Big Tex, the iconic symbol of the State Fair of Texas, has apparently caught fire and burned to the frame.
A friend of mine sent me a Facebook link to photos of the fire, which is also being reported by a Dallas TV station. However, I do not have any working links yet.
Edited to add: HouChron. Statesman. WFAA (probably has the best photos so far). Dallas Morning News.
When 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.
We may need a banana republicans police blotter, too.
The mayor of the city of Hawthorne has been charged with two counts of perjury.
The charges against Juarez allege that he took a $2,000 cash contribution from the manager of a Gold’s Gym in Hawthorne, and didn’t report it. This was in 2010:
Which makes me say, “Gold’s Gym needed a $2.5 million loan from a municipal government to open? They couldn’t get a private loan? Doesn’t that…I don’t know…tell you something?”
Salari, also indicted, allegedly “loaned” Noguez $180,000, and contributed $5,000 to his campaign. The indictment apparently alleges that the contribution and the “loans” were actually bribes; supposedly, bank records show that repayment of the “loans” started after the LAT began asking questions.
(The third person indicted is Mark McNeil, Noguez’s aide.)
Now that we’ve had the better part of a day, here’s the Statesman‘s coverage of Lance Armstrong’s resignation, as well as his dumping by Nike, Trek, Radio Shack, and 24-Hour Fitness.
On the other hand, the Ride for the Roses (Livestrong’s major annual event) is coming up this weekend; did that cause a donation spike, or is the increase in donations over and above the normal run-up to the event?
The HouChron has been running articles on events at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. There’s a controversy over the organization’s grant approval process: the organization gave M.D. Anderson an $18 million grant to work on commercial production of cancer drugs, over the objections of various scientists who did scientific reviews and grant evaluations for the institute. Now, the agency’s two leading scientific officers (both of whom are Nobel laureates) and all of the other reviewers have resigned.
By the way, CPRIT is a state agency, established by a constitutional amendment in 2007, and funded with $3 billion in state issued bonds. And guess who was behind the campaign for CPRIT?
Newsweek has snuffed it. At least in print. The magazine is going all digital, which should be interesting; why would I pay for a subscription to a magazine that summarizes all the news I read online the week before?
This is just breaking, and I’ll probably have more to say about it later: Lance Armstrong is leaving his position as chairman of the Livestrong charity.
(I still haven’t had time to go through the USADA report. Sorry.)
Meanwhile, we have a couple of interesting things from the NYT:
There’s a longish piece about the “Rebecca” case, focusing on Ben Sprecher and how he claims he got taken.
More:
Somebody really wanted to believe. Either that, or there’s more going on here than meets the eye.
Have you ever wondered where escargot come from? If you order them in many restaurants, they were probably imported from France in a can. But if you order them in a higher-end restaurant…
…the NYT has a profile of Mary Stewart, snail rancher.
J. Peterman, call your office, please.
($39.75 a pound.)
Another Tuesday has rolled around, and it is time to take a stab at this week’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback. Once again, we’re going to slash our way through the thickets of Easterbrook’s prose, hacking away at logical fallacies when we see them and using our sharp wit to puncture pretense.
After the jump…
TMQ Watch will probably be up…later.
In the meantime, Lawrence has a review of “The Sentinel” up at his place. I watched it with him and some other folks (thanks for hosting, people whose identities I wish to protect) along with “The Mummy“. Some random thoughts:
I am not an authority on lightning safety. I am a guy who draws pictures on the internet. I like when things catch fire and explode, which means I do not have your best interests in mind.
—XKCD
As expected, the NYT has a longer story on the “Rebecca” arrest.
It looks like Hotton was using some of the same phony “investors” to scam other people as well. And:
I’d never thought of that kind of scam before. That’s clever.
George Whitmore Jr. died a week ago Monday.
(waits for the cries of “Who?” to die out)
Whitmore was at the center of a famous criminal case in 1964. He was picked up for “questioning” by the police for an attempted rape; by the time the police finished their interrogation, he’d confessed to three murders (including the murders of Janice Wylie and Emily Hoffert, aka the “Career Girls” murder case).
Whitmore later recanted his confession, and the police developed evidence showing someone else was responsible for the Wylie/Hoffert murder. Ultimately, all the charges against Whitmore were dismissed.
The city of Eagle Rock, California, had an election over the weekend. Eagle Rock is engaged in a fight over medical marijuana dispensaries: the neighborhood council passed, and then repealed, a ban. On the pro-dispensary side is the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which has “organized workers at more than two dozen dispensaries across the city”.
Here’s interesting thing #1:
And here’s interesting thing #2:
Only two of the pro-dispensary candidates won, but I can’t tell from the LAT article how many seats were open, or what the pro/anti-dispensary breakdown on the council was before the election.
James Kwon is the “Maritime Director” of the port of Oakland. James Kwon was in Houston for a conference in 2008. James Kwon decided to take “about a dozen shipping industry executives” out for a party.
James Kwon decided to take them to Treasures. I probably don’t need to tell you what Treasures is, as I imagine you can guess. Strippers. Always with the strippers. Mr. Kwon spent $4,537 on this “drink and dinner” reception. (If you figure 13 people, including Mr. Kwon, that’s about $349 per person. That seems like a lot for strip club food, but I’ve never been to Treasures. Maybe they have Beef Wellington. And who knows what they paid per drink for strip club drinks.) Now port officials are asking questions, four years after the fact.
As the HouChron notes, Treasures also has a colorful history of “prostitution, drug dealing, weapons crimes and sexual assaults”.
I’ve written previously about the strange and sad case of Robert Middleton, and the legal wrangling over whether the boy who set him on fire can be tried for murder. New development:
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.
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.
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”.
(You may recall from the previous article that Mr. Mulligan was prescribed “medical marijuana” for “insomnia”. Guess that didn’t work.)
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.)
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.
Sorry for the late update, folks. I was away for computers most of the day yesterday.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
None.
Cleveland’s long nightmare is over. My relatives are happy. And thus endeth the loser update for 2012. (I need to go back through my records, but I don’t recall there being no teams without a win this early in the season.)
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”.
“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.
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.
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.)
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?
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.
By the way, Mr. Bissman’s mother “is the longtime personal secretary for Undersheriff Paul Tanaka”.
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:
Wyclef Jean, a musician, had a charity called Yéle devoted to helping the people of Hati.
The key word there is “had”.
More:
How much does your charity have to suck to make Sean Penn look good?
And more:
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:
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.
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).)
Because, of course, people are too dumb to make that decision on their own.
More Alex Karras: NYT. A/V Club.
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:
(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
Anyway, I’ll try to get to it, maybe over the weekend if I can manage to knock out the Stanford stuff.
Linoge over at Walls of the City has some nifty t-shirts for sale.
Stickers, too.
(I have received no compensation for this announcement. I paid for my own damn shirt, thankyouverymuch.)
The LAT is reporting the death of Alex Karras. More later.
Actually, that wasn’t the part I wanted to single out. This was:
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.
The problem is that Think Progress, Huffington Post, and BoingBoing are full of shit.
—Ken @ Popehat
I commend this post to your attention, as not only does it masterfully dissect the idea that the law should be what we feel it should be, rather than what it actually is, but it also points out gross misconduct by Antinous, a Boing Boing moderator.
More from Ken:
(It is probably worth pointing out that this has some relevance to the Mirkarimi situation. Yes, he thumped his woman. Yes, he was convicted of a crime. But the arguments of the people who opposed his firings are that the mayor doesn’t have the authority to fire Mirkarimi, and that his crime took place before he was in office, so it shouldn’t count. I don’t much like these arguments, but I’m having trouble sorting out whether I don’t like them because that’s the way I feel the law should be, rather than the way it actually is, even if “the way it is” is stupid in my opinion.)