Self defense for women

Warplanes belonging to the U.S.-led coalition in Syria bombed elements of dictator Bashar Assad’s army on Saturday. The coalition said the airstrike was conducted in defense of local allies after Syrian forces fired upon them. Syrian media initially described the airstrike as an “unprovoked and unexpected” attack on a Syrian Arab Army artillery position in the town of Al-Sukkariyeh near the Iraqi border. This area contains some of the last remaining towns held by the Islamic State. Both the Syrian military and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are in the region fighting ISIS holdouts.According to the Syrians, the strikes injured two soldiers and destroyed one artillery piece. “Our partner forces were fired upon and exercised their inherent right to self-defense,” coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan responded on Sunday. He indicated an investigation of the incident is underway. Russia’s Sputnik News jumped in to help its Syrian ally by … [Read more...] about Syria: U.S. Coalition Jets Bomb Assad Army in Self-Defense

On Monday, police in Nashville, Tennessee charged 26-year-old Katie Quackenbush with attempting to kill a homeless man, but her father insists she was just defending herself.Detectives claim the suspect shot the 54-year-old victim around 3 a.m. on August 26. The man was trying to sleep on the sidewalk, but couldn’t because of Quackenbush’s nearby Porsche SUV, police say. Because of the exhaust fumes and loud music, he asked her to move the vehicle, but this sparked a loud argument. Both sides yelled at each other. Police claim the man tried to go back to his sleeping spot, but Quackenbush followed him out of her Porsche, and shot him twice with a firearm. She fled, cops say. Meanwhile, the man suffered what authorities describe as a “critical abdominal would.” Law Newz is not naming the alleged victim because he wasn’t charged with a crime.But there’s more to the story, says the suspect’s father. Jesse Quackenbush, a … [Read more...] about Woman Arrested for Shooting Homeless Man; Father Claims It Was Self Defense

The storied, colorful, extraordinarily successful Houston criminal defense lawyer Richard “Racehorse” Haynes died early Friday, not long after his 90th birthday, the Houston Chronicle reports.Haynes’ style and demeanor changed when he entered a courtroom, where he would go from easygoing to taking command of the place, Chris Tritico, the Haynes family spokesman and a criminal defense lawyer, told the Chronicle.“You saw a guy who went from 5-foot-8-inches to 9 feet tall,” said Tritico, who got his start helping out at Haynes’ law office in 1978, just two days after high school graduation. “He owned it. He took control. And he never let go.”Indeed, Haynes was “the master of courtroom theatrics,” as shown in a 2009 ABA Journal profile.For example, the profile offered, Haynes once shocked himself with a cattle prod to show a jury that, while it “hurts like hell, it’s not deadly.” He threatened to drive a nail … [Read more...] about Famed defense lawyer Richard ‘Racehorse’ Haynes dies

Mike Smith will ride Justify for a shot at the Triple Crown in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. He’ll compete against nine other horse/jockey combinations -- and all nine other jockeys will be men. In fact, over the past 48 years, more than 300 jockeys have ridden in Triple Crown races, and only six have been women. A female jockey hasn’t competed in a Triple Crown race since Rosie Napravnik rode General a Rod in the Belmont four years ago. “It’s an incredible feeling, it always validated how far I’ve come, and making it to the level I wanted to be riding at,” said Napravnik, who retired from racing in 2014 at 26 while seven weeks pregnant. “It’s really all about the quality of horses that you’re riding. …That’s why we’re in the game and that’s why we ride to get to the top level.” But Napravnik is the exception. About eight percent of jockeys are female, according to the Jockeys’ Guild … [Read more...] about ‘Tough Game for Women’: Female Jockeys Missing Again at Triple Crown

POLITICS 07/17/2018 10:58 am ET Rep. Joe Kennedy and Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts want to curb the controversial tactic. By Alanna Vagianos Two Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts want to end a controversial legal defense in which a criminal defendant claims violence against LGBTQ people was justified because of “panic” about the victim’s sexual identity or orientation.   Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced the Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2018  this month, proposing to end gay and trans panic legal defenses in federal court.  The defenses “characterize sexual orientation and gender identity as objectively reasonable excuses for loss of self-control, and thereby illegitimately mitigate the responsibility of a perpetrator for harm done to LGBT individuals,” the bill says.  The controversial defense has become rarer as LGBTQ … [Read more...] about Dem. Lawmakers Propose Banning ‘Gay And Trans Panic’ Legal Defense