Month: December 2023

A Missouri Corrections official confirmed that Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who plead guilty to helping her boyfriend kill her abusive mother, was released from prison on parole on Thursday. Missouri Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann said of the conditions of Blanchard’s release that “her original 10-year sentence started in June 2015, so, barring parole violations and other extenuating circumstances, it’s expected that she’ll be on parole supervision and reporting to a parole officer until June 2025.”

Blanchard was the victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy at the hands of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a rare syndrome in which a caregiver fakes, exaggerates or induces illness in a child to gain attention. Dee Dee was found to have convinced those around her, including doctors, that her daughter was afflicted with leukemia and muscular dystrophy among other ailments.

In 2016, Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after confessing that she convinced her boyfriend to stab her mother to death as she slept. In the days after Dee Dee’s killing, details started to emerge that revealed the unusual situation, with Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott saying at a June 2015 press conference that “things are not always as they appear.” In a plea deal, prosecutors sentenced Gypsy Rose to 10 years in prison, after attorneys uncovered the abuse she had experienced at the hands of her mother. Blanchard, who admitted to being in the house at the time of the murder, said that she knew her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, was going to stab Dee Dee and she did nothing to stop it. Godejohn was convicted of murder and sentenced in 2019 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Court filings show he admitted to stabbing Dee Dee and said he only killed her because Gypsy asked him to.

The case of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee gained national attention, after the release of the HBO Max documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest,” as well as the 2019 Hulu miniseries “The Act,” starring Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee Blanchard.  In an interview with People magazine shortly before her release, the now 32-year-old Blanchard said she regretted her role in the killing “every single day … She was a sick woman and unfortunately I wasn’t educated enough to see that. She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior.”

Blanchard will release the upcoming book “Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom” on January 9, 2024, which tells her story through her own perspective, with the help of writers Melissa Moore and Michele Matrisciani.  In addition, a six-hour Lifetime special “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard” is set to premiere on January 5, 2024, featuring interviews with Blanchard from prison.

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On Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley attempted to clarify the remarks she made in which she failed to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War.

The former governor of South Carolina and ex-United Nations ambassador came under fire Wednesday night after a video of her exchange with a voter in New Hampshire during the town hall in Berlin, N.H. circulated on social media. When pressed by the voter over the cause of the Civil War, Haley said, “Well, don’t come with an easy question, right? I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do .. We need to have capitalism, we need to have economic freedom.”  After the voter responded it was “astonishing” that she did not mention slavery while discussing the Civil War, Haley asked: “What do you want me to say about slavery?” the voter responded:“You answered my question. Thank you.” 

However, during a New Hampshire radio interview, Haley attempted to clarify her comment, saying: “We know that. That’s the easy part of it. What I was saying was what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That’s what that was all about.” She later accused the voter who asked her about the cause of the Civil War of being a “Democrat plant.”

Republicans and Democrats both slammed Haley’s initial comments — Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), a supporter of Trump, wrote on X that the answer was “slavery, period.”  Meanwhile, the campaign of fellow candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted the video of Haley online with the word, “Yikes.”   And President Biden reposted a video of the exchange, writing simple, “It was about slavery.”

Haley and DeSantis are neck-and-neck for second place behind Donald Trump in national polling. As of Thursday, Trump leads the national polls with 63.1 percent of the support, followed by Haley with 10.8 percent and DeSantis close behind with 10.6 percent.

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Special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a court filing on Wednesday that Donald Trump shouldn’t be allowed to make “irrelevant” claims targeting President Joe Biden or say others are to blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot during his federal election interference trial.

The filing states: “Through public statements, filings and argument in hearings before the court, the defense has attempted to inject into this case partisan political attacks and irrelevant and prejudicial issues that have no place in a jury trial. Although the court can recognize these efforts for what they are and disregard them, the jury — if subjected to them — may not. The court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation, and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding.”

Smith’s team argues in the filing that Trump should be barred from using “terminology such as the ‘Injustice Department,’ ‘Biden Indictment’ or similar phrases” in front of the jury. The special counsel argues that Trump has suggested “he intends to impeach the integrity of the investigation by raising wholly false claims such as the government’s nonexistent ‘coordination with the Biden administration’ and other empty allegations recycled from the selective and vindictive prosecution motion that he based on anonymous sources in newspaper articles.”

In August, Trump pleaded not guilty to the special counsel’s criminal charges attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as “a persecution of a political opponent.” Trump also responded to the filing in a statement Wednesday, claiming the prosecution is ignoring Judge Chutkan’s instructions to stay the election subversion case:  “[I]t is so sad that the Supreme Court just unanimously rejected his desperate attempt to rush this Witch Hunt, that he is ignoring the law and clear instructions from District Court Judge Chutkan, who unequivocally stated that this ‘case’ is stayed and there should be no litigation.” 

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On Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected an effort to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot in 2024.  The order says the court declines to hear a case arguing that Trump should be left off of the state’s ballot because it is “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.” The court’s order blocks efforts to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

The order comes after the Michigan Court of Appeals this month similarly rejected challenges to Trump’s spot on the state’s primary ballot. In a 3-0 opinion that cited Michigan law, the appellate court said: “Who to place on the primary ballot is determined by the political parties and the individual candidates.” Courts in Arizona and Minnesota have also ruled against similar efforts to get Trump kicked off the ballot.

The Michigan Supreme Court’s order is in stark contrast with the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision last week barring Trump’s candidacy in the state’s primary next year on constitutional grounds. Trump himself applauded the Michigan Supreme Court’s order in a post on his ‘Truth Social’ platform Wednesday morning, saying that the court has “strongly and rightfully denied the Desperate Democrat attempt to take the leading Candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, me, off the ballot in the Great State of Michigan. This pathetic gambit to rig the Election has failed all across the Country, including in States that have historically leaned heavily toward the Democrats. Colorado is the only State to have fallen prey to the scheme.”

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The FBI and police in Colorado are investigating threats against that state’s Supreme Court after they ruled that they will block Donald Trump from appearing on the primary ballot in March.

The ruling has led to an increase in threats made against the justices, with the Denver Police Department increasing patrols around the homes of Colorado supreme court justices.  The judges’ personal information has been shared on some far-right social media platforms, as well as the platform Truth Social, the site started by Donald Trump, and X, (formerly known as Twitter).

The justices have reported a number of threats since the decision came down more than a week ago, which included users calling for the justices to be killed and describing how to do it.ore frequently on social media.  Vikki Migoya, an FBI spokesperson, said in a statement: “The FBI is aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement. We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation.”

Trump’s eligibility to appear on the ballot has been challenged in several states under Section Three of the 14th Amendment, including Minnesota, Michigan and New Hampshire. New Hampshire is one of four early-voting states in the primary election.

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The White House declined to veto a ban on some Apple Watch imports, upholding the ruling won by a health company that accused Apple of patent infringement for copying its technology.  The Office of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement: “After careful consultations, Ambassador [Katherine] Tai decided not to reverse the ITC’s determination and the ITC’s decision became final on Dec. 26, 2023”

As a result, Apple can no longer sell the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the U.S. Apple pulled both devices from its website on December 21st and from its store shelves after December 24th.

The International Trade Commission sided with the health technology company Masimo Corp. in October, who alleged that some features on the Apple Watch Series 6 smartphone were their tech originally. Masimo said Apple had hired away some of its key employees and stole trade secrets connected wot its light-based technology for calculating blood-oxygen levels, which also appeared on the Apple Watch smartphone. The tech company filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission in 2021.

Apple said it would start phasing out sales of Apple Watch models after it failed to win a delay of the ban from the ITC last wee, and ended sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 on Thursday — pulled items from physical retail stores by Saturday.

In a statement published by Reuters, an Apple spokesperson confirmed it will appeal the ITC decision: “We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.”

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