Bridge-gate, Lessons in Leadership: NJ Gov. Chris Christie Apologizes for His Staff’s Conduct with Bridge Scandal and Fires Two Staffers … “I am Embarassed & Humiliated by Some of the People on my Team”

TAKE A GOOD LOOK AMERICA AS TO WHAT REAL LEADERSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY LOOKS LIKE …

Let me first preface this post with two things, I am no Chris Christie fan for presidential nominee for the GOP, and this is all predicated on the fact that he is telling the truth and he had no knowledge of this sophomoric and pathetic attempt at political retribution against the Mayor of Ft. Lee.

Yesterday in a press conference that went on for 1 hour and 7 minutes,  Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey apologized for members of his staff’s conduct in their part of the closing of lanes of the George Washington Bridge that caused massive traffic delays in Fort Lee, NJ. This was done as the media would find out as a pathetic and ridiculous way to get back at the Mayor of Ft. Lee for not backing Christie in the recent New Jersey governors race in 2013. Christie apologized for the incident, took complete responsibility for his staff members actions and then fired Bridget Anne Kelly, the deputy chief of staff who sent an email approving the lane closings, whom he called “stupid” and “deceitful.” Christy also asked two-time campaign manager, Bill Stepien, to step down as a consultant to the Republican Governors Association and to withdraw his name from consideration to lead the state’s Republican Party.

In a remarkable day of swirling political drama, Gov. Chris Christie tried on Thursday to control the damage from revelations that his administration ordered the revenge-closings of traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge by firing a top aide, cutting ties with a longtime political adviser and repeatedly apologizing in a nearly two-hour news conference.

Sounding somber and appearing contrite, the normally garrulous Mr. Christie said he had no advance knowledge of the lane closings and had been “humiliated” by the entire episode.

“I am a very sad person today,” he said. “I am heartbroken that someone I permitted to be in that circle of trust for the past five years betrayed that trust.”

 CNN: Christie drops swagger amid heat of scandal.

Christie’s tone and message represented a valiant attempt to disconnect himself from the embarrassing events that have attracted the attention of federal prosecutors, simultaneously pleading ignorance and accepting responsibility.

He said the buck stops with him but emphatically intoned that he had no knowledge of any aspect of the bridge controversy.

“I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover. This was handled in a callous and indifferent way,” he said.

As previously stated, I am not a Christie fan for president because of his stance on policy and the GOP does not need another moderate running. One would think they would have learned with the two failed campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney. That being said, how refreshing that a political leader come out and take responsibility for a scandal, then fire those individuals responsible. Hey Barack Obama, maybe you could learn some thing about what actual leadership looks like.

Teenage Girl at the Center of the Maryville, Mo. Rape Case Daisy Coleman Hospitalized after Suicide Attempt … Cyber-Bullied to Commit Suicide (Update: No Rape Charges for Matt Barnett)

More cyber-bullying leads to attempted suicide of Maryville rape victim …

Daisy Coleman, the female teen at the center of the Maryville, MO rape case has been hospitalized after an overdose suicide attempt.  The Missouri teenager alleged in 2012 that she and another friend were sexual assaulted at a house party when they were ages 14 and 13. The firestorm and cyber-bullying that ensued was enormous. The case gained national attention and the “hacktivist”  group Anonymous came to her aid and mounted a call for action in the case as it appeared it was being glossed over.  The 16 year old girl is now at the Kansas City children’s psychiatric hospital after ingesting an unidentified amount of pills Sunday evening.  The news of Daisy’s attempted suicide was released by her mother, Melinda Coleman, in a Facebook post.

A Maryville Mo., teenager, who has been at the center of a rape case which made national headlines, was in a Kansas City hospital on Monday night after attempting to take her own life.

Daisy Coleman is the teen who claimed to have been raped by two high school students when she was 14 years old. Her family has accused prosecutors of dismissing her claims.

The rape accusations made by Daisy and her family subjected them to harassment from several Maryville community members, including both parents and students. The case eventually caught national attention.

The mother of Daisy Coleman calls on Anonymous not to abandon her daughter.

Melinda Coleman also begged cyber ‘hacktivist’ organization Anonymous, which showed support for her daughter late last year when the story was in the headlines, not to abandon the case after she said they failed to follow up on any of her leads.

‘Where is anonymous now?’ Dr Coleman wrote on Facebook Monday. ‘My daughter has been terrorized to the point she tried to kill herself last night. She may never be ok. Where are you and your super hacking skills and internet help now…….we really need them.’

CASE BACKGROUND:

The Raw Story:

Coleman was 14 in January of 2012, when the 17-year-old son of Republican state representative plied her and a 13-year-old friend with alcohol and then had sex with the semi-conscious girls. The assailant, Matthew Barnett, recorded the alleged assault on his phone, then left Coleman unconscious on her family’s frozen front lawn in Maryville, Missouri.

Barnett was arrested and charged in the case and confessed to police that he and his high school football teammates had sexual relations with the girls. He maintained that the girls were intoxicated, but awake, and that the sex and taping were consensual. Weeks after his arrest, all charges against Barnett were dismissed.

The Kansas City Star: Daisy Coleman, teen at center of Maryville sexual assault case, is recovering after suicide attempt.

The case centered on a January 2012 house party in which Daisy Coleman and a friend — ages 14 and 13 at the time — alleged they were sexually assaulted at the home of Matthew Barnett, then a 17-year-old Maryville High senior and the grandson of a former state representative.

Barnett was arrested on charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, the latter for allegedly leaving Coleman incapacitated by alcohol and barefoot in her yard in 30-degree temperatures.

Also, 17-year-old Jordan Zech was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, which involved using a friend’s cellphone to film a portion of the encounter between Coleman and Barnett. (The case of a 15-year-old boy, who admitted having intercourse with the younger girl despite her repeated refusals, was handled in juvenile court.)

Two months later, however, Nodaway County prosecutor Robert Rice dropped the felony charges against the two older youths, citing a lack of evidence and, later, a lack of cooperation on the part of the alleged victims’ families.

Currently the alleged rape case is being reviewed by a special prosecutor after initial charges against boys were dropped.

A special prosecutor appointed in a controversial case of an alleged rape in Maryville, Missouri, promised on Monday to review the case “without fear and without favor.”

“I know that this case has raised a variety of concerns in northwest Missouri, so please know this: This case will be thoroughly reviewed,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said.

“I can also assure you that politics, connections or any other reason you can think of will not play a role in our review of this case. It will be the evidence, as it is in every case that we review,” she said.

A judge appointed Baker as special prosecutor days after a different prosecutor, who dropped charges, said he’d request the move.

UPDATE I: Dead rabbits have been dumped in Paige Parkhurst’s family car as fellow Maryville rape victim Daisy Coleman attempts suicide

UPDATE II: No Rape Charges for Suspect in Daisy Coleman Rape case … pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor child endangerment. (bumped from 1/8/14 – 5:48 am)

A Missouri man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolmate when he was 17 was charged Thursday with a misdemeanor child endangerment charge.

The charge against 19-year-old Matt Barnett was filed in Nodaway County Court in Maryville. He is scheduled to be arraigned later Thursday. His lawyer, J.R. Hobbs, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Matthew Barnett pleads guilty to misdemeanor 2 years after teen claimed she was raped.

Two years probation and no jail time?

A Missouri man pleaded guilty Thursday to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with a highly publicized sex assault case involving a teenage girl, a prosecutor said.

Matthew Barnett, 19, was sentenced to two years’ probation.

Prosecutors said Barnett, then 17, gave alcohol to his victim, Daisy Coleman, until she was impaired, and left her outside her home in temperatures below freezing during the early morning hours of January 8, 2012.

Could Bob Gates’s memoir Haunt Hillary Clinton in 2016 … “Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa Primary”

Imagine that, Hillary Clinton doing something for political purposes … Is this woman really Presidential timber?

Say it isn’t so, who would possibly think that anyone with the last name of Clinton would do some thing for political purposes, rather than conviction. Thus comes the bombshell from Bob Gates new book where the former secretary of War says that  “Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary.” Nice, so she fakes a position knowing that a surge was needed, but puts a mission in danger for political purposes. But that begs the question, what hasn’t Hillary done in her lifetime that was not political?

Take a real good look at what many believe will be the next president of the United States. God Help Us.

To Hillary Clinton, What Difference Does It Make … ITS ALL POLITICAL!

In a new memoir of his time as secretary of defense in the Obama administration, Gates writes: “Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary. .?.?. The president conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political. To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying.”

Oomph.  Just to jog your memory, Clinton announced that she opposed the Iraq surge being pushed by President George W. Bush in the days leading up to the announcement of her presidential bid. She instead proposed a freeze in troop levels in the country and advocated for a troop increase in Afghanistan.

The stories written at the time mentioned how Clinton was coming under pressure from the increasingly vocal anti-war left to oppose the troop surge — particularly given that it was becoming increasingly obvious that then-Sen. Barack Obama, who, unlike Clinton, opposed the Iraq war from the start, was going to be her main rival for the nomination. Opposing the surge was cast by many political observers as a sign to the left that she had evolved since her vote for the use-of-force resolution earlier in the decade.

Kind of makes you wonder why she did what she did with Benghazi and refused to fortify the consulate prior to September 11, 2012, even after repeated requests were made to do so. Nothing political there either, hmm?

But of course as Hillary says … WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE!

Daily Commentary – Thursday, January 9, 2014 – On January 24, 2014, Jennifer Kesse Will Be Missing 8 Years!

• The family is reaching out and needs your help now as much as ever to find their daughter. Go to their website, jenniferkesse.com

16 Year Old Caleb Jacoby Missing Since 1/6/14 in Brookline, MA (Update: Found Safe in NYC)

16 year old  Caleb Jacoby has been missing since 12:30 pm, Monday, January 6, 2014 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was spotted at a local Starbucks, but it is believed that he did go home that Monday. Caleb  is the son of Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby.   The police are treating the disappearance as a runaway, but they have little to go on.

He was last seen wearing navy chino pants or jeans, a navy polo shirt, a brown winter jacket with a hood, brown shoes or sneakers, and white socks.

The teenager is around 5 foot 11 inches tall with a thin build.

Jacoby, who attends Maimonides School, is often seen at public libraries and at Temple Young Israel in Brookline.

UPDATE I: Volunteers search for missing Brookline teenager Caleb Jacoby.

More than 200 volunteers are participating in the search for Caleb Jacoby, according to Maimonides Head of School Naty Katz. Katz’s full statement is as follows: “Caleb Jacoby, an 11th grade student at Maimonides School, has been missing from home since Monday. To help Caleb’s family and the authorities in their search to find Caleb, the school is coordinating a search effort involving over 200 volunteers in the metro Boston area.

If anyone has seen or has any information regarding the missing teen, please contact Brookline Police at (617) 730-2222.

UPDATE II: Missing Brookline Teen Found Safe In New York City.

Caleb Jacoby, a 16-year-old boy who went missing from Brookline on Monday, has been found safe.

Brookline Police say they were able to provide information to the New York City Police Department that Caleb may be in the area of Times Square. He was found there Thursday night.