You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#77 in a series)

December 17th, 2021

This is a couple days old, but I missed it. Hattip to Mike the Musicologist.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith was formally accused of “willful and corrupt misconduct” by a civil grand jury that had investigated the embattled official.

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Court documents filed Tuesday revealed that jurors accused Smith of seven corruption-related acts, including favoritism and improperly issuing concealed-carry weapons permits.

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Six involve ongoing criminal indictments alleging Smith engaged in political favoritism and traded favors by leveraging her control over issuing concealed-carry weapons permits.
The seventh accuses her of failing to cooperate with the county law-enforcement auditor in an investigation into negligence allegations stemming from a 2018 jail inmate’s injury that led to a $10 million county settlement, the Mercury News reported.

The articles I’ve read don’t say, but I’m 99 44/100ths percent sure that this is related to the Apple scandal that I wrote about a while back.

Now, I am not a lawyer, I am not a California lawyer, and I am especially not Perry Mason. (They renewed that crap for a second season? What is wrong with people?)

But, as I understand it, the “civil grand jury” indictments are not criminal. The “civil grand jury” in California is chartered to investigate “actions or performance of city, county agencies or public officials.”

The jurisdiction of the Civil Grand Jury is limited by statute and includes the following:

  • Consideration of evidence of misconduct against public officials to determine whether to present formal accusations requesting their removal from office
  • Inquiry into the condition and management of public prisons within the county
  • Investigation and report on the operations, accounts, and records of the officers, departments, or functions of the county including those operations, accounts, and records of any special legislative district or other district in the county pursuant to state law for which the officers of the county are serving in their ex officio capacity as officers of the districts
  • May investigate the books and records of any incorporated city or joint powers agency located in the county

So this isn’t the equivalent of criminal charges, but it is a grand jury saying “We think you’re corrupt as fark”.

It also has the authority to launch the process of removing an elected official from office. Accusations can be taken to trial by district attorneys.

More from KRON4:

Count 1: Illegally issuing concealed carry weapon permits (CCW) to VIP’s
Count 2: Failing to properly investigate whether non-VIP’s should receive CCW permits
Count 3: Keeping non-VIP CCW applications pending indefinitely
Count 4: Illegally accepting suite tickets, food, and drinks at Sharks game
Count 5: Failing to report Sharks game gifts on financial documents
Count 6: Committing perjury by failing to disclose Sharks game gifts
Count 7: Failing to cooperate with internal affairs investigation surrounding treatment of Andrew Hogan

Posted in Apple, California Über Alles, Guns, IANAL, Law, Politics | 1 Comment »

Where do we get such men?

December 17th, 2021

I briefly touched the other day on the story of Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, who was awarded the Medal of Honor on Thursday.

Sgt. Cashe was one of three soldiers who received the Medal of Honor that day. Task and Purpose has a good profile of all three men.

The other two are Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz (who received the medal posthumously, along with Sgt. Cashe), and Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee (who is still alive, and currently serving with the US Army).

Posted in Heroism, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 17, 2021.

December 17th, 2021

John Mueller, one of the great Texas barbecue guys. He was only 52.

Mueller grew up working for his father, the late Bobby Mueller, at family patriarch Louie Mueller’s barbecue restaurant in Taylor, bussing tables from the age of 8, according to his sister and La Barbecue owner, LeAnn Mueller, and eventually learning how to smoke and slice meat at his father’s side.

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Mueller built his reputation on sturdy but supple brisket cooked hot and fast, gargantuan beef ribs with a soft side that belied their imposing stature, and a mercurial personality that often burned with the same intensity as his off-set smoker.
Franklin Barbecue owner Aaron Franklin worked briefly for Mueller in 2006, cutting onions and helping with other prep work, and says that the Taylor native had a talent that could not be taught.
“He spent all those years hanging out in Taylor learning from his dad. The guy really just had such a natural gift for cooking barbecue,” Franklin said. “I’d be surprised if there was anyone else in the world who has cooked more briskets than that guy.”

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Mueller would play up the caricature of “the dark prince of Texas barbecue,” a moniker bestowed on him by Texas Monthly, later in life, blending barbs with banter that made him an unpredictable if entertaining presence at his businesses.
But despite his love for giving people grief and straddling the line between famous and infamous, Mueller at his heart was a classic Central Texas barbecue man who took the lessons from his father and then burned his own path through the barbecue scene.

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John Lewis worked briefly for Mueller at his South First trailer before going to serve as pit boss at La Barbecue. Lewis, who now runs the lauded Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, S.C., says that despite his reputation as an ornery cuss, Mueller could be an affable guy who loved to share a laugh.
“He was a really, really kind guy. He had a huge heart and I didn’t really get to know that until we worked side by side,” Lewis said. “He would act really tough but the next second he is goofing on you. He had a great sense of humor.”

Additional coverage from the Dallas Morning News (by way of archive.is).

Edited to add 12/18: Texas Monthly tribute.

(Crossposted to The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)

Posted in Beef, Food | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 16, 2021.

December 16th, 2021

Elfrida von Nardroff, historical footnote.

She kept a low public profile for much of her life, but back in the 1950s, she was on television. Specifically, the quiz show “Twenty-One”.

Over several months in 1958, Ms. von Nardroff charmed television viewers as she defeated one opponent after another on her way to winning $220,500 ($2.1 million in today’s dollars). That dwarfed the $129,000 (nearly $1.3 million) that the show’s most famous contestant, Charles Van Doren, an English instructor at Columbia University, had won in 1956 and 1957.

Of course, you know where this is going, right?

Within months after she took home the $220,500, Frank S. Hogan, the Manhattan district attorney, convened a grand jury to investigate quiz shows. Herbert Stempel, whom Mr. Van Doren had defeated on “Twenty-One,” had revealed that the producers had coached him extensively. An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight in 1959 followed. (The scandal became the focus of the 1994 film “Quiz Show,” directed by Robert Redford.)

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Mr. Stone delved into Ms. von Nardroff’s claims of deep research and found them dubious. He saw little evidence for her claim that she had analyzed “Twenty-One” topics so extensively that she had filled numerous notebooks.
He sent investigators to the main branch of the New York Public Library at 42nd Street, where they showed her picture to see if anyone recognized her from all the time she said she had spent there. They did not. (Ms. von Nardroff said she had taken out books but did not do research at the library, Mr. Stone recounted.) She admitted that the article in This Week was only “impressionistically true.”

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She, Mr. Van Doren and 12 other contestants were arrested that October and charged with second-degree perjury, a misdemeanor. She and nine other contestants, including Mr. Van Doren, pleaded guilty in early 1962 and received suspended sentences.

For the historical record: bell hooks.

Posted in History, Law, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Shad don’t like it…

December 16th, 2021

Urban Meyer out as Jacksonville Jaguars coach after 13 regular season games.

His record was 2-11.

The final straw seems to have been yesterday’s report that Meyer kicked Josh Lambo, a former kicker with the Jaguars. I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and say physically assaulting your employees is not a good idea.

Meyer couldn’t deliver as speculation persisted that he treated players like kids instead of grown men. He appeared to be too caught up in having control and power instead of having the right answers to win football games.
This past weekend NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported, citing sources, that Meyer had multiple run-ins with players and coaches that had developed into an ongoing tension at the Jaguars facility for months.

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The Jaguars suffered their first shutout defeat since 2009 this past Sunday against the Titans, 20-0, after finishing with a franchise-low 8 yards rushing. It was the team’s fifth consecutive loss, and the Jaguars’ have dropped 15 straight road games.

And Shad Khan is looking for tax money to upgrade the stadium and improve “the fan experience”.

To quote a comment at Field of Schemes:

You know what would “fundamentally change the fan experience” for Jags fans?
Not losing 10+ games each and every year.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Art (Acevedo), damn it! watch. (#AI of a series)

December 15th, 2021

CNN had an opening, now that they’ve canned Fredo. So who better to hire?

I missed this, probably because I don’t pay much attention to that network. Thank you to Gun Free Zone for tipping me off.

Posted in Law, Media | 2 Comments »

Responsible use of category tags.

December 15th, 2021

I hate to link to Crimereads two days in a row, but this is another one of those articles I feel like I have to link. Especially since it lets me tick off multiple categories from my list:

“Fireworks at Graceland: How Elvis Spent His Last Christmas Before Boot Camp“.

I’m not going to add it to my wish list yet, but Christmas with Elvis (affiliate link) sounds like it could be a fun book.

Posted in Bagatelle, Books, Christmas, Elvis, Explosives, History, Music | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 15, 2021.

December 15th, 2021

Frank “Frankie” Little Jr., a guitarist and songwriter with the O’Jays.

Little, born in 1943 and raised in Cleveland, was a guitarist and songwriter for The O’Jays in the mid-1960s. Eddie Levert, the lead singer for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band, told WEWS-TV Little moved with the group to California that decade, but didn’t stay on the West Coast.

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“He could have been a great entity in the music business, but he was in love and love drove him back to Cleveland,” said Levert, who lost track of his one-time bandmate in the ensuing years.

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Little was only with the band for a short time, The O’Jays said in a statement to Rolling Stone. He worked with Levert on a handful of songs, including 1964’s “Do the Jerk” and 1966’s “Pretty Words.”
“He came out with us when we first ventured out of Cleveland and traveled to Los Angeles, but was also in love with a woman in Cleveland that he missed so much that he soon returned back to Cleveland after a short amount of time,” the band said.

Mr. Little died sometime around or prior to February of 1982, but his death was not announced until recently, when his remains were identified.

The partial remains — first discovered in February 1982 in a garbage bag behind a now-shuttered business in Twinsburg, Ohio — were identified as Little’s using DNA provided by a close relative, police said in a statement Tuesday.
“In October 2021, the DNA Doe Project provided the names of potential living relatives, who were able to provide Frank’s name,” Twinsburg police said, adding that Little’s identity was later confirmed by a medical examiner who ruled his death a homicide.

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Little’s partial remains were found in a garbage bag after a worker discovered a skull in snowfall behind the business, WEWS reported. The bones and body were “cut up” prior to being placed in bags, according to an original coroner’s report obtained by the station.

Cara Williams, actress. 55 credits in IMDB.

High points include “The Defiant Ones”, “We Go to Monte Carlo”, “The Man From the Diners’ Club”, and the wife of Harry Morgan’s character in “Pete and Gladys”.

Posted in Law, Movies, Music, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Look! I made a thing!

December 14th, 2021

Well, I followed through on at least one of my threats:

Onion dip, made from scratch using Alton Brown’s recipe.

I was genuinely surprised at how much liquid the onions gave up after I added the brown sugar, salt, and baking soda and let them sit for about 15 minutes. I was also a little surprised at how long it took to cook them down.

How does it taste? Well, in keeping with our Jeremy Clarkson theme…(warning! Language!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Food | Comments Closed

Tweet of the day.

December 14th, 2021

There’s a backstory to that tweet.

Here it is.

Matthias said he was struck by how well Cashe knew his soldiers — their strengths, weaknesses, and whatever challenges they were facing — and how much he cared for them. He “talked about them like they were his children,” he said. Dodge who was a squad leader under Cashe, recalled once having marital problems while he was deployed to Iraq. While they had some — very rare and brief — down time, Dodge said Cashe “called my wife from Iraq and talked to her at length.” He then came and told Dodge to call her as well.
“‘I know you’re having problems, and I want you to have your head clear while you’re out here doing stuff,’” Dodge recalled Cashe telling him. “At the time I was kind of angry because I was tired, I just wanted to sleep. But he had taken his time when he could have been sleeping … to try to take care of me. And that’s something I’ll never forget.”

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Once Cashe was loaded onto the medevac with the rest of the wounded, they were flown to the nearest military hospital in Iraq. Dodge recounted the medevac flight to Balad Air Base where the wounded were triaged and treated. “Sgt. Cashe, the whole time there, I could hear him yelling ‘how are my guys? What’s going on with them? Where are they at?’ Kind of refusing, almost, treatment until he knew that we were all being taken care of.”

Posted in Heroism, History, Leadership | Comments Closed

Department of I Am Required To Blog This.

December 14th, 2021

Even though (as I have said in the past) I find CrimeReads 50% worthwhile and 50% pretentious annoying crap. This falls on the worthwhile side:

“Mannix Was Vintage TV’s Perfect Savvy PI“.

I particularly approve of the author calling out Gail Fisher’s contribution, and his mention of the recurring “old Army buddy” trope.

Posted in 1970s, Mannix, TV | Comments Closed

Very quick note on film.

December 14th, 2021

I initially wasn’t going to blog this, but decided to throw it up here just for the sake of discussion:

The 2021 list of films added to the National Film Registry.

My quick takes: I like “Stop Making Sense”, and it is a great concert film, but is it of “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance”?

I approve of “Strangers on a Train”, but I haven’t seen that since the days UT had a film program…

“The Long Goodbye”? Seriously? Do not get me started on that one.

I have never seen “Pink Flamingos”, and I’m not really that interested in John Waters films in general. But I’m reminded of Roger Ebert’s review:

Note: I am not giving a star rating to “Pink Flamingos,” because stars simply seem not to apply. It should be considered not as a film but as a fact, or perhaps as an object.

Posted in Movies | Comments Closed

True crime watch.

December 14th, 2021

The Maund Automotive Group runs a lot of automobile dealerships, many in the Austin area. Erik Charles Maund is a partner in the group.

Erik Charles Maund has been indicted on murder for hire charges.

Allegedly, he asked a former girlfriend in Nashville if he could see her while he was in the area. Her new partner replied back and tried to blackmail Maund (who is/was married).

As a result, Maund is accused of hiring Peled and Brockway, in addition to North Carolina resident Adam Carey, 30, to help him deal with the threats and demands. Peled is a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces and owns the Austin-based Speartip Security services business. The DOJ says the business advertised it helped clients respond to extortion demands.
The department says Maund withdrew $15,000 from his account on the same day an “intelligence report” was prepared and given to Peled. Next, the department says Carey and Brockway traveled to Nashville to watch Williams and Lanway.

…

The indictment says Maund transferred around $750,000 via wire from his bank account to an account controlled by Peled — as payment for the kidnapping and murder of Williams and Lanway.
According to the arrest affidavit, Brockway and Carey murdered Lanway and Williams with several gun shots to the head before disposing of them at a construction site.

Of course, Mr. Maund and the other parties involved are entitled to the presumption of innocence. But the news coverage of this should be interesting to watch…

Posted in Law | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 12, 2021.

December 12th, 2021

Anne Rice.

Everybody’s been on this like flies on a severed cow’s head in a Damien Hirst installation, but I wanted to note it for two reasons:

1. The hysterical record.

2. When I looked early this morning (probably around 7:30 AM) the NYT had what I thought was a very brief and superficial obit up, with no mention that a longer one would be coming. When I checked later in the afternoon, that one has been slightly expanded and the usual “a fuller obituary will be published soon” note was there. The current obit seems to be the end product (modulo any corrections that come in).

Noted:

By her late teens, she had become disillusioned with the Catholic faith.
“I have a great deal of anger against a church that would teach kids a 7-year-old could burn in hell for French kissing, right alongside a Nazi sadist,” she told The Times in 1988. In the late 1990s, though, she would return to a belief in God after decades of atheism; over the next several years she wrote two novels inspired by the life of Jesus, as well as a memoir, “Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Journey” (2008).

Posted in Books, Obits, Religion | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 11, 2021.

December 11th, 2021

Michael Nesmith, of the Monkees.

The four members were picked to fit types. Davy Jones, a British vocalist, was the cute scamp; Micky Dolenz, the drummer and primary lead singer, was the wild jokester; and Peter Tork, the bass player, was the lovable dim bulb. Mr. Nesmith, a guitarist and occasional singer, was variously described as the cerebral Monkee, the introspective Monkee, the sardonic Monkee, the quiet Monkee.
“He has that dry Will Rogers sense of humor,” Mr. Dolenz told Rolling Stone in 2012, characterizing Mr. Nesmith’s real persona. “That’s probably one of the reasons they cast him.”

He was also a music video pioneer:

In 1977 he recorded a song called “Rio” for the Island Records label, which asked him to make some kind of promotional film for it.
“They wanted me to stand in front of a microphone and sing,” Mr. Nesmith was quoted as saying in the 2011 book “I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution,” by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum. But he did something different.
“I wrote a series of cinematic shots: me on a horse in a suit of light, me in a tux in front of a 1920s microphone, me in a Palm Beach suit dancing with a woman in a red dress, women with fruit on their head flying through the air with me,” he said.
“As we edited these images,” he added, “an unusual thing started to emerge: The grammar of film, where images drove the narrative, shifted over to where the song drove the narrative, and it didn’t make any difference that the images were discontinuous. It was hyper-real. Even people who didn’t understand film, including me, could see this was a profound conceptual shift.”
Almost by accident, he had made one of the first music videos as that term came to be understood. It got some play in Europe, but Mr. Nesmith was struck by the fact that there was no outlet in the United States for showing such works, which a few other pop and rock stars were also beginning to make (and some, like the Beatles, had made earlier).
In 1979 he and the director William Dear developed a TV show, “Popclips,” for Nickelodeon, a recently inaugurated channel for children that was looking to add teenagers to its audience. “Popclips” showed nothing but music videos, introduced by a V.J. The show is often said to have helped inspire the creation of MTV in 1981, although accounts of the various people who claim to have had a role in MTV’s emergence differ widely.

Posted in Music, Obits | Comments Closed

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