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Friday, March 3, 2023

Wake-Up Call: Jury Finds Murdaugh To Be The Killer

54-year-old Alex Murdaugh showed no emotion on his face but was shaking as the verdict was read out at the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, after six weeks of harrowing testimony. His surviving son Buster was stony-faced and put his head in his hands. Murdaugh turned to face the 26-year-old and his sister Lynn as he was cuffed and led away. Neither his younger brother John Marvin, who testified earlier this week, nor his elder sibling Randy were in court. Murdaugh whose family has wielded immense judicial power in the region for three generations, brutally shot dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, (inset) at the family's 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle on the night of June 7, 2021.

Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when court is scheduled to reconvene for sentencing at 9:30 a.m. Friday. After the verdict was read, Judge Clifton Newman denied a defense motion to declare a mistrial, saying “the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.”

In six weeks of bombshell testimony, the courtroom has been rocked by not just the evidence, but the antics of lawyers, jurors, witnesses and the Murdaugh clan. Trial watchers have been gripped by the nicknames: Big Red for Murdaugh, PawPaw for Paul, White Boy for a farm truck and and Bo Whoop for a shotgun. Somber evidence has been punctuated with laughter, including when defense attorney Dick Harpootlian aimed a gun at prosecutors and joked, 'tempting,' and when an expelled juror asked the judge if she could fetch her eggs before leaving. The Murdaugh clan have ruffled feathers by passing contraband to the defendant and the legal scion's surviving son is even accused of holding up his middle finger.

➤BATTLE FOR BAKHMUT RAGES: Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in an attempt to hold back Russian attackers, as the United States said new military aid for Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting with Germany's leader on Friday. Russian forces have been attacking Bakhmut in Donetsk province for months, sometimes in waves and the site has become one of the bloodiest battles of the war. "Fighting is going on in Bakhmut round the clock...The situation is critical," Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine, told Ukrainian NV Radio.

"They take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by assault. The task of our forces in Bakhmut is to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible. Every metre of Ukrainian land costs hundreds of lives to the enemy." In the past 24 hours Ukrainian forces repelled more than 85 attacks in the five principal sectors of the Bakhmut front line, the General Staff of the Ukraine Military said on Friday.

➤TENNESSEE RESTRICTS DRAG PERFORMANCES: Republican Governor Bill Lee signed into law a bill to restrict drag show performances in his state. The bill classes drag shows as “adult cabaret performances” that must be shielded from the view of children, along with exotic dancers and strippers. Similar bills are making their way through the legislatures of a dozen other states with Republican elected majorities.


➤PAY GAP PERSISTS: The pay gap between men and women in the U.S. has shrunk by a mere two cents on the dollar in the past 20 years, according to a new analysis from Pew Research. Women in the U.S. now earn roughly 82 percent as much as men, compared with 80 cents in 2002. The gap is worse for Black women, who earn 70 cents for every dollar earned by a white man, and for Hispanic women, who make 65 cents for every dollar. Half of the respondents to the Pew survey blame the gender pay gap on different treatment by employers.

➤NOW THERE ARE TWO HOUSE ETHICS IVESTIGATIONS: The House Ethics Committee said it has opened an investigation into a series of alleged unlawful acts by freshman New York Republican Representative George Santos. The 10-member committee unanimously voted in private Tuesday to do so, according to a joint statement Thursday from committee Chair Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, and its top Democrat, Susan Wild of Pennsylvania. An investigative panel to be chaired by Republican David Joyce of Ohio will look into a range of allegations, including whether Santos engaged in sexual misconduct involving an individual seeking employment in his congressional office. No details were provided on the allegation.

Meanwhile, The House Ethics Committee says it is continuing its review of whether New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have violated House rules on “impermissible gifts” associated with her rented dress, accessories and other items tied to her attendance at the Met Gala in New York City in 2021. The committee on Thursday released an outside investigative report and referral from the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics that determined Democrat Ocasio-Cortez or her campaign didn’t initially pay for the gown she wore to the gala, and other things. It concludes that there is “substantial reason to believe that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez accepted impermissible gifts associated with her attendance at the Met Gala,” and recommends that the ethics committee review the matter further.’ 


➤CPAC THIS WEEKEND: Trump is the featured speaker at CPAC on Saturday, in what will be only his second return to the city he derides as “the swamp” since he left office. He’s long enjoyed adulation by the crowd at the conference, ultra-conservatives who share (or have adopted) his nationalist approach to the world, his antipathy for Democrats and his predilection for conspiracies, including his false claim that the 2020 election was rigged.  Yet polls indicate that many Republican voters want an alternative to the former president — someone like, say, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who shares most of Trump’s positions but is more likely to win a general election against President Joe Biden. The former president will likely again win the CPAC straw poll of its participants’ preference for the GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential election, but the performance of his challengers — especially DeSantis — will be closely watched. 

➤MISS A CAR PAYMENT, YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TURN-ON THE RADIO: What’s that aggravating beeping in your car? You might have missed a payment. Ford Motor Co. has filed for a patent on technology that could remotely shut down your radio or air conditioning, lock you out of your vehicle, or prompt it to ceaselessly beep if you miss car payments. Ford said it has no plans to use the technology, contained in just one of the many patents filed by the auto-making giant. Still, it emerges at a troubling time for car owners. Loan delinquencies have been steadily ticking back up from their pandemic lull. Cox Automotive data showed severely delinquent auto loans in January hitting their highest point since 2006. The use of technology to aid repossessions isn’t new, but the patent application is wide-ranging, even proposing the idea that an autonomous vehicle could drive itself to a “more convenient” location to be collected by a tow truck. 

➤HERSHEY'S CAUSES MELTDOWN: Incensed social media critics are threatening to boycott Hershey’s after the brand featured a transgender woman in an ad campaign for International Woman’s Day 2023. The chocolate meltdown came to light after the Pennsylvania-based candy company brought back its “She” bar — known as “Her” in Canada — in an effort to “celebrate the women changing the future,” according to the candy giant’s website. The wrapper features the faces of five women who were selected to be part of the cacao-fueled empowerment campaign. One of the featured candy-promoters is Fae Johnstone, a Canadian transgender rights activist, who celebrated her selection on Twitter. “The chocolate’s out of the wrapper!” Johnstone, 24, gushed. “Honored to be featured in this campaign by @Hersheys Canada for #InternationalWomensDay alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers.”

🏀LEBRON IS OUT FOR 3 WEEKS OR MORE: Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will be out for at least three weeks due to an injury in his right foot, the team announced. James got the injury during Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers are also worrying about Anthony Davis, who had to sit out this week’s game against the Oklahoma Thunder due to a right foot stress injury.

⚾ROCKIES’ RODGERS MIGHT NEED SURGERY: Colorado Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers has a dislocated shoulder that might need surgery. That could knock him out of the game for the entire 2023 season. A Gold Glove winner last season, Rodgers was injured yesterday during a spring training game against the Texas Rangers.

🏈NFL HOPEFUL BREAKS A SPEED RECORD: Pittsburgh defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, who is expected to be an NFL first-round pick, made an impression yesterday by setting a speed record for the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. Kancey ran it in 4.67 seconds, the fastest time at the Combine since at least 2003, when the timing of the event became standardized. Kancey was an All-American and the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.

🏀IOWA STATE’S CALEB GRILL RELEASED: Caleb Grill has been released from the Iowa State Cyclones less than a week before the Big 12 tournament is set to start. A statement from the team said the senior player had failed to “meet the program’s expectations.” No further information was released. Iowa State takes on Baylor tomorrow in its final game of the season. The Cyclones are still expected to make it to the NCAA tournament.

➤THE UPSIDE OF THAT CALIFORNIA STORM: There’s one good aspect to that rare winter storm that California has endured this week: It put a small dent in the drought status that has plagued most of the state. The extra moisture transformed much of Los Angeles County from drought conditions to merely “abnormally dry” conditions, according to a federal drought monitor.



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