When child welfare workers and police knocked on Sarah Perkins’ and Joshua Sabey’s front door well past midnight one weekend last summer, the parents were shocked to learn the state of Massachusetts had come to take their two young sons.

It’s the kind of harrowing scene that plays out daily across the country as social workers motivated by a desire to protect children run up against confused and concerned parents.

What followed was emotional anguish, a bureaucratic battle, vindication for the parents and a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a legal advocacy group. The couple hopes for a favorable ruling that will increase oversight of child removals nationwide.

The children were taken in Massachusetts because of a child abuse report stemming from a hospital visit. On July 13, 2022, Perkins whisked their 3-month-old son Cal to an emergency room. He had a 103-degree fever.

An X-ray checking for pneumonia found a rib fracture the couple hadn’t noticed. After speaking with the boy’s grandmother, they learned the injury may have happened weeks earlier as she removed Cal from a car seat. He slipped, and she caught him with one arm.

Citing the fracture, hospital officials reported potential abuse to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

https://apnews.com/article/children-removed-lawsuit-welfare-agencies-race-6c37dfc5a962d3d31089224b054f0397

Too much overreach and way too much underreach. These things should be wound up quickly and not even taken to court.

A Tennessee woman who was denied an emergency abortion for her life-threatening ectopic pregnancy ultimately became infertile and was forced to have an emergency hysterectomy to save her life, ABC reported on Wednesday. The woman, Mayron Hollis, gave birth prematurely through a cesarean delivery, but for the last several months now, her infant has been in and out of the hospital as Hollis’ staggering medical bills continue to pile up.

Last summer, Hollis and her husband learned she was pregnant shortly after she’d just given birth to their first child in February 2022. The pregnancy concerned doctors, as she’d had a cesarean delivery and become pregnant again in a short amount of time, increasing the risk of a cesarean scar pregnancy—a type of ectopic pregnancy in which the embryo implants in the cesarean scar from a previous C-section.

By August, Hollis learned she did have a cesarean scar pregnancy, that her pregnancy was already bulging out of her uterus, and that she had a placenta accreta—a life-threatening pregnancy complication that occurs when the placenta grows too deeply inside the uterine wall, and part or all of the placenta remains attached to the uterine wall even during delivery. According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition can result in severe blood loss after delivery as well as infertility, as there’s only a narrow window for pregnancies with placenta accreta to be terminated without requiring a hysterectomy.

It was a crushing diagnosis for Hollis and her husband, who had wanted to have another child, prompting them to take time to determine their next step. By the time the couple determined that the risk to Hollis’ life was too significant, Tennessee’s trigger abortion ban had taken effect after the fall of Roe v. Wade last summer. Hollis would need a complex procedure requiring multiple physicians from varying specialties to terminate her placenta accreta without removing her uterus. But as a result of the state’s abortion laws, which at the time featured no exceptions, not enough physicians were willing to provide the care Hollis needed, fearing criminalization. (ABC notes that at the time, an exception to save the life of the pregnant person or prevent permanent bodily injury “only [came] into play when a physician is defending themselves in court,” after they’ve already been charged with a felony for providing abortion care.)

https://jezebel.com/tennessee-woman-denied-abortion-for-ectopic-pregnancy-w-1850491168

Nice work, Tennessee. I hope she sues everyone involved, right up to the governor.

Brandi Williams had been up for two straight days smoking crack cocaine when she realized she was going into labor.

It was a cold Tennessee morning in December 2014, and Williams had to pull herself together to get to a hospital. She borrowed a car from a friend whose excessive alcohol use required him to have a breathalyzer attached to the car's starter.

"Here I am in full-blown labor, driving myself and I can feel the baby's head, like, right there," Williams recalls. "And I'm having to blow in this damn machine or the car would shut off."

She made it to the hospital in time. As she walked through the doors to give birth to her daughter, Williams made one last preparation before delivery.

She tossed her crack pipe into a trash can.

Underneath Williams' raw honesty lies a layer of sad humility. "I was ashamed that I was still getting high while pregnant. I was ashamed because I couldn't quit."

Treatments for drug addiction during pregnancy are safe for both the mother and the baby, doctors say. Methadone and buprenorphine, for example, can reduce cravings and help users carry a pregnancy full term, without long-lasting effects on the baby.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/laws-criminalizing-drug-use-pregnancy-need-change-research-rcna83500

A 14-year-old was fatally shot in the back Sunday by a South Carolina convenience store owner who wrongly accused him of shoplifting and chased him after a confrontation, authorities said.

Rick Chow, 58, was arrested Monday and charged with murder in the death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton.

“He did not shoplift anything," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told reporters at a news briefing Monday. "We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever."

The owner, armed with a pistol, and his son chased the teen toward a nearby apartment complex, Lott said, adding that Carmack-Belton fell at one point but got back up.

Chow’s son said Carmack-Belton had a gun, which is when the owner shot him in the back as he was running away, Lott said. Authorities later recovered a gun next to the teen’s body, but the sheriff said there was no evidence the teen ever pointed the weapon at Chow or his son.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/14-year-old-fatally-shot-back-sc-store-owner-sheriff-says-rcna86855

Alexandra Prokopenko grew up in Moscow. She was always fascinated by economics: money, business, the way economies worked.

A few years ago, she landed a dream job as an adviser at Russia's central bank in Moscow.

Prokopenko loved Moscow. The city was vibrant and beautiful — full of restaurants, music and culture. But by far, her favorite place was Meshchersky Park, a giant forest in the city, where Prokopenko would go running.

"It was my favorite place. I always felt really great in there," she recalls.

But Prokopenko's Meshchersky runs are a thing of the past. She left Moscow, as well as her job at the central bank, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Prokopenko now works at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Her focus is still the Russian economy — she publishes new analyses and data every week.

She says she's glad to be there, but it isn't home.

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1176769042/russia-economy-brain-drain-oil-prices-flee-ukraine-invasion

Through wrecking your country yet, Volodya?

It appears that even the most ardent pro-Kremlin propagandists are still struggling to explain Vladimir Putin’s murky goal of “demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine” more than a year into the invasion.

With Russian war efforts stalling and faltering on the ground, Putin’s talking heads are struggling to get on the same page about what a “Russian victory” actually looks like, leaving state television brimming with clashes and contradictions.

In Monday’s broadcast of the popular talk show The Meeting Place, none of the panelists appeared to have a clear understanding of Moscow’s end-goals in the war—much less how they may be achieved.

“During the last year and two months since the start of the special operation, I’ve traveled dozens of times throughout the country... Every time I am asked: ‘Why is it taking so long, why isn’t it more decisive? To put it harshly, why aren’t we destroying them like rats?,” host Andrey Norkin said.

It did not take very long for that comment to blow up in Norkin’s face.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-state-media-sends-mixed-messages-about-putins-victory-plan-in-ukraine-war

Police in Redding, California say they have found a Tennessee woman reported missing while she was on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend.

According to the Redding Police Department, police in Eureka, California contacted Nikki Alcaraz and confirmed she was safe.

Alcaraz was reportedly spotted in Eureka on Monday, nearly a month after she departed for a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, Tyler Stratton, and a dog to visit family in Orange County, California.

Early Tuesday morning, police responded to the area and determined Alcaraz and Stratton were “together and had been at the location.” Later in the day, someone reported seeing the vehicle Alcaraz and Stratton were believed to be traveling in. Officers found the vehicle and found both inside.

Alcaraz reportedly told Eureka Police she did not need any assistance, according to a release from the department. Stratton was taken into custody for his outstanding warrant from Tennessee for failure to appear on a theft-related offense.

https://www.wate.com/news/tennessee/missing-tennessee-woman-found-safe-in-california-police/

Good news! This was the Gabby Petito parallel, but it ended better. Unfortunately, the young lady may still be deluded about the man.

The man accused of crashing a box truck into barriers near the White House in a bid to overthrow the government planned to give a speech announcing the end of U.S. democracy, prosecutors said.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, was being held without bail pending a hearing Tuesday. He was arrested after the crash May 22 and charged with depredation of property of the United States.

Investigators and prosecutors, however, have suggested that the weightier matter was his alleged intention to seize power and harm the president if necessary.

A memo federal prosecutors filed Friday in support of keeping Kandula behind bars with no conditions before a potential trial said he kept a journal that included a coup speech he planned to give had he taken over the government after the crash.

The memo quotes a passage of the journal, which the defendant described as a "green book," that describes a post-democratic U.S. He addresses "my fellow citizens of America" in prescribing historic change.

“As I am familiar with the [unknown] of this country being a democratic nation, and this will no longer be the case," the passage reads, according to the memo. "There shall be consequence if civil unrest happens. To make it clear Any opposition will be met with death penalty to make it clear: (kill president) As you have seen, we will declare martial until the situation has been [unknown]. We will rebuild this world."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-crashed-u-haul-truck-white-house-wanted-end-us-democracy-prosecuto-rcna86722

Delusions of grandeur much? You're 19, kid.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana may have violated the civil rights of a 16-year-old autistic boy when deputies pinned him to the pavement, handcuffed and shackled, as officers sat on his back for more than nine minutes, according to a “statement of interest” filed this month by the Department of Justice as part of a civil rights lawsuit against JPSO.

The teen, Eric Parsa, died on the scene in January 2020. The sheriff’s office has also recently faced a number of other lawsuits alleging wrongful death, excessive force and racial discrimination by deputies. The sheriff’s office was the subject of a yearlong investigation by ProPublica and WRKF and WWNO starting in 2021, which disclosed evidence of racial discrimination and violence by deputies; after the first story ran, the American Civil Liberties Union called on federal prosecutors to investigate the department.

Regarding the DOJ filing, the sheriff’s office maintains that its deputies did not discriminate against Parsa based on his disability — and thus did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act — because Parsa posed a threat to himself, the public and law enforcement officers.

But the DOJ said that evidence submitted in the case appears to show that Parsa posed no danger, and that deputies were aware of the teenager’s disability and did nothing to modify their procedures or actions to ensure his safety, as required by law.

https://www.propublica.org/article/feds-say-jefferson-parish-deputies-may-have-violated-law-eric-parsa-death

Another Elijah McClain. First of all, there is no such thing as "excited delirium"-- its not in the DSM-whatever number we're up to. Its a made-up "diagnosis". Second, these cops should all be charged with murder.

With three anticipated indictments, two ongoing court cases, and an ever-expanding cadre of lawyers, former President Donald Trump is at a critical juncture—and yet his legal advisers are starting to turn on each other.

According to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation, clashing personalities and the increasing outside threat of law enforcement has sown deep divisions that have only worsened in recent months. The internal bickering has already sparked one departure in recent weeks—and that could be just the beginning.

As Trump’s legal troubles keep growing—with criminal and civil investigations in New York City, Washington, and Atlanta—so too does the unwieldy band of attorneys who simply can’t get along.

The cast of characters includes an accused meddler who has Trump’s ear, a young attorney who lawyers on the team suggested is only there because the former president likes the way she looks, and a celebrity lawyer who’s increasingly viewed with disdain. Worst of all, now that federal investigators have turned the interrogation spotlight on some of Trump’s lawyers themselves, defense attorneys on the team seem to be questioning whether their colleagues may actually turn into snitches.

“There’s a lot of lawyers and a lot of jealousy,” said one person on Trump’s legal team, explaining that the sheer number of lawyers protecting a single man accused of so many crimes is without parallel.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyers-start-to-wonder-if-one-could-be-a-snitch?ref=home

I think all righties are paranoid.