Seriously. Bad tagger. No biscuit.
Vandalism is wrong, m’kay? Don’t do it.
August 1st, 2014Obit (sort of) watch: August 1, 2014.
August 1st, 2014There’s a nice story in today’s NYT. And I wonder why I’m reading it there, rather than in the Statesman.
Background: Gary Lavergne wrote what is widely considered the definitive book on Charles Whitman, A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders
Claire Wilson was one of Whitman’s victims. She was walking with her boyfriend, Thomas Eckman, when Whitman shot her in the belly. He then shot and killed Eckman. Ms. Wilson survived, but she was eight months pregnant; Whitman’s bullet killed the baby.
Ms. Wilson (now Ms. Jones) got in touch with Mr. Lavergne after the book was published (he was unable to find her previously) and they became friends. Sometime later, Mr. Lavergne began researching a question, and found the answer last year.
The end result is that Ms. Jones now knows where her baby was buried. And the grave has a headstone, paid for by Mr. Lavergne.
Pretty much everyone has acknowledged this, but: Dick Smith. A/V Club.
Flames, hyena, etc. (#17 in a series)
August 1st, 2014Last man down.
Victor Bello, former city council member for the notoriously corrupt California city of Bell, was sentenced today for his role in the corruption scandal.
One year in jail, five years probation, 500 hours of community service, and $177,000 in restitution.
The prosecution was asking for the standard four years. Bello is sort of an exception, though:
Bello’s case was unique among the former council members because he alone had approached district attorney’s investigators about financial irregularities in the small city months before The Times exposed the size of the paychecks the town’s leaders were drawing.
Bello had written a letter on May 6, 2009, to the Los Angeles County district attorney with allegations of misconduct in Bell but was not interviewed until 10 1/2 months later.
So it’s at least kind of arguable that he was the rat in the case, and may deserve a light sentence more than the other guys…
Strippers. Always with the strippers.
July 31st, 2014This one gives me qualms, as it is a BuzzFeed article (by way of the Popehat on the Twitters). But I haven’t found any other coverage of it, and I don’t think it needs to be buried. I did a Google search and found a lot of links to press releases about the original arrest, but very few about the following events (and those I found were mostly on less reputable websites, basically repeating the BuzzFeed article).
Lauro Tobias was an agent with Customs and Border Patrol. Last year, he was arrested and charged with participating in a drug deal:
…6 kilograms of cocaine were exchanged with unnamed persons for $100,000. Tobias was paid $4,000 for working as security during the deal, based on court documents.
Tobias claimed he thought he was participating in a legal transaction, and had no idea it was actually a drug deal.
Except it wasn’t actually a drug deal. The entire thing appears to have been set up by the government specifically to go after Tobias. Why him?
Tobias’ attorney, Steven West, argued in an interview with BuzzFeed that federal agents tried to turn Tobias bad in order to use him as mole in the border station. “They couldn’t get close to the so-called ‘suspect corrupt people,’” he said. “I think they took a 90-degree turn.”
Okay, that’s just what his defense attorney claimed. Take it with a grain of salt.
But it seems pretty clear, based on the evidence already introduced, that the government spent many thousands of dollars setting up this case.
For instance, according to a court motion filed by Tobias’ attorney, department officials would not release certain information about the investigation during discovery, including “an accounting of how much money was spent on this operation by the government … on hotel rooms, air fare, frequenting adult entertainment establishments, rental car costs, restaurant bills, and any other ‘perks’ that were used to implement the operation, such as the Pacquiao fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.”
Again, defense allegations, grain of salt, etc.
But Tobias’ attorney moved for dismissal of the case. And the government agreed and filed its own motion for dismissal. That never happens. (Well, maybe “never” is an exaggeration. But it is very rare.)
An FBI source referred requests for comment on the case to the Justice Department.
I recommend that you don’t hold your breath waiting for comment from Justice. Blue is a very unattractive color for faces.
Speaking of tax-fattened hyenas…
July 31st, 2014Just for the record: indicted California Democratic State Senator Leland “Uncle” Yee has pled “not guilty” to “a racketeering charge and two counts of conspiracy ‘to obtain property under the color of official right.'”
Surprise, surprise, surprise.
If I understand the LAT correctly, these are additional recently filed charges against Yee. More:
The NFL and MMA? Interesting. I sense at least a possibility that some more people are going to be brought down before this is over. These new indictments are on RICO charges as well. Fun fun fun.
(And isn’t “conspiracy to obtain property under the color of official right” a great charge?)
(Also, I’m a little late on this, but I’ve decided I need a Leland Yee category. I’ll go back and tag additional posts when I have time.)
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#16 in a series)
July 31st, 2014The bell continues to toll.
Oscar Hernandez, former mayor of the notoriously corrupt California city of Bell, was sentenced today.
I don’t know what to make of these sentences. On the one hand, they strike me as being pretty light. On the other hand, a conviction is a conviction. On the gripping hand, I’m wondering if the judges in these cases are buying into the defense argument that it was all Robert “Ratso” Rizzo’s fault. And since Rizzo and his little buddy Spaccia are doing long hard time, maybe this is the best we can hope for.
Edited to add: Hey, guess what Oscar Hernandez is full of?
Obit watch: July 31, 2014.
July 31st, 2014Jay Maeder, who worked for the Daily News and Miami Herald, has passed away.
I note this for two reasons. Reason #1:
Awk. Ward.
Reason #2: Mr. Maeder was also the last writer for the “Annie” comic strip, which was cancelled in 2010.
Well, isn’t THIS interesting?
July 30th, 2014Some of my readers may recall my review of Busted and my complaints about state, local, and Federal officials not taking corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department seriously.
Well.
Well well well. Well.
More:
Somebody’s been watching too many movies.
I have trouble linking to the two Philadelphia newspapers, but I think this one will work for the Inquirer coverage. The names of the indicted cops (Thomas Liciardello, Brian Reynolds, Michael Spicer, Perry Betts, Linwood Norman, and John Speiser) ring a faint bell with me, but they don’t overlap with the cops in Busted. (Possibly they were peripheral characters in that book, but I don’t have it in front of me to check.)
The LAT claims “five of the six officers could face life in prison”, but we should keep Ken’s advice in mind. In any event, it should be interesting to watch this play out; does the chief go next? Does the Philadelphia PD come under federal supervision? And do Ms. Ruderman and Ms. Lasker have anything to say? (There’s nothing on the Daily News site. Philadelphia newspapers are weird.)
Stay tuned to this blog for more “As the Badge Turns”.
Edited to add: Oh, I wanted to highlight this part, too:
Man, that’s brazen. That’s like Lance Armstrong brazen.
Random notes: July 30, 2014.
July 30th, 2014Followup: longer, better NYT obit for Theodore Van Kirk.
One I should have noted yesterday: legendary University of Kentucky athlete Wah Wah Jones.
More:
Obit watch: July 29, 2014.
July 29th, 2014James Shigeta passed away yesterday. I wasn’t sure if I was going to note this, but the A/V Club ran an excellent obit for him that I believe deserves attention.
He was the lead in the film version of “Flower Drum Song”. If you look at his IMDB page, he had bit parts in basically everything during the 1970’s: the original “Mission: Impossible”, “Rockford”, “SWAT”, “Kung Fu”, “Emergency”, “Ironside”, the original “Hawaii 5-0”, etc.
He was perhaps best known (at least to my brother) as Joseph Takagi in the first “Die Hard”.
Also, the NYT is reporting the passing of Theodore VanKirk, the last surviving crew member of the Enola Gay.
Obit watch: July 28, 2014.
July 28th, 2014Bel Kaufman has passed away at the age of 103.
For those of you who need an introduction, Ms. Kaufman wrote the hugely successful 1965 novel Up the Down Staircase
I’ve seen tax-fattened hyenas on fire off the shoulder of Bell…
July 25th, 2014Teresa Jacobo, former city council person for the notoriously corrupt California city of Bell, was sentenced today. As you may recall, Ms. Jacobo was convicted earlier this year of misappropriating public funds, and struck a plea deal on additional charges.
And what do we have behind door #3 for Ms. Jacobo?
Two years in prison and “more than $242,000” in restitution payments.
The prosecution had requested four years; it seems like they’ve been requesting four years for all the council members.
Flames and smoke.
July 23rd, 2014Smoke:
George Cole, the former mayor of the notoriously corrupt California city of Bell, was sentenced today. You may remember former Mayor Cole from such hits as “let’s have the city pay to send me to fat camp“, or his “no contest” plea earlier this year to corruption charges, or his conviction last year for misappropriation of funds.
So what did Cole get?
180 days of home confinement, five years of probation, and 1,000 hours of community service. And he has to pay $77,000 in restitution. That’s all.
Prosecutors had asked that Cole be sentenced to four years in state prison.
But he’s filled with shame and remorse. I’m going to politely suggest that’s not the only thing he’s full of, but this is a family blog…
Ah, but the flames. You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena!
I thought I had written about Alarcon and his wife previously, but a search doesn’t turn up anything.
Noted.
July 23rd, 2014The LA Weekly profiles Nick Ut, legendary AP photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner. He’s still working as an AP photographer in LA.
You may not recognize the name, but you’ll know the photo; it is one of the two most famous Vietnam War photos. I won’t embed it, but you can find all over the place, including here.
I’m not generally a big fan of the alternative papers, but this is a swell article. Some pull quotes:
Pulled mostly so I can plug Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina
…
Young photographers today, who “shoot 15 frames a second,” exasperate him. “Too fast. Picture lousy. One frame. Show the best picture. That’s how I learned. Look for the picture first.”
Besides, “If you come back with 500 pictures from one assignment? Your boss will yell at you. Too many! Who wants to look at all those pictures?”
…
Gratuitous Leica for the win! (I do wish the Weekly had gone into more detail about what Ut uses today. But then again, this isn’t an article targeted at professional photographers.)
Obit watch: July 22, 2014.
July 22nd, 2014Novelist Thomas Berger.
For those who may not be aware, Berger’s most famous book was the Western Little Big Man