Kermit Gosnell – Late-term abortion doctor facing death penalty for killing babies ‘spinal cord cut with a pair of scissors’

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72,  is facing the death penalty for performing late-term abortions and allegedly killing newborns, as he ‘snips’ the spinal cords to make sure they are terminated (killed.)

I’m no pro-life advocate, but after reading about this monster and what he did, I may not be on the fence anymore.

Gosnell just finished a seven week trial for the murder of viable babies and the murder of one of his patients, Karnamaya Mongar, 41, a Bhutanese refugee,  a low-income women who came into his clinic for an abortion and died on the table.

The jury is to start deliberations today and it is expected it will not take long before they come to a verdict, guilty of all charges.

Gosnell clinic at 3801 Lancaster, Philadelphia

The thing that upsets most, is the absence of coverage this trial has seen. Although the trial is not televised, the American main stream media has been ignoring this horrible trial and maybe it is because of the Boston bombings, as well as the explosions in Texas a few weeks ago.

Smartphones are getting stolen in NYC, now Toronto as well, keep that phone hidden

Toronto, Canada – In New York City, now Toronto, and no doubt around the world smartphones are being stolen in subways, on the street and everywhere.

Not only the theft of the phone is a problem but the use of the phone and the stored data/pass-codes you may have already saved on the smartphone itself.

Unknown to many, there are insurance policies available through the cell phone carriers but the price of $7 per month is very unreasonable.

Are people concerned about these possible thefts? No, most say they are not concerned and are watching, but it doesn’t make much sense, since if they are looking at their smartphones, they don’t really have any idea of what is happening around them.

“I’m confident in myself, and I’m aware of my surroundings so I know when people are approaching me and when they are not,” said Isiah while she was standing at a streetcar stop in downtown Toronto while she typed away on her IPhone.

Is cell phone insurance really worth it?

“I would beat them over the head with it, if someone tried to grab it, and I’ll continue to do it,” said Emily of Toronto.

It’s sadly becoming a trend in Toronto, and most recently there was a crew of thieves who stole smartphones from students at gunpoint at Thistletown Collegiate Institute high school and police were called.

The real concern with smartphones and the protection of the owners is the major providers in Canada do not currently have a database where they can identify cell phones that have been stolen. All a phone thief needs to do is head over to a small cell phone store where they can have the phone unlocked and re-set it, without any concerns of being tracked by the phone serial number, known as IMEI numbers.

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) has expected to create a database to track stolen phones, but that is not expected until the fall of 2013. The reality is people, mostly women are becoming targets of these thefts, and unless they hide their smartphones, these thefts will continue.

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Daniel … Toronto, Canada,    丹尼尔     دانيال … تورنتو، كندا،
My take on everything
@dandmb50

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UPDATE: Jodi Arias Trial – Prosecutor Juan Martinez gets defence expert to say murder victim Travis Alexander was a ‘human being’ really

Phoenix, Arizona - The defence expert Alyce LaViolette was on the stand again today and finally made it clear that the murder victim, Travis Alexander was indeed a ‘human being.’ Juan Martinez the prosecutor asked her and she agreed, he was a ‘human being’ and Martinez continued to try to discredit her, since he thinks she is a “human lie detector.”

The expert psychotherapist finished her $300 an hour testimony Friday, but is under a court ordered subpoena to return to court on Tuesday to discuss an (issue) that Judge Sherry K. Stephens wants to discuss with her.

Why do you think LaViolette has been ordered back to court to address an “issue” that she is aware of? Also the court has ordered an InSession (TruTV) producer to attend court next week to discuss something.

Could it possibly be the Judge wants to ask why she ‘lied’ to some of the questions she was asked by the jury?

After all, LaViolette has the opinion that sometimes lies, are not lies, there are white lies and medium lies and then real lies, in her opinion.

Arizona is one a the few states that allows jurors to ask questions and Friday they asked about 160 questions of LaViolette. In day 101 of the trial the started on January 2/2013 there have only been three defence witnesses and she had stated to a jurors question she had given evidence in court about men, “one or two times.”

After another  heated cross by prosecutor Juan Martinez, he got her to admit she actually did not give testimony in court but had filed “a report” with the court about an earlier interview she did several years ago.

Also in another surprise move juror #11 was released from duty due to an unannounced illness.  Another alternate (16 remain) will take his place, which makes two jurors released from duty since the start of the trial.

Court will resume again on Monday, but LaViolette will not appear until Tuesday because of a prior conflict on Monday.

Jodi Arias murder trial – not one ‘yes or no questions’ today as defence asks Alyce LaViolette questions ‘what is a really good lie’

Domestic violence expert Alyce LaViolette was still on the stand today (day 9) as she was answering questions from the defence and yet prosecutor Juan Martinez didn’t miss a step trying to interrupt her answers with constant objections.

Judge Sherry K. Stephens did not fall for it and in almost all objections from Martinez she overruled his ignorant interruptions. It appears he wants her to still answer questions “his way” even though he is NOT asking the questions.

Judge Sherry K. Stephens at a ‘sidebar’

For the past four/five days while he was cross-examining LaViolette he would battle her with questions that he only wanted ‘yes or no’ answers even though she wanted to give her honest answer.

How will Juan Martinez’s questioning, objecting, bullying, fighting with the defence witnesses effect the jury in their deliberations once the case goes to the jury? It’s unlikely, but remember only one juror has to disagree with the prosecution and it would be a mistrial, and it all starts all over again.

There is no doubt Jodi Arias killed Travis Alexander, she has admitted it. The question here is, will the jury have the option to find her guilty, and yet not allow the death penalty to be imposed.

During the questioning from the defence today, LaViolette was asked “do men like Travis Alexander (the victim) have a double life?” Was again constantly challenged by Martinez.

Jennifer Willmott

Then the defence attorney Jennifer Willmott went on to ask, “given all the lies Arias has told in the past, does it cause problems in your believability?”

“No they don’t, because if Ms. Arias was a really good liar she would have planned a really good lie and she didn’t,” answered LaViolette.

Martinez objected to that asking, “give us a definition of a really good lie,” which was overruled by Judge Stephens, “the answer will stand.”

Coming up next will be jury questions, and the last round, they asked over 200.

One of the big questions will be, where was Alexander shot with the gun, in the closet or in the bathroom. And was he shot before he was stabbed or like Arias said, she stabbed him first in the bathroom.

The trial will continue tomorrow Friday and several Fridays within the next couple of months if the trial continues that long.

Jodi Arias trial ‘stalking’ the point today, Alyce LaViolette for defence, day 8

Phoenix, Arizona – Prosecutor Juan Martinez has been cross-examining the defence’s domestic violence expert Alyce LaViolette (psychotherapist) for the past eight days and today he was concentrating on Jodi Arias stalking of the victim Travis Alexander.

Martinez has been on a rant about the mischaracterizing of the witness in regards to her assessment of Jodi Arias almost three years ago. He suggests she is being paid to give her assessment and he thinks she is siding with the defendant. Basically he is suggesting she didn’t do her job, according to him.

Yesterday he wanted LaViolette to give testimony on a hypothetical situation and continue to do it ‘under oath.’ How can you testify to something that is not real? Oh yeah, Martinez deals in unreal situations with his questioning  about Snow White last week.

He didn’t skip a beat about the evidence when he brought up the point about Travis Alexander viewing child pornography. LaViolette had misspoke, and mentioned that she believed Alexander was viewing child pornography online but according to the defendant, he was viewing them with real pictures on his bed days before he was killed.

He touched on Arias’s evidence Alexander asked he to wear a little boys spiderman underwear, while they were having sex. But there is no evidence showing that Alexander had any interest in young boys, other than Arias’s evidence. It was suggested the reason Alexander wanted her to wear spiderman underwear was because he saw Cameron Diaz with them in a movie Charlie’s Angels.

Alyce LaViolette was conducting a forensic assessment when she interviewed Jodi Arias. I’m not exactly sure whether she is suppose to interview her and give her opinion.

But it appears prosecutor Martinez is trying to suggest she was wrong in her assessment and was just siding with the defendant Jodi Arias.

But we all must remember when the prosecution or the defence have an expert, they pick one that is going to give them answers that agree with their arguments.

Alyce LaViolette (old-fashioned) witness for the defence in the Jodi Arias trial under the gun again today, ‘What’s the Webster’s definition of manipulative?’

Phoenix, Arizona - Alyce LaViolette domestic violence expert getting $300 per hour was under fire again today from prosecutor Juan Martinez in the three-month first degree murder trial of Jodi Arias.

The trial has cost the State of Arizona at least $1.5 million so far up to the end of March with no end in sight.

Martinez didn’t let up for a second in trying to discredit the witness on the smallest contradiction from her notes in her assessment of Arias.

He asked “Do you even have any memory of your notes?” And then went on to ask her if she knew the “Webster’s definition of manipulative” suggesting Jodi Arias was very manipulative.

LaViolette answered, ” I haven’ been asked for a Webster’s definition.”

He went on to say Arias plays the victim all the time and doesn’t believe she was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her murder victim, Travis Alexander.

Whenever LaViolette tried to answer any questions without a yes or no answer which Martinez always maintains he would ask Judge Sherry K. Stephens to admonish the witness, to get in line with what he wanted, and demanded.

She often tries to give complete answers and yet Martinez is not satisfied and of course must give her a scolding from the Judge. He must have had a very tough time growing up as a young man if he acted as, the ‘bully’ he appears to be in this trial.

Mr. Martinez finally cleared up the major question in this three-month trial, “Yes or no, was Mr. Alexander a man?” LaViolette answered correctly and told us “yes he was.”

This is what you are missing if you don’t watch the trial, earth shattering information about who was killed back in 2008 by Jodi Arias.

LaViolette – “If you were in my group, I would ask you to take a time-out” which was admonished by the Judge.

The trial continues tomorrow, and no doubt Martinez will continue in the same fashion. If you don’t have HLN or In Session you can watch the LIVE streaming trial online HERE remember they are 3-4 hours behind the east coast time zone.

UPDATE: Jodi Arias murder trial on HLN (nonstop coverage) Pause/LIVE – Just for commercials?

HLN-In Session complete coverage is extensive and ratings are way up, 50%

World-wide coverage

Phoenix, Arizona – Jodi  Arias, 32  is on trial for the vicious stabbing/shooting murder of mormon Travis Alexander, 30 in Arizona in 2008, and the trial is being carried by HLN (part of CNN) and they emphasize it is ‘LIVE.’

She is facing the death penalty after she has admitted killing Alexander, but she claims it was in self-defence after she stabbed him 27 times and shot him once. She is claiming battered women syndrome and an expert was on the stand today for the defence. She has been in custody since her arrest in 2008.

Last week and today, psychotherapist Alyce LaViolette (over 35 years) was testifying and prosecutor Juan Martinez asked about a seminar she gave back in 2010 about Snow White being a battered women.

She kept saying she only used that title because it was “catchy” and drew attention to her seminar, but for some reason Juan Martinez never could ‘catch’ the concept.

He actually asked her “how old were the dwarves” but she did not have an answer, since it is not real, it is a fairy tale, created by Disney.

This is probably the first high-profile trial that has been covered this way, although many have asked for it since Digital Video Recorders (DVR) came into homes in the last decade. DVR’s allow you to watch LIVE TV and pause the show like a VCR. It saves the live stream in the computer memory on the DVR and although tv stations have had this equipment for many years, it’s the first time a trial has been covered in this way.

HLN ratings are up over 50%, yikes

The trial is something you don’t want to miss, even if you don’t like trials.

There’s never a dull moment, and the best is when the prosecutor Juan Martinez is questioning the defence witnesses.

It’s like a battle for Martinez to get a “yes/no” answer to nearly every question. He thinks it’s like a boxing match and must win on every point no matter how small it may be.

To get a better understanding of how annoying prosecutor Martinez can be, just watch the first 20 minutes of him constantly objecting during the direct testimony of LaViolette last week. (below) He may legally be correct, but it must take a toll on the jury, and they may also be annoyed with Martinez, they could lean towards giving Arias, a life sentence instead of the death penalty. He never gives it a rest, constantly objecting on the smallest of the small.

Today he tried to discredit psychotherapist Alyce LaViolette as he went on a rant about her not being the lead speaker at a seminar in Los Angeles in 2010. He was suggesting that she lied on her resume and pulled every punch he could to bring her down, without success.

Prosecutor-pitbull, Juan Martinez, ouch

With all the objections from the defence, and the constant sidebars with the judge the trial has gone on for nearly three months.

It seems when ever the defence objects, the judge always allows Martinez to continue with his constant badgering of the witnesses.

It is expected to end within the next week, but the way it is going, no-one knows for sure.

Certainly not a dull moment, and with Martinez trying to discredit every defence witness, this could go on for another month before it goes to the jury.

Yes/no, yes/no, yes/no? gurrr

There has been one juror released from service and an alternate took her place, but it’s unclear why she was removed after over two months.

The jurors have not been sequestered, and why is unclear. The defence has requested they be sequestered after juror No. 5 was given the boot.

The defence request for a mistrial was denied by Judge Sherry K. Stephens. Trial continues Tuesday on HLN and In Session (truTV,)  however there is no court on Fridays. Why not?

UPDATE:  Since I wrote this Judge Stephens announced yesterday they would now be holding court on a few Fridays within the next month or so. Maybe she has read my BLOG and thought it may be a good idea, and save the State some money.

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Daniel … Toronto, Canada,    丹尼尔     دانيال … تورنتو، كندا،
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Dutch – French – Spanish – Hindi – Chinese

Translate full Blog into any language. Click your flag above, if it’s not there click any flag. It will take you to Google Translate.There will be a drop down menu for languages, find yours and click to the right.

(English is default language)

UPDATE: ‘Welcome aboard’ Another Carnival cruise ship adrift at sea, no power, 4000 passengers/crew, ‘raw sewage everywhere’

Carnival Cruise ship Triumph is floating off the coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, with no power, and being towed to shore by tug boats since Monday.

Click 4 larger view

The cruise left Galveston, Texas on February 7th and is expected to arrive in Mobile, Alabama on Thursday.

As you can see one of life’s pleasures, charging cell phones was at a premium.

Passengers unplugged ATM machines and gathered extensions to charge their smart phones.

Carnival Triumph guests disembark safely in Alabama – Notice the ‘red restroom bags’

Latest UPDATE: Ship is on its way to Mobile, Alabama and will  arrive sometime tonight around 11-12, with 4200 passengers and crew, it is expected to take about four hours for everyone to disembark.

Passengers have praised the crew for all their help while they are coping with many of the same problems.

Even though power was very limited, it seems the ship had power for the ATM machines.

The ship had a fire in the engine room and lost most power, especially to the elevators and the toilet system.

Many have reported it is difficult to find working toilets, and most have been advised to use ‘red bags’ for their restroom.

Emergency lighting was still working but there is no air conditioning throughout the ship and most passengers are sleeping on the main deck, for a little cooling breeze from the ocean.

Food is very limited and many passengers are eating onion sandwiches, and many are hoarding food, since there is very little.

We can only imagine how terrible it is on the ship with raw sewage streaming throughout the ship, down the corridors and through the showers. It will be interesting to see what pictures surface after the ship returns to shore.

Carnival Cruise Lines have announced today they will refund the cost of the cruise for all passengers. They have also offered a credit for any future cruises and $500 cash?

Wonder how many will take them up on that offer, or will they sue?

What about the health consequences that may occur from the constant exposure and contact with the raw sewage since Monday?

Will anyone ever take a cruise again?

When will they get it?

What has to happen before people realize it is very dangerous and unhealthy.

There was much talk about the employees of the Carnival Triumph cruise and how well they adapted to the situation, and gave the guests that extra service that was above and beyond.

If any employees wish to give their side of the story anonymously, we would be very happy to hear from you how it went for you. If you are in the continental United States we would love to hear from you.

We would also love to hear some stories from the passengers as well, how you coped with the ‘cruise’ and what you have to say about Carnival Cruises.

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Daniel … Toronto, Canada,    丹尼尔     دانيال … تورنتو، كندا،
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Dutch – French – Spanish – Hindi – Chinese

Translate full Blog into any language. Click your flag above, if it’s not there click any flag. It will take you to Google Translate.There will be a drop down menu for languages, find yours and click to the right.

(English is default language)