Sunday, March 17, 2013

CNN Has Loads of Sympathy for Poor Convicted Rapists in Steubenville Case

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The way some media outlets covered the Rape conviction in Steubenville, Ohio on Sunday:

BBC News
Two high school football players in the US state of Ohio have been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl.
Trent Mays, 16, and Ma'lik Richmond, 17, attacked the girl after a drunken party in the town of Steubenville. Both wept as the verdict was read out.
The case came to light via text messages, online videos and social media posts made the morning after, attracting nationwide attention.
The two were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile detention.
Mays was sentenced to another year for taking pictures of the naked victim, and the judge said both might stay in detention until they reach 21

AtlanticWire
On the fifth and final day of a long and emotional rape trial recounting a drunken and violent evening, Judge Thomas Lipps delivered a guilty verdict on all charges Sunday morning in the Steubenville rape trial, calling the situation "profane" and "ugly" as the boys cried aloud and were handed the maximum sentencing. The Ohio attorney general said a grand jury would convene around April 15 to "bring finality" to a case that captured the attention of a nation — and that "additional charges could be filed" after 16 people, most of whom were students at the post-football game parties last August, had refused to talk to his investigators.

Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond — stars on the Steubenville High football team and 17 and 16 years old, respectively — were found "delinquent," which Lipps informed the boys in front of him was "similar to a finding of guilty in an adult court." Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile rehabilitation facility and a maximum of until he turns 21 on a juvenile charge of rape; Mays, who was also found delinquent on a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, was sentenced to a minimum of two years and a "consecutive" sentence that could last until he turns 24. As the lead prosecutor said there was "no remorse" for the victim from the convicted, Mays cried out in the Ohio courtroom and frequently returned to his handkerchief as his attorneys consoled him. Lipps said the boys "might be dealing with emotions" since the consequences "were now dawning on them."

Dan Wetzel on Yahoo Sports
Rape, experts say, is a crime of power and control more than sex. Underlying all of that is arrogance, and in Steubenville it was taken to the extreme.
Throughout this trial, the two defendants and a parade of friends who wound up mostly testifying against the defendants, expressed little understanding of rape – let alone common decency or respect for women. Despite the conviction, the defendants likely don't view themselves as rapists, at least not the classic sense of a man hiding in the shadows.

"It wasn't violent," explained teammate Evan Westlake when asked why he didn't stop the two defendants as they abused a non-moving girl that Westlake knew to be highly intoxicated. "I always pictured it as forcing yourself on someone."
That was part of the arrogance.
Arrogance from the defendants. Arrogance from the friends. Arrogance within the culture.

And the way CNN chose to cover the Rape Conviction in Steubenville, Ohio, on Sunday ~ by sympathizing with the perpetrators who assaulted a young girl:




From CNN Transcripts:

CROWLEY: Again, this case was played out in juvenile court, that is why there was a judge, no jury. He decided on the verdict, as well as, you heard there, talking about the sentence.

We want to go now to CNN's Poppy Harlow. She is in Steubenville, and has been covering this trial.

I cannot imagine having just watched this on the feed coming in. How emotional that must have been sitting in the courtroom.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've never experienced anything like it, Candy. It was incredibly emotional -- incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart.

One of -- one of the young men, Ma'lik Richmond, when that sentence came down, he collapsed. He collapsed in the arms of his attorney, Walter Madison. He said to me, "My life is over. No one is going to want me now."

Very serious crime here. Both found guilty of raping this 16- year-old girl at a series of parties back in August, alcohol-fueled parties. Alcohol is a huge part in this.

But Trent Mays was also found guilty on a second count and that is of felony illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material because he took a photograph of the victim laying naked on the floor that night. Trent Mays will serve two years in a juvenile detention facility. Ma'lik Richmond will serve one year on that one count that he was found guilty for.

I want to let our viewers listen because for the first time in this entire trial we have now heard from the two young men. Trent Mays stood up, apologizing to the victim's family in court. After him, Ma'lik Richmond.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRENT MAYS, FOUND GUILTY OF RAPINGIN JUVENILE COURT: I would really like to apologize to (INAUDIBLE), her family, my family and community. No pictures should have been sent out or should be taken. That's all. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything you'd like to say, Ma'lik?

MA'LIK RICHMOND, FOUND GUILTY OF RAPE IN JUVENILE COURT: I would like to apologize. I had no intention to do anything like that and I'm sorry to put you guys through this. (INAUDIBLE) I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: I was sitting about three feet from Ma'lik when he gave that statement. It was very difficult to watch.

*snip*

CROWLEY: Poppy Harlow in Steubenville, Ohio, for us.

I want to bring in Paul Callan, our CNN legal contributor.

You know, Paul, a 16-year-old now just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, still sound like 16 year olds. The other one, 17. A 16-year-old victim.

The thing is, when you listen to it and you realize that they could stay until they're 21, they are going to get credit for time served. What's the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, Candy, we've seen here a courtroom drenched in tears and tragedy and, you know, Poppy's description, I think, you know, sums it all up. But across America scenes like this happen all the time.

I know as a prosecutor and defense attorney, when that verdict is handed down, usually it's just the family and families of the defendants and the victims, there's always that moment of just lives are destroyed. And lives have already been destroyed by the crime. And we got a chance to see that.

But in terms of what happens now, yes, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law and, by the way, the laws in most other states now require such a designation in the face of such a serious crime.

That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see they're registered sex offender. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet where these things are posted. Neighbors will know they're a registered sex offender.

It's really something that will have a lasting impact. Much more of a lasting impact than going to a juvenile facility for one or two years.

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The slant of the day's coverage was revealing in two capacities. First, CNN appears to have bet on the emotions of those it could show on camera -- for obvious reasons, the victim's identity has been protected, and the victim's family was not shown weeping in court. Networks know that people crying make for great TV. Secondly, it's telling that this tone continued over multiple segments, despite a cadre of tweets and blog posts deriding the network's earlier coverage.
Later on Sunday, Whitfield wrapped the first segment of her coverage on the case by describing it as "a heart-breaking case to watch, no matter how you look at it." That CNN can find so many ways to look at a rape trial is perhaps to blame for their embarrassing and damaging coverage.
~ Huffington Post

















For readers interested in learning more about how not to be labeled as registered sex offenders, a good first step is not to rape unconscious women, no matter how good your grades are. Regardless of the strength of your GPA (weighted or unweighted), if you commit rape, there is a possibility you may someday be convicted of a sex crime. This is because of your decision to commit a sex crime instead of going for a walk, or reading a book by Cormac McCarthy. Your ability to perform calculus or play football is generally not taken into consideration in a court of law. Should you prefer to be known as "Good student and excellent football player Trent Mays" rather than "Convicted sex offender Trent Mays," try stressing the studying and tackling and giving the sex crimes a miss altogether.
It's perfectly understandable, when reporting on a rape trial, to discuss the length and severity of the sentence; it is less understandable to discuss the end of two convicted rapists' future athletic and academic careers as if it were somehow divorced from the laws of cause and effect. Their dreams and hopes were not crushed by an impersonal, inexorable legal system; Mays and Richardson raped a girl and have been sentenced accordingly. Had they not raped her, they would not be spending at least one year each in a juvenile detention facility.
~ From Gawker

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CPAC Day Three ~ Losers and Wacko-Birds

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Related Previous Posts:
CPAC Day One: Rat Heads in a Coke Bottle
CPAC Day Two: Eastwooding, Racism and Waterboarding


We've had the establishment pick another loser for us. The fight we have, and the fight I want you to engage in, is the establishment against the grassroots. The establishment has given us a whole series of losers. Bob Dole and John McCain. Mitt Romney.
. . . Why is it that the establishment has given us this bunch of losers?
~ Phyllis Schlafly at CPAC
















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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) spoke at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, bringing a candle and a lightbulb as props.
"[Politicians in Washington are] all trapped in the age of candles," Gingrich said.
Gingrich, who hasn't been shy about criticizing Republicans before, offered up more negative commentary about his own party during his speech.
"We have the dominant wing of this party that has learned nothing," Gingrich said.
~ Huffington Post


It is virtually impossible to get people in Washington, D.C., to actually learn how to think about a new world. It is sobering to me to be standing here, as a senior member of this party, telling you from 1976 to 2013 we have the dominant wing of this party, which has learned nothing and is as mired in the past and mired in stupidity as it was in 1976.
~ Newt Gingrich, via CBS News








At CPAC, Bachmann is truly in her element, and she worked the crowd like a red-meat slinging virtuoso -- a contrast to her often halting and hesitant performances in the 2012 primary campaign. Bachmann very effortlessly shifted from the Benghazi outrage, to touch briefly on the effort to curb gun violence, to Obamacare's "war on the young" to a criticism of sequester politics.
"Why are we paying for someone to walk the White House dog when we can't even get a veteran in for a White House tour."
~ Michele Bachmann, via Huffington Post



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The morning was full of how to take America back, but mostly the speechifiers were surprisingly quasi-sorta reasonable, with much in the way of hollow but appreciated gestures suggesting that hey, evil liberal democrats are people too, sort of, and we should maybe all maybe work together sometimes, to do something good for the country. All this was noticeably strange, considering they were all there as part of the the run up to the CPAC crowd favorite, and our favorite frumious bandersnatch ever, Sarah Palin.
. . . but the amazing thing was, she read her Obama teleprompter joke FROM A TELEPROMPTER.
~ Wonkette

While delivering her speech at CPAC, Sarah Palin drank from a big gulp. This was appropriate because just like her jumbo soda, her twenty minute speech was filled with empty calories.
~ Daily Beast

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Sarah Palin's Complete Speech Transcript Via Before It's News
And background checks, yeah, I guess to learn more about the person’s thinking and associations and intentions. More background checks? Dandy idea Mr. President – should have started with yours. [audience going wild]

. . . Remember ‘No Drama Obama?’ If only. Now it All Drama Obama. We don’t have leadership coming out of Washington. We have reality television. It’s really bad reality TV and the American people tuned-out a long time ago. Entertainment TV is a good description of what is going on in DC because more than ever it feels like a put-on.

. . . Even our guys in the GOP too often have a habit of reading their stage directions, especially these days. They are being too scripted, too calculated. They talk about rebuilding the party. How about rebuilding the Middle Class? They talk about rebranding the GOP instead of restoring the trust of the American people.

. . . We just lost a big election. We came in second out of two. Second position on the dogsled team is where the view never changes and the view ain’t pretty.

. . . [Obama is] considered a good politician, which is like saying Bernie Madoff was a good salesman, the difference being the President is using our money.

. . . Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever. Barack Obama, you lied.

. . . Mr President we admit it, you won. Accept it. Now step away from the teleprompter and do your job.

. . . One of my idols, Lady Margaret Thatcher, she offered this advice after her party lost at the poll. She told fellow conservatives not to get lost in abstract debates and green-eye-shade accounting. Mrs. Thatcher advised conservatives to focus their concerns first and foremost on the people. She said, look at every problem from the grassroots, not from the top down. She also cautioned Conservatives not to go wobbly on their beliefs, to which I offer a hearty Amen Sistah! We can use a leader like Maggie Thatcher today.

. . . Is there any wonder there was such a run on guns and ammo for Christmas presents, considering the attack on the Second Amendment? A couple of months ago – oh you should have seen what Todd got me for Christmas. Well, it wasn’t that exciting. It’s a metal rack, a case for hunting rifles to put on the back of a Four-Wheeler, then though, I had to get something for him to put in the gun case, right? So this go-round, he got the rifle, I got the rack. (big applause and she pulls out her Big Gulp and takes a sip till the crowd calms down.)

. . . If we truly believe the words of our other founding document, The Declaration of Independence, that yes all men are created equal, then there are no Hispanic issues or African American issues or women’s issues. There are only American issues.

. . . It’s time we all stopped preaching to the choir and let’s grow. America already has one party that’s expert at pitting groups against one another. We’ll never win a contest of identity politics. We shouldn’t even try.

. . . Whenever government expands, it’s the well-connected that reap the benefit. The more government intrudes into our lives and businesses, the more it picks winners and losers. The more crony capitalists win, the more the rest of us lose. Whether it’s green energy or free Obama phones or prophylactics, if you don’t have a team of lobbyists in DC or a cancelled contribution check, you’re not at the table – you’re on the menu.

. . . If these experts who keep losing elections and keep getting rehired and getting millions , if they feel that strong about who gets to run in this party, then they should buck-up or stay in the truck. Buck up or run. The Architect [Karl Rove] can head on back to the great Lone Star State and put their name on some ballot – though for their sakes, I hope they give themselves a discount on their consulting services.

. . . from the heart looking out, and this I know, there is more wisdom, more character, more grit and common sense in the soldiers and the Mom’s and the teacher’s and the laborers and the firemen and the fishermen and the students and the cowboys – and other extraordinary Americans that I’ve met along the way, than will ever be found in the cocktail parties of power across the river, and …

…if We the People have one message to send to Washington, I’m sure it would be this: Get Over Yourself. It’s not about you.














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For 100 years, the left and government have made it their mission to have a government program to address almost every pain. As their allies in education deny truth so there is no wrong and therefore nothing to worry about, and their allies in Hollywood and the media promote a culture of titillation and violence that numbs our senses in an attempt to please us — all of this has resultsed in an epidemic of psychological, moral, and spiritual pain and suffering.
Objectively speaking, thanks to technology and the dynamics of our economy, a low income American has creature comforts that would exceed the wealthiest of Americans 100 years ago. Yet the suffering is greater today because our culture and our leadership has robbed them of the ‘why’ of America, our purpose.
~ Rick Santorum






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As conservatives we shouldn't take a back seat to anybody," Walker said. "We have a moral cause. It's not just about balancing budgets. It's not just about getting the economy going again. What we stand for is not about taking things away from people, that's the other side.
This president and his allies measure success in government by how many people are dependent on the government," he said. "We measure success in government by just the opposite, by how many people are no longer dependent upon the government. Not because we kicked them out to the street. Not because we threw them out to the curb . . .
"ecause we understand in this country that the true way to live the American dream is not to grow up someday to dream big about being dependent on the government, it's empowering people through the dignity of work to control their own destiny.
~ Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin

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“Torch of liberty” scion Rand Paul was the choice of the plurality of conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference, as Paul won the much-hyped straw poll with 25 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was a close second with 23 percent.
. . . Rick Santorum finished a distant third with 8 percent. Popular New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was not invited to CPAC, finished fourth with 7 percent; Paul Ryan, the 2012 vice-presidential candidate was next at 6 percent; then Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker 5 percent; neurosurgeon Ben Carson and keynoter Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tied at 4 percent; followed by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin percent.
Forty-four others, including write-in votes for Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Allen West, got 14 percent.
~ NBC News



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