Sanford Cache-Cache --

George Zimmerman Case --

The true identity of Witness #8, who has been nicknamed Dee Dee for this case, is being protected by the Court. I don't feel I need to know her true identity, but she has been such a nebulous presence so far that she doesn't seem real at all. 

Thus, I welcome the information about her which lawyer Jeralyn Merritt has been able to gather for us.

George Zimmerman has filed a lawsuit against mainstream media giant NBC Universal. His lawyers are Mark O'Mara and The Beasley Law Firm of Philadelphia.

:: [guardian] - - [poynter] - - [hwoodrptr]

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Mammary Miami News -

In Miami's latest bid to recreate pre-Castro Havana sleaze here on the Florida peninsula, it seems like anything connected to prostitution is irresistibly attractive, whether it's boob enhancement surgical procedures or soft porno production.

Thus, with a gambling casino on its way to replace their newspaper building, all residents will be able to become the celebrities they want to be and a legend in their own minds.

According to recent reports, The Miami Herald newspaper will be going behind a subscription wall on December 18th.

Meanwhile, in a recent editorial they are promoting the establishment of a movie studio or entertainment production facility in their backyard. Some locals suspect that current management is planning to turn the newspaper into a Reality TV show or Telenovela.

And, according to reliable sources speaking strictly on background but not for attribution, Miami Herald reporter Frances Robles is following her imaginary cockatoo friend over to The New York Times. Now, perhaps, Miami-Dade will be spared a race riot from the George Zimmerman case.

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During Austerity or Disorder -

Does anyone still remember
Inspector Fabian of Scotland Yard?

I must admit that he had faded almost completely from my memory until I came across this book review.

Murder at Wrotham Hill by Diana Souhami is a True Crime account of a real life murder reconstructed from the post-WWII years in England which presents a lot of the color and atmosphere of the era and includes the aforementioned Fabian of Scotland Yard.

If this book revives sufficient public interest in Fabian, a TV mini-series about him might make an intriguing successor to the British production of their Foyle's War series.

:: It is reviewed here by Blake Morrison.

And Paula Woods reviews Michael Connelly's new detective novel, The Black Box, which involves the 1992 killing of a young Danish photojournalist during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

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The Dee Dee MacGuffin -

Trayvon Martin Shooting . . .

Has this witness been suborned?

Don West from the George Zimmerman Defense Team has done due diligence by initiating an investigation into the authentication of Witness #8 aka Dee Dee, who remains a murky presence in this case due to lack of establishing the Sacred Chain of Evidence, which raises numerous crazy prospective scenarios.

You may remember that Dee Dee was the MacGuffin which was used, in effect, to trigger this prosecution and still constitutes the State's star witness.

Some of the questions raised by various versions
of the audio recording include the following:

Is Dee Dee some form of CGI or a real human being? Is she really as represented: a 16-year-old tender teenager from Miami Gardens? Or could she be a 23-year-old hooker from Daytona?

Was she personally acquainted with Trayvon Martin? Or is Dee Dee a spoof in some way? How many versions of Dee Dee exist? How many Dee Dee Entities are out there?

Was the extended telephonic conversation verified at the phone companies or was it lowered from a basket in the sky after Martin's death?

Will Dee Dee appear in court as a shrouded hologram?

:: Orlando Sentinel ::

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Writing Thru The Funky Blues -

A landmark newspaper strike
in the early Sixties presaged the
trouble the American Press is in today . . .

I had been a very active student journalist under the aegis of Columbia J School no less as background to the event when I found myself in the Port Authority Building in midtown Manhattan where thousands of newspapers were normally distributed. An eerie atmosphere pervaded the building devoid of its printed products which I have never forgotten.

:: The Long Good-Bye ::

-- By Scott Sherman --
......... via romenesko .....

*  *  *  *  *

:: Marking the close of NaNoWriMo 2012,
we congratulate those who have fought the
good fight and are currently wrapping it up.

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The Last Orange -

Who Lost Miami?

Miami's Big Orange icon is being renamed La Gran Naranja this New Year’s Eve, leaving many North Americans in SoFlo feeling disgruntled. It's the end of an era.

# Another case of rental ambiguity.
This is only the tip of a much larger iceberg.

# There has been much chatter lately
about alleged voter suppression in South Florida.

PS: I have been unusually busy this past week.

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News Notes From Florida -

Jeffrey Soffer, a principal in Turnberry Associates, survived a Thanksgiving helicopter crash in the Bahamas. His company is most well known in SoFlo for the Aventura Shopping Mall and the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel.

# A chronic problem in law enforcement: the potential theft of drugs being kept for use as evidence, which can create a revolving door of corruption. This case allegedly occurred recently in nearby Palm Beach County.

# Condo owner discovers her unit is
already occupied - not so unusual in SoFlo.

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Cyber Antics -

A Taliban official
has inadvertently leaked . . .

his mailing list of more than 400 email
contacts, Neil McAllister reports at The Reg.

# Max Fisher reveals the e-mail trick
Petraeus and Broadwell used to communicate.

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Who Said What -

Tell me, Show me, Listen . . .

Hillel Italie reports on the new 18th edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, the first in a decade. Bartlett's was originally published in 1855.

# Graphic attempts to diagram those believed
to be involved in the current Petraeus affair.

# Browse the FreeSound library.

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Missteps & Misdirections -

Diabetes is the cause of most lower limb amputations in the U.S., but you would never know that if you were watching American TV in recent weeks.

In heavy rotation is a commercial featuring scary amputation portraits which are designed to persuade viewers that Smoking is the most common cause of such amputations.

Diabetes is rampant in this country, but it is also a billion-dollar profit-making business here with an entire industry pandering to it.

This "PSA" is part of a current propaganda campaign to pressure people to switch from tobacco products to proprietary replacement products belonging to the American Pharmaceutical Industry in order to increase their profits.

# Although the Homeless in Florida do not constitute a monolithic group of people, they are often abused in a dehumanizing manner, because they make easily accessible scapegoats. Florida has one of the highest Foreclosure rates in the country.

The reality is that thousands of homes stand empty and can be invaded by rats, lizards, and even coyotes, while some people seem to spend a lot of their time inventing new ways to abuse those who are less fortunate than they are.

For example: a homeless man has just been arrested in Florida for trying to recharge his mobile phone at a charging station located in a public park.

# Via Romenesko we learn that Jen Campbell, a blogger in London who works in an antiquarian bookstore, has a new book making its debut called Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores. Jerome Ludwig muses about that in Chicago.

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Weekend Browsing -

Today is Remembrance Day . . .

The morning began badly; it got off on the wrong foot because the yammering bobble heads on American TV aggressively tried to ruin the occasion by inserting yesterday's news into their program. The resignation of a general was not an appropriate topic for them to rant about at the start of  this commemoration. I was very offended and walked out of the room.

"What images or types of information might communicate to intelligent voyagers from the great beyond something of the world our kind created (and lost)?" The Last Pictures by Trevor Paglen is reviewed by Kenneth Baker.

# A new book of essays by Julian Barnes called Through the Window is reviewed by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst.

# Punk Power: Hardcore Punk Scenes from 1980s Southern California is reviewed at the LAT.

# Fault Line by Robert Goddard is reviewed by Barry Turner.

# Sergio at his Tipping My Fedora blog explores The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon, which was one of the first Maigret novels. And he includes some hyperlinks to other resources.

# Reminder: Miami Book Fair November 11-18th.

# Mr Rocky Books sought refuge from Hurricane Sandy at a Queens NY library where he is currently ensconced as a pampered guest.

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Knocked Out of Top Spot -

Broward County FL has just experienced a major upset in its power structure with the ouster of Al Lamberti from the office of Sheriff.

The BSO is probably the largest such office in this country and can have a significant impact on the quality of life here.

Since I moved down to South Florida this time, I have become concerned about the organization's apparent drift into the direction of the kind of gendarmerie we would more likely associate with a foreign banana republic.

Longtime residents in the county have told me that this seemed to have started with the Cuban Nick Navarro. I don't know because I wasn't living down here during Navarro's tenure as sheriff.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

John Geraci pays tribute to Fort Lauderdale sleuth Travis McGee who lives on a houseboat called the Busted Flush.

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Been Away For Yonks -

The elegant and witty bicker team of
Nick and Nora Charles, along with their clever
dog Asta, visited us in several Hollywood movies.

They were originally created by Mystery writer Dashiell Hammett. The movies were followed by an American TV series. The stories from The Thin Man movies are now being published as novellas.

...

Late Notes (2#) -

Bal Harbour's Police Department may have a small footprint, but apparently, it's had a very long reach nationwide.

It has been ordered by the DOJ to end its Federal Forfeiture Program after that enterprise allegedly seized millions of dollars worth of drug money.

# NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
has just started. Are you up for it this year? Here
is the local connection to inspire you.

...

Visiting & Revisiting Crimes -

Revisiting The Perugia Slasher Case: On the Fifth Anniversary of Meredith Kercher's death commemorations are being held and tributes to her are being published. The case continues to make its way through the Italian legal system. It is the kind of story that never really ends - like a teen slasher movie which has been left unfinished.

# A new version of Georges Simenon's Maigret is being cooked up for a prospective TV series. The old series with subtitles has been a cultish hit on Mhz late night American TV recently.

# A new series about European Crime Writing has started on BBC Radio called Foreign Bodies which is available for downloading.

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Media Notes -

Welcome News:

Judge Debra S Nelson declined to
impose a gag order on George Zimmerman's
Defense Team at this time.

::TechMIT:: -- ::NewsMax:: -- ::TalkLeft::

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Super-Storm Sandy knocked out some
popular websites based in Manhattan.

...

A Quick Browse -

Those of us who were fans of Charles Aznavour's oeuvre didn't have much comparable in English until Canadian poet and song writer Leonard Cohen came along in the late Sixties. You can read more about him in a new biography called I'm Your Man written by Sylvie Simmons, which is reviewed here by Fiona Sturges.

# Fans of Edward Gorey will find new publications of his work described here by Mark Dery.

# European detective fiction explored by Mark Lawson.

...

Puppet Fever -

At yesterday's afternoon hearing, Bernie de la Rionda, representing the State, denied that Bernard Crump has been speaking out publicly on the George Zimmerman Case as a surrogate for the Prosecution.

I believe that what the Cyberspace Commentariat has been chattering about may be more like a Sockpuppet than a Surrogate; viz: "A sockpuppet poses as an independent third-party unaffiliated with the puppeteer."

Be that as it may, DLRionda publicly disavowed that Crump was the Prosecution's Charlie McCarthy and he disclaimed any responsibility for Crump's utterances.

Although Surrogate, Sockpuppet, and Charlie McCarthy can be grouped together, they each have subtle distinctions which differentiate each from the others.

# DLRionda requested that Judge Nelson issue a gag order on the Defense team, voicing a concern that the Defense website would poison the potential jury pool.

Mark O'Mara for the Defense counter-argued, bringing in statistics to bolster his position. Mining the database of the website's visitor meter shows that only a relatively small number of visiting readers come from Central Florida, the region from which the jury pool would be drawn.

Defense contends that the Voir Dire might take somewhat longer than average to accomplish, but, according to that statistical abstract, it would not be a futile process. Thus, the remedy sought by the State would be far too extreme for the demonstrable statistics involved.

# Since a lawyer's discourse is held to a higher standard of decorum, how is a lapse in decorum usually handled? Here in Florida, the Bar Association usually handles this issue.

But they have been strangely silent in this case. As far as I could tell, it's been strictly cricket chirps from the Bar Association about any lapses in decorum on the part of Crump and his associates who have been running their mouths on every possible public forum.

The alternative approach proposed by DLRionda is abhorrent to me. I don't want any prosecutor censoring my reading material.

# DLRionda indicated that he feels comfortable with the legacy mainstream press. He believes that the reportage at The Tribune Company's Orlando Sentinel and The McClatchy Company's Miami Herald has been fair. I strongly disagree. This case has seen one of the worst outbreaks of yellow journalism in recent history.

In their latest slipshod performance, so typical for this case, the reporters failed to provide us with the list of interested parties who submitted Friend of the Court briefs on the gag order. While watching the Friday hearing being livestreamed, identification captions were absent, so that I do not even know who spoke in court about this topic.

I did not submit an amicus on this issue as a Blogger or even as a member of the reading public; I was hoping that the ACLU would send one in on behalf of the public. I don't know whether they did or not.

# One of the reasons that DLRionda feels comfortable with those media organizations is because they have a hierarchy of control. He indicated that he is not comfortable with the discourse in Cyberspace because it seems to him that it is out of control.

No one can control all the chatter on the Internet.
That is true, but these things are also true:

No one controls what I say or should not write on my Blog. Scary? No one controlled what Benjamin Franklin wrote either, yet our country survived.

Although there are some comment threads gone wild with free-wheeling remarks, other comment threads at other websites are better moderated.

I expect we all will somehow adjust to the Internet, too, and eventually take it in stride.

Judge Nelson will issue her ruling
about the gag order on Monday.

:: OSentinel :: - - - :: MHerald ::

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Browsing Around -

The largest US bookseller underwent a data hack on keypads in 63 of its stores, including some in South Florida, such as the Fort Lauderdale branch on N Federal Highway.

Barnes & Noble notified the FBI which has been investigating.

:: WSJ :: - - :: BBC :: - - :: BizJ ::

# A reporter who is assigned to cover a blighted neighborhood exposes a network of corruption. The Streets by Anthony Quinn is reviewed by Holly Kyte.

# Akashic's latest: Kingston Noir edited by
 Colin Channer is reviewed by Paula L Woods.

# The local review of
Tom Wolfe's Miami Book by Connie Ogle.

# A Stephen King story has
been adapted as a free web comic.

Vienna, Real and Imagined . . .

# The memoirs of a Viennese milliner, Trudi Kanter, who survived the Nazi Holocaust. Some Girls, Some Hats & Hitler is reviewed here by Caroline Moorehead.

# Murder Mystery: Death and the Maiden by
Frank Tallis is reviewed by Anna Mundrow.

...

Zimmerman: Forward Movement -

Benjamin Crump convened a press conference to say that George Zimmerman's medical records should be subpoenaed. I don't usually comment on Mr Crump, but since he inserted himself here, I shall comment this time.

From the beginning, Mr Crump and the Trayvonistas have tried to supply a series of malicious reasons that would explain why Zimmerman shot the Trayvon Martin. Trouble is, each of those explanations they have supplied has fallen apart under closer scrutiny when examined in full sunlight.

First, Zimmerman shot the teenager because it was implied that Zimmerman was a White Supremacist. But it turned out that Zimmerman does not look even remotely White or European. Next, they tried to supply the reason that Zimmerman is an overly gung-ho gun nut, but this claim had no foundation in demonstrable fact either. This press conference seemed to be Crump's latest attempt to attribute a malicious reason to Zimmerman; viz: he is a hopped-up speed freak nutjob.

# In my last entry I stated that there is a persistent mystery in this case which we need to get to the bottom of. In this entry I am going to present that mystery in a different way.

A visitor returns to a townhouse campus in which numerous blocks of attached townhouse rows look pretty much alike. For a moment he may be a bit confused or disoriented in trying to determine which townhouse is his proper destination.

Now, try to put yourself in his shoes. You spot a resident of the estate. What would be your first impulse or inclination? You would probably ask him to help you find your host's correct residence because "they all look alike to me." Why would a visitor to an unfamiliar complex become involved in a physical altercation with a resident?

There is no apparent reason for Trayvon Martin's combative struggle with the resident of the Retreat at Twin Lakes. The teenager's behavior does not make any sense whatsoever.

In all these months I could come up with only one possible reason for Trayvon Martin's inexplicable combative behavior: the youth guessed that Zimmerman might have a gun and went after it as a trophy or prize. Maybe you can come up with a better reason, but that's the best I could do.

# The judge will authorize the defense subpoenas for Trayvon Martin's school records and more.

Last evening, The Miami Herald's reporter Frances Robles, with all the charm of a cottonmouth moccasin which we have come to expect from her, may have given their readers the impression that a muzzle will be imposed on defense counsel Mark O'Mara, leaving only Benjamin Crump and his sock puppets to comment publicly on this case. I don't expect such a gag order to be issued. You can read lawyer Jeralyn Merritt's comments on this matter here.

# Websleuths is a very active and comprehensive True Crime message board. Although I don't link to them on my sidebar, they are often a pit stop for people who want to follow diverse cases. Apparently, they have shut down their threads on this case until the trial starts, except for the collection of Media updates. This may be a wise move on their part so that they can avoid becoming a toxic waste dump for the noisy crazies who are attracted to situations like this one. Their comment threads are usually very well moderated.
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