations until his death in 2001. He was never charged in connection with Cesnik's case). His sexual abuse accusers identified themselves a decade after their lawsuit was dismissed (the statute of limitations had expired), and now, they've chronicled the saga once again for The Keepers, a gripping but gut-churning new docuseries from Netflix. One of these women, Teresa Lancaster, tells Bustle that The Keepers is a blaring plea for justice.

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-keepers-is-a-plea-for-justice-says-teresa-lancaster-58499 

Foster child suicide: Lawyer for woman who killed herself after 55 placements calls for change

A lawyer is urging child protection authorities to learn from the recent death of one of her clients, who took her own life after enduring more than 55 foster care placements as a child.
"Jolene" was physically, emotionally and sexually abused from infancy and was admitted to hospital more than 100 times. A former nurse told the ABC Jolene regularly self-harmed so she could be admitted to hospital, because it was the only place she felt safe.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-08/former-foster-childs-suicide-prompts-call-for-change/7010002

Child Welfare Unit Tied to Toddler’s Death Is Understaffed and Poorly Trained, Report Says

A unit of child welfare workers that took two days to find a 3-year-old Brooklyn boy, who later died, was understaffed and poorly trained in how to search a database that contained the toddler’s correct address, a report issued on Thursday by the New York City Investigation Department said.

The boy, Jaden Jordan, was found unconscious and covered in feces in his home on Nov. 28 — two days after the city’s Administration for Children’s Services had received an anonymous child-abuse complaint. Social workers had spent those 48 hours knocking on the wrong doors.

Jaden’s case was another high-profile death involving a child whose family had previous contact with the child welfare agency, which was already under immense scrutiny.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/nyregion/brooklyn-ny-jaden-jordan-acs.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170126&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y&_r=0 

WINZ bosses murder a beneficiary – Paula Bennet is responsible

A coroner’s inquest has revealed how WINZ has adopted a punitive culture that led directly to the recent suicide of one of the people it was meant to be helping.
Celebrated former beneficiary Paula Bennet was the minister in charge at the time and should be help responsible.

http://www.unite.org.nz/winz_bosses_murder_a_beneficiary_paula_bennet_is_responsible 

Legal expert: Religious freedom does not justify child abuse

Two Minnesota parents are facing charges of child neglect after they prayed over their severely ill son rather than seeking medical attention just prior to the child’s death.
A criminal complaint says the couple, Sarah Johnson, 38, and Timothy Johnson, 39, found their son Seth, 7, unresponsive and covered in vomit one morning in March 2015.  The parents told authorities they had decided to pray over Seth and treat him with vitamins and honey the night before his death rather than call 911 because they had “issues with doctors.”

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/NewsBriefs/Default.aspx?rssGuid=legal-expert-religious-freedom-does-not-justify-child-abuse-42191/ 

Arraignment set for SF high school football coach charged with murder

An Archbishop Riordan High School assistant football coach arrested on suspicion of murder last week is set to appear in court Wednesday for allegedly killing a man in Visitacion Valley last month, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Salevi Levi, 22, was booked into San Francisco County Jail on Thursday along with his alleged accomplice Dennis Paulo-Tufono.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/arraignment-set-sf-high-school-football-coach-charged-murder/ 

Alcohol abuse behind babys death, says judge

Cape Town -A Western Cape judge was upset that nobody went to the aid of a young mother who was battling to care properly for her baby, who died at just one month old.
Handing down judgment in the case of the murder of little Atnik Persent at a farm in Sandvlei, near Montagu, Judge H Van Staden painted a picture of a sad existence of undereducated farmworkers who spent their free time drinking and fighting among themselves.

http://www.zimbabwestar.com/index.php/sid/248534375 

Arrest Of Rabbi And Member Of Satmar Community For Conspiring To Kidnap And Murder

Goal of the Alleged Scheme Was to Obtain a Religious Divorce for the Victim's Wife

Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and William J. Bratton, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the filing of a federal criminal complaint charging SHIMEN LIEBOWITZ and AHARON GOLDBERG with conspiring to kidnap and murder an individual in order to obtain a religious divorce for that individual’s wife.  LIEBOWITZ and GOLDBERG were arrested yesterday in Central Valley, New York, while meeting to plan the kidnapping and murder.  They will be presented later today before Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman in federal court in Manhattan.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-arrest-rabbi-and-member-satmar-community-conspiring