I must say, the news carries a real Friday-the-13th feel about it this morning, or at least the MS stories online all seem either to have or to describe something missing.
Take this Patsy Brumfield report (headline “DeLaughter asks for new trial date”) that either the mice or the copy-editor got at:
Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle
OXFORD – Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter, accused of allowing himself to be bribed, wants his April 6 trial date. [sic]
He also wants other upcoming court dates rescheduled because his new Chicago attorney needs time to prepare.
DeLaughter of Hinds County asked for the changes Thursday in a filing in U.S. District Court in Oxford. …
NMC is having a busy week, but if he or another of y’all can snag that motion from PACER for us, we’ll find out what Patsy wanted to tell (according to GoogleNews — which has also fallen apart lately — she had a scoop).
The Clarion-Ledger’s efforts are spotty too, coverage of the Jackson State University faculty senate’s no-confidence vote on President Ronald Mason
only slightly less vague than our first example. The senate’s resolution mentions such issues as an unpaid-leave program, budgeting, hiring practices, and transparency, but the C-L explains little.
In another case at the C-L, ’tain’t so much the journalism falling apart as its topic — rural bridges in 19 Mississippi counties whose managers haven’t gotten around to using the money appropriated two years ago to repair them. So travelers are left to take their chances with:
Though rated to carry a load of 18,000 lbs., this bridge over a creek on Rosemary Road in Hinds County has multiple holes in it from rotting wood. (Brian Albert Broom/The Clarion-Ledger)
The economy and real estate slumped as they are, not a lot of high-end kitchens are happening either. Alas but unsurprisingly, Greenwood’s biggest industry, Viking Range, has just suffered its fourth round of lay-offs in 11 months — 87 more jobs gone the way of 57 last month.
AG Jim Hood’s office is out with a warning against those who fill in with imagination what they lack in conscience, now hot to see what they can make of the stimulus program. So BOLO for scams such as these:
- E-mails asking for bank account information so the operator can directly deposit the stimulus payment to the consumer’s account. Instead, the scammer drains the account and disappears.
- E-mails that look like they are from government agencies and ask for information to verify that you qualify. The information is used for identity theft.
- E-mails that look officials [sic] and send you to a link to find out if you qualify. The link then downloads malicious software.
- Sites or e-mails that offer to sell a list of economic stimulus grants. Once you provide your credit number, it can be used for identity theft or the scammer can keep charging it.
If you have been a victim of these scams, call the consumer protection division of the AG’s office at (800) 281-4418 and the Federal Trade Commission at (877) 383-4357.
Anything else you want to fuss about, bring here.
UPDATE: Double h/t to ThirdSouth for the DeLaughter motion to vacate trial-date and set a status conference (5-page pdf) and its exhibit (3-page pdf), Laurie Levinson’s National Law Journal article on honest-services fraud.
a rumor has it that the Chicago lawyer solicited this case to litigate the “honest services” issue; seems that rumor was on here a while back as well.
I guess Delaughter truly has Little to lose by going to trial now.
That US Attorney’s office is going to mighty busy and things there may just fall apart.
And nothing to lose by Durkin the first trial setting, BoynamedSioux (at 1).
For DeLaughter’s sake, I hope this judge has more compassion than DeLaughter displayed while on the bench. It’s odd to see DeLaughter ask for a continuance he likely wouldn’t have granted himself.
Will the trial be in Oxford? Aberdeen?
Nothing odd about it, OleMissTrialLawyer@4 — it’s part of what Lotus calls the “assholery-quotient.” Help me out here, Madame Lotus, does “assholery quotient” have a hyphen? You coined the phrase, so it should be your call all year long, until it makes its way into Webster’s with or without one.
Umma umma, I reckon it DOES when it has or is a modifier, 3dS @6, but DOESN’T when used all by itself.
Nice piece about (and interview with) the late Willie King: http://www.bhamweekly.com/article.php?article_id=001224
any foloers with traveling plans that include I-20, be advised that power lines are down and all lanes are closed at Pearl going both ways. Entergy is saying they don’t expect to have it cleaned up for 8-9 more hours. execute plan B.
What happened, ducky, a mega-wreck?
Well, that’s wild — the C-L says two wooden powerpoles just up and snapped (“very high up near their tops”); Entergy is trying to figure out why. Is it blowy much out your way today?
All I could find from the mdot website http://www.MSTraffic.com
“A transformer along I-20 reportedly blew out close to Mile Marker 51 near Pearl High School, dropping power lines across the interstate. I-20 between Pearson Road (Exit 48) and Highway 18 (Exit 54) could remain closed for nine to 10 hours. Motorists should take alternate routes or avoid this area entirely if at all possible.”
This sounds useful, traffic alerts to your mobile: http://www.mstraffic.com/mobile. It’s a slippery wet mess out there, lotus; dangerous driving weather. At least it’s knocking some pollen out of the air.
W00tie w00tie W00T!
Happy 125th to the W!
Glad to see this too. Statement from DoJ:
Day by day, step by step, reclaiming our sanity . . .
We should form a “Cramer Pink Slip Pool” because Gawker reports “Calls to several CNBCers this morning indicated that Cramer has “the full backing” of CNBC and NBC Universal execs, and that his role at CNBC is safe.” – Clearly the man is on his way out.
Some of the Cramer clips are out of context. Cramer is not suggesting the market should be manipulated. He is explaining how it happens and how the hedge fund managers do it and how he did it when he was a hedge fund manager. He missed some calls but he always admits when he is wrong. He caveats his advice is not for 401k investing but for other money. He was wrong about the fall and did say to take any money you need in the next five years to take it out. That was when the Dow was at 12k. He is pressing Justice for indictments against AIG execs. He has been lobbying Congress for more protection for individual investors for years. Stewart is right that CNBC including Cramer failed to reveal what was happening before the crash and that CNBC has been too close to the trees to see the forest which Cramer admits. I lost some money on Cramer picks but I also made a good deal of money on Cramer picks. But I never based 401k or long term investments on these picks. Cramer has taught the American public alot about diversifying assets and other money management wisdoms. He is a big follower of Warren Buffet.
I’ve been watching the guy for years. I follow his Internet column too. He is not the villain he is being made out to be. He has an amazing life story.
Not judging Cramer as a Victim or Villain, just reporting what the network big wigs have said. In the Entertainment (Infotainment?) industry, once someone says that X has “the full backing” of leadership here, then X is almost always certainly on the way out and its just a matter of time before the coup de grâce is delivered.
Just curious: who thought Levi Johnston (“El-Jay” in Alaska)
(“I don’t want kids” “I’ll kick your ass”) was going to marry Bristol Palin? Who thought it was kosher for him to have that North Slope job without a high school diploma, when everyone else so employed was required to attain one? Who thinks Sarah Palin had nothing to do with him getting the job while he was toeing the “fiance status” line, and who thinks she had nothing to do with him losing it after he got cold feet?