Suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted today, March 30, of federal bribery and conspiracy charges, along with mail and wire fraud, stemming from his time serving on the county Board of Supervisors and accommodations provided to his son by a then-USC dean.
A former dean of the USC School of Social Work has agreed to plead guilty to a federal bribery charge in a political corruption case involving suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction and opened the way for his immediate release from prison Wednesday in a stunning reversal of fortune for the comedian once known as “America’s Dad,” ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s agreement not to charge Cosby.
Just a few days have passed since Derek Chauvin’s conviction in the murder of George Floyd. But the images from that moment are seared in our memories forever: the murderer, led away in handcuffs.
Killing is wrong. Killing Black people because they are Black is even more wrong. Lynching Black people is exponentially wrong. So why was I opposed to the state-imposed killing of John William King, the despicable murderer of James Byrd, Jr.? I happen to think that there are worse things that can happen to you than death. The now 44-year old King could have gotten a sentence of life in prison and lived miserably there for the rest of his life. In some ways, death is salvation for him. Imagine being relatively healthy with nothing to look forward to? Just sitting there, in jail, surrounded by the Black people your white supremacist self purports to hate. That might be torture worse than death.
Collins, 51, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.
On their Website, the Sons of Confederate Veterans describe themselves as preserving the “history and legacy” of the Confederacy. Their organization, they say, is “dedicated to ensuring that “a true history of the 1861-1865 period is preserved.” I would suggest, instead, that the Sons of Confederate Veterans is guilty of rewriting history instead of preserving it.