The NYT would like for you to know that there’s illegal gambling going on in New Orleans.
Captain Renault, call your office, please.
February 2nd, 2013A theater critic once bit my sister.
February 2nd, 2013I am absolutely mind croggled. Utterly speechless.
The “Beautiful Soup Theater Collective” did a revival of “Moose Murders” by Arthur Bicknell.
Why does this leave me stunned? Because “Moose Murders” is a legendary fiasco, one that opened and closed on the same night. Here’s the original Frank Rich review from the NYT.
And here’s Charles Isherwood’s review of the revival:
(By the way, the producers of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” say they’ve “re-shuffled” funds and are going ahead. Previously.)
When are we going to get to the fireworks factory?
February 2nd, 2013Banana republicans on trial: February 1, 2013.
February 1st, 2013Lourdes Garcia, Bell’s former “director of administrative services”, who was paid $422,000 a year in that job, is on the stand now.
Remember former councilman Victor Bello? The guy who was paid a six-figure salary in his job as “assistant to the food bank coordinator”?
Garcia
Garcia also testified that Robert “Ratso” Rizzo
I’m worried about the way things are going. So far, it seems to be “all Rizzo, all the time”, and there’s been very little discussion of what the indicted council members actually did (or did not) do. Of course, we’ve only heard from two witnesses so far. But if this keeps up, I’m concerned that the council members are going to get off by throwing Rizzo and Spaccia under the bus. And then I can see Rizzo and Spaccia getting off by, in turn, stating that they were following the directions given to them by the city council members, who would be free to testify for Rizzo and Spaccia.
Random notes: February 1, 2013.
February 1st, 2013Nobody needs a high-capacity assault snowmobile. Actually, I’m not even sure the general public should be allowed snowmobiles; perhaps we need to limit those to the police and military, people who have had special snowmobile training.
This is intended to enrage you:
The request is based on three factors:
- The consent decree “failed to disclose costs to fix Orleans Parish Prison until after the NOPD consent decree was executed”.
- Former prosecutor Sal Perricone and the NOLA.com comments scandal.
- There are questions about whether the consent decree’s provisions regulating secondary employment for police officers are compliant with federal labor law.
Previously. I am still unable to find an execution date for Antoinette Frank.
“C’est un Nagra. C’est suisse, et tres, tres precis.” (I’m surprised that quote, or the English translation, isn’t on the IMDB page for “Diva”.)
Heh. Heh. Heh.
The judges are being accused of pretty much what you’d expect: taking bribes to fix tickets.
You know, I like shrimp. I like crab cakes. I wouldn’t go to prison for them, though.
God to Koch: Drop Dead.
February 1st, 2013Obit watch: former mayor of New York City, and former judge on “The People’s Court”, Edward Koch.
For those who don’t understand the reference: as a member of Congress, Koch lobbied for increased aid to New York City during the 1970s, when the city was broke. President Ford turned down the city, leading to a famous NY Daily News headline:
Banana republicans on trial: January 31, 2013.
January 31st, 2013Rebecca Valdez is still on the stand in the Bell corruption trial. Yesterday’s revelation:
Valdez states that she believes Theresa Diaz, the previous city clerk (who, as you may recall, moved out of the city in 2004, but allegedly continued to act as the city clerk until 2007) forged her name on the documents in question.
This exchange is also amusing:
Random notes: January 31, 2013.
January 31st, 2013Obit watch: Patty Andrews, the last surviving Andrews Sister. (NYT. A/V Club.)
If a publisher is reissuing a non-fiction book, do they have an obligation to go back and do fact checking? What if the facts have been called into question since the book was issued? What if the book is “38 Witnesses” by A.M. Rosenthal of the New York Times?
What is there to correct?
This 2009 NPR interview goes into more detail about the many problems with the popular narrative of the case.
This lead made me giggle:
Hey, as long as we’re talking about crooked governors:
And lying politicians:
Patricia Cook update.
January 30th, 2013Back in May, I wrote about the case of Patricia Cook, the unarmed woman in Culpeper, Virginia who was killed by a police officer under suspicious circumstances; the officer, Daniel Harmon–Wright, was later charged with murder.
Things have moved faster than I expected: Harmon-Wright was convicted, but only of “voluntary manslaughter”, “shooting into an occupied vehicle”, and “shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in death”.
And it is possible a mistrial will be declared: “a court’s clerk reported that she found two dictionaries and a thesaurus in the jury room”, which were brought in by the jury forewoman (according to another report) and were allegedly used by the jury to look up the definition of “malice”.
(Hattip: Balko.)
Instant karma’s going to get you.
January 30th, 2013The Poynter Institute for Media Studies lost $109,206 in 2010.
They lost $3,815,144 during 2011, the same year their falling-out with Jim Romenesko began.
(Hattip: Jim Romenesko.)
Random notes: January 30, 2013.
January 30th, 2013Gun control works! Just ask Chicago!
More:
Uh, that’s not what a “straw buyer” is, Monica Davey. (Nor does Davey mention that “straw purchases” are also a violation of Federal law, though rarely prosecuted according to the WP. One wonders how much of a deterrent Chicago’s law is to people who are already violating federal law.)
(Likewise, purchasing guns in other states, bringing them across state lines, and selling them on the Chicago streets violates multiple existing federal laws. Davey ignores that fact as well.)
Edited to add: Just saw this, and found it appropriate.
Chicago pols blame rampant shootings on guns from Indiana and Iowa, which, mysteriously, don’t have rampant shootings.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 30, 2013
And I said, “What about ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’?”
He said, “I can’t afford a million dollars,
and as I recall, you’ve got plenty of money.”
And I said, “Well, that’s one thing we have not.”
The Bell trial picked up again yesterday. Rebecca Valdez, the former city clerk who wasn’t actually the city clerk at first, is still on the stand.
The defense is attacking her credibility, “seeking to show that record-keeping in Bell was in disarray. Valdez testified that she signed minutes for meetings she didn’t attend, was appointed to the job in name only and sometimes made mistakes marking the times that meetings began and ended.”
And what’s this about her being the city clerk but not being the city clerk?
Also interesting:
Not “food bank coordinator”, but “assistant to the food bank coordinator”, and pulling in at least $100,000 a year. How do I get this job?
Ah, the Texas Highway Patrol Museum. You do remember the Texas Highway Patrol Museum, don’t you? Shut down by the Attorney General last year? Assets, including the building, being sold off?
Well, about that…
The “procedural impropriety” seems to be that the high bidder says her bid was ignored. Also, the real estate broker would make a larger commission if the other bidder got the property. There’s some technical aspects that make it unclear which bid is best; that’s why the AG recommended that the building be listed again.
(Hattip on this to Grits for Breakfast. If Ms. Wong winds up getting the building, and we’re all still here, I want to do a road trip to Rosario’s Café y Cantina.)
TMQ watch: January 29, 2013.
January 29th, 2013Ah. The week between the championship games and the Superb Owl. Also known as “the silly week”, in which people look for things to fill space. And TMQ is no exception. This week’s column after the jump…
Random notes: January 29, 2013.
January 29th, 2013There’s a follow-up to last week’s story about the felon trying to sell guns at the gun show: he’s now been charged with theft.
Interesting. Very interesting indeed.
Setting aside for the moment the subject of this story, there’s a kind of interesting legal aspect to it. In Nevada, if you own a casino (or are a “key man” in a casino) you can still gamble anywhere execpt your own casino (for obvious reasons). In Atlantic City, though, you’re not allowed to gamble period; at your own casino or someone else’s, it doesn’t matter. I find it curious that there’s such a difference in the law. I’m sure Mr. Fertitta does, too.
Banana republicans followup: January 29, 2013.
January 29th, 2013I was hoping to have more on the Bell trial for you. I do, but it wasn’t what I was expecting: one of the alternate jurors called in sick yesterday and the trial was postponed.
But I do have excellent news. Remember Cudahy? The bimbo and the badge? Bribes in the Denny’s? (If you don’t remember Cudahy, previously.)
David Silva, the former mayor of Cudahy, was sentenced yesterday.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Akrotirianakis recommended that he receive 41 months in prison.
He got one year of prison time, three years of probation, 1,500 hours of community service and was ordered to pay $17,000 in restitution. (He was convicted of taking $17,000 in bribes from someone who wanted to open a medical marijuana dispensary.)
I missed this previously, but the same LAT article notes that Angel Perales, “Cudahy’s former head of code enforcement and acting city manager”, who was also implicated in this case, got five years probation.
Akrotirianakis had recommended that Perales serve two years in prison.
I find it interesting that the judge in both cases ignored the sentencing recommendation and gave both gentlemen lower sentences than requested. I find it especially interesting that Perales appears to have gotten away with no prison time.
By the way, Osvaldo Conde (of bimbo and badge fame) is up for sentencing on February 25th. And I also missed this: “…the former mayor of Santa Fe Springs, Joseph Serrano Sr., was sentenced to two years in prison for taking $11,500 in bribes from the marijuana dispensary owner.”
Art, damn it, art! watch (#35 in a series)
January 28th, 2013W.C. Fields supposedly said “It is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep their money.”
I was reminded of that reading this NYT article:
Some examples of questionable practice:
- “chandelier bidding”: “At major auctions the first bids announced for a piece are typically fictional — numbers pulled from the air by the auctioneer to jump-start bidding.” (It’s called “chandelier bidding” because the auctioneer isn’t pointing at an actual bid, but at the light fixtures.)
- “Collectors can find themselves being bid up by someone who, in exchange for agreeing in advance to pay a set amount for a work, is promised a cut of anything that exceeds that price.”
- NYC has a law that requires galleries to post prices. “None of 10 galleries visited at random this month had posted prices, though a few smaller ones produced price lists when asked.”