- Wal-Mart
has recently come under fire for the low wages and poor benefits it provides
for its employees. Sometimes, those issues can affect a person in ways no one
would have predicted and the curious case of Rico Robertson and Mariah Bustamonte is
Exhibit A. An Oklahoma prosecutor is considering felony grand larceny charges
against Robertson and Bustamonte after Robertson allegedly stole about $78,000
from the store while disguised as an
armored truck driver. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Derek White
said in court documents that Robertson and his stepdaughter conspired with
other family members for the heist, in
which Bustamonte (allegedly) entered the
Wal-Mart dressed similarly to a Loomis armored transport employee, walked
casually to the cash office, signed for the money and strolled out of the
store. His deceit didn’t last long, as
employees figured out what had happened and called police when the real Loomis
employee arrived. Robbing a store where you work, even if it’s a massive
operation wherein many employees don’t know each other and have no interaction
with the bulk of the workforce, is a brass move. So far, no other arrests have
been reported in the case, although the family members suspected of being
involved may not be far behind in their own ride downtown in the back of a
squad car. If only Wal-Mart weren't so damned cheap and chipped off another
dollar or two an hour for its employees, maybe all of this drama could have
been averted……..
- How
do you prosecute someone for stealing something that should have negative
value? Ask Israeli officials, who have jailed wannabe musician Adi Lederman for 14 months for hacking into pop skank
Madonna and her collaborators' email accounts and selling the singer's
unreleased music. If anything, the crime here is not stealing the music, but
foisting more Madonna musical excrement on the world sooner than it was to be
released. Lederman, who once competed on Israel's leading “X Factor” rip-off TV karaoke contest,
was arrested in January on suspicion of stealing and selling unreleased songs
from Madonna's 'Rebel Heart' album. He later confessed to the crimes under a
plea bargain and as part of the deal, 14-month jail sentence and a fine of
15,000 shekels (nearly $4,000). The court noted in its ruling that it wanted to
send a strong message to those who could be planning similar crimes. "The
ease with which crimes such as this can be committed by those who have skills
in the field, such as the accused, require an appropriate punitive response
that has a deterrent and uncompromising message," the court said. Had this
guy leaked the next Black Keys, U2, A$AP Rocky or Adele album, that court would
be on point and then some. But factor in the walking musical gimmick that has
been the Material Skank’s entire career and the sanctions for releasing it
early just do not fit the crime. Justice is rarely uniform and hardly ever distributed
evenly across the board and this case is a prime example of why that’s so often
the case……….
- Never
mind recalling your ambassador to another country because he quoted a notorious anti-Semitic text in a speech on
foreign soil. Meet Palestinian Ambassador Imad Nabil Ghadaa, who has been
called home following his controversial remarks at a conference in Santiago,
Chile in May. The Foreign Ministry in the West Bank said Ghadaa will have to
"clarify" his remarks at the event. Much of the heat on him came
after a video of the speech was broadcast in Israeli media and Jewish folks got
an earful of Ghadaa citing "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and
says the creation of the state of Israel was a pretext meant to protect plans
for "world domination." It’s not the sort of book you want to quote
the way you might pull out a gem from Shakespeare or Mark Twain and there’s a
damn good reason that you don’t hear a lot of people inserting their
favorite "The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion” quote into everyday conversations with co-workers and friends.
This is even more noteworthy because it’s exceptionally rare for a Palestinian ambassador to be
summoned over remarks aimed against Jews. In fact, Palestinian envoys often
speak negatively of Israel's policies and nothing happens to them. Ghadaa has
served as ambassador to the South American country since March 2014, but this
could end his stint in the southern hemisphere sooner than expected……….
- So
who’s excited about the upcoming football season for
the University of Illinois? It should be a riveting one given what is now
hanging over the heads of athletic director Mike Thomas, football coach Tim
Beckman and others who are at the center of a massive sh*t storm sparked by
complaints and two lawsuits by former athletes alleging abusive treatment. In
light of those allegations, an advocacy group for college athletes wants the
university to fire Thomas, Beckman, women's basketball coach Matt Bollant and
others. The National College Players Association is leading the charge on this
campaign and executive director Ramogi Huma sent a letter Thursday to chancellor
Phyllis Wise urging her to break off those who stand accused of various
improper treatments of student-athletes. Seven former women's basketball
players said in a lawsuit that coaches engaged in racist behavior, while three
former football players have lodged complaints about their medical treatment
and a former women's soccer player has filed suit over her treatment. It’s a
hot mess and would seem to point to bigger problems within the athletic
department than merely a rogue coach or two who thinks he or she operates
outside the rules and when there are allegations of wrongful medical practices
involved and lawsuits being thrown around like Beckman might hurl his headset
on the sideline after a costly late-game fumble, it’s the sort of headache
every university hopes to avoid. The good news is that this won’t exactly
derail a potential Big Ten title run because that’s not really Illinois’ thing
on the football field……..
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