Wow!
Sherrone Moore fired as head coach of the University of Michigan.
The team was 9-3 this season. But it wasn’t a football related firing.
“inappropriate relationship”. “with cause”.
He was 17-8 in two seasons. More from ESPN, but not much more.
Edited to add:
There’s been a major shakeup at a Houston-based hospitality company…
“hospitality company”. RCI Hospitality Holdings owns various businesses, including Bombshells Restaurant & Bar, Rick’s Cabaret, Chicas Locas, and Club Onyx.
Anyway:
The HouChron says it is “unclear” why they stepped down, but suggests it might be related to their criminal indictments for bribing a tax auditor.
And if that rings a bell with you now, yes, I covered this back in September. Remember “dance dollars”?
Still no evidence of cocaine being involved in this case, though, alas.
The charges against James Comey and Tish James have been dismissed.
The reason is pretty much the usual one:
The charges were dismissed “without prejudice”, meaning they can be re-filed. I assume they will be if Judge Cameron Currie is overruled in this matter.
It would seem to me that, if the charges were filed before the statute of limitations expired, and the judge’s ruling is held to be in error, the charges should be able to be reinstated. But I Am Not A Lawyer.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is a Democratic congresswoman from Florida.
Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted yesterday.
This time around, it isn’t mortgage fraud.
The allegations, announced by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, are related to the family healthcare company where Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother worked in 2021. According to the Department of Justice, their company received a $5 million overpayment of federal covid relief funds.
Prosecutors allege that a “substantial portion of the misappropriated funds” were then redirected back to Cherfilus-McCormick’s congressional campaign through straw donors and by passing the money through family and friends. “Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a statement announcing the indictment.
Also charged: her brother Edwin Cherfilus, Nadege Leblanc, and Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick’s tax preparer David Spencer.
And I’m looking forward to full on flames.
Headline on the front page of the NYPost:
Dem rep’s $1.2 million DC home target of DOJ mortgage fraud criminal referral
We’re almost getting to the point where “politician charged with mortgage fraud” is the new “car bomb explodes in Beirut”.
But this one is special.
You may remember Eric Swalwell for such hits as “banging a Chinese spy”:
In January 2023, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) kicked Swalwell off the House Intelligence Committee, following reports three years prior that a suspected Chinese spy had infiltrated the congressman’s campaign — and got close to him.
Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, was a purported honeytrap who entered the US from China as a college student in 2011 — but allegedly spent the next four years wooing state and federal lawmakers to potentially obtain sensitive government intelligence.
At least two mayors of midwestern US cities had a romantic or sexual relationship with her, a US intelligence official and former elected official told Axios in 2020.
You may also remember Rep. Swalwell for threatening to use nuclear weapons against gun owners.
If Rep. Swalwell is convicted (and as much as I despise the man, he is still entitled to the presumption of innocence) he will, of course, lose all rights to own guns. I assume this includes any access he may have to nuclear weapons.
70 years ago today, United Flight 629 (a DC-6B) disintegrated near Longmont, Colorado. There were no survivors among the 44 passengers and crew.
Dalya Attar is a state senator in Maryland.
Dalya Attar has been indicted on federal charges of, believe it or not, extortion. Most of the time, it is mail or wire fraud, often in conjunction with bribery. Extortion is so rare, let us savor that for a moment. The indictment was handed down October 23rd, but I’m only seeing reports of it today.
Reports say that there were two people who were “detracting from or negatively influencing her election campaigns”.
This dates back to 2020, when she was working on her re-election to the Maryland House of Delegates. Reports say she had a falling out with a consultant who had previously worked on her 2018 campaign. The consultant became a vocal critic of Ms. Attar, and Ms. Attar wanted her to be “a non-issue in my mind”.
Ms. Attar allegedly conspired with her brother and a Baltimore police officer.
…and others involved in the plot allegedly placed a tracker on the consultant’s car and installed hidden cameras in a smoke detector in an apartment the victim used to rendezvous with her married paramour.
“Damn, I wish I had [the man’s] stamina,” Finklestein stated in a WhatsApp voice message after installing the cameras, according to the indictment.
…
In December 2021, Joseph Attar allegedly met with the man who’d had an affair with the consultant at a Baltimore-area shopping center and claimed to have “hours of footage of you in bed with [her] … the only thing you need to do is very simple, is go to [the consultant] and tell her, leave Dalya alone. Don’t bring her up anymore to anyone. Stay out of this election … and make sure she doesn’t do anything against Dalya.”
According to the indictment, Joseph Attar also told the man that if he didn’t do what he asked, “I’ll share this video with everybody you know, everyone she knows, every Rabbi in town, your kids, your wife, her daughters … I already have all her daughters’ phone numbers, right? And every shadchan [matchmaker] in Israel who is trying to set up her daughters, I’ll share these videos with.”
Sen. Attar wasn’t elected to the Senate: she was appointed in January, but she is currently running for the seat.
I’m linking to the Sun’s coverage, but it is kind of thin right now. “This article will be updated.” The NYPost is a little more detailed, but also “This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.”
LaMar Cook is a staffer for Maura Healey, the governor of Massachusetts.
LaMar Cook has been charged with various crimes.
“unlawful possession of a firearm”. As we all know, Bob, Massachusetts never met a gun control measure it didn’t like.
“unlawful possession of ammunition”. See above.
And “trafficking over 200 grams of cocaine”. Way over 200 grams. Try eight kilos of cocaine. Which he had delivered to the state office building he worked in.
As a great philosopher once said, “Cocaine is a hell of a drug.“
Bjorn Andresen. There’s a certain lack of notability here, but I think it is offset by the sadness of this story.
Mr. Andresen was 15 when Luchino Visconti cast him as Tadzio, the object of desire in his adaption of “Death In Venice”.
Visconti called him “the most beautiful boy in the world”.
Visconti was also fixated on Mr. Andresen. During the boy’s screen test, the director asked him to strip to his swimsuit.
“When they asked me to take off my shirt, I wasn’t comfortable,” Mr. Andresen told Variety after the release of “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” a 2021 documentary about him directed by Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri. “I wasn’t prepared for that. I remember when he posed me with one foot against the wall, I would never stand like that.
“When I watch it now,” he said, “I see how that son of a bitch sexualized me.”
He told The Guardian that Visconti was “the sort of cultural predator who would sacrifice anything or anyone for the work.”
…
During the making of “Death in Venice,” Visconti acted protectively toward Mr. Andresen. But the boy felt unprepared when Visconti took him to a gay club after the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1971.
In the documentary, Mr. Andresen recalled feeling besieged by “voracious looks, wet lips and rolling tongues” and getting drunk to cope with the unwanted attention. He wondered if Visconti, who was gay, was testing him to see if he was also gay, which he wasn’t.
…
Over the last 20 years or so, his flowing hair became gray and he obscured his face behind a beard that made him look something like Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” films.
Mr. Andresen continued to act, mostly on television in Sweden but also in films, including a memorable turn in Ari Aster’s 2019 horror movie, “Midsommar.” He was also a keyboard player in a dance band, a composer of jazz and bossa nova music, the arranger of the music for a Swedish production of “The Rocky Horror Show,” and the manager of a small theater in Stockholm.
Lawrence sent over an obit for Pierre Robert, long time Philadelphia DJ. The NYPost ran one as well.
This isn’t quite an obit, but I don’t know where else to put it. I also don’t quite know how to write about it, so I’m just going to do the best I can.
Officer Lauren Craven of the La Mesa (California) Police Department was killed on October 23rd. She was 25 years old, and had joined the department in February of 2024.
She came upon a deadly rollover crash on Interstate 8 northeast of San Diego just before 10:30 p.m. last Monday, officials said.
She reported the incident over the radio before stepping out and walking toward a car that had flipped over.
Craven was struck by another car, which triggered a chain reaction, smashing into the vehicles involved in the initial crash.
David Pearce was sentenced yesterday.
Pearce met Christy Giles, 24, and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, at a rave party in Los Angeles and lured them back to his place — plying them with fentanyl-laced coke and drugged drinks and then refusing to call for help when they overdosed.
A witness claimed Pearce said “dead girls don’t talk” when he begged the killer to call 911.
Instead, Pearce dragged their limp bodies into his Toyota Prius and dumped them on the sidewalk in front of two different hospitals.
After the girls were murdered and scumbag Pearce was charged, seven other women came forward and said they’d been assaulted by him.
It came out yesterday, during the sentencing, that one of those women was Ms. Craven.
…
Pearce was sentenced to a total of 146 years in prison for his crimes…
She was assaulted by someone who isn’t even worth being called “human”, but she didn’t let that stop her. She worked her butt off to get through the police academy and get sworn in as an officer, and she died a hero.
Anybody else notice that there’s an awful lot of dust in the air today?
I know I’ve been quiet the past few days. There just hasn’t been much going on. But today is shaping up to be interesting.
ESPN is reporting the arrest of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. Also arrested: Terry Rozier, guard for the Miami Heat.
According to the NYPost:
Billups, an NBA Hall of Famer, has been charged with partaking in an alleged illegal poker ring tied to the Bonanno, Genovese and Colombo crime families, sources told The Post.
A total of 31 people across the country are charged with running rigged games, which took place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Las Vegas, sources said.
The players involved were being paid by mobsters to play in card games fixed with technology and card shuffling machines to give the house the advantage, sources familiar with the case said.
The athletes were told to take a dive when they had to and win when they were told. It didn’t appear as if they were attempting to pay off any debts, sources said.
Rozier’s arrest is tied to another case.
ESPN is suggesting this might also be tied to the Jontay Porter case.
Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and admitted in court to manipulating his performance in two games during the 2023-24 season. He is awaiting sentencing in December.
Four men, including Porter, have pleaded guilty in the case. Two other men have been named as conspirators and have been in plea negotiations, according to court filings.
And I did promise a firing, didn’t I? This is a sports firing, but it’s an odd one: Ken Williamson has been “permanently suspended” as a SEC referee.
…following eleven complaints against the seasoned official and his crew during the Auburn-Georgia game on Oct. 11, sources told Yellowhammer News on Wednesday.
“According to sources, nine of those complaints were validated by conference officials,” the outlet wrote.
The game’s biggest controversy came late in the second quarter, when Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold lost the ball near the one-yard line during a QB sneak and was recovered by Georgia cornerback Kyron Jones.
Though multiple angles from ABC’s broadcast appear to show Jackson crossing the goal line before the ball was punched out, officials ruled it a fumble — awarding the Bulldogs possession after the recovery.
John Searle, philosopher. He was best known (at least to me) as a critic of artificial intelligence: not what passes for AI today, but the entire idea that computers could become conscious.
Professor Searle sought to solve the long-running debate over the division between the mind and the body by dispensing with the duality altogether. He argued that mental experiences like pain, ecstasy and drunkenness were all neurobiological phenomena, caused by firing neurons. Consciousness is not, he said, a separate substance of its own: It is a state the brain is in, like liquidity is the state of the molecules in a glass of water.
That view underpinned his thought experiment about what he called “the Chinese room,” which he made the centerpiece of provocative articles in the early 1980s that interpreted nascent research into artificial intelligence.
Suppose, Professor Searle wrote, that he, who did not know a word of Chinese, was locked in a room with boxes full of documents in Chinese script as well as a rulebook, in English, explaining how to match the various Chinese symbols together. It does not teach Chinese; it just says, in effect, “squiggle-squiggle” goes with “squoggle-squoggle.”
People outside the room pass more Chinese documents inside, and Professor Searle sends other documents back, following the rulebook’s instructions. The people passing him documents call them “questions.” The symbols he gives back they call “answers.” The rulebook they call “the program.” And Professor Searle they call “the computer.”
That situation is equivalent to the workings of A.I., he said. Both involve manipulating formal symbols to simulate understanding.
“No one supposes that computer simulations of a five-alarm fire will burn the neighborhood down,” Professor Searle wrote in his first paper on the subject, published in 1980. “Why on earth would anyone suppose that a computer simulation of understanding actually understood anything?”
Personally, I think that Dr. Searle’s argument that computers can’t think, but at best can do a clever simulation of thinking, somewhat interesting. And if I had ever met the good doctor, I would have told him that I would take this argument more seriously if he could convince me he was actually thinking, as opposed to just engaged in a clever simulation of thinking.
Clark Olofsson, Swedish criminal. I would have skipped this for notability, if it wasn’t for the fact that Mr. Olofsson was one of the two robbers in the “Stockholm syndrome” case. The obit is worth reading, as it casts a somewhat skeptical light on the whole idea of “Stockholm syndrome”.
The term was coined by a Swedish police psychologist, Nils Bejerot, after he was asked to assess the hostages’ curious behavior during the robbery. But Stockholm syndrome has never been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the handbook of mental illness in the United States.
Some psychologists have explained the behavior as a coping mechanism, seen in victims of kidnappings and among hostages seized by Middle East terrorists, and in victims of domestic abuse. The captives, psychologists say, find a way to self-preservation by siding with their all-powerful captors.
…
…
Although mental health experts have theorized about Stockholm syndrome for half a century, almost none thought to speak to Ms. Enmark, the bank employee central to the drama and the diagnosis.
One psychologist who did was Allan Wade, a Canadian therapist specializing in interpersonal violence, who, after meeting Ms. Enmark, called Stockholm syndrome a made-up concept meant to shift focus from the stumbles of the Swedish police.
“The whole notion was an accusation,” he told the BBC in 2021. “It was a way to dismiss what an incredibly heroic woman had been doing for six and a half days to resist, preserve her dignity and look after the other hostages.”
Woo hoo! This is one of those flaming hyenas that makes me want to break out the AK-47 (with the shoulder thing that goes up) and do the happy dance in the backyard.
Letitia James, the corrupt attorney general of the corrupt state of New York, has been indicted.
Text of the indictment from the NYT (archived).
Statement from the Department of Justice.
It looks like there’s two counts: bank fraud, and “making false claims to a financial institution”.
James, 66, bought the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in August 2020 for roughly $137,000, most of which was financed with a $109,600 loan that prohibited it from being used as a rental investment property, prosecutors alleged.
That allowed her “to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties,” they noted in the five-page filing, saving her “approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.”
When a Post reporter visited the Norfolk home in April, neighbors said they had never seen James at the property.
Meanwhile, her income tax forms designated the home as a rental that brought in thousands of dollars in additional income.
You may remember the corrupt Ms. James from her long legal battle with the National Rifle Association, which ended up with…not much of anything, really. Or her legal battle against Donald Trump, which also ended with not much of anything, really.
I know I said on Friday I’d try to address the Yogurt Shop Murders after today’s press conference.
I didn’t get a chance to watch the press conference today due to continuous meetings. I’m sure there’s a recording somewhere that I will try to watch.
My other issue is that yesterday was a rough day for me, and I haven’t had time to do much with the murder story because I’m trying to clean up from that.
I drove down to Kyle yesterday since it was a kind of off day for my regular church, and I thought I’d visit a friend at her church.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to connect with her, but that was okay. That also wasn’t the issue.
On my way back from Kyle, one of my car tires catastrophically failed on the Southwest Parkway.
Then I had an appointment at 4 PM at the Apple Store in Barton Creek Mall to get my iPhone battery replaced. I made the appointment and waited around for about 90 minutes while they replaced the battery. Everyone was very nice (the Apple employee who checked me in was especially awesome), and I got my phone, got in my car, started driving out of the parking lot, decided to call home and see if I needed to pick up food…
…and nobody could hear me. I checked with a couple of other people, and it wasn’t just one phone. It seems that, when they replaced the battery, Apple broke the microphone on my phone, so I can’t make calls. (Well, technically, I can make calls: I just can’t talk to anybody.)
So now I need to get in touch with Apple and figure out the next steps to get the microphone fixed. This is complicated by the fact that I have 2FA software on my phone that I need for work, so I can’t be without it for more than a few hours.
I just bought a new Dick Tracy two-way wrist radio with some of my bonus money, and enabled cell service on it. I’ve tested, and in a pinch, I can use that to make voice calls. But it isn’t an ideal solution.
I did manage to get an appointment today with Discount Tire to get my tire replaced. They were efficient and nice…
…and it turns out they don’t have the Michelin tires I want. They thought they had one in stock, and told me I could come back in a day or two for the second one. Then it turned out they couldn’t find the one, either.
So they slapped a loaner tire on my car, and I get to come back in a few days to get the two tires done.
There were, however, two redeeming points. The tire that failed was under warranty, so they’re replacing it for free. They suggested I might want to get a second tire done, since it had more wear on it than the other three. I kind of resisted that at first. But then I asked about doing something to replace the doughnut spare on the car, which I’ve put some wear on and no longer trust.
Discount offered me a spare full-size wheel at a reasonable price, and offered to take the more worn – but still good – tire off, replace it with a new tire, and mount the old tire on the new wheel. Thus giving me a non-doughnut spare, which I think is swell, as I hate driving on those.
But I still have to go back to Discount once they get everything together, which is more time out of my schedule. Good thing this isn’t one of my busy weeks.
I’ll try to have some commentary up about the murders in the next few days. In the meantime, “New DNA technology key to solving 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders” from KXAN. It looks like the new technique is Y-STR DNA testing. As I’ve said before, I wish I knew more about DNA testing than I do, and I can’t really comment on the soundness of the methodology. The article also states that there is ballistic evidence which ties these murders to a case in Kentucky and several other crimes.
The connection of the suspect to Texas remains unclear to me. And I hate to be cynical, because the reports are making this sound like good police work.
However, if this turns out wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time. Four other men were convicted in 1999, but were cleared in 2009 after Y-STR profiling excluded them. It could be that they have the right guy this time. It could be that they’re clearing a cold case by playing “pin the tail on the dead guy”. At the moment, I’m leaning more in the direction of this being the right guy, but I can understand the cynicism some people in my circle have expressed.
I’m going to make this short, because it broke at the end of the day today and there’s more to come.
The Austin Police Department says that they have identified a suspect as the Yogurt Shop Killer.
Police identified the suspect through DNA and ballistics testing.
…
APD says they plan to hold a press conference on Monday to provide more information, so I’ll probably wait until Monday night to do a longer write-up. But I wanted to get at least this out now.
The identified suspect killed himself in 1999.
This is a bit of a round-up post, and some of these are a little outside of the normal flaming hyenas.
Former Supervisor Engardio has not been accused of a crime – yet, as far as I know. His fundamental problem was that he supported closing the “Great Highway”.
The election is a culmination of a more than yearlong saga that began in June 2024 when Engardio, alongside four other supervisors, placed a measure on the November ballot to permanently ban vehicles on a two-mile stretch of the city’s westernmost coastal boulevard between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard, also known as the Upper Great Highway.
Residents who said they relied on the highway to drive around their neighborhood moved to recall Engardio, outraged by what they perceived as a “betrayal.” Engardio has argued throughout the recall campaign that his district should judge him based on his entire record and not a single policy disagreement.
More from the NYT:
The city as a whole favored the change, ensuring its passage. In April, it officially became a new park — called Sunset Dunes — and it is dotted with benches, murals, exercise equipment, hammocks and a children’s play structure shaped like an octopus.
There are pianos there, too, and on a recent day, a man played Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” as people strolled and roller skated past him. Wooden signs point people to nearby shops and cafes, many of which say business is up since the park opened.
…
But residents in Mr. Engardio’s district never loved the idea of losing a thoroughfare for the sake of a park. Nearly two-thirds of the Sunset District voted against the measure and resented the fact that residents farther from the beach got a park at the expense of nearby residents’ convenience.
Some Sunset residents relied on the street to travel in and out of the city. Others felt that the Sunset District had to bear the brunt of added cars on their neighborhood streets. The data has been mixed on the traffic impacts, but advocates of the park say such frustrations were overblown.
Many Sunset District residents say that the park is not used much on the weekdays or during the area’s notoriously chilly, foggy spells. John Crabtree, a volunteer for the campaign to recall Mr. Engardio, said he drove the Great Highway one last time on its last day in operation and felt sad to be losing it.
“It was an iconically beautiful drive,” he said. “People had a relationship with it, and it meant something. People were connected to this piece of infrastructure because it was part of living out here. It was part of the Sunset.”
Meanwhile, on the other coast:
A major strip club group bribed a state auditor — including with lap dances — to avoid paying more than $8 million in New York City sales taxes over the last 14 years, prosecutors charged Tuesday.
The State Attorney General’s Office unsealed a 79-count criminal indictment against the company, RCI, and five of its executives, accusing them of engaging in a naked, tax fraud scheme.
The affair was so brazen, a top RCI accountant even allegedly made at least 10 trips from Texas to New York to treat the former auditor at the company’s Manhattan jiggle joints, Rick’s Cabaret, Vivid Cabaret and Hoops Cabaret and Sports Bar, court papers state.
“naked, tax fraud scheme”. New York Post, I see what you did there.
RCI and the top execs allegedly bribed the auditor with a slew of lascivious treats starting in 2010, including at least 13 free multi-day trips to Miami “with complimentary hotel stays, restaurant meals, and up to several thousand dollars’ worth of private dances per day at RCI-owned strip clubs,” the indictment states.
The company bigwigs texted each other about haggling over how much cash they should bribe the crooked auditor with — and how much of a tax discount they should demand in return, the AG’s office alleged.
“We need to talk about New York and dance dollars,” RCI president Eric Langan texted to CFO Ahmed Anakar, the filing claims. “We are going to be hit by 3m in sales taxes soon.”
In exchange for cash, trips and dining, the state worker — who hasn’t been publicly identified — gave RCI favorable treatment during six state audits, the indictment states.
“dance dollars”. I can not tell a lie: I love that phrase.
Robert P. Burke was sentenced to six years in prison yesterday.
Mr. Burke was a former four-star admiral in the Navy, and “was once the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer”. Oddly enough, this is not fallout from Fat Leonard: this was a separate sleazy deal. He…
…
According to prosecutors, from August 2018 through July 2019, Next Jump provided a work force training pilot program to a small part of the Navy that was under Admiral Burke’s command at the time. But the Navy terminated its contract with Next Jump in late 2019 and directed it not to contact Admiral Burke.
In July 2021, Mr. Kim and Ms. Messenger met with Admiral Burke in Washington, D.C., where they offered him the job and stock options in exchange for a government contract. According to prosecutors, the three also agreed that Admiral Burke would push other Navy officials to award another training contract to Next Jump estimated to be in the “triple digit millions.”
Admiral Burke ordered his staff in December 2021 to award a $355,000 contract to Next Jump to train personnel under his command in Italy and Spain, prosecutors said, which was completed in January 2022. In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said the training was “widely disparaged,” receiving mostly negative reviews.
…
Finally, and close to home, Lawrence has a good story up. Urban Alchemy is an organization that ran homeless shelters in Austin. They lost their contract with the city…because they were apparently falsifying records. I’m not sure if it was malice or stupidity (I know, why not both?) but I encourage you to wander over to his blog and read the coverage.