CHRISTINE FORD vs BRETT KAVANAUGH - 36 YRS AGO WHO REMEMBERS ALL DETAILS ACCURATELY?
DIDN’T THIS INCIDENT OCCURR IN HIGH SCHOOL?
I’M NOT MOCKING CHRISTINE FORD NOR AM I TRYING TO SOUND HYPOCRITICAL BUT WHY IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS FOR GOP SCOTUS COURT NOMINEES? WHY??
I WAS TRYING TO REMAIN SILENT BUT I HAD TO SPEAK UP.
THIS DRAMA IS NOT ABOUT PROTECTING WOMEN, IT’S STRAIGHT POLITICAL THEATER.
Post Sources: BBC News, Fox News, NBC News, Washington Post, Youtube
***** Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh hearing: Key takeaways so far
With a seat on the Supreme Court hanging in the balance, Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh are appearing in front of senators to state their case and share their stories. Here are some of the key takeaways so far.
Everyone knew what Christine Blasey Ford was going to say before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday morning. Her formal opening statement was released to the public on Wednesday evening.
Reading what she was going to say and hearing her speak it, in a quiet, sometimes faltering voice, are two very different things, however.
The committee hearing began with statements by Republican chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein, and the exchanging accusations of political obfuscation and procedural misconduct threatened to cover the proceedings in a political fog.
For a taut 20 minutes, however, Ms Ford cut through the fog with searing emotion. She spoke of traumatic memories and decades of shame; of a civic duty to come forward and recent months of hounding media and death threats.
The images of her speaking - the first glimpse the public at large has had of her besides a few grainy photos - will linger well beyond Thursday's hearing or even Brett Kavanaugh's ultimate professional fate.
Once Ms Ford concluded, the fog descended again. Thanks in large part to a disjointed format that featured five-minute segments alternating between veteran sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, a surrogate questioner for the Republicans, and Democratic senators, there was little flow to proceedings.
It was as if viewers were flipping back and forth between a CourtTV criminal cross-examination and a public-access television congressional hearing.
Democrats succeeded in gleaning a few memorable moments from Ms Ford. She said she was 100% certain that Brett - referring to Mr Kavanaugh repeatedly by his first name - was the teenager who assaulted her.
She also, in reply to a question by Vermont Democrat Pat Leahy, recounted how the enduring recollection she has from the incident was Mr Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, laughing as they stumbled down the stairs after the alleged attack.
Ms Mitchell, in her interrogation, pulled at a number of threads in Ms Ford's story.
Who drove her to and from the house on the night of the party?
Why did she tell Senate investigators that she couldn't meet them in Washington because she was afraid of flying if she frequently travelled by air for pleasure?
Did she or did she not share her 2012 therapist records with a reporter from the Washington Post?
That final line of questioning is key, since it's those records that help corroborate that Ms Ford had spoken about the assault well before Mr Kavanaugh became a candidate for the Supreme Court.
The other questions seemed more geared toward undermining Ms Ford's credibility - the kind of strategy useful during depositions or trials to undermine a jury's trust in a witness or, perhaps, force them to crack under the accumulated pressure of the interrogation.
Every five minutes, however, Democrats threw Ms Ford a lifeline.
In the end, however, Ms Mitchell herself seemed slightly exasperated by the format she was working under. When it comes to trying to arrive at the accurate recollection of trauma, she said, "there's no study that shows that this setting, in five-minute increments, is the best way to do that.
As the first half of the hearing drew to a close, the senators began to argue about entering various outside statements into the record, only to be interrupted by one of Ms Ford's lawyers.
"Can we be excused?" he asked.
With the partisan fog thick again, it's a sentiment many Americans may have shared.
BILL COSBY’S “WELCOME TO JAIL” MEAL INCLUDES JELLO PUDDING (3-10 YRS):
COSBY 81, AN EXAMPLE OF EACH HUMAN BEING EVENTUALLY REAPING WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN IN THIS LIFE.....GOOD OR BAD.
TAKE HEED LEST YOU ALSO FALL.
Post Sources: Fox News, TMZ, Youtube
***** Bill Cosby had pudding in first prison meal: report
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby reportedly had vanilla pudding as part of his first meal in a state prison after being sentenced three to 10 years on Tuesday.
Cosby, 81, now known as Inmate No. NN7687, will serve his sentence at SCI Phoenix, a new state prison in Schwenksville, Pa.
TMZ reported Cosby was served a chicken patty with gravy, vegetables, mashed potatoes and vanilla pudding for dessert.
Cosby famously appeared in a number of Jello commercials in the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not immediately clear if he was served Jello brand pudding in prison.
The former television superstar, who traded on a squeaky clean, fatherly image, was sentenced after being found guilty of three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault in April in one of the most widely publicized trials in modern history.
The once revered comedian was found guilty of sexual assault in April for drugging Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, in his Philadelphia home in 2004.
UPDATED, 12:20 PM: The back-and-forth continues between Morgan Freeman and CNN over the news org’s expose about him. Here is the actor’s attorney Robert Schwartz’s response to CNN’s latest statement:
“We presented CNN with objective evidence, including videotapes and on-the-record denials by the claimed “victims,” that the alleged incident that gave rise to the story never happened. We proved to CNN, beyond any doubt, that the whole story was built on fakery. The credibility of the entire CNN attack on Mr. Freeman has now been undermined. And in choosing to ignore all of the evidence that we presented, CNN has confirmed our concerns about its reporters, its lack of oversight, and its gross misconduct in unjustifiably attacking Mr. Freeman.”
PREVIOUSLY, 9:18 AM: CNN has rebutted Morgan Freeman’s demand for a retraction, saying it stands by its report that multiple women accuse him of harassing them or behaving inappropriately on set, while promoting his movies, and at his production company.
“The unfounded accusations made by Mr. Freeman’s lawyer are disappointing and are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Freeman’s own public statements in the aftermath of the story,” the cable news network said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
“CNN stands by its reporting and will respond forcefully to any attempt by Mr. Freeman or his representatives to intimidate us from covering this important public issue,” the network added.
Hours earlier, Robert M. Schwartz of Irell & Manella, has emailed a 10-page letter to CNN chief Jeff Zucker, implying that this might become a lawsuit.
In its report, published last week, the cable news organization said eight women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. CNN interviewed 16 people for its report, including some who said they witnessed the behavior.
One production assistant said she was subjected to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a nearly daily basis, including one incident in which the 80-year-old actor allegedly “kept trying to lift up my skirt” while inquiring if she was wearing underwear.
Freeman, who has lost endorsements and has said he is devastated by the accusations, initially apologized and but then clarified. In his letter to Zucker, Schwartz wrote, “It has been said that ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.’ In just the few days since CNN published the article on Mr. Freeman, it has traveled all the way around the world and back, millions of times. If CNN has any decency, or any allegiance to journalistic integrity, it will immediate retract the article and issue a public apology to Mr. Freeman.”
In a mirror image of his days presiding over Hollywood red carpets, the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was led in handcuffs past a gantlet of photographers on Friday as he appeared in court to face charges that he had raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex.
Mr. Weinstein’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court lasted barely 10 minutes, but stood not only as a breakthrough in the investigation into sex-crime claims against him but as a watershed in the larger #MeToo movement. After decades of harnessing his wealth and power to silence women — and after weathering an earlier criminal inquiry into groping allegations — his reign as a film-industry titan suffered a decisive blow in, of all places, the shopworn arraignment courtroom, where he was among the morning cattle call of defendants.
It was 9:25 a.m. when Mr. Weinstein — in a dark blazer, a light-blue sweater and an untucked button-down shirt — was escorted into courtroom AR-1 by Sgt. Keri Thompson and Detective Nicholas DiGaudio, two investigators from the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Division. The unit had been pushing hard for months on Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, to pursue a case against Mr. Weinstein, particularly after Mr. Vance declined to prosecute the groping case of an Italian model, Amber Battilana, three years ago because of what he called a lack of evidence.
As the hearing opened, Mr. Weinstein, still in handcuffs and looking vaguely shellshocked, was led with his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, into the well of the court where he stood in front of Judge Kevin McGrath. The lead prosecutor in the case, Joan Illuzzi, announced the charges against him: first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case; and first-degree criminal sex act in another.
The criminal sex act count stemmed from an encounter with Lucia Evans, who first told The New Yorker, and then investigators from Mr. Vance’s office, that Mr. Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him during what she expected would be a casting meeting at the Miramax office in TriBeCa in 2004. The victim in the rape case has not been publicly identified, but prosecutors said that that attack occurred on March 18, 2013, at 569 Lexington Avenue, the address for the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel.
After noting that the charges had emerged after “months of investigation,” Ms. Illuzzi added that the inquiry had shown “that this defendant used his money, power and position to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.”
Ms. Illuzzi also said that the investigation would continue and she asked Judge McGrath to issue an order of protection against Mr. Weinstein on behalf of one of the women, who was not identified. A grand jury remains empaneled in the case and is still looking into whether Mr. Weinstein abused more women and used his vast financial resources to keep them quiet.
Mr. Weinstein said nothing during the hearing, standing with his back to a roomful of reporters. He was not required to enter a plea because he was arrested on a criminal complaint, rather than an indictment. But after the hearing, Mr. Brafman said his client intended to plead not guilty. By Wednesday, Mr. Weinstein will also have to decide whether he plans to testify in front of the grand jury.
As the hearing neared an end, Mr. Brafman, one of New York City’s top defense lawyers, handed Mr. Weinstein’s passport to Ms. Illuzzi and paid his bail with a $1 million cashier’s check. As part of his bail package, he has agreed to wear a monitoring device and restrict his travel to New York and Connecticut. When the proceeding was over, Mr. Weinstein was allowed to slip out of an employee door at the back of the courthouse, where he climbed into a waiting Toyota.
All told, his passage through the courts took about an hour, a far shorter and much less grueling ordeal than most defendants endure.
Outside the courthouse, Mr. Brafman told a scrum of reporters that he would “move quickly” to dismiss the charges, calling them “constitutionally flawed and factually unsubstantiated.”
“I anticipate that the women who have made these allegations, when subjected to cross-examination — in the event we get that far — will not be believed by 12 people,” Mr. Brafman said. He continued: “Assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.”
Hinting at a potential line of defense, Mr. Brafman also drew a distinction between bad behavior and criminal conduct. “Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood,” he said. “Bad behavior is not on trial in this case.”
As is the case in many sex crimes prosecutions, whether the charges brought on Friday ultimately stick is likely to hinge on the issue of the complainants’ credibility. It remains unclear how much physical evidence investigators have found to corroborate their stories, and Mr. Brafman in his comment promised “a vigorous cross-examination.”
The day had started early for Mr. Weinstein. Around 7:30 a.m., he walked into the First Precinct station house in Lower Manhattan, flanked by several sex crimes detectives and hounded by another gaggle of reporters and photographers. Toting three large books under his arm, he looked up without saying a word as shutters clicked and onlookers called out, “Harvey!”
He was fingerprinted and formally booked and waited in a holding cell for detectives to finish paperwork. Then, about an hour later, he was led from the station house in TriBeCa and taken to the court at 100 Centre Street, his arms pinned behind him in three sets of handcuffs to accommodate his girth, a law enforcement official said. The books he had been carrying — among them “Elia Kazan: A Biography,” by Richard Schickel, and “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,” by Todd S. Purdum — were gone.
The charges against Mr. Weinstein followed a wave of accusations that led women around the world — some of them famous, but many of them not — to come forward with accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men. Those stories spawned the global #MeToo movement, and since then, the ground has shifted beneath men who for years had benefited from a code of silence around their predatory behavior.
Mr. Weinstein himself had reigned for decades as one of Hollywood’s top producers, known as much for his bullying and aggression as for his cinematic triumphs. Over the years, journalists and investigators, chasing leads from a whisper-network of women and a handful of complainants, sought to expose the accusations and hold him accountable, but largely came up empty. Mr. Weinstein’s power was after all enormous; his (and his lawyers’) connections were extensive; and he was often able to buy or coerce the silence of any accusers, at times employing an Israeli security firm called Black Cube, many of whose employees were former intelligence operatives.
But everything shifted in October when The New York Times and The New Yorker published articles containing the accounts of several A-list movie stars and employees of the Weinstein Company, his former namesake production firm. The matching articles shattered Mr. Weinstein’s reputation and eventually spurred criminal inquiries in New York, Los Angeles and London.
Mr. Vance’s prosecutors, for example, conducted dozens of interviews in New York and elsewhere and issued hundreds of subpoenas. A similar but separate federal investigation is also being conducted into Mr. Weinstein’s finances and into the question of whether he violated stalking laws in his dealings with women who say he abused them.
The First Police Precinct station house, where Mr. Weinstein was arrested, was not unfamiliar to him or his accusers. Three years ago, Ms. Battilana, the model, accused Mr. Weinstein of groping her during a meeting in his office, and spoke to detectives at the same station house, on Varick Street.
The next day, with detectives watching and recording, Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Battilana met at the TriBeCa Grand, where Mr. Weinstein acknowledged he had touched her breasts and promised not to do so again. But he was not asked about putting his hand up Ms. Battilana’s skirt as she had alleged. Detectives took Mr. Weinstein to the First Police Precinct for questioning, but as soon as the groping allegation came up, he halted the interview and asked for a lawyer, the police said.
Unlike in the case announced on Friday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office decided that time not to charge him.
D.L. HUGHLEY SAYS "BILL COSBY'S COMEDY WAS CLEAN BUT HIS LIFE WASN'T & HE RAPED WOMEN":
TIME'S UP.
Post Sources: VladTV, Youtube
During an interview in 2017 on VladTV (Youtube), comedian D.L. HUGHLEY made this compelling, shocking statement about Powerful, Super Wealthy, Sex Addict/ Rapist BILL COSBY:
"Bill Cosby's comedy was clean but his life wasn't and raped every one of those women. Bill Cosby tried to stop other Black Comedians from becoming famous that's why he wanted to buy NBC."
Can you say "HYPOCRITE"??
I'm not surprised.
Dr Bill Cosby was telling Impoverished Black Men to "pull their pants up", while he was pulling down the panties of Women outside of his Marriage and Raping those Women.
This same kind of HYPOCRISY can often be found in many large Churches.
Many of the Men in large Churches (especially Black Churches) are living a double life of ADULTERY, FINANCIAL ABUSE, PHYSICAL ABUSE against their Wives and INCEST against their own Daughters, yet their image at Church is Clean and Respectable.
This Hypocrisy lifestyle can largely be found among Black Male Church Leaders who should be demonstrating to Young Men how to live a Clean, Professional life, instead many Black Male Church Leaders are Married Whoremongers, who prey upon low income, Single Women.
Just as Bill Cosby did, those Black Men in large Churches who live a double life of ADULTERY, FINANCIAL ABUSE and PHYSICAL ABUSE against their Wives and INCEST against their own Daughters, while APPEARING to live a Clean life in public, often use Money and Influence to keep their Wives Silent.
When the Wives of these Black Male Church Leaders attempt to Speak Out and EXPOSE these Sexual Predators in Sheep clothing, the Men will tell other Church members that their Wives are "Mentally Unstable" or that their Daughters are "Mentally Unstable".
The Pastors at many of these "Mega Churches" often remain quiet while the Men in their congregation Abuse their Wives and Daughters because the Men are putting MONEY into the Church coffers.
For the record I am not attacking Black Churches nor am I attacking "Mega Churches".
I'm just want to see JUSTICE for hurting Women and Children whose lives have been torn apart by trying to COVER UP Sexual Assault in the Workplace, at Home and sadly enough in the Church.
If Society really wants to know why the lives of so many Young Black Men are messed up, look no further than the neighborhood Black Churches.
Many Young Black Men have Mothers who were PHYSICALLY ABUSED, EMOTIONALLY ABUSED and FINANCIALLY ABUSED by Black Male Church Leaders.
Who were these Black Male Church Leaders? The Fathers or Step-Fathers of those Young Black Men.
Many Young Black Men have Sisters or know other Young Women who were RAPED or Sexually Assaulted by a Black Male Church Leader,who in most cases was their own Father or Step-Father.
When those Young Black Men attempted to Speak Out on behalf of their Mothers and Sisters, they were labeled as "Rebellious" or as "Thugs".
Forgiveness does not eliminate Consequences.
God is the final Judge!
I thank the good Lord Bill Cosby isn't God.
Cosby deserves to be in Jail even at 80 years old because he committed Sexual Assault against Women for decades with Malicious Intent and then called those Women "Mentally Unstable" and "Gold Diggers".
Like most Americans, I spent the 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s in awe of Bill Cosby and his total domination of popular culture. He was the first African American to star in a dramatic television series, I Spy, a show my family in Buffalo, New York, always watched. Cosby cut a striking figure on-screen then. He was funny, smart, and even elegant—all those wonderful things many white Americans didn’t associate with people of color. In fact, as I thought of going public with what follows, a voice in my head kept whispering, “Black men have enough enemies out there already, they certainly don’t need someone like you, an African American with a familiar face and a famous name, fanning the flames.”
Imagine my joy in the mid-80s when an agent called to say Bill Cosby wanted me to audition for a role on the The Cosby Show. Cosby played an obstetrician, and he sometimes used models to portray pregnant women sitting in his office waiting room. It was a small part with one or two speaking lines at most, but I wanted in.
I was in the midst of an ugly custody battle for my only child. I needed a big break badly and appearing on The Cosby Show seemed like an excellent way of getting Hollywood’s attention. I’d appeared in one or two movies already, but my phone wasn’t exactly ringing off the hook with acting jobs.
Cosby’s handlers invited me to a taping of the show so I could get the lay of the land and an idea of what my role required. After the taping I met all the cast and then met with Cosby in his office to talk a bit about the hell I’d been through in my marriage. He appeared concerned and then asked what I wanted from my career going forward. He seemed genuinely interested in guiding me to the next level. I was on cloud nine.
I brought my daughter to the next taping I attended. Afterward, Cosby asked if I could meet him at his home that weekend to read for the part. My ex-husband had primary custody of my daughter at the time, and I usually spent my weekends with her. Cosby suggested I bring her along, which really reeled me in. He was the Jell-O Pudding man; like most kids, my daughter loved him. When my daughter and I visited Cosby’s New York brownstone, his staff served us a delicious brunch. Then he gave us a tour of the exceptional multi-level home.
Looking back, that first invite from Cosby to his home seems like part of a perfectly laid out plan, a way to make me feel secure with him at all times. It worked like a charm. Cosby suggested I come back to his house a few days later to read for the part. I agreed, and one late afternoon the following week I returned. His staff served a light dinner and Bill and I talked more about my plans for the future.
After the meal, we walked upstairs to a huge living area of his home that featured a massive bar. A huge brass espresso contraption took up half the counter. At the time, it seemed rare for someone to have such a machine in his home for personal use.
Cosby said he wanted to see how I handled various scenes, so he suggested that I pretend to be drunk. (When did a pregnant woman ever appear drunk on The Cosby Show? Probably never, but I went with it.)
As I readied myself to be the best drunk I could be, he offered me a cappuccino from the espresso machine. I told him I didn’t drink coffee that late in the afternoon because it made getting to sleep at night more difficult. He wouldn’t let it go. He insisted that his espresso machine was the best model on the market and promised I’d never tasted a cappuccino quite like this one.
It’s nuts, I know, but it felt oddly inappropriate arguing with Bill Cosby so I took a few sips of the coffee just to appease him.
Now let me explain this: I was a top model during the 70s, a period when drugs flowed at parties and photo shoots like bottled water at a health spa. I’d had my fun and experimented with my fair share of mood enhancers. I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I’d been drugged—and drugged good.
[Editor’s Note: Cosby’s attorneys did not respond to Vanity Fair’s requests for comment.]
My head became woozy, my speech became slurred, and the room began to spin nonstop. Cosby motioned for me to come over to him as though we were really about to act out the scene. He put his hands around my waist, and I managed to put my hand on his shoulder in order to steady myself.
As I felt my body go completely limp, my brain switched into automatic-survival mode. That meant making sure Cosby understood that I knew exactly what was happening at that very moment.
“You are a motherfucker aren’t you?”
That’s the exact question I yelled at him as he stood there holding me, expecting me to bend to his will. I rapidly called him several more “motherfuckers.” By the fifth, I could tell that I was really pissing him off. At one point he dropped his hands from my waist and just stood there looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
What happened next is somewhat cloudy for me because the drug was in fuller play by that time. I recall his seething anger at my tirade and then him grabbing me by my left arm hard and yanking all 110 pounds of me down a bunch of stairs as my high heels clicked and clacked on every step. I feared my neck was going to break with the force he was using to pull me down those stairs. It was still late afternoon and the sun hadn’t completely gone down yet. When we reached the front door, he pulled me outside of the brownstone and then, with his hand still tightly clenched around my arm, stood in the middle of the street waving down taxis.
When one stopped, Cosby opened the door, shoved me into it and slammed the door behind me without ever saying a word. I somehow managed to tell the driver my address and before blacking out, I looked at the cabbie and asked, as if he knew: “Did I really just call Bill Cosby ‘a motherfucker’?”
Why that was even a concern of mine after what I’d just been through is still a mystery to me? I think my mind refused to process it.
The next day I woke up in my own bed after falling into a deep sleep that lasted most of the day. I had no memory of how I got into my apartment or into my bed, though most likely my doorman helped me out.
I sat in there still stunned by what happened the night before, confused and devastated by the idea that someone I admired so much had tried to take advantage of me, and used drugs to do so. Had I done something to encourage his actions?
In reality, I knew I’d done nothing to encourage Cosby but my mind kept turning with question after question. It took a few days for the drug to completely wear off and soon I had to get back to work. I headed to California for an acting audition. Not long after arriving, I decided I needed to confront Cosby for my own sanity’s sake. I thought if I just called him, he would come clean and explain why he’d done what he had.
I dialed the private number he’d given me expecting to hear his voice on the other end. But he didn’t answer. His wife did. A little shocked, I quickly identified myself to her in the most respectful way possible and then asked to speak to Bill. Camille politely informed me that it was very late, 11:00 P.M. and that they were both in bed together.
I apologized for the late call and explained that I was in Los Angeles and had forgotten about the three-hour time difference. I added that I would call back tomorrow.
I didn’t call back the next day or any other day after that. At a certain moment it became clear that I would be fighting a losing battle with a powerful man so callous he not only drugged me, but he also gave me the number to the bedroom he shared with his wife. How could I fight someone that boldly arrogant and out of touch? In the end, just like the other women, I had too much to lose to go after Bill Cosby. I had a career that would no doubt take a huge hit if I went public with my story and I certainly couldn’t afford that after my costly divorce and on going court fees.
For a long time I thought it was something that only happened to me, and that I was somehow responsible. So I kept my secret to myself, believing this truth needed to remain in the darkness. But the last four weeks have changed everything, as so many women have shared similar stories, of which the press have belatedly taken heed.
Still I struggled with how to reveal my big secret, and more importantly, what would people think when and if I did? Would they dismiss me as an angry black woman intent on ruining the image of one of the most revered men in the African American community over the last 40 years? Or would they see my open and honest account of being betrayed by one of the country’s most powerful, influential, and beloved entertainers?
As I wrestled with the idea of telling my story of the day Bill Cosby drugged me with the intention of doing God knows what, the faces of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and countless other brown and black men took residence in my mind.
As if I needed to be reminded. The current plight of the black male was behind my silence when Barbara Bowman came out to tell the horrific details of being drugged and raped by Cosby to the Washington Post in November. And I watched in horror as my longtime friend and fellow model Janice Dickinson was raked over the coals for telling her account of rape at Cosby’s hands. Over the years I’ve met other women who also claim to have been violated by Cosby. Many are still afraid to speak up. I couldn’t sit back and watch the other women be vilified and shamed for something I knew was true.
When I sat down to write my memoir in 2013, I pondered if I should include my Cosby experience. I didn't want to get involved in a he-said/she-said situation. Now that other women have come forward with their nightmare stories, I join them.
Finally, I reached the conclusion that the current attack on African American men has absolutely nothing to do at all with Bill Cosby. He brought this on himself when he decided he had the right to have his way with who knows how many women over the last four decades. If anything, Cosby is distinguished from the majority of black men in this country because he could depend on the powers that be for support and protection.
I had to use my voice as a sister, mother, and grandmother, and as a woman who knows that, according to the C.D.C., nearly one in five women has been sexually assaulted at some time in her life, and that women of color face an even higher attack rate.
In part because of what happened to me nearly 30 years ago, I have agreed to serve on the board of the Barbara Sinatra Center for Abused Children. The experience has been as humbling as it has been rewarding. Many of the young children I work with have been sexually abused and I watch in awe of their bravery as they work to recover and feel better.
How could I be any less brave?
(Beverly Johnson was a top model during the 70s and 80s and was the first African American woman to appear on the cover of American Vogue in 1974.)
A transgender inmate says she was raped at a men’s prison hours after a judge threw out her request to block corrections officers from keeping her in a disciplinary unit.
Lindsay Saunders-Velez claims she had been threatened, harassed and assaulted since entering Colorado’s prison system last spring for violating her plea deal in a menacing case.
The prisoner filed a lawsuit against the state’s corrections agency in July, branding the system “discriminatory and dangerous” for transgender offenders.
Last month, her lawyers requested a judge not send Saunders-Velez to her jail’s “punishment pod” for a disciplinary infraction, saying she could end up with inmates who had tormented her.
The judge said the attorneys failed to prove an imminent risk, and rejected their request .
However, the 20-year-old was attacked during her time in the pod and needed more than a week in the infirmary recover, according to her attorney, Paula Greisen.
“This issue is not going to go away,” she said: “We’re going to fight it until these individuals are treated with the respect they deserve.”
Federal law requires prisons to individually asses where to house each transgender person, said Demoya Gordon, an attorney with LGBTQ+ advocacy group Lambda Legal’s transgender rights project.
But, she added, almost all facilities still housed inmates based on their genitalia or birth gender, resulting in many transgender women being abused or raped during their sentence.
Saunders-Velez entered Colorado’s foster care system as a child, then spent years in its youth corrections system, according to her attorneys and court records.
The prisoner says she has been “out as a trans female” since the age of four and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2016, beginning hormone treatments in 2017.
Her lawsuit states that it was after she entered an adult prison on a three-year jail term in May last year and was sent to Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility that her problems with other inmates began.
Court records detail incidents in which male prisoners frequently pulled down a privacy screen shielding Saunders-Velez from view as she used the bathroom in her cell.
She said other prisoners threatened her, and in December she reported an inmate sexually assaulted her during a brief transfer to another Colorado prison.
“To escape,” Saunders-Velez swallowed razors and was sent to a hospital before being reassigned to “territorial”, her attorneys said.
Prison staff denied her requests to be called Lindsay and to be identified with female pronouns, according to the complaint, as well as refusing requests to be searched by a woman.
The most recent Bureau of Justice statistics from 2012 suggest around 3,200 inmates in America’s state and federal prisons identified as transgender.
Some 40 per cent of transgender inmates reported being a victim of abusive sexual contact by another inmate or a staff member, 10 times the rate among the general prison population.
Several authorities, including the San Francisco and New York City jail systems, have begun to house transgender prisoners by the gender they identify as.
In Colorado, at least one other inmate is suing the corrections department over its treatment of transgender people. The agency said it was unable to comment on ongoing litigation.
Even in defeat, disgrace and public humiliation, they kept on coming after the women.
In an extraordinary post-trial interview on Friday with “Good Morning America” chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, Cosby representatives Andrew Wyatt and Ebonee Benson called one juror a racist and suggested that one Cosby accuser and a friend who say they were drugged and assaulted had initially gone to visit the comedian because “they like big, black men.”
Stephanopoulos seemed to wince, and asked her, “Do you really want to go there?”
She did.
Benson went on to compare Cosby’s conviction on three counts of felony sexual assault on Thursday to the fate of Emmett Till, the 14-year old Mississippi child brutalized and murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman.
“This became a public lynching,” Wyatt said of the trial. “The South came to the East.”
A number of Cosby’s dozens of accusers are African-Americans, as are Benson and Wyatt.
Employing a vicious defense strategy that sought to exploit race, gender, age and social activism, Cosby’s defense team went low early and kept on going -- launching stunning, mostly unfounded broadsides against the judge, the prosecutor, the witnesses and the jurors -– and openly mocked the widely accepted scholarship of a renowned expert on sexual assault.
Mocking Science
In a powerful, tactical move, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors Kevin Steele, Kristen Feden and Stewart Ryan chose as their first witness in the retrial Dr. Barbara Ziv -- a sexual assault expert who testified that significant statistical evidence has shown that most sexual assault victims respond differently to attacks than victims of other crimes.
Anticipating withering defense cross-examinations from celebrity defense attorney Tom Mesereau and co-counsel Kathleen Bliss, the move aimed to give some measure of protection to the succession of six women who would follow, each testifying that Cosby drugged and sexually violated them.
District Attorney Steele knew jurors needed to first understand the degree of lasting trauma sexual violence can inflict before listening to the graphic stories they were about to hear, a colleague told ABC News.
Ziv testified that “the vast majority of victims of sexual assault do not report to authorities,” and that sexual assault reporting can be delayed “from days to weeks to months to years.”
She explained how common counter-intuitive behavior is in victims of sexual violence, and how they rarely act the way you would think they would.
“Most people don’t fight back, don’t say anything, and don’t, you know, immediately, when it’s over, don’t jump up and leave,” Ziv said. “They are in a state of shock, that’s how they describe it.
“The most common scenario is that when someone is being sexually assaulted, they’re sort of frozen, they don’t know what’s happening ... but they can take their time before they end the situation," she added. "That’s usually the pattern in the majority of sexual assaults.”
During closing arguments, Bliss characterized Ziv’s testimony as nonsense.
“We are not snowflakes,” the former federal prosecutor told jurors in her deep Oklahoma drawl. “We are not delicate flowers, and so this rape myth that someone like Dr. Ziv would ask you to buy into –- where if she says X, it’s rape; if she says Y, it’s rape; if she says Z, it’s rape.
"Whatever she says, don’t worry about the details,” Bliss continued sarcastically. “Don’t corroborate her. Don’t check her out.”
Shaming women
In some ways, the defense strategy was as simple as it was anachronistic: destroy the accuser’s credibility, shame her supporting witnesses and ridicule emerging science on the truly caustic effects of sexual assault on both the bodies and the psyches of victims.
Mesereau called Andrea Constand -- whose sexual assault case led to Cosby's conviction -- a “con artist” and a “pathological liar” so wily and deceptive that “you would need pliers to pull the truth from this woman.”
He accused her of “destroying the physical evidence” that could have proved Cosby innocent -- by not coming forward for a year after the alleged attack.
An email she cut, pasted and forwarded in college to one person became a “pyramid scheme.” Allegations of decades-old use of hallucinogens became an “addict[ion] to magic mushrooms.”
Constand acknowledged under cross-examination that she had been in Cosby’s hotel room at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut late one night after he invited her to the resort to see him perform.
“Did you think it appropriate that you be in a married man’s room in a hotel in Connecticut at that time of night?” Mesereau pressed.
Constand calmly replied that she was summoned to the room by the comedian to get some “baked goods that Mr. Cosby wanted to give me.”
She said she left the room within 10 minutes.
At another point, Mesereau suggested that Constand had violated the terms of her $3.38 million dollar settlement with Cosby by testifying, when a close reading of the language in subsequent questioning by Feden revealed that the attorney had left out a key element of the agreement -- and that Constand hadn’t violated the terms at all.
The five additional accusers came under equally lethal scrutiny.
In one of the most remarkable moments in the trial, Bliss told jurors that former supermodel and witness Janice Dickinson was a “failed starlet” and an “aged-out model” who sounded “like she had slept with every single man on the planet.”
“Is Ms. Dickinson really the moral beacon that the women’s movement wants?” she wondered aloud.
A sweet-voiced Midwestern grandmother named Heidi Thomas was painted as desperate for attention after a bid in her early-20s to become an entertainer.
Thomas finally got her wish, Bliss told jurors sarcastically, after getting to testify before the national press in a high-profile trial.
“She’s now living the dream, ladies and gentlemen," Bliss mocked.
Thomas had earlier testified to being summoned at the age of 24 to an empty home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for acting coaching, only to be drugged by Cosby and wake up in groggy horror and confusion. He forced himself onto her, she testified.
When accuser Janice Baker-Kinney denied repeatedly under cross-examination to conspiring with Constand against the star during a chance meeting at a women’s march last year, Mesereau openly mocked her.
“Are you rolling your eyes at me?” she demanded of the attorney, who without a moment’s hesitation shot back “yes,” drawing gasps from the gallery.
Under cross-examination, Chelan Lasha sobbed as she was called a liar who was convicted a decade earlier of making a false statement to police in an unrelated case.
Bliss portrayed all of them as having made up stories and come forward for “money, press conferences, TV show, salacious coverage, ratings.”
She paused for effect and concluded dismissively, “Sex sells.”
Taking on the judge
The circle-the-wagons defense strategy sought to impugn the motivations of all comers.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill denied a pre-trial motion by the prosecution to recuse himself from the case because his wife counsels college sexual assault victims and once may have made a $100 donation to a campus group. The group later made a donation to another campus group that had recently announced plans to protest Cosby outside of court.
The protest never materialized, and neither did the recusal.
In issuing his ruling, O’Neill accused the defense of trying to “trivialize” his wife’s work, and -- in a voice cracking with emotion -- he ultimately declared that “I am my own individual in making decisions here, and my wife’s personal beliefs and professional pursuits and what she does for a living are just of no consequence.”
After appearing to choke up, O’Neill apologized to the court “if emotions become a part of [this]."
“But it’s a difficult thing if the parties choose to bring the families into it," he added.
Playing the race card
During jury selection, Bliss claimed a peremptory strike of an African American woman demonstrated racial discrimination, even though two of the eight jurors by then impaneled were also black.
After a break, Bliss returned to court to claim to the judge that a member of her team had just overheard a Cosby prosecutor making a “repulsive” racially discriminatory remark.
An exasperated Steele called the claim “ludicrous” as one of his assistant district attorneys stormed out of court. The issue was never raised in open court again, and representatives for the prosecution, the defense and court administrators all declined to comment at the time.
On Friday morning, Wyatt was still litigating a failed pre-trial bid to have a different juror thrown out for, again, being overheard making a racist comment.
The actual remarks, if any, were never made public by the court, and Judge O’Neill rejected the defense motion bid to strike that juror from the pool.
But by then it was too late, Benson told Stephanopoulos on Friday.
“The bias was already there,” she said.
Asked whether the scores of women who have accused Cosby in recent years of sexual violence could really all be lying, Benson was ready with her own questions.
“Since when are all people honest?" she asked. "Since when are all women honest?”
Andrea Constand, the woman whose sexual assault complaint against the television icon Bill Cosby led to his conviction, broke her long public silence with a short Twitter message Friday thanking the local community.
“A very profound and heartfelt thank you to the Commonwealth of PA, Montgomery County, for their service and sacrifices,” she wrote, seemingly addressing the district attorney’s office and the jury that on Thursday convicted Mr. Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting Ms. Constand.
“Congratulations,” she added. “Truth prevails.”
Following a high-profile trial like Mr. Cosby’s, the vindicated party traditionally makes the media rounds, appearing to discuss the case on the “Today” show or “Good Morning America.” Ms. Constand has not yet done so.
Outside the courtroom, where Ms. Constand testified that Mr. Cosby had drugged and molested her at his home in 2004, she has been reluctant to speak about the case. That may be due, in part, to the nondisclosure agreement she signed as part of her $3.38 million settlement she reached with Mr. Cosby in 2006.
Last year, a judge ruled that Mr. Cosby could pursue a lawsuit against Ms. Constand based on two Twitter posts she wrote in 2014.
(“I won’t go away, there is a lot more I will say,” she wrote in one.) But as the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse has gained influence, women who have agreed to settlements with powerful men — including Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly and Donald J. Trump — have broken their nondisclosure agreements, arguing that speaking out was more important.
Ms. Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, said by phone on Friday that she and her client were evaluating their options and the enforceability of the contract with Mr. Cosby.
“Obviously everyone in the world has sent me an email or text, but we’re just stepping back and seeing where we’re going to go,” Ms. Troiani said, referring to the extensive media requests for interviews with Ms. Constand. “I think we’re taking a breather, for one.”
At a news conference after the verdict on Thursday, Ms. Constand stood by, letting the Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin Steele, and Kristen Gibbons Feden, the special prosecutor on the case, speak about its importance.
Mr. Steele commended Ms. Constand for fighting through two trials. “She has been a major factor in a movement that has gone in the right direction, finally,” he said.
Bill Cosby has been convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
A jury outside Philadelphia convicted the "Cosby Show" star of three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Thursday. The guilty verdict came less than a year after another jury deadlocked on the charges.
Cosby was charged with violating Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. His lawyer called Constand a "con artist" who leveled false accusations against Cosby so she could sue him.
Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of the counts.
Dozens of women have come forward in recent years to say he drugged and assaulted them. Five of the other accusers testified against him at the retrial.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
___
1:25 p.m.
The jury is heading back to the courtroom and Bill Cosby's defense team is saying there's a verdict in his sexual assault retrial.
The panel of seven men and five women have been deliberating about 14 hours.
The 80-year-old comedian is accused of drugging and violating a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
He's charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. A conviction could put him in prison for up to 10 years on each count.
Prosecutors used Cosby's past admissions about drugs and sex as well as the testimony of five other women to help bolster accuser Andrea Constand's allegations. Cosby's lawyers argued Constand leveled false accusations against Cosby so she could sue him and extract a huge civil settlement.
It's the only criminal case to arise from allegations from more than 60 women.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
___
10:50 a.m.
The judge in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial says the six alternate jurors will get an hour with the courthouse comfort dog before being sent back to their hotel.
Judge Steven O'Neill said Thursday he planned to meet with the alternates to "let them know they're still important." After O'Neill mentioned the dog, Cosby stood up at the defense table and made a comical, barking-like motion with his mouth.
The alternate jurors are being kept away from the main panel of seven men and five women deliberating Cosby's fate.
The jury spent an hour listening to a court stenographer read back the testimony of defense witness Marguerite Jackson before they resumed talks.
Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a woman in 2004. He says the woman consented.
___
10:15 a.m.
Jurors at Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial are having the testimony of the star defense witness read back to them.
The jury is back for Day 2 of deliberations. The panel of seven men and five women started its day Thursday by reviewing the testimony of Marguerite Jackson, who says Cosby's chief accuser spoke of framing a celebrity for the money.
Jackson is an academic adviser at Temple University, where Constand worked as a women's basketball administrator. Jackson testified that Constand told her she could fabricate sexual assault allegations and "get that money" from a lawsuit. Jackson's testimony bolstered Cosby's efforts to show Constand made up the allegations against him to extort a big civil settlement.
Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting Constand in 2004. He says it was consensual.
The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
___
8:45 a.m.
Bill Cosby has arrived at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse where jurors are deliberating in the comedian's sexual assault retrial.
The 80-year-old Cosby arrived on Thursday and said "good morning" twice as he entered the courthouse.
The jury of seven men and five women will start their second day of weighing charges by revisiting the testimony of a star defense witness who cast doubt on accuser Andrea Constand's credibility.
Marguerite Jackson's testimony that Constand once spoke of framing a prominent person to score a big payday will be read back to the jury when court resumes.
The jurors completed a marathon, 10-hour session on Wednesday that failed to produce a verdict.
___
12:25 a.m.
Jurors in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial are kicking off a second day of deliberations by revisiting the testimony of a star defense witness who cast doubt on accuser Andrea Constand's credibility.
Marguerite Jackson's testimony that Constand once spoke of framing a prominent person to score a big payday will be read back to the jury when court resumes outside Philadelphia on Thursday.
A marathon, 10-hour first day of deliberations failed to yield a verdict in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
The exhausted panel called it a night after rehearing excerpts from Cosby's old deposition testimony, including his admission he gave quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with in the 1970s.
The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
William "Bill" Cosby has been officially charged with Sexual Assault crimes.
His bail is set at $1 Million dollars.
This is a sad day for Bill Cosby and his family.
But what's even more sad is how for years Bill Cosby bashed BLACK Men,
calling them IRRESPONSIBLE Losers, as he repeatedly spoke Gloom &
Doom over the lives of BLACK Men.
Today Bill Cosby himself faces a future of Gloom & Doom.
Let this be a lesson to all BLACK Celebrities and BLACK Leaders.
When GOD blesses you (BLACK People),
he does not bless you so you can go out on the world stage and Bash your own race.
Instead when GOD blesses you (BLACK People) it is so you can Educate
and provide OPPORTUNITIES to help uplift other BLACK People.
Bill Cosby — America’s Dad — accused of rape by dozens of women, was
finally hit with a criminal charge Wednesday before getting released on
$1 million bail.
Just weeks before the statute of limitations was
set to expire, prosecutors charged Cosby with sexually assaulting a
Temple University employee at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.
“The evidence is strong,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor Kevin
Steele, announcing a single count of aggravated indecent assault against
the creepy comedian.
Steele described the defenseless victim, tossing a fresh layer of taint on Cosby’s once-wholesome image.
“Frozen, paralyzed, unable to move,” he said. “A person in that state is unable to consent.”
Prosecutors initially declined in 2005 to file charges in the case, citing a lack of evidence.
Accuser Andrea Constand, who has spoken publicly about the encounter
with the perverted funnyman, then filed a civil suit against Cosby and
settled out of court the following year.
In a deposition in that
case, Cosby said under oath that he gave Constand halved pills that he
described as “three friends to make (her) relax,” according to the
affidavit.
Among the last words she recalled hearing:
“Down them. Put ’em down. Put them in your mouth.”
He also acknowledged under oath that he obtained seven prescriptions in
his own name for Quaaludes for the purpose of having sex with women.
A judge unsealed those depositions filed in Philadelphia federal court
earlier this year, prompting Montgomery County prosecutors to reopen
their criminal case.
“Reopening this case was not a question. Rather, reopening this was our duty,” Steele said.
The new case marks the first criminal prosecution of the diminishing
star and sets the stage for what could be a blockbuster trial involving
some of the roughly 60 other accusers who say they were sexually
assaulted by Cosby.
The 78-year-old faces up to a decade behind
bars if convicted. He went from the courthouse, about 10 miles north of
Philadelphia, to a local police station and was freed on bail — all
within 30 minutes.
“Make no mistake, we intend to mount a
vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect that Mr.
Cosby will be exonerated,” Cosby’s attorneys said in a statement.
An affidavit made public Wednesday detailed the revolting encounter
with Constand in January 2004, which echoed other alleged assaults by
Cosby dating as far back as 1965.
Cosby made two unwanted sexual advances on Constand in the months leading up to the assault, papers allege.
Constand, now 42, returned to his home around 8:45 p.m. thinking they
were going to discuss her career. Instead, Cosby offered her pills and
wine, according to the court papers.
“These will make you feel good. The blue things will take the edge off,” Cosby said, according to documents.
About 30 minutes later Constand was helpless as Cosby positioned
himself behind her as she faded “in and out” of consciousness on a
couch, according to documents.
Constand had blurred vision and
difficulty speaking as Cosby fondled her breasts, put his hand down her
pants and penetrated her with his fingers, the affidavit states.
Cosby allegedly took Constand’s right hand and placed it on his privates.
Constand passed out and woke up around 4 a.m. the next day with her bra
undone and moved above her breasts, according to the affidavit.
Cosby, dressed in a robe, gave her a muffin, walked to the front door,
opened it and merely said, “All right,” the paperwork states.
She recalled leaving the residence without saying anything.
After the alleged assault, Constand fled to Canada to be near family
and told her mom what happened.
The mom confronted Cosby over the
telephone, according to documents.
Cosby admitted the encounter
during their conversation, said he gave Constand some type of
“prescription” medication and invited the women on an all-expenses-paid
trip to Florida, the affidavit states.
Cosby gave an interview to
Cheltenham Township police in January 2005 and claimed the sexual
encounter was consensual, according to the affidavit.
“When
directly asked if he ever had sexual intercourse with the victim, Cosby
gave (police) the unusual answer, ‘never asleep or awake,’” the
affidavit claims.
Constand will cooperate with prosecutors in the new case, Steele said.
Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents 29 women who say Cosby also
doped and groped them, said her clients are thrilled at the latest
development in his long downfall.
“Seeing him criminally charged and having to face a trial is the best Christmas present they have ever received,” Allred said.
Saying it is "a stark wake-up call to everyone involved in college sports," the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced a $60 million fine against Penn State University on Monday and took away 14 seasons of football victories from the late Joe Paterno.
The school was also banned from the postseason for four years and will lose 20 football scholarships a year for four seasons, NCAA President Mark Emmert said.
Emmert said the unprecedented fine will be paid over five years to fund programs that serve the victims of child sexual abuse.
The Big Ten Conference also acted Monday, ruling that Penn State is ineligible for its conference title football game and that the Nittany Lions' share of bowl revenues for the next four seasons -- approximately $13 million -- will be donated to charities that "protect children."
The NCAA's punishments are part of the continued fallout from the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted in late June of 45 of the 48 counts he faced involving 10 young victims.
Read more: Penn State board member resigns over Sandusky scandal
The punishments follow an independent investigation led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, whose report held four top Penn State officials, including Paterno, responsible for failing to stop the abuse. That failure began in 1998, according to the report.
"The corrective and punitive measures the executive committee and the Division I board of directors have authorized should serve as a stark wake-up call to everyone in college sports," said Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA's executive committee.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a written statement that the university has accepted the NCAA decision and will not appeal.
"It is important to know we are entering a new chapter at Penn State and making necessary changes," he said. "We must create a culture in which people are not afraid to speak up, management is not compartmentalized, all are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards, and the operating philosophy is open, collegial, and collaborative."
Paterno, who coached at Penn State for 46 years, had been the all-time leader in major college football victories for a coach, with 409 wins. The NCAA's decision strikes 111 of those from his record, beginning in 1998.
"The NCAA has now become the latest party to accept the [Freeh] report as the final word on the Sandusky scandal," the Paterno family said in a statement Monday. "The sanctions announced by the NCAA today defame the legacy and contributions of a great coach and educator without any input from our family or those who knew him best."
The penalties are a major blow to one of college football's traditional powers, even though the two-time national champions avoided a suspension of at least one year. The postseason ban, which is also unprecedented, could damage the school's prestige in the eyes of potential recruits and will also affect the program's bottom line through the loss of potential millions from the conference title and bowl games.
A recent university study said the football program had a $161.5 million impact on Pennsylvania in 2009. The football team made a $53.2 million profit in 2010, according to CNN Money. The school made $24 million more through general merchandise sales, CNN Money reported.
"One of the grave dangers stemming from our love of sports is that the sports themselves can become too big to fail, indeed, too big to even challenge," Emmert said. "The result can be an erosion of academic values that are replaced by the value of hero worship and winning at all cost."
The penalties also deal an emotional blow to the Penn State community, one fan said.
"By essentially taking away the main pillar of the university, you are almost pulling the university down," former student Ujas Patel told CNN. What really hurts, he said, is taking wins away from Paterno, known affectionately by fans as JoePa.
"Anybody who's gone to Penn State, that's something that really is going to bother people," he said.
A lawyer for one of Sandusky's victims said the NCAA should have heard from his client and others who were abused.
"Throughout the past several weeks, PSU and the NCAA have imposed sanctions and taken what they perceive to be corrective measures," said Ben Andreozzi, attorney for the person identified as Victim No. 4 in the Sandusky case. "I am disappointed that no effort was made to consult the victims in this case to ensure that their voices were heard in this process. After all, they are the ones who were victimized, not the NCAA or PSU. "
Emmert said current players will be allowed to transfer to other schools without having to sit out a year, as is normally required, or they can stay and keep their grants, even if they don't play football. The restrictions mean that starting in 2014, the school cannot have more than 65 players on scholarship, and it can offer only 15 new scholarships each year for four years, beginning with next year's incoming recruits.
"I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead," new coach Bill O'Brien said in a written statement. "But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes."
On social media, some players wrote they would return next season as a team with a mission.
"PSU vs The World - Day 1 - ," tweeted tight end Garry Gilliam.
On Sunday, the 900-pound bronze statue of Paterno was removed from its place outside the 107,000-seat football stadium. Erickson issued a statement saying the statue is being stored in a "secure location." Another tribute to Paterno -- the university library that bears his name -- will remain as it is, Erickson said.
The statue was removed exactly six months after Paterno died of lung cancer. He died less than three months after he coached his last game. Under Paterno's tenure as head coach, the Nittany Lions went undefeated five times and finished in the top 25 national rankings 35 times.
The Freeh report found that several Penn State officials concealed evidence that Sandusky had sexually abused minors. Freeh concluded that Paterno could have prevented further sexual abuse had he taken action.
Sandusky is expected to be sentenced in September. His legal team has said it will appeal the convictions.
Two former university administrators are awaiting trial for their role in the scandal, and more charges are possible as the state's attorney general investigates what Penn State may have known about Sandusky's behavior.
Child Rapist/ Deviant Sexual Pervert and Former Assistant Penn State Football Coach Jerry Sandusky was Convicted tonight by a Jury of his Peers, on 45 out of 48 Counts of Child Sex Abuse.
Sandusky who even Sexually Molested his Own Adopted Son, now faces LIFE In Prison. Hallejuah! And Thank God For Pres. Obama!
Because Were It Not For The Obama Administration This Intense, Thorough Investigation & Criminal Conviction Would NEVER Have Taken Place!
That Is Another Reason Why The GOP Is Trying To Destroy Eric Holder.
Now Its Time To Sue Penn State For Hundreds Of Millions In Restitution & Damages! Now its Time To Vote Out Of Office The Entire Pennsylvania State General Assembly For Refusing To Protect Children!
Now Its Time To Help Sandusky's Victims & Ensure This NEVER Happens Again! Now Its Time To Consider Cutting Off Penn State University's Federal Financial Aid Until They Straighten Out The Athletic Department Or Close Penn State's Doors.
This Conviction Is Vindication For Every Child Ever Sexually Molested By Perverts Like Sandusky.
Jerry Sandusky Is GUILTY!!!! GUILTY!!!! GUILTY OF 45 COUNTS OF CHILD SEX ABUSE!!! DON'T DROP THE SOAP!!! YOU PERVERT!
Now Its Time For George Zimmerman To Get What Is Due Him As Well.
Thank You Lord! Save The Children & Equal Justice For Trayvon Martin!!!
Jerry Sandusky was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, accusations that had sent shock waves through the college campus known as Happy Valley and led to the firing of Penn State's beloved Hall of Fame coach, Joe Paterno.
Sandusky, a 68-year-old retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir apparent, was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts. He faces life in prison at sentencing, which is weeks away.
Sandusky showed little emotion as the verdict was read. The judge ordered him to be taken to the county jail to await sentencing in about three months.
Eight young men testified in a central Pennsylvania courtroom about a range of abuse, from kissing and massages to groping, oral sex and anal rape. For two other alleged victims, prosecutors relied on testimony from a university janitor and then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, whose account of a sexual encounter between Sandusky and a boy of about 10 ultimately led to the Paterno's dismissal and the university president's ouster.
Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense.
He had repeatedly denied the allegations, and his defense suggested that his accusers had a financial motive to make up stories, years after the fact. His attorney also painted Sandusky as the victim of overzealous police investigators who coached the alleged victims into giving accusatory statements.
But jurors believed the testimony that, in the words of lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III, Sandusky was a "predatory pedophile."
One accuser testified that Sandusky molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts and trips to bowl games. He also said Sandusky had sent him "creepy love letters."
Another spoke of forced oral sex and instances of rape in the basement of Sandusky's home, including abuse that left him bleeding. He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but figured the basement must be soundproof.
Another, a foster child, said Sandusky warned that he would never see his family again if he ever told anyone what happened.
And just hours after the case went to jurors, lawyers for one of Sandusky's six adopted children, Matt, said he had told authorities that his father abused him.
Matt Sandusky had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors, the statement said. The lawyers said they arranged for Matt Sandusky to meet with law enforcement officials but did not explain why he didn't testify.
"This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to convey his request that the media respect his privacy," the statement said. It didn't go into details about his allegations.
Defense witnesses, including Jerry Sandusky's wife, Dottie, described his philanthropic work with children over the years, and many spoke in positive terms about his reputation in the community. Prosecutors had portrayed those efforts as an effective means by which Sandusky could camouflage his molestation as he targeted boys who were the same age as participants in The Second Mile, a charity he founded in the 1970s for at-risk youth.
Sandusky's arrest in November led the Penn State trustees to fire Paterno as head coach, saying he exhibited a lack of leadership after fielding a report from McQueary. The scandal also led to the ouster of university president Graham Spanier, and criminal charges against two university administrators for failing to properly report suspected child abuse and perjury.
The two administrators, athletic director Tim Curley and now-retired vice president Gary Schultz, are fighting the allegations and await trial.
Sandusky had initially faced 52 counts of sex abuse. The judge dropped four counts during the trial, saying two were unproven, one was brought under a statute that didn't apply and another was duplicative.
Welcome to the BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ Blog. (Established 2008)
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Per the Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Case: 1964 case of New York Times v. Sullivan………
The Public has a Right to Criticize the People who Govern them, so the least Protection from Defamation is given to Public Officials. When officials are accused of something that involves their behavior in office, they have to prove all of the above elements of defamation and they must also prove that the defendant acted with “actual malice.” (For a definition of actual malice, see the “History of Defamation and the First Amendment, below.”)
People who aren’t Elected but who are Still Public Figures because they are influential or famous — like Actors, Actresses, Movie Stars, Singers & Entertainers, Journalists, TV Hosts, Bloggers, etc., — also have to Prove that Defamatory statements were made with Actual Malice, in most cases.
To the Associated Press and other Media Organizations:
When I use your Content Links., I’m also citing the Fair Use Doctrine (Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107) for further Copyright permission.
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Laurel @BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ
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