Never Forget Abraham Shakespeare

I hope the winner of the $560 million Powerball last month prevails in court although the odds are against her.

Five states allow lottery winners to be anonymous; however, the excuse or reason to make the winners public is supposedly to make sure the lotteries are not fraudulent and because of transparency since the state governments are involved.

However, there have been so many tragic cases of lottery winners committing suicide, losing all their winnings, or, in the case of Florida lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare, murdered for the money.  Shakespeare's case was one of the most heinous of all.  A woman named Dorice "Dee Dee" Moore befriended Shakespeare, who had already gone through the vast majority of the money he won, but she connived to get the rest of it.  He was murdered and buried on her property until the truth came out several months later.  She was convicted of his murder.

Other lottery winners have realized that every ticket buyer’s fantasy can quickly morph into a nightmare. There are myriad self-inflicted problems that can befall a person who suddenly comes into great wealth. One bought a water park, for example. Several others have gambled their winnings away, including a two-time lottery winner who ended up living in a trailer.

Billie Bob Harrell Jr., who won $31 million in 1997, told his financial adviser shortly before his suicide that “Winning the lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”

And there are numerous examples of people who’ve tried to swindle lottery winners out of their newly acquired cash — or take the money by force.

In November 2015, Craigory Burch Jr. matched all five numbers in the Georgia Fantasy 5 drawing and won a $434,272 jackpot, The Washington Post’s Lindsey Bever reported.

Two months later, police said, Burch was killed in his home by seven masked men who kicked in his front door. His family members said the public announcement of the lottery winnings had made him a target.

It is a totally different way of life.  You have problems enough to be poor or just regular middle class, but when you have instant wealth--real, cash wealth as opposed to paper wealth--a whole new set of problems happen.  You don't know who your friends are anymore.  You have relatives asking you for financial help.  And then the fraudsters and even murderers.

For a Few Lottery Winners, It Was a Curse

In a couple of minutes, there will be the drawing for the $1.4 or $1.5 billion Powerball lottery. I bought a ticket with two lines and the multiplier, but I don't expect to hit a single number.

It is much harder now than a couple of years ago to win anything on this and the MegaMillions.

While we await the winner or winners, if any, of tonight's drawing, here is one of several articles I found about the "good fortune" of people who won big lotteries and ultimately lost everything.

The most evil, most outrageous case was the Abraham Shakespeare murder. That woman Moore was evil, pure unadulterated evil.

She exploited a good man simply because he was basically illiterate.

Tonight's numbers are 08-27-34-04-19. Powerball is 10.

Update: There was at least one winner in California.

I am sure there are others.

If Somebody Was Going to Win the Powerball Lottery Instead of Me,

I am glad it is somebody who is elderly.

This is great:

The winner of last month's $590 million Powerball jackpot is an 84-year-old woman from Zephyrhills, Florida.

Florida Lottery officials made the announcement Wednesday after Gloria C. Mackenzie came forward to claim the prize. They say Mackenzie took the single lump-sum payment of about $370.9 million before taxes.

I hope she has the time of her life and blows it all in so no greedy family members get it.

Mackenzie came forward with her winning ticket this morning, ending a two week-long mystery of who won the jackpot.

She presented her winning ticket to her local lottery claims center with her son, Scott Mackenzie, financial adviser from Madden Advisory Services in Jacksonville, and a lawyer from Brant, Abraham, Reiter, McCormick & Johnson in Jacksonville.

"This is great excitement for Gloria Mackenzie, her family, and the state of Florida," O'Connell said.

Mackenzie will be joining the exclusive club of 100 people who have become millionaires after winning the massive lottery.

Etc.

There was just one jackpot winner in last night's $590 million Powerball jackpot, so this person, who bought the winning ticket in Florida, must be the biggest winner in American lottery history:

The single winner was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., according to Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell. She told The Associated Press by telephone that more details would be released later.

"This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it's the sole winner of the largest ever Powerball jackpot," O'Connell told AP. "We're delighted right now that we have the sole winner."

She said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state.

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Obituary: Golfing great and sportscaster Ken Venturi, 82, has died following a series of illnesses:

Venturi was CBS’s color commentator and lead golf analyst for a record 35 years, following a playing career during which he won 14 PGA Tour events, including the 1964 U.S. Open.

“This is not an easy one,” CBS color commentator Jim Nantz told listeners. “And it’s not going to be an easy one, quite honestly, to get through, to try to be detached about someone you really love.

“And I think I can speak on behalf of everybody at CBS right now. We’re all feeling a heavy heart.”

Nantz shared 18th towers with Venturi for 17 years, for roughly 20 tournaments per season. Venturi joined CBS when his playing career ended in 1967 and remained until 2002, leaving with a tearful farewell after the final round of the Kemper Open.

Etc.

North Carolina teachers are about to get the shit kicked out of them if an asshole legislator has his way and scapegoats them while stealing all of what few rights they already possess:

Ravitch’s criticism extended beyond conservative Republicans. She doesn’t like the “Race to the Top” program pushed by the Obama administration because it relies on standardized testing. She doesn’t care for reforms pushed by philanthropists who know little about teaching, such as Bill Gates, Eli Broad or New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Ravitch said the hot ideas in education – vouchers, charters, virtual charters, merit pay, standardized testing, school A-to-F grades – have not improved education but have distracted the nation from improving the basic dynamic of learning, a process as old as Socrates: teachers teaching.

It wasn’t a debate this week, but Ravitch’s views must win the argument. We should back teachers with better pay and public support. If we want children to learn, we must enable and entrust their teachers not to teach to tests or compete for bonuses but to do what they love and, particularly in pay-stingy North Carolina, what they do out of love – teach.

All true, of course, but it is hard for lawmakers to say no to the gangsters out to pilfer the public treasury.
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Why are civil rights lawyers asleep at the switch at the obvious class war being waged on public education?
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It's nothing short of sadism for companies to string desperate job applicants along by forcing them through a series of interviews and tests only to not bother to fill the jobs at all.

This is the NYT article Hightower is referring to:

The hiring delays are part of the vicious cycle the economy has yet to escape: jobless and financially stretched Americans are reluctant to spend, which holds back demand, which in turn frays employers’ confidence that sales will firm up and justify committing to a new hire. Job creation over the last two years has been steady but too slow to put a major dent in the backlog of unemployed workers, and the February jobs report due out on Friday is expected to be equally mediocre. Uncertainty about the effect of fiscal policy in Washington is not helping expectations for the rest of the year, either.

“If you have an opening and are not sure about the economy, it’s pretty cheap to wait for a month or two,” said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University. But in the aggregate, those little delays, coupled with fiscal uncertainty, are stretching out the recovery process. “It’s like one of those horror movies, an economic Friday the 13th, where this recession never seems to die.”

Employers might be making candidates jump through so many hoops partly because so many workers have been jobless for months or years, and hiring managers want to make sure the candidates’ skills are up to date, said Robert Shimer, an economics professor at the University of Chicago.

But there’s also little pressure to hire right now, so long as candidates are abundant and existing staff members are afraid to refuse the extra workload created by an unfilled position. Employers can keep dragging out the hiring process until they’re more confident about their business — or at least until they find the superstar candidate.

Translation: Employers are being sadistic assholes because they can.
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Some nitwits in North Dakota think they can ban abortion by putting in a declaration that "life begins at conception" when in fact any proposal would have no teeth. Roe v. Wade, after all, is still the law of the land.

Texas is pulling a similar idiotic stunt:

The bill would require abortions, including those induced by drugs, to be performed in so-called ambulatory surgical centers. The regulations for such facilities include specific sizes for rooms and doorways, and additional infrastructure like pipelines for general anesthesia and large sterilization equipment.

The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services approved the bill on Tuesday, sending it to the full Senate for approval.

“There’s no recent spike in risk or safety incidents that this regulation is responding to. It’s pure politics,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, the chief executive of Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four abortion clinics throughout the state and an ambulatory surgical center that performs abortions. “The thing we need to worry about is, when you take away women’s access to safe abortion, then what’s going to happen?”

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I forgot to play the Powerball lottery last night.

Misc

A teacher who displayed heroics will no doubt be shitcanned one of these days.

That's my cynical side talking.
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Solomon Jackson, Jr. was one lucky guy when he won a giant Powerball jackpot.

I'll keep plugging along and playing. A $10 one is good for me.
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Miscellaneous News [Updated]

Oh, my goddamned God:

Last October police found what they describe as graphic child pornography at the home of Ashland resident James Auchincloss, half-brother to the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Police believe the photos of naked or partially clothed prepubescent boys are evidence that Auchincloss, 62, may have committed two felonies by "encouraging child sexual abuse," according to police statements in search warrant papers obtained by the Ashland Daily Tidings.

Police also searched the home of Eagle Point resident Dennis Vickoren, described as a friend of Auchincloss, and believe the 57-year-old committed the same crimes, according to the search warrant documents.

The police investigation is ongoing and neither man has been charged.

Despite evidence that the men also have taken photographs of clothed children locally, police say the case has not been given a high priority because they believe there is no immediate threat.

...

Auchincloss, who has lived in Ashland since 1995 and serves on the board of Oregon Stage Works, declined to comment on what police found at his home, saying that it was "a matter for the courts," but did say he hasn't harmed anyone.

Auchincloss also said he believes McManus, his former personal assistant, had an ulterior motive in telling police he had child pornography because Auchincloss had accused McManus of stealing $18,000 from him. McManus, a 44-year-old Ashland artist and Southern Oregon University student, denied stealing money from his former employer and said he told police about the pornography because he felt it was the ethical thing to do.

Given the insatiable appetite for all things Kennedy by the media, even though Auchincloss isn't technically a Kennedy, I am surprised this hasn't been more publicized. Or maybe it has, and I have been in a cave.

The Daily Tidings of Ashland has a recent picture of him.

Update: AP, always quick to report things, had the story up late last night:

The affidavit, shared by the Ashland Daily Tidings with the AP, also said police had probable cause to believe that Auchincloss was encouraging child sexual abuse.

Police told the newspaper the case has not been given a high priority because they believe there is no immediate threat.

Contacted by the AP, a police spokeswoman declined to provide any details but confirmed an investigation was "in progress."

Every tabloid in the country and world will have this; there is no way the one-time private citizen Auchincloss can avoid public notoriety.

Here is a bio of Auchincloss from the Oregon Stage Works website:

Board Member James Auchincloss (Ashland, Oregon) was born and raised in Washington D.C., and is a member of Columbia University's graduating class of 1970. Currently a member of the 1983 graduating class, Barak Obama is President of the United States. Jamie drove across the United States 64 times visiting presidential libraries and attending major political events, he was also a docent at the National Archives. During that time, Jamie's love of the stage grew as he started visiting many theatre festivals across America. Jamie first visited Ashland in 1978 and made his home here in 1995. Jamie has sought out small theatres across America and Canada; he once attended 160 plays in one year. He has a deep and abiding interest in the arts, and has served on the board of directors of many theatres in Washington D.C., Rhode Island, and Oregon.

He took after his half-sister in his love for the arts.



This picture accompanies an article where Auchincloss is quoted. He is seen receiving hospital--not prison--food when he was recovering from hip surgery last year. He praised the quality of food during his stay.
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It appears David Carradine's death is one for the Darwin Awards, and reports have it his death is similar to that of the actor Albert Dekker.

What a hell of a stupid way to die.
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Twenty-three-year-old rancher Neal Wanless was the winner of the $232.1 Powerball prize. He will take home around $88.5 million in a one-lump payment after taxes.

Miscellaneous News

This is just so unbelievably outrageous I had to post the link here:

When the sharp pain shooting through Lisa Strong's back got worse, she thought it was another kidney stone and expected the discomfort to pass. This time was different.

Through a series of mistakes, miscommunications and misdiagnoses, she wound up having her arms and legs amputated. She sued the doctors, who essentially blamed one another for what everyone involved agrees were profound errors.

Everyone except the jury that ruled against Strong.

The verdict came in the face of such overwhelming evidence that in a rare move, the judge tossed out the jury's decision and ordered a new trial.

Good for the judge. This was obvious medical malpractice.
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Diversity trumps average-looking people.

But she will do okay with recording contracts and all. She appeared to crack under the pressure of newfound celebrity:

For weeks she seemed to be a shoo-in for victory. To see a middle-aged woman from a small town — who lives alone with her cat, Pebbles, and seemed at first to be almost comically awkward — open her mouth to reveal such a beautiful voice was revelatory and inspiring. Celebrities like Demi Moore said she they were rooting for her.

But in recent days there were worries that Ms. Boyle — who is said to have suffered slight brain damage when she was deprived of oxygen at birth, and is so unworldly that she has no computer — was cracking under all the pressure. Various tabloid reports had her paralyzed with nerves, lashing out at reporters and swearing uncharitably about her competitors. She was said to be a packed suitcase away from quitting the competition and going back home, to the town of Blackburn in Scotland.

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Yours truly didn't win the %232-million Powerball lottery. Somebody living in a tiny South Dakota town did.

The town, appropriately enough, is named "Winner."

Miscellaneous.

It sounds like a right-to-life student group engaged in some deception in trying to discredit an Idaho Planned Parenthood.
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I have started to read a biography of actress Barbara Payton, and of course actor Tom Neal was a big part of her life. He turned out even worse than she did, as noted in this profile about him.

He killed his third wife and went to prison, getting out shortly before his death in 1972.

This was in the days before O.J. Simpson and Claudine Longet.
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Oh, shit.

Now the Powerball is down to a mere $15 million.

I might as well try the local casinos and see if I can win $18 million.
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A rash of pet poisonings have residents worried and wondering why anybody would do such a sick thing.
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It's mighty tough to buy a bra that hasn't been made in a sweatshop.
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Howard Metzenbaum was remembered at a funeral service today as a champion of civil rights, among other things.
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