Jodi Arias Feels 'Betrayed' By Jury, Waffles on Apology

Iran's Ahmadinejad denounces election decision

In this photo taken on Friday, May 10, 2013, pro-reform former Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref, waves to media during his press conference, after registering his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. He was selected Tuesday, May 21, 2013 as one of eight candidates allowed to push ahead with his presidential bid. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadsaid Wednesday that a decision by election overseers to disqualify his top aide from next month's presidential race is an act of "oppression" and that he will take the case to the country's supreme leader.

His comments were posted on his website, president.ir, the day after the Guardian Council removed Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei from the final candidate list.

Despite Ahmadinejad's pledge to appeal, it is unlikely that the Guardian Council made its decision without the blessing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It allowed only eight candidates, most hard-liners associated with the clerical establishment.

Among those approved for the June ballot are Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, prominent lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — all top Khamenei loyalists. Former chief of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezaei and a little known former minister, Mohammad Gharazi, have also been approved.

Only two of are considered pro-reform figures: Former top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani and former first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref, but neither have yet gained any strong following among moderates and liberals after years of crackdowns by authorities.

Most hope for an opposition revival had rested with former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was not approved by the Guardian Council after hardliner complaints. Rafsanjani had openly criticism the heavy-handed tactics used to crush protests in 2009 following the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad.

The ruling dealt a serious blow to Ahmadinejad's hopes of having a loyalist succeed him. He can't run in the June 14 ballot due to term limits under Iran's constitution.

"I believe the right of an oppressed man won't be trampled at this level in a country where there is 'velayat-e-faqih,'" Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying, referring to Iran's Islamic system of government in which a top cleric serves as supreme leader and the final authority on all matters of state.

Ahmadinejad claims deference to Khamenei, although his perceived 2011 challenge to the supreme leader's authority caused him to fall out with conservatives who formerly backed him and marked the start of the decline in his political fortunes.

The president called Mashaei a "pious, rightful and competent man." He said he would pursue the appeal "through the exalted leader until the last moment and hope the problem will be resolved," he said.

Ahmadinejad has strongly supported his protege. But Mashaei is disliked by hard-liners because of the man's alleged role in the bitter feud between Ahmadinejad and the ruling clerics. They have denounced him as part of a "deviant current" that seeks to undermine the country's Islamic system — which made ballot approval highly unlikely.

But the decision to keep Rafsanjani off the ballot surprised many.

Rafsanjani is a founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought the clerics to power. He was the closest confident of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 revolution. Even Khamenei largely owes his position to Rafsanjani's support.

His rejection deals a demoralizing blow to pro-reform groups and boosts the chances of a Khamenei loyalist winning the election.

But removing the main challengers to the hard-liners dims hopes for high turnout, which Iranian leaders are believed to want to show that the Islamic Republic is still politically strong.

Eshaq Jahangiri, Rafsanjani's campaign manager, said the former president won't object to his disqualification.

"He won't protest," Jahangiri was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying Wednesday. "He signed up to carry out his responsibilities and on the basis of the requirements."

But several prominent figures have appealed to Khamenei to reverse the council's decision. Zahra Mostafavi, Khomeini's respected daughter, said the decision only causes greater rifts between Khamenei and Rafsanjani, once two close allies.

"I'm giving this advice that this decision (Rafsanjani's rejection) means nothing but causing a rift between two allies of the Imam (Khomeini) and ignoring the sympathy and interest the people have got for the election," Mostafavi said in a letter addressed to Khamenei. A copy of the letter was posted on jamaran.ir website Wednesday.

The Iranian media didn't provide any reason for Rafsanjani's disqualification, but some opponents have claimed that at the age of 78, he is too old to run the country.

Others have cited his support for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claimed to be the rightful winner of the disputed 2009 election, as another major reason for disqualifying Rafsanjani.

5/20/2013 — Oklahoma City, Massive tornado damage — RADAR pulse / “HAARP ring” / Scalar Square confirmation – by sincedutch!!!

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Here is a screenshot of the before and after for the area in question:

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With heart felt sorrow , I offer condolences to all those effected by this tragic turn of events.

Here are several posts explaining the basics behind the theory of radio frequency modification of the weather, more specifically an explanation on how I believe RADAR is playing a role :

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/want-to-know-about-weather-modification-haarp-vlf-hf-and-chemtrails-want-to-prove-it-to-a-non-believer-here-you-go/

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/2272013-us-navy-labs-create-plasma-rings-using-haarp-hf-radar-frequency/

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/4242013-tornadoes-created-via-microwaves-experiments-prove-theory-correct/

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/472013-haarp-generates-plasma-rings-diagram-looks-exactly-like-what-we-see-on-radar/

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/392013-multiple-antennas-producing-small-heated-and-cooled-areas-above-transmitters/

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/vlfhaarprings/

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Past RADAR pulse / HAARP ring / Scalar Square confirmations :

Talk of lies, pride as Trump case goes to jury

Talk of lies, values, city pride as jury gets case accusing Donald Trump of bait and switch

FILE - In this May 14, 2013 file photo, Donald Trump arrives at federal court n Chicago to testify at a civil trial where he's accused of enticing investors to buy condos at his Chicago skyscraper with promises of profit-sharing, then quietly reneging on them. On Monday, May 20, 2013, Jacqueline Goldberg, 87, who alleges Trump cheated her in a bait-and-switch scheme has told jurors she had qualms about suing the developer-turned-TV star given his power and influence. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

CHICAGO (AP) -- The lawyer for an 87-year-old woman who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a skyscraper condo deal told jurors in Chicago on Wednesday that he was personally repulsed because he felt the "Apprentice" star conned his client and lied about it on the witness stand.

Plaintiff attorney Shelly Kulwin's comments came during a sarcasm-filled closing argument at the federal civil trial that pits Jacqueline Goldberg against the billionaire real estate mogul-turned TV showman.

His voice rising, Kulwin portrayed the case as a battle between Trump, who he described as a wheeler-dealer, and a woman with wholesome values learned growing up during the Depression.

Trump, of New York, wasn't in court for the closings. But Kulwin projected a photograph of the beaming developer on a large courtroom screen.

"The thought of my grandma being in the same room with that guy. Yuck!" Kulwin said. The judge told jurors to disregard the comment.

Later, the attorney said Trump was motivated to cheat his client by a love for money.

"It's like his family, those dollars," Kulwin said.

Jurors withdrew to begin deliberations later Wednesday but went home after 90 minutes without reaching a verdict. They were to resume Thursday morning.

City pride intervened during closings when Kulwin appeared to make an unfavorable reference to executives in New York.

"Judge, he's mocking New York," Trump attorney Stephen Novack said, standing to object.

"I can't mock New York?" Kulwin shot back. "I thought it was every Chicagoan's right to do that."

Addressing jurors next, Novack accused Kulwin of resorting to personal attacks on Trump out of desperation and a lack of evidence.

Goldberg alleges Trump persuaded her to buy two condos at around $1 million apiece in Chicago's glitzy Trump International Hotel & Tower by promising she would share in building profits. But, Goldberg says, Trump reneged after she committed to the investment.

"It's called a bait and switch," Kulwin told jurors. "Here's the bait. Here's the switch."

But Trump's attorney described Goldberg as a detail-oriented investor who knew the contract that she signed stipulated Trump could cancel the profit-sharing offer as he saw fit.

"She knows the drill," Novack said. "Nobody put a gun to her head (to sign)."

He later added: "Mrs. Goldberg went into this deal with her eyes wide open."

Since the contract gave Trump rights to change the profit-sharing offer, Novack said the onus was on Goldberg's attorneys to prove Trump secretly plotted to defraud her before she even signed up to buy.

"What do they call it? A bait and switch," he said. "Switch is not enough. ... There is no evidence whatsoever of a secret plan."

In two days of sometimes combative testimony last week, Trump denied cheating Goldberg. And he told reporters outside court that he was the victim, not her. He declared, "She's trying to rip me off."

On Wednesday, though, Kulwin said Trump took the stand "to lie, evade and spout infomercials."

He also mocked Trump for telling jurors he never took notes of business meetings and therefore couldn't say when certain decisions were made and by whom.

"People who don't want to be found out don't write things down. They're not stupid," Kulwin said. "And Donald Trump may be a lot of things, but he's not stupid."

Kulwin told jurors Goldberg was seeking a total of $6 million in damages.

"Send a message not just to Mr. Trump ... but to others like him," he said pounding his hand on a podium. "You can say to them, 'These people who do these things have crossed the line.'"

In his final remarks, Trump's attorney told jurors their obligation was to the evidence, not to their sense of sympathy or to any urge to send a message.

"This isn't the chance for you to decide that Wall Street is bad ... and (now) we're going to show these fat cats," Novack said. "Look at the facts."

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Follow Michael Tarm at http://www.twitter.com/mtarm

Flooding forces evacuation of 1,300 in ND town

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A dam that threatened to give way and flood a North Dakota town was holding back the water on Wednesday, though the 1,300 residents of Cavalier were still being told to stay away from their homes.

Steady rainfall between Friday and Tuesday dumped about 9 inches of rain on parts of Pembina County, swelling creeks and rivers and sending water flowing across the countryside from west to east in the east-sloping county. The small town of Crystal flooded Tuesday, forcing a few residents from their homes, and people in Cavalier — about 85 miles north of Grand Forks — were told to evacuate Tuesday night as a precaution should the Renwick Dam about six miles west of town on the Tongue River be overwhelmed.

The evacuations included two or three patients at a hospital and 63 people in a nursing home and assisted living center, county Emergency Manager Andrew Kirking said. They were taken either to care facilities in surrounding communities or to the homes of relatives.

Local, state and federal officials built an emergency levee with the help of the National Guard on Tuesday to try to prevent floodwaters from eroding the emergency spillway at the earth-and-concrete Renwick Dam. The levee was being reinforced and monitored Wednesday as the area enjoyed sunshine instead of rain clouds for the first time in five days, Kirking said.

"The rising water has slowed overnight. It is still rising, but it is not nearly at the rate it was yesterday at this time," he said. "We are very, very cautiously optimistic now that the water has slowed."

A slow leak in the dam would mean a slow rise of water over a long period of time downstream, Kirking said. "Should we have a catastrophic failure, the worst-case scenario, we would see a massive amount of water," he said. "We could see a foot of standing water in the six miles from (the dam) to Cavalier."

The water also would flood about a dozen people on rural farmsteads, he said.

Margaret Bjornson-Holm, 53, who has lived in Cavalier most of her life, said she and her family gathered up some belongings and important documents before "packing a suitcase and heading out." They are staying with family in Grand Forks, about 75 miles away.

"You just deal with it," Bjornson-Holm said. "It sounds like things are looking up, but we're not out of the woods yet."

North Dakota's Transportation Department closed state Highway 18 at Neche, along the border with Canada, and Highway 5 near Cavalier due to the flooding.

Floodwaters in Crystal, where six families in the town of 160 residents left their homes Tuesday, were receding Wednesday and cleanup was underway, Mayor Larry McCollum said. As many as 30 homes had water in their basements.

"Our roads and everything got beat up bad during the flood," McCollum said. "But we'll be back to normal here in two to three days."

Jim Thompson, merchandiser at the Columbia Grain elevator in Crystal, said officials were able to get back into the business Wednesday.

"There's no damage to the elevator of the office here," he said. "We definitely lucked out."

In Walsh County, officials fortified levees in Grafton against an expected record crest of the Park River in the city of about 4,500 people.

"I think we're well-prepared to hold (the river) back," county Emergency Manager Brent Nelson said. "We're fairly optimistic that we shouldn't have any major issues."

Gov. Jack Dalrymple has directed various state agencies to help with the flood fight. He planned to take aerial and ground tours of the area Wednesday afternoon, spokesman Jeff Zent said.

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Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake