“Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.”"Remember O man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return." Nothing puts life in perspective like Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. This…
Examiner National Edition Articles
Cleveland, OH (The Weekly Vice) – Meredith Lowell, a 27-year-old Ohio woman was jailed after she allegedly tried to hire a hit man to kill any random person found to be wearing animal fur.
According to FBI agents, Lowell spent months trying to solicit a hit man through Facebook, with the intention of killing a random person who was caught wearing fur clothing.
Undercover officers began communicating with Lowell through Facebook In November after being alerted to the alleged plot.
Investigators say Lowell posted a request on Facebook which stated “I would like to create an online community on facebook which would allow me to find someone who is willing to kill someone wearing fur toward the end of October 2011 or early November 2011 or possibly in January 2012 or February 2012 at the latest.”
Lowell, using the alias Anne Lowery, allegedly wrote that she would be willing to pay up to $ 850 to anyone willing to carry out the deed. She referred to the act as a “hit, a demonstration and a protest.”
During email exchanges between Lowell and FBI agents, Lowell reportedly stated that she wanted to be present when the murder occurred, so that she could begin handing out animal rights “papers” at the scene. She also stated that murdering a 12 year old child would be “fine” but that she would prefer the victim to be at least 14 if possible.
Lowell offered the undercover agent $ 730 in jewelry to complete the “hit” while providing detailed explanations about how she wanted murder to be performed.
“You need to bring a gun that has a silencer on it and that can be easily concealed in your pants pocket or coat. If you do not want to risk the possibility of getting caught with a gun before the job, bring a sharp knife that is (at least) 4-inches long, it should be sharp enough to stab someone and/or slit their throat to kill them. I want the person to be dead in less than two minutes,” stated Lowell during another email exchange.
Lowell was booked into jail and charged with solicitation to commit murder.
Danny Vice
The Weekly Vice
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Austin, TX – For renowned police critic and Grits for Breakfast blogger Scott Henson, it could have been so perfect. On the night in question, the very white Henson was walking his black 5-year-old granddaughter home through a park. Someone at the park called 911, alleging that a white man was chasing and attempting to kidnap a young black child. As you might expect, police swarmed the area, and that’s where the drama begins.
The following Saturday, the aggravated Henson took to the blog, crafting a hypercritical version of events titled, “Me, APD and ‘Babysitting While White,’ Part Deux”. He begins by linking the incident to a question posed on the blog previously: “Is babysitting while white reasonable suspicion for police questioning?” It’s every bit as reasonably suspicious as Driving While Black or Painting While Hispanic, if you ask me.
Henson describes being stopped by an officer who asked his granddaughter if she knew him. When she responded that it was her grandfather, the officer let them continue on their way. Just minutes later, however, as they crossed a street a mere two blocks from home, multiple squad cars appeared. Cops jumped out of their cars, tasers ready, and shouted at him to step away from the girl. When he complied, Henson says he was “roughly cuffed” shortly before witnessing another officer “brusquely snatching” his granddaughter up and placing her in the back seat of a car. Racial discrimination, police brutality and a traumatized child? Jackpot!
Naturally, the story gained national and even international attention as readers found themselves stunned by Henson’s claims. Enter the incredulous Austin Police Chief Acevedo, my new favorite police officer. Acevedo reviews the tapes and, sure enough, what he sees is a bit different from what Henson claims. Could it be? Would a beacon of accountability like Henson fabricate details to further a personal agenda?
Acevedo calls Henson’s bluff… Publicly. In a released statement, Acevedo sarcastically apologizes to Hansen “for not having 2,300 clairvoyants in the midst of the Austin Police Department,” and announces his plan to release the tapes, adding that he challenges Mr. Hanson “to show us where in the World he felt it was honest to write [the bit about the drawn tasers and roughing up].” Can you hear that? It’s the sound of Henson’s sphincter slamming shut. The Chief also discloses the e-mails he exchanged with Henson, in which Henson practically begs Acevedo not to release the tapes, citing “privacy concerns”.
Now that the tape has been made public, Henson’s in damage control mode, claiming, “It happened in a flash and like many eyewitnesses, when under a perceived threat, my mind filled in some pieces erroneously.” Heh, my sister does that. But, even she knows better than to lie about something that was caught on tape. Take a look for yourself. Do you see a blatant example of police misconduct? If so, you, too, may suffer from erroneous piece filling… And I would get that checked out, if I were you.
This article is from The Dreamin’ Demon, the Internet’s self-appointed buzzkill.
While fans are still reeling over the “Glee” winter finale, the cast of Ryan Murphy’s new NBC comedy is shaping up.
Justin Bartha of “The Hangover” franchise has signed on for “The New Normal,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, which revoles around a gay couple and the woman who agrees to serve as their surrogate. Bartha will play David to “The Book Of Mormon” star Andrew Rannells’ Bryan as the couple looking to start a family.
Also joining the cast is Scottish actress Georgia King as Goldie, their surrogate, THR reports. Ellen Barkin is already attached to “The New Normal” as Goldie’s racist grandmother on the NBC sitcom, co-created by Murphy and fellow “Glee” scribe Ali Adler.
And in more casting news …
“Superman” alum Brandon Routh will play Michael Urie’s boyfriend in “Partners” for CBS. The comedy pilot is from the minds of “Will & Grace” creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. [TVLine]
Ryan Phillippe has dropped out of the CBS pilot he was attached to. The actor, who’s currently filming a major arc on the finale season of FX’s “Damages,” would have starred as a cop on the Greg Berlanti project, which was previously known as “Golden Boy.” [The Hollywood Reporter]
“Kings” alum Chris Egan is going Disney. The actor has landed the first role in ABC’s reimagining of the classic fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” as Gorrick, a Gaston-like character betrothed the show’s leading lady, Grace. [TVLine]
Former “Oz” inmate Lee Tergesen may be back doing small screen crime. TVLine exclusively reports that Tergesen is close to signing onto ABC’s drama pilot “Penoza,” which is based on a Dutch series of the same name about the widow of an assassinated criminal forced to adopt her husband’s role in order to protect her family. [TVLine]
WOODS HOLE, Mass. (CAP) – A study published today by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution claims that despite popular belief, almost all of the clams in the ocean are actually clinically depressed, with most falling into the range of suicidal.
“The phrase happy as a clam dates back to the 1600′s, when fishermen and clammers first began working the waters off the New England coastline,” said WHOI President Susan Avery. “These men took the clams’ slightly upturned hingeline to be equivalent to a human smile, so they assumed that clams were just naturally happy.
“Now with the help of modern technology, we are finally able to see just how wrong they were,” Avery added.
Others at the WHOI warn not to take the results of the study entirely out of context, noting that happy clams do exist in the sea. However, according to the findings, the research confirms that happy clams make up only about one-tenth of one percent of all the clams in the world, with the other 99.9 percent living “every second of every day in excruciating pain.”
“We found that the clams suffer from a genetic abnormality called aquagenic pruritis,” said Newton Merrill, Chairman of the WHOI Board of Trustees. “In layman’s terms, it means that they are allergic to water. Allergic to water, and they are clams! Can you imagine? This cruel fate leads to a lifetime of austere depression.
“Oh no, the term happy as a clam could not be more wrong,” Merrill said.
Scientists at the WHOI were actually able to train one of their subject clams, a Littleneck named Isaac, to communicate with them using a rudimentary clam language they developed for the study. They taught Isaac to squirt water at different frequencies and volumes to represent different letters, which they would then string together into words and sentences.
According to the report, the only words Isaac spoke, which he repeated over and over again, were “Kill me please. Kill me now.”
“It is a horrible, horrible fate that clams suffer,” summarized Merrill. “They are truly the unluckiest of God’s creatures. We can only be thankful that they lack the opposable thumbs that would allow them to go on underwater shooting rampages, for they would certainly replace sharks as nature’s most perfect killing machines.
“On the other hand, though, they are delicious,” added Merrill. “And now we know for sure that they don’t really mind us eating them.”
The WHOI will be offering a new children’s program called Clam Empathy beginning next month. Parents are encouraged to sign their children up early as there are a limited number of slots available.
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