Law And More

Austin, TX Massacre Could Wind Up as "Law & Order SVU" Episode - Unfortunately

A [former] sheriff's detective [Stephen Nicholas Broderick] has [allegedly] turned active shooter and killed three adults in Austin after being put on unpaid leave over child sex claims, as SWAT teams and FBI agents issued a shelter at home order amid fears the gunman could take a hostage." - Roy Tingle, Daily Mail, April 18, 2021.  

Broderick had a key position in the Austin Police Department. That had been before he had been arrested in June 6, 2020. The charge had been first-degree child sexual assault. He had been up on unpaid administrative leave. Then he resigned. 

Of course, nothing has been proved yet. And, as yet he has not been convicted of anything.

But, nevertheless, let's speculate.

This kind of tragedy involving a former member of law enforcement is what could wind up as an episode on "Law & Order SVU." Produced by Dick Wolf, the plots are known to be "ripped from the headlines."

Not too long ago there had been a plot about a detecitve in the Bronx who turned out to be a serial rapist. Several of his colleagues, unable to absorb the possibility of such as bad apple, tried to protect him. 

Meanwhile, the crisis continues in the Austin area. It is joining the list of other American cities which have recently experienced a mass shooting. Until this, Austin had been the new cool location for both techies and members of the Creative Class.

UPDATE:

Broderick had been arrested when walking along US 290. Daily Mail provides more details.

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"Law & Order: Organized Crime" - Elliot Stabler Struggles

In Richard Wheatley, played by Dylan McDermott, Elliot Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni, encounters his most formidable opponent. 

Last night on new Dick Wolf series "Law & Order: Organized Crime," Stabler figures he has it in the bag in catching Wheatley. The event is a community outreach event in which Wheatley is distributing free COVID vaccines. His supposed day job is as a head of an online pharma company. But his real work and passion is as a brutal Mafia boss. Stabler suspects Wheatley was the one who murdered his (Stabler's) wife in a car bombing. Incidentally, Wheatley also offed his own father.

Well, the vaccines had not been highjacked. In addition, Wheatley has the proper permit to conduct the event. 

Stabler looks foolish. And every time he tries to get the upper hand with Wheatley and doesn't there is that wonderful Wheatley smirk. 

This provocative programming gives new life to the Wolf branding.

His other productions such as the Chicago triplicate on Wednesday night are getting stale in plotting and acting.

"Law & Order SVU" also has risen from the dead with better content. Last night the plot line was about a far-right group who kidnapped a young black woman. In addition, the relationships among the characters are becoming more complex. Olivia Benson is becoming more politically savvy and has shaken off the total good-girl persona. That makes her a more effective leader.

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One for "Dateline" (and James Patterson): William, Harry - Kevin, Randall - Jane Genova, Anne Murga-Ring

The Queen has ordered that Princes William and Harry be separated behind Prince Philip's coffin. Therefore, it doesn't seem like the two brothers have made much progress in resolving the conflicts which have divided them. 

And there is hardly enough research on sibling rivalry to help those who want to help the brothers patch things up. "Dateline" should make it a mission to scout up stories about sibling-based crimes. All that deconstruction of the-husband-did-it has gotten old. And James Patterson owes us a mystery on sibling-on-sibling wrongdoing.

This week on "This Is Us," brothers Kevin and Randall did verbal combat. An added dimension to the shadow over their relationship is race. Kevin is white. Randall, who was adopted, is black. By the end of the episode, some of the tension had been defused. But it's doubtful the two will become close again.

I'm equally pessimisstic about the 18-year fissure with the last of my family members: my sister Anne Murga-Ring. Our last conversation had been November 2003. And the last update I had about her was several months ago through her former husband Victor Murga.

I never met her current husband Scott Ring. That's sad. He had been the publisher of the Jersey Journal, the platform for news in Anne's and my hometown Jersey City, New Jersey. My childhood fantasy had been to write for that newspaper. Instead I went the way of Don Draper on "Mad Men" and looped into marketing communications. 

It's unfortunate that many therapists don't focus on our siblings. The backgrounding is usually done based on parents. However, most of our growing-up is through interactions with those siblings. After parents die, siblings represent the only vestige of what we traditionally consider "family."

With so much social change disrupting American life, our whole notion of family could become undone. Siblings could be acknowledged as a potentially dark force.

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In Bridgegate, Bridget Kelly Got Off the Hook - Big Implications, Legal and Political

"In the New Jersey scandal known as Bridgegate, the high court ruled last year that a political-retribution scheme that involved crippling a town with traffic jams didn’t constitute federal fraud. The decision already has prompted the reversal of most charges in a high-profile insider-trading case, and could hurt prosecutors’ efforts to preserve convictions in a case that exposed ethical failures at one of the Big Four accounting firms." - Dave Michaels, The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2021.

That U.S. Supreme Court ruling reversed the conviction of former aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie - Bridget Kelly.

In an earler trial she had been found to be a key player in the traffic jam on the George Washington bridge, created for political retaliation. However, amid all those legalities Christie himself had not been prosecuted. That made the Bridgegate scandal all the more high-profile. There was also sympathy with Kelly as a mother. It was difficult to buy in that she had orchestrated the plan without input from above. What political aide has that kind of authority?

SCOTUS had reviewed whether unsavory behavior constituted criminal fraud. What was determined had been this: Federal criminal fraud can only be ruled when the behavior is intended to obtain funds or material goods in a underhanded manner. 

As the legalities currently work their way through the legal system, the whole matter of the 2013 Bridgegate has been resurrected to bite Christie in the butt. His current political comeback can be derailed. For example, on "This Week" he attacked U.S. Joe Biden's infrastructure initiative. 

In response, reports Keith Griffith at the Daily Mail:

"Chris Christie has accused President Joe Biden of 'lying' about the contents of a massive infrastructure spending proposal -- but quickly faced questions about his own credentials on infrastructure from critics who recalled his infamous 'Bridgegate' scandal."

The social network Twitter went wild with pushback on Christie. Again, he may have become radioactive. This is at a time when the GOP is struggling with its post-Trump Administration identity. Also, with the Democrats in control of the White House and the U.S. House, myriad constituencies are focusing on making friends and influencing the liberals. In itself, that could leave a yesterday politico like Christie out of 2021 looping. The media outlets could begin ignoring him. The focus will be the new GOP players.

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"Good Girls" - Poor Little Lost Annie Marks

Anyone who has gone through a bout of extreme low self-esteem can feel for Annie  Marks. Unlike her sister Beth and Ruby, Annie isn't outsized. And she isn't enjoying the fun of those two with the strategic planning for the next kinds of crime.

Instead she is a bit player. Her son has rejected her. Her ex-husband's wife treats her badly. Her former therapist seemed to allow her to fall in love with him. And, of course, none of her other male relationships have panned out. She even wound up being entrapped by a federal agent who pretended to be romantically interested in her.

Neither Beth nor Ruby are picking up on her pain. Meanwhile she is being bullied by her sister Beth. 

Writers for the this dark comedy have the opportunity to have Annie loop into a way to find a solid sense of self. Her son will respect her and want to live with her. The others will take note that this is a person they have to reckon with. And Annie could replace Beth as the prime mover in the series. Who knows: Rio could fall in love with her.

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"Law & Order: Organized Crime" - Highjacked COVID Vaccines

The signature for producer of the Law & Order franchise - Dick Wolf - is plots "ripped from the headlines."

That was certainly the situation in the "Law & Order: Organized Crime" episode last night. The series is scheduled well since it follows the long-running "Law & Order: SVU." 

Star of "Organized Crime" Christopher Meloni, playing the tormented Elliot Stabler, pursues highjacked COVID vaccines. The act was set in play by the same bad guy who operates an international drug ring - and just murdered his own father. 

With his usually hyper-intensity Stabler makes it his mission to get the vaccines back for use by the most vulnerable. Of course, those in the loop to profit from that are irritated. The episode ends with Stabler getting badly beaten.  In an earlier episode Stabler's wife was murdered by that cabal in a car bombing. The series poses the question: Is an aging Stabler punching above his weight? These people are not amateurs.

Meanwhile, there is conflict between him and his former SVU partner Olivia Benson. She perceives him as "off," shares that with him and the relationship might be undone.

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Blue Wall of Silence Collapses - Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo Testifies Against Derek Chauvin

The murder trial of Derek Chauvin could be moving the dial on myriad stubborn problmes of American society. 

A sign of that is that the blue wall of science collapses as Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified. He stated that the restraint used by his former employee Chauvin violated both department policy and ethics. However, he was not allowed to discuss his firing of Chauvin. 

The iconoclastic move could motivate other law enforcement leaders and members of the rank and file to push out against what they perceive as wrongdoing by insiders.

This issue has been played out in popular televison fictional programming such as "Blue Bloods." Episodes on that series frequently deal with the conflict between loyalty to colleagues doing a tough job and the right thing to do. Recently, "Law & Order SVU" had a segment about the detective who was a serial rapist and the colleagues who avoided absorbing that possibility.

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Late-Night Comedy Taking a Right Turn - Fox's "Gutfeld"

"The Rupert Murdoch-controlled network is moving its in-house political satirist, Greg Gutfeld, over to an 11 p.m. weeknights slot where he can go joke-to-joke with other late-night hosts, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, who start about a half-hour later." - Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg, April 1, 2021.

Essentially the ethos for that show was captured in a billboard which Fox has put up near the Los Angeles studio where Kimmel does his show. It says: Cancel culture just got cancelled."

Since satire stings, "Gutfeld" could have real influence on how much traction WOKE has left. Also, Joe Biden's radical initiatives can be made to look foolish. 

But the real driver here is, as is usual with Murdoch, are the ad dollars. In that late-night slot the pie is about $500 million. Fox wants a big piece. He is promoting the show aggressively.

In addition, Fox has to make a fresh move to combat the inroads made by far-right media competition. At the top of the list is Newsmax. 

"Gutfeld" premiers on April 5th. Because it is new it will get plenty of attention. That should alarm the incumbents on late night.

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Elliot Stabler Is Back - Not Much Changed

The return of Elliot Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni, to NYPD raises the question: Can a human being really change?

The new series "Law & Order: Organized Crime" kicked off tonight with a two-hour special. It was a very different kind of Dick Wolf production - a combination of soul-wrenching emotion and international organized crime.

The episode opens with a car bombing. Stabler's wife Cathy (the couple had reunited) was in that car. The rest of the two hours went on to be old-fashioned detective work in a hunt for the bomber.

Soon in, Cathy dies. The couple had been returning from his assignment in Rome for the NYPD. After a hiatus of several years he used his contacts to loop back into the NYPD. But not SVU. 

Dealing with rage and grief brings out the best of Meloni's talents. There are also his scenes with his five now-grown children. Their relationship is less bumpy that it had been in his days at SVU. Obivously, though, one of his children remains troubled.

In addition, Stabler works though closure with former partner Olivia Benson. He had left SVU without letting her know he was going to do that. She felt betrayed. The current dynamics between them broadcast their still-deep caring for each other. However, both have moved on. And this is Stabler's show. Benson's is SVU.

The hunt for Cathy's killer intersects with an existing invesigation of who is in charge of a global drug cartel. That becomes very Godfatherish. Lots of Italians. And it could be the weakest aspect of this new series. It would have been total cool if the ethos had been more Breaking Bad.

This version of Stabler is bald. More intense in focus but more reserved in behavior (except when he's ready to work over a suspect). But his work still seems to come before his family. After his wife is buried he doesn't hang around to be with his children. He rushes off to follow a lead. This reminds Baby Boomer females how Nancy Drew used to leave her boyfriend to pursue a clue. 

According to the scripting, no, people don't change. They just play out who they are in new contexts. Stabler will always be a consumed detective. Benson will always be tilted toward the human side of law enforcement. But added in is her son Noah who is featured sledding in the park with her.

Fans of Meloni hope this series will make it big.

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MarketWatch As Dr. Phil - Lessons for Media Covering Legal

"My mother visited my sister, who didn’t give her breakfast or lunch. She makes $150K. Should I tell her to feed her guests?" - Quentin Fottrell, The Moneyist (reprinted by MarketWatch), March 30, 2021.

Is this the play-out of the old ratings game? The usual playbook is: The media outlet has to get outrageous to attract, hold and scale viewership or readers.

Some recall how the buttoned-down television star host Phil Donahue wore a dress on his talk show. More recently, the plot line of dark comedy on NBC "Good Girls" has become convoluted crime-driven.

The same phenomenon could be taking over the usually staid niche of advice about money. Increasingly, what is being posted as original or reprinted on MarketWatch mirrors the tone and content of an episode of the "Dr. Phil" show.

Much of that MarketWatch sensationalism loops into the kinds of interactional crisis situations psychologist Dr. Phil resolves on his iconic program. Those on MarketWatch range from stepchildren inheriting too much to the spendthrift spouse. 

The reality is that this kind of survival/scaling tactic isn't needed. Media players in the competitive legal niche are thriving just by presenting data-driven content not available elsewhere in an engaging way. It's boxed like storytelling. Those include Bloomberg Law and Law.com.

In contrast, Abovethelaw had drifted from unique to too-much. That included political ranting and predictable attacks on conservative organizations such as the Federalist Society. But, it pulled back in time to regain its clear identity as the advocate for law students and junior lawyers.

With so many regulatory issues emerging during the Biden Administration, media outlets that are not classified as legal are parachuting into coverage. They range from general business to political. Their challenge is to poach eyeballs from the legal media. Likely, to pull that off they could be tempted to go sensational. That is not recommended.

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