Tuesday, October 31, 2017
People Tell Us Their Hometown's Creepiest Urban Legends
Urban legends are a sub-genre of folklore that sprang up as cities became increasingly dense around the time of the Industrial Revolution. By piggybacking on the latest communication innovations of the era, the ability of urban legends to propagate bullshit has grown immensely over time, keeping the fine folks at Snopes.com increasingly busy as the tales have evolved from emails about spiders in bananas to world-changing conspiracies like Pizzagate.
We asked people to share the urban legends from their hometowns and, while none had far-reaching political ramifications, there were definitely a few stand outs that prove just how willing we are to buy into nonsense if it makes for a good story.
In the playground at primary school, the kids said that Nazi war criminal Anton Gekas—who ran a guest house in the area—still had a wallet made out of a human scrotum. He was just like a bogeyman to us, but a real person.
- Lois, Edinburgh
There's a theory that a guy is killing young male lads on the canals of Manchester. Over 60 lads have mysteriously gone missing and been found in there over the past few years. Most of them go missing after a night out. People believe there's a dude, who they're calling "The Pusher," who lurks the canals at night, stalks lads (who he believes to be gay), and pushes them into the canal and kills them.
The police say there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that any of these deaths are related or suspicious, which is crazy. I believe it's true, as I knew of a guy who was found in the canal. It was really surreal to be told he was "just really drunk and fell in by himself." Another guy was found there a few weeks ago, too. People are super divided on it and a lot of people like to say "they were just drunk and fell."
- Drew, Manchester, UK
My hometown built some kind of park where they occasionally held small concerts, so people started saying that Smash Mouth was going to perform there. Then someone said it was because the lead singer was from the area, which I don't think is true. The whole thing snowballed and all the kids in my middle school were eventually talking about this non-surprise surprise Smash Mouth show that was definitely going to happen. It never did, of course. But someone did manage to sell my friend a $13 ticket for this show that never transpired.
- Jade, Palm Springs, California
I remembered hearing stories about a little girl in my hometown who was strapped to the toilet by her parents at an early age. She didn't see the sunlight, didn't talk. After she was rescued, she was basically feral and unable to adjust to a normal life and had to be cared for by others. This legend was actually confirmed as a real case of child abuse when I heard about it again in a high school psychology class.
- Zack, Arcadia, California
I grew up kinda near Three Mile Island and, after the accident, people used to say hunters in the area were bagging two-headed deer. I don't think that actually ever happened but now that I'm thinking about it, that would be a fucking sick trophy to mount on a wall.
- Aaron, Philadelphia
Proctor Valley Road: The legend is that a teenage couple went out there and were making out in their car. They heard noises outside and the boyfriend went to investigate. He never came back. The girlfriend was scared shitless and heard screeching noises on the car. The police finally got to them and above the car was her boyfriend hanging from a tree, his shoes were the screeching noises, as they scraped the hood from his body blowing in the wind.
Lots of weird shit happens there aside from all the dead bodies I've heard they find in the area. I personally drove through it years ago with friends late at night and there is definitely something outta this world along that strip. I shit you not, the gears of my car went whack and something flew over the windshield. We were screaming (all girls) and I pushed the gas pedal down as hard as I could until we got out of there.
My aunts and uncles have stories about it too, from when they were teenagers. They said they went out there to check it out and parked the car and walked around for a bit doing typical teenage stuff. When they came back, there were weird finger prints all along their car smeared from the mist. They said the handprints looked small and not human. They could've been fucking with us but, after my experience, I don't think they were.
- Alex, Chula Vista, California
There was a story about this guy who was dogsitting for his neighbors while they were on vacation. The story goes that their super old dog died (of natural causes) on his watch and, for whatever reason, he had to bring it to the family vet to get it checked out and confirmed as dead. The vet's office was inside a mall or heavily foot-trafficked plaza or something so the sitter put the dog in a duffel bag to carry it in without looking like a weirdo or traumatizing anyone.
While lugging this heaving bag around inside the place, someone came up to him and asked if he needed help carrying it. The sitter declined. The stranger then asked what was inside the bag. Improvising, the sitter said just his computer and some electronics.
Suddenly, the stranger grabbed the bag out of the sitter's hands and ran off with it, thinking he'd pulled off a huge robbery, only to be in for a big surprise later. And our poor hero was left to find an excuse that would explain why the corpse of this family's beloved dog had disappeared.
- Jerry, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
We lived in almost-rural suburban DC, in Maryland. One of the most persistent legends was the "pig man" or "goat man" who was claimed to be either partly one of those two animals, OR just a guy who owned pigs/goats. BUT, the more important detail about him was that he lived way back in the woods (where we'd go play) and that he was always looking to kidnap and murder children.
- Fletcher, Washington, DC
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The Convicted Killer Who Says Smoking Weed Made Her Commit Murder
On an all-new episode of VICELAND's WEEDIQUETTE, host Krishna Andavolu heads to a small regional jail in West Virginia to sit down with Camille Brown, who pleaded guilty to murdering an elderly pastor when she was 19 years old. She claims smoking a bad batch of weed put her in a state of psychosis, and that without it, she wouldn't have committed the crime—leading Krishna to investigate cannabis's potential role in the killing.
WEEDIQUETTE airs Tuesdays at 10:30 PM on VICELAND.
VICELAND is also airing a new episode of CYBERWAR, on which host Ben Makuch digs into the internet of things: watches, appliances, cars, and other electronics connected to the net. Five million new devices are synced up to the web daily, each of which is a target for hackers—prompting some experts to worry vulnerable smart devices are the greatest cybersecurity threat we face.
CYBERWAR airs Tuesdays at 10 PM on VICELAND.
Want to know if you get VICELAND? Find out how to tune in here.
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Skunks Make Great Pets, According to the Founder of Skunkfest
If you're in the market for a new pet, your first thought probably isn't a skunk—but every year in North Ridgeville, Ohio, a group of people gather who have other opinions on the matter. An annual festival aimed to bring together skunk lovers, skunk owners, and of course, their skunks, Skunk Fest is in its 16th year, and VICE was there to document it for the latest episode of American Conventions. (Watch the documentary above.)
While the festival only rolls around once a year, for Deborah Cipriani, it's her life. The founder of Skunk Fest and the SkunkHaven rescue program wants to teach people that skunks are just as loveable as any other animal. "Almost any animal can be a special animal, but when you bond to a skunk, or a skunk bonds to you, it's more special," she told us over the phone.
Cipriani got her first skunk, Daisy, after her mother passed away in 2000, and she's continued rescuing skunks ever since. She also helps people all over the world with their pet skunks, whether via phone, email or in person. "This is a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week love of skunks," she told VICE. We caught up with Cipriani to talk about life post-festival, people's receptiveness to pet skunks, and what makes skunks so special—including her skunk, Gidget, who was crowned queen at the festival.
VICE: Congrats to Gidget on winning the crown! What have you been up to since the festival?
Deborah Cipriani: We've been going to different festivities and doing educational programs with our skunks. We take our skunks out to teach people that skunks are not the smelly little animals they think they are, and to show the public that there are a lot of different varieties of colors of skunks—brown and whites, lavenders, smoked, beautiful gray skunks, and ones with funky blazes like Gidget.
We want to teach people that skunks are not bad animals—and they're not. They look at skunks a different way after—like cute little animals, instead of running from them.
What makes a skunk different from a cat or a dog?
My first skunk was very devoted to me, and I was devoted to her—she'd come when you call her and everything. It's an inner feeling between your pet skunk and you. I've had cats, dogs, mice, rats, gerbils, rabbits. I have a possum. It's just a special feeling inside when you have a pet skunk.
Do they get along with your other animals?
You just have to watch. Sometimes, dogs can play rough and they kill the skunk. With my cat, we would let her inside the house, and it seemed like they got along. The skunks didn't know what the cat was at first, but now the cat just walks amongst the skunks and it's fine.
Do the skunks have individual personalities?
Oh, yes, each skunk is different. One of my white skunks somehow climbed up on a chair that I had a bag of groceries on, and a stalk of celery was sticking out longways. Well, I came around the corner, and he was standing up longways along with the celery, and he saw me, and he kept hiding his head. He knew he was being bad [ Laughs]. It's funny, because you can have a room full of skunks, and the one skunk that's doing something bad will stop and look at you, scream at you, and take off running.
When did you decide to start the rescue?
I bought my first skunk, Daisy, in 2000, and she got very sick that December. When I started the rescue, I started going to a place where the skunks weren't in good condition. We started doing more rescues, then adoptions and educational programs, and everything fell into place until we were internationally known and helping people throughout the world. It's a worldwide skunk organization. People don't just have skunks in the United States—we've had people come to Skunk Fest from the Netherlands, from the UK that flew over just for Skunk Fest.
What part of Skunk Fest do you most look forward to?
I look forward to meeting everybody that you talk to online—putting a face to a name and getting closer to them. When you talk to people on the Internet or over the phone, it's just a voice—but at Skunk Fest, you take that voice and connect it with a face, and it's an awesome bonding moment to meet someone that you've talked to many times and give a big ol' hug.
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This Year's Scariest Halloween Costume Goes to Betsy DeVos as Ms. Frizzle
Deeply unpopular education secretary Betsy DeVos decided to celebrate this year's White House Halloween party by dressing up as every 90s kid's favorite TV teacher Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus, which, as one might imagine, isn't going over too magically.
Fans of the wacky, brilliant, arguably-unhinged Ms. Frizzle slammed DeVos for being bold enough to go for the costume, calling the move "deeply disturbing," "the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen," and—in a word—"sacrilege." One particularly irate Twitter user advised her to "eat shit and die."
Whereas Ms. Frizzle taught Arnold, Dorothy Ann, and the rest of her fourth grade class the value of learning about science hands-on at a public school, DeVos has never been a teacher. The former millionaire donor has relatively little experience working in public schools and has been an outspoken advocate for allocating taxpayer money toward private charter schools—qualifications that left folks scratching their heads when she was selected to serve as education secretary.
Since taking office, DeVos has cut federal guidelines that protected disabled students, scrapped Obama-era guidelines on campus rape, and protected for-profit universities. All that un-Ms. Frizzle-like behavior has made her pretty unpopular with actual students, teachers, parents, and of course, the internet:
If DeVos's rendition of the beloved elementary school teacher completely ruined your childhood memories of all that was pure and good in this world, don't worry: There's a Magic School Bus reboot on Netflix right now, starring SNL's Kate McKinnon as Ms. Frizzle's sister, so you can relive the days when science was as easy as watching a bus full of cartoon children get shrunk and baked into pies or whatever.
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The Bizarre Alleged Relationship Between Jayne Mansfield and Satanism
Mansfield 66/67 is the perfect Halloween treat for those of us who gobbled up Kenneth Anger's legendary tell-all Hollywood Babylon like a handful of stale candy corn. Based on "rumor and hearsay," this documentary is about legendary blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield, her career, and her relationship with late Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey before her untimely death in 1967. Was it more than a photo opportunity for an actress whose star was on the wane and a
publicity-hungry huckster, or was there something about Mansfield's sex-positive persona that was attracted to the tenets of the Church of Satan?
We'll probably never know for sure, as filmmakers P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes—who also produced the 2012 The Shining deep-dive documentary Room 237—are quick to point out, but it's certainly fun to think about. The doc hit theaters this past Friday, and we spoke with them both about it.
VICE: Were you ever inspired to tackle this story as a narrative instead of a documentary?
P. David Ebersole: Actually, we wrote a narrative screenplay several years ago. It kept almost getting made but never quite got there. When we started thinking about our next documentary, we thought, God, we spent all that research on that Jayne Mansfield/Anton LaVey idea, maybe we should just go for the documentary format instead.
Todd Hughes: The narrative version always brought with it the problem—who would play Jayne Mansfield?
Did you have anyone in mind?
We propositioned Christina Hendricks, who loved the idea but then made a decision with her management that she wouldn't portray any legendary bombshell. I guess she'd been offered Jean Harlow as well. We worked with Rose McGowan hoping she would play it, and she actually helped us bring a lot more feminism into the screenplay, which was fabulous.
Ebersole: It was just at the moment where Rose was saying she didn't want to be an actress anymore. The screenplay still exists, so we shall see.
Did either of you try to contact anyone related to Mansfield's estate?
We did not. With Room 237, the idea was also to live in the space of what the audience takes from the movie and what the reaction is to it—whether or not it's the intention of the filmmaker. With this movie, we lived in a similar but different space, which was the way legend lives on in our culture and how we interact with it. We never even tried to talk to people from Anton's or Jayne's families. It just wasn't where we were focused.
Hughes: Kenneth Anger was the first person we interviewed because we had a relationship with him already, and he was the only person in the film who knew Anton LaVey. To balance that out, we put in Mamie Van Doren, who actually knew Jayne—but, you know, she's kind of creating her own mythology.
What are your ideas about Jayne Mansfield and her alleged relationship to the Church of
Satan?
The Church of Satan was pre-Manson murders, and it was at a time where [Anton LaVey] was using the Satan thing to get attention—no one was going to church, Time was asking, "Is God Dead?," Rosemary's Baby was a big hit. Anton'ss philosophy was very live-and-let-live, which Jayne Mansfield would have responded to. Everything he preaches is very logical and, in a way, kind of great.
Ebersole: Are you asking if I believe that there was a curse on her? [ Laughs]
No—do you guys think there's something to their friendship more than just posing for publicity photos?
Yeah, I think we both would say we believe they came together and were interested in each other. Whether it was from an intellectual or sexual point of view is one of those things where you'd have had to be one of the two people in the room to know—but, clearly, she was at a place in her life where she was seeking all sorts of philosophies and information to try to make sense out of some of the things that were going on in her life, and he's a fascinating person, so you could see the two of these people coming together and being very interested in each other.
She's the image of what he was holding up as the perfect symbol of womanhood and femininity, including all of her intelligence and fascination with larger ideas about life. He wasn't somebody who was just interested in the dumb blonde, so they seem like they would be very naturally drawn to each other. We believe that they were attracted to each other and that they came together, and how far that was and how much that manifested itself is one of those things that's impossible to know.
Do you think we've reclaimed Jayne Mansfield as a sex-positive feminist icon?
In hindsight, it's much easier to place her. When you begin to think about how we went forward, our culture went forward into an embracing a woman's sexuality in the 80s, with Madonna. You look back at what Jayne was doing and you realize that women were being kept in a box and shamed for having a powerful sexual appetite. She's someone who becomes more powerful as a feminist figure in hindsight, but at the time she seemed like she was representing something that, as a woman, you had to get past.
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The Russia Probe, Whitefish Energy, and Skunk Fest
On The VICE Guide to Right now, VICE's new daily podcast, we delve into the biggest news of the day and give you a rundown of the stories we're reading, working on, and most fascinated with.
Today, we check in with Taji Ameen who just visited Ohio's annual Skunk Fest for our new video series American Conventions. We hear Taji meet the skunk enthusiasts and their domesticated pets, and one attendee who claims to own the world's only service skunk that helps with seizures.
In the realm of national politics, Puerto Rico's governor just canceled a $300 million energy contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings to help rebuild the island's damaged electricity lines after Hurricane Maria. Whitefish, a small Montana company, has close ties to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and the deal has been criticized by FEMA.
In Washington on Monday, Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates turned themselves in to the FBI after being charged with 12 counts of conspiracy against the United States. Manafort is accused of laundering more than $18 million in a nine-year period before running Trump's campaign, and the charges against him are the first that stem from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election meddling. Gates and Manafort have pleaded not guilty.
You can catch The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast on Acast, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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NASA Has Made a Playlist of ‘Spooky Space Sounds’
This article originally appeared on VICE Australia.
You might think space is silent, but you're wrong. Space is vibrating with a range of electromagnetic waves that can be turned into sound waves and fed through speakers. The results all sound like the in-house sound effects on iMovie, but when you consider you're listening to the sound of a probe flying through a dust cloud, or the roar of Jupiter's magnetic field, the sounds get interesting. Spooky, even.
NASA has turned a bunch of these noises into a Halloween playlist called "Spooky Space Sounds." The noises have been captured by various probes from the 1970s onward, and include a range of pulses, roars, hisses, and some occasional soothing commentary from NASA personnel. A lot of the sounds are underwhelming, but others are pretty good, and so we've coupled our favorites with some fun facts.
Track five brings us the sound of lightning flickering around Jupiter, as captured by the Voyager spacecraft as it sailed by in 1979. You might know the Voyager program because Voyager 1 recently passed into interstellar space, traveling "further than anyone, or anything, in history." You might also know that each probe carries a gold phonograph etched with the details of Earth and its inhabitants. As the Voyager's site explains, "The spacecraft could last billions of years, so these circular time capsules could one day be the only traces of human civilization."
Track eight gives us a sonic rendering of Saturn's radio emissions, as captured by the Cassini spacecraft as it orbited the giant in 2004. The probe went on to figure-eight the planet and its moons until 2017, finally running out of fuel in September. After 20 years in space, NASA decided to send Cassini on a Kamikaze mission into the planet's atmosphere. This would ensure Saturn's moons remain pristine, which presented NASA with some potentially Earth-like conditions and are earmarked for further investigation. Cassini was steered into Saturn on September 15 and destroyed on entry.
For a track that sounds a little more like an actual noise, and not a bad synth, try out track six: "Stardust: Passing Comet Tempel." This sounds like hail falling on a tin roof because that's kind of what you're hearing. As the Stardust probe flew past a comet in 2011, it went through a cloud of debris, pelting the probe in dust and gravel. Like a lot of these sounds, it's not actually at all spooky, but it is interesting, which sums the entire experience of listening to "Spooky Space Sounds."
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Happy Halloween: A Bunch of Octopuses Are Creeping onto Beaches While You Sleep
Halloween season is here, and with it comes the usual host of spooky occurrences. Flight 666 just made its last landing in HEL, some kid was accosted by another creepy clown, and a couple of teens have been scaring people in elaborate shrub disguises. And now, a swarm of octopuses have begun haunting beaches in West Wales during the night, BBC reports—just to prove there's nothing more terrifying than the natural world itself.
According to BBC, the dozens of octopuses were first spotted oozing their way across the sand on Cardigan Bay last Friday night, just in time for Halloween weekend. They appear to be a species of curled octopus that can grow up to a foot and a half long, but videos of the tentacled fleet show that most were smaller than that.
"There were probably about 20 or 25 on the beach," dolphin tour guide Brett Stones told BBC after coming across the octopus army after work. "I have never seen them out of the water like that."
Stones and some fellow beachgoers attempted to help return the beached beasts to the sea, but more have reportedly appeared each night since—and no one has any idea why.
"It was a bit like an end of days scenario," Stones said.
Octopuses are smart. They use tools and appear to strategize and need to be entertained while in captivity or else they'll mastermind an escape. But it doesn't seem like this is phase one in some kind of cephalopod invasion. The real reason behind the octopuses arrival is likely a lot bleaker than that.
James Wright of the National Marine Aquarium in England told the Telegraph that it is "quite odd" for the octopuses to come ashore en masse. There is likely "something wrong with them," potentially related to the recent storms that have hit Ireland and Wales.
"As the areas where they are exhibiting this odd behavior coincides with the two areas hit by the two recent low pressures depressions and associated storms of Ophelia and Brian," he said. "It could be supposed that these have affected them. It could simply be injuries sustained by the rough weather itself or there could be a sensitivity to a change in atmospheric pressure."
If that's the case, then the real ghoul here isn't a flock of evil tentacles coming to lay their suckers on your flesh, but climate change—which is making extreme weather more and more common and will likely decimate the coral reefs, eradicate thousands of species, and fill cities across the US with water over the next few decades.
Are you scared yet? Happy Halloween everybody!
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Riders on the L: Assemblyman N. Nick Perry
In early 2019, the L train in New York City will shut down for 15 months to repair damage caused during Hurricane Sandy. Leading up to the closure, VICE will be providing relevant updates and policy proposals, as well as profiles of community members and businesses along the affected route in a series we're calling Tunnel Vision. Read more about the project here.
When N. Nick Perry was campaigning for the New York State Assembly in 1992, the 105th Street station on the L line, in Canarsie, Brooklyn, had become a top priority. Without proper lighting, the platform proved dangerous to passengers, and, like many subway stations citywide, was subject to structural decay. Its renovation was part of Perry's campaign platform then, and, eventually, it was funded by the MTA. That was 25 years ago. "I look at the Rockaway Parkway station today, and I realize, it's not enough," he says now. "That needs help, too."
But the station's conditions are just one of many local transit woes here.
At the L's terminus, Canarsie will, in 2019, find itself at the tail end of a 15-month shutdown between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Cutting off access to jobs and services in the city, it is no question that the shutdown will have a serious impact on a significant number of the 13,131 passengers who boarded the train at Rockaway Parkway on an average weekday last year. And for Canarsie, perhaps even more so: in an area long burdened by high unemployment and transit woes, it could be said that this neighborhood is ground zero of where the L train shutdown will hit hardest.
"The L line is a lifeblood of transportation from that part of Brooklyn," Perry told me. "That's transportation for Canarsie."
Perry, 67, has represented District 58, which includes East Flatbush, Canarsie, and Brownsville, in the Assembly since he won that race in 1992, and consecutive races after. During rush hour on a recent evening, VICE met with the elected official at his district office on the bustling Utica Avenue, a major transit corridor. The space had the aesthetic that could best be described as Old World (or, rather, Old Brooklyn) political guard: a photo of Perry standing with Bill Clinton and Al Gore before the 1996 presidential election, was seen next to faded campaign posters from elections past. Perry's face appeared above the slogan, "Keep Him Working for You."
The N in his name short for Noah, Perry himself was born in Jamaica, having immigrated to America in 1971, and speaks his mind in a slow, Caribbean drawl. "All of the coverage of the L train [shutdown] is about Williamsburg," he said, before I asked my first question. "They'll probably make more noise, or, at least, the noise that gets attention. Because the community around there is a lot more politically organized, and active, than Canarsie, which, to [the MTA], would be a sleepy town."
Canarsie, Perry said, is "extremely underserved" when it comes to transit. With a population of nearly 84,000 people, the neighborhood is home to only two subway stations—the L at 105th Street, and Rockaway Parkway, as mentioned. The patchwork of bus routes that do exist are notoriously slow; in its report cards, the transit advocacy coalition Bus Turnaround reported that the buses in District 58 go 6.7 miles per hour, on average—a little more than twice the normal walking speed. Bike lanes in the area are also minimal.
In this void has arisen a network of black cars and dollar vans, which shuttle scores of residents to the nearest transit hubs. "When the L train goes down, if you don't have a car to drive around, or money to get around, then you're in trouble," Perry explained.
In 2015, the city of New York reported that Canarsie and the neighboring Flatlands had an unemployment rate of 11 percent, with 12 percent of its residents living below the poverty line. With a significant immigrant population—according to the statistics, 41 percent of the population is foreign born—Perry says his constituents subject themselves to wage exploitation, or "work in the shadows," just to get by in an increasingly expensive city.
"There are pockets of high unemployment that we don't notice. Those reports don't get highlighted," he said. "Everything is bunched into the one big number, and they'll tell you that the unemployment rate is below 4 percent, or near there. So the economy is doing great, but in those numbers are pockets suffering, in need, with a lack of jobs."
That may be why Perry received a round of applause at a community meeting last May when he asked the MTA to offer L train construction jobs to local residents when the project, which is slated to cost $477 million, gets underway. "It's not a good project if people in the community where it's affecting don't get jobs, or don't have an opportunity to participate," he told me. (Perry says that the MTA committed then to sharing employment information with his office, but his staff has yet to receive any.)
Other economic measures—like freezes on sales or commercial taxes at specific times during the shutdown, which has been proposed by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and local politicians who VICE has spoken with—do not appear viable in 2018 or 2019, Perry said, especially when a body that he sits on, the Ways and Means Committee, is receiving regular briefings on possible cuts in federal funding to the state and city. Furthermore, the L train shutdown, he admitted, is not on the minds of many of his colleagues who live elsewhere, even if Albany, where he works, is largely tasked with overseeing the MTA.
Perry heralded the incentives the MTA has put in place to either reward the contractor, Judlau Contracting, for completing the work ahead of time, or fine it $410,000 every day the contractor goes past the 15-month deadline. The L train shutdown will hurt no matter what, he said, but softening the blow to this area in particular is of utmost priority. "The quicker they get it done, the less time we are without reliable transportation," Perry said. "The quicker they get it done, the better it is for the people I represent."
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What It's Like to Grow Up with Deaf Parents
This article originally appeared on VICE Australia.
Peter Bonser was just 11 years old when his three-month-old brother died. Because his parents couldn't digest the verbal language of the hospital doctors, it was his job to explain to them the details of the situation.
"I interpreted all the funeral arrangements for my mom and dad," he says, referring to AUSLAN, the language of deaf Australians. "My grandmother would say to me, 'Can you explain this to them? Because you do it better than I can.' She came to sign language late, but I'd had it since day one."
As a CODA, an acronym for the "Children of Deaf Adults," Bonser straddles the complex cultural plain between the deaf world and the hearing. The official term is given to children who can hear normally themselves but have one or two deaf parents.
The complexity of this dynamic extends beyond communication: There have been High Court cases citing discrimination against the deaf community, and the assumption that deaf people aren't capable of being good parents is unfortunately common.
The role of CODA also comes with weighty responsibilities. Many CODAs act as interpreters for their parents from a young age, and this can mean taking on responsibilities generally reserved for adults. Bonser, who is the founder of CODA Australia, says organizing the memorial of his late brother was a significant experience. But it was also nothing unusual in the realm of the deaf, he says, where such translations are common. In fact, something similar happened to him less than a year later.
"My mom was pregnant, but she hemorrhaged," he says. "She had to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance and the baby had to be aborted. I was 12, and again here I am, calling an ambulance, going in the ambulance with her to the hospital, interpreting all the stuff to her about the baby being aborted, and watching blood transfusions."
On the other hand, and despite the public sector's lack of attention, Bonser says being a CODA has imparted him with a path to nuanced communication. Although he and his wife—whose parents were also deaf—can hear, they throw signs into their personal conversations anyway. "In sign language, there are ways you can express or say things that seem better or more appropriate [in sign than] in English," Bonser explains. "We sometimes sign something because it really captures what we're thinking."
For more on families, watch this:
Evie Mahoney is an author and CODA, and says her hearing was seen by her family as a prized skill. "As long as my parents needed to tell somebody something, I would do it for them," she says. Mahoney is the eldest of six siblings, and as a young girl acted as the primary interpreter. Her role was fluid—she would translate simple exchanges, like conversations, then manage more dynamic issues, like her family's bills.
"When I was nine years old, my mom and I would go down to the phone box and we'd call, say, the electricity board, and tell them something important with the account," she says.
But often, the content was too complex: She wouldn't know what follow-up questions to ask, or who to direct them to. Sometimes, when Mahoney eventually hung up the phone, she felt defeated. "It didn't teach me confidence. My mom would always ask me, 'Did you tell them XYZ?' and I would say, 'No, I didn't know I had to.' I always felt like I had let her down."
The failure of institutional bodies to properly allocate resources to CODAs and their families can have a huge psychological impact. Brent Phillips, a deaf father of two hearing children and director at VicDeaf Australia, says there are organizations like his that do offer resources and programs for CODA families. However, "There is much more that needs to be done to raise awareness about parenting and bringing up children in a bilingual environment, and maximizing success, and participation in society.
"Attention needs to be paid to the 95 percent of deaf children born to hearing parents," he continues, "and ensuring those parents are in a position to make informed decisions around communication, medical and cultural interventions."
Ultimately, Phillips adds, "It is not a question of deaf or hearing, it is a situation where a loving, tight-knit family uses a beautiful, visual language to communicate and bond with each other."
Still, some CODAs find the first few years of school tumultuous due to linguistic limitations. Although some CODAs may appear to be less developed compared their hearing counterparts, it's because they haven't been surrounded by the spoken language. Some teachers mistakenly interpret this as lessened intellectual capabilities.
Jayde Perry, the representative for CODA International, says that she could speak AUSLAN [Australian sign language] from the age of two, but her teachers assumed her lack of English was a learning disability. "Although I understood what was going on, my teachers thought there were some intelligence concerns, when really, there wasn't anything wrong with my intellect," she says. "It was just the fact that I couldn't say it in [their] language."
Most CODAs will catch up by the time they've reached adulthood through speech therapy. But the resources are limited, says Perry, who believes there should be more assistance programs to help professionals in educational capacities understand CODAs. "I know a lot of people, like child psychologists and pediatricians, who [still] need to understand deafness as a community, and understand that CODAs are a part of it," she says.
Exactly how many CODAs exist is the "million dollar question," Perry says. The number of Deaf people as a whole is extremely hard to gauge, for a start—the current estimate in Australia is that one in six Australians has significant hearing issues. She says most deaf people have hearing children, and 95 percent of deaf babies are born to hearing parents, which leaves only a small percentage of deaf people who go on to have deaf children.
Therefore, the majority of the children of deaf people will be CODAs. "The exact number, who knows..." she says. "I don't think we'll ever know."
Evie Mahoney has written about her experience as a CODA in a memoir. The title comes from a question her father asked her when she was little: What Does the Sea Sound Like?
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Rose McGowan Says Arrest Warrant Is an Attempt to 'Silence' Her
On Monday, word broke that Rose McGowan is facing a felony charge for possession of a controlled substance, an allegation the actress called "a load of horseshit," the Washington Post reports.
Back in January, McGowan allegedly left behind a set of "personal belongings" on a flight into Washington Dulles International Airport that "tested positive for narcotics," police told the Post. Police obtained a warrant for her arrest back on February 1, but she hasn't yet been served.
"A warrant was entered into the system," Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department spokesperson Rob Yingling told Radar. "Police have made efforts to reach out to Ms. McGowan through her representatives to make her aware of the warrant. She has not been served."
McGowan and her supporters responded to the news of the months-old warrant—which was issued in Virginia—as an attempt to "silence" the actress, one of Harvey Weinstein's most outspoken accusers. McGowan publicly accused the disgraced producer of raping her, and appeared by name in a New York Times report about decades of sexual harassment and assault allegations against the Hollywood mogul.
On Sunday, the Times reported that McGowan allegedly turned down $1 million in hush money from one of Weinstein's associates who wanted her to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Writer Ashlee Marie Preston argued McGowan's refusal to take the money and reports of the warrant are connected, a theory McGowan endorsed as "fact."
Earlier this month, McGowan was temporarily suspended from Twitter after she told Ben Affleck to "fuck off" and called Matt Damon a "spineless profiteer," implying the two had long known about Weinstein's alleged history of assault. Though Twitter later claimed her account was suspended because one of her tweets featured a private phone number, she labeled the incident a silencing attempt, saying there were "powerful forces at work" against her.
The allegations against Weinstein opened up a floodgate of accusations against other scions in Hollywood, Washington, and beyond. Meanwhile, the extent of Weinstein's alleged abuse is only growing: On Monday, the Times reported on a new slate of accusers who claimed he has been assaulting women since the 1970s.
Follow Drew Schwartz on Twitter.
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Inside the Annual Festival Devoted to Skunk Owners
For the past 16 years, North Ridgeville, Ohio, has hosted pet owners from across the country to celebrate what founder Deborah Cipriani claims is the largest skunk convention in the world. This year, VICE's Taji Ameen went to the annual Skunk Fest to check out its competitions and meet dozens of skunk enthusiasts and the descented animals they keep as pets.
On this episode of American Conventions, Taji meets the owner of a skunk sanctuary, learns what it takes to be crowned the festival's queen or king skunk, and tries to find out why these feared mammals are becoming beloved pets in people's homes.
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The VICE Morning Bulletin
Everything you need to know about the world this morning, curated by VICE.
US News
Bannon Apparently Wants to Retaliate Against Mueller
President Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon is said to be keen for Republicans to question special counsel Robert Mueller's remit and disrupt funding for his investigation. The news follows Monday's indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his partner Rick Gates, and word of a guilty plea entered by former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, who admitted he lied about contact with Russians.—CNN
FBI Authorizes Publication of Rest of JFK Files
The Bureau has OK'ed the release of more documents on the John F. Kennedy assassination held back from a National Archives release last week, but insisted the names of some individuals be redacted. A spokeswoman for the FBI said the "limited redactions" correspond to people "whose lives may be at risk if they are publicly identified."—AP
Almost Half of Americans Exposed to Russian Content on Facebook
Around 126 million Americans saw Facebook content created by Russia, the company disclosed. Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said 29 million US users received free Russian content, which then spread through shares and likes. Twitter has estimated at least 36,700 accounts linked to Russia had pumped out "election-related content" on its own platform.—VICE News
White House Chief of Staff Defends Robert E. Lee
Discussing a Virginia church's plan to remove a plaque to the Confederate general, John Kelly described Lee as an "honorable man" who "gave up his country to fight for his state." Kelly added that the Civil War was the result of "the lack of an ability to compromise."—VICE News
International News
Seven Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza Tunnel
Israeli authorities said its air force had bombed a tunnel in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, near a border wall under construction. According to Gaza's ministry of health, five of the seven people killed were from the al-Quds Brigades, a militant Islamic group. Another nine people were reportedly injured in the strike.—Al Jazeera
Opposition Leaders Vow Boycott of Venezuela's Next Election
Leadership of three political parties—Justice First, Democratic Action and Popular Will—said they will not take part in December's municipal polls, claiming recent votes had been "manipulated." Julio Borges, leader of Justice First, said: "The objective remains getting Nicolas Maduro out of power, and in this struggle, the world is with us."—Reuters
Hundreds Refuse to Leave Papua New Guinea Refugee Camp
Around 600 refugee men are determined to remain at a detention center on Manus Island, despite plans to shut off electricity, food, and water Tuesday. Australia refused to accept the group, though the processing center is run on its behalf. Human rights lawyers have filed action to stop the center's closure.—BBC News
Damage Caused by Climate Change 'Unequivocal'
New research published in The Lancet has found climate change caused an extra 125 million people to suffer in heat waves between 2000 and 2016. It also caused a 46 percent rise in extreme weather events since the turn of the century, according to the study. "The human symptoms of climate change are unequivocal and potentially irreversible," the report read.—Reuters
Everything Else
Arrest Warrant Out for Rose McGowan
A warrant related to drug possession has apparently been issued for the actress, with police claiming belongings she left at Washington Dulles International Airport "tested positive for narcotics." McGowan, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape, tweeted: "Are they trying to silence me? What a load of HORSESHIT." - Deadline
'House of Cards' Finale Announced Following Kevin Spacey Allegation
The sixth season of the show will be the last, a decision that apparently had nothing to do with an accusation its star made sexual advances toward a 14-year-old boy. Netflix did say it was "deeply troubled" by Anthony Rapp's allegation.—VICE
Coachella Organizers Reveal New London Festival
Goldenvoice has announced that All Points East, a new ten-day event featuring three days of music headlined by The xx, will take place in London next summer. The National, The War on Drugs, and Future Islands will also perform.—Billboard
Offset, Metro Boomin, 21 Savage Release Surprise LP
The rap stars dropped a ten-track album titled Without Warning Monday night. The track "Ghostface Killers" features Travis Scott and "Rap Saved Me" features Quavo, of Migos.—Pitchfork
Travis Scott Sued by Fan Who Fell from Balcony
Kyle Green filed a lawsuit against the Houston rapper and Terminal 5 for injuries he sustained during Scott's April show in New York City. The 23-year-old alleges Scott encouraged other attendees to push him.—Noisey
Paul Manafort Used James Bond Passwords, Researchers Claim
According to two anonymous security experts, the former Trump campaign chairman used variations on "Bond007" for his Adobe and Dropbox accounts. The researchers said they had made the discovery based on hacked data dumps.—Motherboard
Make sure to check out the latest episode of VICE's daily podcast. Today we delve into the Russia probe and the crisis in Puerto Rico.
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Even in a 'Sanctuary State,' Immigrants Are Still in Danger
Last week, federal immigration officers in Texas stopped an ambulance at a Border Patrol checkpoint and followed the the ten-year-old patient inside—Rosa Maria Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant with cerebral palsy—to the hospital, where she had an emergency gall bladder operation. Federal agents waited outside the operating room, two at a time in shifts that changed every eight hours, according to Leticia Gonzalez, an attorney representing Hernandez pro bono. They maintained this watch for nearly three days while she recovered, then detained her, sending her to a children's shelter in San Antonio where she is awaiting processing, to she if she can be released to the custody of her family. She may be deported.
Hernandez was brought to the US as a baby from Mexico, by her parents, who are also undocumented. "It's the first time she's ever been away from any family members since she was born," Gonzalez told me. "She doesn't understand what is happening."
Stories like hers one are exactly what many California lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates are hoping to prevent from happening in their home state. Earlier this month, California passed some of the most comprehensive immigration legislation in the country, making the entire state a "sanctuary state." The term refers to policies that protect undocumented immigrants, usually by restricting or obstructing immigration enforcement. California's new law limits the reach of local law enforcement when it comes to detaining or arresting undocumented immigrants as well as restricting local law enforcement from sharing information with federal immigration authorities.
It also creates "safe zones," including hospitals, public schools, and courthouses, where immigration enforcement will be restricted.
"We want these environments to be safe," said the sanctuary state bill's author, California State Senator Kevin de León. "I understand there's a lot of panic and anxiety because of the fear that the Trump administration has purposefully instilled in our vulnerable communities, but people must still continue to work, they still have to take their kids to school, and they still have to go to the hospital. They can't be paralyzed by fear."
But many still are. The bill, which goes into effect in January, doesn't put any limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is a federal, not a state, agency. And that's a concern for many undocumented immigrants living in California, which is home to 2.3 million undocumented immigrants, according to the most recent statistics available, the largest population of any state in the country. (Texas, by comparison, has 1.6 million undocumented immigrants.)
"Living here in LA you hear of so many ICE raids," a young woman told me. She asked that I not use her name, because she is a DACA recipient and her parents are undocumented. "Two weeks ago, my mom drove by the street and bumped into ICE" in their residential neighborhood. "They were there to detain someone and she saw them face-to-face and she, of course, freaked out. It became so real that at any moment our lives could change."
ICE Acting Director Tom Homan said in a statement after the legislation was passed, that the bill undermines public safety and that, "ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests."
But according to many people I spoke with, that's already happening. "Even going to the grocery store," another woman who wishes to remain anonymous told me. "For a while there were rumors of ICE raid (there)." Her parents, who are also undocumented, told her they were scared to go shopping for fear they would get deported.
"I'm under no illusion that enforcement of our federal immigration laws fall solely in the jurisdiction of the federal government," said de León. "We don't impede the federal government from enforcing federal immigration laws because that's their role by law and no one can stop them from doing that. However, we don't have to allow our local police departments to be commandeered by the Trump administration, to be extensions of the Trump deportation machine."
Many cities in the country have adopted sanctuary city laws designed to protect undocumented residents and encourage them to interact with the authorities when needed. Oregon passed a law decades ago that prohibits local law enforcement from enforcing federal immigration law if a person's only crime is being in the country illegally, and Vermont passed a law this year prohibiting local officials with sharing immigrant status and religious information with federal authorities. Other states have moved in the opposite direction: Texas, where Hernandez lives, as well as Mississippi, Indiana, and Georgia have all passed laws this year that punish jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Critics of sanctuary policies say they threaten the public safety and allow dangerous criminals to roam freely. But de León points out that ICE agents aren't prohibited from a California safe zone when they have a judicial warrant. "Usually when you have a judicial warrant, it means you're a pretty bad person," he said.
De León said he assumed, when Trump took office, that the administration might focus solely on removing immigrant criminals. "They've actually done the opposite," he told me. "I think it's fair for ICE to remove individuals convicted of serious and violence criminal felonies. (But) they've been focusing on innocent folk who have the slightest misdemeanor or traffic violation. There's been an increase in those who have no misdemeanors whatsoever."
In his view, the fact that other cities and states are introducing similar sanctuary proposals indicates the need for national reform. "Ultimately, you need comprehensive immigration reform or you'll be continuously playing defense," he said. "That's what you have to get to—comprehensive immigration package that will provide relief to folks who are fearful of being removed from this country, whose children were already born and raised in this country, who are full-fledged Americans."
If and when that reform comes, it will likely be too late for those like Hernandez.
Typically when an undocumented immigrant is detained, processing takes two to three months, Gonzalez said. Authorities have told her they will expedite Hernandez's processing to two to three weeks—during which she will miss post-op appointments scheduled by her doctor. After processing, the family is hoping to get her home. "We're dealing with a disabled, developmentally delayed child who has cerebral palsy, who benefits from routine and from having familiar faces that she knows," Gonzalez said. For now, she stays alone at the shelter.
Cole Kazdin is a writer living in Los Angeles.
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Rosie Perez Tells Desus and Mero Why She Keeps Her Iconic Accent in Films
Rosie Perez never wanted to become an actress, but she ended up becoming a major trailblazer in the movie industry. Over the years, the Brooklyn native has made it clear to Hollywood filmmakers that she wasn't going to lose her accent unless the part requires her to do so.
"If it's not relevant to the role, why not speak the way I speak?" she told Desus and Mero on Monday. "How many times have people asked Robert De Niro to change his accent?"
Perez also talked about the time she first met Spike Lee, discovering Jennifer Lopez, and the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
You can watch Monday night's Desus & Mero for free online now, and be sure to catch new episodes weeknights at 11 PM on VICELAND.
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Trump Costumes Are Everywhere Because Politics Is a Popular TV Show
Like a prize in a cereal box, each Halloween party comes with an added bonus this year: a Donald Trump, a Hillary Clinton, and probably a Vladimir Putin. You may even find a James Comey.
According to data collected in September by the National Retail Federation through a survey of 7,013 consumers, political outfits are just as popular this year as Wonder Woman get-ups, said Ana Serafin Smith, senior director of media relations for the NRF. She said poll results predict 1.51 million Wonder Women and 1.5 million political figures. That's a lot of red hats.
Typically, political costumes do not even make the top 15 in NRF rankings the year following an election, Smith said. During campaign season last year, political costumes ranked eighth, with 2.7 percent of the adult population in the United States—or 1.7 million Americans—carrying the political theme. This year, that percentage point has fallen only slightly, from 2.7 to 2.2. "Normally, the year after the election," Smith said, "political outfits tend to drop from the radar completely."
This year, there's an additional dynamic at play: While many are dressing up as Trump to mock him, the costume also appeals to the president's admirers.
"What's nice about Halloween is, you know, these costumes can have different meanings," said Richard Lachmann, a sociologist and professor at the University of Albany with expertise in comparative historical sociology. "We could think of two different people wearing the same Trump mask and, you know, one being somebody who likes Trump and the other who hates Trump."
Americans often make costume choices based on entertainment, Smith said, and Trump's administration has not-so-subtly seeped into the entertainment realm. With Trump and his cohorts so prominently featured on Saturday Night Live and weeknight talk shows, it is not surprising to Smith that political costumes have held their spot on the ladder. (More surprising, she said, is the fact that Star Wars characters have made the top ten nearly two months ahead of the next movie release.)
At a Halloween party in suburban Long Island on Saturday night, I found Donald and Melania Trump standing next to Bill and Hillary Clinton, their faces highlighted by the blue light of their cell phones. The presidential couples made their way over to a raised white platform to dance together, showered in green and purple light. "No matter who you support or not we thought we'd get some laughs," Haleh Ahdout, the Melania of the group, told me later. "We got a lot of laughs."
Ahdout and her husband, Benjamin Yeroshalmi, who live in Roslyn, had coordinated with their friends to portray the two couples. The group had people coming up to them for photos throughout the night. "Some of the people were Trump supporters and some were not," Ahdout said. "But it seemed everyone got a kick out of it."
Lachmann said the influx of political costumes is not unprecedented. "When Nixon was around, there were huge numbers of Nixon costumes worn by people who hated him," he said. "A lot of people hated Obama, but a lot of them were religious conservatives who didn't do Halloween."
Halloween is a holiday well-suited to mockery, Lachmann added, and politicians are some of the juiciest targets. "There certainly is more of it this year than there's been in recent years, but it's not something that's new," he said. "It's always been a holiday where people can make fun of the powerful. "While it's a fun, harmless way to do it, if enough people do it, it has a real effect."
If a large enough mass uses the holiday to poke and prod a certain politician, that individual can lose credibility, he added. "To some extent, politicians can get defined, or redefined, by this," he said. "This is a way that ordinary people can undermine political leaders."
The combat-by-costume phenomenon Lachlann described extends overseas, where even non-Americans worry about the global ramifications of the Trump presidency, Lachmann said.
"It's not just, 'Oh he's on TV a lot and, you know, so if I wear this costume everyone will know what it is," Lachmann said. "I think it's also that, they feel like victims. There's something happening in the US that shapes their lives and they can't do anything about it."
In Ireland, 12-year-old Issy McSweeney will be walking around behind a Trump mask purchased from a UK supplier on eBay. It was her dad's idea.
"People here find the costume scary and funny at the same time," said her father, Martin McSweeney, in an email. "She also does his 'pull hand shake' which is hilarious."
The McSweeneys are far from Trump supporters, Martin said. Issy cried the morning her father told her Trump had won the presidency. "I cried too," added Martin, who stayed up all night waiting for the election results. "He's viewed as a bad joke here but there's also the underlying fear that he could start WW3."
Back in the States, the joke continues. Morgan Lyles, a sophomore studying communications at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, dressed as Trump last year. "All my reactions were positive—no matter anyone's political view they found it funny," said Lyles, describing the campus as "pretty conservative."
And what is it that makes political costumes so funny? "Our political figures are so outrageous," Lyles said. "We find entertainment just by dressing as them."
Sociologist Joel Best, who teaches sociology and criminal justice at the university of Delaware, does not think the consequences of this are so weighty as Lachlann does. In fact, he doubts there are any significant sociological consequences at all.
"When's the last time you were affected by a Halloween costume?" he asked. "I think that it's just a way of talking about what interests you and saying who you are."
"I don't think it's very profound," he added. It is, however, an opportunity to make a snarky remark like, "This is what's really scary," he noted.
Arielle Dollinger is a New York-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Forbes.com, Newsday , Long Islander Newspapers, the Arizona Daily Star, and Long Island Pulse. Follow her on Twitter .
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Monday, October 30, 2017
Netflix Announces 'House of Cards' Final Season After Spacey Allegation
On Sunday, former Broadway star Anthony Rapp accused actor Kevin Spacey of "trying to seduce" him when he was just 14 years old. After the House of Cards actor apologized to Rapp and came out in the same announcement, Netflix confirmed Monday that the show would end after its sixth season, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Sources told both Newsweek and CNN that the decision to end House of Cards was made months ago and was unrelated to Rapp's allegation. Although Netflix did not explicitly say what influenced the decision to cancel its long-running political thriller, the streaming service said it was "deeply troubled" by the allegations against Spacey.
"In response to last night's revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported," Netflix said in a joint statement with Media Rights Capital, according to Deadline. "As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time."
House of Cards became one of the first critically acclaimed original programs for Netflix and earned Spacey a Golden Globe for his terrifying portrayal of Frank Underwood, a ruthless politician. For five seasons, viewers watched Underwood and his wife, Claire (Robin Wright), rise through the ranks of Washington, outsmarting (or getting rid of) their rivals by any means necessary.
Creator Beau Willimon, who served as the showrunner until season four, issued a statement of his own after Rapp accused Spacey of drunkenly making a pass at him "sexually" at the actor's New York apartment back in 1986.
The show, which is now helmed by showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese, had just started production on its sixth season two weeks ago, according to CNN. By the end of season five, the show's focus shifted to Claire's new position of power—a move some fans hope Netflix sticks to throughout its final season.
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Two Cops Got Charged with Rape After a Teen's Desperate Public Plea
Two NYPD detectives accused of raping an 18-year-old while she was handcuffed in the back of an unmarked police van walked out of Brooklyn Supreme Court on bail Monday. They had just pleaded not guilty to a 50-count indictment including charges of first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, and bribery after weeks of angry calls from local activists and the accuser herself for justice.
"If you can be raped by cops and they can walk out the door, it's just open season on women," said Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women's New York chapter. She called the indictment a positive step but said she was outraged the men hadn't been kicked off the force immediately.
The NYPD confirmed to VICE that Detectives Edward Martins and Richard Hall of the Brooklyn South Narcotics Division were demoted to the rank of police officer and suspended without pay on Friday. That was exactly six weeks after they kidnapped and attacked the woman in the back of their Dodge Charger on September 15, prosecutors said Monday.
According to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, the detectives abandoned a buy-and-bust drug operation in Coney Island and stopped the teenager while she was driving with two young men in Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend. After she admitted she had some loose pills of Klonopin and a small amount of marijuana, she was cuffed and forced to call her friends from the phone of a detective so they could be instructed not to follow her, the indictment said.
"[Martins] said they were freaks and [asked] what did she want to do to get out of her desk ticket [for the drugs]," Assistant DA Frank DeGaetano recounted in court Monday. "Instead of uncuffing the complainant, [Martins] made the cuffs tighter."
Martins then forced the woman to perform oral sex on him before raping her while she cried for him to stop, DeGaetano said. Afterward, Hall stopped the van in the parking lot of the Chipotle on Cropsey Avenue, climbed into the third row and "held her head onto his penis until he ejaculated into her mouth," the prosecutor charged.
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called the crime "a real betrayal of their badge," while the woman's lawyer, Michael David, told VICE it was "the worst [case of police misconduct] I've ever seen."
But nightmarish accounts of rape by police are nothing new to the NYPD. Like other forms of brutality and abuse, they occur in New York and around the country with troubling regularity, as in the 2015 case of Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who was convicted on 18 charges of rape, sexual battery and oral sodomy, among others.
Yet rarely has a police rape case—or a complainant—so thoroughly captured the public imagination.
The saga's prominence owes partly to the simmering outrage over Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's handling of sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein at a time when sexual harassers and assailants are under real scrutiny. But what makes it truly unique is the very public accuser who tweets daily about her case under the name Anna Chambers.
"Since my pic was blasted everywhere ... How disgusting," the woman tweeted Monday afternoon as pictures of the accused officers circulated online. In an era of #metoo, her account is testing the limits of what it means to be a public survivor.
"I believe she's particularly brave," Gonzalez said in reference to the outspoken Twitter account on Monday. "Many young people choose to express themselves that way, and I stand behind her."
Of course, attorneys for the two disgraced officers have been following the woman's social feeds as well. John Arlia, who represents Hall, cited an alleged exchange in her Twitter mentions about the precise legality of consent while in custody as evidence of quid-pro-quo with the officers for her release on the drug arrest. Martins's attorney Mark Bederow, for his part, claimed the woman's social media feeds contain "substantial evidence that we believe respectfully will undermine her credibility—and I'm not talking about photographs."
The attorneys said the bribery charge supports their narrative of quid pro quo, which would appear to be the only other remotely plausible explanation to offer for the detectives' DNA matching with the victim's rape kit, as has been previously reported. The idea that anyone could legally consent to sex while in police custody defies moral logic, but in New York, as in much of the country, it's the law.
Chambers frequently retweets activists who say the power differential between a police officer and someone in custody make consent impossible—"that she's incapable of consent because she's under arrest," as Gonzalez put it. Indeed, New York State law says sexual contact between a corrections worker and an inmate, or someone detained in jail, is always illegal for precisely this reason.
But such protection "does not exist currently" for those in police custody, Gonzalez said, noting that his office has been inundated with inquiries from politicians looking to change that, a move he called "a good idea." As the law stands now, DNA evidence alone can't prove that what happened to Chambers was illegal.
Meanwhile, it's the focus on Chambers's photos that have earned the most public ire. Early news reports overlaying the allegations' grim details onto mirror selfies of the complainant in a green bikini sparked fury from activists and wounded outrage from the survivor.
"Fucking sickening how you try to smear me as if I dont have enough to deal with!!!!" she tweeted on October 22, in response to a story about her "provocative" selfies.
But just as New York law holds that sex in custody can be consensual, so too are selfies sometimes admissible as evidence, albeit not in the way you might expect.
"The victim's sexy selfies will only be admissible in court if the photos demonstrate a motive for her to be lying," said Andrew Cherkasky, a former military prosecutor turned defense attorney who specializes in rape and sexual assault cases. He said rape-shield laws in New York and elsewhere protect a complainant's sexual history, their photographs and how they dress from most legal scrutiny. "But where the behavior informs the suspect's belief that the victim was consenting, the evidence is likely to be admissible," he added.
It's hard to imagine the accuser's self-portraits will clear that bar. But her prolific posts since September may perversely serve to bolster the defense, even as they draw her support and accolades from around the globe.
"In some cases, victims post stories about their victimization—if that story is different than what they told police, that posting will be used to demonstrate a lack of credibility," Cherkasky continued. "If sexualized posts boast or brag about how the victim is going to "get back at" or "get money" from their victimization, that too would be admissible in most situations."
Both Arlia and Bederow suggested to the judge Monday that's exactly what Chambers has done.
The defense's strategy aside, even with compelling evidence, the fact remains that it's been remarkably difficult for New York prosecutors to prove police-involved rape cases over the years.
The cop who admitted to sodomizing Abner Louima with a broom handle in 1997 pleaded guilty mid-trial, but three officers convicted of obstructing justice (and, in one case, violating his civi rights) later saw their convictions overturned. The attorney who defended Officer Michael Pena for the gunpoint assault of a 25-year-old school teacher initially won a mistrial on multiple counts despite the fact that his client was arrested in the act and his semen was found in the victim's underwear. Prosecutors apparently couldn't prove he'd actually inserted his penis into her vagina.
Pena eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree rape and is currently serving 75 years to life in prison. But Kenneth Moreno, who was acquitted of all serious charges in the 2011 case in which he and Franklin Mata claimed they only "cuddled" with the woman who accused them of rape, went on to file suit against his accuser and the city.
"That had a profound effect on how New Yorkers felt about cops," Ossario said.
She suggested the Coney Island case could be decisive in shaping long-term public opinion about Gonzalez, who just won a crowded Democratic primary that included challengers critiquing him from the left on criminal-justice issues.
"It's a real test for him," she said. "They have to win."
Follow Sonja Sharp on Twitter.
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Federal Budget Cuts Could Be a Disaster for HIV Patients
It took some time before Jeffrey Crowley allowed himself to feel optimistic about making a dent in the HIV epidemic—despite being hired by President Barack Obama to do just that.
The Obama administration appointed him in 2009 to be Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (also known as the "AIDS Czar"). At the time, HIV experts were no strangers to well-intentioned HIV plans that fall short, be they abstinence education programs or Ronald Reagan's perfunctory and ignored Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic.
"I was a cynic at first," Crowley said of Obama's interest in developing America's first national HIV strategy. "But it worked."
Under the Obama administration, America made more progress on HIV than at any point in history, approving therapies like PrEP and expanding access to HIV care through the Affordable Care Act. Infection rates declined by 18 percent between when Obama entered office and 2014.
"Where we're at before the Trump administration was a point where HIV is not front-page news anymore," said Crowley. "If we don't take our programs off the rails, we can keep seeing progress."
But the Trump administration may already be derailing it. Health experts are sounding alarms about federal budget cuts, vacant positions at the Office of National AIDS Policy, and troubling policy shifts nationwide. In response, activists and officials are scrambling to prevent what could become a public health disaster.
"A lot of things went right" under the Obama administration, Crowley said. In contrast, the Trump White House's proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 contained over $1 billion in cuts to global spending for HIV programs. That included reductions of about 20 percent of the Centers for Disease Control's HIV program, completely eliminating a crucial workforce training program, cutting $26 million from housing programs, and much more.
The 2018 budget year started on October 1, but Congress has so far delayed voting on a final budget. Instead, appropriations are currently being carried over from last year's levels on a temporary basis, with spending for most HIV programs protected. A final vote on the federal budget is expected in December.
Every year, Congress makes drastic changes to the budget suggested by the White House—this year, Trump's proposal was pronounced "dead on arrival"—but it was still "a very, very disturbing indication of where this administration might be going," said Ronald Johnson, vice president of policy and advocacy at AIDS United, a nonprofit that for decades has helped at-risk communities secure funding for HIV services.
"We've always had to work to defend the need for these programs," said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. "This year is different because we've had outright proposed cuts."
While there were occasional cuts to HIV programs during the Obama administration, they tended to be adjustments—cutting funds from one relief fund to bolster another, for example.
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Were the Trump administration's cuts to become a reality, Harvey said, low-income Americans would be particularly affected. "We would be talking about not being able to go to the doctor. Not getting the blood and lab work that's needed when you're on HIV medications. We're talking about the essential wraparound services, everything from transportation to child care to accessing HIV specialists, who are all supported by these programs."
He added, "people need access to services and health care to stay alive. Without them, people will die."
As Congress prepares to debate the budget, advocates are still deeply worried about what could come next. One version of a House budget bill proposes $21.6 billion more spending for HIV than the White House's version—but still $5 billion less than was allocated last year. And some of Trump's proposed cuts linger in the House and Senate version of the budget.
"There's been a proposed cut to the Secretary of Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF)," said Harvey. "There's a reduction to the substance and mental health services program. ... A section of the Ryan White Care Act was reduced on the Senate side."
If the House cuts all $53.9 million in funding for the SMAIF, as has been proposed, communities of color, already seeing frighteningly high rates of transmission, could face a rise in new infections and obstacles to access treatments like PrEP. The recently-passed House bill also contains $17.4 million in cuts to the Minority AIDS Intiative.
Congress also proposed reducing funds for Part C of the Ryan White Care Act by $4 million; for STD prevention programs at the CDC by $5 million; and for substance abuse programs by $12.4 million. A housing program known as HOPWA also faces $26 million in cuts. Congress also proposed a complete elimination of the Title X family planning program, which funds research and community clinics across the country.
Beyond programs dedicated to HIV, Republicans also proposed a $1.5 trillion cut to Medicaid that could force patients to forgo expensive medication. And Trump's dismantling of ACA funding is expected to force many people to drop their coverage altogether, unable to afford the skyrocketing premiums that Republicans have engineered.
These cuts, though smaller than what the White House initially proposed, could have a ripple effect across other programs. Depleting resources now could, in coming years, increase pressure on the services that remain.
"My fear is that with major cuts to these programs and the enormity of growth in our state, there will be a run on program resources in a couple of years," Colorado organizer Robert Reister told A&U Magazine, an HIV/AIDS-focused publication, in August.
Over the summer, HIV nonprofits rose up to push back against cuts. Protecting life-saving programs required a monumental effort.
"We had over 200 congressional office visits where funding was a main topic," said Johnson. "So far, Congress has not picked up these cuts. Funding for the new year, in the final pending package, appears to be stable."
His organization wasn't alone—over the summer, every HIV nonprofit in the country flooded policymakers' offices with meetings, letters, calls, and protests.
"We've seen a real groundswell of response across the country," said Harvey. "We put out action alerts, local communities respond. When we do a call for people to call their legislators, we get a tremendous response. ... The HIV community continues to be a strong lobbying community."
The tireless work of those organizations appear to have been successful—at least in part. At the beginning of the summer, Congress proposed a $21 million increase for the Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS program. In addition, "President Trump did renew the charter for the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS," said Harvey. The council, which advises federal agencies on public health trends and measures designed to improve access to healthcare, has so far met twice since the start of the new administration.
But six of the council's 18 members have resigned since Trump took office. When asked if the current administration was heeding the council's advice, Harvey took a long pause and responded, "I think the jury is out right now. We're very hopeful."
For now, he said, "We need to get through his congressional appropriations cycle ... that's our immediate concern."
But beyond December, further difficulties could lie ahead. The Trump administration has left dozens of top positions unfilled, including the director to the Office of National AIDS Policy, Jeffrey Crowley's old job. "What we don't have now is the ability to say 'this is where we are, let's jump forward with new initiatives,'" Crowley said.
And new initiatives are sorely needed. Federal funding will play a key role in research into new therapies and vaccines. And despite the progress of the last decade, black men who have sex with men have a 50 percent chance of being diagnosed within their lifetimes, if current rates continue. "That's so astounding, why aren't we stopping everything we're doing?" Crowley said. "We need someone to highlight issues like that."
Despite the current lack of oversight, some states are taking matters into their own hands. California recently modernized certain laws relating to HIV criminalization, in accordance with guidance developed under the Obama administration.
For his part, Ronald Johnson is particularly worried about funding for initiatives like the AIDS Education and Training Program, which provides locally-tailored education for health professionals, ensuring there are no staffing shortages in HIV care.
Republican efforts to eliminate health care reform healthcare by slashing publicly-funded programs are a major concern as well. Medicaid provides coverage for over 40 percent of the population with HIV. "The kinds of restructuring—I would say de-structuring—of Medicaid that was proposed in various repeal-and-replace bills would be catastrophic for people living with HIV," said Johnson, who emphasized that for those living with HIV, any lapse in coverage could be disastrous.
And while Congress debates the budget, Trump has continued to undermine HIV programs by opening loopholes in the Affordable Care Act. This month, he signed an Executive Order that would allow insurance companies to provide cheap, low-quality health coverage while increasing premiums for people who need more comprehensive care. The White House also blocked funding for organizations that help people obtain health coverage.
With a Congressional appropriations vote approaching before the end of the year, HIV advocates are maintaining their resolve to protect paradigm-shifting programs that have developed over the years.
"We have made tremendous progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS," said David Harvey. "We have robust health care services and prevention programs and research programs, but now is not the time to be cutting these programs. We are on the cusp of being able to think about ending the HIV epidemic. These funds that are in place are absolutely essential to maintain."
"We're poised to make major progress," said Jeffrey Crowley. "We need to keep investing in innovation so we can keep getting better."
"We've survived tougher times," he added. "If we survived those times, we can make it through."
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