Crystal Mangum, the lying, drug-addled stripper whose false accusations disrupted the lives and tarnished the reputations of innocent Duke University students now has a book out. And it is clear from some of the claims she makes in the book and related interviews that the story she is peddling today bears no more relationship to the truth than did her initial accusations.

The woman who North Carolina prosecutors determined falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her at a team party maintains in a new memoir that she was attacked.
Crystal Mangum, who appeared publicly Thursday for the first time since making the allegations more than two years ago, says in her forthcoming book she is not "looking forward to opening old wounds" but that she had to defend herself.
"Even as I try to move on with my life, I still find it necessary to take one more stand and fight," she writes in the book, "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story."
"I want to assert, without equivocation, that I was assaulted. Make of that what you will. You will decide what that means to you because the state of North Carolina saw fit not to look at all that happened the night I became infamous."

Did you get that last line? “Saw fit not to look at all that happened that night”? Is she joking, or just delusional? She had a prosecutor so gung ho to believe her story that he was willing to violate basic rules of investigation, rules of evidence, and the law in order to get charges and convictions based upon a flimsy story and evidence that completely contradicted Mangum’s sordid tale. She had every authority in the county and on the Duke campus supporting her, even after her claims broke down under closer examination. She was able to stir up a lynch mob against the innocent, including “civil rights activists” who suggested that the accused young men should be convicted even if the assault did not happen as a form of reparations for past injustices against blacks.

And what is even worse is that the state of North Carolina didn’t see fit to file charges against her for the false report she made against the Duke lacrosse team. That’s the only example I can think of that would constitute a decision “not to look at all that happened that night” – the cowardly refusal to punish the individual who started the whole charade with her lies.

Don’t buy the book – she doesn’t deserve the money.

Posted by: Greg at 03:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I despise racist organizations and individuals -- those who are truly racist, not ones that are simply slapped with the label when a group or candidate seeks to preempt discussion by playing the race card. As such, I carry no brief for the KKK, historically the paramilitary terrorist wing of the Democrats and the enemy of all that the GOP stands for.

But when I see an article like this one, I feel a need to remind folks that racist speech does have the protection of the US Constitution, as disgusted as we might be by it.

Take this case.

Commuters found fliers with the image of a white-hooded horseman holding a blazing cross placed on the windshields of hundreds of cars parked at a Long Island Rail Road station.

The fliers were printed with messages such as "Join the Klan and save our land" and "We are of the United Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are unapologetically committed to the interest and values of the white race!"

Suffolk County police are investigating who may have left the fliers, but says it's possible that no crime was committed. They say the dissemination of the fliers at the Deer Park station Tuesday could be regarding as an act of free expression.

It is that last paragraph that sticks in my craw -- "could be regarded as an act of free expression"? Seems to me that the correct position is should be regarded as an act of free expression, if not "must be regarded" as an act of free expression. After all, the First Amendment is meaningless if it only protects the inoffensive and non-controversial.

Oh, and for the record -- those involved in this little effort are nothing but scum.

Posted by: Greg at 02:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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