Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (11-1-2014)

Every now and then I like to share. I'm a man of many layers. If you peel back one layer you might discover that I love sushi. Peel back another, and you might find out that I am huge fan of Blackploitation movies, ("Avenging Disco Godfather"). Peel back just one more layer and you might even discover that I sometimes like to take a hot bubble bath while listening to spa music.....don't judge me!

 Everybody has their thing but some people are just freak'in weird!

Hello Kitty, the precious little feline with no mouth but a great bottom line, has shown the business world how to take a brand and stretch its appeal across generations. Without question, the 40-year-old character has a cult-like following that includes everyone from preschoolers to grandmothers who find the fictional kitten simply irresistible.

"Wait! Stop right there. What do you mean 'she's not real?'" asks Jann Berman, a 70-year-old super-fan who attended the first-ever Hello Kitty Fan Convention  being held in Los Angeles this weekend to commemorate Sanrio's 40th year producing the universally loved cat and the 50,000 or so products she has spawned. All 25,000 tickets to the four-day event that opened Thursday at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA have been completely sold out. Fans are scouring eBay hoping to score admission.

Berman, a principal of Berman-Singer Public Relations, has been a Hello Kitty devotee since almost the beginning. As parent company Sanrio likes to say, Hello Kitty appeals to "everyone from four to forever" and post-60 women are a large part of that customer base. Berman is a perfect example. She walks around decked out in Hello Kitty jewelry -- Swarovski crystal necklace, bracelets, earrings -- shoes, purses and headbands. She owns Hello Kitty artwork, eyeglasses and footed pajamas. She sleeps with a Hello Kitty cuddle pillow, eats toast seared with Hello Kitty's image from her Hello Kitty toaster, and her waffles are in the shape of Hello Kitty's head, made on her Hello Kitty waffle maker.

Both her Brentwood and Maui homes are museums to the Japanese bobtail cat with the trademark red bow; the homes overflow with Hello Kitty pillows, sheets, towels, kitchenware, and artwork. She has a Hello Kitty television that streams the cute kitten's image across the screen whenever you change channels or adjust the volume. Berman's BMWs are tricked out with Hello Kitty seat covers, steering wheel covers, floor mats, decals and dangling Hello Kitty dice. Her license plate holders proclaim her love of the cat. Her phone and tablet cases are Hello Kitty. She sports Hello Kitty pins, key chains, silk camisoles and jackets. Some of her Hello Kitty jewelry is so expensive it needs to be kept in her safe. Her toilet seat cover and bath mats are all Hello Kitty. And at the VIP convention preview we attended with her, much time was spent admiring the Hello Kitty toilet paper in the restroom. Yes, they have toilet paper too.

We asked Berman to explain her obsession with Hello Kitty.

"She just makes me feel happy. She is so sweet and simple and pure. How can you not be happy when you see her?," she replied, reaching for her Hello Kitty hand sanitizer. Whenever Berman's husband is in Tokyo on business, he stops at the Hello Kitty store and texts her photos of the latest merchandise. "For $200, he can be my hero," she says. And everything is relative, she says, noting that she has very wealthy friends who sport-shop for $15,000 watches. "This isn't Tiffany's, you know," Berman says. "It's my way of treating myself." Berman notes that she has always given generously to charities and makes no excuses for her Hello Kitty passion. "This is my thing."

Uber-fans like Berman are a big part of the Hello Kitty audience. Last year, Sarrio saw $8 Billion in retail sales of Hello Kitty products globally, $2 billion of that was from North America.

This is a dream come true for a carnivorous foodie like me. BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT'S ONLY IN JAPAN!! 

 Burger King Japan announced its annual all-you-can-eat Whopper promotion is returning for customers who purchase an $11 meal.

The restaurant chain announced customers at select locations will be able to order a challenge set meal Nov 4-13 for $11 and those who finish the meals -- which consist of two Whoppers and a medium fries -- will be treated to as many free Whoppers as they can eat for 30 minutes.

The annual promotion, which began in 2010 has become known as "B" King, a play on Japanese buffets' use of the word "Viking" to describe the all-you-can-eat model.

Burger King Japan said locations are selling "advance tickets" for challenge set meals priced at just over $10, saving diners nearly $1.

In Urbana, Maryland, people scrambled to grab money what seemed to raining down from heaven. It could've been an act of God that caused the armored truck's door to burst open, who knows. After all, he does worked in mysterious ways.

Maryland State Police say a lock on the truck seems to have malfunctioned, causing the door burst open Friday morning. A bag of cash fell onto Interstate 270 near Urbana and the bills flew in the air.

YES!!!

Police say a number of drivers stopped on the interstate and grabbed what cash they could before a fire department vehicle arrived and turned on its emergency lights.

Responding troopers were able to help the truck's driver recover about $200. It's not known how much cash was lost.

Police urge the drivers who took the cash to return it to the state police barracks in Frederick, or else face charges of theft if they're found.

LOL, Yeah......GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!

PR

3 Things You Should Never Leave Home Without

1. Your faith: In an uncertain world we can always be certain of one thing. God can do all things. In the face of adversity, and in the shadow of uncertainly he is in control.

2. Your hope: Hope and faith go hand in hand. One just doesn't work without the other. No matter what the day brings, remain hopeful and be of good courage.

3. The word of God: Read your Bible, meditate on the word, and take it with you whereever you go!

Ephesians 6:17

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

PR

What A Jerk!!

Every now and then a public figure says something unbelievably stupid in the presence of a live microphone. I look at it as God's way of taking the mask off of these moron's. Whether it's Jessie Jackson and his "himey town" or cutting the presidents balls off debacle or Mitt Romney and his 1% comment, there never seems to be a shortage of raw material for Saturday Night Live skits. 

The latest public figure to go careening off the rails is from the ultra progressive state of.....you guessed, South Carolina!!

 South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is toying with the idea of a presidential bid, joked in a private gathering this month that "white men who are in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency," according to an audio recording of his comments.

In the meeting, the Republican also cracked wise about Baptists, saying "they're the ones who drink and don't admit it," a variation of a joke he sometimes tells in public.

Graham's folksy sense of humor and his shoot-from-the-hip style are part of his political appeal, and well-known to journalists and his colleagues in the Senate. But the behind-closed-doors remarks are a departure from the G-rated jokes he tells in public, and another reminder for politicians in the iPhone era that they are rarely far from a microphone, no matter how private the setting.

The audio snippets came to light on Wednesday by two separate South Carolina Democrats who received the recordings from a person using an anonymous Gmail address. Graham confirmed the recordings in an interview Wednesday.

The person didn't provide details on his background but told the Democrats that Graham was speaking to an "all-male club" in Charleston earlier this month, the Democrats said. Both of the Democrats wished to remain anonymous.

Graham said in the interview that he made the comments several weeks ago at a meeting of the Hibernian Society of Charleston, the Irish-Catholic charity organization that sometimes hosts big-name politicians for irreverent and frequently bawdy speeches.

Graham said the Hibernian Society encourages speakers "to be earthy, to make fun of yourself, to make fun of them. Then you say something serious and sit down. And if you talk over 20 minutes, they throw something at you."

In the recordings, Graham, who is favored in his race for re-election next Tuesday against Democrat Brad Hutto, appears to joke about the possible 2016 presidential bid he recently floated in an interview with the Weekly Standard.

"I'm trying to help you with your tax status," Graham says in the recording. "I'm sorry the government's so f---ed up. If I get to be president, white men in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency." The crowd is then heard laughing.

In another clip, Graham asks, "We got any Presbyterians here? We got any Baptists? They're the ones that drink and don't admit it." Again, the crowd chuckles.

Contacted about the recording, Graham's campaign arranged for the senator to speak about the remarks by phone from South Carolina.

The Hibernian Society hosts an annual St. Patrick's Day banquet that, in the past, has been headlined by top political figures like Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I have never been to the Gridiron Dinner, but it's a little like that," Graham said.

His October visit to the society was a separate event, he said, but the spirit was the same.

"I hope this doesn't reflect poorly on the club," he said. "They are great guys."

Graham said he was making fun of the society's all-male membership, joking that they were the last such organization in existence after Augusta National Golf Club admitted women.

As for the Baptist riff, Graham said he regularly teases South Carolina audiences about their various religious denominations, before making a larger point about religious liberty in the United States and warning about the threat of radical Islam overseas.

PR

5 Obama Care Predictions That Were Dead Wrong!

Predicting the ways in which Obamacare would fail and ruin America has been something of a cottage industry for conservative politicians and talking heads since the Affordable Care Act was passed into law in 2010.

Sometimes the Obamacare haters resolutely held their ground even as the facts disproved their theories. 

So let's take a journey down Insane Lane and reminisce about some of the scariest prognostications about Obamacare that turned out to be nothing more than scurrilous untruths.

1. Prediction: No One Is Going To Pay For Health Insurance

But as it turns out. Just About Everyone Paid For Health Insurance. After we learned that more than 8 million American's signed up for health insurance on the Obama Care exchanges by April, it became hard to argue that no one would enroll. So conservatives moved on to a new even more ridiculous theory: No one was actually gonna pay for it. The taker-class, 47 percenters who had latched on to the government teat were deadbeats who don't pay their bills, the argument went, basically. "But how many have paid??" they asked. Over and over.

House Energy and Commerce Republicans released a laughable "report" in April asserting only two-thirds of enrollees had paid premiums. Then they held a hearing about it, where health insurance company executives lined up to tell them they were dead wrong, and the number was more like 80 percent to 90 percent.

Finally, after a few months, the Obama administration offered a real answer : 7.3 million enrolled were paid up as of August 15.  That's down from the 8 million announced in April, but still more than the 6 million the Congressional Budget Office predicted would sign up. 

2. Prediction: Premiums Are Going To Skyrocket!!

What happened: Premiums Went Up A Smidge. Maybe the loudest, most persistent prediction was that health insurance prices would go through the roof next year because so many sick people would sign up, and so few young people, that insurers would have to jack up prices -- maybe even by as much as 300 percent! And then an ominous "death spiral" would begin and undermine the whole industry!

In the real world however: Forty-six percent of the people who bought plans on the exchanges said the plans were less expensive than the ones they had in 2013, according to a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation survey from March and April.

Thirty-nine percent of enrollees surveys did said their new plans were more expensive. These higher rates mainly affected younger, healthier people who earn too much money to qualify for tax credits to help pay for coverage. Eight-five percent of everyone who enrolled got these subsidies. And the increases were likely a one-time bump, mainly caused by rules making the insurance package better, so it isn't relevant to 2015. And yet...

"O Care premiums to sky rocket", screamed a March headline. Health insurance prices are going to double, even triple they said. AHHH NO!!

The basis for this shocking report? Anonymous quotes from "health industry officials." Which ones? Who knows! Stop asking questions. From The Hill:

“...I think everybody knows that the way the exchange has rolled out...is going to lead to higher costs,” said one senior insurance executive who requested anonymity.

The insurance official, who hails from a populous swing state, said his company expects to triple its rates next year on the ObamaCare exchange.

Shocking! But wait -- what's that, consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, or Sterling Draper Price?!?? The average premium increase on the exchanges next year will be 6 percent? (That's less than 300 percent, if you don't have a calculator handy.) That doesn't seem so bad, and is lower than typical increasesfor individual insurancepolicies before Obama Care.

3. Prediction: Obamacare Is The Worst Thing To Happen To Young People Since Moms Joined Facebook

What Happened: A Lot Of Young People Are Insured, Pleasing Moms Everywhere. Young adults were urged to "burn their Obama Care cards." by right-wing outfits trying to disrupt Affordable Care Act implementation. Their argument: Obamacare is a bad deal for 20-somethings because they'd be paying a ton just so old people and sick people could go to the doctor. Millennials were better off paying the fine for violating the law's individual mandate than buying health insurance. And anyway, these "young invincibles" didn't even want health insurance (contrary to what they actually said in polls, but whatever).

Obamacare was designed to "screw" young adults they were told. But in 2010, the law started allowing people to stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they turn 26, and in 2014 it began offering subsidized coverage to people with low and moderate incomes, which includes lots of young people just starting their careers. The result:

4. Prediction: Obamacare Is INCREASING The Uninsured Rate!

What happened: Obamacare DECREASED The Uninsured Rate. Considering that the Affordable Care Act will spend about $1 trillion over a decade to subsidize health benefits and requires most people to get covered, this idea seems just plain silly. But that hasn't stopped politicians and others from expressing it aloud!

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) himself got in on the action, saying in March there was a "net loss of people with health insurance." Whoa if true.

All available evidence shows that the uninsured rate is down -- way down. According to Gallup, it hasn't been this low since the 90's.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Harvard School of Public Health concluded in a New England Journal of Medicine article that 10.3 million more people have health insurance this year than did last year.

5. Prediction: Obama care Will Destroy The Private Health Insurance Industry

What happened: Health Insurance Companies Got A Lot Of New Business. A big part of this claim rests on exploiting public confusion about what "Obamacare" is, and ignoring the fact that private health insuranceis what's being sold on the exchanges. (Not to mention that even "single-payer" Medicaid is largely contracted out to private insurance companies.)

Another component of this prediction was that the Affordable Care Act lays too many regulations on health insurers. And there are lots and lots of regulations, like the prohibition against rejecting customers with pre-existing conditions and the mandate for a guaranteed minimum benefits package, that insurers wish they didn't have to follow.

"Look at what we've done to eviscerate the U.S. health insurance industry," Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said back in April.

Yes, look. After the first enrollment period brought in more than 7 million paying customers and the promise of millions more in the future, health insurance companies grew more confident (even some of those, like Aetna, that expecttolose money on the exchanges in 2014,

How confident? There will be 248 more health insurance plans available on the exchanges for 2015 than there were this year, a net increase of 25% (including a few companies that bowed out) compared to the first enrollment period.

PR

The "Round Mound", (Charles Barkley), Strikes Again!

Charles Barkley is probably the most famous player in all of sports who has never won a championship, and undoubtedly the most outspoken. Barkley never minces, words and his unsensored, unfiltered, take on, well......just about everything tends to rub people the wrong way, especially some African-American's. However, in a world where political correctness has "watered down" free speech, I find Barkley's honesty refreshing. In reference to segment of African-American's who take offense to his latest comments, I say this, there is no dignity, valor, or courage involved in being mad a anyone for acknowledging the existence of a problem in the Black community. A secret is not a solution to a problem, it is a denial.

Charles Barkley hasn't met a sensitive topic he couldn't dig into, and now he's speaking on what he calls a "dirty, dark secret" in the African-American community.

During an interview with a Philadelphia radio station, Barkley expounded on claims that Seattle Seahawkes quarterback, Russel Wilson wasn't liked by some of his teammates in part because he wasn't considered to be "black enough."

Barkley said he wasn't at all surprised.

"There are a lot of black people who are unintelligent, who don't have success," Barkley said. "It's best to knock a successful black person down 'cause they're intelligent, they speak well, they do well in school, and they're successful. It's crabs in a barrel. ... We're the only ethnic group that says, 'hey, if you go to jail, it gives you street cred.' "

The concept of "crabs in a barrel" isn't new, and it's universal. If you've ever seen a bucket of crabs at the market, the ones at the bottom will try to pull down the crabs that are closer to the top.

"I lived this, and if it weren't for my parents I wouldn't have pushed through it," one Twitter user said in response to Barkley's comments.

@cthagod @NYDailyNews I agree w Charles Barkley. I lived this, and if it weren't for my parents I wouldn't have pushed through it.

— Sim Odu (@BRTS_DN)October 27, 2014

Education advocate Dr. Steve Perry

 is another observer who agrees with Barkley.

If this is what Charles Barkley actually said, I applaud him. The truth can be ugly but it IS the truth. http://t.co/izHmLRfYgR

— Dr. Steve Perry (@DrStevePerry) October 27, 2014

Being Black & "street cred" need to get divorced.

— Dr. Steve Perry (@DrStevePerry) October 27, 2014

Others have been irked by Barkley's delivery. When Perry tweeted that he applauded Barkley's remarks, some responded that they bristled at Barkley's tendency to generalize the experience of an entire group.

"Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we're never going to be successful not because of you white people but because of other black people," Barkley said. "When you're black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people. It's a dirty, dark secret; I'm glad it's coming out."

As previously reported in The PRBrrown Report, the controversy began with a comment from Bleacher Reports Mike Freeman, who said some of Wilson's Seahawks teammates don't care for him because "they think he's too close to the front office," he "doesn't always take the blame with teammates for mistakes he makes," and "some of the black players think Wilson isn't black enough."

PR

Vicious, Young, & Far From Ladies

I believe that as American's we have become somewhat desensitized when it comes to violence. In this day and age where everything goes viral and is made to fit a 3 inch smart phone screen vicious attacks have been almost like entertainment. Like a train wreck that you cannot look away from because it rights there in front of you. No doubt, the accessibility makes it easier watch even if we find ourselves totally appalled. But in the minds of young teenagers who have never lived without Youtube, the internet, or social media, violent behavior becomes nothing more than a photo op, or an imitation of reoccurring violent themes that they've seen countless time. A theme which has been rendered normal by the mere fact that it is repetitive. I will no longer post the link to such videos because it almost feels as if I am a co-conspirator by doing so.

A West Baltimore, Md., group of girls a beat and robbed a teenaged girl just blocks away from a local mall, where she planned to submit a job application.

The victim’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, told WJZ in Baltimore that the group that attacked her daughter is part of the “Sisterhood” gang.

“They punched her, they kicked her and mostly they stomped her in the head,” the mother told the news station. “I just think something really needs to be done about these gangs because every time we turn the TV on, it’s another gang after somebody else’s child.”

West Baltimore, Md., police say the 17-year-old girl was viciously beaten and robbed on a street corner Tuesday afternoon as she was on her way to a job interview.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (10-25-2014)

We've all accidently sent a text message to the wrong person at one time or another. You just have to be careful  when you decide to send that naughty message to your husband or your wife that you don't accidently send it to your mother in law, your pastor, or in the case of this super fool, to your probation officer!

A Georgia man is back behind bars after mistakenly sending a request for marijuana to the worst person imaginable.

Alvin Cross Jr., of Albany, accidentally sent a text message reading “You have some weed?” to his probation officer. Cross was on probation after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery offense in 2006.

In response to the text, law enforcement raided Cross’ residence, where they discovered a bag of cocaine............

As a result, Cross pleaded guilty on Monday to cocaine possession and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Question: How old is too old to drive?

Answer: 92!!

A Maine woman is alive after mistaking a boat launch ramp for a road and driving straight into the harbor.............

Eva Linfest 92 was behind the wheel of what was most likely a 78' Buick Road Master, or an 83' Lincoln Continental, Thursday morning when she plunged into the water of Belfast Harbor.

Officials said both the ramp and the surface of the water were covered in a layer of leaves, and Lenfest later said she had thought she was driving on the road. There was also heavy rain that morning, which further decreased visibility.

Two men working in the harbor, Bryden Burlseon of Belmont Boatworks and Assistant Harbor Master Howard Whitcomb, were able to get to the car in a rubber dinghy and pull Lenfest out.

“[Bryden] had actually got the door open and got her unhooked, and he was trying to get her out but the car was going down. So I jumped in the boat and we got hold of her and pulled her out,” Whitcomb said.

Harbormaster Katherine Pickering told the paper that the men got Lenfest out “just a split second” before her car was totally submerged.

Lenfest was taken to a hospital but is reportedly doing fine in good condition.

McDonald food is organic?! Who knew!!!!!

Unsuspecting food critics were duped into thinking McDonald's grub was posh "organic alternative fast food".

YouTube pranksters Sacha and Cedrique film foodies' reaction to their supposed 'healthy' meals at the annual food fair in Houten in the Netherlands.

The pair are seen to stock up on chicken nuggets, Big Macs and muffins and at the famous burger joint before taking them to the food convention, removing the packaging and presenting them on platters as 'organic samples'.

In the video, filmed for online channel Life Hunters TV, the first punters to try the tricksters' fare describe it as "delicious", "fresh" and "tasty".Another says: "Rolls around the tongue nicely, if it were wine, I'd say it was fine." 

Sacha and Cedrique then ask their unwitting suspects to compare their produce to McDonald's food.

"It definitely tastes a lot better," says one girl confidently.

"The taste is a lot richer," agrees her friend.

The jokers conclude: "If you tell people that something is organic, they'll automatically believe it's organic!"

Some viewers questioned what the prank sought to prove, with one YouTube user commented: "MickyD's burgers are tasty but definitely unhealthy.

"So of course if you tell people it's a healthy organic option they will like it, it's not hard to make food taste great if you just add enough fat and salt."

PR

Not Black Enough?!?!??

Recently Mike Freeman, a writer for "Bleacher Report" a sports website, commented on the Seattle Seahawkes decision to trade Percy Harvin. Citing an anonymous Seahawks player, Freeman reports that a big reason Harvin was traded was because of his continued animosity toward quarterback Russell Wilson, which was dividing the locker room into pro and anti-Wilson camps.

Near the end of his riff on the Seahawks, Freeman said this:

"There is also an element of race that needs to be discussed. My feeling on this—and it's backed up by several interviews with Seahawks players—is that some of the black players think Wilson isn't black enough."

"Not Black enough?" This notion did not begin with Seattle Seahawkes player's. It is a long held belief in the black community that if you don't meet certain criteria or fit a certain mold that you are not black enough, or you "don't keep it real". The dubious distinction of not being black enough is bestowed upon anyone who is black or African-American who does not follow some twisted kind of monolithic status quo. Ironically, this label is most often applied to those who are successful and don't fit the negative stereo type of what it means to be Black. It's a fascinating pathology when you think about it. Black people who are of the opinion that other Black people are not Black enough because they don't fit some sort of bogus, perverse standard, or should I say lowered standard. This lowered standard does not represent anything that any of us wants to be or chooses to be. 

This question is never asked in reference to anyone who is starving, living in the ghetto, incarcerated or has multiple baby daddies/mamas. Are poor living conditions, bad judgement, disfunction and misfortune considered black enough? If so, I'll never be "black enough".

It seems as if some of us are using the very same stereotypes once used to demonize us, in an effort to define ourselves. A classic example of self destruction.

One of the most beautiful things about being Black is the diversity within the the culture. From President Obama to Flava Flava, we are an eclectic group of people who should not be marginalized, especially not by each other.

PR

Divine Intervention?

One is a building with bars. The other is a building with a bar. But a very drunk woman in Paw, Paw Michigan apparently had trouble telling them apart and ended up in a southwestern Michigan jail cell.

The Van Buren County sheriff's department says a 39-year-old woman mistook the Van Buren County jail for the bar where she was trying to pick up her boyfriend. 

The department says Deputy Robert Miersma spotted the Hartford-area woman backing into the jail parking lot in Paw Paw about 2 a.m. Sunday and noticed she smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated.

A breath test showed her with more than twice the 0.08 percent blood alcohol to be considered drunk in Michigan. She's expected to face drunken driving charges.

It's funny in an ironic sense how our subconscious mind works. This woman clearly new that she wasn't fit to drive so she "inadvertently" turned herself in. This story although both hilarious and sad at the same time, represents the goodness of God. Who knows who how many lives would have been lost if she continued to drive that night.

PR

Finally Justice?!

A Florida woman who was the victim of a abuse and was still sentenced to 20 years behind bars for allegedly firing a warning shot during a dispute with her husband was granted a new trial.

The appellate court ruling erased a decision by a jury that took just 12 minutes to convict Marissa Alexander, a mother of three, of aggravated assault.

The conviction of Alexander, who is black, sparked outrage and cries of a racial double standard in light of the exoneration of George Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, for the death of Trayvon Martin, who was black. In particular, outrage aired on social media and among some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Alexander unsuccessfully tried to invoke Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law as the same prosecutors who unsuccessfully worked to put Zimmerman behind bars told the court that she did not act in self-defense.

In granting the new trial, Judge James H. Daniel also seemed unmoved by the Stand Your Ground defense.

"We reject her contention that the trial court erred in declining to grant her immunity from prosecution under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, but we remand for a new trial because the jury instructions on self-defense were erroneous," wrote Daniel.

Alexander testified that, on Aug. 1, 2010, her then-husband, Rico Gray Sr., questioned her fidelity and the paternity of her 1-week-old child.

She claimed that he broke through a bathroom door that she had locked and grabbed her by the neck. She said she tried to push past him but he shoved her into the door, sparking a struggle that felt like an "eternity."

Afterwards, she claimed that she ran to the garage and tried to leave but was unable to open the garage door, so she retrieved a gun, which she legally owned.

Once inside, she claimed, her husband saw the gun and charged at her "in a rage" saying, "Bitch, I'll kill you." She said she raised the gun and fired a warning shot into the air because it was the "lesser of two evils."

The jury rejected the self-defense claim and Alexander was sentenced under the state's 10-20-life law, sparking outrage over how self-defense laws are applied in the state.

A Florida appellate court ruled today that jury instructions, which unfairly made Alexander prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that she was acting in self-defense, were wrong -- and that there were other incorrect instructions that self-defense only applied if the victim suffered an injury, which Gray had not.

Today, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., lashed out at Florida State Attorney Angela Corey, who oversaw the failed prosecution of George Zimmerman and the prosecution in this case, saying, "Arresting and prosecuting her when no one was hurt does not make any sense. ... What was certainly absent from the courtroom during Marissa's trial was mercy and justice. Indeed, the three-year plea deal from State Attorney Angela Corey is not mercy, and a mandatory 20-year sentence is not justice."

Corey's office argued that Alexander, who had not been living in the home for two months leading up to the shooting, provoked the incident, and that there was no proof the garage door was broken, Alexander's rationale for not leaving the altercation. Her office offered her a three-year plea deal in the case that was rejected.

Alexander testified about three other alleged incidents of physical abuse by her husband, including one that led to his arrest. Several witnesses claimed to have seen the injuries she allegedly suffered and the final defense witness in the case testified that she met the criteria for "battered person's syndrome."

In a statement, prosecutors wrote, "The defendant's conviction was reversed on a legal technicality.  We are gratified that the court affirmed the defendant's Stand Your Ground ruling. This means the defendant will not have another Stand Your Ground hearing. The case will be back in the Circuit Court in the Fourth Judicial Circuit at the appropriate time."

PR

Faith In His Word.

Sometimes in life we get so wrapped up in our so called problems that we forget how good God really is. We get entangled in our nonsense, stressed by our mess, and ensnared by our cares and we forget who our father is. I'm guilty of it myself. But every now and then I have to remind myself to stand on his promises, and have faith in his word.

 Hebrews 13:5 - [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:8 - And the LORD, he [it is] that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 31:6 - Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he [it is] that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Every now and then we need to remind ourselves!

PR

When Hazing Turns To Sexual Assault.

Hazing is probably one of the stupidest things known to man. It  damages, and ruins lives, and it is even worse when children are involved and parents condone their dispicable behavior.

Seven members of the Sayreville New Jersey football team are facing charges for their roles in a hazing scandal that caused school officials to cancel the remainder of the season last week.

Six of the players were detained  on a bevy of charges that included aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, conspiracy to commit aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint, and hazing, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Sayreville Police Chief John Zerowski said in a news release. A seventh player was being sought so after these charges were filed.

The players ranged in age from 15 to 17 and were detained awaiting a Family Court hearing to determine whether they will be held in a juvenile detention center or released in the custody of their parents or guardians. A date had not been set for those hearings at the time of the news release.

In the release, prosecutors said there were four incidents between Sept. 19 and Sept. 29 in which at least one of the suspects held the victims “against their will, while another suspect improperly touched them in a sexual manner.” A victim also was savagely kicked in the head, the prosecutor said.

Following the arrest, Sayreville Superintendent Dr. Richard Labbe released a statement saying the school has begun an investigation into all athletic and extracurricular programs.

“In the ensuing days, weeks, and months, we will come together as a school district and greater community to harness the strength required to support the young men who may have been victimized and then to begin the healing process for our beloved community,” Labbe said in the statement.​

The arrests came on the night that Sayreville was scheduled to play Monroe on its home field for homecoming. Instead, the football-loving community continues to be rocked by more dubious revelations.

The names of the players were not being released because all are under the age of 18. One of the key next steps will be whether prosecutors seek to have any of the teens charged as an adult which would mean stiffer potential sentences. A juvenile convicted of first-degree sexual assault would face up to five years in prison.

Three of the teens were charged with aggravated sexual assault and other charges, including sexual contact, conspiracy, restraint and hazing for engaging in an act of sexual penetration on one of the juvenile victims, the prosecutor said.

The four other teens were charged with aggravated sexual assault, conspiracy, sexual contact, hazing and riot by participating in the attack of the remaining victims.

No coaches or school officials were charged.

Labbe announced during a news conference a little over a week ago that the prosecutor’s office and borough police were investigating allegations of a “significant and serious nature” within the football program. The school had canceled the previous night’s game against New Brunswick and Labbe said the decision was predicated upon information obtained from law enforcement.

Last Monday, Labbe announced he was canceling the season.

“We can set the standard right now for all kids for all school districts in Middlesex County, in the state and in the nation that we are not going to stand around and allow kids to do this to one another,” Labbe said. “We are going to start holding our students responsible for doing the right thing and reporting these kinds of behaviors. I believe with every fiber of my body that the only way we are going to stop bullying is if we get the kids to go to an adult or to the authorities.”

That decision was met with an outcry from parents and community members, who seemed to be more concerned with football than rape or sodomy, leading to a contentious Board of Education meeting the following night in which the board unanimously affirmed the decision to cancel the season.

In the ensuing days, details about the nature of the alleged actions by upperclassmen on underclassmen began to emerge with the parent of a freshman player. 

In graphic and disturbing detail, the parent said upperclassmen would pin down a freshman player and then lift him up so a finger could be shoved into his rectum. Often the same finger would then be put in the player’s mouth! Chris Christie expressed outrage at the allegations and told news reporters in Trenton that, as a father of four, he was especially appalled.

“The facts as reported currently are extraordinarily disturbing and, as the father of a number of teenage athletes, the idea that that kind of conduct could be permitted  if it’s true … in a high school athletics program, or anywhere else in our state for that matter, is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (10-18-2014)

Just because you can't take it with you, doesn't mean that someone else should take it with them.

A murder victim’s expensive, German-made watch was found on a ghoulish, grave robbing Detroit homicide sergeant, who has since been suspended.

According to the report, Sgt. Alex Vinson was in charge of a case involving an unidentified murder victim who was wearing the fancy watch, police Chief James Craig confirmed.

According to police protocol, at the time that the man's body was discovered, the watch was photographed and stored with other property in the homicide section. Then the case went cold. However, while Vinson was in advanced police training in Idaho, other detectives decided to take a second look at the case, and the watch.

It was then that they realized the watch that was mixed in with the victim’s other items was not the same, but a cheaper replacement watch.....

"We were made aware of this a few nights ago and immediately initiated an internal investigation," Craig said. "We directed [Vinson] to return home."

Vinson was allegedly seen sporting the watch during the training session and was read his Miranda rights upon his return to Michigan, last week. GOOD!

"The case in ongoing, and the sergeant has been suspended while we prepare a warrant for review by prosecutors," Craig said.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, a truck containing 18 tons of Crisco sticks headed to a grocery store chain distribution center was stolen.

St. Petersburg Police say that a tractor-trailer containing the 36,000 pounds of vegetable shortening was snatched Sunday morning.

The truck was destined for a Publix distribution center in Lakeland. Authorities said the stolen tractor was a 2005 red Volvo, with a Florida tag and had the business name of "NS Express LLC on both sides of the cab. The trailer was a white Hyundai.

So if one of your friends or neighbors starts frying chicken and baking cakes every day for the next year or so, they just might know something about this missing truck load of Crisco. Unless you're the one who happens to be frying everything in sight............

A Chinese man divorced and then sued his ex-wife for giving birth to what he called an extremely ugly baby girl.

Talk about cold blooded! 

Initially, Jian Feng accused his wife of infidelity, because he was so sure that he could never be the father of such an ugly child.

And how did he know that he isn't the one with the ugly gene? You ask.....

When a DNA test proved that the baby was his, Feng’s wife came clean on a little secret. Before they met, she had undergone about $100,000 worth of cosmetic surgery in South Korea.TALK ABOUT NIGHT AND DAY!!!!

Feng filed for divorce and sued his wife on the grounds of false pretenses, for not telling him about the plastic surgery and duping him into thinking she was beautiful. The kicker? He won. A judge agreed with Feng’s argument and ordered his ex-wife to pay him $120,000.

“I married my wife out of love, but as soon as we had our first daughter, we began having marital issues,” he said in an interview. “Our daughter was incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me.” 

If having ugly babies was grounds for divorce in America there would be a whole lot of broken marriages. I've seen some "rough" looking babies in my time, and somebody ALWAYS has the nerve to look at one of them and call them cute! 

PR

Georgia: Making Voter's Disappear!

The story starts simply enough: African-Americans and Hispanics across Georgia were registered to vote at levels lower than their white counterparts, so the New Georgia Project was started by the non-profit Third Sector Development to register new voters, concentrating on minority communities, and that is exactly what the New Georgia Project did. Young African-American men and women went on a mission to make a difference, went out to register voters.

Over the last few months, the group submitted some 80,000 voter registration forms to the Georgia secretary of state's office, but as of last week, about half those new registrants, more than 40,000 Georgians were still not listed on preliminary voter rolls, and amazingly, there is no public record of those 40,000-plus applications, according to State Representative Stacey Adams, a Democrat.

Oh, yeah, did I mention that Georgia's Secretary of State Brain Kemp just happens to be a Republican.

The secretary's office says they have not done anything different than usual in processing the voter applications. These things take time, they say. Months and months apparently because that is exactly how long some of those forms have been sitting with the state without being processed.

That's Housini's, I mean, Kemp's story, and he's sticking to it … except this is also Kemp's story.

In closing I just wanted to tell you real quick, after we get through this runoff, you know the Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November. But we’ve got to do the exact same thing. I would encourage all of you, if you have an Android or an Apple device, to download that app, and maybe your goal is to register one new Republican voter.

Kemp said this in July, and in September, he announced he was launching a fraud investigation into the registration drive, though the secretary's office has not produced a reason as to why the state suspects fraud.

September was also the month when the Republican whip of the state Senate complained that DeKalb County, Ga., was making it too easy for minorities to vote by allowing early voting in an area mall close to many predominantly African-American churches. The whip, state Sen. Fran Millar, announced at the time that he was "investigating if there is any way to stop this action." Essentially he was trying to find a way to stop minorities from voting.

Monday marked the beginning of early voting in a number of Georgia counties, making the case of the 40,000 missing voters all the more urgent.

To that end, Third Sector Development announced yesterday that, after weeks of fruitless negotiations with the state, they were going to court to find out the status of the missing registrations — or, more to the point, the eligibility of more than 40,000 potential voters.

And here's why this matters:

In the battle for U.S. Senate between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn, the three latest polls show the race to be a statistical dead heat. The same can be said for the last two pollsinthe governor's contest between GOP incumbent Nathan Deal and Democratic nominee Jason Carter.

A tight House of Representatives race —like the one between incumbent step. John Bartow, D, and challenger Rick Allen R, in Georgia, could come down to less than 1,000 votes, and Georgia rules require the winner to net a majority of votes. 50 percent plus one. If no candidate garners a majority, there will be a runoff on January 6. This seems especially important in the Senate race, where there is a third candidate, Libertarian Amanda Swafford, who is expected to take three to five percent of the vote.

There are now about 6 million registered voters in Georgia. In 2010, the last midterm election year, a little more than 2,620,000 voters cast ballots for at least one race. Most expect the 2014 turnout to be lower. Back-of-the-envelope math would tell you that 40,000 votes would represent something like 1.5 percent of the November tallies. Could that be enough to sway results? In several key races, current polling indicates it likely would. 

If there was ever any doubt that your vote counts, this proves that it does. The trickery, deception, and outright disregard for the constitutional right of minorities to vote is not shocking or surprising at all. It's just another chapter in a dubious narrative in which fair play gives way lies, and deception.

PR