Andrew Cuomo running, NYC round-up -- Suzannah B. Troy

I have good and bad news.  Let us start with the good news.  In the smallest and humblest ways, sharing a impromptu birthday celebration with Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins today was wonderful.  That is NYC at it's best.  People thought this jazz great was dead but he is alive and composing and playing.  I rocked the jazz world when I posted a stirring rendition of Begin the Beguine on YouTube.


Today I filmed him celebrating his 74th birthday.


Good news, Andrew Cuomo has finally declared his candidacy for governor and I believe it is a shoe-in but the down side is he is inheriting a mega-mess and corrupted "gov" from Albany to City Hall and New York may be heading towards a depression if we aren't officially in one yet.


Good luck Andrew.


Now for the really bad news.  If you want to stab someone or a couple of people to death than NYC is the place to be and simply say it was self defense.


Do you remember the Jack the Ripper type stabbings of two people in the subway in the West Village and there were no working subway cameras around?  Well the grand jury let the murderer walk because uh, huh, it was self defense!
The reporter from The New York Times does not interview the two victims families so we never hear their side.  The people that were murdered were rude and offensive and thew a bag with bottles but I believe they were murdered and the murderer and  knew what he did and that was why he fled.




 Maybe New York needs to do better recruiting for the District Attorney's office?


 Also remember Keyanna Jones?  If you don't let me introduce her memory.  She was a stunningly beautiful teenage girl.  Please click on the link to see her beautiful smile face.  This beautiful African American girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time,  murdered by a man being teased and harassed by teenagers that exited the bus with him.  Keyanna had nothing what so ever to do with these teenagers. Maybe the news reporters got it wrong but as I understood it, she had no weapon.  Her last words were words of peace and she was murdered because this guy was being harassed by a group of teens  and she happen to walk up to the bus stop with her friend and witnessed the madness pouring out on the street and called for calm and was stabbed to death in the heart!!!! The murderer of a girl more than half of his age walked.


 The mayor talks about guns but look how people are being stabbed to death and walking free. Take a moment and look at Keyanna Jones's beautiful young sweet face...read the story and explain how her murderer walked away clear and free.


My letter in The New York Daily News
Words to the wise

Manhattan: Keyanna Jones, age 15, died speaking pearls of wisdom and peace ("'God takes good ones,'" June 27). Fragile egos and false pride are driving up the murder rate.

Suzannah B. Troy


Yesterday Emonee Williams became another teenage girl to be stabbed to death and in her own home in the Bronx by her Mother's boyfriend who was asked to leave the apartment.

I do not believe he will walk free since he has a record and sometimes grand juries, juries and judges get it right but apparently not soon enough because another beautiful teenage girl died in New York City.  Apparently even staying home doesn't mean your safe.


Andrew Cuomo and anyone currently in office  who is not a lame duck, or too busy stealing tax payer money really needs to step up to the plate calling for "peace on the streets" as well as for Albany to balance their budget which was supposed to be done April 1st.  


Welcome to New York.  

Facebook Privacy: The Word of the Week by NIKKY RANEY

The word of the week is PRIVACY.

(note: all links I include are the most recent links I can find meaning within the past day or so)

It has been a rough week for Facebook, and an even more troubling week for Facebook users. The privacy issues regarding Facebook have gotten so extreme that it made the cover of Time Magazine.

I am torn between feeling anger toward Facebook, or feeling critical of users like me. If Facebook users don't want private information getting out into the internet, then why are we all posting this information on Facebook in the first place?

These privacy issues are so extreme that May 31, 2010 has been dubbed as "Quit Facebook Day" by QuitFacebookDay.com. According to the site there are already over 10 thousand users signed up to quit. The site compares quitting Facebook to quitting smoking:

"Quitting Facebook isn't easy. Facebook is engaging, enjoyable and quite frankly, addictive. Quitting something like Facebook is like quitting smoking. It's hard to stay on the wagon long enough to actually change your habits. Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook."

Are the Facebook Quitters taking this way too seriously, or are the rest of us not taking it seriously enough?

The Wall Street Journal recently posted and article which confronted Facebook, Myspace, Livejournal, and other social-networking sites for "sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers' names and other personal details."

In my previous blog entry I included many links regarding Facebook privacy as well as the terms of service & Facebook's privacy code, etc. But it is now being said that Facebook may have been breaching its own privacy policy.

WSJ interviews and posts quotes from a "Facebook spokesman." That really doesn't show much credibility, because we don't exactly know WHO this Facebook spokesman is. I will do a blog entry on credible sources & the use of anonymous sources in the near future. I would personally like to know WHO this "Facebook spokesman" is, and why doesn't he want his name to be attached to the quotes he is providing? There are numerous reasons why a source may want anonymity, but the only reasons that I feel are legitimate are if the quotes/information provided could cause the person to lose a job or put the person in danger. Why does WSJ trust this "Facebook spokesman." Why wasn't someone from Facebook who would agree to go on record and have his or her name printed alongside the quote chosen? Anyway, I seem to be getting off track. Although, that does count as PRIVACY. The Facebook spokesman desired the need for PRIVACY, and WSJ allowed him (or HER) to obtain this privacy, which is funny since the interview seems to focus on the LACK OF PRIVACY given to the users. Irony, the Facebook spokespeople desire privacy:

" '"We were recently made aware of one case where if a user takes a specific route on the site, advertisers may see that they clicked on their own profile and then clicked on an ad,' the Facebook spokesman said. 'We fixed this case as soon as we heard about it.' "

Mashable has always been one of my favorites (I even have given Mashable.com its own bookmark on my Safari Bookmarks Bar). Mashable writers have been consistently updating the site with the latest news regarding Facebook privacy. They reasonably posted a survey asking, "Are You Planning on Quitting Facebook? Why?" Since I last checked the poll the majority voted "I like Facebook. I'm staying."

ReclaimPrivacy.org states that their mission is to "promote privacy awareness on Facebook and elsewhere." The site provides a tool that may be used to scan your Facebook privacy settings.

Macworld.com promotes Reclaimprivacy.org, and advocates that the site is credible. Philip Michaels, Macworld.com's executive editor, tested the site on his own Facebook and reassures that Reclaimprivacy.org can be trusted:

"There’s one thing about the ReclaimPrivacy.org tool that struck me as curious: When I scanned my Facebook settings in Firefox, I got the all clear on everything—even the categories still flagged with a yellow Caution label in Safari. My takeaway message? As helpful as the ReclaimPrivacy.org tool is—and it is very helpful—it’s not a silver bullet for every privacy concern you’ll have on Facebook. The best weapon you have is still your own common sense—though a little clarity from Facebook itself would be welcome, too."

I would like to point out that the best point made in the quote above is "The best weapon you have is still your own common sense." Thank you so much for saying this. (I don't know if Philip Michaels will ever read this, but if he does I want to thank him. And I would also like to say that I am in love with my 13" Macbook Pro!)

For those of you who have read my previous post regarding Facebook, and my own personal experiences with Facebook you may be questioning my own common sense. Since I sent the Facebook officials my government issue ID and proof of residency. I trust that, because I sent it to Facebook through an e-mail. I did not post it publicly onto Facebook. I think that the biggest concern is that the information posted on people's Facebook is getting out to the public, whereas I personally trust that the e-mail exchanges between Facebook officials and myself will stay private.

An article on Telegraph.co.uk includes a quote from Mark Zuckerberg from his interview with Time Magazine:

" 'The way that people think about privacy is changing a bit. What people want isn’t complete privacy. It isn’t that they want secrecy. It’s that they want control over what they share and what they don't.Our core belief is that one of the most transformational things in this generation is that there will be more information available.... Even with all the progress that we've made, I think we're much closer to the beginning than the end of the trend.' "

I am not questioning Zuckerberg's credibility. (I am still willing to send you brownies if you let me get the information back from my old Facebook account which you disabled due to my overuse of Facebook. I am sorry, I just really love Facebook. As you can see I have been very good on my new Facebook account, but I would still appreciate obtaining the old information on my other disabled account) I am just wondering how many users Zuckerberg has polled or asked regarding the privacy issues. Is this something he has assumed, or has he reached out to the Facebook users and asked, "Hey, how are you feeling about our privacy policy. You feel safe?" If Zuckerberg has in fact done this, then I am sad that I was not included in the questioning.

I think that the big issue is Facebook users have maybe trusted Facebook a little too much, and shared more than they would have liked to via their Facebook profiles. The advice I can give is this (for people who would like advice for making their Facebook information more private, I have been helping my mother with her Facebook).

Make an e-mail address strictly for Facebook. Go to your Account Settings, and edit your information. You will first add an e-mail address to the one you already use for Facebook. Then once you have confirmed that e-mail address via e-mail you can delete the e-mail address you previously used to log onto your Facebook account and have the new "strictly Facebook" e-mail address as the only e-mail address used for Facebook. This way if any advertisers do somehow obtain your e-mail address, they do not have your PERSONAL e-mail address, only the address that you use to log onto your Facebook account.

Only add people on Facebook that you trust, or create different "lists" or "groups" which customize which friends can see what, etc.

Edit your application's privacy by going to your privacy settings.

The thing about Facebook Privacy is that usually the new features are enabled automatically for everyone's Facebook, and we all need to go in and manually disable the features that allow applications to obtain information, etc.

Don't post things that you don't want people to see, and if you already have -- go through your Facebook profile and delete the things that you don't want posted.

I think the bigger issue is people that are adding their professional acquaintances to Facebook and then posting drunk photos & compromising status updates.

I have personally deleted most of my youtube videos (I had about 45 at one point), and I have tried to delete all the things that I posted back when I was in middle school & high school (including my old blog that I had during high school which I used more as my public diary and less as a blog). There are still traces of me on the internet that I cannot get rid of due to forgetting of passwords and things that I posted elsewhere or that someone else has posted of me, but I think that I am young enough to be able to redeem myself and keep myself in good shape in regards to The Future of Journalism.

So, I think the big lesson here is: Yes, Facebook has done some things that are wrong and have broken the trust with some of its users, but Facebook users should think twice about posting things on the internet that are private in the first place. If you are posting something on the internet that you only want specific people to know, give those people a phone call, tell them in person, send an e-mail, etc. Facebook, Twitter, etc. aren't the only ways to communicate.

This entire issue is worldwide, and I feel like by only posting the articles via USA & UK news sources that I am leaving out the fact that Facebook users are WORLD WIDE, and this privacy issue is affecting all of the users. I was born in the Philippines, raised in America with my Filipino mom and American dad, and I like to pride myself on keeping up with all international news, so I feel obligated to include links to other news sources outside of the US that involve Facebook Privacy. All links are directed to the Facebook Privacy articles both in the US and outside the US. Basically, here is a list of other articles about Facebook Privacy that I didn't talk about in my blog entry:

The Times of India

Irish Times

Montreal Gazette

Stuff.co.nz

PC World

EWeek Europe

Strategy Eye

Privacy. That's the word of the week.

Tune in next Saturday to see the next Word of the Week.

(That is, if there is another word that can outdo the popularity of the word "privacy" for next week, or will we still be dealing with Facebook privacy issues…)

Posting this post onto Zennie62 blog & The Future of Journalism

Blog post written by: Nikky Raney

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or concerns e-mail me nikkyraney@nikkyraney.com

For Twitter updates, I have recently made my twitter account public.

Bono rushed to hospital + Suzannah B. Troy beats out NYT mag Stieg Larsson

http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2010/05/bloombergs-goat-sing-stieg-larsson-4th.html

When I made this YouTube about Bloomberg's goat may sing and Stieg Larsson's trilogy plus 1

I had no idea The New York Times magazine was working on the story about Larsson.  See the Sunday New York Times magazine section.

I have written about the 4th book and the battle before and it is public knowledge posted on Stieg Larsson's website but I was ahead of the game and one reason why is Larsson's book focus on corruption, democracy, cowardly sicko bullies of the worst kind although they are all awful and it speaks to me and what is happening right now in NYC.

Now on to the news that U2 lovers all over the world I am sure are far more concerned with and that is Bono was rushed to the hospital in Germany.  He hurt his back during a rehearsal and had to taken in immediately for emergency surgery.

Clearly his loved ones and everyone involved in the tour wanted him healed and back on his feet asap.

Here is the link from The Sun.

Yahoo!'s CEO Carol Bartz at Tech Crunch Disrupt, New York City

Yahoo!'s CEO Carol Bartz will join TechCrunch Founder and Editor Michael Arrington for what is called a "Fire Side Chat" at Tech Crunch Disrupt in New York City at 12:10 PM EDT on Monday, May 23rd. Zennie62's trip is sponsored by Christine Smith Associates, Inc., the Premier Female Contractor in NYC.

Carol Bartz took over for Yahoo Founder Jerry Yang as CEO on January 13, 2009. Bartz took on the challenge of reviving one of the Internet's pioneer brands, which had suffered from the disease of over-bureaucrasy.

Bartz' most recent and most exciting move was to acquire Associated Content, a news website of over 380,000 contributors, making it several times larger than Examiner.com.

Yahoo!'s purchase of Associated Content should cause the mainstream media to shudder, but the simple fact that's not the case shows just how little the mainstream media understands what's happening.

If Yahoo! structures its website relationship with Associated Content properly it could cause a massive cannibalization of online news traffic. If New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. had nightmares trying to deal and then partner with Google, and The Wall Street Journal's minders think The Huffington Post is annoying, they've not seen anything yet.

But that's only if Yahoo! knows exactly what it's doing with Associated Content, and that remains to be seen. Carol Bartz will pack the room for what will be an exciting chat.   Personally, I hope Michael asks if any part of the twitter account Fake Carol Bartz (@fakecarolbartz) is true - especially the F-bombs.

How's that for buildup?

Google celebrates Pac Man 30th anniversary with icon game

Google celebrates Pac Man 30th anniversary with icon game. 30 years ago, Pac Man was created and became perhaps one of the most addictive games ever developed. Installed in a large video game box, Pac Man became the favorite after-school and at times during school time-waster, and in online form it still is.

Google proved that today with its' installation of a "logo-based" Pac Man game placed where the standard Google logo is located on its page. This blogger tried the game several times and did not do well simply because the cursor that you would assume was to control the Pac Man failed to do so. The result was that I was absorbed every time.

I thought it was the fault of the Apple Safari Browser's memory leak problem, which does make sense given the fact that the cursor was working some of the time, but not all of the time. And in Pac Man, time is really important.

Of course, posting a YouTube video of my failure gained comments of advice. Apparently I was supposed to work the 'page up, page down' keys, which I did do and gained more success than what's on the video screen.

Rats!

Well, you can see how much fun Pac Man can be to play. No wonder it's lasted 30 years!

Back to playing it!

Bloomberg's goat sing? Stieg Larsson 4th? -- Suzannah B. Troy

What does Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” and my new YouTube, “Bloomberg’s goat may sing like a bird + Stieg Larsson’s 4th book trilogy + 1” have in common beside the Swedish author? Watch my YouTube and see how I explain why in America his books are selling like wild fire.  The 3 books have been filmed in Sweden and the first has been released here in the U.S.A.

Larsoon died of a heart attack at ago 50 and he did not have a will.  He never married his live in love so his father and brother inherited everything.  His live in love, an architect has the fourth book on her computer and she is not allowing it to be published unless the inheritance is properly negotiated.  She points out on his website they were not involved in his life what so ever....

Why are the books such a sensation?  Because Larsson values democracy and the books address muck raking, fighting corruption, the role of reporters to expose corruption and ask tough questions which happens less and less all weaved in to a violent saga including hitting on the financial sector.  The books are about corruption!

The Swedish star who plays Lisbeth Salander looks like a female Johnny Depp.  Her name is Noomi Rapace.  Michael Nyqvist plays Mikael Blomkvist who is muck raker supreme and the co-owner of a magazine devoted to -- you guessed it -- muck raking.

So non-New Yorkers, guess what?  Mike Bloomberg decided mayor wasn’t good enough and he was going to be king of New York.  He denied us a referendum and put the vote in front of a city council riddled with corruption.   Yikes.  His money manger and good friend Steve Rattner had to step down from his job at the White House as Car Czar, he said to spend more time with his family but looks like Andrew Cuomo just busted him here in NY for shady dealings and his company Quadrangle disavowed him.  

Fast forward to my YouTube.  I have been following David Seifman’s pieces on the Bloomberg campaign scandal involving the Independence Party and fall guy John Haggerty.

It is pretty impressive that Mike Bloomberg spent almost 110 million to steal, oops just barely win an election...the most humiliating and expensive in NYC history and the only unaccounted money is $750,000.00.   Haggerty says he is being set-up and if they scape goated him, he is going to sing, spill his guts to avoid jail.  

My first YouTube was “Mayor Bloomberg King of New York” and my newest calls him “Teflon Mike”.  I look at him as a smart version of Peter Sellers in “Being There”.

Rand Paul: Ron Paul's son is a wacky guy on civil rights - pt.1

Rand Paul is a wacky guy

Just after Rand Paul won the Republican Nomination for the Kentucky U.S. Senate Race on Tuesday, this blogger video-blogged that his win was no surprise in this corner because he was the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who ran for President and failed but gained a cult following in the process.

I also said Rand Paul was nothing to worry about because he had wacky ideas like trying to get rid of The Americans with Disabilities Act. Rand Paul's expected to make a wild blast or two, but so soon? Dr. Paul came through with flying colors when he said that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not have included private business, when one of the major reasons for the passage of the Act were the famous sit-ins at restaurants, private businesses, that discriminated against blacks.

Rand Paul is a wacky guy. Dr. Paul's wacky because only such a person would not even consider the moral issue of how his black friends might be treated in such a situation. But then, it's fair to speculate that Dr. Paul has no real black friends. I don't mean the people he sees at work, but people who are regularly over to his house for a visit. People he's known a long time and keeps in touch with who are black. Someone with black friends would not stop to even consider allowing a society where his friends would be treated that way.

Rand Paul is a wacky guy.

Rand Paul's wacky because after appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show, and trying to two-step his way out of Maddow's intellectual trap (he failed), Paul then went on Laura Ingram's show and called Maddow part of the "Looney Left." What's funny is that it was before the same "Looney Left" that Rand Paul announced that he was running for The Senate a year ago. Check it out:

Video One:



Video Two:



Rachel Maddow made Rand Paul look, well, wacky. For example, Dr. Paul avoided a direct answer to Rachel's question if he would oppose Bob Jones University if they tried to bring back a ban on interracial dating at that private institution. Besides, why would a reasoned person even bother to touch sensitive racial issues unless he had a race issue? Paul says he abhors racism, but if so, really, why go there?

Allowing private companies to exclude on the basis of race, to be racist, is to support institutional racism. Thus, Rand Paul is actually helping to foster the very problem he claims to "abhor." Rand Paul's confused: "institutional racism" involves more than government. Institutions are private businesses too.

Rand Paul's a wacky guy. He's just another Southerner who's for some reason obsessed with race and in an unhealthy way.

There always seems to be the person in the South, generally older white and male from my experience, who wants to talk about race and what happened in the past. When one gets into such talks, they discover its that person who is trying to deal with their own racism that's festered over time. Rand Paul needs to let go of the past and help build the America of the future, one office medical patient at a time. In other words, not in the U.S. Senate.

Rand Paul now says he does not want the repeal of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But that was never the question. The question was does Paul support it, and the answer is still yes, but no.

Rand Paul calls that a "yes" according to his website:

"Let me be clear: I support the Civil Rights Act because I overwhelmingly agree with the intent of the legislation, which was to stop discrimination in the public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim Crow laws."

Note that Rand Paul still leaves out the "private" sphere. He's clear, alright, clear as mud.
Rand Paul is a wacky guy.

Stay tuned.

Bret Michaels back in hospital after stroke: Celebrity Apprentice?

Bret Michaels

Country rocker Bret Michaels, who's one of two celebrities competing to be the Celebrity Apprentice for 2010, is back in the hospital after having what has been called a "warning stroke."

Before this news, Bret Michaels was riding high. The lead singer of the group Poison was touring and his appearance on Donald Trump's latest installment of The Apprentice series gave him exposure outside his area of music stardom.

Then a massive brain hemorrhage sent him to the hospital. Now, just as it seemed Michaels recovered and he was set to go on tour again, he not only has a stroke, but a reported hole in his heart or "Patent Forum Ovale" according to MTV.com.

What's up in the air as of this writing is if Bret Michaels will be able to attend the final Celebrity Apprentice. Michaels is up against Holly Robinson Peete for the prize of Celebrity Apprentice 2010 and in my poll, 80 percent of voters and of well over 6,000 votes, have picked Bret to win.

Stay tuned.

Lindsay Lohan will NOT be arrested:CNN, Larry King, Nancy Grace wrong

While CNN's programs Larry King Live, Nancy Grace, and Showbiz Tonight were having a field day with the idea that Lindsay Lohan would be arrested because LA County Judge Marsha Revel issued a bench warrant for her, they forgot one thing: Lohan's lawyers could just post bail and get the bench warrant removed.

That's what happened, and it was announced by TMZ.com at 4:22 PDT, which is 7:22 EDT and apparently too late for the East Coast Media to react and make a correction.

Lindsay's legal rep paid $10,000, or 10 percent of the $100,000 bail the judge set to have the bench warrant recalled.

Judge Marsha Revel will see Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley Monday at 8:30 AM and then they will set a date for a probation violation hearing. Lohan is in France for the Cannes Film Festival, and was said to have been at a party on a yacht.

Lohan's lawyer didn't go any favors when she said "that's what she does at her age" and then said if it were her, she would not have done that. What she should have said was "My client is conducting business in France and such events as a party are a way to network and press the flesh to discuss the movie projects she's involved in."

While Lindsay's lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley worked hard to get her client off the arrest warrant spotlight, she did her no favors before the television cameras. Shawn Chapman Holley must learn to make a more professional presentation representing her client.

Stay tuned.

The True Cost of Chevron: Chevron's response to the 2010 report

There's a better way to work with Chevron

Not sooner did this blogger complete his first post on the Global Exchange Report called The True Cost of Chevron, did an email pop up from Chevron containing its response to the report.

 To recap, the True Cost of Chevron is Global Exchange's comprehensive report that really presents one side of the complex oil business that Chevron's involved in and no balanced country information to give the reader a complete picture of what any American oil company faces.

This space holds that Global Exchange could have produced a more effective report if it were based on a comprehensive System Dynamics Global Model of Chevron, which in turn calls for a comprehensive understanding of its business. Such an approach would have been more able to address Chevron's future in a way that's harder to argue with than Global Exchange's current approach. An approach Chevron takes issue with; this is what the email read:

As has been the case in the past, the report is riddled with false assumptions and conclusions. The only report that accurately represents the true value of Chevron is our Corporate Responsibility Report.

In 2009, Chevron invested $144 million in communities around the world to promote basic human needs, provide education and training, and stimulate local business development. Over the last five years, Chevron has invested $500 million in communities around the world. Through Chevron Humankind, the company’s U.S. employee community involvement program, employees volunteered more than 40,000 hours in their communities and participant contributions and company matches resulted in more than $25 million to support the work of nonprofits.

Chevron is a significant supporter of small and minority-owned businesses. Chevron purchased approximately $40 billion in goods and services from suppliers and contractors, including $2.7 billion with small and medium-size businesses in the United States in 2009. Chevron also spent an additional $319 million with minority-owned business and $433 million with women-owned businesses in the United States.

Last year, Chevron adopted a human rights policy to further the company’s commitment to respecting human rights in the countries and communities where it operates. The policy addresses four human rights areas relevant to the company’s business: employees, security providers, community engagement and suppliers.

In 2009, Chevron reduced its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 2.2 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. From 2008 to 2009, Chevron reduced GHG emissions from flaring by eight percent and advanced significant projects that will continue to reduce GHG emissions from flaring in Angola, Kazakhstan and Nigeria.

The Richmond Refinery invested over $3.4 million in community programs in 2009 ($5.65 million over the last 3 years), in: public safety - focusing on at-risk youth; improving the quality of K-12 education; and economic development with a focus on job creation.

Flaring at the Richmond Refinery was reduced by 97% between 2007 and 2008.

For the eighth consecutive year, Chevron has improved its safety performance. In 2009, the company posted its safest year on record.

The Global Exchange Report would have been more valuable with a business-related approach rather than the set of anecdotal stories it contains. Not to devalue the accounts at all as they're important to read and discuss and act on. But as is obvious by Chevron's response, the Global Exchange report has holes in it that needs to be addressed.

Suge Knight arrested in LA post by Suzannah B. Troy

TMZ reports Suge Knight was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and bail is set at $65,000.00.

Why would this report catch my attention?  I have never listened to rap music so how would I even know the name Suge Knight?

One night I was flipping the channels and came across this film Notorious  as in Notorious B.I.G and I was riveted by this powerful film directed by George Tillman, Jr. with a terrific cast including new comer Jamal Woolard and "young Biggie" is played by Christopher Jordan Wallace, Biggie's real life son with singer, wife Faith Evans.

 

You learn how Biggie connected with Lil Kim and influenced her career as well as made a staggering fortune with his street poetry telling it like it is although his Mom admits he was a big time embellisher at times but his words hit a chord with the people.

I knew nothing of the rap world and once I watched this film, I started to watch documentaries including the one on Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls by famous documentarian Nick Broomfield who has made films on Heidi Fleiss, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer and many other provocative films.

 After watching his film on Tupac and Biggie it seemed one major theory as to why and how these rappers were murdered was Suge Knight was responsible.  The theory is Suge Knight knew that Tupac was going to leave his record label and by killing Tupac he would be able to hold on to the massive fortune Tupac was generating for him.  Tupac and Suge used to watch The Godfather over and over and there is a scene where Tupac recites lines from the film.  The movie suggests Suge lived and continues to live his life like the film.  A girlfriend was set to testify against Suge in a separate case and she simply disappeared.

How does all this tie in to the murder of B.I.G?  The theory is that Suge Knight masterminded blowing him away and creating this East Coast West Coast rivalry which really did not exist until it was created with a nefarious motive to take them both out and for B.I.G to be wrongly accused of having Tupac killed.  Knight has his supporters that deny this.

This time it appears there is enough evidence to send Suge Knight back to jail where you see him in Broomfield's documentary.  Nick Broomfield is so tenacious and ballsy he won't take no for an answer and convinces the warden and Knight to allow him to interview Knight.  Broomfield shows us Knight's website at the end of the film which seems like a very  thinly veiled death threat against Snoop Dogg.

To date the police have never caught the murderers of Tupac and B.I.G but if you watch Nick Broomfield's documentary than you might conclude the man that called the shots was arrested today and needs to pay $65,000 bail to get out of jail for packing heat and being threatening....

The Rise and Fall of JaMarcus Russell

JaMarcus at the 2007 NFL Draft Media Lunch-By Dr. Bill Chachkes

   The Rise and Fall of JaMarcus Russell-By J.P. Fox forFootball Reporters Online

    When people used to bring up the phrase “Draft Bust,” it used to signal the talk of Ryan Leaf. Nowadays, Leaf is basically an afterthought. There’s a new man holding down that crown of being the biggest draft bust in NFL History, and that man is JaMarcus Russell. Russell was just recently released by the Oakland Raiders, after playing only three seasons for the team. He was even shunned by “THE” Al Davis, the man who gave the go-ahead to draft him with the 1st pick in the 2007 draft. Davis is notorious for drafting players that have great speed, or had a great combine, or have many accolades. With this article, I’ll talk a little about what made Russell the 1st pick in the draft, and only three seasons later, being jobless.

    JaMarcus Russell went through his junior season at Louisiana State as a wonderkind. He was putting up unbelievable stats while leading the Tigers to a 10-2 record and a spot in the All-State Sugar Bowl game against Notre Dame. During the regular season, Russell threw for 3,129 yards 28 Touchdowns and 8 interceptions. In the bowl-game against Notre Dame, Russell accumulated 350 yards of total offense and had 3 touchdowns while being named the game’s MVP in  a 41-14 win. At LSU’s pro-day, Russell measured and weighed in at 6’5 ½ 265 pounds, and was throwing 60 yard bombs from his knees. When people heard of this, most of them were saying, “he did what?” Guys with that kind of arm-strength are basically not human. Can Chad Pennington throw the ball even 50 yards with a running start and full wind-up? I doubt it.

    But Russell was basically the topic of pre-draft chatter after what he did at the LSU pro-day. What puzzles me is that nobody was really talking too much about his weight. A quarterback coming in weighing 265 pounds….wouldn’t there be some concern over weight issues? In my mind, yes, there should have been. But the Raiders went ahead and drafted Russell with the 1st pick in the 2007 draft, over the likes of Calvin Johnson, who head coach Lane Kiffin wanted, Adrian Peterson, who is a perennial NFL rushing leader year in and year out, and even Patrick Willis, who just signed a 5 year extension with $29 million guaranteed with the 49ers because of how much of a beast he is. Passing on franchise WR’s, future hall-of-fame RB’s, and Brian Urlacher-type LB’s could set your franchise back years. In fact, in what is definitely a weird coincidence, in the next three drafts for the Raiders after Russell, they drafted a RB, WR, and LB. (Darren McFadden in ‘08, Darrius Heyward-Bey in ‘09, and Rolando McClain in ‘10, just for kicks)

    So back to JaMarcus Russell. He held out his rookie training camp before signing a huge contract in the range of 6 years for $68 million with $31.5 million guaranteed. Russell didn’t even take a snap from center until December 2, 2007 when he did so against the Denver Broncos. Russell went 4 of 7 for 56 yards. He didn’t play again until December 23 when he played against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In a disastrous statistical game, Russell completed only 7 of 23 passes for 83 yards to go along with 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions, and 1 lost fumble. OUCH. After that performance, and the Raiders only sporting a 4-11 record, Lane Kiffin decided to start Russell in the last game of the season against the San Diego Chargers.  On Russell’s first pass as a starting quarterback, he threw an interception. Russell couldn’t finish the game after leaving early in the third quarter after an apparent injury. He did, however, finish the game completing 23 of 31 passes for 224 yards and a TD. I failed to mention he had three turnovers which led to 17 Charger points in a 30-17 loss. Without those 17 points, the Raiders would have won that game 17-13.

    In the 2008 season, Russell was named the starting QB in training camp and ended up starting  15 games. In what was his best statistical season in the NFL thus far in a very short NFL career,  Russell threw for 2,423 yards, 13 TD and only 8 INT’s. That was not a bad year for a guy who is only starting his first full season in the league. The Raiders thought they had something now. They thought wrong. Coming into the 2009 season, Russell was again named the starting QB in training camp, which didn’t surprise anybody after the season he had in ‘08. Which would end up being the beginning of the downfall of JaMarcus Russell, he finished a horrible season completing 48.8 percent of his passes with an abysmal 3 TD’s and 11 INT’s in 9 starts. During the season, he was also benched for the likes of Bruce Gradkowski and journeyman Charlie Frye. Russell really soured in the Raiders’ front office with his mediocre play and nonchalant attitude. He was often seen on the sidelines looking not interested and non-caring. By the end of the ‘09 season, Russell was now the #3 QB on the Raiders depth chart.
   
    In the off season, Russell was criticized for his lack of conditioning and the talk was beginning that the Raiders front-office personnel was trying to convince Al Davis that they had to move on from Russell. Davis eventually agreed and on May 6, 2010, less than 3 years after drafting him #1 overall, JaMarcus Russell was released by the Oakland Raiders. With $36 million already collected in paychecks and guaranteed money, and another $3 million coming his way in the form of a guaranteed paycheck, Russell collected $39 million from the Raiders for completing 52% of his passes, a little over 4,000 yards passing with only 18 TD’s and 23 INT’s. Now, Russell is jobless. What a shame for a guy to have so much talent, make so much money, to just not care about his job and then subsequently be released so soon into his career.

    There was talk that the Cincinnati Bengals were interested in bringing him in as a backup, and there was also speculation some teams were interested in bringing him in and playing another position. Russell is not budging.  The New Orleans Saints have already said they are not interested in bringing Russell back to his home town to backup Drew Brees. Russell has said that he is not at all interested in signing with the Arena Football League or the Canadian Football League. I believe he should leave all doors open. Even if he tried to boost his stock in the newly developed United Football League, I think that’d be great for him. Daunte Culpepper has just signed with a team out in Sacramento. Having two big-name guys in the league would be good for exposure and be good for Russell. He shouldn’t say, “I’m only going to play in the NFL, or nothing.” I truly believe a team in the UFL should definitely try to woo him into playing a year or two with them. He is only 24 years old and doesn’t turn 25 until August. Playing a year in another league where he could work on his conditioning, keeping his weight under control, and even his skills, he could benefit in all aspects. But with that said, having $39 million in the bank is unreal, maybe he’ll just retire. Who knows? Only JaMarcus does.