Jonathan Martin's Threatening Text Message To Richie Incognito Was This Meme, Claims His Lawyer

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Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito (68) and tackle Jonathan Martin (71) stand on the field during practice in Davie, Fla. on July 24, 2013.

Attempting to provide context for his treatment of teammate Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito claimed he also received a threatening text message. The suspended Miami Dolphins guard made this revelation when he sat down with Jay Glazer of FOX Sports to discuss the Dolphins' bullying scandal involving him and Martin. A second-year offensive tackle, Martin abruptly left the Dolphins on Oct. 28 to receive treatment for emotional distress. Incognito, once named the NFL's dirtiest player in a poll of his peers, was subsequently suspended by the Dolphins on Nov. 2 for unspecified misconduct related to alleged mistreatment of Martin.

"People don't know how John and I communicate to one another," Incognito explained to Glazer. "For instance, a week before this went down, Jonathan Martin texts me on my phone: 'I will murder your whole effing family.' Now, did I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit. I knew it was coming from a brother. I knew it was coming from a friend. I knew it was coming from a teammate."

Hours after the interview aired on FOX on Sunday afternoon, David Cornwell, an attorney for Martin, shared a profane Internet meme featuring a smiling woman and a dog on Twitter and indicated this was the message that Incognito mentioned to Glazer.

WARNING: Image Below Contains Strong Language

JMart's text 2 Richie Incognito. U decide..... pic.twitter.com/IrgdNnhGe2

— David Cornwell (@wmdavidcornwell) November 10, 2013

Is that what viewers had in mind as Incognito recalled the text message?

Incognito referenced the text from Martin when asked about the threatening voice and text messages he had reportedly sent that included racial slurs. Speaking with Glazer, Incognito confirmed leaving the following voicemail for Martin, who is bi-racial.

“Hey, wassup, you half n—– piece of [expletive] . . . I saw you on Twitter, you been training ten weeks. [I want to] [expletive] in your [expletive] mouth. [I'm going to] slap your [expletive] mouth. [I'm going to] slap your real mother across the face (laughter). [Expletive] you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.”

Although he did expressed embarrassment over the voicemail, Incognito cited the text from Martin as evidence that both players traded similar threats in jest. He portrayed a locker room culture where such language was acceptable.

"When I see that voicemail, when I see those words come across the screen, I'm embarrassed by it," Incognito said after he was presented with a transcript of the offensive voicemail he left for Martin. "I'm embarrassed by my actions. But what I want people to know is, the way Jonathan and the rest of the offensive line and how our teammates, how we communicate it's vulgar. It's not right."

[H/T Deadspin]

Bradley Manning 'Said The Flag Meant Nothing To Him,' Former Supervisor Claims

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FORT MEADE, Md. -- In testimony from what could be the last prosecution witness during the pre-sentencing phase of Bradley Manning's trial, his one-time supervisor Jihrleah Showman dropped the allegation that the WikiLeaks source once told her that "the flag meant nothing to him."

Showman is a former Army specialist who supervised Manning when he served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, and she and Manning had an often-rocky relationship during their brief time in the service together -- he once punched her in the face. Smelling an 11th-hour trick, Manning's defense attorney immediately sought to call into question the veracity of her statement, which she made for the first time in open court on Friday.

Showman said Manning's comments came during a private counseling session in August 2009, months before they were deployed to Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq. After the soldier told her that he had joined the Army to pay for his education, she said, she sought to probe deeper into his reasons for signing up. Tapping the flag on her uniform's shoulder, she said, she asked Manning what it meant.

"He said the flag meant nothing to him and he did not consider himself to have allegiance to this country," Showman claimed.

As Manning's lawyer David Coombs pointed out on cross-examination, however, "No one was at this conversation besides you and Pfc. Manning … and prior to 2010, the arrest of Pfc. Manning in May of 2011, you never reduced this allegation to writing."

"It would be a serious matter because he had access to classified information," Coombs submitted.

"Correct," Showman acknowledged.

Coombs ticked off a list of reports that Showman had written about Manning: being late to formation, losing his "military bearing," "excessive caffeine consumption." But she never wrote up Manning's supposed disloyal statement -- even though, she said, she even suspected that he might be a spy.

The reason she didn't write the report, Showman said, is that she took the matter to her boss, who "said that he would take care of it."

Hoping to further undermine Showman's testimony, Coombs also brought up a report Manning made where he complained that Showman had made derogatory remarks -- including calling him "faggoty."

Showman responded that she made that statement "in reference to not being able to do pushups, rather than being gay."

Her testimony on Friday was a radical departure from her previous, almost lighthearted appearance during the prosecution's case in chief. Back in June, she said that Manning had bragged about his computer skills and Washington, D.C., "martini parties" he had attended.

Coombs had objected to Showman testifying again, but Judge Denise Lind said she could appear as a rebuttal witness to a Manning confidant who testified about supportive comments he had made about the Army and America's role in web chats.

"i actually believe what the army tries to make itself out to be: a diverse place full of people defending the country," Manning wrote in those February 2009 chats.

As the trial went into recess on Friday, Manning's lawyers and the prosecution were meeting out of court to discuss Showman's interview for the documentary film "We Steal Secrets," which might also call into question her fairness toward Manning. In the movie she brags about her "15-inch biceps" and frankly explains that "I was the last person he probably should have punched."

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Lady Gaga NYC Gay Pride 2013: Pop Star To Give Speech At New York City Kick Off Rally, Claims Source

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Where will Lady Gaga make her first major public appearance since undergoing hip surgery in March?

The New York City 2013 Pride Kick Off Rally.

At least that's what a source close to the New York City Pride organization tells The Huffington Post.

The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, revealed to HuffPost Gay Voices in an email Thursday night that the pop star would be speaking at the 2013 NYC Pride Kick Off Rally, hosted by "RuPaul's Drag Race" favorite Pandora Boxx, at Pier 26 somewhere between 7 and 10pm on Friday night.

Gaga, who has a long history of supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, was forced to cancel the remaining dates on her "Born This Way Ball" tour in February due to an injury that required surgery on her hip.

Since then, the "Bad Romance" singer has been photographed by the paparazzi riding in a 24-karat gold wheelchair named "Emma," serving as a bride's maid at a friend's wedding and performing at jazz trumpeter Brian Newman's gig at Rose Bar in NYC, but otherwise she has managed to keep an uncharacteristically low profile during the last four months.

Her once frequently updated Twitter account, which boasts nearly 40 million followers, has only been active a handful of times since she halted her tour, most notably on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week when Gaga offered her support to the LGBT community in the hours leading up to the Supreme Court revealing its historic decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, two landmark cases regarding gay marriage.

Lady Gaga's representatives did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment on this story, but it seems only fitting that Gaga, who is putting the finishing touches on her upcoming "ARTPOP" album, which is rumored to be due out later this year, would choose New York City Pride as her point of prominent re-emergence into the spotlight.

If she does show up, as the anonymous source guarantees she will, Gaga won't be the only diva on hand to celebrate the huge marriage equality wins achieved this week in Washington D.C. Cher is set to perform at the Pier Dance, which takes place on Sunday.

For more information about the New York City Pride Kick Off Rally, starting at 7pm on Friday, June 28 at Pier 26, and the Pier Dance, starting at 3pm on Sunday, June 30 at Pier 26, click here.

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Bryan Fischer Claims Obama Was Photoshopped Into Bin Laden Situation Room Snapshot

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Conservative radio host Bryan Fischer presented the possibility that President Barack Obama was photoshopped into the iconic White House Situation Room photos of the Osama Bin Laden mission during his radio show on Thursday, Talking Points Memo reported.

Fischer said the size of Obama's head, as compared to others in the photo, piqued his speculation.

"Even people standing in the back of the room, their heads are bigger than his head," Fischer said on his show, Focal Point. "And it looks teeny-tiny next to the people that he's sitting next to. He looks kind of hunched over and small."

Fischer played a recording of Reggie Love, Obama's former body man, saying during a Los Angeles forum last month that he and Obama played cards away from the Situation Room on the day of the mission.

"Most people were down in the Situation Room and [Obama] was like, 'I'm not, I can't, I'm not gonna be down there, I can't watch this entire thing," Love said in the recording, which has since been removed from YouTube.

Fischer said the recording might "confirm" that Obama was not, in fact, in the room during the mission. He alleged that Obama only wanted to be a part of the historic moment were the mission successful.

"I think Obama's approach was, 'Hey, if this thing goes south, I don't want to be in the room. I don't want to be anywhere near this thing if it blows up," he said. "If it succeeds, if it's an outstanding success, then photoshop me in there.'"

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E.W. Jackson, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Candidate, Claims Government Programs Have Done More Harm To Blacks Than Slavery (VIDEO)

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Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson in Falls Church, Va., on May 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

E.W. Jackson, the Chesapeake minister running on the GOP ticket for lieutenant governor of Virginia, has some extreme views, and he's not afraid to share them.

The latest revelation came during a speech on Wednesday when Jackson claimed that government social programs have done more harm to the African-American community than slavery, Talking Points Memo reported.

"In 1960, most black children were raised in two-parent, monogamous families. By now, by this time, we have only 20 percent of black children being raised in a two-parent, monogamous families with the married man and woman raising those children," Jackson said. "It wasn’t slavery that did that, it was government that did that. It tried to solve problems that only God can solve and that only we as human beings can solve.”

Over the course of the campaign, the public has learned that Jackson doesn't believe in evolution, claimed Planned Parenthood "killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions" and thinks President Barack Obama has a "Muslim perspective."

Jackson's 2008 book, "Ten Commandments to an Extraordinary Life: Making Your Dreams Come True" -- which misspelled the word Commandments on the cover -- also suggested that yoga may make unsuspecting people vulnerable to satanic possession.

Jackson has even managed to alienate his own party with his comments. Earlier this month, Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) announced he would not be endorsing Jackson because of his views on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Jackson has described gays and lesbians as "very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally," and said their behavior "poisons culture."

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Sibling Bullying As Detrimental As Peer Bullying, Study Claims

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Sibling squabbling is a rite of passage. Brothers and sisters argue; they roughhouse; they steal each other's clothes and toys.

But a provocative new study claims that even mild acts of sibling aggression are just as detrimental as the bullying that many children face at school.

"Historically [sibling bullying] has been accepted as something that's normal, as something that's benign. Oftentimes it's just dismissed," study author Corrina Jenkins Tucker, an associate professor of family studies at the University of New Hampshire, told The Huffington Post. "Some people actually view it as a good thing, thinking it teaches kids how to fight and develop conflict resolution skills."

The new study, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, suggests otherwise.

In telephone interviews, researchers asked more than 3,500 children 17 and younger, or their caregivers, whether they'd exeperienced at least one act of sibling aggression in the past year. It could include psychological bullying, property damage, physical fighting (with no weapons that resulted in no injuries), and more serious physical assault.

Researchers questioned participants about feelings of depression, anxiety and anger. Children who experienced even just one, relatively mild act of sibling agression in the past year reported greater mental health distress than those who had not. Kids aged 9 and under were more distressed after experiencing physical aggression than their teenage counterparts, but all age groups were equally affected by other forms of bullying.

The new study is the first major investigation of the consequences of sibling aggression, which is generally considered less serious or harmful than the peer bullying that children may face online or in school.

"This is an extremely important study for parents, psychologists, and pediatricians," said Susan Swearer, who did not work on the study, but is a professor of school psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and co-director of the Bullying Research Network. "The findings clearly connect sibling aggression with youth mental health difficulties."

The difficulty for parents and health care providers is distinguishing between "normal" fighting among children who are growing up together under one roof, and something more serious.

"This study examined sibling agression [but] not sibling bullying, per se," said Amanda Nickerson, director of the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention at the University at Buffalo, who did not work on the new research. "To assess bullying, it is important to assess the intent of the aggression -- was it done to cause harm? -- the repetition of it and the power imbalance between the perpetrator and the victim."

For example, Nickerson said, it is common for brothers and sisters to argue over who gets what items and privileges, such as picking TV shows, as well as for them to annoy each other. However, if a child's aggression is aimed at intentionally hurting a sibling physically or psychologically, then it is different. Repeated behaviors are also a red flag, Nickerson added.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified bullying as a major public health concern, citing estimates that suggest nearly 30 percent of adolescents in the U.S. have either been a bully, been the victim of bullying, or both. Children who are bullied are at greater risk for depression and anxiety that may last into adulthood, as well as lower academic scores and broader health complaints. Being a bully also carries health risks: Children who are the agressors are more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs as they get older, engage in early sexual activity and abuse their partners or children.

Jenkins Tucker and her colleagues hope to next explore how long the mental health effects last and whether patterns vary according to birth order or gender.

But outside experts hail the new study as an important first step.

"This study is the first to unequivocally show that sibling aggression is connected to mental health problems among youth," Swearer said. "In order to effectively treat mental health problems in youth, parents and mental health providers must recognize and understand the role that sibling aggression plays."

George Zimmerman Lawyer Mark O'Mara Fabricated Evidence, Martin Family Lawyer Claims

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With less than a week left before the Trayvon Martin trial begins, an attorney for Martin's family now claims that George Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara fabricated evidence in an attempt to sway both the public and the jury.

Since Zimmerman's fatal confrontation with the 17-year-old Martin more than a year ago, both the judge and the public have been presented with an overwhelming amount of evidence during numerous court appearances and hearings. During a hearing last Tuesday, Zimmerman's defense team claimed that they had obtained video footage of "two buddies of [Martin] beating up a homeless guy." In a statement on Zimmerman's website, O'Mara later apologized for mischaracterizing evidence that in fact showed two homeless men fighting over a bike.

However, the law office representing Martin's family said this mistake was much more serious than a simple misstatement.

"The video, to me, is one of the clearest examples of a pure fabrication," Jasmine Rand, managing attorney and head of the civil rights division of Parks and Crump's South Florida office, told The Huffington Post. "I have no idea where that information came from. It's inaccurate, and to spread that type of information on such an important case was a clear fabrication of the evidence. I think that the behavior of the defense, to me, would call into question their veracity as a whole. And if you fabricate evidence once, I don't trust that you wouldn't fabricate evidence twice."

Shawn Vincent, a spokesperson for O'Mara's law firm, told HuffPost that the defense apologized for spreading misinformation and addressed the mistake quickly to continue its commitment to sharing accurate information with the public.

The footage is just a small part of a slew of evidence released by the defense, including photos and text messages from the teen's phone, that it's offered in support of its theory that Martin was the aggressor on the night of the fatal encounter. Judge Debra Nelson later ruled that the defense cannot mention Martin's drug use, school suspensions, text messages or history of fighting during its opening statement.

But simply releasing the evidence to the public could have a major effect on this trial and others, Rand said.

"This case doesn't occur in a vacuum, and the manner in which we conduct ourselves as legal professionals has an impact that lasts beyond the Trayvon Martin case itself, and has larger societal implications," she said. "A lot of the evidence that they've brought forward is completely irrelevant, and it's a very clear attempt to assassinate Trayvon Martin's character publicly in the media by mischaracterizing certain evidence."

In the past, O'Mara has justified using such evidence by suggesting that it helps to prove his client acted in self-defense.

"There is certainly enough evidence ... that's going to suggest Trayvon Martin involved himself ongoingly [sic] with fighting with other people," O'Mara said during last Tuesday's hearing, adding that it was his team's responsibility to bring forward any information that would be helpful to their client's case.

"I think it's a very dangerous message to send the public, when you're trying to justify killing somebody because of the way they look," Rand said. "It's different when you're bringing information before the court, as opposed to allowing this misinformation to go viral online. That's not his responsibility, that was a choice and a conscious decision he made to spread misinformation to the masses. He's killing his own credibility in the process."

UPDATE: Tuesday, June 4 -- Mark O'Mara told HuffPost, "It was a mistake, I've acknowledged it, it happened and I'm sorry. I only wish that those who are so willing to condemn would be without fault first."

"I said something wrong, and I apologize," O'Mara added. "What they're doing is trying to make more out of it because they have, for the past year, put Trayvon Martin up on a pedestal where he shouldn't have been, because he's a regular 17-year-old kid and they knew all this information about him."

"Quite honestly, I'm not sure there's any impact at all because no one has seen the video," O'Mara noted. "They're entitled to their opinions. I would only hope that they apologize for their mistakes as quickly as I have."

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