News Today, Top News

Broken Carnival Cruise Ship Arrives in Alabama

2/15/2013

February 15, 2013, After 5 days of what was supposed to be a luxury cruise liner, Carnival Triumph finally docked in Mobile, Alabama. The Cruise had a mechanical breakdown in the middle of the high seas. It took days for the ship to be towed back to shore. After spending 5 days of their vacation on a broken down cruise ship, in the middle of the ocean, with spoils and sewage running through it, the ship, tired weary passengers disembarked the ship anxious to get home. But their vacation from hell wasn’t over yet, after getting off of that far from luxurious cruise ship that had a mechanical breakdown in the middle of the high seas, now their waiting bus broke down. Too much! I know it’s not funny, but I can’t help but laugh.

The passengers spent the night in Mobile, but got functioning bus the next day which was bound for New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. However, according to CBS News the bus bound for New Orleans broke down. Carnival Cruises will reimburse passengers for their trip as well give them an additional $500. I am not a cruise person, but if you are. It might be a good time to plan a cruise. I am sure their will be many discounts.

0 Comments

Olympic Paralympic Track Runner, Oscar Pistorius Shoots Girlfriend Dead

2/14/2013

0 Comments

February 2013, 26 year old South African, 2012 Olympic Paralympic track runner Oscar Pistorius, is charged with shooting and killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp inside of his Pretoria, South Africa home. The Olympian is accused of murdering Reeva, a 30 year old law school graduate, reality TV actress and model on the day after Valentines Day. The Prosecution accuses Pistorius of shooting seven times through a locked bathroom door that Reeva was hiding in. Three bullets struck her.

Pistorius is a double amputee as the result of a bone defect that he was born with. He is affectingly known as the “Blade Runner.” After much opposition and controversy, he made history while competing in the 2012 Olympics with the use of his prosthetic limbs. Other competitors thought his carbon fiber blade prosthesis gave him an unfair advantage.

Authorities have stated that there is currently no known motive for the crime. However, they do intend to prove that the murder of Steevekamp was premeditated. Pistorius has stated that he thought his model girlfriend was an intruder. He said that they were deeply in love. Pistorius is being held without bail in a police station in the South African capital of Pretoria. Family and friends have said that the pair were involved in a happy relationship, and that 29 year old Steenkamp was excited about upcoming Valentines day. The day before the holiday she tweeted "It's a beautiful day! Make things happen. Starting my day off with a yummy healthy shake from my boo," followed by a smiley face. "Boo.”

Steenkamp was described as a great person to be around. Her agency Capacity Relations tweeted “She was the kindest, sweetest human being; an angel on earth and will be sorely missed.”

0 Comments

Christopher Dorner Killed In Shootout With Police

2/12/2013

0 Comments

Verses from 1992 Cop Killer recorded by rapper Ice T and the group Body Count
Cop killer, better you than me.
Cop killer, Fuck police brutality!
Cop killer, I know your family's grievin'
Fuck em
Cop killer, but tonight we get even.

I got my black shirt on.
I got my black gloves on.
I got my ski mask on.
This shit's been too long.

I got my twelve gauge sawed off.
I got my headlights turned off.
I'm 'bout to bust some shots off.
I'm 'bout to dust some cops off.

Verses from 1988 Fuck The Police recorded by rap group NWA

HUH, a young nigga on the warpath
And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath
of cops, dyin in L.A.

I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope
Takin out a cop or two, they can't cope with me
The motherfuckin villian that's mad
With potential, to get bad as fuck
So I'ma turn it around
Put in my clip, yo, and this is the sound
[BOOM, BOOM] Yeah, somethin like that
but it all depends on the size of the gat
Takin out a police, would make my day

Hip Hop songs that were recorded more than 20 years ago. Lyrics that talk about avenging police brutality that was perpetuated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on the black and brown youth of South Los Angeles.

It is no secret that the LAPD has had problems with corruption and discrimination within and outside the Department. Problems that date back more than 50 years.

1951 Bloody Christmas – Seven youth, 5 of whom were Mexican, were savagely beaten by 50 drunk white police officers, while in custody at the police station.

1965 – Watts Riots spawned by illegal stop and arrest of an African American man by California Highway Patrol.

1992 – South Los Angeles Riots. After a high speed chase, Rodney , an African man was brutally beaten by several LAPD offices.

Late 1990s - The LAPD Rampart Division’s Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit, were convicted of falsifying evidence, bank robbery, drug dealing, beatings and illegal shootings.

Fast forward to 2013. Christopher Dorner a 33 year old ex LAPD Officer. A Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserves. A college graduate who played college football. A former football team mate described Dorner as someone whom he respected. Friendly, fun and easy to hang out with. A neighbor described Dorner as nice, friendly and easy to approach.

With a resume like that, how could Dorner an expert marksman kill the daughter of a former police captain and her fiancé? And then ambush and killed one police officer and wound another while the two were stopped at a traffic signal?

What exactly was Dorner’s beef with the LAPD? What caused him to go Rogue? Was he up one night listening to some old Ice T and NWA eating popcorn and watching Skyfall, when he decided to act out a scene from a Rambo move? According to a Manifesto that Dorner posted to the Internet, it’s not that simple.

According to the Manifesto, Dorner lived to be a police officer. It was something he aspired to do his entire life. Dorner’s ex-girlfriend stated that “for somebody like Chris, he was the type of person that without him having a badge, without him having that job, title of police officer, I really don't think he would exist without it." So how did this educated, easy going respectable guy who served his country and community, turn into a cold blooded murderer?   Well it seems Dorner started to spiral out of control after he was fired.

Dorner writes in his Manifesto that he felt betrayed by the department.   He was terminated 10 months after he reported that his then partner kicked a cuffed suspect in the chest and face. Though the suspect had visible injuries to his face, Dorner was found to have fabricated the story. The Department labeled Dorner a bully for assaulting a recruit while in the police academy, and also because he choked a fellow police officer. Dorner said that the assault charge was a lie, and stated the reason that he choked his fellow officer was because he repeatedly used the word nigger.

Dorner felt that his termination from the LAPD cost him his career as a Commanding Officer in the Naval Reserve. He blamed the department for the deterioration of his relationship with his family and friends, stating that when he lost his name he lost everything. Dorner was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve on February 1, 2013 and on February 3, 2013 his killing spree began.

In his Manifesto, Dorner named several police officers and their families specifically, but stated that every LAPD police officer was a part of the department wide corruption and therefore every police officer was a target. Asian officers for not standing for anyone or anything. White officers for victimizing minorities. Latino officers for victimizing Latino immigrants. Black officers for victimizing incoming white recruits for payback. And Lesbian officers for victimizing male officers. Words of a mad man. A man who had snapped.

In all fairness the LAPD has come a long way in cleaning up the department. It may not be perfect, but it is most definitely not the force it was before. In reading Dorner’s Manifesto, it does not seem to me that there was anything mentioned that could send anyone over the edge let alone turn them into a calculated cold blooded killer. Maybe Dorner had some undiagnosed psychological problem. Maybe Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Dorner’s ex-girlfriend said that he was Paranoid. Stating that he kept guns in plain sight around her house, and that he slept with a gun in and next to the bed. She stated that she understands it is not unusual for police officers to always be on duty, but felt that he went overboard.

After killing three people, Dorner fled to a cabin at Big Bear Lake, some 100 miles east of Los Angeles, CA. On February 12th, in true movie fashion, Dorner’s life ended in a shootout with the Police. Police threw in tear gas which set the Cabin Dorner was in on fire. There are questions as to whether or not the cabin was deliberately set on fire by police to get Dorner to come out. The cabin burned down, and Dorner’s body was pulled from the ashes. But in the end it was not the fire that killed Dorner, but rather a self-inflicted gunshot. He shot himself while the cabin was on fire, but not before he killed another police officer. This bringing the death toll to 4.

Dorner's violent rampage left questions that may never be answered. Where were his family and friends? Were there signs that he was losing all sense of rationality, and if so, did anyone try to help him? More importantly, did the police department or the armed services have any clue that he was a walking time bomb? Dorner’s break is divesting for the police department on so many levels. One of their own turned on them. Will this tragedy affect how the officers interact with each other? Will it cause division? Will it bring out other sleeping giants? One thing is certain, with so many police officers and serviceman overworked and trained to kill, I think it impotent that more measures to recognize mental instability be put into place. Even for those that have been terminated or discharged from duty.

0 Comments

Hadiya Pendleton Shot And Killed After Attending Inauguration

1/31/2013

0 Comments

January 20, 2013. While the debate on guns in America continues, background checks, no background checks, assault rifles, no assault rifles, 2nd amendment rights, etc., people are dying in Chicago. Chicago remains the state with one of the highest rates of gun murders per year. Young minority men, women and children are being shot and killed on a regular basis. As of January of 2013, there have been 157 violent shootings and 42 peopled murdered by guns.

The dead include a lovely 15 year old honor student named Hadiya Pendleton. On January 29th Hadiya was killed in Harsh Park on Chicago’s Southside. She was a sophomore at King College High School. Hadiya recently returned from the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She was a majorette with the high school band. The band performed at several inaugural events. When Hadiya was killed, she was at a local park with several fellow classmates, members of the school volleyball team. A torrential rainstorm began, and as she and her friends took cover underneath a canopy when she was shot in the back. Two of her classmates were shot in the leg but fortunately survived. Hadiya and none of her friends had any affiliation with gangs. So why did someone open fire on them?

At a police news conference in Harsh Park where she was killed, Hadiya’s father Nathanial Pendelton spoke to his daughter’s killer. “He took the light of my life.” Look at yourself, just know that you took a bright person, an innocent person, a nonviolent person.” Nathanial described Hadiya as a good student who was very active.   A dancer, a cheerleader who wanted to attend Northwestern University to become a “doctor or pharmacist or maybe a lawyer.”

Hadiya’s name was sited during the gun violence hearings at the White House this week. Jay Carney, White House press secretary said that Hadiya is in the President and Mrs. Obama’s thoughts. Their prayers are with the family.

54 year old Cabrini-Greens housing projects resident Shirley Chambers, has lost all 4 of her children, to gun violence. Her son, Ronnie Chambers was the last of Ms. Chamber’s children to be murdered. 33 year old Ronnie Chambers an ex-gang member turned record producer had turned his life around. He was gunned down in mid-January, while sitting in a parked car, after attending a listening party.

Ms. Chambers lost her 18 year old Carlos while he was walking in Chicago’s South Loop. Her 23 year old son Jerome, was killed in April of 2000 outside of their in Cabrini-Green. He had just been hired to work in construction. Three months later, her 15 year old daughter LaToya was killed outside their home, by 13 year old boy. Ms. Chamber’s stated that “to have to bury all your children, all of them, it's hard. My life will never ever be the same again."

Though Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, over 500 people were killed in 2012. How does this happen? There are no gun shops. Assault weapons and high capacity magazines are banned. Decades long ban on handguns was only lifted in 2010. Potential gun owners must obtain a background check, get a Chicago firearms permit which requires firearms training, and a state-mandated firearms identification card. The state requires that all legal gun owners must report lost or stolen firearms. This is true of Chicago but not true of the entire state of Illinois. The penalty for having an illegal firearm is 1 year in jail. However in 2012, police seized almost 7500 illegal guns. Almost 600 were confiscated in January 2013.

Twenty five percent of the guns confiscated by the Chicago Police Department were purchased in Cook County, just outside of Chicago as well as other stores around the Illinois. Indiana state, not more than an hour outside Chicago also supplies the guns that somehow end up in Chicago. The Cook County Board president has introduced a countywide provision requiring gun owners beyond Chicago to report lost or stolen guns. First offence will be punishable by a $1,000 fine.

Clearly the gun laws that are in place now in the state of Chicago are not working. So, is the answer to gun violence more gun laws? The problem may be much bigger than that. Reverend Jesse Jackson says that the culture of violence in Chicago like many other minority environments, is poverty. The Reverend says that young black and brown children are born poor, hopeless and full of despair. They feel forgotten. They have been abandoned by one parent and the other parent spends many hours outside of the home trying to make ends meet. They are left often left alone to raise themselves. The schools they attend are old, worn down and not up to par. Teachers and staff are overworked. They are hungry. Maybe even depressed. They get to together to support one another. But they are children and children need love, understanding and guidance. They want to know someone cares for them.

Critics say that this is no excuse, because many who come from the same situation do not resort to gun violence. True. Unfortunately many is not all.

0 Comments

Lance Armstrong Confessed to Blood Doping On Oprah Winfrey

1/18/2013

0 Comments

January 2013, In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs including EPO, transfusions and testosterone, professional cyclists Lance Armstrong stated that it is for the best that he stepped down from The Livestrong Cancer Foundation. The charity he founded in 1997 and viewed

as his “sixth child,” reportedly has raised nearly $500 million dollars to fight the disease, in part by the charities yellow Livestrong wristbands. Armstrong is a survivor of testicular cancer competed between 1999 and 2005, retired then made a comeback in 2009.

Since confessing to using steroids, he has been banned from the sport of professional cycling and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. He may possibly lose his bronze metal. Armstrong stated that he viewed him taking performance enhancing drugs as a leveling the playing field,
and that he “deserves to compete again.”

The US Anti Doping Agency “USADA” stated that they are releasing more than 1,000 pages of “overwhelming” evidence that as a professional cyclist of the U.S. Postal Service Sponsored Team, Lance Armstrong was a part of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that the sport has ever seen." The Report includes "direct documentary evidence including financial payments, e-mails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs used by Lance Armstrong.

The USADA reports goes to the professional cyclists governing body, “International Cycling Union, UCI, Union Cycliste Internationale” its French name, the “World Anti-Doping Agency” and the “World Triathlon Corporation”, which runs Ironman competitions. UCI, is to recoup millions in prize money won by Armstrong.

Pat McQuaid UCI Union President stated that he was“sickened” by the report, but that "Cycling has a future.” He writes "today's young riders do not deserve to be branded or tarnished by the past or to pay the price for the Armstrong era."

For years Armstrong denied that he used performance enhancing drugs and relentlessly attacked his fellow team mates and anyone that spoke out about his drug use. In 2010 ex-team mate, Floyd Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone, and was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France Title. He accused other cyclists of using performance enhancing drugs including Armstrong. Armstrong’s attorneys said that Landis was desperately seeking money and attention.

Their have been others that have spoke out about Armstrong, including Tyler Hamilton. According to ESPN, Armstrong ran into Hamilton at a restaurant and threated to make his life a “living hell,” if he testified against him in court, regarding the doping allegations of U.S. postal team members.

In a lawsuit against the USADA, Lance Armstrong named head CEO Travis Tygart as a defendant, stating Tygart was on a “witch hunt and out to get him.” Emma O’Reilly Armstrong’s former personal assistant and team massage therapist said that she was in the room when Armstrong and two other team mates planned to backdate a prescription for cortiscosteroids, to explain a positive steroid test during the 1999 Tour de France.

Armstrong went after her calling her a prostitute, alcoholic and a trader. Once good friends of Armstrong, fellow cyclist and his wife Franky and Betsy Andreu stated that they were with Armstrong, when a doctor told him that he had taken EPO, Testosterone,cortisone, growth hormone, and steroids.

Betsy Andreu also said that her then fiance Franky was fired from the team because he refused Armstrong’s request to see Michelle Ferrari an Italian doctor who treated Armstrong and team mate Landis. Ferrarri publicly defended EPO , stating that the drug is not dangerous. Armstrong has accused Andreu of bitterness, jealousy and hatred.” Armstrong told Oprah that he was sorry for the pain he caused by his need to win at all costs.

Ex-team mate John Eustice told CNN that he believes that Armstrong admitted to doping because he wants to compete again. In order to do that he has to cooperate with USADA on certain details.   He says that Armstrong called the shots and encouraged team mates to blood dope. Stating that that in order make the team and ultimately win the Tour de France you have to perform at a certain level. If you do not blood dope you are not going to perform at the level.

So the question is taking performance drugs par for the course if the majority of the cyclists are blood doping? Do you compete without using drugs and risk not performing as well as those that are? Or, do you join them, especially if you can’t beat them any other way?

0 Comments

Broken Carnival Cruise Ship Arrives in Alabama

Olympic Paralympic Track Runner, Oscar Pistorius Shoots Girlfriend Dead

Christopher Dorner Killed In Shootout With Police

Hadiya Pendleton Shot And Killed After Attending Inauguration

Lance Armstrong Confessed to Blood Doping On Oprah Winfrey

Author

Archives

Categories