Life In Prison. Plus 5 Years

"The public needs protecting from you... Your actions in this case, Mr. Mandell, were evil, and showed a complete disregard for human life." Is what Judge Amy St. Eve said to ex-cop, Steve Mandell, was tried and sentenced for a gruesome plot for murder.  He and his accomplice, Gary Engel, were planning on kidnapping, torturing and chopping up innocent businessman Stephen Campbell.

 Originally there was a third man in on this plot, George Michael, but what the other two were not aware of, was Michael and contacted the FBI and told them what Engel and Mandell were planning to do.  There were disturbing videos that the FBI was able to get from surveillance from what was going to be Mandell's torture chamber, filled with cleavers, saws and all sorts of other tools to disembody Campbell after they had gotten what they wanted out of him.

Engel and Mandell were planning to pose as cops and torture Campbell until he agreed to sign over deeds to several properties.  They then were going to kill him and chop up his body and drain his blood in the sink in their torture chamber. Engel was found dead in his prison cell after he had hanged himself after being arrested.

After a 30 minute hopeless rant to the judge trying to prove his innocence, Judge Amy St. Eve stayed strong in her verdict saying that she had not seen "an inkling of remorse." He smiled and wished her a "Merry Christmas."

Mandell Giving a Thumbs Up After His Verdict in 2005

To me, it is mortifying that someone could think of a plot to torture, kill and mutilate, and proceed to show not even an ounce of remorse. Mandell had gotten out of death row for a different crime in which the trial had been 14 years.  I think that Judge Amy St. Eve was right to stand so firm in her decision and showed true jurisprudence.  Americans are often skeptical and say there can be flaws in the judicial system, however, it seems completely fitting to me that this clearly disturbed man be locked away from the rest of society for the remainder of his life.

Swastikas Found On Hanukkah Wrapping Paper

Just a few short hours ago, shopper, Cheryl Shapiro, was looking for the perfect wrapping paper.  She wanted to find some cute wrapping paper for her grandchildren to wrap their Hanukkah gifts.  She picked up a silver and blue paper and within moments, she spotted swastikas on the design. In an interview with CNN, she said, "To me, it was a big deal.  I'm Jewish, and I don't want to see swastikas on anything. And to see it on Hanukkah paper, that I'm wrapping gifts in for my grandkids... no that wasn't going to fly for me..."

At first glance, the wrapping paper seems like a bunch of rectangles all bunched together to look like an intricate design.  However, upon looking closely at the corners of the rectangles, you can very clearly see that there are indeed swastikas embedded within the design.

Hallmark Cards Inc. has removed this specific wrapping paper from its shelves to prevent any further problems. The controversy of the wrapping paper only deepens with the fact that it was in a Hanukkah display.  Hallmark spokeswoman Julie Elliot says the gift wrap wasn't intended for the Jewish Holiday, Hallmark didn't mean to offend anyone and it was an oversight that no one at Hallmark noticed the intersecting lines could be seen as a swastika.

It is horrifying to me that there could be swastikas found in wrapping paper for Hanukkah.  I think Cheryl Shapiro was right in saying that we shouldn't see swastikas on anything. The wrapping paper was distributed by Walgreens which is no longer selling it, however this oversight is something that potentially could lose a lot of business. It also puts a huge damper on the holiday spirit, bringing up a horror of the past during supposedly happy times.  It is upsetting to see something like this pop up in the news especially as we are all scrambling to get all those presents wrapped in time. This oversight is horribly shocking and hopefully will never happen again.

#Confused

In an era with such amazingly advanced technology, it might  surprise you just how hard it is to find out about true working conditions of clothes manufacturers. I was looking up the brand Splendid, owned by a company called VF, for close to an hour and all I saw was the pristine, laid out policies and terms of how they should treat their workers. I was baffled.  My soft, cozy black and white striped sweater that was draped around me had a tag that said, "MADE IN CHINA." However, everything that I read online about Splendid, said that it was an American company and their clothes were made in the USA.  Confused? I was, too. 

  Upon further research I looked into VF as a company.  VF Corp. owns many well known brand names such as The North Face, Nautica and Wrangler Jeans.  Turns out, they have 2,000 factories in countries all around the world.  All of a sudden some of the policies started to make sense. For example, Principle Number 4 of their Global Compliance Principles says that, "VF recognizes that compensation packages vary by country." It now clicked because I understood that they did manufacture their clothes in other countries.  Feeling deceived I continued to look into this corporation.  Turns out, VF was highly pressured to reveal the names of their factories, especially those in Bangladesh, following the collapse of the Rayna Plaza two April's ago, which killed 1,129 workers.  Many companies keep the names of their suppliers hidden not only to hide it from competitors, but to not be publicly linked to accidents like the collapse, fires or unfair labor. 

It is easy to say taht I will only by sweaters that were made in the USA, but I had thought that all of Splendid's clothes were made in the USA.  So despite what their website says, am I really going to know who actually made my sweater? The confusion comes from the deception and the hush-hush of the manufacturing. However the more we hear about the horrible incidents, like factories collapsing, the greater awareness people have about the horrid conditions.  To prevent further microscopic attention and immense pressure on the company, I think VF is doing the right thing by being honest and giving the names of their suppliers upfront.  Transparency into their company and honesty about their work will hopefully lead to a better outcome in the end.