And it's probably not the only stupid thing she's done, even if it's the first time she got caught.  Most kids who get caught get the message and it never happens again - has it happened before, and this is the first time it's hit the media?  Who knows?

It's hard enough sometimes sorting out our own relationships; trying to figure out the relationships of others via what we read or hear in the media is just entertainment, really.

But, as long as we're playing this game, here are a few possibilities:

1.  She's had some recent conflicts with her father, perhaps related to her mother, and did this in hope of being caught and causing him embarrassment (when Rudy's your Dad, I think shoplifting is pretty low on the embarrassment scale, though).

2.  She's never done it before, but has heard others talk aboutr doing it, and - on a whim - decided to try it for herself.

3.  She's done it before, she likes the adrenaline rush, but this time, she got caught.

4.  She has no idea why she did it, just acted on pure impulse.

The answer: because it's not "their" case anymore; it's the State's. Then they get mad at defense counsel because they can't make the State do something.

This publicity as a career move is brilliant!  Hollywood will love her!  

She wouldn't have $100 for make-up - hard to believe with her father worth over $50M - but possible when one thinks about Giuliani.

Since it's a subject I'm quite interested in, the reading I'm doing confirms my anecdotal research  that Face book, texting, Tweeting, Smart phones, and all the rest are quite literally, addictions. They are, in fact, defined as addictions by mental health experts in this field.

In laymen's terms we are creating and raising multi-tasking "zombies." The professionals emphasize that the term "addiction" is appropriate as their studies show that many (most?) of these "victims" are simply incapable of controlling, and denying, these desires.

The head of one of these studies stated that at this critical time, as emerging countries are leaping forward in education and innovation, America is heading in exactly the wrong direction. His quote, "We are raising a generation of Stupid young adults."

Real life example:......A 20 something girl was involved in a car accident that left her young body battered, bloody, and broken, but alive. She was the driver of the car, and while text messaging, drifted into the oncoming traffic and smashed head-on into a truck. Her passenger, another 20 something girl was killed instantly. Neither of the girls were wearing seatbelts.

During her recovery and rehabilitation she was asked to speak to other young folks about her experience in the hope of deterring  them from replicating  her horrible incident.

(Now here's why there's no hope for us and our future.) In relaying her story to her audience she said she hoped that by hearing what awful things can happen by texting while driving she no longer drives and texts at the same time ...................

She proudly told them that she now only texts while stopped at a red light, and when the light turns green she puts the phone down on the seat between her legs!!!!!