This is breaking, and I may have more later on: “Kinky” Friedman, Texas musician, author, and politician. KVUE. KSAT. HouChron (archived). (Hattip: Lawrence.)
Bill Cobbs, actor. NYT (archived). Other credits include “A Mighty Wind”, “The Slap Maxwell Story”, and one of the spinoffs of a minor 1960s SF TV series.
Finally, a weird one:
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I have said, more than once, that I am an equal opportunity observer of hyenas on fire. Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Communist, I don’t care. (Except maybe I take more joy out of Communist hyenas on fire.)
(“Communist Hyenas On Fire” is the name of my next band. We play covers of Trotsky Icepick.)
Also, I couldn’t pass this up because: strippers, always with the strippers.
Neil Friske is a Republican Michigan House representative. I’ve seen him described as a “prominent Second Amendment activist”. I’d never heard of him previously, but perhaps his 2A activism is more prominent in Michigan.
Rep. Friske was arrested early Thursday morning.
Lansing Police Public Information Director Jordan Gulkis confirmed to the Free Press. In a statement posted to Friske’s Facebook page, his campaign called the arrest “highly suspect.”
Gulkis said LPD officers were dispatched initially to the nearby 2100 block of Forest Road to respond to reports of a male with a gun, “as well as possible shots that were fired,” she said over email.
Friske was arrested “for a felony-level offense” after officers made contact. Additional investigation remains ongoing, Gulkis said. LPD expects to present the case to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office for review Friday.
Other reports (attributed to “sources”) claim that he “sexually assaulted an exotic dancer and then chased her with a firearm”.
Rep. Friske’s office denies the allegations, and claims the timing is suspicious: he’s currently running for re-election.
In other news that doesn’t quite rise to the level of flames, but definitely involves a lot of smoke: The FBI raided the home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao yesterday. Nobody knows why, and the FBI isn’t saying much.
By the way, Mayor Thao is dealing with a recall election this November, a fact I did not previously know.
FotB RoadRich sent over a story (by way of Must Read Texas) that also isn’t quite flames, yet, but definitely a lot of smoke. Let me see if I can summarize it for you:
David R. Jones was a Federal bankruptcy judge in Houston.
Kirkland & Ellis is the world’s largest law firm.
Jones became the nation’s busiest bankruptcy judge after Kirkland, the top U.S. firm for advising financially-troubled companies, steered most of its largest chapter 11 cases to his court.
Elizabeth Freeman is an attorney who worked as co-council with Kirkland on bankruptcy cases in Jones’s court. She worked for a law firm, Jackson Walker, until December of 2022, when she left and started her own law office.
And you guessed it: Jones and Freeman were allegedly lovers.
And it gets better:
The anonymous letter first went to Michael Van Deelen, a former high-school math teacher with a history of filing lawsuits against people he believed had wronged him. He was angry over a bankruptcy plan from Kirkland—approved by Jones—that wiped out Van Deelen’s $146,541 investment in an oil-and-gas drilling company that had gone bust.
Van Deelen sent a copy of the letter to Jackson Walker, where Freeman was a partner, and the law firm questioned her. Freeman acknowledged a romantic relationship with Jones that she said had ended about a year earlier. Jackson Walker forwarded the letter to Jones and shared its allegations with Kirkland, according to court papers filed by both firms.
Van Deelen tried to submit the letter to court in his effort to disqualify Jones from the bankruptcy case involving his lost investment. In a court hearing, a Kirkland partner argued that the letter was unsubstantiated and moved to exclude it as evidence. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur, Jones’s former law partner and a court colleague, sided with Kirkland. He denied Van Deelen’s request. Jones later signed an order to permanently seal the letter from public view.
Jackson Walker didn’t publicly disclose what it learned about the Jones-Freeman relationship at the time. Kirkland also kept quiet about the allegation. Jones remained Houston’s chief bankruptcy judge, and Freeman continued to work on Kirkland cases involving Jones.
So a judge and a lawyer were engaged in a pretty serious conflict of interest, and the two law firms involved plus the Federal bankruptcy court conspired to cover it up.
Months later, Van Deelen found the evidence he wanted on a website that searches public records for personal information. “All I had for proof was that anonymous letter,” he said. “Then I asked TruthFinder.” He learned from property records on the Harris County website that Jones and Freeman had bought a home together in Houston in 2017 and still owned it.
Armed with that information, Van Deelen filed a lawsuit against Jones in October. This time, he included the property records with the anonymous letter. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal shortly after, Jones confirmed the relationship.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals was alerted and initiated an investigation against Jones. After a little more than a week, the court’s chief judge said she found probable cause that Jones had committed misconduct regarding his intimate relationship with Freeman. Jones resigned days later.
I don’t know that there’s anything actually criminal here, though I suspect there is if someone cares to look hard enough. But this seems like the kind of thing that should get people disbarred from the practice of law. (And removed from the bench, but Jones is already gone. It seems like Judge Isgur is still a bankruptcy judge, though.)
Willie Mays. SF Chronicle (archived). ESPN.
The Awful Announcing blog has a link to a video tribute to Mr. Mays narrated by Jon Miller.
Neil Goldschmidt, former mayor of Portland and governor of Oregon. He seemed to have a promising political career (he was also transportation secretary under Jimmy Carter) but left office in 1990. There were a lot of rumors about his extramarital activities at the time.
In 2004, it came out that he’d been raping a teenage girl.
The statute of limitations on any criminal charges that might have been brought against Mr. Goldschmidt, including statutory rape, had expired decades earlier. The woman he abused later gave a series of interviews to Margie Boulé, a columnist for The Oregonian, describing her relationship with the mayor.
The woman said the abuse first began when she was 13, on her mother’s birthday. It virtually destroyed her, she said. She attempted suicide at age 15 and later become addicted to alcohol and cocaine. She died in 2011.
George R. Nethercutt Jr., former House member. He’s most famous for having defeated Thomas S. Foley, who was Speaker of the House at the time.
Paul Pressler. He was sort of a “power behind the throne” in the Southern Baptist Convention:
He was also involved in a messy sex scandal, which led to the Southern Baptist Convention distancing themselves from him.
Angela Bofill, R&B singer of the 1970s and 1980s.
Dennis Thompson, drummer for the MC5. He was also the last surviving member.
Pete McCloskey (R – California). He may be more famous for having run against Nixon for the presidential nomination in 1972.
I’ve been holding this one for a few days for reasons, but KVUE has a nice tribute to Robert “Bob” Reale. Mr. Reale was the founder and owner of Reale’s Italian Cafe, which is a swell Italian restaurant and a favorite of both myself and Lawrence.
Some people might question whether these are actual “flames”, but I think they’re close enough for government work.
1. Here comes the judge?
No. There goes the judge.
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Investigations began into Ademiluyi on Sept. 27, 2022, after allegations arose that she bypassed the judicial nomination process and vetting, ultimately beating a previously seated judge.
Court documents noted concerns from the Commission of Judicial Disabilities with a campaign ad from Ademiluyi that detailed her personal experience as a sexual assault survivor, claiming that the ad could “reasonably be perceived as inconsistent with the independence and impartiality of judicial office.”
While in office, two of Ademiluyi’s employees told the commission that the judge would routinely “demand, demean, and belittle” them, leading to both seeking medical attention for stress and anxiety
In 2023, Ademilyi was suspended without pay and barred from a courthouse.
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She has alleged in complaints and court documents that her outsider status drew hostility from her judicial colleagues, creating a working environment that prompted her to file what she said was a whistleblower complaint against her supervisors in 2022.
In a statement, she asserted that her removal from the bench is retaliation for that complaint. After reporting her supervisors to the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, they responded with a complaint of their own, alleging misconduct by Ademiluyi in hundreds of pages of documents that the commission and Maryland Supreme Court deemed valid.
Her fellow judges alleged that she behaved inappropriately at the courthouse, including insubordination, unprofessionalism, tardiness and lack of participation in critical judicial training sessions.
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Soon after Ademiluyi became a judge, tensions with her colleagues began to develop, according to court and commission documents.
But Ademiluyi took the first action before the commission, filing a complaint against Sheila Tillerson Adams, then serving as the county’s longtime chief administrative judge, and Daneeka Varner Cotton, who would soon take over for Tillerson Adams.
Ademiluyi alleged that Tillerson Adams forged her signature on a ruling and that the two had been monitoring her emails in an attempt to sabotage her, according to commission and court documents. In a letter to the commission, Cotton replied that it would be “extremely difficult to respond to the blatant falsehoods” alleged in Ademiluyi’s complaint.
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Tillerson Adams told investigators that dealing with Ademiluyi had been a “nightmare.” The commission ultimately dismissed Ademiluyi’s complaint, ruling that there was not sufficient evidence to support her allegations.
Then came a second commission complaint from Tillerson Adams against Ademiluyi, alleging misconduct. The commission would ultimately find that, among other conclusions, she refused to talk to certain judges, instructed her law clerks to not speak to other judges and sent emails saying, “I don’t look forward to meeting you or communicating with you at anytime.” They also found that her election campaign content could have led to perceptions of her not being impartial in sexual violence cases.
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The Maryland Supreme Court’s decision Monday went far beyond the punishment the commission had unanimously recommended in February, which included a censure and six-month unpaid suspension, with two months served immediately and four months suspended depending on her compliance with certain conditions.
Those conditions included that the Supreme Court institute a one-year probation with a monitor; an assigned mentor judge who would provide monthly reports; “a complete emotional, behavioral and prosocial assessment” followed by Ademiluyi’s cooperation and compliance with any recommended treatments; and attendance at Maryland judiciary, educational and ethics trainings.
As I understand it, she beat Jared McCarthy in the 2020 general election for the position. Mike the Musicologist, who tipped me off to this story, also sent over a tweet:
"McCarthy had led by about 7,000 votes on election night, but with a large number of mail-in and provisional ballots remaining to be counted, he finally lost by 5,200 votes."
History will come to know this as THE BIDEN MANEUVER.
— Byl Holte (@SirBylHolte) May 8, 2024
2. Troy Finner, the chief of police for the Houston Police Department, retired yesterday.
This sounds more like a “retirefiring” than an actual retirement, even though he’s been on the job for 31 years. The HPD has been under a lot of fire recently over closing 264,000 cases. The cases were “suspended” with a code indicating “lack of personnel”…
Former Chief Finner had said repeatedly he knew nothing about this, but an email surfaced recently in which he was told that a road rage incident had been closed with that code:
And, as a special bonus for reading all the way to the end:
There was an election in Austin this past weekend.
Because of changes in state law, areas of Austin that were previously annexed by the city could vote to de-annex from the city.
Some of those results are interesting.
For example, Proposition B, “Disannex Mooreland Addition” received 0 votes against…and 0 votes for.
Proposition C, “Disannex Blue Goose Road”, got 3 votes for…and none against.
Proposition E, “Disannex Wildhorse/Webb” also ended up in a 0-0 tie.
And Proposition F, “Disannex River Place Outparcels”, won, 1-0. See, one vote can matter.
In case you were wondering, Proposition A, “Disannex Lost Creek”, won, 1,447 – 138. Proposition D, “Disannex Lennar at Malone”, won lost 110 – 2.
Edited to add 5/7: Actually, I mis-read the results. Proposition D, “Disannex Lennar at Malone”, was defeated.
I don’t know that there’s any major trends to be drawn from this. I want to say that the results prove general unhappiness with the city, and a desire to be well separated from it. But I feel like that can only be said for the areas covered by propositions A and D, since those seem to be the only ones with a significant number of voters.
Edited to add 5/7: Thanks to T. Migratorious for his comments.
Also, KVUE has a post election follow-up article.
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“My grandfather fought the annexation of this little area the whole time here until he died in 2015,” Kizer said. “He was the kind of guy that would call the county … call the city and tell them, ‘You need to come do things.’”Kizer said they never got any benefits from the city in the seven years they were annexed and that their roads and water infrastructure deteriorated.
“I did call and contact the city for services, and they’re like, ‘No, we’re not up to date in your area to provide those services,'” Kizer said. “Huge potholes everywhere … They didn’t actually come and fix our road until they started doing new construction in the rest of the area. It was only to benefit the newcomers to the area, not anybody that’s already been here and paying taxes.”
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Disannexing means the residents will no longer receive certain city services, like fire or police protection, street maintenance, public health sanitation and more.
“There weren’t a lot of things to look forward to or that they were giving us,” Kizer said. “So, the major benefit is that I get to go back to being county taxed.”
This was rumored all morning, but it was just rumors until now.
His wife Imelda has also been indicted.
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The two each face the following charges:
- Two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official and to have a public official act as an agent of a foreign principal
- Two counts of bribery of a federal official
- Two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud
- Two counts of violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal
- One count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering
- Five counts of money laundering
Of course, Rep. Cuellar and his wife are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
I have no joke here, I just like saying “Wonderful thing, a subpoena.”
Mike the Musicologist also tells me that Ms. Henyard’s current lawyers have asked to withdraw from the case…because Ms. Henyard isn’t paying her legal bills.
Man, it has been a rough few days for baseball.
Signed by the Yankees in 1949, he never made it out of their minor league system, though he picked up a lifetime of baseball knowledge from Manager Casey Stengel at spring training camps. He played the outfield for four American League teams over eight seasons with only modest success.
But Herzog found his niche as a manager with what came to be called Whiteyball, molding teams with speed, defense and pitching to take advantage of ballparks with fast artificial turf and spacious outfields, first at Royals Stadium in Kansas City and then at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Herzog managed the Kansas City Royals to three consecutive American League division championships in the 1970s, then took the Cardinals to the 1982 World Series title with a team he had built while general manager as well. And he managed the Cardinals to pennants in 1985 and 1987.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2009.
He was 92, and the second oldest member of the Hall of Fame (behind Willie Mays). Baseball Reference.
Carl Erskine, pitcher.
Erskine was the last survivor of the 13 Dodger players of his time who were profiled by Roger Kahn in his 1972 book, “The Boys of Summer,” telling of their exploits on the field and the lives they led when their baseball years had ended.
Although struggling with a sore pitching shoulder throughout his career, Erskine, an unimposing presence on the mound at 5 feet 10 inches and 165 pounds, employed a superb overhand curveball to help the Dodgers capture five pennants (the first in 1949 and the rest in the 1950s) and the 1955 World Series championship, the only one in their history before they moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
His 14 strikeouts in Game 3 of the 1953 World Series against the Yankees, a complete-game 3-2 victory, has been eclipsed only by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, who had 15 strikeouts against the Yankees in 1963, and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Bob Gibson, who struck out 17 Detroit Tigers in 1968.
In the 1952 World Series, also against the Yankees, Erskine pitched an 11-inning complete game, retiring the last 19 batters in the Dodgers’ 6-5 victory.
He pitched no-hitters against the Chicago Cubs in 1952 and the New York Giants in 1956, both at Ebbets Field. His best season was 1953, when he was 20-6 and led the National League in winning percentage at .769.
Ken Holtzman, the “winningest Jewish pitcher in Major League Baseball”. He played for the Cubs and the Oakland A’s.
Holtzman won 174 games, the most for a Jewish pitcher in Major League Baseball — nine more than the Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who is considered one of the best pitchers ever and who had a shorter career.
In addition to his win total, Holtzman, who at 6 feet 2 inches and 175 pounds cut a lanky figure, had a career earned run average of 3.49 and was chosen for the 1972 and 1973 All-Star teams.
Holtzman, at 23, threw his first no-hitter on Aug. 19, 1969, a 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves — a performance distinguished by the fact that he didn’t strike out any Braves. It was the first time since 1923 that a no-hitter had been pitched without a strikeout.
“I didn’t have my good curve, and I must have thrown 90 percent fastballs,” Holtzman told The Atlanta Constitution afterward. “When I saw my curve wasn’t breaking early in the game, I thought it might be a long day.”
His second no-hitter came on June 3, 1971, against the Cincinnati Reds at their ballpark, Riverfront Stadium, where he struck out six and walked four.
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Bob Graham, former Florida governor and US Senator.
Ron Thompson, actor. He did a lot of theater work, and some movies and TV. Other credits include “Quincy, M.E.”, “The Streets of San Francisco”, “Baretta”…
…and “Mannix”. (“Death Has No Face”, season 8, episode 6.)
The airport director who was shot by BATFE has passed away.
Neither the ATF, state police nor federal prosecutors would provide details of what agents were looking for, citing an ongoing investigation.
Around 2:35 p.m., Little Rock firefighters carrying a power saw and a Halligan tool —a large pry bar— were seen walking toward the house. An ATF agent was overheard saying they were at the scene to help agents open a safe in Malinowski’s house, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Edited to add: the NYT published a story that includes information from a redacted version of the search warrant affidavit.
The authorities accused Mr. Malinowski of having purchased more than 100 guns in recent years and of illegally selling many of them, including at least three that were later found to be connected with a crime. Mr. Malinowski first bought the guns legally, checking a box on purchase forms stating that the guns were for himself, before selling them privately to individuals, the affidavit states.
He would go to gun shows, the affidavit said, including two in Arkansas and one in Tennessee, and sell guns to people “without asking for any identification or paperwork.”
Photographs included in the redacted affidavit show Mr. Malinowski at a gun show, standing behind a booth filled with firearms. The affidavit also states that Mr. Malinowski had sold guns to two undercover agents who were investigating him.
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This raises all sorts of interesting questions which a) I don’t have time to go into right now, and II) other people have covered at length: what constitutes being a dealer? How many guns do you have to sell in a year before you have to get an FFL? How long do you have to keep a gun before you can resell it? How many years is “recent years”? How many guns can you buy in a year before triggering (ha!) BATFE suspicions? Does BATFE track how many purchases someone makes in a year, or at least how many background checks they have done? Isn’t that illegal? And what if you don’t have background checks done? (In Texas, I don’t have to have a background check done because I have a valid license to carry.)
And what prompted the shooting? Was this a no-knock warrant, and Mr. Malinowski thought someone was trying to rob him? Did BATFE knock and announce, or did they just start breaking down doors?
I’m still thinking this is going to be swept under the rug.
Well, this is certainly an odd one.
Our good friends at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted a raid on a house in Little Rock, Arkansas yesterday.
Someone inside the house fired shots. BATFE agents shot back.
An ATF agent, whose identity was not released, was also shot in the exchange of gunfire but suffered a non-life-threatening wound, officials said. The agent, too, was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
The apparent shooter was also injured, and is apparently in the hospital.
The weird part? The injured apparent shooter (and, I think, the homeowner, but this is not explicitly stated) is…
…the executive director for the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.
I’ll pause for a moment here so you can insert your own “I have evidence that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton” meme.
There’s something strange about BATFE raiding the home of an airport executive. But not completely implausible: they could have been looking for something like a Glock switch or other illegal machine guns. Or perhaps “fuel filters” from China.
I’ll be curious to see if there’s any follow-up on this, or if the story just gets quietly buried.
(Hattip: Miguel at Gun Free Zone.)