Politiks As Usual: In The News 9/22/13

Palin Won’t Rule Out Senate Run: ‘Ted Cruz Needs Some Reinforcements’

Yes, It's Misogynistic And Violent, But I Still Admire Grand Theft Auto

Kenya Mall Attack: Military Says Most Hostages Freed, Death Toll At 68

'Red Line' Just One Of Roughly 500 Obama Promises That Have Come And Gone

Did You Know 200 Million Girls Are “Missing?”

Bill Kristol Schools Tavis Smiley on Why Republicans Oppose ObamaCare

Global Warming: The BIGGEST LIE Exposed

Judge: NY School Can't Fire Teacher for Heroin Possession

Prison Inmates Collecting Millions In Unemployment Cash

Is The Electronic Cigarette Healthy? Can This Be The Future of Smoking?

The CNN Interview That Presented Real Christianity

Michael Bloomberg Lashes Out At Liberal Judge Evelyn Laporte Who Freed 'Cop Killer'

NYPost.com:

Mayor Bloomberg lashed out today at the Brooklyn judge who freed accused cop killer Lamont Pride, saying she could have made one phone call that could have taken him off the streets.


"The reason he was not behind bars the last time is that a judge here in New York not only didn't put him behind bars, she didn't even think it was appropriate for bail. And he had a long history of not showing up. He had a long criminal record," the mayor said, visibly upset.


He was referring to Judge Eveyln Laporte, who allowed Pride to go free in his own recognizance when he was arrested on a drug bust last month, ignoring a $2,500 bail request from the DA's office and a warrant from North Carolina.


"If the judge didn't understand the warrant from North Carolina, the judge could have picked up the phone," said the mayor.


Bloomberg disclosed that Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes' office made a second bail request that Laporte also rejected.


"The district attorney did seem to try to get bail and came back again when the judge said no bail," the mayor said.


"But if you're talking about somebody who the rap sheet in front of you shows is potentially a dangerous person, has a gun, has a criminal history, common sense says don't let him out until you make one phone call. It's not a lot of work to do to protect the public. It wasn't done here, plain and simple."


Bloomberg made his comments during a press conference about another undercover operation to root out illegal gun sales, this time over the Internet.


When a reporter asked if the city might have overstepped its bounds in sending private investigators to Ohio and others states at a cost of $290,000, the mayor couldn't wait to respond:


"Miss, Peter Figoski was our police officer. We didn't overstep anything. If I had to spend double that money to save one police officer's life I would do it instantly," he declared, his voice rising.


Bloomberg has been pushing for stricter guns laws for years with limited success in Congress.


"Maybe you show a picture of Peter Figoski and his daughters,'' he said of legislators who won't balk the powerful National Rifle Association. "Maybe that'll get them to do it."

RELATED: Why Was He Still Free? A Clue in a Shot to the Foot

Charges Dropped Against McDonald's Hero Ravon McIntosh Who Beat Two Lesbians Down in Self-Defense

For Hip Hop News & Entertainment at DimeWars.Com

Thank goodness and proof that even in America there is some justice left in this world....God bless the grand jury for using their common sense and freeing an innocent man:

The McDonald’s cashier arrested for his supersized smackdown of two women who came around his counter to pick a fight has been cleared of all charges.


Rayon McIntosh, 31, was expected to be released from Rikers Friday night.


Prosecutors said a grand jury heard testimony for 11 days and voted to toss the case.


“We asked that Mr. McIntosh be released,” Assistant District Attorney Jaime Hickey-Mendoza said.


A whoop of “Hallelujah!” was heard in the courtroom after the announcement. A handful of relatives were present to hear the good news.


“They were trying to turn him into a monster, my son,” mom Maureen Lucas, a registered nurse from Rockland County, said as she sobbed with relief.


Her ex-con son, who served about a decade on a manslaughter rap, was getting his life back on track when the two foul-mouthed women threatened him, she said.


“If he didn’t have that record, they would never have arrested him,” Lucas said.


McIntosh has an 11-year-old daughter and took a fast-food job in an effort to get his life back on track, stepsister Jacara McIntosh said.


“No 31-year-old wants to work at McDonald’s making $7.25 an hour but he did it,” she said.


McIntosh said in an exclusive jailhouse interview with the Daily News that his Oct. 13 shift at the Greenwich Village fast food joint was peaceful until Denise Darbeau and Rachel Edwards, both 24, attempted to pay their check with a $50 bill.


He said the women flew into a rage when he checked to see if the note was genuine, as required by store policy.


“She started saying nasty things to me,” McIntosh said while stuck at Rikers Oct. 21. “She said, ‘Oh, you think my s-t is fake?...She started saying, ‘Suck my d-k.’ She called my mother a whore.”


He said one woman spat at him and both jumped the counter.


“I was being attacked by aggressive people I didn’t know,” he said. “I was just defending myself. They came in and went crazy on me.”


Video surveillance footage caught McIntosh grabbing a metal bar used to clean grills and bashing the women.


He was tossed in jail on assault and weapons charges. The women are facing charges of criminal trespassing, menacing and disorderly conduct.


A grand jury has yet to vote on the women’s case, a source told The News.


McIntosh’s defense lawyer said his client feared for his life.


“He didn’t know if they had a weapon,” lawyer Theodore Herlich said Friday. “They were saying, ‘We’re going to f--k you up.’ He thought they were saying, ‘We’re going to cut you up.’ I think the grand jury had a lot of sympathy for him based on the video, based on how the women were behaving.”


“He was at work. He wasn't looking for trouble,” Herlich said.

Burglar's Family Awarded $300,000 In Wrongful Death Suit

I know that our criminal justice system demands that all defendant's must be judged by a jury of peers, but after a case like this may I suggest that jury members IQ's be tested too, please?

An El Paso County jury on Friday awarded nearly $300,000 to the daughter of a burglar who was fatally shot in 2009 while breaking into an auto lot.

Parents of the victim, Robert Johnson Fox, embraced their attorneys after a judge announced the jury’s verdict, capping a two-week-long civil trial in which business owner Jovan Milanovic and two relatives were painted as vigilantes who plotted a deadly ambush rather than let authorities deal with a string of recent burglaries.

Phillip and Sue Fox, who filed suit for wrongful death in 2010 on behalf of Fox’s 3-year-old daughter, called the jury’s award a victory in their fight to seek accountability for the death of their son, who they say never posed a threat to the heavily armed men.

“Rob was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, but the punishment didn’t fit the crime,” Sue Fox said afterward. “I can’t excuse his actions, but he didn’t deserve to be executed.”

The exact amount of the award was $269,500, for factors such as loss of companionship and loss of future earnings. The family will also be awarded some of the costs associated with the more than yearlong legal battle.

The jury of three men and three women deliberated for 2½ days over closely contested testimony about the predawn shooting on April 19, 2009.

Fox, 20, was shot after he and a friend scaled a fence to get inside Southwest Auto Sales at 2444 Platte Place in the city’s Knob Hill neighborhood. According to the accomplice, Brian Corbin, they had smoked methamphetamine and were looking to steal anything to buy more drugs.

Corbin testified he saw two armed men charge out of a building and run in their direction, one of them shouting “we’re gonna get you” in an obscenity-laced threat. Corbin, who escaped by climbing over a car and jumping a fence, said he felt a bullet pass by him as someone fired four gunshots.

Fox was standing inside a small shed when a .45-caliber rifle bullet passed through the shed’s door and pierced his heart.

Police said in a 145-page investigative report that the intruder had knives in his pockets and one strapped to his ankle, but never posed a threat to Milanovic or the other men, his father Ljuban Milanovic and brother-in-law Srdjan Novak.

The men are refugees who came to the United States from the former Yugoslavia in 1998.

Jurors found that Fox’s death was the result of “willful and deliberate” conduct by Jovan Milanovic, who was accused of firing the rifle, and Novak, who supplied the semiautomatic Heckler & Koch that Milanovic used in the killing.

Only Ljuban Milanovic emerged without a judgment against him.

The jurors declined to comment after the trial.

"It's been a long two weeks," one said before getting on an elevator.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Ordered To Release 40K Inmates Into The Public... TONIGHT

For Hip Hop News & Entertainment at DimeWars.Com

Public safety should always be the no. 1 priority in my opinion. And Dobbs alluded to an interesting question--wonder if someone could sue the courts if one of the released prisoners say raped or killed someone?

Fire Judge Sharon Keller!

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller's actions may've cost a man his life:

A Texas judge who closed her court before a death row inmate could file an appeal plans to testify at the ethics trial where she faces charges that could end her career.

Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is on trial herself nearly two years after refusing to keep the court open past 5 p.m. on Sept. 25, 2007, with Michael Wayne Richard's execution imminent and his lawyers scrambling to file an appeal.

Charged with five counts of judicial misconduct, Keller sat quietly at the defense table Monday, only standing to acknowledge that she planned to testify. She could take the stand as early as Tuesday.

State investigators opened the special hearing by accusing Keller of "willfully" circumventing protocol by ordering the court closed at the normal hour. Her attorney said Keller was simply referring to the time the building closed, and that another judge inside also may have known about the pending appeal.

In the nation's busiest death-penalty state, where Keller has been mocked by critics as "Sharon Killer" for her tough-on-crime reputation, the day began with capital punishment opponents in the gallery and Richard's family members arriving toward the end.

"When the government has a death penalty, it is essential that there be not the perception but the reality that it is administered error-free," said Mike McKetta, the lead lawyer for the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Richard, who was condemned for the 1986 rape and murder of a Houston-area nurse, never had his appeal reach the courthouse that day and was executed hours later.

A Republican who has served on the court since 1994, Keller is the highest-ranking judge in Texas to be put on trial by the commission.

As many people already know Texas has long been the death penalty capital of the world and Judge Keller has a well-earned reputation for helping to keep it that way. But there is no excuse for Keller to close off an appeal because it going to be 20 minutes late. Granted we ask that our judges not have empathy, but this wasn't about deciding a case, it about a judge more interested in protecting her rep, screw all else. Sharon Keller should never be allowed to serve on the bench again.

DNA Frees Texas Man After 23 Years In Prison

Ernest Sonnier served 23 years of a life sentence for rape. On Friday he was released after DNA testing and his lawyers from the Innocence Project established his innocence:

It was a scene replayed with alarming frequency in Texas: a 46-year-old man walked out of prison here Friday afternoon after spending 23 years behind bars for a sex crime that the evidence suggests he did not commit.

The man, Ernest Sonnier, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison largely on the strength of the victim’s testimony, even though the forensic evidence gathered from her body and clothes showed that someone with a blood type different from the defendant’s had raped her, lawyers from the Innocence Project in New York said.

“It’s just sloppy science, at best,” said Alba Morales, who represents Mr. Sonnier.

Over the last 18 months, genetic testing of evidence found on the victim’s clothing and at the scene of the attack had yielded no trace of Mr. Sonnier, the Harris County district attorney’s office said. Instead, it has implicated two other men. Both are felons and known associates. One is awaiting trial for a different rape.

In light of the new evidence, Judge Michael McSpadden of Harris County District Court on Friday ordered Mr. Sonnier to be released pending further investigation, a first step toward exoneration, which under Texas law can be granted only by the state’s highest criminal court.

No thanks to this country's inept criminal justice system, Ernest Sonnier has lost 23 years of his life.

Nevada Supreme Court To Consider Releasing O.J. Simpson

HuffPo.com:

A trio of Nevada Supreme Court justices focused Monday on whether O.J. Simpson and a former golfing buddy received a fair trial in a gunpoint hotel room heist and whether the case was so unique that the two men should be freed from prison while their appeals are considered.

"This is post-conviction. That's what concerns me," Justice Michael Cherry declared during rare oral arguments by lawyers about whether the former football star and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart should be allowed to post bond while their appeals are pending.

Cherry, the chairman of the three-judge panel considering the bond request, didn't say how long he and justices Mark Gibbons and Nancy Saitta might take to decide.

It appeared unlikely a ruling would come before an Aug. 12 deadline for Clark County District Attorney David Roger to file a written answer to Simpson's appeal.

Roger, who prosecuted Simpson and Stewart, argued Monday the men got a fair trial, a Nevada jury had spoken, and the pair should continue to serve their sentences for kidnapping and armed robbery.

It is unusual for the Nevada Supreme Court, the state's only appeals court, to hear oral arguments about bond, and it would be even more unusual for Simpson or Stewart to be released. The last such high-profile appellant to get such a chance in Nevada skipped town after posting $100,000 in 1978.

The justices are weighing whether Simpson or Stewart might flee, whether they pose a danger to the community, and if they have a good chance of winning their appeals.

The question of their possible success was the key point of the hearing, and inquiries from the justices shed light on the issues they're considering.

Unbelievable. The con job that O.J. Simpson has pulled on our courts is an absolute disgrace. First he gets away with killing Nicole Brown Simpson along with Ron Goldman and now this.

Megan's Law Wasn't Meant For 14yo Girls Who Post Nude Pics On Myspace

This is just stupid:

In Pennsylvania, authorities are threatening to prosecute three teenage girls after finding risque images of them on a cell phone.

In Indiana, a middle-school boy faces obscenity charges for transmitting naked photos of himself to female classmates.

And last week in Passaic County, authorities accused a 14-year-old Clifton girl of distributing child pornography, saying she posted nude portraits of herself on MySpace.

In a growing number of states, law enforcement agencies are cracking down on teens who use cell phones and social networking sites to share lurid photographs. Prosecutors say they are trying to stamp out a dangerous trend. But their use of stringent child-pornography and sex-offender laws has ignited a debate.

"Do we really want to tag this 14-year-old girl as a sex offender for the next 30 years?" asked Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "Communities nationwide are scratching their heads about what role, if any, law enforcement should play in these cases."

Teenagers who post nude pictures of themselves on social networking sites are stupid, desperate for attention and need better parental supervision (and if there isn't any available then they should be taken out of the home). Megan's Law was created to protect children from sexual predators and it's wrong for the criminal justice system to exploit it for this nonsense. Parents are legally responsible for kids till they're 18 for a reason, lock one of them up if their kids are putting sexually explicit pictures of themselves online as there is obviously a lack of training in the home.

Bernard Madoff To Spend The Rest Of His Life Behind Bars

Finally, our criminal justice system gives us a vote of confidence:

Accused investment swindler Bernard L. Madoff will plead guilty later this week to 11 counts that could bring a sentence of 150 years in prison, one of his attorneys told CNN.

Prosecutors stressed that there is no plea deal and that Madoff, 70, will have to forfeit any money he made from his crimes.

"The government has not entered into any agreement with Mr. Madoff about his plea or sentencing," said acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin. "The filing of these charges does not end the matter. Our investigation is continuing."

Madoff attorney Ira Lee Sorkin said his client has agreed to plead guilty to crimes including money laundering, perjury and fraud.

Earlier, Sorkin and defense attorney Daniel Horowitz told CNN that Madoff was waiving his right to a grand jury indictment and that the defense team had been talking about a plea with government attorneys.

"We obviously have talked to the government," said Horowitz. "And we have been professional with each other."

Madoff is a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market and founder of an innovative Wall Street trading firm that electronically matched buy and sell orders. He is accused of running a massive fraud, allegedly using new investment money from clients to fund other customers' apparent gains.

It was, "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," Madoff said, according to the government's criminal complaint.

Madoff's pleading guilty to 11 counts of fraud, perjury and money laundering. Since these are federal crimes, Madoff will most likely die in prison, and rightly so considering the many livelihoods of people who invested their money and faith in him that he ruined. The man is scum, now let him rot.

States To Consider Getting Rid Of Death Penalty

Good:

When Gov. Martin O’Malley appeared before the Maryland Senate last week, he made an unconventional argument that is becoming increasingly popular in cash-strapped states: abolish the death penalty to cut costs.

Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat and a Roman Catholic who has cited religious opposition to the death penalty in the past, is now arguing that capital cases cost three times as much as homicide cases where the death penalty is not sought. “And we can’t afford that,” he said, “when there are better and cheaper ways to reduce crime.”

Lawmakers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire have made the same argument in recent months as they push bills seeking to repeal the death penalty, and experts say such bills have a good chance of passing in Maryland, Montana and New Mexico.

Death penalty opponents say they still face an uphill battle, but they are pleased to have allies raising the economic argument.

I'm for whatever it takes to abolish the death penalty. Capital punishment does not deter crime, it is racist, kills innocents and serves no purpose other than vengeance. The sooner we get rid of it, the better we move towards becoming a civilized society.

11-Year-Old Jordan Brown Owned A Gun

News.sky.com:

Jordan Brown is alleged to have shot the woman in the back of the head and then got on a school bus and went to class in Pennsylvania.

The youngster has been charged as an adult because state law allows prosecutors to charge children as young as 10 with criminal homicide.

But a prison warden says he will ask a judge to move the boy from an adult facility to a juvenile detention centre because the jail cannot accommodate the child.

Lawrence County Warden Charles Adamo says the jail, which houses about 300 prisoners, cannot offer proper long-term care for Brown.

The young suspect is accused of killing 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houkwho with a shotgun, which apparently belonged to him.

Authorities said the model 20-gauge shotgun was thought to have been found in the boy's bedroom.

It is designed for children and such weapons do not have to be registered.

"Designed for children"?!? It's cases like these that makes me shake my head at all the gun nuts and 2nd Amendment enthusiasts out there. Call me insane, but what rational reason is there for an 11-year-old kid to be owning a gun? I mean, when will people stop making it about politics and realize that the sheer stupidity of some of our nation's guns laws are in turn, killing lots of innocent people?

Actor Lillo Brancato Cleared Of Murder In Cop's Death

Yahoo.com:

Lillo Brancato, who played a bumbling aspiring mobster on "The Sopranos," was cleared Monday of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty policeman during a drunken, late-night search for drugs.

The jury convicted Brancato of a lesser charge of attempted burglary. He faces a minimum of three years in prison on that count, but the former actor could get credit for time served because he has been behind bars about that long.

Brancato showed no reaction as the verdict was read — his face impassive, his fingers pressed together. His mother, seated a couple rows back in the gallery, began sobbing.

Prosecutors say Brancato and accomplice Steven Armento broke into a basement apartment to steal prescription drugs after a night of drinking at a strip club. Officer Daniel Enchautegui, who lived next door, came out to investigate.

Armento blasted the 28-year-old officer with his .357 Magnum, hitting him in the heart. The dying officer fired back, wounding both men. Armento was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Since it involved a cop and a B-list actor this case has been getting a lot of play here in NYC. Personally I believe that the jury made the right decision. Having followed the case from the get-go, I could never buy into the idea that Brancato, an actor whose never had a history of violence and who had a lot of potential before he fell victim to drugs, had any idea, in his drug-addicted haze, that someone might be killed the night he went out looking for his friend to score some drugs. Brancato's accomplice shot and killed the cop and now he's doing life without the possibility of parole because of it. Enough people have suffered here. Brancato can either choose now to learn from this whole, tragic experience and get his life together or continue down the same dismal path he's been on. If he picks the latter, one can only hope that no one else will suffer from it. Lastly, as a Sopranos fan, I think it's insulting that the media keeps linking Brancato to a show he appeared in like 3 or 4 episodes of, at most.

No More Party Time For O.J.

CNN.com:

Former gridiron great O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to at least 15 years in prison for his role in an armed confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel in 2007.

He must serve at least nine years before he can be considered for parole.

Grimacing, Simpson was escorted from the courtroom in shackles.

The sentence was imposed after Simpson, his voice shaking, told Judge Jackie Glass that he was sorry for his actions but believed that he did nothing wrong.

Glass brushed his apology aside.

"Earlier in this case, at a bail hearing, I said to Mr. Simpson, I didn't know if he was arrogant, ignorant or both," Glass said. "During the trial and through this proceeding, I got the answer, and it was both."

She stressed that the sentence was not "payback for anything else," apparently referring to Simpson's acquittal 13 years ago in the slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.

Good riddance killer. Make sure you don't drop the soap.

Politiks As Usual: In The News 12/1/08

Mumbai Attacks Strain India-Pakistan Relations

Formula For GOP Recovery: Traditional Values PLUS Limited Government

Chris Matthews Hiring Campaign Staff For Senate Run In Pennsylvania

Plea Deal Offered To 8-Year-Old Murder Suspect

Watchdog Group Cites Video Games For Violence, Sex

Planned Parenthood Condemned For 'Lethal Gift Certificates'

Obama's Foreign Policy Team Earns High Praise, But Concern About Clintons

Gay Marriage Supporters Say 'Gay Is The New Black'

Liberals Clinically Mad, Concludes Top Shrink

Is Rosie O'Donnell Calling It Quits After Her Variety Show Disaster?

San Francisco To Consider Decriminalizing Prostitution

The more and more this city celebrates deviancy the more you wonder when they'll just get on with it and rename itself Sodom and Gommorah:

In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest.

San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K — a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

Proponents say the measure will free up $11 million the police spend each year arresting prostitutes and allow them to form collectives.

"It will allow workers to organize for our rights and for our safety," said Patricia West, 22, who said she has been selling sex for about a year by placing ads on the Internet. She moved to San Francisco in May from Texas to work on Proposition K.

Even in tolerant San Francisco — where the sadomasochism fair draws thousands of tourists and a pornographic video company is housed in a former armory — the measure faces an uphill battle, with much of the political establishment opposing it.

No matter what idiot liberals say, prostitution is not a victimless crime. It exploits women by treating them as nothing but sexual objects. It caters to pimps who abuse women, drug abuse, kidnapping, human trafficking, low self-esteem, victims of sexual abuse, physical and mental coercion. It also breaks up marriages. The world's oldest profession is never going away, but that doesn't mean it should ever be condoned.

Casey Anthony Finally Indicted

Some people just have no business ever being parents:

The mother of missing Florida toddler Caylee Anthony was arrested Tuesday in a traffic stop, shortly after a grand jury indicted her on seven counts, including capital murder, for the disappearance of her 3-year-old daughter.

Casey Anthony was taken to jail after officers observed her switch cars on a highway and pulled her over, an Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

Earlier Tuesday, Anthony's lawyer said his client would turn herself in if the grand jury returned an indictment against her.

"She's not running from this," attorney Jose Baez said as his 22-year-old client wiped tears from her eyes during an impromptu media briefing before the charges against her were announced. "She's doing her best to stand strong, to stand up to the powers that are working against her. And they threw the kitchen sink at her a long time ago."

After the indictment, undercover officers followed Anthony as she traveled in her mother's SUV. The officers saw the SUV stop under a highway overpass, at which point Anthony got into another vehicle and drove off. Officers made the traffic stop after she entered the second vehicle, the spokesman said.

Prosecutors are asking Anthony be held without bond.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to police.

Personally I don't think she had any intent to turn herself in, sounds like she was trying to flee to me. Regardless, she's caught now and needs to rot in jail for the rest of her miserable life. Whatever issues Casey Anthony had with herself and her life, she decided to take them out on her child. Not only is she a sick human being, but a coward as well.

O.J. Simpson: (Finally!) Guilty On All Counts

This is good:

A jury here Friday night found O. J. Simpson guilty on all counts in his robbery and kidnapping trial, a verdict that came 13 years to the day after Mr. Simpson was acquitted in the highly publicized murders of his ex-wife and her friend.

The 12 charges that Mr. Simpson faced stemmed from a September 2007 confrontation in a casino hotel room in which he and five cohorts departed with hundreds of items of sports memorabilia.

In the courtroom as the verdict was read, Mr. Simpson showed no emotions. He was led away in handcuffs and taken into custody. His sister, Carmelita, who was sitting in the front row, broke down in tears.

The items were in the possession of two memorabilia dealers, Bruce L. Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, who were led to believe a prospective buyer was coming to browse the goods. Instead, Mr. Simpson and his group burst into the room and, according to several witnesses, at least one gun was brandished.

The jury of nine women and three men, who deliberated for 13 hours, mulled weeks of testimony as well as hours of surreptitious audio recordings of the planning and execution of the event by Thomas Riccio, a memorabilia auctioneer who arranged the confrontation.

Personally, I've always thought O.J. Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. The signs were always there: from the infamous scene of him fleeing from police in that white Ford Bronco to the pictures of Nicole Brown Simpson's scars and bruises (gained from the many beatings the "Juice" gave her while they were together). Not that black liberals cared: O.J. is black and that's all that mattered to them as they quickly lined up to defend the O.J. from the "racist" criminal justice system, despite Simpson having long removed himself from the "black community" (didn't he cheat on his black wife and mother of his kids with Nicole?) for the greener/pleasure pastures of private golf courses, Beverly Hills and Hertz commercials. Despite all the photographic evidence presented during the trial. Despite the fact that it was O.J.'s fame, notoriety and loot that undoubtedly played the biggest part in the trial as it allowed Simpson to hire a literal "Dream Team" of lawyers, including the late Johnny Cochran, who got him acquitted of the murder charges.

Now, with the incredible irony of it being exactly 13 years after the Brown/Goldman acquittal, Simpson's guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping charges, facing possible life in jail. One could argue that his arrogant attitude has been his downfall. Instead of fleeing the country and making a new life elsewhere, Simpson lived his life here as if nothing happened, all the while showing disrespect to the victims and their families, continuing to play golf with his millionaire buddies, talking about "finding the real killers" and even going so far as to publish a book called "If I Did It", a sad and pathetic attempt to try and profit from two deaths for which he;d been found liable. To think it was an all-white jury that found him guilty here. What goes around comes around. indeed.

Casey Anthony Knows Where Her Daughter Caylee Is

Stepping away from the politics for a moment, if you pay attention to the news like I do you'd be hard-pressed to not know about the going-ons of Casey Anthony and her "missing" daughter Caylee. Now after months of lying to the cops, being released on bail money at least twice, protesters lining up daily outside her house and a barnstorm of media attention covering the case, police have FINALLY decided to label this mischievous, lying, witch a "suspect" in her daughter's disappearance:

Investigators have named Casey Anthony a suspect in the mid-June disappearance of her toddler daughter, Caylee, Florida authorities said Wednesday.

Police had previously labeled Anthony -- who authorities said didn't report the 3-year-old child's disappearance until mid-July -- a "person of interest" in the case.

"Casey is a suspect," said Orange County Sheriff's Department Capt. Angelo Nieves. "She has been uncooperative, leading investigators down the wrong path and lying to them. She has not provided any credible information about the last time she saw her or where she was left."

Casey Anthony of Orlando, Florida, was arrested on July 16 on suspicion of telling detectives lies about Caylee's disappearance. She was released on bail after that arrest and subsequent arrests on unrelated theft charges.

Authorities said weeks ago that evidence suggests Caylee is dead. Investigators found evidence of human decomposition in the trunk of Anthony's car, authorities have said.

Casey Anthony knows where her daughter is. And when you consider her reckless past, the fact that she hasn't provided any useful information to the police concerning the whereabouts of her daughter, how Casey acted as though she hadn't a care in the world during the time she now says she had no idea where her daughter Caylee was and chloroform being found in her car, one would be hard pressed not to believe that, sadly, little Caylee Anthony is dead. I'm guessing that it all has something to do with her boyfriend, but either way, it's about time the cops build up a strong enough case to try Casey for murder.

Mark David Chapman Denied Parole

Good:

John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole for the fifth time Tuesday.

The New York State Division of Parole issued a release saying Chapman's request was denied "due to concern for the public safety and welfare."

Chapman, 53, is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in prison for shooting to death the former Beatle outside his New York City apartment on December 8, 1980.

The killer has served 24 years of his sentence at the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility and was previously turned down by the New York State division of parole in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Chapman is held in a building with other prisoners who are not considered to pose a threat to him, according to officials with the state Department of Correctional Services. He has his own prison cell but spends most of his day outside the cell working on housekeeping and in the library.

For the past 16 years he has received conjugal visits with his wife, Gloria. The visits are part of a state program called "family reunion" that allows inmates to spend up to 44 hours at a time with family members in a special setting.

I read about this story yesterday and was particularly upset to learn that this notorious convicted killer, already enjoying the good life in jail (which includes the opportunity to have sex with his wife every year), was about to get another chance to get out of prison. I'm no believer in the death penalty and I certainly can't stand the iconic worship liberals have for Lennon, but what's right is right and Mark David Chapman should never be allowed freedom again.