January 18, 2012 at 12:34 P.M. My cable bill was due on the 16th. I asked for a TWO-DAY extention until the 18th, today. I received the extention about a week ago. On the 17th, my service was cut off. My Internet connection was also cut off. I expect that it will be restored this evening.
I wonder why they would grant a two-day extention and then cut off my service without further notice? I wonder whether Senator Bob or his allies have friends at Time/Warner? I only use public computers these days. Therefore, this interruption in my service should not affect my ability to write and post essays on-line. My opinions have not changed. This will spare New Jersey any efforts to blow out my computer's hard drive, again. I doubt that threats or people throwing bottles at me will persuade me that I am mistaken in my views. ("Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")
January 17, 2012 at 11:55 A.M. A web page obstructed the New York Public Library Computer's home page when I signed in today. (Computer number #2, Inwood Branch.) I am told that I may never again be able to sign-in at my blogs. I cannot say whether I will be able to continue writing at these blogs or if this is merely another attempt at anxiety-inducement. I will continue to try to write at these blogs. If new writings fail to appear here over several days, it is not voluntary on my part. Al Jazeera reported on January 15, 2012 that Al Qaeda was "reconstituted" in Iraq and was responsible for new bombings in Baghdad. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")
January 14, 2012 at 12:40 P.M. My television signal was altered today. I was unable to change the channels. I will try to receive assistance with this problem. The usual practice is to block the signal or turn off the television from a remote location, as was done to my computer, perhaps in order to deprive me of access to "American Family" on ABC. I regret this latest "coincidence" mostly for the sake of my family members. My opinions and values have not changed. I will try to continue writing from public computers. ("How censorship works in America.")
Adam Liptak, "High Court Reverses Convictions in Killings," in The New York Times, January 11, 2012, at p. A14.
"The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the conviction of a New Orleans man, saying prosecutors there had withheld important evidence that his lawyer could have used in his defense."
Prosecutorial misconduct is common and rarely punished as severely as it should be punished. Most judges are former prosecutors. Judges are often reluctant to damage friends as well as colleagues who tend to see the world in similar terms.
Prosecutors and police officers are always in danger of developing a "bunker mentality" according to which all civilians are the enemy. This is a dangerous misconception of the role of police in a democracy. It is certainly not a misconception that should be reinforced by courts. Likewise, the Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) in New Jersey should not help to undermine respect for and faith in the state's courts through concealed criminality. Shame on you, OAE. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
Evidence of complicity in criminal violations of defendants' rights must be revealed and should result in sanctions imposed upon prosecutors regardless of their political connections. (Again: "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
"The decision, by an 8-to-1 vote, was the latest in a series of Supreme Court decisions suggesting a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct in the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office. [OAE?] Justice Clarence Thomas dissented." ("Give Us Free!" and "Driving While Black in New Jersey.")
Compare "Larry Peterson Cleared by DNA" with "Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal." Amazingly, Justice Thomas dissented in this case despite substantial evidence that a majority of local victims of prosecutorial criminality and/or ethical misconduct happened to be African-Americans selected for such treatment because of race and relative lack of resources. ("Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Unconstitutionality of the Death Penalty.")
The case concerned a defendant, Juan Smith, who was convicted based on flawed eyewitness testimony, after police and prosecutors failed to disclose statements by the same witness indicating his "inability to recall" Mr. Smith and/or to identify or select the defendant from a range of "other options."
Highly suggestive or coercive questioning by prosecutors and police led the witness to "notice" the defendant. Mr. Smith was the ONLY African-American standing next to a police officer at the scene of the crime. Had the culprit actually been an African-American who resembled the defendant, Juan Smith, is it likely that the lone witness would have failed to focus on Mr. Smith when the crucial events were close in time and recollection? I doubt it.
The prosecutorial effort or suggestions produced the desired testimony on the witness stand at trial. The OAE had to pay for their testimony against me. I have no doubt that the witness was utterly sincere in his "recollections" of what were, in fact, state-suggested memories. This transformation by the witness is not unusual. Coercive methods can fabricate "impressions" that, eventually, become memories that the witness will regard as real. (See my forthcoming essay: "What is memory?")
The earlier exculpatory reports and statements by this same witness were deliberately hidden and never revealed to the defense by prosecutors in violation of Brady v. Maryland, a 1963 Supreme Court decision that requires prosecutors to disclose exculpatory materials to the defense. I cannot accept that this behavior by prosecutors is ethical.
The comparable open-file policy and ethical standard is even greater in New Jersey's legal ethics proceedings. Prosecutors, of course, tend to find nothing exculpatory or helpful to defendants. As a result, prosecutors feel no obligation to disclose materials that "could" benefit the opposition at a hearing or trial since nothing could benefit defendants. Much the same is true of OAE attorneys who may even be guilty of obstructing justice, tampering with witnesses, and lying about it. Right, John?
"The question for the justices [sic.] was whether the failure mattered -- that is, in the words of a 2009 decision, whether 'there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed, the result of the proceeding would have been different.' ... "
Prosecutors and Justice Thomas "reasoned" that failure by the lone witness to identify the defendant at all -- a man who was, again, the only African-American at the scene -- did not matter and would not have helped the defense.
Mr. Smith has been incarcerated for many years for a crime which, everyone now admits, he did not commit. Nonetheless, prosecutors continue to maintain (allegedly, in "good faith" as required by ethics rules) that the outcome in the case would not have changed had the hidden materials been disclosed and that Mr. Smith was not "substantially harmed" in this matter. No harm, no foul. ("Give Us Free!")
This argument leads me to wonder why these same prosecutors felt compelled to hide the evidence of confusion and lack of recollection on the part of their only witness since, they claimed, this would not help the defense.
Justice Thomas concluded in a celebrated earlier case that an African-American inmate beaten for several days while in custody, subjected to isolation, not fed, as well as targeted for the "breaking of his mind" by means of other harsh treatments was not deprived of his civil rights. Please see Mumia Abu-Jamal, Live From Death Row (New York: Harper Collins, 1996), pp. 44-46, et passim. ("Can you lie to yourself?" and "America's Holocaust" then "Law and Morality.")
The U.S. legal system is still crippled by corruption, racism, inequalities based on wealth, and the cowardly as well as hypocritical inability of state officials to abide by the very ethical and criminal standards that they apply to others. Worse, officials seem incapable of admitting their errors no matter who suffers for those errors, how many lives are destroyed by them, nor how much the system is stained by these same errors.("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "Herbert Klitzner, Esq.'s Greed and New Jersey's Hypocrisy" then "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
Sources:
New York and the World:
Salman Masood & Ismail Khan, "Pakistan Judges Press Premier to Defy President," in The New York Times, January 11, 2012, at p. A10. (The tensions between the military and civilian government in Pakistan are growing.)
Graham Bowley & Sharifullah Sahak, "Suicide Attackers Storm Afghan Government Building," in The New York Times, January 11, 2012, at p. A10. (Troubles increase as both Karzai and Taliban figures speak out against the U.S. forces.)
Eric Schmidt, "Pakistan Drone Strikes Resume," in The New York Times, January 11, 2012, at p. A10. (The bloody, inhumane, and "secret" policy that has brought so much "success" in the past is being continued even as we try to repair the relationship with Pakistan. I do not believe that such repair efforts will succeed.)
Jonathan M. Hansen, "Give Guantanamo Back to Cuba," in The New York Times, January 11, 2012, at p. A27. (This Op-Ed piece argues persuasively for the return of this territory to Cuba.)
Scott Shane, "Iran Adversaries Said to Step Up Covert Actions," in The New York Times, January 12, 2012, at p. A1. (U.S. and Israel may have cooperated in the assassination of an Iranian scientist, allegedly. This is a dangerous door that has been opened in international matters. It is likely that Americans and/or Israelis will be assassinated in response to this incident. "What is it like to be tortured?" and "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli.")
Salman Masood, "Pakistan Prime Minister Fires Defense Official, Stoking Tensions With Army," in The New York Times, January 12, 2012, at p. A4. (Pakistan's Government may be toppled by military infuriated over cave-in to Americans' robot bomb campaign.)
Kate Zernike, "Menendez Drops His Opposition to Obama's Pick for a Federal Appeals Court," in The New York Times, January 14, 2012, at p. A20. (Menendez caves-in demonstrating the absence of principle in his opposition to the nomination of Ms. Shwartz in exchange for some conciliatory language from the Obama Administration about the Senator's unquestioned "motives." Public scrutiny is never healthy for behind-the-back fighters who tend to dislike the people's attention to their "shenanigans" as much as vampires hate garlic or sunlight.)
"Pakistan's Besieged Government: A Prolonged Standoff With the Military is Bad for a Fragile Nation, and for Washington," (Editorial) in The New York Times, January 12, 2012, at p. A26. (We bear much of the responsibility for this mess which could place 100 nuclear missiles in the "wrong hands." I am glad that the dangers of our robot bomb campaign are finally being seen in what has been, until now, a compliant U.S. media. Maybe, some day, the U.S. media will discover my struggle against censorship in America and corruption in New Jersey.)
"Self-Inflicted Wound: A Video of Marines Urinating on Taliban Corpses Harms American Interests," (Editorial) in The New York Times, January 14, 2012, at p. A20. (Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters will result in payback attacks and other atrocities committed against Americans. This incident is not helpful in negotiations with Taliban fighters taking place in Quatar as I type these words, according to Al Jazeera.)
New Jersey's Disintegration:
Eric Schilling, et als., "Patrols Target Bias Crimes: Cops on 24-Hour Watch After Latest Incident," in The Record, January 14, 2012, at p. A-1. (I expect, sadly, that there will be more such incidents from so-called "inferiors" aimed against perceived oppressors. Allegations that Jews were behind these incidents of anti-semitism are unconvincing after cybercriminals damaged the Israeli stock exchange and other crucial computer systems yesterday. More attacks aimed against Israeli and U.S. targets are said to be in the works. We must all take a firm stand against cybercrime and censorship on-line, especially when motivated by racism or anti-semitism. I have never heard so much hatred expressed against certain groups in America on the streets of this city as are common today.)
Ed Berson, "Novartis to Lay Off Hundreds in New Jersey," in The Record, January 14, 2012, at p. A-10. (1,960 will lose their jobs from this company alone. More lay-offs are expected elsewhere.)
"Bully Protection: It is too soon to throw out new law," (Editorial) in The Record, January 14, 2012, at p. A-11. (How serious is New Jersey about anti-bullying laws? Cybercrime? Cyberstalking?)
Richard Cowen, "Ex-Passaic Manager in Pretrial Program: Fired After Arrest on Cocaine Charge," in The Record, January 14, 2012, at p. L-1. (Former Passaic City Manager Anthony Iacono granted PTI by prosecutors to avoid prison. He must've known somebody, huh? That's Jersey for ya!)
Harold Lipman, "Home Contractors Sting Nets a Dozen," in The Record, January 5, 2012, at p. A-1. (Illegal or unlicensed contractors pay for political protection in New Jersey. How are the renovations to the Hoboken apartment, Senator Bob? How about the place in Miami Beach? Did you sell it, Bob? "Corporate owned," Senator?)
Mike Kelly, "N.J. Icon Moving On: Mayor Who Blew the Whistle on Bribe Going to Calif.," in The Record, January 5, 2012, at p. A-1. (Former Fort Lee Mayor, Burt Ross, may have security issues in mind in moving to California after cooperating with the feds. Why cooperate with the feds if they can't protect you? No reason -- except that it's more fun that way.)
Hannan Adeley, "Mayor Owes Property Taxes: Among 206 Delinquents in Little Falls," in The Record, January 5, 2012, at p. L-1. (Little Falls Mayor Michael Di Francisi -- Gambinos? -- owes $4,367.00 and says he "don't care about nothin' ..." Why he should he care about somethin' when many more "delinquents" in New Jersey politics are also stealing from the taxpayers with impunity? No reason. Right, Mayor Jones of Paterson? Jeez.)
Shawn Boburg, "Battle Over Free-Toll Perk: Port Authority Chief Criticizes Suits by Ex-Employees," in The Record, January 6, 2012, at p. A-1. (PA employees and retirees criticized for perks including "toll free" retirements.)
Hannan Adeley, "Mayor Pays His Tax Bill: DeFrancisi Had Owed Little Falls $4,480," in The Record, January 6, 2012, at p. L-1. (Finally, this guy paid his bill. Free loading on the taxpayers is shameful, sir. Happily, the mayor is rumored to be about to seek a $5,000 per year raise. Dem guys. They get ya comin' and goin' ...)
