Bam’s gun-plan misfire: using children as props

The Issue: President Obama’s press conference on gun-control, in which he was surrounded by children.

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President Obama’s big plan to curb gun violence is more of a wish list of things he would like to see than an actual plan to stop the violence (“Gunning for...What?” Editorial, Jan. 17).

Obama should be ashamed of himself for exploiting children to promote his agenda.

He and his ilk want to disarm law-abiding citizens while ignoring the fact that only criminals will have weapons.

If you tell kids that guns are dangerous, then you are asking them to see for themselves.

Reuters

Signing an executive action on Wednesday.

If you show them the do’s and don’ts, it takes away the mystery.

If the school systems implemented a psychological test and an aptitude test twice during a child’s development, they might be able to tell who should be watched and helped.

If children are taught safety and respect for weapons, then gun violence could be nipped in the bud before it happens.

Gregory J. Topliff

Warrenville, SC

Obama’s shameful use of children was a disgusting display of political grandstanding that exploited the terrible Newtown tragedy.

To allow him to bypass Congress, the Second Amendment and other issues would just be another step in his incremental moves toward tighter control over the citizens of this great nation.

Congress needs to stand strong against Obama’s arrogant, self-serving actions.

John W. Fox

Galloway, NJ

Obama came out the other day, guns blazing (pun intended) with all of these gun-control measures, working up over 20 executive actions.

Why hasn’t he been as brazen and quick to the draw about Attorney General Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious debacle?

Tommy DeJulio

New Rochelle

Obama gave an emotional speech while surrounded by small children, citing the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School as his motivation.

He’s got some nerve. That hypocrite is killing the future of all our children by spending trillions of dollars and saddling them with debt for the rest of their lives.

Tom Ennis

Whitehouse Station, NJ

All America need do is look back at Holder’s botched Fast and Furious operation to realize that the Obama administration knows nothing about gun control.

Nichola Maffei

Croton-on-Hudson

Both Obama and Gov. Cuomo followed the maxim “let no crisis go to waste.”

In their haste, they used a “shotgun” approach — pardon the pun — to a complex problem. They touched the surface on some issues, but missed others that require prolonged study and analysis.

The president’s use of emotional theater was uncomfortable to watch, and the governor’s actions were just a shameful political attempt to co-opt the matter.

Rarely is the timing so appropriate for the formation of a commission to study gun violence in America.

The problem has many tentacles and each one needs separate analysis. These hurried actions have only set the stage for more rancor and arguments.

Phil Serpico

Queens

So it’s the style of the weapon that people find offensive?

What if the guns were painted pink?

The editorial states that “they’ve not given us any clear way to put what they’ve done to the test.”

But we do know what these bans accomplish.

We did have an “assault-weapons ban” and it did absolutely nothing to the crime rate.

A. Levy

Manhattan

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Prices for Miami Beach luxury condos soar to records

Ultra-luxury condominiums on South Beach are fetching nosebleed prices.

On Tuesday, a penthouse at the Setai Resort at 2001 Collins Avenue closed for $27 million — the highest price ever for a South Florida condominium, according to real estate agents.

“We’re definitely seeing the market turning upward,” said Jeff Miller, of Zilbert International Realty in Miami, who represented the buyer in the sale of the palatial 7,100-square-foot condominium. “We’re seeing buyers come in from all over the globe.”

Just a few weeks ago, Ohio coal mining businessman Wayne Boich Jr. completed the sale of his Icon South Beach penthouse at 450 Alton Road in the uber-trendy South of Fifth neighborhood for just under $21 million.

The 6-bedroom, 7 1/2-bath Icon condo sparked a bidding war that drove the sale $2 million above the listing price — a level that is three times the $7 million Boich paid in July 2007 in the depths of the bust. It was a record price for a Miami Beach bayside condo.

“The luxury market is on fire in South Beach — especially the South of Fifth neighborhood,” said Dora Puig, principal of PuigWerner Real Estate Services, who was the listing broker for the Icon unit. “It’s moving Miami to totally different pricing points.”

The Setai’s record may not reign for long.

Penthouse 2 in the decade-old Continuum South tower at 100 South Pointe Drive in the South of Fifth neighborhood is on the market for $39 million.

That is a record listing price for a Miami-Dade condominium, according to Puig, who also snagged that listing.

Amid the market sizzle, Puig bumped up the asking price late last summer from $35 million.

The penthouse, which has 11,000 square feet of interior space, belongs to Manhattan real estate developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who built the Continuum project at the tip of South Beach and kept the trophy for himself.

The Continuum penthouse, which has 6,000 square feet of deck and a rooftop heated pool, boasts sweeping 13 1/2-foot ceilings that give the feel of a single-family home. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls offer a 360-degree view of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay, downtown Miami and Miami Beach from 40 stories up.

“It looks down on Fisher Island, way down,” Puig said with a smile.

The unit has a private interior elevator, of course, and stretches over two indoor levels and two largely exterior levels.

One big plus: It has a gated entrance and sits on an expansive enclave of rolling lawns and gardens adjacent to a city park at the tip of the island.

The unit comes with an additional 874-square-foot guest quarters that would delight most mortals. “The guest unit is intended for professional quarters: the maid, the nanny, the chef, the pilot,” Puig explained.

Also included is a snazzy cabana on the beach.

Eichner has used it as a vacation home and once rented it to Tom Cruise for a couple of months while he was in Miami to film Rock of Ages.

On Thursday, Puig hosted Miami’s power brokers for a look at the Continuum penthouse over champagne and hors d’oeuvres. Next week, she plans to spend three days in New York touting the property to high-end brokers.

Such palatial properties typically are paid for in cash. But what would a monthly payment be?

With a 20 percent down payment of $7.8 million, the buyer would have to finance $31.2 million.

“I don’t know that I’d be able to find anybody willing to go that high on one unit,” warned Steve Schneider, a mortgage broker who is owner and president of Abacus Lending Group in South Miami.

If a buyer could line up a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at 3.5 percent, the monthly payment for principal and interest would be $223,043.35.

“I’d hate to see the tax bill,” said Schneider.

According to Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records, the 2012 property tax bill on the Continuum penthouse was $264,896.17. That was based on an assessed value of just $9.5 million, less than half what the Property Appraiser listed as the market value of $19.3 million. The tax break came as a result of the state law that caps increases in assessed values on non-homesteaded property at 10 percent a year.

The condo maintenance fee for Eichner’s unit runs $7,624 a month. “I think that’s low for what you get,” said Puig.

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North Dade man claims self-defense in killing of intruder

When a burglar broke into his North Miami-Dade apartment Monday night, Jordan Beswick grabbed his pistol, hid in the living room and squeezed off a volley of bullets.

Unscathed, the burglar ran to the master bedroom to escape.

Beswick himself ran from the apartment, but he didn’t call police.

Instead, authorities say, Beswick circled around to a bedroom window outside, waited three minutes, then fired at least eight more shots as the unarmed intruder tried to escape through the window. The suspect, Bryan Antonio DeJesus, 22, crumpled to the bedroom floor, dead.

The charge for Beswick: second-degree murder.

The unique case is bound to test Florida’s controversial self-defense law that critics say promotes vigilantism but supporters contend allows citizens to protect themselves from criminals.

Defense lawyer Gawane Grant, in a preliminary hearing Thursday, cited the “Stand Your Ground” law in asking for bail for Beswick, 19, who has no criminal history.

“He had the absolute right to defend himself inside his own home,” Grant said.

Miami-Dade prosecutor Dawn Kulick countered that Beswick was no longer threatened after he fired his weapon the first time, then left the apartment.

“He no longer needed to use force to defend himself,” she told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Monica Gordo, who ordered Beswick to be held in jail without bond.

Florida’s Stand Your Ground law — which eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using lethal force to counter a threat — has come under intense scrutiny in recent months.

Last year, Sanford police initially cited the law in not arresting a self-proclaimed neighborhood watchman who shot and killed an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, during a scuffle.

Prosecutors later charged the man, George Zimmerman, with second-degree murder. He is awaiting trial.

In response to the uproar, Gov. Rick Scott appointed a task force to study the effects of the law, which critics say has led to a rise in homicides. This week, Trayvon’s mother called for a repeal of the law, pushed through by the National Rifle Association. The NRA is now fighting a bitter and very public battle against gun control advocates in the wake of last month’s deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Florida prosecutors say the law is vexing because it allows judges — before jurors hear the facts — greater leeway in tossing out a case.

In Miami-Dade, judges have thrown out at least three murder cases based on the “immunity” claim.

The most controversial: the case of Greyston Garcia, who, armed with a knife, chased down and fatally stabbed a thief who had broken into his truck and stolen his radio in Little Havana.

A judge in March ruled that Garcia acted in self defense in January 2011 because the thief wielded a heavy bag of car radios that could have been used to cause “serious bodily injury or death.”

Beswick has yet to be formally charged at arraignment. Any Stand Your Ground immunity hearing is likely months away.

Records show DeJesus has been arrested at least eight times since age 15, mostly for minor drug, trespassing and vehicle theft charges.

Beswick lives with his mother in a first-floor condominium on the 800 block of Northeast 209th Terrace.

On Monday, he was home alone watching television about 11 p.m. when he heard a knock at the door. He did not answer, then heard someone trying to enter through the condo’s sliding glass door.

Miami-Dade detective Maria Mederos testified Thursday that Beswick, armed with a pistol, lay down on the tile floor near the living room and waited five minutes for the burglar to enter.

DeJesus, 22, emerged from inside a rear bedroom. Beswick saw a shadow and fired seven times. DeJesus fled back into the bedroom.

Beswick ran through the front door, around the building. A few yards away, he saw “the victim’s hands part the window blinds” in an attempt to climb out. Beswick fired the last fatal volley, according to Mederos’ arrest report.

“He still didn’t know how many guys were inside and whether or not they were armed,” Grant said Thursday evening. “He was still in fear.”

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Ex-Red Sox pitcher Schilling puts bloody sock up for auction after video game company collapse

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling — whose video game company underwent a spectacular collapse into bankruptcy last year — is selling the blood-stained sock he wore during the 2004 World Series.

Chris Ivy, director of sports for Texas-based Heritage Auctions, says online bidding begins around Feb. 4. Live bidding will take place Feb. 23.

The sock previously had been on loan to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It has been at Heritage’s Dallas headquarters for several weeks and will be displayed at the auction house’s Manhattan office before it is sold, according to Ivy.

He said the sock is expected to fetch at least $ 100,000, though he described that as a conservative estimate.

“I do expect the bidding to be very spirited,” Ivy said.

Schilling’s company, 38 Studios, was lured to Providence, R.I., from Massachusetts with a $ 75 million loan guarantee in 2010. In May, it laid off all its employees and it filed for bankruptcy in June. The state is now likely responsible for some $ 100 million related to the deal, including interest.

Schilling also had personally guaranteed loans to the company and listed the sock as bank collateral in a September filing with the Massachusetts secretary of state’s office.

Messages left for his publicist were not immediately returned.

The bloody sock is one of two that sent Schilling into the annals of baseball lore in 2004.

The other was from Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, when Schilling pitched against the New York Yankees with an injured ankle. That sock is said to have been discarded in the trash at Yankees Stadium.

The one being sold is from the second game of the World Series, which the Red Sox won that year for the first time in 86 years.

Schilling has said he invested as much as $ 50 million in 38 Studios and has lost all his baseball earnings. He told WEEI-AM in Boston last year that possibly having to sell the sock was part of “having to pay for your mistakes.”

“I’m obligated to try and make amends and, unfortunately, this is one of the byproducts of that,” he told the station.

Brad Horn, a spokesman for the hall of fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., said the loaned sock was returned in December under the terms of the hall’s agreement with Schilling. The hall had had it since 2004.

The Feb. 23 live bidding will be held at the Fletcher-Sinclair mansion in New York City, now home to the Ukrainian Institute of America. The auction will feature other “five- and six-figure items,” including a jersey and cap worn by New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig, Ivy said.

Heritage last May auctioned off the so-called “Bill Buckner ball,” which rolled through the legs of the Red Sox first baseman in the 1986 World Series. Ivy said that item, like Schilling’s sock, was listed at the time as being expected to bring in “$ 100,000-plus,” but it was sold to an anonymous bidder for $ 418,000.

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Lance Armstrong Confesses to Doping During All Seven Tour De France Wins

In a no-holds-barred interview with Oprah Winfrey, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong finally admitted to years of doping while riding professionally, arguing that performance-enhancing drugs are essential to succeed in the sport.

Wasting no time in the sit-down, Winfrey asked Armstrong right off the bat if he had ever used banned substances during his career. During a series of rapid-fire yes or no questions, the retired cyclist confirmed that blood transfusions and EPO usage was common during his career, particularly during all seven of his Tour de France victories.

Related: Armstrong Stripped of Tour De France Titles

When asked if he believed it was humanly possible to achieve his seven consecutive wins without doping, Armstrong replied: "Not in my opinion."

In the end, Armstrong refused to out any of his fellow cyclists in the interview. Rather, he blamed the culture of professional cycling for creating a need for underground doping in the sport. Despite this, the 41-year-old athlete took personal responsibility for his disgrace, telling Winfrey that, at the time, he didn't feel he was cheating, but now understands the magnitude of his actions.

Related: Armstrong Confession 'Riveting,' Says Oprah Winfrey

"I see the anger in people," said Armstrong of fans' reaction to his drug use. "These are people that supported me and believed in me… They have every right to feel betrayed and it's my fault. I will spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologize to people."

Last year, a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency led to Armstrong's downfall. The shamed cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and, until now, vehemently maintained his innocence.

Tonight's interview was only part one of Winfrey's explosive sit-down. Part two, which delves into Armstrong's reasons for agreeing to come clean (among other things), airs tomorrow night on OWN.

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Queens boy struck & killed by SUV

A Queens boy was struck and killed by an SUV tonight after running into the middle of a busy Ridgewood intersection, police said.

The 7-year-old was standing on the sidewalk near Myrtle Avenue and Madison Street with his father when the boy darted into traffic at around 6:50 p.m., cops and witnesses said.

“I saw the child lying in the street -- right on the double yellow line,” said pharmacy worker Darlyn Deleon, 22. “The father was kneeling next to the child and crying. The child looked bad.”

The boy was struck by a 2002 Toyota Highlander traveling east on Myrtle Avenue, cops said. He was taken to Wyckoff Hospital where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

The driver remained at the scene and cops said they do not suspect any criminality at this time.

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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums

A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.

While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.

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Scott supports review of state gun laws: ‘I want people to feel safe’

LARGO --
Gov. Rick Scott voiced his support for a broad review of Florida’s controversial gun laws by state lawmakers Wednesday, saying the state’s vital tourist economy depends on visitors being able to “feel safe” amid an increasingly well-armed population.

“We have a legislative session coming up,” Scott said during a visit to the Honeywell Aerospace plant in Largo, where he was touting his new plan to boost state manufacturing. “I think the right thing to do is go back and look at our laws.”

The father of a teacher, Scott said he would particularly support looking at ways to make schools safer. But he did not specify which other areas of existing state law might deserve scrutiny, refusing to respond to questions about universal background checks for firearm sales and a ban on assault weapons.

“I want people to feel safe in our state,” he said.

His remarks came in response to reporters’ questions on gun control, as the nation awaited an announcement from the White House on proposals to reform federal firearm regulations. President Barack Obama called on Congress Tuesday to enact bans on assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines, and expand background checks for gun purchasers.

Scott’s statements about a review of state gun laws were a rare — if still vague — foray into the debate over gun control in the wake of the Dec. 14 massacre of 20 children and six adults by a gunman at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

In previous public remarks, he has emphasized his sympathy for the victims’ families, rather than a legislative response. Scott skipped a conference call held by Vice President Joe Biden last week in which Biden solicited views on gun violence.

Scott’s press secretary, Jackie Schutz, later said she wanted to clarify that the governor’s support for a review of existing gun legislation doesn’t detract from his backing for citizens’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms. She said his remarks were not a “call to action” for specific legislation or reforms.

“Gov. Scott, as he has continued to say, is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment,” Schutz said. “He’s open to having a conversation, and he wants people to feel safe.”

Florida’s patchwork gun laws have subjected the state to criticism from gun-control advocates across the country. The state received a grade of “D-” in a recent review of state firearm laws by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a San Francisco-based nonprofit.

In addition to its hotly debated “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law, Florida does not require background checks for private sales of weapons and places no limit on the number of guns a person can buy at one time. The state has issued more than a million permits to carry a concealed handgun.

Top Republicans in Tallahassee have so far balked at the prospect of adjusting those laws, though they have signaled some openness to increasing funding for school-security measures after the Newtown shooting.

Senate President Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican, told the Orlando Sentinel this month that regulating gun access is “not something I think the Legislature will get involved in, other than peripherally.”

Asked to clarify the governor’s position on which state laws should be examined, Schutz said she could not offer specifics.

“Generally, he wants to take the [legislative] session to look at them, like he said,” Schutz said. “He wants to look at any ideas.”

Schutz declined to offer details about the governor’s ideas on school safety, or the possibility — advocated by the National Rifle Association — of placing armed guards in every elementary school.

“The safety of our schools — the teachers, the students, the people who work in the schools — is incredibly important,” she said.

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Commentary: Background Checks? Yes, but Leave Video Games Alone

COMMENTARY | I have mixed feelings toward the White House‘s gun violence response. I agree that background checks should be required before people are allowed to buy a firearm and that an assault weapon ban should be reinstated into law. While limiting the number of bullets in a weapon’s magazine will decrease the number of deaths in a mass shooting, the public does not need high-capacity magazines. Therefore any weapon using high-capacity magazines should be banned from public use, not just capping the magazines to 10 bullets.

But violent video games and other media images and scenes real-life violence? These media do not kill people. The shooters kill the people. Those who are mentally unstable may not understand that violent video games are not real life and should not be duplicated in real life. As long as gamers understand the difference between video games and real life, that shouldn’t be touched.

– Edmond, Okla.

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Kirstie Alley's Cheers Reunion

It's been nearly two decades since Cheers went off the air, but the onscreen chemistry hasn't changed between Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman, as seen in Kirstie's new TV Land pilot, Giant Baby.

On the show, Kirstie plays a Broadway diva whose life gets up-ended.

VIDEO: Kirstie Alley Celebrates 62nd Birthday with ET

"You know, we were planning this when we were doing Cheers," Kirstie said of reuniting with Rhea. "We said when Cheers isn't on the air anymore we'll do a show together."

Rhea plays Kirstie's best friend on Giant Baby, but she's also been a close friend to the Golden Globe winner in real-life, as Kirstie mentions in her New York Times bestseller, The Art of Men.

Kirstie's book, detailing her sexual exploits and struggles with drug addiction, has had so much success that it's attracted readers that Kirstie never thought would buy it.

"It never dawned on me that my dad would read my book," Kirstie said. "I didn't give it to him!"

Click the video for more.

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