Oscar Grant / Johannes Mehserle verdict: Oakland cab driver on riot fears

Oscar Grant 

As Oakland, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, California, and much of the United States await the jury verdict in the Oscar Grant / Johannes Mehserle murder trial, Oakland braces for what's widely feared to be an outbreak of riots should the jury decision not go in a way that is an obvious punishment for former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle.

If you want to find out what's happening on the streets of Oakland around the rioting fears, there are few better people to talk to than Oakland cab drivers. On Saturday night, one cab driver (who did not want to be identified by cab service provider or name), did agree to this video above as we talked about what he heard people saying as they rode his cab.

"Everybody's talking about it," he said. "I don't know. Some people are saying that a lot of people left town. You know this guy was saying 'I knew a lot of cool white people that's left town. They're not racist or anything but they just don't want things to go down, you know, while they're here. You know there are people who think it's gonna be just like the Rodney King time again, you know?

I responded that I could not see Johannes Mehserle walking free on acquittal, save for a hung jury. Of the four possible outcomes, it seems that second-degree murder most fits what happened. But of course, that's the logical outcome of an incident that has no basis in logic to begin with.

From the way BART Police mishandled the fighting incident on that 2009 New Year's Day morning to BART's own communications errors and other problems, not to mention Johannes Mehserle's in appropriate use of any weapon, even a Taser, nothing about the Oscar Grant / Johannes Mehserle makes sense.

Thus the fear of a weird jury outcome and a big riot.

The Oakland Cab Driver said that some people he talked to are concerned that even if Mehserle is punished, the sentence will be too light. He also blames the media because the idea of a riot is "in everybody's head."

Not only that, the same person who produced 11 graffiti tags around Lake Merritt a week ago, with messages threatening the life of Johannes Mehserle, is at it again. This time, he or she has posted another message near the corner of Grand Avenue and Euclid Avenue in Oakland's Adams Point District as of this writing.

What's going to happen is anyone's guess. But Mayor Ron Dellums and Oakland officials have taken steps to promote civic unity as the city awaits the verdict.

There's also a small campaign starting called "Love not Blood for the streets of Oakland," that features a poster of the same name and seen at local cafes around town. For more information, and to share how you plan to spread the love, send an email to beautyntruth@yahoo.com.

Jamarcus Russell arrested: former Raiders QB busted for "codeine syrup"

Jamarcus Russell

MOBILE, Ala. - As current Oakland Raiders Quarterback Kyle Boller's life's on the upswing after his marriage for former Miss USA Carrie Prejean last Friday, Former Raiders QB and 2007 1st Round NFL Draft Pick Quarterback Jamarcus Russell was arrested in Mobile, Alabama, Monday, for "possession of a controlled substance," according to the Mobile Press-Register.

The "drug" he was arrested for was "codeine syrup" according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

What is "codeine syrup?"

Codeine syrup is described as medicinal drug that is also used to get high. The reason Jamarcus Russell was arrested was that he did not have a prescription for its use in his possession. It's the main ingredient in what's called "Purple drank," a slang term for "a recreational drug popular in the hip hop community in the southern United States" according to Wikipedia.

Jamarcus Russell posted bail

Jamarcus Russell posted bail of $2,500 after being arrested at 4:22 EDT according to the Press-Register.

Entourage's Jeremy Piven frozen by Kim Kardashian (?); drops phone in toilet

Jeremy Piven 

Entourage's Jeremy Piven is one of the top searches on July 5th but not for any one reason. On Google Trends, Piven's suspected of having mercury poisoning. Then Piven's also reported to have dropped his phone down a toilet stool. But in a standard search, Piven's reported to have gotten the cold shoulder from Kim Kardashian. With all this, let's take the Kim Kardashian news first.

Kim Kardashian's known for dating athletes like Reggie Bush, Miles Austin, and World Cup Soccer Star (and new dad) Cristiano Ronaldo, so it would seem Jeremy Piven's out of her range.

But that reportedly didn't stop the Entourage star from trying.

Diane Marsalis of The Examiner claims that Piven "hit on" the reality TV show star at one of the LA Lakers games, and whatever he said to her, she was alleged to have replied "Talk to my Mom - she handles me," and walked off (with hips swinging, no doubt).

While news of the alleged encounter with Kim Kardashian is still without much detail or blog pickup, the news about Piven dropping his cell phone down a toilet started from his Twitter page:

Dropped my cell in the toilet and have no way to be found.. Entourage premiers tonight and I'm without a way to reach out, sorry
1:20 PM Jun 27th via txt

But then I guess Piven reached in the toilet and got it back, or just bought a new iPhone because on June 30th he reported:

ast week of shooting! http://yfrog.com/jmt6wj
1:26 PM Jun 30th via Twitter for iPhone

He uses an iPhone. Hard to tell if it's an iPhone4 or not.

Rock The Casbah!

NYC Round-UP 1776-2010 good bad by Suzannah B. Troy

For those who enjoyed the spectacular fire works on the Hudson in person or on the boob tube (pre-YouTube, one of many unflattering names for TV aka the idiot-box) you can enjoy more Independence Day Celebrations by visiting The New York Public Library!  The stunning library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue has a copy of The Declaration of Independence, handwritten by Thomas Jefferson on display and an early typeset  version of the document according to The New York Post.

I gave you the direct link to the Library's page on this historical significant and exciting exhibition but now on to the tawdry, misogynist, dark side of The New York Post.

The cover has a photo of a topless Anna Chapman and her breasts have the words "top secret.

What does Anna Chapman's sex life with her than husband, now thankfully, an ex-huxband who appears to be an exploitive show me the money kind of guy --- have to do with her allegedly being a spy.

For those not paying attention, here in NYC, in many of our opinions, the abuse of eminent domain has run wild under the Bloomberg administration pushing a reckless tsunami of development and Bruce Rattner and Jay-Z engaged a Russian billionaire to be an owner in land they grabbed in my opinion abusing eminent domain.   My question.....Why would the Russian's need to spy?

Ditto for China!  China owns a huge portion of the USA's debt!  Hello!

I posted this comment on The New York Post besides stating the patriotic editors of The New York Post sound green with envy.

I posted my comment on my blogs including Misogynist NYC.


There had to be video footage of Bill Clinton and his cigar play on a much younger intern. Thank goodness the security video from The White House has never been released for publication. Also, Mike Bloomberg, Christine Quinn flushed democracy down the toilet. Socialite mega-millionaire city planner Amanda the people's Burden aided Mike and friends in a tsunami of development crushing our communities and how much mass displacement including eminent domain abuse and with the Nets, a Russian billionaire owner...Thank you for not pushing photos of any of their sex lives including editors and owners of this paper. Why are women and sexuality treated very, very differently than men? Why are women judged far more harshly than men by both men and women? How many NY Post staff involved in the publication of this article are green with envy? Answer: all. Welcome to misogynist NY.


What does this young woman's sex life with her than husband have to do with anything other than proving she made a very, very bad choice picking a husband?


Thank goodness we are not going to see naked photos of Mike Bloomberg and Christine Quinn and they  flushed democracy down the toilet!  Thank goodness we are not going to see blow by blow video grab images of Bill Clinton exploiting an intern on company time at The White House!  Thank goodness we are not going to see naked photos of Rupert Murdoch and his editors and we should not be seeing these photos either.




Fred Dicker, the very warm and cuddly staff editor from Albany for The New York Post reports the Dems are ready to give Pedro Espada  the heave ho!    One question.  Can we make him pay back all the tax payer money he stole and or cost the people when he and Monserrate brought Albany to a stand-still and than went to a Yankee game?  Espada and Monserrate, not intelligent enough to understand their behavior was costing the tax payers a fortune, enjoyed the press attention more than the Yankees and smiled for the cameras like the attention was crack cocaine.


For those who have not seen tenants protesting Espada by rushing his office and demanding his ouster please check this YouTube out!  It is fantastic!


Now to dogs of a different nature.   Joey Chestnut won the  Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 4th time and his record from last year is still intact.


Joey was hard hitting saying it was his day and even if Kobayashi had competed he would have defeated him but Kobayashi did steal some of his thunder by rushing the stage whether to congratulate Joey or to insult him we will never know.  Kobayashi got loads of media attention getting arrested by two big beefy NYPD officers.    Hold the buns!   A bad joke, I apologize but it was a must considering what I had to write about this morning!

World Cup | Spain vs Paraguay: Spain escapes 1-0

Far different from the earlier Germany v. Argentina match, Spain vs Paraguay was an exciting, close World Cup Soccer quarterfinals match that Spain was fortunate to win 1-0.

Maybe Spain plays to the level of its opponent, or maybe Paraguay is much better than its 31st in the World ranking versus number two for Spain (behind Brazil, which was eliminated by The Netherlands)?

Were it not for a Paraguay goal waved off by an offside call, and a correct one, the match would have been tied 1-1, and who knows what would have happened. It was that close.

Whatever the case, Spain didn't look like the team that can beat Germany, yet here they are about to face them on on Wednesday.

Germany's got to be the favorite. Even without Thomas Muller, the Germans look unstoppable.

Tila Tequila and Miss Tila Omg out of line with Nikky Raney

Tila Tequila 

Just when this blogger thought he'd seen it all from Reality TV Show Star Tila Tequila, the woman who claims to have multiple personalities, and accused San Diego Chargers Linebacker Shawne Merriman of something he did not at all do, does it again.

This time, she and her so-called staff picks on one of my bloggers, Nikky Raney, and while making Raney a star in the process, have gone way too far. It's time for them to stop.

Tila Tequila must remember that she is a true public figure; like this blogger Tila's subject to positive and negative commentary on her actions. Tila should be not only used to that, but have developed enough scar tissue to deflect even the most vile comments about her.  Fortunately, this blog is not about any directed toward Tila; it's the reverse.

Indeed, I laughed off the whole exchange between Tila Tequila, Miss Tila Omg, and Nikky Raney as being just good PR for Nikky. The vast majority of comments at Zennie62.com have been pro-Nikky and beyond that supportive and thoughtful in their detail.

But then the email exchange started and then someone apparently from Miss Tila Omg created a set of vile Twitter pages about Nikky Raney. That's where I draw the line because it's obvious and deliberate malice to make a page, call someone a name like "fat," and not have an identification. It's in violation of Section 113 of the Violence Against Women Act.

In other words, since 2006, it's been a crime to annoy people anonymously over the Internet. That it's done frequently is no excuse for the fact that it happens. This is one case; I've shared it with the U.S. Department of Justice; if it does not stop, I will press the matter until the DOJ squeezes.

For her part, Nikky Raney has intended no harm toward Tila Tequila or her staff. Tila Tequila has opened herself to constructive non-anonymous criticism, by claiming she's doing the work of a journalist, when she's using her blog to in some cases smear her enemies. And when that's not happening, some blogs are calling her names like "functionally retarded," as was the case with Videogum.com.

Zennie62.com has never referred to, or allowed its bloggers to refer to Tila in any way close to what Videogum.com presented. Moreover, Nikky Raney had clear concerns that Tila Tequila and Miss Tila Omg were claiming to be journalists. When Raney, a journalism student, investigated and then challenged the claim, Tila took action, first blocking her from the Miss Tila Omg site, which is fine by me, but then engaging in all manner of attempts to smear Nikky, and that's not fine by me.

For her part, Nikky Raney has included this disclaimer on her Zennie62.com blog posts about Tila:

Disclaimer: I, Nikky Raney, have absolutely nothing personally against Tila Tequila. Although she has personally attacked me through her blog posts and her tweets - I am a journalist and blogger who takes that with a grain of salt & does not return that anger or resentment. This is a job and a service that I do to inform others of the scandal/lies/etc. from public figures. Again, I have nothing against Tila Tequila. I am not a hater. I have attempted to get in touch with her to get her perspective and her opinion. AGAIN, I have nothing against her personally. I do this objectively in a professional manner, it's not personal it's about the story itself. I hope that I have made myself clear. My blog posts will prove for that I have never LIED about Miss Tila or called her ANY rude names. I have never used anything other than evidence from her own tweets, blogposts, and interviews to state my case. The attacks Tila has made against me and calling me "Piggy Raney" was unjust, and although she did that I still have nothing against her. She may try to attack and bring me down, but at the end of the day this is my job. And I am mature enough that to retaliate against someone whose way of responding is by name-calling would be futile.

I stand by Nikky Raney. She's done a great job at Zennie62.com. What I ask is for Tila Tequila to, herself, stop the attacks on Nikky Raney on Twitter. One part of me appreciates that you've given her a spotlight, but it's for the wrong reasons. Making, or causing hateful Twitter accoints to be made, is awful. One thing, Nikky Raney is a real person. She's not hiding behind another name, or anonymous, and asks thoughtful questions. Why not answer them?

The objective here is for all of this little stuff growing big to stop.  We, Tila, Miss Tila OMG, and Zennie62.com with Nikky Raney can move forward and perhaps together in the future.  I wish Tila and Miss Tila OMG much success.

West Seattle: The Swinery is open; founder Gabriel Claycamp leaves

Gabriel Claycamp in happier days

Some Seattle blogs have reported that the West Seattle "sustainable" meat store The Swinery is closing. But the truth is, it's still open and had a successful reopening; it's founder Gabriel Claycamp is leaving.

According to The West Seattle Blog, Gabriel Claycamp reported via Facebook that he's departing the establishment he created because...

Claycamp says that his decision to leave was primarily a result of the fact that he needed to feed his kids. He claims that, throughout the time he has been trying to get his small business off the ground he has not been drawing enough salary to survive. He is in the process of going through a divorce which has exacerbated the situation.

And as everyone from Claycamp to Tiger Woods knows, a divorce can really mess up your game, in this case, the game of the retail business.

But beyond the personal issue is the fact that Gabriel Claycamp drew a salary of just $4,200 since last September 2009. He had been working out some deal with the Swinery's investor James Dillon where Dillon would be the sole proprietor and hire Claycamp as a chef.

The Swinery's own blog paints a more rosy picture of the news:

Yes, it's true. Gabriel has left Swinery to pursue other exciting ventures & focus on his wonderful family. What does this mean for your favorite butcher shop? Don't fret. We are NOT closing, we are NOT changing our hours & we ARE still focusing on our mission: the revival of responsibility & awareness in meat consumption & to enthusiastic appreciation for flavor & quality. Stop by and show your continued support.

Whatever the case, pay The Swinery a visit.

The Last Airbender: Subliminal Racial Stereotyping by Nikky Raney

The Last Airbender in 3D was hard to appreciate once the plot and characters became far too familiar to America's racial stereotypes.

Without ever knowing the story or television show behind The Last Airbender, it was easy to grasp that it dealt with the elements of earth, water, wind and fire. The "Avatar" had the ability to control all the elements. The plot showed that those associated with the element of fire were bad, and the water element people were good.

The evil fire element characters all had one thing in common. They all looked Middle Eastern. The one that was "the most evil" had a long scruffy beard to accompany his look. The fire element characters were known to burn people's houses down, kill the water element people, and wanted to ruin the world.

Now, the good people were the water element people. Those of the water element were all white. The princess of the group had blonde hair and blue eyes. The people of water were tortured, attacked, killed, burned, etc. by the Fire people. The Fire people also wanted to be the most powerful in the world and take over and take down everyone else.

The way that the fire element was burning down the houses of the other elements was comparable to that of 9/11.

Maybe it seems like over-analyzing, but by the end of the movie it just became too obvious.

Now, this is the part that gets me. The "Avatar" himself is looks as though he is of Asian decent. The Avatar is the one that brings all the elements together and saves the day. M. Night Shyamalan is of Asian decent. This is not to say Shyamalan is racist, but the movie itself seemed a bit too familiar. Shyamalan thinks that those who find the film to be racist are racist themselves. Someone doesn't have to be racist to think that making Middle Eastern characters bad and Caucasian characters good.

Shyamalan tells India Movies Online:

‘Well, you caught me. I'm the face of racism. I'm always surprised at the level of misunderstanding, the sensitivities that exist. As an Asian-American, it bothers me when people take all of their passion and rightful indignation about the subject and then misplace it. Here's the reality: first of all, the Uncle Iroh character is the Yoda character in the movie, and it would be like saying that Yoda was a villain. So he's Persian."

This movie was adapted from a cartoon, and there were many children in the theater. Children are impressionable, but probably didn't catch on to the racial undertones.

Shyamalan not thinking that the film could be misconstrued as racist doesn't seem honest. When filming a scene where Middle Easterns are burning down the Caucasian village it's hard to believe that 9/11 or the war in Iraq didn't cross his mind.

This may be considered my first movie review, but I am not reviewing the movie as much as the thought process with the casting. The children probably appreciated it - it was a great movie as far as the plot goes. But when this movie is put in cinemas across the world; other countries may not find the stereotyping as subliminal.

(Images courtesy of Photobucket)

Nikky Raney

Twitter

The Future of Journalism

X-Posted at NikkyRaney.com

World Cup: Germany win over Argentina predicted by psychic Octopus

Frankly the Paul the Octopus had a 50-50 shot of getting it right, and on June 29th so picked Germany to win over Argentina in 2010 World Cup Soccer Quarterfinals match held Saturday.

What happened was someone lowered plastic case containing the flags of Germany and Argentina into the water tank where the Octopus dwelled. What's not known is how the trainers instructed the Octopus to point in the first place? Could it be the German flag looks more like something edible to Paul the Octopus?



Whatever the case, Germany did beat Argentina, as we know, 4-0. And what Paul the Octopus gets for his correct choice, we may never know.

Germany beats Argentina 4-0 as Leonardo Dicaprio, Charlize Theron watch

Miroslav Klose of Germany

Germany overcame Argentina's better ball handling and passing with smothering defense to clobber them 4-0 in World Cup Soccer quarterfinals play. Stars like Leonardo Dicaprio and Charlize Theron (who's from South Africa), German chancellor Angela Merkel, and Mick Jagger watched in South Africa as what was a close match slowly turned into a rout.

What started with a goal from their leader Thomas Muller, and a Germany's attempt to just hold on 1-0 under an onslaught of unsuccessful goal attempt after unsuccessful goal attempt by Argentina unraveled for Argentina coach Diego Maradona.

In all, it was a good match, even though Argentina was eventually blown out of Capetown, South Africa. Argentina's desire to play with high emotion - Diego Maradona running around and hugging everyone from his star Lionel Messi to Bill Clinton (if he could) when Argentina scored a goal in the 2010 World Cup - has its counter in the lows the team faces when its frustrated.

Germany's consistent defense, even when Argentina opened the second half determined to play on Germany's half of the field, caused Argentina's players to stop playing as a team and work on a more individual basis. And when that didn't work, they looked for whatever cheap call they could get.

Nothing worked.

Eventually, three Germany players would score goals: Miroslav Klose, Thomas Mueller and Arne Friedrich. But one of them, Mueller can't play in the upcoming match against either Spain or Paraguay in Durban. Germany is in position to win its fourth World Cup title and first since 1990.

John Liu NYC Comptroller gets call from Suzannah B. Troy

John Liu, NYC's first Asian American comptroller got a telephone message at City Hall this morning from me, Suzannah B. Troy.   John Liu has taken the first steps to make NYC gov spending available to the people on a website called Comptroller NYC gov but we need more accountability and transparency and we don't have that!

Ask Mike Bloomberg a question he doesn't like and look out, like questions about a third term, the poor, Cayman Island Investments and leaving early Friday for Bermuda.

But this call to John Liu's office  this morning where I left my name, telephone number and message stated we need more accountability.  The tax payers need to know how much money Christine Quinn and her staff are costing the tax payers when they use top law firms like the kind Goldman Sachs , Sullivan & Cromwell, as an example plus other high priced defense attorneys specializing in White Collar crime.

The people of New York have a right to know and need immediate accessibility and a current cost as of today on this expense and others.

I found the website on David Siefman's piece in The New York Post.  David is a long time reporters of news from City Hall.  His piece exposes some very interesting spending including nanny mayor Mike Bloomberg so check it out and click on the link.  The New York Daily News also exposed NYC government workers have spent $100,000 on car rides home.

I guess public transportation is not an option for NYC gov workers.

I even suggested an App for the Iphone.

Mel Gibson hate-monger not just alcoholic by Suzannah B. Troy

A YouTuber wrote me this on Mel Gibson and remember with YouTube there is a word count so my response is as long as you can make it. Before I show you the YouTube comments read this...

I thought of the Diane Sawyer interview with Mel Gibson. Diane is a beautiful woman who is very gentle with her celebrity subjects and Mel Gibson was using everything he could including being playful, flirty, charming but those days are gone and his looks have faded. By the way Sawyer is aging beautifully. Some people grow old with grace and beauty but Gibson is not one of those people. I mention this because he has used his looks over and over as well as his fame and power to escape responsibility for his actions but this time around his looks and flirting won’t work. He even used the word “grace” which I translate as Mel Gibson manipulation 101 -- “let me off the hook”. He is not asking but ordering viewers. He wasn’t willing to change and rehabilitate himself. He is a bigger manipulator than he is an alcoholic but he is an even bigger hater and scapegoater of minorities.

FYI: Diane Sawyer’s husband Mike Nichols, a very talented film director who debuted with the film “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf” which won an academy award for Elizabeth Taylor who converted to Judaism , The Graduate” and so many others including “Silkwood”. Mike was born in Berlin, Germany to a German Jewish Mother and a Russian Jewish father.

I happened to recently watch a TV show (can’t remember the name of it this morning) on NBC about helping find celebrities find their roots. One celebrity was Mike Nichols and he was shocked to find his relatives in Russia were very successful. Pre-the Nazi’s. These successful business men were murdered so their business and wealth could be stolen. A warm-up for Nazi Germany.

Also a handsome African American football star who’s name alludes me this morning as well, found out he has this very strong, intelligent relative who was raped by her slave owner. She got pregnant. The wife of the slave owner wanted her sent away. She was sent to work for the man that technically was half brother to her child, the slave owner’s son. She was very smart because she found away somehow to keep her family together which was rare. I am very tired and thinking of Mel Gibson and his anti-semitism, racism, misogyny and homophobia is not what I want to do this Saturday morning. I removed comments that could have been written by Mel Gibson including the “N” word and his misogynist language, blaming the Jews, etc.

This morning I found this comment: 

He needs an intervention for his alcohol abuse, but he needs something stronger for the hate and the violence. 



I wrote back this:

He needs intervention but he will never get it because he has used his looks, money and power and people always let him off the hook. Here in NYC I have tried to help poverty level homeless people and they are out on the street and unwilling to go to rehab. He has every resource. This man hates Jews, Blacks, Gays, Women and most of all himself. in Paris I stood in front of a plaque for Jewish children. The french liaison for Nazi's exceeded his quota because he was a Mel Gibson.


Another friend wrote me this....

I cannot label someone like Mel Gibson as a Nazi. If we start labeling
vapid, hard drinking (alcoholic?) actor/directors as Nazis, then who is not
a Nazi?

Every time the label of "Nazi" gets bandied about, it takes away a bit of
the true power of that killing machine that existed in the 1930s-40s. And
every time someone gets labeled that way, our younger generations get bumped
a little bit further from the truth.

Mel Gibson is a fool. Let's leave it at that.

I disagree with my friend letting Mel Gibson off the hook for the hate he has spewed by calling him a fool. In fact it is part of what has helped Mel, people excusing his hate and abuse but I wanted to address my use of the term, Nazi. Again remember there is a word count.

I posted this comment after reading this email:



On the term Nazi and calling Mel Gibson a Nazi.  Mel Gibson talks like a Nazi and I do not believe alcoholism is an excuse for comments he has made sober as well as drunk.  If lived in Germany or a sympathizer during WW2 he would have exceeded his quota.