Perhaps they have moisturizer in Hell, sir, although one thinks it unlikely.
—from Lowering the Bar, by way of Overlawyered.
Archive for the ‘Law’ Category
Quote of the day: special “nothing to do with Guy Fieri” edition
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012Random notes: November 14, 2012.
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012I kind of like Guy Fieri. But I’d note this review whether it was of a Guy Fieri restaurant, or some other random place in NYC. Not since Ninja can I recall a review this vicious in the NYT.
(Also, Jacques Pépin wants you to steam your turkey. I thought that was an Albany expression.)
Jessica Tata: guilty of felony murder.
Why is it so hard to get Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army?
In other words, something that’s not easily solved by posting videos on the Internet.
Karolina Obrycka, the bartender who got the crap beat out of her by a Chicago police officer in 2007, has been awarded $850,000 in damages against both Anthony Abate, the cop who beat her, and the city itself.
Can we have Federal supervision of the Chicago PD now? (Also: LAT coverage.)
Sampler platter.
Monday, November 12th, 2012Think of this as sort of like a fruit basket, without the fruit. Or the basket.
This is a headline as it currently appears on the LAT website:
Here is the actual story. Some things that are worth noting:
- Dr. Gyaami is 71. He graduated from dental school in 1983, according to the article. So he was 42 years old when he graduated. I can’t throw stones at anyone for going back to school and following their dream, but:
- Dr. Gyaami didn’t pay back his loans. “When late notices started to arrive, Gyaami ignored them. ‘There was nothing I could do about it,’ he said. ‘I was behind with my business.'”
- He ignored notices that he was being sued by the Justice Department. At that time, he owed $195,000 on a $50,000 loan.
- “He continued to discard the collection notices. He said he couldn’t afford to pay. By June 2010, the $195,000 debt had jumped to $522,214.”
- “Since 2008, Gyaami has fallen behind about $120,000 in federal taxes and pays $6,000 a month to the Internal Revenue Service on top of the $3,000 to the Justice Department.”
- Dr. Gyaami works as a dentist in the state prison system. “As an experienced dentist, Gyaami is among the highest-paid state employees in California, making about $275,000 per year.”
- “One year ago they took a two-week cruise in the Caribbean that cost about $4,000, said Gyaami, who called it the most luxurious vacation they had ever taken.”
- “They live in a 4,000-square-foot home in Vacaville, which Elizabeth purchased new in 2001 for $429,500, according to property records. In 2010, she took efforts to make the home more difficult for creditors to seize by transferring its deed to a corporation she started, Eternal Enterprise Corp.”
There are so many things I could say about this next story, but (with one exception) I am going to avoid saying them:
The one exception (and this isn’t snark, just a statement of fact): this was the same thing that destroyed Jeff “Frugal Gourmet” Smith’s career.
Detroit and Washington still have a shot at going 0-82 this NBA season (0-7 and 0-5 respectively).
Yet another election result that amuses us: Cynthia Brim was re-elected to her seat as a judge in the Cook County Circuit Court. Why does this amuse us?
Because Judge Brim is batshit crazy. Really. As in, “can’t be prosecuted because she was legally insane at the time” crazy. Even better:
63.5 percent of the vote, folks. (Hattip on this to Overlawyered.)
This next story pushes a couple of my better hidden hot buttons. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located in San Francisco; the church is “the oldest black pulpit in the city”. Bethel’s previous minister, who had been there for twenty years, left to take over the First AME church. First AME is kind of a big deal among AME churches: “It became a regular stop for Democratic political candidates over the years, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore and President Obama.” First AME’s minister, Rev. John J. Hunter, was transferred over to Bethel AME.
And why doesn’t Bethel AME want Hunter? Are they just upset at losing their pastor and throwing a temper tantrum?
More:
The LAT also alludes to, but does not detail, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Hunter during his tenure at First AME. Sounds like something more than a tantrum, doesn’t it?
Here. Have some more crap.
Thursday, November 8th, 2012A/V Club obit for Elliott Carter.
NYT obits for Darrell Royal and influential former wine columnist Frank J. Prial.
Another election result that amuses me:
The referendum failed, 53% – 47%.
And another one: voters in San Francisco actually rejected a proposal “that would have taken the first steps toward draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and drastically revamped the way much of the Bay Area gets its water.”
From the Department of Wow: University of Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden is in the hospital. His condition is listed as “critical but stable” according to the HouChron. What happened?
This Statesman “story” is…just…odd.
Edited to add: A little more information on D.J. Hayden and his injury:
More from Dr. Lowe: “This injury has never been seen or reported in association with a football injury and is more associated with high-speed motor vehicle.” Huh? There’s a photo caption: “…a freak injury normally associated with high-speed motorcycle wrecks.”
Dr. Lowe also apparently said that this kind of injury has a “95 percent fatality rate”. I have no problem believing that.
A few election results that amuse me.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012- The condoms for porno measure in LA County passed.
- The cities of El Monte and Richmond (in California) were considering ballot measures to tax “sugary drinks.” Those measures failed overwhelmingly.
- Colorado and Washington state have legalized marijuana. I’m looking forward to the first armed standoff between the DEA and the state police.
- Going back to Cali, voters also rejected an initiative that would have required labeling “genetically engineered foods”.
- I can’t find a link, but California voters also rejected abolition of the death penalty. They did, however, approve relaxing the “three strikes” law.
- Mike Anderson is the new Harris County DA, which makes Murray Newman happy.
- Ted…Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz! (Hattip.)
Edited to add: Left out one significant result:
(Hattip: Sebastian.)
As David Letterman always says…
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012…”Please, no wagering.”
Oddly enough, the HouChron has a longer story, which states that “more than $100,000” was bet on the youth football championship.
Yeah. Wanna bet the players weren’t aware that Daddy was betting on them to cover the spread?
Wait. That was kind of insensitive of me, wasn’t it?
Still. Eight-year-olds, dude.
Millions and millions of dollars.
Monday, October 29th, 2012Bal Harbour is a village in Florida. They have a population of 2,574 people, and a police force of 27 officers.
Now they are the subject of a Department of Justice investigation.
Yeah. Thirty. Million. Dollars.
1. Wait, “stationed in Southern California“?
2. “Though the village tapped into forfeiture funds to pay the two salaries, federal law prohibits police from relying on those dollars to cover the payroll of cops who work seizures.”
More:
Whaaaaaaat? “in more than a half-dozen states and Puerto Rico”?
This bears a lot more exploration. What are Bal Harbour cops doing operating outside of the village, much less in other states? And how and why are they getting a cut of seized assets for these operations in other states?
And what did the cops do with the money? Well, lots. Computers (Apple computers, no less), beach parties, a boat, a truck, a nuclear submarine, tacos…oh, wait, strike those last two. I was confusing Bal Harbour with Deadpool.
The biggest pay — $624,558 — to snitches over the past four years.
And:
(Hattip: Reason‘s “Hit and Run”.)
More EarthQuest updates.
Sunday, October 28th, 2012Promoted from a comment left by Heather Dobrott:
The judge in Ohio dismissed the remaining third-party defendants including myself. Holbrook’s bid to attack the Texas taxpayers commenting on Earthquest has been ended in Ohio!
Earthquest and its dubious consultant, Don Allen Holbrook, are getting excellent coverage on Click 2 Houston:
I’m delighted that the legal troubles of the folks like Heather asking questions about EarthQuest seem to be ending, and that other media outlets are starting to ask questions about EarthQuest as well.
Going to Montana soon…
Thursday, October 25th, 2012And yet, the cries for gun control continue.
In other news: gee, I really miss Frank Zappa.
Yo! Omar’s covering up!
Wednesday, October 24th, 2012Remember James Kwon, “Maritime Director” of the Port of Oakland? Mister “Spent $4,500 on strippers at Treasures”?
New developments: Mr. Kwon has a boss, “Executive Director” Omar Benjamin.
Would you like to guess what Mr. Kwon is saying? Yes: not only was his boss at Treasures, but Mr. Benjamin actually authorized him to pick up the tab. Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Kwon are both on paid suspensions from their positions.
Also, the receipt in question “listed a half dozen directors and vice presidents from BNSF Railway as being in attendance”. This is interesting, because the port claims they followed “‘a standard protocol of redacting the names of all persons that appeared on the reports’ – except the person named in a media public-records request” in explaining why Mr. Benjamin’s name was redacted from the receipt. So if they redacted all the names, how were the BNSF directors listed?
Setting that aside, though, BNSF says that they’ve checked travel records and spoken to their people, and there’s “no evidence its executives were at the party, or even in Houston at the time”. (If they were in Houston, it could have been perfectly legit, as there was a conference going on.)
The way the press is treating this story also strikes me as odd. Both the SFChron and the HouChron seem to be treating this as more of a gossip column item (the HouChron even reprinting, word for word, the SF paper’s story) instead of a story about political corruption, while the Oakland paper seems to be totally silent about the entire issue.
Is it the strippers? Do the papers just not take stories that feature strippers seriously? Remember: it was a stripper that brought down Wilbur Mills.
Random fun: October 24, 2012.
Wednesday, October 24th, 2012Remember our old friend Randy Adams, former police chief of the California city of Bell, who was seeking a $510,000 a year pension based on his contract with the city?
Ask not who the fail whale tolls for: it tolls for Randy Adams.
Adams still has the option to appeal the ruling. In the meantime, instead of collecting $510,000 a year, his pension will be a mere $240,000 a year.
Glen Berger is writing a book. “Who?” Glen Berger, one of the writers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”. Mr. Berger’s book currently bears the title “Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History”.
And in other news, the NYT would like for you to shed some tears over the death of poor pitiful Dan Fredenberg.
What did Mr. Fredenberg do?
Harper shot and killed Fredenberg. The DA declined to prosecute, stating that the shooting was justified under Montana’s “Castle Doctrine”. This greatly upsets the NYT, and many of the morons who read the paper and leave comments.
But there are some inconvenient facts.
- Mr. Fredenberg was drunk at the time he was shot.
- Mr. Fredenberg entered Harper’s home; he wasn’t standing in the driveway or out on the sidewalk.
- Mr. Fredenberg and his spouse had a history of mutual spousal abuse (physical and verbal), according to the local DA.
- Mr. Fredenberg’s spouse was having a relationship of some sort with Harper. She denies it was sexual, but states that they were “intimate”.
- Mr. Fredenberg and Mr. Harper had “once clashed at Fatt Boys Bar & Grille in Kalispell”.
- Ms. Fredenberg and Mr. Harper were driving around the block that evening shortly before the incident; they were pursued by Mr. Fredenberg, which led to the shooting.
Was Mr. Harper supposed to wait until he was attacked by a drunk man who he’d previously had an altercation with, in the privacy of his own home? Apparently, the NYT thinks the answer to this question is “yes”.
Castle Doctrine didn’t kill Mr. Fredenberg: poor judgement killed him.
The Quick and the dead.
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012This was on FARK, but it touches on so many things covered here, and is such a fascinating story, that I wanted to make note of it.
Thomas Quick was perhaps the most prolific serial killer in Scandinavia. During the 1990s, he confessed to over 30 murders, and was convicted of killing eight people.
Except his name wasn’t Thomas Quick. It was Sture Bergwall.
And he was being fed diazepam while he was confessing to the murders.
And he probably never killed anybody. There is a total lack of physical evidence linking him to the crimes. In several cases, he was convicted based only on his confessions, and in spite of the fact that there was physical evidence directly contradicting those confessions. (For example, in one case, recovered DNA didn’t match Quick/Bergwell’s DNA.)
And he was probably being fed information – information he used to build his false confessions – by the cops. (Henry Lee Lucas, call your office, please.)
There’s a book on the case that, as far as I can tell, does not have a US publisher. I’m hoping it finds one, as this is a heck of a story. (There’s also a good story behind the book; the author was a prominent documentary filmmaker/”investigative journalist” who started looking into Quick’s case, discovered the inconsistencies and other issues, and ended up having Quick/Bergwall tell all to him. As I understand it, this was the author’s first book. He died of cancer three days after finishing the manuscript.)
(Is this, like, a thing in Scandinavian countries? Dying before your book is published?)
Banana republicans watch: October 22, 2012.
Monday, October 22nd, 2012Gas is expensive in California.
Gee, I wonder why that is?
You don’t say? Tell us more, Los Angeles Times.
But why doesn’t someone come into the California market and open new refineries? Or re-open some of the mothballed ones?
By the way:
Art, damn it, art! watch (#32 in a series).
Monday, October 22nd, 2012Once upon a time, there was an art gallery in New York City called Knoedler & Company.
Knoedler & Company made more than a fair amount of money selling art. As a matter of fact, they made a lot of money selling art supplied by one dealer, Glafira Rosales.
But there are some problems. Ms. Rosales’s “collection of works attributed to Modernist masters has no documented provenance and is the subject of an F.B.I. investigation.” One of the works that passed through her hands, a Mark Rothko painting, was sold by Knoedler for $8.3 million dollars, and has now been declared a fake.
Knoedler stopped selling works from Rosales in 2009, and immediately started losing money. They closed in 2011.
Your Austin nightclub legal update: October 19, 2012.
Friday, October 19th, 2012When last we left the Brothers Yassine, two of them had been convicted of money laundering; the third brother, commonly known as “Steve” had been acquitted on the money laundering charge, but still faced drug charges.
The Statesman is reporting that “Steve” just pled guilty to a single drug charge, with the prosecution recommending a year and day sentence (with credit for time served). All of the remaining drug and weapons charges against him will be dropped under this plea agreement.
Additionally, “Steve” will be deported after he serves his time.