Goodbye AMEX Gold Card (For Now) - Zennie62

Goodbye Gold Card my old friend! We've seen good-eats on the high-end.. People tell me AMEX has crashed. People say their credit is smashed. But I'll tell you, that's not going to happen to me; I'll set you free. And use, my cash!

Queens NY Mafia Family Said To Have Extorted Funds From Condo Tenants

Queens tenants at condo had to pay fees and fines to Mafia thugs, feds say: “Gambino gangsters controlled a condo board in Queens and extorted tens of thousands of dollars in bogus and inflated fees from owners when they tried to move, the feds say.
Testifying at the trial of reputed hit man Charles Carneglia, former residents of the Greentree Condominiums in Ozone Park said they were slammed with steep last-minute charges for "failure to comply with condo bylaws."”

Robert Morgenthau - Iconic Manhattan DA leaves a legacy of law & order

More at NY Daily News: “Morgenthau, now 89, mentored generations of lawyers who used his office as a launching pad: Lanny Breuer, an Obama administration nominee for the Department of Justice; ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer; state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo; John F. Kennedy Jr., and sex crimes prosecutor turned author Linda Fairstein.
His biggest cases ran the gamut from white-collar crime to cold-blooded murder:
1981 - John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to murder.
1987 - Subway gunman Bernie Goetz was convicted on weapons charges.
1988 - "Preppie Killer" Robert Chambers pleaded to manslaughter in a Central Park killing.
2000 - Mom-and-son grifters Sante and Kenneth Kimes were convicted of murder.
2005 - Tyco corporate crooks Dennis Kozlowksi and Mark Swartz were convicted.
"They were all memorable," Morgenthau said Friday, declining to name his most significant prosecutions.”

-- Now this is what people think of when they talk about "New York Lawyers"

Eric Holder Is Right: Twittering About Race Causes Cancer!

Attorney General Eric Holder is right! Twittering about race causes cancer as toxins build. Best to have a diverse group of friends to talk to, and only a coward would be afraid to have friends of different backgrounds!

NY Post Racist Cartoon Is "New Yorker" Eyeball Strategy

The NY Post Racist Cartoon Is "New Yorker" Eyeball Strategy. It's a ploy to get web visitors and to sell newspapers and it's working. It was done by the New Yorker last year with that Obama cover and now the NY Post is doing it.

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook's Benevolent Dictator

Mark Zuckerberg is Facebook's Benevolent Dictator who says the social network is 176 million or the sixth largest nation in the World. Electing to preserve member privacy was him being nice. Suppose he didn't do it?

Josh Wolf Documentary Project: Sierra Choi Needs Your Help

John Wolf spent 226 days in jail to protect his videos and sources, and caused the creation of a new law protecting video-bloggers. Now Sierra Choi is directing and producing a documentary - the trailer is here as part of my video blog.

At the time in 2006, I met Josh when he worked for the television division at Peralta Community College. He was also in the middle of his battle with the Federal Government, but even then was still focused on his work, and didn't spend a lot of time fretting about what could happen.

Then Josh defied San Francisco U.S. District Judge William Alsup's order to turn over the videos Josh had taken from a anti-G8 anarchist protes heldt in San Francisco on July 8, 2005. Wolf feared that the U.S. Government in the form of the FBI simply wanted to identify the people who were protesting and not solve a crime they claim had been committed against a police officer. Wolf's videos did not contain any footage of a police officer being harmed.

Still, U.S. District Judge William Alsup order Wolf to be held in jail for civil contempt of court later in 2006. Then, after negotiations, he was released but still refused to give up any of his videos, offering instead to post them online and show them to the Judge himself. Initially the judge refused, and Wolf was ordered back to jail.

Eventually, and after 226 days, Wolf agreed to show the then unseen video clip online and was released from jail. He never gave a copy of the video to the goverment.

In the wake of his ordeal and new stronger "shield" law has been placed in California law to protect journalists of all kinds, from print to blogs. We have Josh to thank for this.

Now, video film producer Sierra Choi is working to raise $250,000 to create a documentary called "Quiet Uprising: The Story of Josh Wolf" and needs our help. You can contact Sierra through me by sending an email here: zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com

Please help as many need to know Josh's story so this will never happen again.

Julia Allison and Gawker's Obsession With The Online Star

Julia Allison's exploits are regularly covered by the online publications Gawker and Valleywag, who complain that she wants attention, then give her the attention in the process. Why? She's a great example of self-promotion.

Vincent Pastore, 'Big Pussy' on 'The Sopranos,' settles beat charges with ex after court battle

More at NY Daily News: “TV tough guy Vincent Pastore, who starred as Sal (Big Pussy) Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos," walked away from a $5.5 million court fight Tuesday with his ex-fiance, who says he beat her.
The 62-year-old actor, who played a snitch on the hit HBO drama, was tight-lipped about the confidential settlement as he walked out of Manhattan Supreme Court and away from his battle with actress Lisa Regina.
"I think I just wanna say, thank God it's over," Pastore said. "How can anybody be happy about something like this?"”

AROD: CHAIRMAN SAYS NO TO A-ROD HEARING

More at NYPost: “WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alex Rodriguez won't be appearing on Capitol Hill anytime soon.

The new chairman of the congressional committee that asked Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro about steroids in baseball in recent years said Tuesday he does not think lawmakers need to hear from Rodriguez in the aftermath of an admission he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-03.”

RON BARON FACES CODE VIOLATIONS IN EAST HAMPTON FOR DESTRUCTION OF DUNE

More at New York Post: “BILLIONAIRE Ron Baron - just six years after he infuriated East Hampton's gay community by videotaping their seaside sex romps - has made more enemies by allegedly destroying a protected dune and ripping out vital vegetation along the beach.

The founder of Baron Capital Management has been ordered to appear in East Hampton Town Court March 16 on eight town code violations related to his building of an 800-foot concrete barrier spanning two oceanfront properties he owns on Further Lane.”

-- Why the hell would Barron take time to photog gays in sex romps? I've heard of the term "idel time is the Devil's friend", but wow..

ARod? Steroids? Blame Baseball and The Commissioner

Alex Rodriguez admitted that he took performance enhancing drugs in 2003, and perhaps between 2001 and 2003 while with the Texas Rangers. But I don't blame him, I blame Baseball and the Commissioner of Baseball for the "Golden Home Run Age."

Ground Zero | Visit To WTC Ground Zero - New York City

My good friend Bill Chachkes gave me an impromptu first-time tour of Ground Zero in New York City. The site is right next to the building that employed his father for 21 of his 34 years with the New York police force.

Bill's tour is a personal one- he lost two friends in the 9/11 disaster and saw a building his father said would never come down, come down.

Obama Inauguration: What The Inauguration Meant To Me

In this video I share what the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of The United States means to me, set to music - a piece called "ritual".