Talk show host Nancy Grace has delivered her warped sense of "justice" and claimed yet another victim. Toni Medrano, 29, of Minnesota, set herself afire and died just weeks after being ridiculed as "vodka mom" on national television for drunkenly rolling onto and asphyxiating her three-week-old son in November.

Via:

About a week after she was charged, flame-throwing CNN talk-show host Nancy Grace featured the case on her show. (See the video above.) Grace held up a fifth of cheap vodka and said she was going to see how many glasses she could get out of the bottle.

She poured at least nine as the words "vodka mom" appeared on the screen.

Grace said during the show that she had attempted to contact Medrano at her house. She then spoke to a reporter from her show and two officials unfamiliar with the case as she theorized that Medrano had been sleeping on her child for hours. "There was a long period of time that baby's life could have been saved," Grace said.

She said the baby was purple and one guest theorized that was from a "pooling of blood" because he had been dead for so long. "Why no murder one charges?" Grace asked, referring to the charge for premeditated murder.

Medrano's younger sister described Toni as being visibly shaken as she watched Grace's show discussing her case. Toni then told her sister that "life wasn't worth living," and that she "couldn't live with herself."

This should not be construed as an effort to excuse Medrano's actions leading to her child's death in any way. I simply despise Nancy Grace's efforts to sensationalize tragedies for entertainment and ratings purposes, and setting herself up in the role of television studio judge, prosecutor, and jury to do so. These are people's lives she is using to make a fast buck, consequences be damned.

Grace's previous victim, Melinda Duckett, the 21-year old mother of a missing two-year old son, Trenton, fatally shot herself after being battered by tough questions from the talk-show host in 2006.

Via:

Grace accused Duckett of hiding something, apparently because of her vague answers and unwillingness to take a lie-detector test. Police later named Duckett the prime suspect in the boy's disappearance.

Duckett committed suicide the day the taped interview was scheduled to air, Sept. 8, 2006. Soon after, her family filed a lawsuit charging Grace with the wrongful death of Duckett.

"Nancy Grace and the others, they just bashed her to the end," Duckett's grandfather, Bill Eubank, said following her death.

After Melinda Duckett's suicide, Grace told her viewers that "guilt" had driven the young woman to take her own life.

The lawsuit filed by Duckett's family against Grace and CNN was settled in 2010 for $200,000.

Probably needless to say, but calls and emails to Nancy Grace and her network went unanswered.

BWAHAHAHAHA. After Andrew Breitbart filed to have Shirley Sherrod's lawsuit dismissed on fairly ridiculous grounds, the court ruled Wednesday that Sherrod had standing to go forward with it.

TPMMuckraker:

Reached on his cell phone by TPM, Breitbart said he hadn't yet heard of the judge's decision but would take a look and get back in touch if he had any comment.Sherrod sued Breitbart over an out-of-context video he posted of her on his Big Government website which made a story she told about overcoming racial prejudice sound like she was advocating for discriminating against whites.

Breitbart told TPM back in March that he stood by everything he's said about Sherrod and that he was excited for the discovery phase of the lawsuit.

I'm so looking forward to the discovery phase myself. I'd love, for instance, to find out who Breitbart's anonymous editor was.

The U.S. Department of Justice is now being forced to sue Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio to compel him to turn over documents needed for the federal government’s civil rights investigation.

Turns out Arizona's "show me your papers" poster boy doesn't like having to produce his. Arpaio has denied investigators access to key documents for over a year and a half.

In light of the news, here's a little background reading on Sheriff Joe.

Arpaio's Record: Higher Crime, Wasted Money, Squandered Trust

America’s Voice Education Fund’s latest report on Sheriff Joe’s record reveals that his high-profile tactics have actually led to higher crime rates, nearly 3,000 lawsuits, millions of wasted taxpayer dollars, and a degradation of the community policing strategies that law enforcement agencies have developed to keep us safe. 

What's more, violent crime is down across the state of Arizona --except in Sheriff Arpaio's Maricopa County. From 2002 to 2009, while the violent crime rate across the state as a whole plummeted by 12 percent, Arpaio's jurisdiction suffered a 58 percent surge in violent crime. The numbers speak for themselves:

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by the East Valley Tribune found:

Continue reading »

See update below for some preliminary money trail notes

It's bad enough to have states spending taxpayers' money on a frivolous effort to repeal health care reform, but it's mind-blowing to see how deep the Republican party's involvement was in those lawsuits.

One Wisconsin Now has released an email (PDF) it obtained showing a direct line between the Wisconsin Attorney General's office and the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC).

From their press release:

The emails One Wisconsin Now obtained indicate [Wisconsin Dep. AG] Taffora had contacted [RSLC Political Director] Cannatti looking for lawsuit information. Cannatti's response, which was sent at 9:09 the morning immediately following passage of the health reform bill, suggested Taffora talk to Bryan Stirling, the Deputy Attorney General of South Carolina, who Cannatti said was "coordinating efforts" between the Republican Attorneys General filing the lawsuit.

Among the largest contributors to the RSLC is the American Justice Partnership, created by the National Association of Manufacturers. The American Justice Partnership has donated $2 million to RSLC since 2006 and its website features advertisements run by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce against Kathleen Falk in 2006, Van Hollen's opponent. WMC spent an estimated $2.5 million in Van Hollen's razor-thin victory. The page, also featuring WMC ads for pro-corporate Supreme Court Justices Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler, is available at: http://americanjusticepartnership.com/partners.php

Van Hollen needs to explain why instead of consulting legal experts and constitutional scholars, he was relying on advice from political consultants," said Ross. "It's a gross abuse of power when the Attorney General puts politics above the law."

Van Hollen's office is refusing to release the full extent of email communications regarding the potential lawsuit requested March 24 by One Wisconsin Now. The request sought documents and communications between the Attorney General's office about the potential lawsuit dating back to January 1, 2010. Van Hollen claims the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege, though it is clearly not the citizens of Wisconsin, his only true clients, that Van Hollen is trying to protect.

We all know these lawsuits are politically motivated. That's no surprise at all. Attorney Generals are elected to oversee the legal interests of the people of the state they represent. They are not elected to do the bidding of high-rolling Republican donors.

And yet, they are. I'll have more on the players in this particular drama as soon as I can put it all together for you. In the meantime, here's a picture of the ugly truth.

Update #1: Following the money, honey:

Ken Cuccinelli, VA Attorney General - Filed one of the earliest lawsuits on March 23, 2010. Received a $15,000 contribution from the RSLC sent February 16, 2010.

Greg Abbott, TX Attorney General - Filed one of the earliest lawsuits on March 23, 2010. Received a $50,000 contribution from the RSLC sent December 18, 2009.

Wayne Stenehjem, ND Attorney General - Joined other states on April 5, 2010. Received $25,000 contribution from the RSLC sent March 16, 2010.

Finally, the RSLC-TENNESSEE PAC received a transfer of $200,000 on December 18, 2009. I'm still tracking down where the funds went after that transfer. Because it is state-based, it depends upon the state disclosure system and what information they release.

Stay tuned.

KGBT4:

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS (AP) -- A Los Fresnos family is going to court to prevent a Cameron County justice of the peace from ordering spankings in his courtroom.

A lawsuit filed today alleges Justice of the Peace Gustavo "Gus" Garza told a 14-year-old girl's stepfather to strike her repeatedly on the buttocks in open court.

If he didn't, the judge said the girl would be found guilty and fined $500 for truancy.

The lawsuit by Mary Vasquez and her husband, Daniel Zurita, described the paddle provided by Garza as large and heavy and fashioned from a thick piece of lumber.

In an affidavit, Zurita says that when he was through, the judge told him he had not struck the girl hard enough. Read on...

The debate on spanking has been ongoing for years, but I think this takes things to a whole new level. Does a judge have the right to order a parent to repeatedly paddle their child -- at home or right in the courtroom? I personally don't believe physical violence is necessary in raising a child, and think this judge has either lost his capacity to be rational or gets off on watching children being spanked...or both.

Topeka Capital Journal: (h/t J & BillW)

A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday ordered liens on the Westboro Baptist Church building and the Phelps-Chartered Law office.

If the case presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett is upheld by an appeals court, the church, at 3701 S.W. 12th, and the office building, at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd., could be obtained by the court and sold, with the proceeds being applied toward $5 million in damages Bennett imposed on church members for picketing a military funeral.

The $5 million penalty is the result of a lawsuit filed against three of the church's principals by Albert Snyder, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, whose funeral was picketed by church members. Read on...

It's too early to know how this will be resolved, but I'm hoping the appeals court upholds the ruling and the family of the fallen soldier prevails. These vile people drag their kids along to picket soldier's funerals and spread hatred around the country. For a good laugh check out this brave dude who Rick Roll'd the Phelps clan as they attempted to get their hate on.

Chalk this up as a win for Deborah Shank and decency... props to the blogoshere and Keith Olbermann, who hammered Wal-Mart all last week as his "Worst Person" for their shameful treatment of a former employee. We've been exposing this horrendous story for a while now.

CNN: (h/t Andy K & Dr. Hussein Matt)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is dropping a controversial effort to collect more than $400,000 in health-care reimbursement from a former employee who suffered brain damage in a traffic accident.

The world's largest retailer said in a letter to the family of
Deborah Shank it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the accident.

Whatever explains Wal-Mart's change of heart, this is great news for Mrs. Shank.

For a presidential administration overwhelmed by humiliating mistakes, the Khaled el-Masri debacle is one of the most mortifying. Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, was taken into custody in 2003 in a case of mistaken identity — he just happens to have a name similar to a terrorist sought by American officials.

Actually, “taken into custody” is the wrong phrase. He was abducted in Macedonia, drugged, beaten, and then flown to Afghanistan, where he faced more abuse. Five months of detention and torture later, the CIA, realizing they took the wrong man, dumped him in Albania. During those five months, Masri’s wife had no idea what had happened to him.

With help from the ACLU, Masri filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration, and the complaint described his treatment as “constituting prolonged arbitrary detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.”

The Bush administration insisted that the federal courts dismiss the case, not because of the merits, but because, administration lawyers argued, to even respond to the lawsuit would require divulging state secrets. Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided not to hear Masri’s case.

Kevin has more.

Via AP (h/t The Raw Story)

Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be "called home."

Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.

Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign. Read more...

[click for larger] AP via Think Progress:

The ruling was made in a lawsuit filed by the American Historical Association and other organizations, which argued that Bush’s Executive Order 13,233 was an “impermissible exercise of the executive power.”

A bill that would overturn the order is pending in the Senate.