Friday, January 31, 2014

Justin Bieber jet detained at Teterboro airport in New Jersey, searched for marijuana

from nydailynews

BY , AND / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2014, 6:25 PM

An unidentified source said the search came up empty-handed, so the singer, his dad and several friends were sent on their merry way.
06281314038, 21334631. JUNE. 28, 2013 FILE PHOTO.

POWERS IMAGERY/POWERS IMAGERY/INVISION/AP

Justin Bieber and his entourage were reportedly sent along their way after cops searched their jet.

Was Justin Bieber flying high?
The singer's private jet touched down at Teterboro Airport Friday afternoon ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl, and authorities quickly detained it after detecting a strong odor of pot wafting from the vessel.
A canine team sniffed the cabin for cannabis as part of a U.S. Customs search, a source told the Daily News.
About a half-dozen vehicles surrounded the aromatic aircraft on the tarmac.
According to TMZ.com, the search came up empty-handed, so the “Baby” singer, his dad and several friends were free to go and attend the big game.
A canine team sniffed the jet for pot as part of a U.S. Customs search.

NORMAN Y. LONO/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A canine team sniffed the jet for pot as part of a U.S. Customs search.

The latest stop on Bieber's regin of terror came just hours after a report that radio volume triggered the limo driver assault now causing legal static for the singer in Canada.
The pop phenom was riding in a rented limo with five members of his entourage Dec. 30 when he wanted the cabin music turned up, unidentified sources told TMZ.
The driver complied, but not enough for the Biebs, so an altercation erupted, TMZ said.
In the course of the argument, a man struck the driver in the back of his head “several times,” Toronto Police previously said.
Skateboards were part of the luggage loaded in a minibus along with the passengers as they left the plane.

NORMAN Y. LONO/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Skateboards were part of the luggage loaded in a minibus along with the passengers as they left the plane.

Bieber, 19, was charged with the assault Wednesday night and had to weave through a crush of media and fans outside a Toronto police station to get booked and fingerprinted.
He was given a March 10 court date and released.
An unidentified source close to Bieber reportedly told TMZ that the hard-partying hitmaker never laid a hand on the driver – that it was one of his friends who turned violent.
The source would not reveal the identity of the friend, TMZ said.
Justin Bieber posted an Instagram photo of himself and a friend in a car on Friday.

JUSTINBIEBER VIA INSTAGRAM

Justin Bieber posted an Instagram photo of himself and a friend in a car on Friday.

“We anticipate that this matter will be treated as a summary offense, the equivalent of a misdemeanor in the United States,” Bieber’s lawyer Howard Weitzman said in statement to The News.
“Our position is the Mr. Bieber is innocent,” Weitzman said.
Bieber’s Toronto bust came after he got popped for DUI in Miami Beach last week.
Cops said the Canadian pop star was drag racing a loaner Lamborghini on a residential street shortly before he cussed out his arresting officer with several F-bombs.
A private jet that was reportedly carrying Justin Bieber and his entourage on the tarmac at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

SKYFOXHD

A private jet that was reportedly carrying Justin Bieber and his entourage on the tarmac at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

The singer tested positive for marijuana and Xanax and blew 0.014 on a Breathalyzer test, prosecutors and police confirmed Thursday.
He pleaded not guilty Wednesday ahead of his formal arraignment set for Valentine’s Day.
The once squeaky-clean singer also is the subject of a felony vandalism case in southern California. A dozen deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department raided his mansion Jan. 14 looking for evidence to support the claim he egged a neighbor’s house on Jan. 9, causing some $20,000 in damage.
One legal expert said it’s likely Bieber will have to plead “no contest” to at least one of the misdemeanors in Miami Beach to avoid trial – and that would almost certainly land him on probation.
'I have the greatest Dad in the world. He's taught me how to love, learn, and stay true to myself. I will forever be grateful because he was my superehero #batman,' Justin Bieber captioned an Instagram photo of his dad.

JUSTINBIEBER VIA INSTAGRAM

'I have the greatest Dad in the world. He's taught me how to love, learn, and stay true to myself. I will forever be grateful because he was my superehero #batman,' Justin Bieber captioned an Instagram photo of his dad.

“He might be skirting things right now, but he’s on thin ice. Even one no contest plea on a misdemeanor will mean he’ll be regulated with probation, and if he violates that, then he could be thrown in jail,” Brian Claypool, a criminal lawyer in Pasadena, Calif., said Friday.
An online petition asking President Obama to deport the “reckless” recording artist garnered enough support on WhiteHouse.gov Wednesday – more than 100,000 digital signatures – to earn an official Oval Office review.
Obama spokesman Jay Carney had no comment Friday other than saying a response of some type should be expected.
“That process will occur, as is our commitment,” he said. “There will be a response when the threshold is crossed. That response will come, I’m sure, relatively soon. I don’t have one now,” he said.
The petition had more than 224,000 digital signatures as of Friday afternoon.
A counter-petition to “stop” the proposed deportation had 5,785 signatures.
Meanwhile in Miami Beach, an unidentified female officer is the subject of an internal affairs investigation after she allegedly tried to snap an unauthorized photo of Bieber in custody, police said.
“The officer is still working pending the outcome. We’re investigating her for conduct unbecoming of an officer,” Sgt. Robert Hernandez told The News. “She didn’t accomplish the photo. The Sergeant in charge saw what was happening and told her to leave before any picture was taken.”
ndillon@nydailynews.com
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Miley Cyrus gives Justin Bieber legal advice: ‘Pay people to make sure you don't get in trouble'

from nydailynews
Twerking is not a crime! Cyrus, who has never been arrested herself, dished out some advice to the Biebs post his run-in with the law.

BY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS





Miley Cyrus has some advice for her pal Justin Bieber.
The 21-year-old "We Can't Stop" singer stopped by “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on Thursday and when asked about the Biebs legal woes, Cyrus suggested he use his success to stay out of trouble.
Miley Cyrus stops by 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' on Thursday and gave some advice to Justin Bieber.

NBC/PAUL DRINKWATER/NBC

Miley Cyrus stops by 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' on Thursday and gave some advice to Justin Bieber.

"You've got a lot of money," she said with a smile.
"Pay people to make sure you don't get in trouble and party at your house, buy a house, and add a club to it."
All jean everything! Miley Cyrus rocked a full denim ensemble on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.'

NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY IMAGES

All jean everything! Miley Cyrus rocked a full denim ensemble on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.'

Leno asked the twerking queen if she has any regrets from when she was a teenager.
"It's funny because today, I was looking at — my fans put all these people's mug shots up — and they were like, 'I don't see a Miley mug shot yet!,'" she continued.
Justin Bieber's mug shot from his Jan. 23 arrest in Miami, Fla.

MIAMI-DADE CORRECTIONS & REHABILITATION DEPARTMENT / HANDOUT/EPA

Justin Bieber's mug shot from his Jan. 23 arrest in Miami, Fla.

"I get the most flak of anybody. I'm not doing anything illegal! I'm doing a lot of s--t but I'm not doing anything illegal! So that's all right. Everything I do is legal in California."
Bieber was arrested in Miami for driving under the influence, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license on Jan. 23.
The toxicology report revealed Wednesday that the "Boyfriend" singer, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, had marijuana and prescription medication in his system at the time of his arrest.


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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Amanda Knox trial: Italian court flips again, restoring murder sentence

from csmonitor.com 


A court in Florence reinstated a guilty verdict against Amanda Knox in absentia, sentencing her to 28 and a half years for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia.

By , Correspondent / January 30, 2014
From left; Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, slain 21-year-old British woman Meredith Kercher, her American roommate Amanda Knox.
AP/Files
Enlarge
FLORENCE, ITALY
Amanda Knox, the American accused of killing her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in an Italian hill town in 2007, had her original guilty verdict for the murder upheld by a court in Italy on Thursday and was sentenced in absentia to 28 years and six months in prison.
The ruling is likely to set off a bruising extradition fight between Italy and the US, given that Ms. Knox had refused to attend the retrial in Florence and was at home in Seattle, Washington, with her family when the verdict was handed down.
She said recently that if the verdict went against her, she would evade the Italian justice system and become “a fugitive.”
RECOMMENDED: Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.
Raffaele Sollecito, the Italian computer-studies graduate with whom she was in a relationship at the time of the murder, also had his original guilty verdict upheld and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He had intended to be in court for the verdict but in the end was “too stressed,” his lawyers said.
The court ruled that he was a flight risk, having spent several weeks last year in the Caribbean nation of Dominican Republic, and ordered that his passport and other travel documents be confiscated to prevent him traveling abroad.
The jury, which consisted of six jurors guided by two judges, took nearly 12 hours to reach their decision.
Lawyers for Knox and Mr. Sollecito said they would lodge a new appeal against the fresh convictions, ensuring that a judicial process that has already dragged on for more than six years will continue for many months more, probably until the spring of 2015.
In a statement from Seattle, Knox, who has resumed her studies at the University of Washington, said: “I am frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict.  Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system."
“There has always been a marked lack of evidence. My family and I have suffered greatly from this wrongful persecution.”
Insisting on her innocence, she said her initial conviction in 2009 was the result of an “overzealous and intransigent prosecution, a prejudiced and narrow-minded investigation, an unwillingness to admit mistakes, reliance on unreliable testimony and evidence, character assassination, inconsistent and unfounded accusatory theory, and counterproductive and coercive interrogation techniques that produce [sic] false confessions and inaccurate statements.”
Lyle Kercher, one of Meredith's three siblings, shook hands with the family's Italian lawyers when the verdict was announced.
Speaking in court a few minutes later, he said: "It's hard to feel anything at the moment because we know that it's going to a further appeal by the defendants. Whatever the verdict, it was never going to be a case of celebrating for us."
Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family’s Italian lawyer, welcomed the guilty verdict. "I feel great satisfaction. It confirmed everything that has been said by the prosecution in these past few years. I hope it delivers justice to the Kercher family."
Patrick Lumumba, the Congo-born owner of a bar in Perugia who was wrongly accused by Miss Knox of being the murderer and spent two weeks in jail before an alibi secured his release, said in court: "I was convinced they would be found guilty again. Amanda knows what happened that night, she bears great responsibility. I want to express my solidarity with the Kercher family, and satisfaction at the verdict."
The verdict was the latest twist in a torturous legal process that has attracted enormous attention on both sides of the Atlantic.
Ms. Kercher was found dead in the hillside house she shared with Knox in the university town of Perugia, Umbria, in November 2007.
Prosecutors claimed in the original trial that she died as a result of a sex game organized by Knox, Sollecito, and Rudy Guede, a small-time drug dealer who was born in Ivory Coast but grew up in Perugia. But in the latest trial in Florence, the prosecution changed tack, saying that the murder was a result of simmering tensions between Knox and Kercher over cleaning and standards of hygiene.
Mr. Guede was convicted of murdering and sexually assaulting Kercher in a separate trial in 2008 and is now serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Knox and Sollecito were found guilty in 2009 of murdering and sexually assaulting Kercher. A court in Perugia sentenced them to 26 years and 25 years respectively, but their convictions were dramatically overturned by an appeals court in the same city in 2011.
In March last year, however, the Supreme Court in Rome overturned those acquittals and ordered that the entire case be re-examined by another appellate court, this time in Florence.
Lawyers for Knox and Sollecito maintain that the murder was committed by one person alone – Guede.
The drifter, who fled Italy after the murder and was then extradited from Germany, has admitted that he was in Kercher’s room that night but denies that he killed her, though his DNA was found all over the crime scene.
Lawyers for Sollecito said the conviction was unjust and wrong, confirming that they would refer the case back to the Supreme Court. "There isn't a shred of proof," Luca Maori, one of the attorneys, said.
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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Remembering Pete Seeger, From Woody Guthrie to Occupy Wall Street

from thenation.com

Greg Mitchell on January 28, 2014 - 4:33 AM ET



Pete Seeger, 1944
Pete Seeger performing in Washington D.C. on February 13, 1944. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt seen at center. (Flickr, Library of Congress)
There’s so much to express about one of my heroes, Pete Seeger, who passed away, apparently peacefully, in New York at the age of 94. Despite his advance age, this still came as a shock, since he’d been out and about not long ago and scheduled for events not far from my home—he lived just up the river from me, that river being the Hudson. Of course, I once boarded his famous sloop, the Clearwater.
Just last week I was trying to find a way to contact him. The film I co-produced about the political influence of Beethoven’s Ninth, Following the Ninth, is screening on February 27 up in Rhinebeck, very near his home in Beacon. In the film, Billy Bragg sings his new right-on lyrics to the “Ode to Joy,” something Pete had done long ago, and I wondered if I might coax Pete into the cold for a few minutes to sing a few bars after the screening. Here’s Pete singing it long ago:



 Now here he talks about his old friend Woody Guthrie, as he promoted his songs and legend, then largely forgotten.


And to complete this circle, here’s Pete just two years ago at the end of his march for Occupy Wall Street, which ended in Columbus Circle with a kind of birthday party for Pete, video shot by pal and noted filmmaker Sandi Bachom.



But let’s not forget about the controversy (I was old enough to experience it) when Pete got banned from the popular Hootenanny network TV show for his politics in the early 1960s. A few years later he was allowed on shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour to perform his “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” with LBJ as the “big fool” urging us to “push on” in Vietnam.




Read Next: John Nichols remembers Pete Seeger.eos (with Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Sam Cooke and more) at my Pressing Issues blog all day.



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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

17-year-old boy shot, taken into custody at Honolulu high school

from reuters


(Reuters) - A 17-year-old boy was shot in the wrist at a Honolulu high school on Tuesday morning in an incident local media reported had involved police who were trying to apprehend him.
Officials confirmed that a shooting had taken place and that the teen had been taken into custody, but could not immediately confirm reports that officers had been involved in the shooting and that the teen was a runaway.
"I can confirm that there has been a shooting on campus," said Shayne Enright, a spokeswoman for Honolulu's Emergency Medical Services Division.
"A 17-year-old male has been transported to a trauma center in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the right wrist," Enright said. She said no other victims were transported to hospitals following the incident at about 8:30 a.m. local time.
The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, citing Honolulu police, reported that the injured boy was shot by police after allegedly attacking three officers with a kitchen knife as they tried to apprehend him as a runaway. There was no immediate word on whether the boy was a student at the school.
The newspaper reported that the police officers received minor lacerations that did not require medical attention.
Roosevelt High School, which has some 1,400 students, was placed on lockdown following the incident. Students were then released early for the day, the school said in a statement posted on its website.

(Reporting by Treena Shapiro, Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Meredith Mazzilli)
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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Justin Bieber arrest: 'What the .... did I do. Why did you stop me'

from latimes








  • Video: Justin Bieber arrested in Miami for DUI

    Video: Justin Bieber arrested in Miami for DUI

  • Pop Star Justin Bieber Arrested in Miami Area

    Pop Star Justin Bieber Arrested in Miami Area

  • Justin Bieber Arrested for Alleged DUI, Drag Racing

    Justin Bieber Arrested for Alleged DUI, Drag Racing

  • Justin Bieber seen being transported by van out of the Miami Beach Court Facility where he was held prior to being booked in Miami Beach, Florida

    Justin Bieber seen being transported by van out of the Miami Beach Court Facility...


 This post has been updated with the latest developments.
January 23, 2014, 9:11 a.m.

Justin Bieber, investigated for bad boy activities on both coasts, has been accused of resisting arrest and driving under the influence after a drag racing incident in Miami Beach, police said on Thursday.
Bieber admitted to having consumed alcohol before the incident, police said, and that he had been smoking marijuana and had taken prescription drugs.
Bieber, 19, was in custody pending a first court appearance, police spokesman Robert Hernandez told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday morning.
The singer was being held on suspicion of resisting arrest without violence, DUI and driving with an invalid driver's license. The license was issued by the state of Georgia, Hernandez said.
Police Chief Ray Martinez said in a televised news conference that Bieber was not cooperative with police when the star was pulled over Thursday morning, allegedly racing a yellow Lamborghini against another driver in a Ferrari. The second driver, identified as Khalil Sharieff, a rapper who uses only his first name, was also charged with DUI. Both vehicles were taken to a police garage. 
Police said two SUVs blocked traffic so that Pine Tree Drive could be used as a drag strip around 4 a.m.
According to the arrest report, the vehicles were going between 55 and 60 mph in a 30 mph zone.
When he was pulled over, police said, Bieber asked why he was stopped. The arrest report states that the officer who talked to Bieber smelled the odor of alcohol and saw the driver’s bloodshot eyes.
“The driver had slow, deliberate movements and a stupor look on his face,” the police report said. “These are all indicators of an impaired driver.”
The officer wrote that he ordered Bieber to exit the vehicle and that the star let loose with a series of obscentities.
“Why the .... are you doing this,” the report quoted Bieber as saying.
The officer went on to write that Bieber left the vehicle and the officer ordered him to keep his hands on the car “to facilitate a cursory patdown for weapons” or other contraband.
Bieber replied: “What the .... did I do. Why did you stop me.”
The discussion continued with the officer saying Bieber should keep his hands on the vehicle and police said Bieber exploded. “I ain’t got no .... weapons. Why do you have to search me. What the ... is this about?”
The officer wrote that he advised Bieber that if he continued to keep his hands off of his vehicle that he would be subject to arrest. The driver turned and the officer grabbed his right hand and told him he was under arrest.
“The driver began to resist me by pulling his right arm away as he stated: ‘What the ... are you doing,' ” the report says. Bieber was then placed in custody with no further resistance, the officer wrote.
Bieber, 19, flew to South Florida on Monday.
Thursday's incident marks the first time the teen singer has been arrested, although he is under investigation on allegations of egging his neighbor's home in Southern California.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies used a search warrant last week to raid Bieber's Calabasas mansion in the felony vandalism investigation.
They seized Bieber's iPhone and the security camera system, which detectives have been examining for clues about who tossed eggs over a fence that splattered onto the house next door, causing an estimated $20,000 in damage.
Deputies have said they are investigating reports by Bieber's neighbors that he raced his expensive sports car down the streets of the exclusive Oaks community of Calabasas. No charges have been filed.
ALSO:


http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-justin-bieber-arrest-drag-racing-dui-20140123,0,162928.story#ixzz2rFDKwj4U
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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

White House: Obama Still Opposed To Marijuana Legalization

from huffpost



Posted:   |  Updated: 01/22/2014 7:59 pm EST
WASHINGTON -- Despite President Barack Obama's recent comments stating that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol, the White House said Wednesday that his opposition to marijuana legalization still stands.
"The president's position on these matters hasn't changed," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily press briefing, when asked if Obama was warming up to the decriminalization of marijuana.
The question was raised after Obama reignited the marijuana debate earlier this week, when he told the New Yorker that the health risks of marijuana posed no greater risk than those of alcohol. The president also discussed the need to reform how individuals are prosecuted for marijuana use under current drug laws, and said it was "important" for new laws in Colorado and Washington that legalized recreational marijuana to go forward.
"We should not be locking up kids or individual users for long stretches of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing," Obama said.
Carney emphasized Wednesday that Obama was simply talking about the "the disparities in our prosecution of our drug laws," and does not encourage marijuana use, which he sees as "a bad habit and a vice."
"He's not endorsing any specific move by a state," Carney said. "He's simply making an observation, his position of these matters has not changed."
Many nonetheless saw the president's remarks as a major shift in tone, given the extent to which his administration has cracked down on the use of medical marijuana, even in states where it's legal. While the Obama administrationannounced in August that it would not stop Washington and Colorado from legalizing recreational marijuana use, the president has yet to throw his support behind changes to the legal classification of marijuana.
The Drug Enforcement Administration currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance, which the DEA regards as "the most dangerous class of drugs with a high potential for abuse and potentially severe psychological and/or physical dependence."
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