Shinzo Abe, the former (and longest-serving) prime minister of Japan has been assassinated.
Shinzo Abe: Japan's Longest-Serving Prime Minister (ndtv.com)
Today's Guests
A few months ago, I had John Gleeson on the show. He's a former FBI agent who took down John Gotti and we were talking about his book "The Gotti Wars." A key part of his success was in turning Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, a hitman and underboss for the Gambino crime family which Gotti led, into a prosecution witness.
Today, believe it or not, my guest to start the show is Sammy "The Bull" himself.
Sammy has a website, a podcast called "Our Thing", and now Sammy stars in a mini-series called "The Salvatore"...he basically plays himself. The trailer is below and it's absolutely R-rated and not for kids or sensitive people.
And episodes will be available for streaming starting Monday at http://sammythebull.com
The podcasts are available wherever you get your podcasts, and on Sammy's YouTube channel: (29) Salvatore Sammy The Bull Gravano - YouTube
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I sometimes frustrate (my more conservative) listeners with my position against the death penalty. Unlike many others, my view is NOT because I think it's immoral for the government to kill people. There are definitely people who deserve killing and without whom the world would be better off. But I simply don't trust the government not to execute innocent people and I'm not willing to trade the justifiable executions of 100 or 1000 or any other number you choose of people who deserve to die for the unjust killing of a single innocent.
This may soon play out in Oklahoma where a man named Richard Glossip approaches his execution for a crime that he probably did not commit, where he was convicted by a trial in which there was probably significant prosecutorial misconduct including the DA telling the police to destroy evidence. This man has been rotting in prison for 25 years when most likely it's the prosecutor who belongs behind bars. (Yes, we should get rid of qualified immunity for this sort of malfeasance.)
An independent investigation by a law firm at the request of a bipartisan group of legislators concluded "No reasonable jury, hearing the complete record and the uncovered facts detailed in this report, would have convicted Richard Glossip of capital murder."
Conservative Republican Oklahoma State Rep Kevin McDugle is pushing for Mr. Glossip to be released from prison for good, adding that if Glossip is executed then he (McDugle) will push to eliminate the death penalty in Oklahoma which, by the way, is pushing hard to execute a whole bunch of death row inmates in a hurry.
Guest column on Glossip case: 'Oklahoma is about to get it wrong' (oklahoman.com)
Other Stuff
This is an incredible story which drags us back to the bad old days of racist violence in America...the stuff that makes what "social justice warriors" routinely complain about in 2022 look like nothing at all.
Here's what I wonder: Is there a crime she could be guilty of if she did not take part in the abduction and torture and murder of young Mr. Till? (Putting aside the question of statute of limitations.) If not, just what do the people who are trying to find this woman want to do if they find her? That said (or, more precisely, asked) I think that especially if I were a black civil rights activist or an elderly African-American, I might want to hear her apologize. And I'd also REALLY want to know if she was lying (which she's exceedingly unlikely to admit even if that were the case), though let's be very very VERY clear: even if she weren't lying that doesn't mean that anything at all should have been done to Emmett Till. I guess with a crime that's already a 9 on a 1-10 scale of horrendous (with 10 being something like what happened in Uvalde), if she lied that would make it a 9.5.
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President Biden, under tremendous pressure from the left on a variety of issues, is set to sign an executive order supporting abortion and other "reproductive health" issues. Most of this stuff is likely to be a wildly inappropriate role for the federal government. Biden to sign abortion rights executive order amid pressure - POLITICO
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This is a great sports story from Wimbledon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/07/ons-jabeur-wimbledon-final (might need subscription)
(Here's the same post on another site that definitely doesn't need a subscription: A pioneer makes a Wimbledon final, and the happiness is everywhere - Category Portal)
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And a great non-sports story not from Wimbledon: Jewish Family Helps Friends Who Hid Them During Holocaust Open Restaurant | PEOPLE.com
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There's some food that hasn't gone up in price...so you keep going back to the store: Why Costco's $1.50 hot dog combo and 99-cent Arizona iced tea still cost the same - CNN
Today's Videos
A lovely proud look at "The Miracle of America"
THIS IS DEFINITELY R-RATED (LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE)
The trailer for the new mini-series "The Salvatore" starring (and maybe a little bit about) Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. Wow.
Yesterday we learned of the death of one of my favorite actors, James Caan, a nice Jewish boy from New York. Of course he's most famous for playing Sonny Corleone but he was in over 130 moves and TV shows. Here are trailers of two of my favorites: Rollerball and Thief. (BTW, check out the awesome Thief soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.)
I'm almost always up for trying a new ice cream...but not this one: https://www.odditycentral.com/news/chinese-company-under-fire-because-its-ice-cream-doesnt-melt.html
And an upbeat story to end your week
17-Year-Old Returns Woman's Lost Purse And Gets $15K Reward (sunnyskyz.com)