Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category

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Almost as much fun as the circus.

Monday, October 15th, 2012

I’ve written previously about the election results in the notoriously corrupt California city of Vernon. When last we left Vernon, the city council had decided they were going to hire a hearing officer and conduct their own inquiry into alleged voter fraud, after the LA County registrar refused to throw out some of the ballots.

Well, the results of the hearing are in.

If approved by the City Council, the decision would tilt the race in favor of candidate Luz Martinez, a former secretary to Vernon’s top administrator, who had trailed 34 votes to 30. It would also reverse a previous decision made by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, which dismissed the voter challenges this summer and called the race for Martinez’ opponent, Reno Bellamy.

Mr. Martinez was endorsed by the Vernon Chamber of Commerce, which also supported the vote challenge.

To be fair, however, the hearing officer (who was paid “nearly $1,000 an hour” by the city) “sided against the Chamber in two cases where voters claimed multiple residences”. Good to know.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Mulligan update.

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Remember Brian C. Mulligan, the Deutsche Bank executive who was suing the city of LA for $50 million dollars after a series of unfortunate events? (The whole story is too long and bizarre to summarize here; the above link takes you to a longer account.)

It seems that Mr. Mulligan had an encounter with the Glendale PD a few days before his wild night with LAPD. It also seems that Glendale PD recorded that encounter. And it seems that Mr. Mulligan admitted using “bath salts”.

On the recording, Mulligan acknowledged snorting the bath salts as many as 20 times. He said he had been trying to find something to help him sleep because he has a “stressful job” and travels extensively. He said he tried to throw the bath salts away and promised the officer to never buy more.

(You may recall from the previous article that Mr. Mulligan was prescribed “medical marijuana” for “insomnia”. Guess that didn’t work.)

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Last night I dreamt I went to Rikers again.

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting the arrest of Mark Hotton, the man who allegedly faked four investors for a Broadway production of “Rebecca”, the musical. (Previously. Previously.)

This hasn’t been picked up by the NYT yet, from what I can tell, but the arrest only took place a few hours ago; I expect more coverage later in the day or tomorrow.

(Subject line explained for those who don’t get the reference.)

Posted in Clippings, Law, Theatre | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 15, 2012.

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Arlen Specter. (NYT. WP.)

Whenever I think of Arlen Specter, I think of the story Jerry Della Femina tells in his book, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War:

I had a special project to do a campaign for a Philadelphia politician named Arlen Spector (sp?). “When do I get to see Arlen Spector?” I asked. “You don’t.” Spector was a district attorney in Philadelphia, running for mayor. He wanted New York advertising but he had placed through a Philadelphia agency. I complained about not being able to see Arlen Spector. “Are you crazy?” his people said. “Nobody gets to meet Arlen Spector. We can’t even see him.” “All right,” I said, “what’s Arlen Spector for?” “Arlen Spector is for getting elected.” “All right,” I said, “what’s Arlen Spector against?” “Arlen Spector is against losing.” I did the campaign, but Arlen Spector lost.

Also among the dead: Norodom Sihanouk, former king of Cambodia.

…King Sihanouk allied himself with the Khmer Rouge at the urging of his Chinese patrons, giving the Cambodian Communists his prestige and enormous popularity. Their victory in 1975 brought the ruthless Pol Pot to power, with King Sihanouk serving, for the first year, as the figurehead president until he was placed under house arrest and fell into a deep depression. Over the next four years, the Khmer Rouge regime led to the death of 1.7 million people and nearly destroyed the country.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Politics | Comments Closed

Sunday morning link roundup.

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

Some of these are things I promised other people I’d send them a link to, some of these are things I wanted to note in passing.

Here’s the Merlin Mann “Flocked Up” video from the “Worst Website Ever” panel at SXSW 2008. This is where “your (x) is one of the three to fifteen most important things to us” comes from.

HouChron article about women in the brewing profession, complete with photos of the Saint Arnold Brewing Company’s female brewer. The photos in the slide show aren’t quite as good as the one they ran on the front page – the one that made me click through to the article – but they do make me want to try more of the fine products of the company.

I haven’t linked this previously, since many of the people in my circle had already seen it. It turns out that a few haven’t, so: the Ars Technica “I am calling you from Windows” story about Indian “technical support” scammers.

The first set of verdicts came down late Friday in the Austin nightclub trial. (Previously.) I’d also commented that I didn’t think the trial was going all that well for the prosecution: as a matter of fact, the defense rested without presenting any evidence or calling any witnesses, which you have to figure is a sign of confidence that the prosecution does not have a case.

Two of the three Yassine brothers were found guilty of money laundering: Hussain Ali, known as “Mike”, and Hadi. Mohammed Ali Yassine, aka “Steve” was acquitted on the money laundering charges; however, the Statesman says he’s going to be tried on drug charges later.

Basically the only evidence the prosecution had was the word of one of the Yassine cousins, who was a paid federal informer, and who confessed to drug use and theft under oath. My record so far in predicting trial results is mediocre at best, but I would not be shocked to see the convictions overturned on appeal.

And I didn’t actually bring this up, but it came up, and would be useful to link, so: the Wired article about “Cow Clicker”.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Law, Mixology | 2 Comments »

Never again.

Friday, October 12th, 2012

“Never again”, in this case, will the NCAA apply the “death penalty” to a college athletic program.

Not because they didn’t do it to Penn State. Because they didn’t do it to Texas Southern University.

I had not been following the saga of the TSU athletic program closely, until I ran across a nice summary post on the TM Daily Post site.

Investigators said the Tigers’ athletic department from 2004 through 2011 was guilty of improper recruiting tactics, academic impropriety and financial aid and eligibility violations that, based on a review of NCAA records, could be of unprecedented scope, totaling 129 student-athletes in 13 sports.

The phrase “unprecedented scope” is never a good one, especially when the NCAA is using it. In addition, the NCAA also invoked the dreaded “lack of institutional control”.

Plus, TSU has “been on probation or engaged in rules violations for 16 of the last 20 years”. The NCAA refers to them as a “double repeat violator”. In addition, the NCAA claims that “the university reported to the committee it was taking certain remedial actions when it actually was not”.

But what, exactly, have they done? I like the ESPN blogger who says they’ve “pretty much willfully broken every NCAA rule under the sun for the past two decades”; that seems like a good summary. Boosters. Recruiting violations. Players getting financial aid and travel expenses they weren’t eligible for. Lying to the NCAA. Ignoring limits on scholarships imposed by the NCAA previously.

In a particularly original twist, the basketball team was accused of stashing two of its players on the football team and granting them scholarships, though they did not actually play football.

And what did they get? Five years probation, apparently because the NCAA thinks the current TSU administration is committed to reform. (And the school is going to be subject to “stringent” outside supervision.)

Sanctions, both self-imposed by TSU and imposed by the NCAA, include postseason bans for football through 2014 and men’s basketball through 2012-13, football scheduling and scholarship restrictions and an order vacating won-loss records and championships from 2006 through 2010 in all sports and through 2011 in women’s soccer and football.
That penalty wipes out the Tigers’ 2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference football title, their first since 1968.

And the former football and basketball coaches are under three year “show cause” orders, “making them effectively unemployable in college sports during that period, as they are banned from all recruiting, and any school attempting to hire them would be subject to NCAA scrutiny.”

Cheese louise, if they won’t pull the trigger on a school that is that far out of control, who will they pull the trigger on?

Posted in Clippings, Sports | 1 Comment »

A history of violence.

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Daniel Bissman admitted liaisons with prostitutes. When he applied for the job, he was still on probation for punching a man unconscious. Then there was his drug use, dishonesty and involvement in what he estimated to be as many as 100 domestic violence incidents, according to confidential sheriff’s employment records reviewed by The Times.

The job he applied for was “courthouse security guard”. Apparently, Mr. Bissman would not be carrying a gun in this position (which makes me wonder what the point is). And anybody can apply for any job, of course.

Despite an extensive background investigation detailing Bissman’s misdeeds, he was hired for the $25,944-a-year job in November 2009. After a reporter’s inquiry, Bissman, 36, was placed on leave and an internal sheriff’s investigation was launched into the circumstances of the hiring, including whether Bissman received special treatment, according to a department spokesman.

By the way, Mr. Bissman’s mother “is the longtime personal secretary for Undersheriff Paul Tanaka”.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Torah watch.

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Way back in January of 2010, I noted in passing a WP article about Rabbi Menachem Youlus and his “Save a Torah” foundation. Rabbi Youlus claimed to have traveled to Europe repeatedly in order to rescue Torahs that had been misplaced or lost during the Holocaust; the WP suggested that his claims were more than a little exaggerated.

There’s an update:

A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday sentenced Youlus to 51 months in prison, plus three years probation, for defrauding contributors to his Save a Torah Foundation and peddling scrolls with bogus Holocaust provenance. He also was ordered to pay $990,366.05 in restitution to his victims.

Posted in Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

Two from the Times: October 12, 2012.

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Wyclef Jean, a musician, had a charity called Yéle devoted to helping the people of Hati.

The key word there is “had”.

But on his book tour for “Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story,” Mr. Jean, who made an aborted bid for the presidency of Haiti after the earthquake, neglects to mention two key facts: a continuing New York attorney general’s investigation has already found financial improprieties at Yéle, and the charity effectively went out of business last month, leaving a trail of debts, unfinished projects and broken promises.

More:

In 2010, Yéle spent $9 million and half went to travel, to salaries and consultants’ fees and to expenses related to their offices and warehouse. In contrast, another celebrity charity, Sean Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization, spent $13 million with only 10 percent going to those costs.

How much does your charity have to suck to make Sean Penn look good?

And more:

Though Mr. Penn’s group spent $43,000 on office-related expenses, Yéle spent $1.4 million, including $375,000 for “landscaping” and $37,000 for rent to Mr. Jean’s Manhattan recording studio. Yéle spent $470,440 on its own food and beverages.

Some of Yéle’s programming money went to projects that never came to fruition: temporary homes for which it prepaid $93,000; a medical center to have been housed in geodesic domes for which it paid $146,000; the revitalization of a plaza in the Cité Soleil slum, where supposed improvements that cost $230,000 are nowhere to be seen.

But the NYT isn’t all politics and scams and fraud all the time. Sometimes, they let people loose to have a little fun. Or, sometimes, the editors step out for the day, and the children get to play unsupervised. I can’t decide which one applies here:

Buffalo mozzarella is the Great White Whale of American cheesemaking: a dream so exotic and powerful that it drives otherwise sensible people into ruinous monomaniacal quests. Despite all the recent triumphs of our country’s foodie movement (heirloom-turkey-sausage saffron Popsicles; cardamom paprika mayonnaise foam), no one in the United States has, as of yet, figured out how to recreate precisely this relatively simple Old World delicacy — a food with essentially one ingredient (buffalo milk) that is made every day in Italy. Over the last 15 years, in fact, the attempt to make authentic buffalo mozzarella — to nail both its taste and texture — has destroyed businesses from Vermont to Los Angeles. It seems truly doomed. “A Polar wind blows through it,” Melville might have written about it, if he had been a food writer, “and birds of prey hover over it.”

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law | Comments Closed

To tell The Truth.

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

I generally don’t like to link to the same person on consecutive days. If I didn’t have that rule, this blog would be 80% Tam posts, 15% Lawrence posts, and 5% original content by weight, mostly involving shape-shifting lizard people and giant squid. (Original content may settle in shipping.)

While a diet of Tam (not to be confused with a Diet of Worms) never hurt anyone, if you wanted that, you’d be going to her place anyway. As you should be.

But I digress. Linoge over at Walls of the City has an epic post up about the misconduct and dishonesty of a certain gun blog, one that recently received a major award from the Second Amendment Foundation, and one that is frequently linked by Instapundit.

Reading Linoge’s post, it is hard to decide who is worse: the blogger in question, or Ceridian Benefit Services. I think I have to give the edge to Ceridian, but it is a close race to the bottom. Anyway, Linoge’s post deserves wider attention, in my opinion, and I’m happy to help out.

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Quickies for October 11, 2012.

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

The vast majority of people renting homes for this weekend’s Austin City Limits Music Festival could be breaking the law, as only four houses out of an estimated 1,500 short-term rental properties had the required license to operate as of Wednesday.

The city implemented the new rules on short-term rentals ten days ago. Odd how that hasn’t been a problem for the last couple of ACL festivals, but yet the city felt compelled to make a new set of rules anyway. (Yes, it may also have something to do with the F1 race as well, but again, there haven’t been reports of massive short-term rental problems with ACL, or SXSW, or UT football games, or (fill in the blank).)

“It isn’t our desire to be punitive,” Christianson said. “We just want people to have a safe place to stay when they come to Austin.”

Because, of course, people are too dumb to make that decision on their own.

More Alex Karras: NYT. A/V Club.

The question before the court was whether Mr. Ndao was enough of an expert in Senegalese spells to testify at the murder trial of Bakary Camara, 42, who says he killed an ex-girlfriend last fall under the influence of evil spirits. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered the woman, Rita Morelli, 36.

The answer was “no”.

Unfortunately, the Squirrel Report is off the air this week. Which is a darn shame, as not only could they talk about “Commander Squirrel”, but they could also cover this story:

Since the beginning of September, the center has taken in some 400 abandoned baby squirrels, the most in three decades, if you leave out the Ike year.

(Story includes many cute photos of baby squirrels being fed, exactly the sort of thing that’s up Weer’d’s alley.)

Once again, I feel some obligation to comment on the Lance situation. It is looking like option #2 on my list may actually have turned out to be true. But I want to sit down and actually read the USADA report first, and I haven’t had time to do that. (I’m trying to finish the book I’m currently reading, I need to work on the Stanford Computer Networking class, I’m working on planning a birthday celebration, there’s still a movie I want to see, and some other things going on. Plus, tubular bells.)

Anyway, I’ll try to get to it, maybe over the weekend if I can manage to knock out the Stanford stuff.

Posted in Austin, Books, Clippings, Law, Obits, Politics, Sports | Comments Closed

Remember. Whales are a renewable resource.

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

A proposal to import 18 beluga whales for popular interactive park attractions in the United States is drawing fierce opposition from animal rights advocates and others who object to their removal from the wild.

Actually, that wasn’t the part I wanted to single out. This was:

At least four of the nation’s largest marine parks, including the Georgia Aquarium, invite visitors to don wet suits and pet or be nuzzled by the animals for $140 to $250. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago offers couples, for $450, a romantic wading experience that can culminate in a marriage proposal with Champagne, strawberries and the beluga as a de facto chaperon.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’d want to marry a woman who found “a romantic wading experience” with “the beluga as a de facto chaperon” a good idea. I can live with strawberries (though I think they’re the most overrated fruit) and there’s nothing wrong with champagne, but adding a beluga whale to the equation is not romantic.

Posted in Clippings | 5 Comments »

Bad sheriff. No biscuit. No, wait…

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

I’ve written previously about San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who has been convicted of domestic violence.

The mayor of San Francisco needed nine out of eleven votes from the city’s Board of Supervisors to fire Sheriff Mirkarimi.

He didn’t get them.

Four members of the board rejected Lee’s call that Mirkarimi be permanently removed for committing official misconduct, an allegation that stemmed from a New Year’s Eve fight with his wife for which he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: October 9, 2012.

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

There is a quote, commonly attributed to Albert Einstein, (but probably apocryphal, at least in this form) “Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

There is another quote, commonly attributed to an anonymous actor in a commercial, “I’m not a doctor. But I play one on TV.”

What do those have to do with this week’s TMQ? After the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, Food, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | 3 Comments »

Life imitates:

Monday, October 8th, 2012

An episode of “Seinfeld”:

California’s generous recycling redemption program has led to rampant fraud. Crafty entrepreneurs are driving semi-trailers full of cans from Nevada or Arizona, which don’t have deposit laws, across the border and transforming their cargo into truckfuls of nickels. In addition, recyclers inside the state are claiming redemptions for the same containers several times over, or for containers that never existed.

A WCD post:

In what was billed as a major foreign policy address, Mitt Romney blasted President Obama’s leadership in the Middle East on Monday, saying that a withering of American resolve had made the region a more dangerous place where the United States has less leverage.
“Hope is not a strategy,’’ Romney said.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, Politics, TV | Comments Closed

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