Gen's Rea: Crime & Punishment

Another horrendous crime out of Florida... This pre-med student, John Welden, sent his pregnant girlfriend to see his OB/GYN father. Welden told his girlfriend that his father diagnosed her with an infection requiring her to take antibiotics. Welden swapped the anibiotic pill for Cytotec, the abortion pill. He instructed his girlfriend to take the "antibiotics" three times a day for a week. His girlfriend only learned about the abortion pills when she showed up to the emergency room a week later, having aborted the pregnancy. Welden's girlfriend was six weeks pregnant and communicated her intent to carry the pregnancy to term to all of her friends and family. Federal authorities have since charged 28-year-old Welden with first degree murder and tampering. Normally, a 6 week old fetus would not be considered viable, but federal law provides otherwise. Under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 (18 USC 1841), an "unborn child" is defined as “member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.” The Act further provides that if an unborn child is killed during the commission of a federal crime, it will constitute murder. Here, Welden's tampering with his girlfriend's prescription (a federal crime) allows authorities to tack on a first degree murder charge. Welden faces life in prison for his crimes. It is not clear what role, if any, his OB/GYN father played in the commission of these crimes. 

Talk about a fall from grace, Ms. Woods. "I object!"

Two explosions went off today at the Boston Marathon. Story is still developing. So terrible.

Thankful to see that the investigation into the brutal murder of Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl is still open over a decade later. Pearl, the former Chief of the Wall Street Journal's S. Asia Bureau, was investigating links between the shoe bomber and al Qaeda when he was captured and killed. Recall that in 2007, 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed confessed to beheading Pearl and sending the tape to U.S. officials. Interestingly, authorities (The Pearl Project) confirmed this confession by using a cutting-edge technique called "vein matching" to match the vascular pattern of the hands appearing on the tape to those of KSM (currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.) The hope of prosecuting KSM for the Pearl murder was thwarted when it was determined his confession was obtained unlawfully. The "new science" of vein matching gave hope to U.S. authorities looking for new evidence to prosecute KSM with, but so far they have not charged KSM with the Pearl murder. Many theorize this is being done to avoid complicating the prosecution for KSM's role in the 9/11 attacks.

Oh Danny boy! Pulling an Arnold and tarnishing his "good guy" persona. Hopefully, he's being truthful about his wife being okay with everything because they are such a great family. Not surprisingly, this scandal has cost Marino MILLIONS to cover up. The good news is he didn't try to dodge his support payments, BUT why am I so filled with doubt at the thought that his wife just tolerated him sleeping with a CBS employee and fathering a love child that he's paid millions to cover up? Maybe it's news to her as well? I don't think we've seen the end of this scandal... I hope Dan has a rock solid prenup or this one's going to hurt!

Maybe it will bring some positive attention to the Dolphins franchise? Wishful thinking.

The now-failing USPS once paid $30 million to underwrite Lance Armstrong's cycling in the Tour de France. It is estimated that at the time of his wins, Armstrong earned $100 million from endorsements for Nike and Anheuser-Busch. All of this income contributed  to his current net worth of $125 million. His lie goes deeper than giving himself an unfair advantage in those races, defrauding corporations out of millions of dollars, bringing shame to his country and to his sport, and initiating legal battles against former employees (many earning modest salaries) whose only "crime" was telling the truth about Armstrong's lies. Perhaps worst of all, his story of unending triumph gave hope to those with grim cancer prognoses after he created the mammoth Livestrong, a cancer charity built upon on the myth of his hard work and dedication. ( Recall the ubiquitous yellow rubber bracelets. "Talismans of hope," as one jounalist called them.)

Armstrong is currently being sued by a host of media outlets, the USADA, etc. I'm interested to see if the Justice Dept. joins Floyd Landis, Armstrong's former teammate, in his current federal whistleblower action Against Armstrong. Do not feel sorry for Mr. Armstrong. Telling the truth shouldn't earn him a medal of honor. Its time we start applying the same punishments you or I would face to celebrities. Oprah's interview is just the start of a long, mapped-out Press tour designed to decrease Armstrong's chances of serving time for his elaborate decade-long fraud. It's easy to be swept up in the celebrity of superstar athletes, but there is no other place for Armstrong but jail. He lied seven times while under oath in a Dallas court. Plain & simple. Marion Jones was disgraced after her use of performance enhancing drugs, stripped of her medals, and jailed for 6 months after lying to federal investigators. Lance doesn't deserve a pass for going to Oprah before the lie blew up on it's own. 

Only in Miami do we welcome all things fake, just not your faux Louis Vuitton purse. Hey, we all have boundaries.

So the latest news out of the Sunshine State includes an attempted hit on the life of Florida rapper Rick Ross (born William Leonard Roberts II). Over a dozen shell casings were recovered outside the Floridian Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, the aftermath of a drive-by attempt on the rapper's life. Despite driving his Rolls Royce into a nearby apartment building, Ross and a female passenger escaped unscathed.

Rumors are swirling that this shooting comes as retaliation from the Gangster Disciples (GD), a gang that started in South-side Chicago. The feud began when Ross used GD imagery (a six-pointed Star of David) in his promotional materials and name-dropped one of the gang's most infamous founders Larry Hoover (on the song "B.M.F.") In the past, Ross remained stoic in the face of videotaped threats from GD. Now, it appears they weren't just talking. My question is why does this drama have to move into Broward County?? C'mon Rozay!!

Here is a former U.S. Olympian moonlighting as an escort. She's married to a lawyer and has a teenage daughter, but that doesn't stop her from offering paying customers the full GFE ("girlfriend experience"). Juicy doesn't even begin to describe the contents of her story! The athletic blonde claims she never considered the potential legal ramifications of prostitution. Namely, that is it illegal in all but 8 counties in the United States. Guess she never ran her side job by her lawyer husband...