Probably the best news of the week was that this guy is going to prison.

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:  

The smirk wiped from his face, a crying Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud Friday in a hard fall for the pharmaceutical-industry bad boy vilified for jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug. 

Shkreli, the boyish-looking, 34-year-old entrepreneur dubbed the "Pharma Bro" for his loutish behavior, was handed his punishment after a hearing in which he and his attorney struggled with limited success to make him a sympathetic figure. His own lawyer confessed to wanting to punch him in the face sometimes. 

The defendant hung his head and choked up as he admitted to many mistakes and apologized to the investors he was convicted of defrauding. At one point, a clerk handed him a box of tissues. 

"I want the people who came here today to support me to understand one thing: The only person to blame for me being here today is me," he said. "There is no conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli." 

I don;t typically like jury duty, but I would have GLADLY served on this jury just to watch this smug POS bawling like a baby when he realized that he was going to the big house.

Just in case you do not realize what a scumbag this guy is, let's take a walk down memory lane: 

Shkreli became the face of pharmaceutical industry evil in 2015 when he increased by 5,000 percent the price of Daraprim, a previously cheap drug used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be fatal to people with the AIDS virus or other immune system disorders. 

Shkreli seemed to treat the case like a big joke. After his arrest in December 2015, he taunted prosecutors, got kicked off of Twitter for harassing a female journalist, heckled Hillary Clinton from the sidewalk outside her daughter's home, gave speeches with the conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and spent countless hours livestreaming himself from his apartment. 

He also infuriated members of Congress at a Capitol Hill hearing on drug prices when he repeatedly cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Afterward, he tweeted that the lawmakers were "imbeciles." 

Last fall, the judge revoked his bail and threw him in jail after he jokingly offered his online followers a $5,000 bounty to anyone who could get a lock of Clinton's hair.

It is no longer politically correct to wish that bad things happened to people in prison, but in this case I am willing to make an exception. 

Do you want to see a Trump supporter crying his eyes out while being sentenced to prison for terrorizing a black child's birthday party? Of course you do.

Courtesy of Nova Magazine:  

Trump supporter has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for making “terroristic threats.” But now Jose Ismael Torres is hoping to get out. 

The racist and others associated with a pro-Confederate “Protect the Flag” group were caught on video disrupting a black child’s birthday party in Georgia. The incident occurred shortly after the massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. 

Their taunts led to a confrontation with the family holding the party and Torres was accused of threatening to kill them with a gun. 

“Many people tried to make the case about simply flying the Confederate Battle Flag,” Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement. “This case was about a group of people riding around our community, drinking alcohol, harassing and intimidating our citizens because of the color of their skin.” 

Torres was convicted on three counts of aggravated assault, one count of making terrorist threats and one count of violating of Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act in 2017. His girlfriend, Kayla Norton, was also sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Yeah, everybody is super tough when they are driving around in their pickup trucks, waving their Confederate flags around, and threatening children at gunpoint.

But it is a whole different story when they are sitting in a courtroom and being told they will be living in a cage for the next twenty years.

And what is with that young woman saying that what she and her boyfriend did, was "not them?"

Yes, it "was them."

That is why "they" are going to jail.

Donald Trump may be encouraging these people to come out of the shadows, but we still have laws in this country and the shadows are far safer than what awaits them behind bars.

Anthony Weiner receives 21 months in federal prison after being convicted of sexting with a minor.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison for sexting with a minor. 

In addition to the prison term, Weiner also was sentenced to three years of supervised release. 

Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York stated that Weiner's sentence carried more importance because of his previous political career. 

"Because of the defendant's notoriety, there is intense interest in the defendant's plea and sentence," Cote said in court. "It could make a difference in lives and is a very significant part of this sentence." 

She added, "This is a serious crime that deserves serious punishment." 

Weiner cried when the sentence was handed down.

Let's face it, this guy is scum.

Not only is he a pig, but his extracurricular activities played a large part in helping Donald Trump win the White House.

No sexting with children, would have meant no investigation, and no last minute reopening of the Hillary Clinton email case based on what was found on Weiner's laptop.

For that alone he deserves a much longer prison sentence than this. 

Definitely the wall that will make America great again.

While one of the Oregon standoff militia members faces a possible 12 year sentence, a Bundy boy attempts a prison break.

Ryan Bundy

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Ryan Bundy, a protester who helped lead the Oregon militia standoff, attempted to escape jail with a rope made of bedsheets, federal prosecutors alleged in court on Monday.

Hole on, hold on, do they KNOW he was planning to use the sheets to escape?


In a pretrial hearing on Monday in court in Portland, federal officials accused Ryan of attempting to escape Multnomah county jail, disclosing that deputies found the inmate on 8 April with torn sheets braided together under his mattress, the Oregonian reported. 

Prosecutors said that deputies also found two strips of torn sheets, extra pillowcases, towels and unauthorized food containers. 

Bundy responded that he was a “rancher trying to practice braiding rope”, adding: “It’s self-serving speculation and simply not true, your honor,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

See? He had simply made the 12 to 15 feet of braided bed sheets to pass the time.

After all they won't even let him have his guns.

Of course one could hardly blame Bundy for wanting to make a break for it.

After all one of his boys may soon be facing a long ass prison sentence.

Courtesy of Oregon Live:   

Ryan Payne, who led tactical training for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation and is accused of organizing "armed protection'' in a 2014 standoff with federal officers in Nevada, faces a recommended 12 years in prison under plea deals fashioned in both states. 

On Tuesday, Payne, 32, entered a guilty plea to the federal charge of conspiracy in Oregon.

Damn, twelve years is an awful long time to go without fondling your shiny metal penis extenders.

On the other hand if Ryan Buncy gets a similar sentence just think how long he will have to work on that new rope?

So President Obama just announced sweeping reforms of our prison system. Seriously, has nobody explained the term "lame duck" to this guy yet?

Here is President Obama's op-ed in the Washington Post explaining what he has done: 

As president, my most important job is to keep the American people safe. And since I took office, overall crime rates have decreased by more than 15 percent. In our criminal justice system, the punishment should fit the crime — and those who have served their time should leave prison ready to become productive members of society. How can we subject prisoners to unnecessary solitary confinement, knowing its effects, and then expect them to return to our communities as whole people? It doesn’t make us safer. It’s an affront to our common humanity. 

That’s why last summer, I directed Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and the Justice Department to review the overuse of solitary confinement across U.S. prisons. They found that there are circumstances when solitary is a necessary tool, such as when certain prisoners must be isolated for their own protection or in order to protect staff and other inmates. In those cases, the practice should be limited, applied with constraints and used only as a measure of last resort. They have identified common-sense principles that should guide the use of solitary confinement in our criminal justice system. 

The Justice Department has completed its review, and I am adopting its recommendations to reform the federal prison system. These include banning solitary confinement for juveniles and as a response to low-level infractions, expanding treatment for the mentally ill and increasing the amount of time inmates in solitary can spend outside of their cells. These steps will affect some 10,000 federal prisoners held in solitary confinement — and hopefully serve as a model for state and local corrections systems. And I will direct all relevant federal agencies to review these principles and report back to me with a plan to address their use of solitary confinement.

I have to say that this is incredibly good news.

Keeping kids out of solitary confinement seems like a no-brainer, and more treatment for the mentally ill, where prison is often the FIRST place they get diagnosed and receive the help they need, is always welcome news. 

I swear if this guy keeps this up he is liable to earn himself a place on Mt. Rushmore.

Boy won't the racists have a conniption fit then!

School to prison pipeline explained. This is chilling.

I have actually witnessed this happening in Anchorage schools

The return of Walt Monegan!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch News:  

Gov. Bill Walker announced Monday that he had accepted the resignation of Alaska’s corrections commissioner after the release of a scathing report detailing widespread failures and dysfunction that may have led to deaths in Alaska jails. 

Walker said he received the resignation of Ron Taylor on Sunday. At an 11 a.m. Monday news conference following the report’s release, Walker said Walt Monegan, the former Anchorage police chief and state commissioner of public safety, would temporarily take over Alaska’s prison system during a search for a replacement. 

Walker had ordered the outside review in August after a string of highly publicized prisoner deaths that stirred public outcry and drew some lawmakers’ attention. 

“It’s clear as a result of this that the system is broken,” Walker said at the news conference. “And we’re going to fix it.”

Well if Governor Walker wants the prison system in Alaska fixed, he could probably not do much better than putting Walt Monegan on the job. 

For those of you who have been reading here since 2008, I do not need to explain who Walt is, and why this is a big deal.

For those of you who have not heard of Walt Monegan, here is his Wikipedia page, and at the bottom of the Dispatch link there is an explanation as well.

However for those looking for a brief synopsis, it goes like this:

Then Governor Sarah Palin hated Trooper, and former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten.

She and her husband tried to convince then Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire him.

Walt could find no reason to do so, and explained that their personal vendetta against the guy was not just cause.

In retaliation, Palin fired Monegan.

There was an investigation into the firing, which after much public pressure was finally released as the Branchflower Report.

That report exonerated Monegan of any wrong doing, and instead revealed the pettiness, and retaliatory nature of Palin and her husband.

And yes all of this happened WHILE Palin was running as John McCain's VP.

On a personal note I once interviewed Walt when he was running for mayor of Anchorage, which you can read here, and when I was being threatened and harassed after my now notorious Splitsville post I reached out to him and he gave me some good advice.

In short Walt is an incredibly honest and ethical man, who I have no doubt will serve our Governor well, just like he once tried to do for a certain half term loser too ignorant to take his advice.

Walker administration to review Alaska corrections department policies in wake of inmate deaths.

Palin appointee Joe Schmidt, Commissioner of Corrections in Alaska.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker says his administration will review the state corrections department’s policies and its safety measures following a string of inmate deaths last year. 

Dean Williams, a top Walker assistant who used to run a youth corrections center in Anchorage, will lead the review along with Joe Hanlon, a private investigator and former FBI agent, Walker's office announced Monday. 

A prepared statement from Walker said the review would “look for ways to improve department policies and ensure inmate safety,” and aims to “address the concerns that have been raised about the Department of Corrections.” 

Walker’s spokeswoman Katie Marquette said inmate deaths would be one element of the review.

Okay let me just tell you that this is a MUCH bigger story than this tiny article at the Dispatch would suggest.

There was abuse of prisoners, abuse of staff, abuse of the system in general, and let's just say that money changed hands to quiet the whole thing down.

Taxpayer money.

And at the center of it all is Palin's butt boy Joe Schmidt, who quite literally should never have been allowed to run a kennel for dogs, much less be responsible for human beings serving time in Alaska.

President Obama is going to prison. Before you conservatives get all excited you should know he is just visiting.

Photo courtesy of Politico

Courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor:  

On Thursday, President Obama will become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. 

Mr. Obama will travel to Oklahoma's El Reno Correctional Institution, home to Jason Hernandez – a prisoner convicted on drug charges who had his life sentence commuted by Obama in 2013, reports Vice News. 

The trip, which will be recorded for a Vice documentary airing on HBO this fall, comes amidst the Obama administration’s broader efforts towards creating what it sees as a fairer US criminal justice system, mostly in response to tougher drug laws that disproportionately imprisoned minorities. 

The New York Times reports that in the coming weeks, Obama is expected to issue orders freeing dozens of federal prisoners locked up on nonviolent drug offenses, possibly taking the total number of commutations under his presidency to more than 80. 

This will mean he will probably commute more sentences at one time than any president has in nearly half a century. 

Good for President Obama. 

We may in fact have just about the least fair justice system on the planet, and minorities often get longer sentences than whites, and are locked up for increasingly minor offenses.

If President Obama could actually have a significant impact on our correctional system that alone would lock down his legacy. Not that the man who ended two wars, saved the economy, and brought health care to millions necessarily needs another feather in his cap.

Guess who met Creationist Kent Hovind at the prison gates when he was released for tax fraud? That's right Jim Bob Duggar!

Courtesy of Patheos:  

Kent Hovind, the creationist who was serving prison time for a 2006 tax fraud conviction was released from prison Wednesday morning and will spend the next month under house arrest and then three years of probation. 

Kent’s son Eric met him at the prison gates along with none other than Jim Bob Duggar, father of sexual predator Josh Duggar, whom which Jim Bob went to great lengths to protect from prosecution for molesting four of his sisters and a babysitter.

It looks like these fundamentalists have no problem with tax fraud or child molestation, just so long as you never stop using Christianity to cover for your crimes.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the only Boston bombing suspect left alive, has been found guilty on all 30 counts.

Tsarnaev during his arrest.

Courtesy of the Boston Herald:  

Confessed murderer Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will now be the one pleading for his life after a federal jury took just 11 hours to find him guilty of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and aftermath that left four dead and 260 maimed and injured. 

In a silent courtroom, a clerk read aloud the verdict finding Tsarnaev, 21, guilty of all 30 counts including conspiracy, use of a weapon of mass destruction and the murders of restaurant manager Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu, 23, and Martin Richard, 8 at the marathon finish line, as well as MIT Police Officer Sean Collier three days later. 

Tsarnaev swayed slightly on his feet, his head down, as the verdict was read and as the forewoman of the jury stared directly at him. He showed no reaction. 

The jury’s work is far from done. As early as next week, the same 12 deliberating jurors will reconvene for the start of Tsarnaev’s sentencing trial, where they will decide if he is to serve out his days behind bars or be ordered put to death.

This is the biggest story of the day, so it seems appropriate that we discuss it here.

I don't think there was ever any doubt that Tsarnaev would be convicted, the defense case that he was under the spell of his older brother simply never seemed viable to me. 

The next question of course is what is the proper punishment for his crimes?

Life in prison?

Or death?

Your thoughts?

Indiana woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide. The inevitable result of aggressive anti-abortion laws.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:  

In a ruling that’s already caused uproar across the country, Purvi Patel was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for committing feticide. Patel, a 33-year-old woman from Indiana, was accused of illegally inducing her own abortion and subsequently having a baby she allowed to die. Last July, Patel visited an emergency room with severe bleeding and eventually told doctors she’d miscarried. When questioned about the location of the fetal remains, she said she was unsure what to do, so she wrapped the fetal remains in a bag and threw the bag in a Dumpster. Patel was then living with her conservative Hindu parents and in a relationship with a married co-worker, which helps explain why she felt it necessary to hide the pregnancy and dispose of the remains so quickly. 

While Patel has maintained that she miscarried and delivered a stillborn baby, prosecutors insisted that she induced a late-term abortion with pills she ordered on the internet and gave birth to a living fetus that died almost instantly. A toxicology report produced no evidence of such drugs in her system, but prosecutors pointed to texts Patel exchanged with a friend in which she claimed to have ordered pills from a pharmacy in Hong Kong. Because the age of the fetus was heavily contested, it’s possible that had she gotten a prescription for the pills in the U.S., the pregnancy termination (if that’s what happened) would have been legal. It remains illegal to order such pills online. 

If Patel did self-induce an abortion, it’s essential to understand the legal restrictions she faced as a resident of Indiana. The state has only 11 abortion clinics and an exhaustive list of abortion restrictions. Indiana prohibits certain qualified health-care professionals from performing abortions, restricts young women’s access to abortion by requiring parental consent, subjects abortion providers to targeted (and burdensome) regulations not applied to other medical professionals, subjects women to biased counseling and mandatory delays, has passed unconstitutional bans on abortion, prohibits certain state employees and organizations with state funding from referring women to abortion services, restricts access to other reproductive health care, and restricts low-income women’s access to abortion.

The article goes on to question the case against Patel, including expert medial testimony that at 24 weeks the fetus was not viable, and would have died even if born alive. 

What we as a country need to recognize is that if the Republicans get their way this will become a much more common occurrence, and soon women will be arrested for miscarriages that happen even during the first trimester of their pregnancy, without any evidence of wrongdoing on the mother's part.

In the conservative world women were created to give life. And failing that biological imperative, they have no real value.

And in their world the fetus is the most precious of all lives, far more important than the life of a woman who cannot even manage get pregnant or give birth correctly.

That is why their focus is not only making it impossible to get an abortion, but even doing away with birth control itself.

Potential GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson says being gay is a choice because men turn gay in prison. So he didn't want to be a presidential candidate?

Let me start off by saying I know nothing about gay people.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Dr. Ben Carson said being gay is "absolutely" a choice, just hours after launching an exploratory committee for 2016. The renowned neurosurgeon-turned-conservative-celebrity said prisons prove this theory, in an interview with CNN that aired on Wednesday morning. "A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight — and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," he said.

He does realize that sometimes having sex with men is a means for survival in prison right?

Perhaps somebody should let Carson know that a lot of the men that engaging in man on man sex while in prison, go right back to women once they get out.

And besides that if you put a man in a cage for years on end, with no access to women, then he is going to have sex with whoever, or whatever is handy.

If you are gay, you are gay. But if you are in prison you are simply desperate.

Update: Carson has now decided that he should just avoid the topic of homosexuality from now on:  

“I simply have decided I’m not going to really talk about that issue anymore,” Carson said in a phone interview on Hannity’s show on Wednesday. “Every time I’m gaining momentum, the political press says, ‘Let’s talk about gay rights.’ And I’m just not going to fall for that anymore.”

Yeah good luck with that.

Convicted conservative filmmaker avoids prison. Gee how surprising.

Contestants in worst fake a smile competition.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza was sentenced on Tuesday to spend eight months in a community confinement center during five years of probation after pleading guilty to a campaign finance law violation. 

The defendant, a frequent critic of President Barack Obama, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan. He was also given a $30,000 fine and ordered to do one day of community service a week during his probation. 

D'Souza, 53, admitted in May to illegally reimbursing two 'straw donors' who donated $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign in New York of Wendy Long, a Republican he had known since attending Dartmouth College in the early 1980s. 

"It was a crazy idea, it was a bad idea," D'Souza told Berman before being sentenced. "I regret breaking the law."

Yes he regretted breaking the law so much that he tried to blame his conviction on the fact that he was "targeted" by the Obama Justice Department.

POS.

Too bad really, I was kind of looking forward to hearing how D'Souza fared in the general population of a federal prison while surrounded by inmates who may not have taken kindly to the fact that he makes his money attacking the first black President of these United States.

The Feds would like to send conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza to the big house for up to 16 months. Sounds a little light to me.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The U.S. government wants conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza to be sentenced to as much as 16 months in prison, following his guilty plea to a campaign finance law violation. 

In a Wednesday court filing, federal prosecutors rejected defense arguments that D’Souza was “ashamed and contrite” about his crime, had “unequivocally accepted responsibility,” and deserved a sentence of probation with community service. 

D’Souza, 53, admitted in May to illegally reimbursing two “straw donors” who donated $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign in New York of Wendy Long, a Republican he had known since attending Dartmouth College in the early 1980s. 

The government said a 10- to 16-month prison sentence was appropriate for D’Souza, and necessary to deter others from abusing the election process, including “well-heeled individuals who are tempted to use their money to help other candidates.” 

It also said D’Souza waited to “the last possible moment” prior to trial before admitting guilt, and then went on TV shows and the Internet to complain about being “selectively” targeted for prosecution, and having little choice but to plead guilty. 

“Based on the defendant’s own post-plea statements, the court should reject the defendant’s claims of contrition on the eve of sentencing,” prosecutors led by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in the filing.

Wait, you mean going on Fox News and claiming you are being persecuted by the Federal government is NOT a good idea while also telling a judge that you were wrong and will accept full responsiblity?

Who knew?

Boy that Sarah Palin curse is a doozy, isn't it?

.@SarahPalinUSA WELL, I'VE GOT THE LOOKS AND SHE'S GOT THE BRAINS: 2,000 people coming to hear us in Phoenix today pic.twitter.com/8VhJ3C7d7W
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) September 4, 2014

New study reveals that more than half of the people executed in this country are mentally ill. Oh my god!

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

A new study by Robert J. Smith, Sophie Cull and Zoë Robinson, published in Hastings Law Journal, of the social histories of 100 people executed during 2012 and 2013 showed that the vast majority of executed offenders suffered from one or more significant cognitive and behavioral deficits. 

One-third of the offenders had intellectual disabilities, borderline intellectual function or traumatic brain injuries, a similarly debilitating impairment. For example, the Texas Department of Corrections determined that Elroy Chester had an IQ of 69. He attended special education classes throughout school and never functioned at a higher level than third grade. The state had previously enrolled Chester into its Mentally Retarded Offenders Program. Despite these findings, Texas executed him on June 12, 2013. 

More than half of the 100 had a severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or psychosis. For example, for more than 40 years, Florida’s own psychiatrists found that John Ferguson suffered from severe mental illness. Ferguson had a fixed delusion that he was the “Prince of God” who could not be killed and would rise up after his execution and fight alongside Jesus to save the United States from a communist plot. When Ferguson was executed on Aug. 5, 2013, his last words were: “I just want everyone to know that I am the Prince of God and I will rise again.”

On Ferguson's belief that he was the "Prince of God," the Florida court stated that his delusions were "normal Christian beliefs." Which is very troubling but may be the result of how many Christians have been acting lately.

I am shocked by these statistics, even though I have long been aware that many mentally ill people are sent to prison as criminals, when instead they should be sent to psychiatric hospitals as patients.

I work this population all of the time and I can tell you that their behaviors can be incredibly challenging, especially those who are schizophrenic of have psychotic episodes.

However if they receive the care they need, and the medications they require, they can sometimes live reasonably happy and productive lives.

Throwing them into a cage and ultimately killing them for something they may have had no, or little, ability to control is inhumane and a travesty of justice.

But the problem is that this country has little problem shoveling piles of money into the prison system to warehouse the mentally ill, or execute them, yet balks at the money needed to prevent them from becoming criminals and providing the support they will need for their entire lives to enjoy the freedom that is their birthright as Americans.

John Oliver talks about prison in America.

This should shock and disgust all Americans.

Another excellent job by John Oliver and HBO.

Study finds that child abuse damages the development of grey matter in the brain.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry concluded that child abuse contributes to a reduction in the volume of grey matter in the brains of its victims. 

According to Lena Lim, Joaquim Radua, and Katya Rubia, child abuse — or “childhood maltreatment,” as it is called in their study — leads to lifetime-long alteration in brain structure. 

“Childhood maltreatment,” they write, “acts as a severe stressor that produces a cascade of physiological and neurobiological changes that lead to enduring alterations in brain structure.” 

Using an imaging method that allows them to compare differences in brain anatomy between groups of individuals called “signed differential mapping,” the researchers studied structures of 331 individuals with a history of child abuse, and 362 without. 

They discovered that individuals who had suffered abuse had reduced brain matter in areas of the brain related to the cognitive process of decision-making. 

The most salient reduction in grey matter volume among victims of child abuse occurred in the ventrolateral prefrontal and limbic-temporal regions — areas of the brain linked to cognitive control.

I have no difficulty at all believing these findings.

I have worked with emotionally disturbed and cognitively impaired children for years, and one thing that is universal to all of the cases is abuse and some form of neglect.

I also suffered some fairly life altering abuse when I was a child.

Considering that I am fairly high functioning I am not sure how much brain matter was beaten out of me, but it certainly fucked up my ability trust or interact with people for quite a number of years.

Trust me when I tell you that no matter how extreme the behaviors might be, using violence as a behavior modification tool only creates far more problems than it appears to solve.

I have worked with kids who called me every name in the book, spit at me, pulled my hair, and even threatened to kill my whole family. In the end the techniques I utilized brought them out of crisis and put them on the path toward becoming contributing members of society.

Hell more than one of them now works with troubled kids themselves.

If you want to create loving children then love them.

If you want to create future guests of a Federal penal institution then by all means beat them into compliance.

Dinesh D'Souza, who has been calling President Obama a crook for years, pleads guilty to violating campaign finance law.

Courtesy of Reuters:  

Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a campaign finance law violation, avoiding a trial that had been expected to begin the same day in a Manhattan federal court. 

D'Souza, known for his biting criticism of President Barack Obama, pleaded guilty to one criminal count of making illegal contributions in the names of others. A second count concerning the making of false statements is expected to be dismissed once he is sentenced. 

The plea came four months after Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara charged D'Souza with using "straw donors" to give funds in 2012 to Republican Wendy Long's U.S. Senate campaign in New York. Long, who met D'Souza while they were students in the 1980s, lost to Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand. 

"I knew that causing a campaign contribution to be made in the name of another was wrong and something the law forbids," D'Souza, 53, told U.S. District Judge Berman on Tuesday. "I deeply regret my conduct."

Good, I never liked this guy.

I do kind of wonder what happened, since just last week D'Souza was on Real Time with Bill Maher where he said in response to Maher's question about how he was preparing for prison: "I'm mounting a vigorous defense to make sure that does not happen."

Boy, pleading guilty. That is SOME vigorous defense.