Thursday, October 3, 2013

News – Beanie Baby creator H. Ty Warner has plead guilty to concealing income from the IRS by depositing $25,000,000.00 in Swiss bank accounts over a period of eleven years. He cried in the courtroom and begged for forgiveness. He is expected to serve around four years in prison, and pay a civil penalty of $53,000,000.00. He is 69 years old.

Internet News followup on the NYC biker gang story of several days ago – Alexien Lien and his family were surrounded and chased by a large number of motorcyclists and eventually beaten. This “road rage” incident looks to me like it was just plain “rage” and unadulterated evil – a clear case of adult bullying and total recklessness. They filmed the events and published it on YouTube. I am sickened by the darkness of some people's hearts. I am glad that most people aren't like this. I was glad to see that the SUV driver fought back, even if it caused him to be hurt. I was glad that one of the cyclists was hit and injured. He got what he deserved. If only the police had been there to intervene. I hope as they investigate they will dig deeply into the matter and make more arrests. Surely for a motorcycle gang to totally take up the street space and endanger the other traffic is illegal and if possible should be stopped before it goes so far.

From the Chicago Tribune News, October 2, 2013:
“Authorities believe the motorcyclists who chased the SUV were in town for an unauthorized rally in New York, following a similar gathering last autumn where riders organized online and arrived in large groups in Times Square without permits.
Tensions between law enforcement officials under growing pressure to crack the case spilled into public view on Wednesday with Vance's refusal to pursue charges brought by the NYPD against Edwards.
Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, Vance's chief trial prosecutor, said in a statement that the "low-level" charges against Edwards could undermine the more serious case Vance is trying to build against other bikers who remain at large.
Prosecutors want to make a case against the most violent among the bikers, including one man who authorities say attacked the driver, and another who smashed the SUV's window with his helmet, said a source in Vance's office.
A second biker who was arrested on Tuesday by New York police and charged in the attack went free on Wednesday, after Manhattan prosecutors declined to pursue a case against him.
Allen Edwards, 43, of the New York City borough of Queens, was charged on Tuesday with criminal mischief, menacing and reckless endangerment after he surrendered himself to the NYPD, authorities said.
On Wednesday, a top prosecutor in Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office called the charges against Edwards "premature," and said the D.A's office would not prosecute him.”
Some of the other motor cyclists were questioned and predictably said that they didn't see anything. The wife of the cyclist who was run over and severely injured wants charges placed on the driver of the SUV. So far that has not occurred. She is acting as though the motor cyclists were just out for a pleasant Sunday excursion, and not acting aggressively in “road rage” endangerment and assault. The police charges that were made were mostly things like “reckless driving,” and the prosecutors dropped the most serious charge of “criminal mischief, menacing and reckless endangerment.”

From the New York Post, October 2, 2013:
“They’re hell on wheels — and NYPD cops won’t touch them.
The department has ordered cops not to chase after large biker groups like the one that beat a driver near the West Side Highway because of the risk that innocent bystanders or the riders will be killed, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
“The people who are doing this aren’t stopping when police try to pull them over,” one source said, noting that the bikers can simply jump sidewalks and mow down pedestrians to flee cops.
The department also doesn’t have the manpower to police the rogue riders, who get together for pop-up outings and often use unregistered bikes.
They typically belong to motorcycle clubs that loosely organize rides up to several times a week in the summer in Manhattan.

Sunday’s ride was supposed to go through Times Square, but the NYPD kept it out.
Cops set up checkpoints around the area, and pushed the riders uptown — where they clashed with Manhattan Internet exec Alexian Lien, who was out driving with his family.
The group included riders from clubs such as Orion in Brooklyn and Firstline Soldiers in New Rochelle.
Two bikers who allegedly terrorized and beat Lien during a wild chase on the West Side Highway have been arrested.
Footage of their chase of the man was posted on the Web site Hollywood Stuntz — creating a serious problem for one unrelated New York company.
“It’s a mess,” said Bob Cotter, who runs the film-business firm Hollywood Stunts.
“When the news says [the Web site’s name], they don’t say its Hollywood Stuntz with a ‘Z.’ People are calling us and threatening us, saying that they want to do the same thing to us that [the bikers] did to [their victim].’’
Note: These cyclists organize the ride by Internet and don't get permits. They are not one particular motorcycle club, but unorganized individuals from several.

Motocycle clubs have statements on the Internet. The following is one such statement.
Words from Infidel Brotherhood:
“About infidelbrotherhood
As citizens and highwaymen of this great and free nation, we feel our brothers on iron are the most patriotic countrymen. We are the last frontiersmen in the west. We are blue collar, red white and blue Americans. We will not conform with a weak government who is trying to sell us out to the highest bidder. We will not accept those who are attempting to to convert us to some evil cult that is intolerant, abusive or pushing their demented lifestyles on us in the name of their god. We enjoy our freedoms and will keep them at ANY cost. Our government must not negotiate with terrorists, they must kill them. They must extract information from them at any cost. In our opinion, water-boarding is foreplay. We support our troops and any MC that dedicates themselves to our fighting brave American troops. We are not a one percenter MC, we are a motorcycle social club. However, we are structuring in an organized manner with respect to all MC's. We are proud of the red white and blue. We do not and will never claim any territory. We are not a hate group, we are patriots who believe in freedom and want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the liberties our forefathers fought and died for....” While they protest that they are not a hate group they clearly are a right wing group. Perhaps they aren't violent, though.

From CBS News:
“Christopher Cruz, 28, was charged with reckless endangerment, reckless menacing and endangering the welfare of a child. Tuesday afternoon a second man was arrested in connection with the case.
According to the person who posted the video online, the bikers were participating in an annual street ride in the city.
Kelly said it was similar to an event last year with dozens of bikers, who call themselves "Hollywood Stuntz," converging on Times Square.
To try to keep the group from heading into Midtown Manhattan this year, police set up checkpoints throughout the city. Kelly said during that effort, 15 arrests were made, 68 summonses were issues and 55 motorcycles were confiscated.” So the police did do something. At least they didn't charge Lien with any infractions.”

From WND Weekly, an actively right wing site, as confirmed by a Wikipedia report on WND: “According to the police report,” this gang was black, and there have been a number of black on white incidents to an increasing degree lately. There were more than 50 bikers involved. This September another white man on foot was harrassed and threatened by another black gang of about 20 riding bicycles in Harlem. The white doctor was on foot and lives and works in Harlem. He defended the black population of Harlem, saying that the group who attacked him were not typical. The same publication WND Weekly also in the same issue ran an article saying that Obama hid his “gay life” to become president and that Rahm Emmanuel is also gay, as well as articles questioning Obama's citizenship, so it is not an unbiased publication dedicated to the truth. This WND article was also the only source I could find to report that the motorcyclists were black, so I question the truthfulness of the statement. Whether they were black or not it was a sad and depressing event.

12:18 Lunchtime and the news.


Dangerous new breed of biker gang seeks Internet glory, taunting police

By Tom Winter, Lisa Riordan Seville and Andrew Blankstein, NBC News
A new and dangerous breed of motorcycle gang is popping up around the country, say authorities, as packs of young bikers on high-speed “crotch rockets” barrel down crowded highways performing stunts, weaving through traffic and taunting police, all for a few minutes of Internet glory.
These “crotch rocket” gangs film their exploits, which can include altercations with motorists and the law, and then post videos on YouTube. Police in New York City have arrested several men after video surfaced on the Web of a Sunday incident in which bikers surrounded and beat an SUV driver in Manhattan. The bikers had been taking part in an underground event called Hollywood Stuntz, in which bikers assembled en masse on city streets to perform wheelies and other stunts.

A motorcyclist who may be paralyzed after being run over during a clash between bikers and a Range Rover on a New York City highway has hired high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred.
Edwin “Jay” Mieses, 33, is in critical condition with a crushed spine, two broken legs and other injuries from Sunday’s confrontation, captured on a viral video that has drawn more than 4 million hits on YouTube.

Asked whether Lien was within his legal rights to race away from the scene of his accident with Cruz, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said he might have been.
"It depends on whether or not your vehicle is being attacked, whether or not you think you’re being attacked, whether or not your wife and child are in the car. You have to look at the totality of the circumstances and that’s what we’re doing,” he said Tuesday.
"Obviously, if you can get out of there without hurting someone, that’s what we advise you to do," he added. "There’s no one-size-fits-all to a situation like this."

It’s unclear if Lien, who has not spoken publicly, has a lawyer. A spokesperson for the Internet company where he works said earlier this week there was no comment.


1:20 Reading my novel. 4:48 This story is very good. The lead character is a trial lawyer, and having never been satisfied with the conviction of his friend Tillman, he decides to read the trial transcript and evidence to see if something was missed. Meanwhile, he is getting close to a young woman he knew as a child and now finds her distinctly attractive in her early twenties. He is President of the college and is probably going to rub some people on the board the wrong way when he investigates Tillman's trial. The death of the coed 16 years before was deeply traumatic for the college, and many there were glad when Tillman was arrested and convicted so they could sweep the scandal out of the way, using Tillman as a scapegoat. I'm waiting with interest to see what will happen.

5:43 Close the book for today.