INQUIRER: Four Philadelphia police officers today were fired, with another demoted and three others facing suspension with transfer for taking part in the videotaped beatings of three suspects.The officers were among 19 policemen who were filmed May 5 kicking and pummeling three men on a tape by a Fox29 television news helicopter. Police allege the three men had been involved in an earlier drive-by shooting in Feltonville that resulted in several injuries. The disciplinary actions were announced this afternoon at Police Headquarters by Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Mayor Michael Nutter. Ramsey said a police sergeant who “failed to take action” […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Reverend Carroll Pickett was the death-house chaplain at the Walls prison unit in Huntsville, Texas for 13 years. During his tenure, he ministered to 95 inmates executed by lethal injection. Because he was employed by the state, Pickett was unable to voice his disapproval of capitol punishment while performing his ministry. But he has become an opponent of the death penalty since leaving the prison system. Pickett co-authored a memoir with Carlton Stowers, titled Within These Walls. He is now the subject of a new documentary, At the Death House Door. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 is our country’s […]
Feds Tighten Noose Around Johnny Doc’s Neck
INQUIRER: Contractor Donald J. “Gus” Dougherty Jr. pleaded guilty today in federal court for providing $115,000 worth of free renovations on the South Philadelphia home of labor leader John Dougherty. With his plea, Gus Dougherty, a close friend but unrelated to John Dougherty, has now pleaded guilty to 99 criminal counts involving his business, Dougherty Electric Inc. He pleaded guilty to a charge of providing illegal payments to a union official. Gus Dougherty is to be sentenced Aug. 15. In the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Eve said Gus Dougherty “did not intend to invoice” John Dougherty for the work […]
CHANGE: Barack Obama Draws 75,000 In Portland
Sen. Barack Obama addresses the masses in Portland, Oregon, earlier today. [Photo by SYBL09] WASHINGTON POST: PORTLAND, Ore. — Sen. Barack Obama has seen his share of large crowds over the last 15 months, but his campaign said they have not approached the numbers gathered along the waterfront here right now. The campaign, citing figures from Duane Bray, battalion chief of Portland Fire & Rescue, estimated that 75,000 people are watching him speak. The scene suggests this is not an exaggeration. The sea of heads stretches for half a mile along the grassy embankment, while others watch from kayaks and […]
THE PSYCLONE RANGERS: Ain’t Goin’ Down
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was my old band, and if we had a Nugget, this was it.
Bush’s Grandfather Helped Fund Nazi War Machine
THE GUARDIAN: George Bush’s grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.His business dealings, which continued until his company’s assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the […]
ARSTY: The Audacity Of Shepard Fairey
WASHINGTON POST: LOS ANGELES — When the street artist and guerrilla marketer Shepard Fairey got word from the Obama people that they would welcome his contribution to the campaign, he knew what he wanted to create: a phenomenon. All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper, like Fred Thompson on an off day. Fairey wanted something more iconic — aspirational, inspirational — and cool. In other words, he wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want. The 2008 Democratic primary season equivalent of the Che poster (with all that […]
BREAKING: Ted Kennedy Airlifted To Hospital
CBS NEWS: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy was airlifted to a Boston hospital Saturday morning after falling ill at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., the Cape Cod Times reported. He was first rushed to Cape Cod Hospital, and after being in the emergency room for two hours he was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital, according to the Times. It’s unknown what the 76-year-old senator’s medical condition is. Kennedy was first elected in 1962 to finish the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy. Kennedy, who is the second most senior member of the […]
CONVICTED: Med. Marijuana Dealers Facing 20 Years
SF GATE: FRESNO — Two Modesto men are facing mandatory 20-year prison sentences after being convicted of running a medical-marijuana operation that federal prosecutors labeled a criminal enterprise, authorities said today. Luke Anthony Scarmazzo, 28, and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, 28, were convicted by a federal jury Fresno on Thursday of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, growing marijuana and possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute. The conviction for running a criminal enterprise carries a mandatory sentence of at least 20 years. U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger is to sentence both men Aug. 4. Federal officials said the case sends a […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
Making Time, Pure, Last Night [Photos by TIFFANY YOON/CLICK TO ENLARGE] BY TIFFANY YOON There comes a time when a night life party as big as Making Time reaches its threshold and edges perilously close to the shark-tank. The shameless and pervasive display of look-at-me-I’m-a-raging-drunk assholish behavior last night does not bode well for the future of Making Time. Dave P and the other resident DJs celebrated the party’s 8th year and with an impressive lineup with Mobius Band, Black Kids and Cut Copy. We congratulate the guys for their years of rad party throwing, but fear for the future […]
HELL NO WE WON’T GO (BACK): Iraq Vets Tell Congress The War Is Immoral, Illegal & Incompetent
AFP: Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love. “I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school,” the now 24-year-old told AFP. “I was ‘filet mignon’ for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade,” or around 16 years old, he added. Chiroux joined the US army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant. He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq. On […]
BILL O’REILLY: The Other Side Of The Story
WARNING: F-bombing cats and dogs in this one. BILL O’REILLY: F*cks Ann Coulter WARNING: F-bomb Alert Defcon 5!