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.