The Roving Reporter Analysis: Gov. Jindal’s retelling of his record has gaps

Melinda Deslatte
BATON ROUGE – The strategy for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is partly based on a “tell them what you’ve done” approach. But touting his achievements back home could get him into muddy water quickly if anyone decides to look too deeply at the list.

Campaign aides made it clear as Jindal launched his campaign that they intend to highlight the governor’s leadership of Louisiana in his White House bid.

“This is not a guy who needs on-the-job training,” Jindal’s chief strategist Curt Anderson said in a messaging preview.

Indeed, Jindal has won a string of policy victories during his two terms as governor, making decisions that have sharply changed the face of state government, education and health care.

But in many instances, the impact of those changes remains uncertain or the story Jindal and his handlers tell about those changes skip a few critical points.

Few would disagree that Jindal’s overhaul of worker training programs and his dogged pursuit of business projects have brought new jobs to Louisiana. However, the state’s unemployment rate remains the nation’s sixth-highest, undercutting part of the narrative.

And the governor’s management of the state’s finances has produced dismal results, with repeated budget shortfalls that stretch on the horizon long after he’s gone.

One of Jindal’s regular talking points is about the size of Louisiana’s government.

“We did what they said could not be done — we shrank our government,” he said in his campaign kickoff speech Wednesday in Kenner. He added: “It was not easy. The big government crowd fought us every step of the way.”

He’s reduced the footprint of government, for certain. State government has 30,000 fewer workers, the lowest level in decades.

Stories of Jindal “cutting” the state budget by 26 percent are exaggerated, however.

Much of the multibillion-dollar drop in the state budget that the governor and his aides cite is tied to the loss of federal hurricane recovery dollars that artificially boosted state spending for a short period after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Jindal’s been less willing to do the difficult work of matching state government spending to annual income.

As he sought to protect his record against tax increases, Jindal — aided by lawmakers who agreed to the shell games — raided trust funds and savings accounts, sold state property and gave widespread amnesty to delinquent taxpayers to drum up short-term cash for the state budget.

He patched his way through year after year, rather than find permanent sources of new revenue for the state or cut the size of government to match the state’s revenue. That created perpetual cycles of budget troubles as the one-time dollars fell away and needed replacing to continue paying for services.

The next governor, to be elected this fall, will inherit a financial mess for which Jindal shares much of the credit.

Jindal’s leadership of Louisiana may be most noticeable in education and health care.

He’s pushed for expanded school choice across the state, boosting the number of charter schools and creating a statewide voucher program that allows students from low- to moderate-income families to use state tax dollars to go to private schools.

On health care, Jindal has turned over management of the state’s charity hospital system to private operators, transforming a Huey Long-era creation unique to Louisiana.

In many areas, uninsured patients report better access to specialty health care, shorter wait times and other improvements. But Louisiana is paying more for the privatized hospital system than it paid when LSU ran the facilities, and hospital managers have told lawmakers they'll be seeking further increases year after year.

Any criticism of Jindal’s time in office — or talk of the governor’s dismal approval ratings — is discarded by campaign leaders as sour grapes by entrenched bureaucracies.

“He didn’t run to be coronated most popular politician in the history of Louisiana. He ran to make a difference in the state,” Anderson said. “When you do that, you tick people off.”

Anderson added: “The results for the people of Louisiana, we would say, are superior.”

That’s a rosy story for a campaign, with some gaps.


EDITOR’S NOTE: Melinda Deslatte covers Louisiana politics for The Associated Press.

The Roving Reporter             G.

Cosby lawyer: Unsealing court docs 'terribly embarrassing'

MARY CLAIRE DALE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A lawyer for Bill Cosby argued Friday that it would be "terribly embarrassing" for the comedian if documents from a 2005 sex-assault lawsuit were unsealed.
Cosby is fighting efforts by The Associated Press to unseal motions from a lawsuit he settled with a former Temple University employee.

The lawsuit accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting the woman at Cosby's home. The settlement is confidential.
Cosby's lawyer argued that his client's deposition could reveal details of Cosby's marriage, sex life and prescription drug use.
"It would be terribly embarrassing for this material to come out," lawyer George M. Gowen III argued.

He said the public should not have access to what Cosby was forced to say as he answered questions under oath from the accuser's lawyer nearly a decade ago.
"Frankly, ... it would embarrass him, (and) it would also prejudice him in eyes of the jury pool in Massachusetts," Gowen said.

More than a dozen women have since accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them, and three have a defamation lawsuit pending against him in Massachusetts. They allege that he defamed them when his agents said their accusations were untrue. Cosby is trying to get their case thrown out before discovery. He has never been charged with any related crimes.

U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno asked Friday why Cosby would be embarrassed by the release of his sworn testimony, given that the accusations in the Temple woman's lawsuit are already in the public eye.
"Why would he be embarrassed by his own version of the facts?" Robreno asked.

The lawyers also argued over whether Cosby was a public figure entitled to a lesser degree of privacy.
Lawyer Gayle Sproul, representing the AP, called him "an icon" particularly in Philadelphia, who "held himself out as someone who would guide the public in ways of morality."

Robreno had never decided whether the temporary seal on some filings should be made permanent before the case settled in 2006. Under local court rules, Cosby has the burden to show why seals should not be lifted after two years, the AP argued.

Gowen argued that Cosby might not have forged the confidential settlement if he thought his deposition testimony and other motions would someday get out.

The judge did not indicate when he would rule. He could side with Cosby, with the AP, or strike a middle ground and release some of the documents, perhaps with redaction's negotiated between Cosby and a lawyer for the ex-Temple employee, Andrea Constand.
"Every case about sex and drugs involves a certain amount of embarrassment," Robreno noted.

Lets hear from the in-house expert  Mr. Humble :

So he's so special? What has America become? If this was an average Joe Doe all the details would be out in the open for all to see... 
What a bunch of crap we as a society have become...
Here is a guy who assaulted women under a drug he gave them, and now he is asking to be treated differently than you or I would be !

Hummm, the usual way in Hollywood is slip a few bucks to the judges favorite charity to gain leniency, but in Cosbys' case, this is one slimy dude trying to rape the system !

Cosby should be treated like everyone else, he is no longer held up as an icon for morality that is a joke, if they give him any special treatment because of who he is it will be a slap in the face to all the women he has assaulted and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a dozen more women who haven't come forward,he needs to pay for what he has done, if it was Joe blow on the street their would be no question that he would go to jail maybe even prison,
Give the ugly sucker a break, how else could he get laid but to use drugs on a woman! He has to sneak upon a glass to get a drink of water!

As the old saying goes "the proof is in the pudding".

Just my humble opinion .

Michael Jackson seen 'moonwalking' in the sky 6 years after his death

GOOCHLAND, Va. — Six years after his untimely death, Michael Jackson made an appearance in the skies over Central Virginia. The combination of clouds and light created an image that appeared — to some — to look like the King of Pop. The image was captured over Goochland County, Virginia during a 

June 23 lightning storm. Jackson died June 25, 2009.
Photographer John Plashal said he was unaware of the Jackson imagery when he first submitted photos to the WTVR CBS 6 Facebook page following the storm. He said a storm chaser app, not a higher calling, compelled him to set up his camera outside Satterwhite's Restaurant in Goochland where took several photos of the lightning storm.
"The image that you see of Michael Jackson just happens to be there," Plashal said. He insisted he added nothing to the photo. "It's pretty wild.
"There is something magically dangerous about a lightning storm.
Thank you John Plashal for sharing these photo from Goochland with us.

"I didn't know what I had until this morning, to be honest with you, when my phone started blowing up."
Plashal, 45, said he was a fan of Michael Jackson and said he particularly recalled how the music video for Thriller changed MTV. He also said Jackson's death six years ago was one of those 'I know where I was' moments.
"I was at the pool with friends. My friend got a text that Michael Jackson had just died," Plashal said. "He was an icon."
Plashal said his 17-year-old daughter Caroline is also a Jackson fan and would be thrilled to know her father's photo has caused such a stir.

With more severe weather a possibility tonight, Plashal said he planned to be back out storm chasing with his camera. We wonder who he will find in the sky tonight.
The King of Pop Michael Jackson died six years ago. 
He submitted the photo to a local meteorologist, who posted the photo on social media, where it became viral.
"I see it. I see it now," he said. "It's pretty wild. It's one of those things — believe what you will."
Jackson died of cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009. The music icon was 50 years old.

Queen's Guard turns rifle on annoying tourist

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 27: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach to travel to the Houses of Parliament for the State Opening on May 27, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 27: Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach to travel to the Houses of Parliament for the State Opening on May 27, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (C) walks to meet guests at a garden party held at Buckingham Palace, central London on May 12, 2015. AFP PHOTO / POOL /John Stillwell (Photo credit should read JOHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (L) and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (R) ride in The Queen's Carriage during the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour,' from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in London on June 13, 2015. The ceremony of Trooping the Colour is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II. In 1748, it was decided that the parade would be used to mark the official birthday of the Sovereign. More than 600 guardsmen and cavalry make up the parade, a celebration of the Sovereign's official birthday, although the Queen's actual birthday is on 21 April. AFP PHOTO / BEN STANSALL (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (C) arrives back at Buckingham Palace from Horse Guards Parade in a horse-drawn carriage preceeded and followed by marching guardsmen and other members of the royal family including Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (CL) riding beside the arriage during the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour,' in London on June 13, 2015. The ceremony of Trooping the Colour is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II. In 1748, it was decided that the parade would be used to mark the official birthday of the Sovereign. More than 600 guardsmen and cavalry make up the parade, a celebration of the Sovereign's official birthday, although the Queen's actual birthday is on 21 April. AFP PHOTO / BEN STANSALL (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Queen's Guard turns rifle on annoying tourist
Nothing screams "I'm a tourist" like pestering the Queen's Guard. For some reason, tourists enjoy spending their short time in London attempting to get the soldiers to crack a smile or acknowledge the attention in some small way. When this annoying tourist stepped up to the plate (or palace), he got way more than he bargained for.

The unamused serviceman had finally had enough. It's one thing to chat their ears off and wave your hands in front of their faces, but when this tourist grabbed the soldier's shoulder, the poor guy snapped. Enough was enough. He shoved the tourist off of him and, in a moment of dramatic fury, aimed his rifle directly at the tourist and yelled:

"Get back from the Queen's Guard!" Queen's Guard !

Attention was what he wanted, and attention was what he got. Let's hope this tourist learned his lesson. That's the last time he'll be messing with the Queen's Guard.

People took to Twitter to condemn the tourist for his actions and to praise the Queen's Guard for his reaction.

Witchy  sez :

I think the Guards are going to have to become more forceful.... or, perhaps, be stationed behind the fence. Tourists need to remember that a British serviceman was beheaded on a public street, a Canadian soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unknown was killed in Ottawa.... and today there were 3 terrorist attacks that took more than 50 lives. It's no longer fun & games to harass the guards

There is no cure for stupid, ignorance. Idiot tourists who don't understand a country's, any country's, traditions. It doesn't matter if you support monarchy or not, if you're an idiot, stay home.
That soldier is a pro. He used the force he deemed needed to do his job. That tourist needs to check his shorts. I smell something.

HeHe

Bobbi K's condition may speed up probe

Bobbi Kristina Brown's condition has deteriorated and she's been moved to hospice care, her aunt, Pat Houston, announced Wednesday.

Houston's spokeswoman emailed a statement to reporters, saying the 22-year-old daughter of the late Whitney Houston, who's been unconscious after being found unresponsive in a bathtub in her Roswell, Ga., home earlier this year, is "in God's hands now."

"Despite the great medical care at numerous facilities, Bobbi Kristina Brown's condition has continued to deteriorate. As of today, she has been moved into hospice care. We thank everyone for their support and prayers. She is in God's hands now. "

It was signed by Pat Houston, who is married to the brother of Bobbi Kristina's late mother, singer Whitney Houston, and is the executor of Whitney's estate.

When a patient is moved to a hospice, it's usually to provide specialized care for the final stages of a terminal illness, with the goal of providing comfort and pain-control medication.

Update: Police in Roswell say they've turned over their investigative file in the case to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard to determine whether any charges will be filed. Howard said Thursday in a statement to the Associated Press that his office will be "reviewing the case with greater interest" in light of new circumstances regarding her health.

In an eerie echo of Whitney Houston's 2012 bathtub death in a Beverly Hills hotel, Bobbi Kristina was found face down in a tub in her townhouse, on Jan. 31.

It is still not clear what happened to her or why. Roswell police investigated but have not announced their findings nor brought charges against anyone.

Despite months of treatment in two Atlanta hospitals and a rehab facility, including being placed in an induced coma, she has never regained consciousness.

Her father, Bobby Brown, and members of his family have said at various times that she was awake or that she was getting better. Her boyfriend, Nick Gordon, with whom she shared her home, has begged to see her and been refused by her family.

Now, the conservator appointed to look after her assets is suing him in civil court, alleging he assaulted her and stole money from her.
USA TODAY
Lawsuit: Nick Gordon abused Bobbi K., took her money
Her grandmother, gospel great Cissy Houston, has been candid from the beginning about her condition not improving. She said in April that doctors told her Bobbi Kristina suffered "global and irreversible brain damage" and that she remained unresponsive.

[UPDATE]
Bobbi Kristina Brown's boyfriend Nick Gordon could be investigated for murder, report says
If Bobbi Kristina Brown dies, her boyfriend Nick Gordon could be investigated for murder, TMZ reports.

The Fulton County District Attorney told the gossip site: "In view of the new circumstances regarding the health status of Bobbi Kristina Brown, we will be reviewing the case with greater interest."

A source told FOX411 "The DA had assured [the family] that they have been investigating and will certainly step up efforts to present case to grand jury now that [Bobbi] is expected to pass anytime now. Nick Gordon is their primary -- if not only-- target." 

TMZ reported that shortly after Brown was found unconscious in a bathtub on Jan 31, prosecutors began investigating Gordon because bruising was found on the 22-year-old’s body.

Brown’s aunt Pat Houston told the press on Wednesday that her niece was in hospice care. A source told FOX411 that the family had made the decision to "unhook everything, no medication, anything."

The source continued, "It is literally anytime now before she's pronounced dead, unfortunately."

Pat Houston’s solemn statement added, “She is in God's hands now."

On Wednesday a court-appointed representative for Brown filed a lawsuit against Gordon, claiming he took money from her and abused her physically and emotionally.

Gordon is accused of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, unjust enrichment and conversion in the suit, which seeks $10 million in damages.

The Fulton County DA did not immediately return FOX411’s request for comment.

Brown has been in various hospitals since she was discovered in her home unconscious on Jan. 31 by Gordon and a friend. She is the daughter of singer Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, who died after drowning in a bathtub.

Fox News' Hollie McKay contributed to this report.
Thanx Hollie

The Roving Reporter :Louisiana Gov. Jindal declares 2016 GOP candidacy

MELINDA DESLATTE Jun 24th 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said Wednesday he was entering the 2016 presidential race and he began trying to distinguish himself in a field packed with better known rivals.It's a long shot effort for an accomplished but overshadowed governor, and his prospects will depend in large measure on his continued courtship of evangelical voters. But several other contenders also are determined to win over that group.

"My name is Bobby Jindal, and I am running for president of the United States of America," he posted on his website. Short video clips showed Jindal and his wife, Supriya, talking to their three children about the campaign to come.
"Mommy and daddy have been thinking and talking a lot about this, and we have decided we are going to be running for president," he tells them.
The 44-year-old two-term governor planned a kickoff rally later Wednesday.
Aides discussed Jindal's plans to focus on social conservatives, as he has done for months in extensive travels, and highlight his reputation as a policy-seasoned leader.
Jindal intends to present himself as "the youngest candidate with the longest resume," citing an extensive background in public policy and government, strategist Curt Anderson said. Timmy Teepell, who was Jindal's chief of staff and ran his two races for governor, will be his campaign manager.

An Oxford-educated son of Indian immigrants, Jindal can point to a political career filled with many unexpected achievements. He talked a governor into appointing him state health secretary when Jindal was 24, with little background in either health management or government. Jindal won election to Congress at 32 and became governor four years later.
Unpopular at home, Jindal waited until the state legislative session had ended and lawmakers found a way to close a $1.6 billion budget gap before he scheduled his presidential announcement. But he has been building his campaign for months with frequent trips to key presidential voting states, particularly Iowa, where he has focused on Christian conservatives.

Raised a Hindu but a convert to Catholicism as a teenager, Jindal has talked of his religious faith in small churches across Louisiana. As he readied his presidential campaign, the governor held a prayer rally in Baton Rouge, met pastors across several states and put out an executive order to grant special "religious freedom" protections to people in Louisiana who oppose same-sex marriage.
He is competing with several contenders, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who also are trying to appeal to the same pool of evangelical voters.
Jindal has worked to showcase more of the policy wonk reputation that got him elected governor, rather than focusing on cultural issues.
He has drawn distinctions from other GOP contenders by noting he has published "detailed plans" on health care, defense, education and energy policy.
He has suggested governors are better equipped to become president because they have run state governments, balanced budgets and implemented policy. That's an argument, however, that other White House hopefuls are making or can: Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Chris Christie of New Jersey and John Kasich of Ohio, as well as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I will give you my thoughts  on this one , Mr. Humble  is unavailable and we all know what Witchy will tell him where to stick his  thumbs.    Here goes .

Jindal for President , REALLY! People check and see what he did to the state of Louisiana he used the office of Govenor for his purpose only. He used tax money to travel all over the United States just to work his way into the lime light in order to run for President. Its time we start electing Men or Women with military background and people that are True Americans. Having Jindal for President would be the biggest mistate this free country could bring upon itself.

Tea bags have a tiny brain with a massive virus named by scientists as foxlimbaughbeck
syndrome. It renders them unable to reason and recognize the truth.

Unfortunately there is no cure.

The Roving Reporter

The Roving Reporter UPDATE ; The latest on church shooting: $1M bond set for suspect

2:45 p.m. 
A judge has set a $1 million bond for a 21-year-old white man accused of fatally shooting nine people at a black church in Charleston.
The magistrate judge set the bond for a weapons charge but doesn't have the authority to set bond on the nine murder counts that Dylann Roof faces. That will be left up to a circuit judge at a later date.
Roof appeared by video and stared straight ahead as five victims' family members gave statements, some of them saying "hate won't win." Roof showed no reaction as they told him they would have mercy on him and that they forgave him.
The judge set the bond with the understanding that Roof will be held until his bond hearing on the murder charges.
Authorities say Roof opened fire at a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday night. He was at the prayer meeting for about an hour before he started shooting.

2:27 p.m.
The man accused of killing nine people inside a black church in Charleston has made his first court appearance, with the relatives of all the victims making tearful statements.
Dylann Roof appeared via video before a judge in South Carolina. He wore a jail jumpsuit and was handcuffed, and spoke only to answer questions. When asked his age, he told the judge he was 21. He also told the judge he was unemployed.
Relatives of the shooting victims also spoke at the hearing, with one victim's daughter sobbing as she said, "I forgive you."
The mother of Tywanza Sanders told Roof that "every fiber in my body hurts."
Roof did not react and appeared to show no emotion as the relatives spoke.

1:42 p.m.
The 21-year-old man accused of killing nine people at a black church in Charleston is being held in a cell next to the former North Charleston police officer who fatally shot a black man running away from him.
Charleston County sheriff's Maj. Eric Watson said Friday that Dylann Roof, who is accused in the church shooting, is in a cell next to former officer Michael Slager.
Slager has been charged with murder in the death of Walter Scott. Slager's shooting of a fleeing Scott following a traffic stop on April 4 was recorded on a bystander's cellphone.
Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder. He is being held in cell 1141B. Slager is in 1140B.
Each is alone is his cell. It's unlikely the two can talk to each other.

1 p.m.
The head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is calling the slaying of nine people inside a black church an act of "racial terrorism" and says the Confederate flag flying on the South Carolina Capitol grounds in Columbia needs to come down.
NAACP President and CEO Rev. Cornell William Brooks made his remarks Friday in Charleston, two days after police say 21-year-old Dylann Roof opened fire on a Bible study at the Emanuel AME church in the city.
Brooks mentioned that Roof had a Confederate flag on his license plate and displayed symbols of racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia on a jacket he wore in a Facebook photo.
The NAACP has called for the flag's removal from the Statehouse grounds ever since it was taken down from the top of the Statehouse dome, where the American and state flags are flown. When the flag was moved from the dome to a Confederate soldier monument in front of the building, some called it a compromise, but the NAACP disagreed and wants it removed entirely from the grounds.

12:30 p.m.
The white man accused of fatally shooting nine people during a Bible study at a black church had been arrested on a drug possession charge about four months ago after concerned workers reported he was acting erratically at a shopping mall.
A Columbia Police Department report from Feb. 28 says 21-year-old Dylann Roof was wearing all black in a shoe store and in Bath and Body Works, asking employees strange questions. The report says he asked how many people were working, when they closed and when they left their jobs.
The officer wrote that Roof appeared nervous and said he was being pressured by his parents to get a job, though he didn't ask either place for a job application. When the officer searched him, he found suboxone strips — typically used to treat addiction to heroin and other opiates

12:15 p.m.
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. says a fund has been set up to help the families of the nine victims of the shooting at a Charleston church, as well as the church itself.
Riley held a news conference Friday across the street from the church, where crime scene tape is still out front, along with dozens of bouquets of flowers.
Riley says people can contribute to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund at Wells Fargo bank branches, by mail, or — soon — online.
The fund will help with funerals, other family expenses, and work at the historic church.
Riley also encouraged people to attend a 6 p.m. Friday vigil and prayer service at the arena where the College of Charleston plays its basketball games.

11:40 a.m.
Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. says that though he's not a proponent of the death penalty, it's the law in South Carolina and he expects it will be sought in the church shooting that killed nine people.
At a Friday news conference, he said: "If you are going to have a death penalty, certainly this case would merit it."
Earlier, Gov. Nikki Haley told NBC's "Today" show: "We will absolutely will want him to have the death penalty."
Twenty-one-year-old Dylan Roof is charged with nine counts of murder. He is scheduled for a bond hearing Friday afternoon but is likely to appear via video link from jail instead of in person in court.

10:55 a.m.
A steady stream of people is visiting the memorial in front of the black church where authorities say a young white man slaughtered nine people during a Bible study.
Police tape still cordoned off the area Friday, and FBI agents were investigating in the back parking lot of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Eight vehicles have remained in the lot for some time.
A pile of flowers in front of the church is growing. Media trucks and reporters are set up along the road, and traffic slows as cars pass by the memorial. People on foot stop to take pictures with cellphones.
Authorities say 21-year-old Dylann Roof fatally shot nine people in the Charleston church on Wednesday night. Roof is charged with nine counts of murder.

9:56 a.m.
Police in Charleston say the suspect in a fatal church shooting at a historic black church is charged with nine counts of murder and a weapon charge.
Police spokesman Charles Francis said Friday that 21-one-year-old Dylann Roof is charged with the 10 total counts in the Wednesday night fatal church shooting.
The weapon charge against Roof is possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Under South Carolina law, it's illegal to use a weapon such as a knife or gun to commit a violent crime whether or not the weapons is legally owned.
A bond hearing for Roof is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday.

9:50 a.m.
The man accused in the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston is scheduled to make his first South Carolina court appearance.
Charleston County officials say 21-year-old Dylann Roof was set to appear at a bond hearing at 2 p.m. Friday. Roof is unlikely to appear in court, as most initial hearings are conducted over a video link with the county jail.
Nine people were killed Wednesday night by a gunman at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston. Officials are investigating the shooting as a hate crime. Police say Roof spent nearly an hour at the church in a prayer meeting before shooting the victims.

7:15 a.m.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says the gunman who killed nine people during a shooting spree at a Charleston church should get the death penalty.
Speaking Friday morning on NBC's "Today" show, Haley said "we will absolutely will want him to have the death penalty."
Twenty-one-year-old Dylann Storm Roof was arrested Thursday in North Carolina, a day after nine people were killed during a Bible study at a historic black church in downtown Charleston.
Those killed included the minister at The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The shooting is being considered a hate crime.

The Roving Reporter :       G. 

Why the Robertsons' 'Duck Commander' musical failed miserably

 On a special episode of "Duck Dynasty" Wednesday night, the Robertson family was brought to tears with how amazing they thought their upcoming musical was.
"I think it was really emotional for the family to hear the songs for the first time," said Korie Robertson on "Duck Commander: 

Making the Musical."
"Kay bawls at everything," said Willie Robertson.
"Well you were bawling too!" said Korie.
"I wasn't bawling I had something in my eye," said Willie.
Sure Willie, something in your eye.
But regardless, it did seem everything was going right. The songs, the family, the food — it all seemed too good to be true. Problem is, it was. 

The show has already been cancelled — it only lasted a month in Vegas and got some pretty scathing reviews.
So after all the excitement from the Robertsons, how did the musical become such a monumental failure?
Well, as a writer for Deadline points out, "The musical blew in on the winds of controversy."

Of course, the outlet is referring to when patriarch Phil Robertson was suspended by A&E after making anti-gay comments in a 2013 interview with GQ.
Veteran Broadway producer Emanuel Azenberg called the show "pretty disgusting," which Deadline noted is "a sentiment shared by many in the generally liberal-leaning, accepting theater culture."

Azenberg told The New York Times, "It's also a reminder that Broadway is mostly about making entertainment today — not art — even if it means getting involved with a family whose members say things that offend a lot of people working on Broadway."
So despite the family's optimism through Wednesday's show, it looked like this musical may have been destined to fail.
Their success on the small screen however, continues. The new season of "Duck Dynasty" airs June 24.

The Roving Reporter : White suspect arrested in killing of nine at black U.S. church

                                                               Dylann  Roof

A white man was arrested on Thursday on suspicions he killed nine people at a historic African-American church in South Carolina after sitting with them for an hour of Bible study in an attack U.S. officials are investigating as a hate crime.
The mass shooting set off an intense 14-hour manhunt that ended when 21-year-old Dylann Roof was arrested in a traffic stop about 220 miles (350 km) north of Charleston, South Carolina, where the shooting occurred, officials said.
Wednesday's mass shooting at the almost 200-year-old Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, comes after a year of turmoil and protests over race relations, policing and criminal justice in the United States. A series of police killings of unarmed black men has sparked a renewed civil rights movement under the "Black Lives Matter" banner.

Four pastors, including Democratic state Senator Clementa Pinckney, 41, were among the six women and three men shot dead at the church nicknamed "Mother Emanuel," which was burned to the ground in the late 1820s after a slave revolt led by one of its founders. 
"The fact that this took place in a black church obviously raises questions about a dark part of our history," said U.S. President Barack Obama. "Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun."
The United States has seen a series of mass shootings in recent years, including the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults. Democratic efforts to reform the nation's gun laws, protect by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, failed after that incident.

GIFT OF A GUN
A man who identified himself as Carson Cowles, Roof's uncle, told Reuters that Roof's father had recently given him a .45-caliber handgun as a birthday present and that Roof had seemed adrift.
"I don't have any words for it," Cowles, 56, said in a telephone interview. "Nobody in my family had seen anything like this coming."
Roof was armed with a handgun but surrendered peacefully at his arrest, said Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen.
In a Facebook profile apparently belonging to Roof, a portrait showed him wearing a jacket emblazoned with the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and of the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, both formerly ruled by white minorities. Many of his Facebook friends were black.

Roof was arrested on two separate occasions at a shopping mall earlier this year for a drug offense and trespassing, according to court documents.
Roof's mother, Amy, declined to comment when reached by phone.
"We will be doing no interviews, ever," she said before hanging up.
Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of Pinckney, told MSNBC that a survivor told her the gunman reloaded five times during the attack despite pleas for him to stop.
"He just said, 'I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country," Johnson said.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her office was investigating whether to charge Roof with a hate crime motivated by racial or other prejudice.
Under federal and some state laws, such crimes typically carry harsher penalties, but South Carolina is one of just five U.S. states not to have a hate-crimes law. 

RISING RACIAL TENSIONS
Demonstrations have rocked New York, Baltimore, Ferguson in Missouri and other U.S. cities following police killings of unarmed black men including Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and Michael Brown.
A white police officer was charged with murder after he shot Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, in the back in April in neighboring North Charleston.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which researches U.S. hate groups, said the attack illustrates the dangers that home-grown extremists pose.
"Since 9/11, our country has been fixated on the threat of Jihadi terrorism. But the horrific tragedy at the Emanuel AME reminds us that the threat of homegrown domestic terrorism is very real," the group said in a statement, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
There have been 4,120 reported hate crimes across the United States, including 56 murders, since 2003, the center said.
Other victims included three church pastors: DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, 45 and Reverend Daniel Simmons, 74; Cynthia Hurd, a 54-year-old employee of the Charleston County Public Library, and Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70, Tywanza Sanders, 26, and Myra Thompson 59, an associate pastor at the church, according to the county coroner.
"This is going to put a lot of concern to every black church when guys have to worry about getting shot in the church," said Tamika Brown, who attended one of several overflow prayer vigils held at Charleston churches.
Police in Charleston responded to multiple bomb threats around the city through the course of the day on Thursday.
Three people survived the attack.
"It is a very, very sad day in South Carolina," Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, in a tearful statement.
That grief rang hollow for some civil-rights activists, who noted that the state capital in Columbia still flies the Confederate flag, the rallying symbol of the pro-slavery South during the Civil War.
"The reality that racism is alive and well and that we have a problem with guns," said Clayborne Carson, founding director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. "People will throw up their hands and say 'how terrible' and the governor of South Carolina will put the Confederate flag of the state at half staff and then will get back to passing more laws that allow people to carry guns."

A few words from Mr. Humble:

Very sad. While some will blame guns. That's short sited. The gun did not shoot anyone.
This is just a more acute case of a person being influenced by bad people, a boy really from a broken home, living in a world without much interaction. Today with computers phones social media, we can hide from the world. Younger folks in particular...and when you come face to face with reality its almost a shock.

This boy wasn't born a killer, we don't know if his parents contributed to some of his feelings. Looking at the mug shots, he almost appears to have some of the same type of Autism (Asperger Syndrom) as the Sandy Hook Shooter, no feelings no connection to reality. 

I could be wrong, but I fear what happened is a mix of hate and detachment. Whatever it is. I know this. They will blame the gun, and miss the larger picture of mental illness.
Why on earth do you give someone who is that badly off kilter a gun? I think his family was going for his suicide and he missed by 9 people.
A detachment from reality.






The Roving Reporter :             G.

Ex-NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal: 'I identify as black'

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, Rachel Dolezal, center, Spokane's newly-elected NAACP president, smiles as she meets with Joseph M. King, of King's Consulting, left, and Scott Finnie, director and senior professor of Eastern Washington University's Africana Education Program, before the start of a Black Lives Matter Teach-In on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, at EWU, in Cheney, Wash. Dolezal's family members say she has falsely portrayed herself as black for years. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review via AP, File)

                                                           Photo via KXLY

FILE- In this March 2, 2015 file photo, Rachel Dolezal, president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, poses for a photo in her Spokane, Wash. home. Dolezal is facing questions about whether she lied about her racial identity, with her family saying she is white but has portrayed herself as black, Friday, June 12, 2015. (Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review via AP, File

In this photo taken July 24, 2009, Rachel Dolezal, a leader of the Human Rights Education Institute, stands in front of a mural she painted at the institute's offices in coeur d'alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios)

                                                         (Photo via Facebook)

NEW YORK (AP) — The woman who resigned as head of a NAACP chapter after her parents said she is white said Tuesday that she started identifying as black around age 5, when she drew self-portraits with a brown crayon, and "takes exception" to the contention that she tried to deceive people. 

Rachel Dolezal said on NBC's "Today" show that some of the discussion about her has been "viciously inhumane."

Asked by Matt Lauer if she is an "an African-American woman," Dolezal said: "I identify as black."

Dolezal's career as a civil rights activist in the Pacific Northwest crumbled in the past few days.

She resigned Monday as president of the Spokane, Washington, branch of the NAACP, lost her position as a part-time African studies instructor at a local university, was fired as a freelance newspaper columnist and is being investigated by city Ethics Commission over whether she lied about her race on her application when she landed an appointment to Spokane's police oversight board.

The furor has touched off national debate over racial identity and divided the NAACP itself. The civil rights organization has said that leadership jobs don't require a person to be black.

Dolezal, a 37-year-old woman with a light brown complexion and dark curly hair, graduated from historically black Howard University and was married to a black man. For years, she publicly described herself as black or partly black.

The uproar that led to her resignation began last week after Dolezal's parents said their daughter is white with a trace of Native American heritage. They produced photos of her as a girl with fair skin and straight blond hair.

"I really don't see why they're in such a rush to whitewash some of the work I have done, who I am, how I have identified," she said Tuesday.

Asked when she started "deceiving people," she replied, "I do take exception to that."

Shown a photo of herself with a much lighter complexion in her youth, she said: "I certainly don't stay out of the sun." But she added, "I also don't ... put on blackface as a performance."

"I have a huge issue with blackface," she said. "This is not some freak 'Birth of a Nation' mockery blackface performance. This is a very real, connected level. ... I've had to actually go there with the experience, not just the visible representation, but with the experience."

She said published accounts described her first as "transracial," then "biracial," then as "a black woman."

"I never corrected that," she conceded, adding that "it's more complex than being true or false in that particular instance."

Dolezal said that she told people that a black friend was her father because that's how she thinks of him.

Her sons are supportive, she said: One told her he views her as culturally black and racially "human."

Dolezal's parents denied that their daughter identified as black from a young age.

"No, that is a fabrication," Ruthanne Dolezal said in an interview with her husband on Fox News on Tuesday.

Asked about Dolezal's claim that she thought of a black family friend as her father, Larry Dolezal said: "That hurts deeply because for over 20 years Rachel fondly referred to me as 'Papa.'"

The Dolezals said they have not spoken to their daughter for more than two years.

"We are very alarmed at the level of dishonesty that Rachel is exhibiting," Ruthanne Dolezal said.

Let's hear from our in-house expert  Mr. Humble :

The lies just never quit. She states she started identifying as a black at age 5. No way she remembers that. I guess she was identifying as black all her young years when she was blonde. She used the system to get extra points from on her SAT by lying, She got a government job by lying, she is simply a pathological liar.

She forgot to mention that she also "identifies" with being white and with being native American.....according to some of her past paperwork and one lawsuit. (Personally, I identify with being the best golfer in the world.)  No one else believes that BS. What Rachel really should identify with is being a first class idiot. Now that is something we all can believe in!

Get over it !Please, lets just call it what it is. " She lied for her own personal gain " period. Most likely she lied on her resume, her job apps, her application for college, and in countless other areas where it would benefit her to be black. No different than if you or I lied and got caught, she needs to pay the price and let's be done with her. Instead, she will gain financially from her lies. This is the bigger injustice !!!  She will get a book deal, a movie deal, and become a national speaker on "the life as a black through the eyes of a white"! Why? Simply because the media will give her lies a platform. So she lied, millions do everyday. Shame on those that did not validate her lies in the past and hired her based solely on her claims. Yes she lied more than most, but she is simply a liar. Let her get on with her life and live with the results of being caught in a lie.

Get over it !

Just my humble opinion

Mel Gibson’s baby mama Oksana Grigorieva loses settlement money after blabbing in radio interview: report

Mel Gibson’s baby mama Oksana Grigorieva loses settlement money after blabbing in radio interview: report 
A two minute radio interview has cost Mel Gibson's baby mama hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Oksana Grigorieva didn't directly reveal too much in her October sit down with Howard Stern, but a judge ruled that she violated the confidentiality agreement that she signed as part of a 2011 custody agreement over their daughter Lucia, TMZ reported.
Howard Stern interviews Oksana Grigorieva in May 2013.
The 43-year-old Russian beauty tried to tap dance around questions about Gibson — who previously was caught on tape admitting to punching her in the 

Oksana Grigorieva, who made the mistake of turning down a $15 million settlement offer from Gibson, looks at her former boyfriend during a hearing in a Los Angeles Superior Court during their 2011 custody battle.

The slip of the tongue will cost Grigovrieva at least one third of the $750,000 settlement that Gibson still owed. That payment had been scheduled to be doled out in January 2016.
Gibson (R) has reason to smile after a judge rules in 2011 that he’s only on the hook for $750,000 to the mother of his daughter Lucia.

The legal blow comes on the heels of news that Grigorieva filed for bankruptcy, with just $10 cash to her name, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ 
Actor Mel Gibson (R) and Oksana Grigorieva arrive at the 2009 premiere of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine.’
The numbers are more stunning when considering that Grigorieva famously turned down a $15 million settlement from Gibson to roll the dice on a bigger payday in court.
Gibson's short-lived relationship with the pianist has been bitter for both sides. The "Ransom" actor's wife of 31 years, Robyn, filed for divorce in 2009 when news broke that her husband had fathered a love child with Grigorieva.
Gibson pled no contest in 2011 to a charge that he punched the mother of his child in the mouth during a fight a year earlier.

MEL GIBSON, OKSANA GRIGORIEVA
NEW COURT BATTLE OVER LUCIA (UPDATE)

11:30 PST:  We've learned Mel walked out of court victorious. The judge is allowing Mel to take Lucia to Australia for 1 month and keep her in L.A. an additional 2 weeks before he leaves the country.  
We're also told there was a dispute over which kindergarten school Lucia would attend and the judge sided with Mel.
On the bigger issue of ongoing contention, we're told Mel and Oksana both told the judge they're working on being able to better co-parent.  

Mel Gibson and baby mama Oksana Grigorieva are about to square off in court this morning ... and it's all about their 5-year-old daughter Lucia.
TMZ has learned, Mel is about to go to Australia to do a movie and wants to take his daughter with him for the summer. We're told Oksana objects, so they'll be making their respective cases before the family law judge. 
Our sources say the contention between Mel and Oksana on issues of child-rearing has not subsided ... there are many conflicts. 

And this is interesting ... we've learned Mel is extremely involved in Lucia's life. In fact, the judge has continually increased his custody of Lucia over the years, to the point where he now has physical custody of his daughter slightly more than 50% of the time.