Titillating Tuesday

Will Prop 8 /DOMA get struck down ... between now and June?
Will the jury find Policarpio Epsinoza Perez guilty a third time for killing three children?
So much suspense!

Some Enchanting Elevator

Royal Carribean's Enchantment of the Seas in the news again-- a 62-year-old woman was apparently murdered aboard a cruise ship that embarked from our fair port en route to Nassau. The ship has been crime blogg'd before-- a 14-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 25-year-old pool boy, two years ago a crew member was busted with cocaine and heroin.

But wait, isn't that already the law? Senators passed a bill to end the speed camera bounty system, and the bill "does not tighten requirements for allowing offenders to verify a violation."

WYPR's doing a show on our blue-light cameras on Friday.

Pro-gun-control moms are rallying in A-town today.

Progressive MD uncovered $60 million a year MD in lost revenue spent on "corporate welfare"-- loopholes, allowable shifty accounting and superfluous tax breaks that the legislature refuses to fix.

Speaking of A-town, ef the medical marijuana bill, which would lend not a whit of help to pot-smoking grannies like Cher Neufer and Brenda Brown.* Can't we just leave hippie grandma and AIDS grandma alone and give pot to everybody (and tax it) like HBill 1453 aims to do?

The day Andrew Zimmern's "Maryland" episode of Bizarre Foods aired, the House passed a ban on shark fin soup-- TIL MD fisherpeople catch sharks for Chinese consumption. Incidentally Zimmern also went to the eastern shore, where he skinned and ate BBQ'd muskrat and grilled eel that's caught here and also shipped to Asia. The gallivanting gourmand also enjoyed chitlins prepared by Koreans, Korean food prepared in Silver Spring, and Spike Gjerde's whales (or maybe they were hotels).

Saved for later dept:
- A compendium on "The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in Baltimore, 1918-1933."

Fascinating look at world of trap-making, i.e. secret compartments in vehicles often used to hide drugs, money wired.com/threatlevel/20…
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 25, 2013

Insanity is Hereditary

Justin George reports the city's 7th homicide.*

Anthony Anderson's family is keeping the pressure on for charges to be brought following Anderson's death in custody.

Del. Frank's Ki Dos in Trouble

Speaking of family names, three young Conaways have been arrested for pot dealing. Frank Melvin the 3rd and sisters Lacynda and Kelly Conaway are nieces of disgraced, defeated city council member Belinda and kids of Baptist Gnostic Christian Eubonic Kundalinion Spiritual Ki Do Hermeneutic Metaphysicbipolar Delegate Frank M. (just M) Jr. (D-40th), son of the kooky City Court Clerk Frank M. Sr. and Register of Wills Mary Conaway. I demand mugshots!

BWHAHA! Booze-cruising legislator Don Dwyer blames his turning to the bottle on the gays and other Republicans, reports Rodericks: "I felt a tremendous amount of pressure in my family. You take those personal issues [and] add betrayal on the professional side, and it really gets to be overwhelming." The "betrayal" he felt came when three other delegates, including two Republicans, changed their minds and voted for the same-sex marriage bill that became state law on Jan. 1. "That betrayal really affected me," Dwyer said. "I was physically ill. You pour your heart into an issue like that and it's devastating." No Don, that was the DT's.

DOUBLE BWHAHA! Speaking of bags of dicks, Hassan Giordano reports that homohating /vote-suppressant jailbird Julius Henson aspires to run for a Senate seat against his former employer Nathaniel McFadden for the city's 45th district. Talk about biting the broom you rode in on. ...surely McFadden had Henson sign a non-disclosure/non-compete before he hired him? ... And like Henson even wants that job-- you know he just wants to bleed the beast and get at that GOP war chest. Well, why not, don't hate the player, hate the game. What do you think he'll name his party boat ... ? 

And huzzah, a compromise on the pit bull ban.

How the debate was

   Anyone bemoaning the state of rhetoric or young people's civic involvement in this country would not have been encouraged by the debates on Questions 4 and 6 last night at Morgan. The light brigade was out front with a sign (right), but attendance in the hall was sparse-- Mark Steiner and his A/V squad of two, Rob Lang of WBAL, about 7 League of Women Voters ladies and about 15 audience members for the first debate and 60 or so for the second.

    The first, anti-aliens v dreamers, was with Regina O'Neil of CASA, who teaches Spanish at Poly and is married with five kids, and a guy Charles Lollar, an executive at the uniform company Cintas, who ran against Steny Hoyer in 2010 and is married with four kids. After everyone's fecundity was established, Charles the executive hit his "we can't afford it" points on down the line: MD's broke, can't afford to give a $17,000 tuition break, "I may like the way your hair looks, Regina, but if I was your husband I might have to tell you you can't afford to go to the salon any more, and MD needs to do the same thing."
     Lollar opined that illegal immigrant/aliens can work hard and pay full tuition just like someone from New Jersey might could to go to school here, he himself had worked his way through Emory as a janitor (wonder if he cleaned up after Keiffer Mitchell?), and furthermore they're illegal immigrant aliens and so it's illegal to hire their illegal alien selves after college anyway, and if you don't like it, "I saw Keiffer Mitchell's walking around the hall out there, go talk to him about fixing our broken immigration system."
     Regina O'Neill's retorts seemed woefully underprepared-- no numbers, no evidence. She did manage to work her points in here and there, but not in a methodical way: these kids have been here their whole lives, we shouldn't punish kids for parents' sins, they're not eligible for federal loan programs, their parents have been working and paying taxes, etc.
     They dickered around in circles a bit, then Lollar's line items of points turned finger-pointy and mad dad with a side of sexism-- there was a low booing groan when Lollar talked about the injustice of aliens taking away jobs when there's 20% of black men in Baltimore unemployed. (Too bad his audience was about 80% female).
      Eventually audience questions were taken, one regarding the cost of the act. O'Neill offered that there's an estimated 435 "dreamers" who are expected to take advantage in 2013 if the law passes. Lollar did some kind of quick math, and I forget what his math was, but $17,000 x 435 x 4 = $29.6 million for four years -- assuming that there really are 435 kids who would meet the criteria and they're taking the places of out-of-state tuition payers, and none of them go to community college first. O'Neill had no retort and that was that.
Winner: Meh.
 

Finally, after an asscramping full hour of question 4, Maggie Gallagher entered the room  in a purple shirt, black skirtsuit, flats, fuschia lipstick and that bob and took to the stage. On the pro-6 side was the Keiffer Mitchell of hall-walking fame, resplendent in a perfectly fit grey suit, white shirt and blue silk tie, a full two feet taller than Gallagher unfurled to his full extension (fortunately the debate was conducted sitting down). Mark Steiner laid out Mitchell's impeccable bloodline, plus his wife and two children, with no mention of the absence of Sultan Shakir, the promised rep from Equality Maryland. Maggie Gallagher was introduced as the founder of NOM, and refreshingly no mention of a husband or kid(s).
     And with opening statements came some kind of pounding thrash-rap starting up from elsewhere in the student center; over its punishing thuds Mitchell laid out the history of the bill: it had come up twice, the second time the house and senate built a broad coalition and built in lots of protections for religious people, the NAACP supports it, Obama supports it, it's a civil rights issue, making all MDers equal "under duh law." (well it's odd, an otherwise well-spoken person turning out their th like Moose Mason.)
    Maggie Gallagher in turn opined that marriage is about us as a society holding male-female marriage as a special enshrined paragon, or something, and we have marriage because "we need to bring male and female together to create the next generation." If that sounds kind of creepy and also like using the word to define the word, it was. Not to mention creating generations is not a problem in Baltimore city, marriage or no. She also noted she's a Maryland resident (lives in MoCo, apparently) and is voting against 6 because her Roman Catholic church tells her to, and she's supporting the Dream Act for the same reason. "The campaign ads in Maryland I have nothing to do with, but I think they get it right."


 Audience questions were submitted on cards, as is the League of Women Voters protocol, and most were for Maggie. Doesn't the high divorce rate indicate hetero marriage is not so stable? Does she think infertile people should be allowed to get married? What about civil unions? Keiffer zinged back,  "I don't want my child to grow up and enter into a civil union, I want them to grow up and get married," but to the other questions Gallagher laid out various easily challenged statements that he left unchallenged. Like, that other than some tribe in Africa where two women can get married, we don't have any examples of societies with same-sex marriages with which to study what the end result might be (Uh, Europe? Canada?)
    Mercifully the debate wound down. Then some twentysomething woman with a septum ring in a newsboy cap started yelling at Gallagher "I just have to say this to you!" and went on in a not-very-coherent rant about how wrong NOM's strategy was to try to pit the blacks against the gays (but with many many more words). Gallagher smiled beatifically, said nothing and waited for the woman to turn and stalk off down the hall with her female friend before descending from the stage in her small black flats.

Free shows

The Fenton Tweets "Confirmation hearing for @BaltimorePolice Commissioner Anthony Batts set for 10/17 at 5 p.m., City Hall..." also "man pulled from harbor last night identified as Gerald Sheeran, 63, who had boat docked at marina"

The man shot in Waverly was ID'd as David Ervin, 41

Adam Meister notes that on Tuesday October 9 Morgan State is hosting a debate on both Question 4 and Question 6. Speaking against question 6 will be one Margaret Gallagher, as in, the founder of NOM (the MD Marriage Alliance confirms it). BTW, interesting that unlike some anti-marriage-rights activists, she doesn't think being gay is a choice. Well, that's refreshing. In case you'll have to miss it, here are her talking points. Ps. Ooo "Maryland Juice" got & scanned the full press kit (complete with cards using gay pride parade photos, above) and official filings for "Jump the Broom for Marriage." They're co-treasured by Raymond Henson, some relative of Julius, and claim to have $2.5 million to spend between now and November 6, so expect to see more. 

Five years for Devin Jarmal Smith, aka Sean Jones, the alleged ringleader of an identity-theft conspiracy that stole identifying information from more than 35 seriously ill patients at UMMC and forged checks and took out credit cards in their names. Co-conspirators Wendy Hinton, William White and Kenneth McDowell have all already plead guilty.

Scary daytime front-door bust-in robberies in HoCo

Police say Patina Morehead of AAC tried to run over her husband w a pickup truck

'My mommy is my daddy!'

An unidenified man was shot to death next to a minivan on Mosher St. *

Anthony Batts started work today,* after Barksdale left for medial leave and head of criminal investigations Col. Jesse Odon retired, leaving only Deputy Commissioner John Skinner to drive the bus.

A beating victim from 1997 has been added to this years' toll, the Chesterfield Ave victim was ID'd as a former murder suspect*

Police are ISO these two homicide suspects (left & right) for the murder of Clarence Ross on Pulaski St on Sept 16

"Officials Acknowledge Roosevelt Park Drug Dealing."

Hack cabbie to passenger: “I’m not taking you all the way to Columbia. Give me all your money or I’m gonna shank you.”

WJZ has pictures of the Towson disorderlies (though the TJ's-lot-hand-shooter has yet to be found)

New laws for motor-scooter drivers, and starting October 1 kids under 8 all have to be in booster seats. I'm all pro-safety and anti-internal decapitation and such, but the evidence isn't exactly conclusive on the safety advantages of booster seats. If 80% of parents can't install car seats right, wouldn't it make more sense to require cars be equipped with adjustable-height seat belts? But then car companies would have to spend an extra $10 per car, so you know that'll never happen.

El Deuce's Christian Shaeffer tracked down the "Jump The Broom For Marriage" group to their lair. Oh, and lookie look who's behind it: awesome human being Julius Henson. Sounds about right.

Scene Freaked by The Man; Bum Trips Ensue

Two men found each shot in their respective arms in a car right next to Homeland, at Bellona and E. Northern Parkway. But relax, Homelanders, police say they were shot elsewhere and drove there. Wonder how they were discovered?

Police tweeted regarding a "Questionable death" in the 900 block of Saint Dunstan's Road. "Homicide detectives are investigating." (But relax, Homelanders, that's on the bad side of St. Dunstan's Road).

McIntosh as snapped
by Frank Hamilton
at CP's 2005 BOB party, via CP

In a nod to the quaint reporting techniques of a bygone era, CP's Van Smith is physically in the Greenbelt courthouse for the trial of Daniel Gerard Joaquin McIn­tosh Sr., 36. McIntosh, co-owner of the now-closed Sonar and Talking Head bars and McCabe's in Hampden is accused of being involved in a conspiracy with 15 others to sell a literal ton of pot in a prodigious operation that involved planes, trucks and local stash houses. If convicted he faces life in prison based on his four prior felony convictions. (The jury won't know about his priors or the potential sentence. Still, what would you do on that jury? Selling pot after four convictions is criminally stupid, no doubt, and he seems like kind of a wiener, but $38k a year from taxpayers to support this guy for the rest of his life just for the selling of the pot? Smart move, taking that to a federal jury. I can't think of six denizens I know who wouldn't nullify the pants off that case.) The CP's referring to it the 'Nicka Conspiracy,' as one Matt Nicka was supposedly the guy in charge, the other accused conspirators are Kee­gan Leahy (pleaded guilty), Anthony Marcantoni, David D’Amico, Gretchen Peterson, Jeffrey Putney, Daniel Fountain, Andrew Sharpeta, Jeremey Landsman, Sean Costello, Ian Travis Minshall, Michael Phillips, Adam Constantinides, and Joseph Spain.

If you ❤ charts you'll be all aflutter at the latest missive from the Bernstein bureau, showing how his circuit court conviction rate is housing Jessamy's-- a charteriffic rejoinder to critics who have groused about the office's gloomy murder clearance numbers.

A guilty plea in federal court from 34-year-old Evan Foreman, who robbed check-cashing joints, a liquor store and the PNC bank inside the Owings Mills Giant (where one of his brothers worked).

Harriet Taylor, 56, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a mortgage-title scheme that netted her $1.5 million. Mortgage lenders sent her the money for properties, Taylor kept the money, and somehow managed to get away with that for an entire year.

QTD: "You can't equate your sin with my skin!" In this month's Mother Jones, some behind-the-scenes on the fight for marriage in MD, including the beaucoup d'$$ funneled to a PGC "bishop" by the National Organization for Marriage. But the bigots aren't the only ones getting out-of-state money, last night Annie Linskey brushed shoulders with swells in Soho,* including Dubya's daughter Barbara (aka "the hot one").

Pay yer taxes people, because The Man does not ef around and will throw yer azz in jail -- like Lauryn Hill, or this guy Makushamari Gozo from Zimbabwe, arrested for fraudulently collecting more than $180k in refunds that he claimed he was owed for buying 39 million gallons of "alternative fuel."

The Man also closed down the Loads of Fun art space in station north after somebody squealed to the housing authority that artists were subverting the dominant paradigm by using it as a flophouse.

And some sad media blabber: after a decade, the Urbanite* es muerto. It will cease publication at the end of the month.

Ladywives and man husbands

Speaking of our fair state's fine Federalist heritage, I'm sure it comes as news to no one that there are officially at least 55,736 petitioning citizens opposed to what the WaPo calls  "the gay nuptials law." Uh, what is the law actually called, again? Ah yes, The Civil Marriage Protection Act. Thnx Wikipedias. And hold on now, are we for or against this bill? Because the language is mega confusing:

Altering a provision of law to establish that only a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid in this State; prohibiting an official of a religious order or body authorized to perform a marriage ceremony from being required to solemnize or officiate a particular marriage or religious rite of a marriage in violation of the constitutional right to free exercise of religion; etc.

No four-way will for you!

establish that only a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid ...? parse, plz: ... not otherwise prohibited by existing law-- so not currently married, siblings, underage, non-human or dead, okay, but then there's the word "only"...  take out the middle matter... only a marriage between two individuals is valid in this State. So in other words, no coming here to try to file jointly thrice with your burka wives, sheiks of Araby, and don't come here to divorce Kody and try to get alimony, Sister Wives #s two and three. And should Mitt Romney come out after the election a la Bill Hendrickson with a few extra wives up his sleeve, then try to force us all to get fundamentalist-Mormon-plural-spiritual-sealed-married, this will stop that business right at the border. So, to clarify, against the initiative that is against the bill, and for the bill, which is for civil marriage, which is pro couple marriage and against plural marriage. Good.

And also, rather quietly in Port v. Cowan in May, the Court of Appeals affirmed that MD will perform same-sex divorces, even if the petitioners married in other states. So it's nice that the right of children to have support of both parents is protected no matter what and ... hey, who assigns those case numbers? Ahem...?!

Fox 45's Jeff Barnd linked to Vast Rat Wang Conspiracy

Remember those National Organization for Marriage-y robocalls a lot of Bmoreans got two Novembers ago? We knew the rat(s) would get smoked out eventually, and now they have (in the Sun's TV blog, no less. Which I think you can view without having it 'count' against yr firewall).

So if you thought you recognized that voice, you were right, 'twas no less voice than Fox 45's Jeff Barnd's, working for ccAdvertising of Centreville, VA, darkening your ringer with those do-you-believe-marriage-between-a-man-and-a-woman robocall push polls.

ccAdvertising has been linked to a company owned by a creationist in Centreville, VA, where coincidentally or not Mitt Romney's campaign has also been shooting political advertisements in the past week. Ooh, can't wait to see them. A source reports they involve B-roll of a very white Little League team.

And isn't it interesting that we have heard for years about Obama's supposed Muslim roots, but now we have a candidate who is part of a genuinely fringe religion, Mormonism, but liberals are too liberal mention how bizarre it is? ... well not me-- if you don't feel like reading Under the Banner of Heaven, enjoy this entertaining-yet-factual song from the Book of Mormon musical...




Anyway, re., Jeff Barnd, so much for the journalistic tradition of appearing objective and neutral. I wonder if the RNC paid Jeff Barnd in cash money (he's anti-gay for pay!), or if he was pressured into doing it by Fox honchos, or if he volunteered enthusiastically to record the push poll calls because he feels his hetero marriage (wait, does he even have one?) would be threatened by somebody's gay partner being eligible for health insurance. Wonder if he'd take an interview from Ed Ericson... considering how kind the CP has been to him previously...? Enquiring minds want to know...

Big Gay News

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has torn out the heart of DOMA, lubing, inching, and now surging the turgid equal-protection case ever closer to the Supreme Court's sanctum sanctorum.

"One virtue of federalism is that it permits this diversity of governance based on local choice, but this applies as well to the states that have chosen to legalize same-sex marriage," Judge Michael Boudin wrote for the court. "Under current Supreme Court authority, Congress' denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest."

BURN!

WTG COA

From TDR on FB:

The Daily Record

BREAKING - The Court of Appeals has held Maryland must recognize the marriage of same-sex couples who legally wed in other states. More to come...