Report: 5 off-duty New York City police officers were among bikers in SUV beating incident – @eyewitnessnyc http://t.co/wZ2PWCusaY

— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) October 5, 2013

NEW YORK (WABC) — Eyewitness News has learned that among the bikers on the Henry Hudson last weekend, were five off-duty NYPD officers.

Sources say at least two detectives witnessed the attack on Alexian Lien and did not directly intervene. And investigators are still working to determine what role, if any, was played by the other three officers. (more…)

….  When it was his turn at the register, he asked the 23-year-old employee for a $1.41 Swisher Sweet cigar, according to Lakewood sheriff’s deputies.   The man handed the woman a dollar bill.
When she told him he needed an additional 41 cents, he protested and threatened her, authorities said.
The man can be seen trying to grab the cigar out of the employee’s hand, but she was able to put it behind the counter out of his reach.

Police say she then asked the man to leave the store. But instead of leaving, the video shows the man leaning over the front counter and punching the woman in the face with his right hand. (article)
(more…)

TreeHouse Team Ponderings:   Little one’s hair is nicely cared for and she’s wearing cute, clean clothes. Which makes one think mental illness on the part of caregiver/mom-person is not as significant a factor as perhaps they would like it to be?

This child looks properly cared for by a relative and thus, whatever the dead person did today was not primarily a result of mental illness, but a decision. Just a thought. In addition, the child is not behaving hysterically in the way that children accustomed to abusive surroundings might rip loose when “something else” goes wrong.

The child appears to be responding to a caring adult in an appropriate manner…not clinging or freaking out–but trusting. Again, that suggests the chaos was a result of deliberate decisions, not a result (primarily) of “mental illness.”
[O]ne of the very first newsmen on the scene was a reporter for Alhurra (“The Free One”)TV?   They shot the first video all the stations were using.

Alhurra is operated by the non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves oversight and as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters. (link)

Interesting thought…  Somali woman hired to work in prisons.   Prisons generally filled with large percentages of those holding Muslim faith.  Hmmm? (more…)

By now everyone is familiar with the incident in New York where a family driving a Range Rover was surrounded by a pack of motorcyclists. Then terrorized. We’ve now watched 72 hours of media reporting on this *incident*, and have had the opportunity to see the bikers, their attorneys, their families and their friends talking on television about it.

Has anyone else noticed there is a stark undiscussed racial component to this story?
(more…)

By dictatorial fiat….

Obama's America… pic.twitter.com/P38BDsne5d

— Morgen Richmond (@morgenr) October 2, 2013

Holder: Trayvon Martin investigation is 'ongoing'

— AJAM Live (@ajamlive) September 30, 2013

I saw this on TV a few days ago and it really is quite incredible. A guy walks into a McDonalds intent on a mass shooting. He pulls the trigger five times trying to shoot people, nothing happens. He walks outside and fires into the air, no problem. So he walks back into the McDonalds and tries again to kill people; pulls the trigger another three times, and nothing happens. Then he walks back outside and the next two trigger pulls work as he shoots a car twice.
God was watching over those people in the McDonalds.
TEXAS – When Jestin Anthony Joseph walked into a McDonald’s and asked for a cup of water, that’s not all he was after.
Witnesses say the 24-year-old soon pulled out a gun and pointed it at employees and customers — who were with children — demanding their possessions.
Fort Worth police say surveillance video shows Joseph pulling the trigger at least five times while pointing it at individuals inside the restaurant — but the gun wouldn’t fire.
At least one man tried to wrestle the gun away from Joseph, who then went outside and fired a shot into the air, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says. (more…)

NEW YORK – Police say six people have been arrested [so far] on charges they were among hundreds of young partygoers who trashed the upstate New York vacation home of a former NFL player.

The arrests came after former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Raiders offensive lineman Brian Holloway said Thursday he signed papers authorizing the Rensselaer (rehn-suh-LEER’) County sheriff to bring charges in the Labor Day weekend party. (more…)

There are few, if any, positive aspects to the national spotlight and attention surrounding the George Zimmerman case.   A review of mandatory minimum sentences could be one of those outcomes. 
A new trial announced today in the case of Marissa Alexander.   Spotlighting a prosecutorial charge put upon by Angela Corey, the 4th District State Attorney’s Office in Jacksonville Florida; and a mandatory 20 year minimum sentence imposed by the judge after conviction.
The case is controversial, not so much for the conviction, but more for the sentence.

Under Florida’s mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines Marissa Alexander was sentenced to TWENTY years in prison for firing a warning shot in her kitchen when her husband was confronting her.   They had a troubled, at times violent, history together.
Good construction of the factual backstory HERE. 
There are two sides to every story, and in this case the actual conviction –based on the evidence– as found by a jury, was correct.   However, the sentencing was excessive based on the actual event.  A sentence structured around a charge, and mandatory 10-20-life guideline when a firearm is used in the commission of a charged and convicted  felony. 
[excerpt from MSN News]  …  The 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee said in Thursday’s ruling that the trial judge made a “fundamental error” when he instructed the jury that Alexander was required to prove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. (more…)

Gee, I wonder why you never heard of this race-based mass shooting incident in North Carolina, which took place while the trial of George Zimmerman was ongoing ?   Hmmm… couldn’t possibly be because the media hold any disposition toward not spotlighting race-based spree shootings when the black attacker specifically asserts his chosen targets were white people. No, wait…
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A man who shot four people near a Greenville Wal-Mart in June picked out his victims because they were white, according to several indictments handed down against him.

Lakim Faust had more than 100 rounds of ammunition when he started shooting at people at a law firm and a shopping center in June, authorities said.
A grand jury indicted Faust on 14 charges Monday, including four counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Faust, who is black, picked out his victims based on their race, according to the indictments. The documents didn’t specify why Faust wanted to shoot white people, and police have not talked about why he picked out his targets. (more…)