Saturday, July 23, 2016

Judge denies rap mogul Suge Knight murder-trial witness info


SUGE KNIGHT - Before They Were Famous

Suge Knight got emotional and lost his cool in court Friday saying he"s worried he"s going to die in jail.

The breakdown came as the judge on his murder case ruled he can"t get addresses for several key prosecution witnesses and will have to wait until a week before trial to get the names of three more confidential witnesses.

The delay was granted after prosecutors raised concerns he might try to intimidate the witnesses.

"My time is ticking some days because of the health problems I have, and right now I"m not getting a fair chance to prove my innocence," Knight told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen.

Suge Knight"s harsh jail rules blamed on "massive scandal"

The co-founder of Death Row Records, 51, claimed he hasn"t been able to pay his lawyers, investigators or experts because he can"t call anyone other than his lawyers and can"t get visits from people outside his defense team, his parents and his four young children.

"If I don"t have the right to discuss my business or my own finances to take care of my own children, how do I have a right to defend myself? Because if I have no communication with the world, I cannot hire the right people," he said. "They"ve worked so far but they"re not getting paid."

He said it was "important" for Coen to listen to him because he feels he has "no one else to talk to."

"I hate to have to go through all this and die in jail," he told the judge.

Suge Knight seeks court approval to visit with sick mother

After his impassioned speech, Knight snapped at his lawyers in open court and could be heard raising his voice while waiting in a holding area during a break.

"I think all of this is just starting to take a toll on him both emotionally and physically. Obviously he"s been incarcerated over a year. He"s not getting the proper medical attention. And what you saw today was just a product of that," defense lawyer J. Tooson told the Daily News after the hearing.

In a filing opposing the defense team"s right to unredacted discovery, prosecutors argued that Knight is a dangerous criminal with gang ties who extorts a safety "tax" from rappers and once ordered a bodyguard to punch a woman.

In court, prosecutor Cynthia Barnes said she was worried that if Knight learns the identities of three confidential civilian witnesses in the case, he might go after them.

Suge Knight will be allowed to see sick mom after judge"s ruling

"The problem is, in county jail these reports get distributed and they have names in them. So if we give the defendant a report that has the name of a witness and he"s passing it around the county jail it puts that person"s name on blast to other gang members and other individuals that that person is a snitch and a potential witness," Barnes argued. "That creates more of a concern for the safety of that individual."

Knight"s fiancee Toi-Lin Kelly scoffed at the argument outside court.

She noted prosecution witness Cle "Bone" Sloan testified under an immunity deal at a preliminary hearing - and apparently hasn"t been targeted.

"Bone already testified and he"s fine, right? There are no reports of him being threatened or even contacted," she said after the hearing.

Sloan, a former gang member, was caught on tape fighting with Knight in the parking lot of a Compton burger stand in January 2015 before Knight hit the gas on his truck and ran over both Sloan and local businessman Terry Carter killing Carter.

Knight"s attempted murder charge relates to Sloan. When Sloan testified at the preliminary hearing he insisted over and over that he wasn"t a "snitch."

The protective order now governing Knight"s jail stay was filed by authorities under seal, so it"s not clear what alleged evidence they offered to justify the strict curtailments on Knight"s access to phone calls and visitors.

When he spoke to the judge Friday, Knight said he"s in bad health with blood clots in his arm and neck that landed him in the hospital.

"The doctor confirmed the blood clot in his neck was the size of a golf ball," Kelly said after the hearing.

Arguing for Knight"s right to unredacted discovery, his lawyers claimed that prosecutors gave up their right to withhold witness information when they allegedly shared case paperwork with a man believed to be a jailhouse informant.

Tooson and his co-counsel Antoine Williams said in court that a defense investigator interviewed alleged informant Daniel Timms and believed Timms was able to review unredacted copies of Knight"s case information.

They said the District Attorney failed to publicly refute Timms" claims after they surfaced in court filings last April and argued that if Timms is telling the truth, prosecutors forfeited their right to redact their discovery when they shared discovery with a convicted criminal.

Barnes blasted the suggestion prosecutors were working with Timms.

"Daniel Timms is a liar and a joke," Barnes told Judge Coen. "He"s not a jailhouse informant. They"re completely misinformed."

Knight, 51, has pleaded not guilty in the case, claiming he was the victim of an armed ambush and feared for his life when he mowed down Sloan and Carter.

The former music mogul fled the scene but later agreed to meet with police to tell his side of the story. He was arrested, charged and hasn"t been able to post his staggering $10.5 million bail.

His time behind bars has been marked by a series of medical woes including an emergency appendix surgery in March.

Tooson said Knight is on medication for his blood clots and diabetes and was rushed to a hospital by ambulance last week because jail personnel allegedly underestimated the seriousness of his condition.

"I don"t want you to die," Judge Coen told Knight in court Friday.

The judge said he would be happy to sign any medical orders brought to his attention by Knight"s lawyers.

Kelly said she"s still worried.

"His attorneys are successful attorneys with business to attend to and he can"t always get them on the phone," she said. "And what if he"s too ill to make that phone call?"

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Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/judge-denies-rap-mogul-suge-knight-murder-trial-witness-info-article-1.2722024

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Elizabeth Warren among those added to updated list of Democratic National Convention speakers


Elizabeth Warren Destroys CNBC Anchors

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who was left off the initial rundownof Democratic National Convention speakers, will address attendees atnext week"s gathering in Philadelphia.

The Massachusetts senator,whose populistmessages about income inequality and the abuses of Wall Street earn her great admiration amongliberals, was added onThursday to the officiallist of speakers.

Warren, who is serving her first term in the Senate, recently visited with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, about becoming her running mate.

In addition to Warren, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who isona short-list tobecome Clinton"s No. 2, will speak at the convention.

Clinton is expected to announce her running mate in next the several days.

Others speakers includeColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper andSen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who both represent key battleground states.

Next week"s primetime speaking line-up is as follows:

Monday: First Lady Michelle Obama, Vermont Sen.Bernie Sanders and Astrid Silva. Silva is a "Dreamer"from Nevada who will talk about her personal immigrationstory and her activism.

Tuesday:Former PresidentBill Clinton will be joined by Mothers of the Movement, mothers of black men and women who have been killed by gun violence or in police custody, including the mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

Wednesday: President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Thursday: Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.

Below are more prominentDemocratic names who were added to the list on Thursday and whowill address the convention:

  • Sen.Cory Booker of New Jersey
  • Sen.Bob Casey ofPennsylvania
  • U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro ofTexas
  • U.S. Rep. James E.ClyburnofSouth Carolina
  • Sen.Kirsten GillibrandofNew York
  • Sen.Amy KlobucharofMinnesota
  • VirginiaGov.Terry McAuliffe
  • Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed
  • Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada
  • Sen.Jeanne ShaheenofNew Hampshire

Source: http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-republican-convention-2016-trump-1469129675-htmlstory.html

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Friday, July 22, 2016

Star Trek Beyond: John Cho Says Gay Kiss Was Cut


Star Trek Beyond Movie Premiere
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Source: http://time.com/4419304/star-trek-beyond-john-cho-gay-kiss/

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Ivanka Trump"s Walk on the Donald Side


FANTASTIC FULL SPEECH: Ivanka Trump - Republican National Convention - Here Comes the Sun!

Midway through her speech introducing her father at the Republican Convention, on Thursday night, Ivanka Trump began talking about disparities in pay for women. The ones it was particularly hardon, she said, were not single women but married mothers. Donald Trump, when he was Presidentand she was sure he would bewould see to it that American women had affordable child care, and he would fight for other policies that allow women with children to thrive. At that, Ivanka, glowing in a petal-pink dress, her hair a smooth sheen, swivelled to look directly into the camera, with a brilliant smile, like the heroine in a nineties action television show, about to impart a point of plot explication, and said, And I will fight for this, tooright alongside ofhim!

She had emerged onstage to the strains of Here Comes the Sun. Someone from the New York delegation shouted, We love you, Ivanka! She said, to that and to the general adulation, Thank you. Her tone of even politeness was an immediate reminder of the most basic way in which she has been said to be an asset to Trumps campaign: she must have learned her manners somewhere, and perhaps something could be imputed from that about how her father treated people. She has, in the course of the campaign, gone further, speaking about his encouragement of her career and making videos with instructions for registering to vote, so as to make America great again. She clearly wants her father to win. On Thursday night she appeared not only as a character witness, or as a softener of his shouting image, but explicitly as part of his political operation. (She and her husband, Jared Kushner, also have a behind-the-scenes campaign strategy.)

Part of Ivankas task was to make an overt play for womens votes, but she also went to Cleveland as a messenger of sweetly aggrieved populism. Her father had become the peoples champion, she said. And tonight he is the peoples nominee. She asked the audience, in effect, to walk with her as she walked with her father in a fantasy park of Trumpian themes.

Ivanka Trump at the Republican National Convention. Photograph by Philip Montgomery for The New Yorker

It started in his office, with toys. She would be constructing miniature buildings with Legos and Erector sets, while he did the same with concrete, steel, and glass. He would tear stories about people encountering hard times out of the newspaper, and those people would appear, invited to Trump Tower, after a word to his assistant;then, after speaking with him, they left feeling that life could be great again. Trump also took his daughter out to show her what he was building. Ive learned a lot about the world by walking construction jobs by his side, Ivanka said. When run properly, construction sites are true meritocracies, as well as incredible melting pots, in which people work together towards a single missionminiature idealized Americas, in other words. (She did not mention that, on at least one occasion, her fathers contractor was cited for hiring undocumented workers.) Billionaire executives dont usually ask the people doing the work for their opinion of the work, Ivanka said, with a confiding smile, as if the delegates, from their experience with billionaire executives, knew exactly what she meant. My father is an exception. On every one of his projects, youll see him talking to the super, the painter, the engineers.

Read more of our latest news and commentary from the 2016 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

Ivanka was one of several speakers at the Convention to suggest that Trumps life as a real-estate developer made him something of an honorary blue-collar worker. (Pence and the Trump boys made this point, too.) She expanded on the idea with a return to Trump Tower. At my fathers company, there are more female than male executives. Several of these women had appeared in a video that played earlier in the evening. Indeed, it was notable that the lead-in to Trumps speech had involved a number of women, including Representative Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee, and Governor Mary Fallin, of Oklahoma. The Wall Street Journal noted on Thursday that Hillary Clinton leads Trump among women by fifteen pointsa gap that is not as big as one might think, though it is greater among younger women. The Trump campaign clearly sees an opportunity. Ivankas message was that, if leaders just focussed, as her color-blind and gender-neutral father did, on competence, most problems, including those of working women, would disappear.

When my father says he will build a tower, keep an eye on the skyline, Ivanka said. She did not say when to keep an eye on the border. It was during her fathers speech that the crowd chanted, Build the wall!, as he talked about politicians giving up a child to sacrifice at the hands of murderous immigrants. Ivankas view of Trumpism is from the metropole. That doesnt make it, or her, less political, even if, for her admirers, her presentation is more palatable. When she said that, while politicians wanted to be judged by their promises and not by their accomplishments, her father should be judged by his buildings and his family, she ignored the toxic nature of many of his promises.

She spoke not only as a daughter but as a political admirer. Donald Trump sacrificed greatly to enter the political field as an outsider, she said, referring, perhaps, to his renunciation of another season of The Apprentice, and nights spent in places like Iowa. As she followed him on the campaign trail, she saw how he dug deeper, got better, and became stronger . . . and now I am seeing him fight for our country. She accepted his diagnosis of Americas ills: her fathers nomination, she said, was a prelude to reaching the goal that unites us all: when this Party and, better still, this country know what its like to win again.

Come January 17th, all things will be possible again, Ivanka assured the audience. Then, reaching the end of her speech, she said, This is the fighter, the doer, that you have chosen for your nominee, and beckoned onto the stage her father, the next President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. He embraced her as the delegates cheered wildly. Then, for the next hour, he talked about how the situation is worse than it ever has been before, in a country facing death, destruction, and weakness, and where the sun seemed to have gone away.

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/ivanka-trumps-walk-on-the-donald-side

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Politics|Tim Kaine Seems Likely for Hillary Clinton"s No. 2, but Liberals Balk


Sen. Tim Kaine Seen as Hillary Clinton"s VP Pick
Photo Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia during a news conference in Washington in February 2015. Credit J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Democrats close to Hillary Clintons presidential campaign signaled strongly Thursday that she would choose Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, rounding out the ticket with a popular politician from a battleground state.

Both former President Bill Clinton and the White House have expressed their support for Mr. Kaine, but aides cautioned that Mrs. Clinton had not yet made a final decision and that other candidates were still under consideration.

Republican Convention Night 4: Analysis

How we analyzed the last night of the Republican National Convention, which features Ivanka Trump, Peter Thiel, Donald J. Trump and more.

Mrs. Clinton is widely expected to announce her choice in an email to supporters while on a campaign swing in Florida on Friday afternoon, an attempt to regain momentum the day after her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, accepted his partys nomination in Cleveland. With Mr. Kaine emerging as a clear favorite, one group already expressed disappointment at the prospect of the former governor of Virginia joining the ticket: liberals.

Many of the groups that backed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in his Democratic contest against Mrs. Clinton had hoped she would extend an olive branch to the liberal wing of the party and choose a vice-presidential candidate whose stances on Wall Street and global trade deals closely aligned with those of Mr. Sanders.

But with the Democratic National Convention beginning in Philadelphia on Monday, the prospects have dimmed for the two liberal senators who were being considered, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. That has led to more liberal scrutiny of Mr. Kaines record.

Mrs. Clintons campaign has kept a tight lid on its search for a vice-presidential candidate. A spokeswoman for the campaign declined to comment. An aide to Ms. Warren planned to meet with Mrs. Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, on Thursday afternoon to discuss how they could work together, which was interpreted by some people with knowledge of the process as a sign that Mrs. Clinton had settled on a choice.

Liberals say they are concerned about Mr. Kaines positions on global trade deals and Wall Street regulation. He has been an outspoken advocate of free trade and has defended the North American Free Trade Agreement, which many voters in Rust Belt states blame for the loss of manufacturing jobs to Mexico. He voted in support of fast track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact that President Obama has championed.

Two others under consideration, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez, also supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But Mr. Perez, who is popular among labor unions, has criticized Nafta, which Mr. Trump has called a disaster. After praising the Trans-Pacific Partnership as secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton has recently said as a candidate, I dont believe its going to meet the high bar Ive set on protecting American workers, the environment and other issues.

2016 Election Polls

About 60 percent of voters said trade with other countries caused job losses in the United States, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Mr. Trump has a slight edge over Mrs. Clinton on the question of who voters consider better poised to tackle the trade issue.

Putting Mr. Kaine on the ticket could be disastrous for our efforts to defeat Donald Trump in the fall because of his support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, a liberal political action committee.

Mr. Kaine, the son of a welder who owned a small metalworking shop in a Kansas City suburb, could help Mrs. Clinton attract white male voters and independents. Those voters may prove more critical to her chances in November than the young liberal voters who backed Mr. Sanders in the primaries.

As governor of Virginia, Mr. Kaine appealed to both Democrats in urban pockets and independents in rural areas, and established a reputation as a pragmatic consensus builder. Hed appeal to people in the Midwest because thats his roots, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. And Mr. Tobias said Virginians across political lines considered him a thoroughly decent and honest person.

Mr. Sanders endorsed Mrs. Clinton this month, declaring she is far and away the best candidate. And while polls suggest that most of his supporters plan to vote for her in November, some surveys suggest that only a small fraction of them will do so enthusiastically and that Mrs. Clinton remains unpopular with independents.

Hillary Clintons vice-presidential pick will be seen by many as a proxy for how she will govern boldly, or cautiously? said Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. She referred to the army of small-dollar donors who fueled Mr. Sanderss candidacy, adding, The wrong pick could deflate energy among potential donors and volunteers, hurting Democratic efforts to win the White House.

No running mate can please every demographic and constituency. Senator Cory Booker, also in the running for the No. 2 spot, supported Gov. Chris Christies push in New Jersey to expand charter schools and implement merit-based pay for teachers. Those positions made him deeply unpopular among the teachers unions who have been among Mrs. Clintons most loyal supporters.

On Thursday, Mr. Booker, speaking from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, defended Mrs. Clinton and derided Mr. Trump as someone who has been so indiscriminate with his demeaning and degrading language. Asked about the prospect of Mr. Kaine on the Democratic ticket, Mr. Booker praised his Senate colleague. Tim Kaine is one of the most honorable people Ive met in all of politics.

Continue reading the main story

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/us/politics/tim-kaine-hillary-clinton-vice-president.html

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Trump"s Convention Speech Will Include A Dog-Whistle To Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones" Fans


Cenk From The Young Turks and Alex Jones From Infowars Fight at RNC (VIDEO + QUICK REACTION)

Donald Trumps prepared remarks accepting the Republican Partys nomination for the presidency includea dog-whistle to the fans of Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist radio host and 9/11 Truth leader who continues to be courted by Trumps campaign.

During his speech tonight, Trump will declarethat The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo.

Jones frequently invokes globalists as the villains behind the various conspiracy theories he discusses on his radio show. He believes that a New World Order of global elites is working behind the scenes to rule the world through an authoritarian government and eliminate 80 percent of the worlds population.

Jones also helped launch the conspiracy that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job by the U.S. government He has also pushed conspiracies of government involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing as several mass shootings.

Trump has courted Jones and his audience, appearing on Jones show in December and praising his amazing reputation. Key Trump ally Roger Stone regularly appears on Jones program. In turn, Jones has heavily promoted Trumps campaign. Jones spoke at Stones July 18 America First Unity Rally, which was attended by Jones fans who noted the radio hosts key role in bringing them to support the GOP nominee.

Jones reportedly has a special guest pass that has allowed him to attend the Republican National Convention.

Source: http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2016/07/21/trump-s-convention-speech-will-include-dog-whistle-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-fans/211804

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In true Trump style, Ivanka Trump figures she can sell a few dresses off her convention speech


Ivanka Trump | Full Speech | 2016 Republican National Convention

There are actually quite a few guides on the Internet offering suggestions on making money off of political campaigns. Some are perhaps tongue-in-cheek, such asthis one, which uses the idea of spontaneously becoming a political consultant to point out how much money political consultants make. Some are awkwardly earnest, such asthis one, whichposits thatyou might want to sell old Hillary Clinton merch on eBay. Don"t have any? Well, "Consider Domain Squatting." (Don"t do that, actually. You won"t make any money anyway.)

But that"s not how the pros do it. That"s not how people who"ve mastered the international branding game do it.

They do it like this.

This isn"t Ivanka Trump tweeting, technically. It"s @IvankaTrump, but that"s the Twitter handle for IvankaTrump.com. If one has one"s own clothing line, it seems natural that you"d wear pieces from it; perhaps the marketing folks saw an unplanned opportunity to plug the outfit on Twitter. It"s $138 at Macy"s; apparently her father"s boycott of the chain doesn"t apply to her. The garment is described as a "sophisticated sheath dress" that "works wonders at both social and professional occasions" -- and, clearly, political ones.

Oh, also? The dress is "imported," according to its description.

So perhaps this was a just a smart move by the site"s marketing team to capitalize on the moment. Possible. Or perhaps Ivanka Trump has been doing this for the entire convention, posting a series of photos from the event at her website with personalized captions to each and links to where you can buy all of the things she"s wearing or carrying.

Perhaps that collection of photos and links to the Ivanka Trump store is featured on the front page of IvankaTrump.com right now.

That"s pro-level hustle.

There"s nothing illegal about this, of course. Ivanka isn"t the candidate. If Trump had invited you to speak and you plugged your book during your speech, that"s just the way it goes. If anything, Ivanka"s proving her father"s core value proposition: The Trumps know how to leverage the system to make a buck.

Just think about if Donald Trump wins in November and runs for reelection in 2020. Imagine how much Trump-branded stuff Ivanka will have to auction on eBay.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNGctMAzu5dHXOlvMv9u8-WomXRX1A&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779165603515&ei=DlOSV-iJKdjG3QHSno-wAQ&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/22/in-true-trump-style-ivanka-trump-figures-she-can-sell-a-few-dresses-off-her-convention-speech/

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