Archive for June, 2012
Dallas NAACP called for ban on ‘racist’ state lottery
The Dallas, Texas, branch of the NAACP has called for a ban on the state lottery, claiming that it is a drain on the finances of low-income people, and especially minorities, who can least afford games of chance.
Chapter President Juanita Wallace said many people have spent all their hard-earned money in hopes of striking it rich, but instead, the lottery has left their finances in shambles.
‘It’s an addiction,‘ she told CNN.
Moneyball: Texans have spent a whopping $3.3billion on lottery tickets so far in 2012
Wallace said one man she knew died last week without health insurance because he withdrew all of the funds from his policy to buy lottery tickets.
One of NAACP’s major concerns is that the lottery specifically targets African-Americans, as well as people who are poor and ‘uneducated.’
Overall, Texans have spent a whopping $3.3billion on lottery tickets so far this year, according to CBS DFW.
A spokeswoman with the Texas Lottery Commission rejected allegations of racism, saying the Texas lottery does not market any differently from one demographic to another.
Former inmate sues for being shackled during labor despite objections by medics
A former prison inmate who says she was shackled at the ankles in an ambulance while in labor prior to the birth of her daughter despite the objections of medical personnel sued the Nevada Department of Corrections on Wednesday.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, cited what it described as shocking indifference to ‘wholly obvious, serious medical needs’ after the woman’s ankles were shackled before and after giving birth in October.
The woman, Valerie Nabors, was being held at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in North Las Vegas for trying to steal about $300 in casino chips, a nonviolent crime, when she went into labour.
Nabors, 30, has since been released.
The lawsuit, which alleges violations of state law and Nabors’ constitutional rights, said that after she went into labor, guards ran to the ambulance in which she was transported to the hospital and shackled her ankles together,
Gruesome video of the brutal death of Mexican drug
A gruesome video depicting the decapitation of five members of a Mexican drug cartel by a rival gang has been posted on the internet in the latest atrocity in the raging battle over drug-smuggling routes.
The chilling, three-minute video is the latest stunt in the deadly feud – which has already claimed a number of similarly gruesome deaths.
The video, which was posted on the cartel-tracking blog Mundonarco.com, shows masked members of he Gulf cartel standing behind five shirtless members of the Zetas cartel, who have black ‘Zs’ painted on their chests.
Brutal death: Each of the men are asked to state their name and who sent them before being told they will meet their end
War: Five members of the Zetas cartel kneel below machete-wielding masked men who then go on to decapitate them in the gruesome video
The masked men are wielding machetes and slap their prisoners, who are kneeling below them as they each state their name for the camera.
When they are asked who sent them, they each reply ‘Z-40′.
40 is the name given to Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, the Zeta cartel’s second-in-command.
The man shooting the video tells them: ‘You find yourselves here because you came to f*** us. Pay attention, men.’
Michelle Obama called court decision on health law a victory
First Lady Michelle Obama today called the Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act “truly a victory for families all across this country.”
Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Memphis, Tenn., Mrs. Obama urged supporters to help boost the law’s popularity ahead of the November presidential vote.
“When it comes to healthcare, please, please tell people about the historic reform this president passed,” she said. “Tell them that today’s Supreme Court decision was truly a victory for families all across this country.
“Because of this reform, help them understand that insurance companies will have to cover preventative care for things like contraception, cancer screening, prenatal care… Insurance companies will no longer be able to cap your coverage because you’re ‘too sick’ … (or) deny you coverage just because you have a preexisting condition,” she said.
No immediate ruling on bond for Zimmerman
The neighborhood watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin will have to remain in jail while he waits for a judge to decide if he will be granted bond.A Florida judge on Friday said he would not immediately rule on whether to grant bond to George Zimmerman. He did not indicate when he might make a decision, saying only that he needed time to weigh the evidence presented Friday.Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester revoked Zimmermans $150,000 bond earlier this month when prosecutors told the judge Zimmerman and his wife misled the court about how much money they had during the April bond hearing.Prosecutors said a website Zimmerman created for his legal defense had raised $135,000 at the time of his first bond hearing. Zimmerman and his wife did not mention the money then.
via No immediate ruling on bond for Zimmerman – Yahoo! News.
Filipino Man Becomes U.S. Citizen at 102 Years Old
A 102-year-old Filipino man who came to California as a teenager in 1928 to pick lettuce and cabbage became an American citizen during a touching naturalization ceremony Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
“I’m happy,” Philippines-born immigrant Joaquin Arciago Guzman (pictured) said in Tagalog after Wednesday’s ceremony, where about 7,300 joined him in taking the citizenship oath.
Nationwide, only 27 people older than 100 have become U.S. citizens in at least the past 50 years, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“It’s extremely rare to see anyone over 100,” said Nancy Alby, the agency’s field office director for Los Angeles County. “We get a handful in their 90s and 80s. It’s more common to see people in their 70s.”
The oldest person ever to become a U.S. citizen was Manik Bokchalian of the San Fernando Valley community of Van Nuys. She was 117 when she took the oath in 1997.
At the downtown ceremony, Guzman’s niece and caregiver helped him out of a wheelchair to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance and sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Guzman put his hand over his heart, next to a small American flag in his suit pocket, the Los Angeles Daily News reported
Crazy Fan Stalks Usher
R&B crooner Usher is fearing for his life because he is being stalked by Darshelle Jones Rakestraw, who swears that she is married to the entertainer reports TMZ.
According to court documents, Darshelle had the unmitigated gall to actually pound on the front door of Usher’s Georgia home on June 23. The 26-year-old demanded to be let into the residence and police suspect that the young woman had every intention of shaking up the performer and his family.
When Usher summoned police to remove the woman from his private residence, she balked at first, then left but her departure was only temporary. Darshelle returned to Usher’s home again the very next day. This time when police were called again to escort Darshelle off the premises, she was adamant about the fact that she was Usher’s wife and had simply forgotten her keys.
The petite woman’s sob story fell on deaf law enforcement ears and she was placed under arrest.
Read more….
Man Gets 40 Year Sentence in Stand-Your-Ground Case
A man who claimed Texas’ version of a stand-your-ground law allowed him to fatally shoot a neighbor after an argument about a noisy party was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison for murder.
Raul Rodriguez, 46, had faced up to life in prison for the 2010 killing of Kelly Danaher. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years.
“I think it sends a clear message that this was not a case of stand your ground,” prosecutor Kelli Johnson said of the sentence.
Rodriguez, a retired Houston-area firefighter, was angry about the noise coming from a birthday party at his neighbor’s home. He went over and got into an argument with 36-year-old elementary school teacher Danaher and two other men at the party.
In a 22-minute video he recorded on the night of the shooting, Rodriguez can be heard telling a police dispatcher “my life is in danger now” and “these people are going to go try and kill me.” He then said, “I’m standing my ground here,” and fatally shot Danaher and wounded the other two men.
Rodriguez’s reference to standing his ground is similar to the claim made by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who is citing Florida’s stand-your-ground law in his defense in the fatal February shooting of an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin. Rodriguez’s case, however, was decided under a different kind of self-defense doctrine.
Defense attorney William Stradley said Rodriguez’s family was disappointed with his sentence and that the case was tragic for everyone involved.
“He understands that what he’s done is difficult and obviously if he could go back and change it he would,” Stradley said.
Mindy Danaher, the wife of the man Rodriguez killed, said, “Nothing will be enough. It’s not going to bring Kelly back. I just want (Rodriguez) to be in there forever.”
Kelly Danaher’s mother, Connie, read a statement in court in which she called Rodriguez a “hateful coward.”
“Eternal fire and damnation is not enough for what you took from us,” she said.
Prosecutors called Rodriguez the aggressor who took a gun to complain about loud music and could have safely left his neighbor’s driveway in Huffman, an unincorporated area about 30 miles northeast of Houston, any time before the shooting. Defense attorneys argued Rodriguez was defending himself when one of the men lunged at him and he had less than a second to respond.
At trial, prosecutors tried to show Rodriguez had a history of not getting along with Danaher and other neighbors.
One neighbor testified that Rodriguez, who had a concealed handgun license, bragged about his guns and told her a person could avoid prosecution in a shooting by telling authorities you were in fear of your life and were standing your ground and defending yourself. During the trial’s punishment phase, neighbors, former co-workers and Rodriguez’s ex-wife testified that Rodriguez was abusive, a bad neighbor and that he once shot a dog.
‘The Hugley’s’ Former Child Star, Charged with Murder
The cute smart aleck boy who played D.L. Hughley’s son “Michael” on the ’90s ABC-TV sitcom “The Hughley’s,” Dee Jay Daniels (pictured left, below), has been slapped with a murder rap in addition to gang activities, according to RadarOnline.
The former child actor, whose actual name is Dorjan Lyndell Daniels, is now fully grown up at age 23. He, along with two other cohorts, Marcus McCliman, 26, and Djuane Nunely, 26, stand accused of fatally stabbing John Joseph, 26, outside a Stockton, California nightclub in August of last year. An unidentified woman was also hurt during the incident but recovered from her injuries.
Daniels, who is suspected of being a member of the violent L.A. based gang the Bloods, is facing charges of street terrorism, premeditated, and attempted premeditated murder.
The young man faces a life sentence if he is convicted for the crimes.
Woman Squeezes Ex-Boyfriends Testicle Out Of Scrotum
A North Carolina woman stands accused of castrating her ex-boyfriend after squeezing his testicle out of his scrotum, The Daily Mail reports.
The victim, an unnamed 59-year-old man from Shelby, North Carolina, says that 35-year-old Joyce Maxine Gregory attacked him early Sunday morning. She allegedly “grabbed him by his scrotum in a vise-like grip.” He says when he tried to yank himself away from the grip, he injured himself.
Here is more of the victim’s account of what happened, according to the Daily Mail:
The victim said that he was lying on the couch at around midnight when all of a sudden, Gregory started throwing things in the bedroom and turning his apartment on Bowman Street upside down.
The 59-year-old got up and went to the porch of the duplex where he lives to call the police, and that is when his 35-year-old former paramour pounced on him and yanked his genitals, the police report stated.
When the man tried to walk out of the house to get help, he said Gregory knocked him to the ground, injuring his face.
The man was able to walk to a local EMS where he was treated before being sent to the Cleveland Regional Medical Center. Officer M. L. McPherson, who wrote the police report, said that the victim’s “scrotum had been split open.” He also said that, “I was also able to observe one of the subject’s testicles protruding from the scrotum area.”
A urologist reportedly told cops that the victim’s injury could be fixed with “several stitches” and that no long-term damage was sustained during the incident
