doseofsarcasm

#NYC #Beating #Suspect #NYPD The man who viciously assaulted a 65-year-old Filipina woman by kicking her head in a savage attack in New York has been arrested, police said. Brandon Elliot, 38, was detained by NYPD cops at 2am on Wednesday after CCTV footage of the horrific beating drew widespread condemnation and sparked a police manhunt. Elliot is currently on lifetime parole after murdering his own mother in 2002 and was released from prison in 2019, according to NBC New York. He lives in a Manhattan hotel serving as a homeless shelter near where Monday's attack took place and has been charged with felony assault as a hate crime. The victim was on her way to church in Midtown when she was pushed to the ground and kicked in the head. She had been walking towards the suspect in the moments before he attacked her when he reportedly told her: 'F*** you, you don't belong here.' The footage also shows two security guards watch the attack unfold and fail to intervene. The pair have been suspended from work, the Brodsky Organization, the management company for the building, announced on Tuesday. NYPD officers had blanketed Manhattan with wanted posters and offered a $2,500 reward for any information on the suspect. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and mayoral candidate Andrew Yang expressed anger on Tuesday that nobody tried to stop the assault. 'Like so many other people, I woke up to a horrifying video of an Asian woman being horribly beaten for no other reason than her race,' Yang, who is currently considered the favorite to succeed de Blasio, told reporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday. 'An elderly Asian woman walking the streets of's Kitchen could easily have been my mother, because that's where we live. 'And so when I saw this video, that is who I thought of.' Yang's comments were reported by the New York Post. The former candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for president is vying to be the first-ever mayor of Asian descent to take over City Hall. The mayor, de Blasio, called the video 'absolutely disgusting and outrageous' and said it was 'absolutely unacceptable' that witnesses did not intervene. 'I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do, you've got to help your fellow New Yorker,' de Blasio said Tuesday at his daily news briefing. 'If you see someone being attacked, do whatever you can. Make noise. Call out what's happening. Go and try and help. Immediately call for help. Call 911. 'This is something where we all have to be part of the solution. We can't just stand back and watch a heinous act happening.' In a statement Tuesday the Brodsky Organization - the management company for the building - said: 'The staff who witnessed the attack have been suspended pending an investigation in conjunction with their union. 'The Brodsky Organization is also working to identify a third-party delivery vendor present during the incident so that appropriate action can be taken.' They added that they 'condemn all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia and violence against the Asian-American community.' The attack comes amid a national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes. The NYPD says there have been 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim so far this year. In the original footage, one of the men working in the building appeared to be busy opening up packages while the attack was ongoing. At one point, a second security guard could be seen closing the front door to the premises where the pair were working, completely ignoring the woman who had just been the victim of a savage assault. Neither decided to chase after the suspect who was still being hunted by police with a reward offered for information. The suspect allegedly hurled anti-Asian statements as he punched and kicked the 65-year-old woman on West 43rd Street near Ninth Avenue just before midday, according to the NYPD.

#Biden #StudentLoan #Debt #Forgiveness #Progressives #MinimumWage #15 President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he wouldn't write off $50,000 in student loan debt, as progressives have asked for, and was willing to gradually bump up the minimum wage to $15. Biden participated in a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he wiggled away from the left of his party, knocking down attendee Joycelyn Fish's ask that he work to get $50,000 wiped from each American student's loan bill. 'I will not make that happen,' the president said. Biden said he stood by the plan he articulated on the campaign trail, which was to absolve adult borrowers from $10,000 worth of debt. 'I understand the impact of debt and it can be debilitating,' he said. 'But I do think that in this moment of economic pain and strain that we should be eliminating interest on the debts that are accumulated, number one and number two, I'm prepared to write off a $10,000 debt, but not $50,000.' 'I don't think I have the authority to do it by signing,' the president added. Members of his own party, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have said Biden does have the power. Progressive activists have been pushing for the number to go up. 'The Biden admin NEEDS to be pushed,' said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during an Instagram Q&A last Tuesday. 'They have said they're comfortable with $10K in forgiveness but we NEED at least $50K minimum and there is support for 50K.' Biden suggested he wasn't comfortable with that much debt relief because he feared it was going to students who graduated from Ivy League universities. 'I say to a community, I'm going to forgive the debt, the billions of dollars of debt for people who have gone to Harvard and Yale and Penn and the schools of my children,' he said. 'But is that going to be forgiven rather than use that money to provide for early education for young children who come from disadvantaged circumstances?' Biden first talked about his plans to make education more affordable - like free community college - before getting back to the plight of loan holders, who are sometimes a decade or two out of school. The president said he backed Americans being able to pay off their debt through certain career fields and volunteer work. He also was supportive of repayment plans, which already exist, that are based on income. 'And you cannot be charged more than X per cent of your take-home pay, so that it doesn't affect your ability to buy a car, own a home, etc.,' Biden explained. Biden was pressed on his plan to originally include a $15 minimum wage in the COVID-19 relief bill - which might not happen now because the Senate will likely have to use a certain parliamentary procedure for passage, and the wage hike will have to be dropped. The president was asked about it by a small business owner who fretted about paying employees that much money when the cost of living in the midwest is lower than other parts of the country. 'South is not much different than the midwest in that regard,' Biden said. The president explained that the way to do it, is to do it gradually over several years. 'But it's totally legitimate for small business owners to be concerned about that changes,' he admitted. He was applauded when he said, 'Where it's $7.25 an hour, no one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty.' That's the current federal minimum wage. 'I do support a $15 minimum wage. I think there is equally if not more evidence to dictate that it would grow the economy in the long run and medium run, benefit small businesses as well as large businesses and would not have such a dilatory effect, but that's a debatable issue,' he told the audience.

#Pandemic #Lockdown #Normal #Virus The hawthorns were pale green when the first lockdown started, and we all clapped for carers. The grass was lush and everywhere full of flowers while people argued about Dominic Cummings driving to Barnard Castle, and cities went up in flames in the Black Lives Matter riots. The hedgerows were thick with fruit as the reign of Donald Trump drew to an end (as did that of Dominic Cummings). The mud was ankle-deep, churned by hoofprints and frozen solid when Boris rammed the Brexit deal through at the 11th hour, and not long afterwards a horned shaman invaded the US Capitol in Washington. Lockdown days have a way of blurring into one another, but my year has been marked out by the changing of the hedgerows as I ran along endless miles of footpaths. Reflecting on that year of Covid is like trying to grasp the layout of someone's house by peering through the keyhole. It's difficult to get any sense of perspective when we're all confined to our homes, with only algorithmically filtered online news feeds to supply information about the outside world. The temptation is to allow every perspective to fall away, save the most personal experiences and the most general 'public conversation'. It would be easy enough to write a review of the year from the personal perspective: all hedgerows and emotion. It would be as easy to write a breezy round-up of the year's public conversations, which have been loud (to say the least) and increasingly surreal. But there's another story of the pandemic's impact that's far harder to see in either of these frameworks. This has been the deliberate shattering, in the name of virus control, of what was left of our common life. Between individual experiences and those on the bigger scale of national or international politics lies most of human society: clubs, church groups, voluntary associations, the whole organic life of communities great and small. All of this relies on peer- to-peer social connection – and it was all abruptly halted by lockdown. When the pandemic struck, there was a rash of hopeful articles about how this crisis might strengthen civil society bonds, and make us more aware of how interdependent we are as a society. This all happened, to an extent. Mutual aid organisations sprang up, often with faith communities at the forefront, seeking to plug gaps and bring help to those struggling under lockdown. There were waves of volunteers to help the NHS, deliver vaccines and pick fruit. But against that new-found voluntarism we must weigh the impact the past year has had on countless existing institutions, social settings and relationships. For Covid has accelerated what I think of as 'the disintermediation of everything'. In the 2000s, when the internet hit the mainstream with the launch of Facebook, eBay and their ilk, there was lots of chatter about the way amateurs might use the internet to route round intermediate institutions. This, the apostles of the digital revolution believed, would impel a great democratisation and empowerment of smaller players. That was the theory. What it meant in practice was centralisation. Think of the way Facebook replaced local newspapers, and the advertising revenue they once earned made Mark Zuckerberg one of the richest men in the world. Now, Covid rules have brought that centralisation – with its many losers and tiny number of winners – to all of life. Compelled to close by pandemic policy, by June 2020 more than 11,000 small and medium-sized shops had gone out of business. One report estimates that 48 businesses closed for good every day in 2020. It's not just the high street: another report estimates that by last September, 240,000 small and medium-sized businesses of all types went to the wall. But that didn't apply evenly to all businesses – it fell disproportionately on smaller ones. Online grocery retailer Ocado saw 35 per cent growth over 2020, while Amazon saw 84 per cent growth. Wherever in the world there were lockdowns, small businesses struggled and died, and big ones got bigger. The assault extends to the voluntary sector. As donations wavered and high-street charity shops have been forced to close, one report estimates that even charities face a wave of consolidation, with smaller, more niche bodies folding their sometimes highly specific local remits into the more general one of larger organisations. The effect is even being felt in churches. The Bishop of Manchester warned in January that Covid will accelerate the closure of yet more Anglican churches, as loss of collection income meets already dwindling congregations, to render the upkeep of ancient buildings unaffordable. Reports suggest the Church of England is now proposing to increase parish sizes and cull mid-ranking clergy in order to trim costs. At an informal level, there have been many losers.

#Police #Maryland #Lawsuit #Child #Beat #Camera Newly released body camera footage shows Maryland police officers handcuffed and screamed at a 5-year-old boy during a January 2020 incident, telling the boy's mother she should "beat him." The 51-minute body camera video, which the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office released Friday, sheds new light on an encounter that's now the subject of a lawsuit filed by the boy's mother. Montgomery County police officers found the kindergartener after he wandered away from his Maryland school. In body camera footage, an officer can be seen putting the boy in the back of his police squad car, and the boy sobs as he is driven back to school. After the officers returned the boy to the school, the video shows, both stayed at the school and spoke with school employees. At one point, an officer can be heard calling the boy "a little beast." When the boy's mother arrives at school, the footage shows both officers encouraging her to beat her son. "We want you to beat him," an officer says. When his mother replies that she can't go to prison, the officer responds, "You don't go to prison for beating your child." The boy's mother is now suing Montgomery County, the two police officers involved in the incident and the county's board of education. Her lawyers say the boy suffered emotional trauma. "There is a certain way to treat a 5-year old boy," said James Papirmeister, a lawyer for the family. "Needing to beat him, like I said, came up at least 15, perhaps 20 times." The video also shows officers handcuffing the child in front of his mother. In the footage, an officer asks the boy, "You know what these are for? These are for people who don't know how to listen and don't know how to act." The boy was released about a minute after the officer handcuffed him, but throughout the encounter, the police encourage the mother to physically discipline her child. "All I can tell you is beat that a**," the officer says. "That's all I can tell you." Later, the officer says, "You can beat your child in Montgomery County, Maryland. In front of him and everybody else you can beat him." The officer adds, "And please don't leave no cuts or crazy cigarette burns, nothing like that. We're good, alright? Meeting adjourned." The Montgomery County Police Department said it has investigated the incident, but the department has not released the findings. The department said both officers are "still sworn officers."

#BlackMuppet #Woke #Cinderella #Footloose #RhodeIsland #Colonizer Sesame Street has introduced two black muppet characters to talk to children about race. The new characters, five-year-old Wesley Walker and his father Elijah, were revealed this week in a video with Elmo. In the video, which was published on the show's website, Elmo asks the father and son why people have different skin colors. The topic is raised after Elmo points out a leaf that has fallen from a tree is the same shade as his fur and that other leaves are brown like Wesley and Elijah's skin. Elijah explains that it is down to melanin. 'Melanin is something that we each have inside our bodies that make the outside of our bodies the skin color that it is. It also gives us our eye and hair color,' Elijah said. 'The color of our skin is important to who we are, but we should all know that it's okay that we all look different in so many ways. 'Things on the outside, like our skin color, our hair texture, our noses, our mouths and eyes, make us who we are. Many people call this race. But, even though we look different, we're all part of the human race.' In another video due out soon, a Hispanic muppet named Rosita will be confronted with 'a racist incident in a grocery store'. The segments are part of a new series of videos called the ABCs of Racial Literacy. Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind the popular children's program, said the videos aim to 'provide families with the tools they need to build racial literacy, to have open conversations with young children'. 'The work to dismantle racism begins by helping children understand what racism is and how it hurts and impacts people,' said Kay Wilson Stallings, Sesame Workshop's executive vice president of creation and production. In June last year, Sesame Street partnered with CNN to hold a town hall on racism following George Floyd's death at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Sesame Workshop also aired an anti-racist special 'The Power of We' late year in which children are encourage to stand up against racism. Sesame Street has a history of explaining the world to children, tackling everything from foster care to substance abuse. The show has introduced a range of new and diverse muppets over the years, including Julia, who has autism, and Lily, who has experienced homelessness. There's also a six-year-old female character named Zari from Afghanistan and Karli who lives in foster care because her mother is battling an opioid addiction. Back in 2002, Sesame Street introduced Kami, a five-year-old yellow Muppet with HIV. --------------------------------- A local Minnesota theater has cancelled a production of Roger & Hammerstein's Cinderella because its cast was 'too white'. Chanhassen Dinner Theatres was scheduled to stage the show later this year before its artistic director stepped in to slam its lack of diversity. 'It was 98 percent white, ' the artistic director, Michael Brindisi, told the Pioneer Press on Wednesday after looking at who had been cast. However, Chanhassen - located southwest of Minneapolis - has a population that is overwhelming white, and the racial demographics of the cast were not strikingly different from the city as a whole. According to the most recent census, 92.5 percent of people in Chanhassen are white. Less than 3 percent of residents are Hispanic, while 1.1 percent are black. No photos of the Cinderella cast were officially released before the show was scrapped. In a statement released on Monday, the theater stated: 'After careful consideration and with our ongoing commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we have made the decision to cancel our upcoming production. 'In addition to changing future programming, we are establishing new pre-production protocols. We will be inviting (and paying) BIPOC artists to analyze the production with our creative teams through a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lens... This conversation will happen before the design and casting process has begun.' Chanhassen Dinner Theatres have hired a diversity consultant and pledged a commitment to 'identity-conscious casting and becoming a more intentionally anti-racist theater'. Meanwhile, the organization is current[ly putting together a production of The Music Man and has a 'strong priority placed on casting BIPOC artists'.

#Biden #Frail #Sad #Pathetic #Jim #Eagle Images taken during President Joe Biden's first press conference on Thursday showed him using cheat sheets - which did not prevent him from misstating key facts and losing his train of thought at times. The 78-year-old Democrat is seen holding one sheet that showed the headshots of journalists at the press conference that he planned to call on. Another cheat card listed stats about infrastructure, but Biden was still forced to correct himself after mistakenly saying the US ranked 85th in the world in infrastructure. The bullet point on one of his notes read: 'The United States now ranks 13th globally in infrastructure quality, down from 5th place in 2002.' 'I still think the majority of the American people don't like the fact that we are now ranked what, 85th in the world in infrastructure. I mean, look,' he said, before later circling back and clarifying: 'We rank 13th globally in infrastructure.' Despite the cheat sheets, Biden at several points in the press conference appeared to lose his train of thought. After speaking for four minutes about the surge of migrants at the border, he remarked, 'And the other thing we're doing, I might add...' before cutting himself off to ask, 'Am I giving you too long of an answer? Because if you don't want the detail …' 'I don't know how much detail you want about immigration,' he continued. 'Maybe I'll stop there.' At another point, Biden was speaking at length about the Senate filibuster when he lost his train of thought again. 'I've never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate. So the best way to get something done, if you hold near and dear to you that you like to be able to…' he said, trailing off. 'Anyway, we're ready to get a lot done,' he then continued. At another point in the press conference, things turned downright bizarre when Biden made a reference to 'Jim Eagle' when accusing Republicans of trying to restrict voting rights to disenfranchise black voters. 'So I'm convinced that we'll be able to stop this because it is the most pernicious thing. This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle,' he said of voting restrictions. Observers all seemed to agree that Biden was trying to make the point that restrictions such as voter ID laws are 'worse than Jim Crow' -- but the exact role of Jim Eagle in the analogy was lost on many. Jim Crow refers to laws that enforced racial segregation in schools, public places, transportation and all aspect of public life in many U.S. states from the 1870s to the 1950s. Biden's Jim Eagle remarks predictably drew mockery from conservative critics. 'Duh. It's an analogy. Crow, eagle. They're both birds, but an eagle is much bigger than a crow,' said Fox News host Tucker Carlson. 'That means that asking people to show a driver's license when they vote is much more racist than segregation and lynchings.' 'Segregation and lynchings were Jim Crow, voter ID laws are Jim Eagle -- way worse,' he added sarcastically. Thursday's conversation was his first since he took office on January 20. It was also limited to 25 reporters. At the one-hour press conference on Thursday, Biden called on just 10 reporters to ask questions, and many of them focused on the migrant crisis at the southern border, leaving little time for other subjects. Though Biden addressed relations with China at length, he faced no questions about the ongoing investigation of the origins of COVID-19 -- or any other question about his pandemic response and vaccine rollout. There were no questions about potential tax hikes to fund Biden's reported $3 trillion green infrastructure plan, and relations with Russia were left unmentioned despite recent tensions after Biden labeled Vladimir Putin a 'killer'.

#Cuomo #Fredo #Covid #Test #Priority #Pervert #Liar #Granny New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered top-level state health officials to test his family members, including his mother and CNN host brother Chris Cuomo, for COVID-19. The medical officials enlisted to do the testing - often done at private residences - included Dr Eleanor Adams, a Harvard Medical School graduate who has since become a special adviser to Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, The Albany Times Union reported. Testing on Cuomo's family members came at the height of the pandemic when ordinary New Yorkers struggled to get access to screenings. The news comes on top of a myriad of scandals surrounding the governor, including eight women who have now come forward with allegations of harassment and assault against him. The US Attorney's office and the FBI are also investigating Gov. Cuomo's office for undercounting the true number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. Gov. Cuomo's brother Chris announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 on March 31. Health officials reportedly traveled to his Long Island home to carry out testing, although it is not clear exactly when. Chris, who the host of Cuomo Prime Time, already had access to testing through his work at CNN, along with the rest of the network's employees. The report by Albany Times Union also stated that Gov. Cuomo's mother, Matilda Cuomo, and one of his three sisters also received test early in the pandemic. 'If their job was to go test an old lady down in New Rochelle, that's one thing — that's actually good,' a source familiar with the matter said. 'This was not that.' Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Patrick J. Foye, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, were both given priority testing. Both of their wives were also given priority testing, along with members of the media, state legislators and their staff. An official in Cuomo's office said of the priority testing: 'It's being a little bit distorted with like a devious intent. ... We made sure to test people they believed were exposed. All of this was being done in good faith in an effort to trace the virus.' Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said that to suggest that there was preferential treatment an 'insincere effort to rewrite the past.' 'In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing — including in some instances going to people's homes, and door-to-door in places like New Rochelle — to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones,' Azzopardi said. 'Among those we assisted were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it.' But sources familiar with the matter said that the 'sampling missions' unsettled some of the high-level health department officials tasked with collecting the samples - including Adams.

#BLM #Boulder #Duckworth #Meena #Racist #Racism Vice President Kamala Harris' niece has deleted a tweet after facing backlash for assuming the Boulder grocery store gunman was white because he was taken into custody alive. Meena Harris deleted her tweet on Tuesday after police revealed 21-year-old gunman Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who is accused of shooting dead 10 people a day earlier, is of Syrian descendant. 'The Atlanta shooting was not even a week ago. Violent white men are the greatest terrorist threat to our country,' the 36-year-old tweeted in the hours after the massacre. 'I deleted a previous tweet about the suspect in the Boulder shooting,' she said. 'I made an assumption based on his being taken into custody alive and the fact that the majority of mass shootings in the US are carried out by white men.' The suspect in last week's shootings in Atlanta that left eight people dead was a white man. Meena immediately faced backlash from some on Twitter. Alissa was born in Syria and moved to the US when he was three. He now lives in Arvada, Colorado, around 30 miles from the grocery store he targeted. He was taken into custody at 3.28pm and was transported to the hospital to be treated for a leg wound. He has since been released from the hospital and is now in Boulder County Jail. Police have not yet confirmed his motive. He has been charged with ten counts of murder. In Facebook posts over the last 18 months, he complained about not having a girlfriend, ranted about President Trump and talked about his Islamic faith. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that he was known to the FBI because he was linked to another person who has been under investigation for something else. They didn't give any more details. Those killed include: Rikki Olds, 25, Teri Leiker, 51, Denny Stong, 20, Neven Stanisic, 23, Tralona Bartkowiak, 49, Suzanne Fountain, 59, Kevin Mahoney, 61, Lynn Murray, 62, and Jody Waters, 65. --------------- Sen. Tammy Duckworth has backed down from her public threats not to vote for Joe Biden's straight, white nominees until the White House just a few hours after issuing the ultimatum. Yesterday, Duckworth warned that until President Biden increased the representation of Asian American - Pacific Islander representation at senior levels of Government, she would be voting against some of his selections for cabinet and judicial nominees. However, in a statement issued to NBC News, Duckworth's spokesman said: 'Senator Duckworth appreciates the Biden Administration’s assurance that it will do much more to elevate AAPI voiced and perspectives at the highest level of government, including appointing an AAPI senior White House official to represent the community, secure the confirmation of AAPI appointments and advance policy proposals that are relevant to the community. Duckworth's demands had been joined by Sen. Mazie Hirono yesterday, but she too joined her fellow senator in backing down. Taking to Twitter last night, she praised the White House for introducing an AAPI liaison, following a 'private conversation' about the importance of diversity with president Biden. As a result of the conversation, Hirono said she would now continue to vote for the 'historic and highly qualified' nominees put forward by President Biden. --------------

#Asian #Subway #NYC Police in New York City are looking for a man who urinated on a young Asian-American woman inside a Queen-bound F train over the weekend. The 25-year-old victim was riding the northbound train at around 1.30pm on Saturday when a masked man dressed in all black approached the bench where she was sitting and stood uncomfortably close to her. 'So I scooted to my right and noticed that his penis was pointed at me and that there was urine on my bag and jacket,' the victim told the blog AsianFeed. 'We made eye contact but he didn’t say anything.' The vile incident took place a day after an elderly Sri Lankan man was punched in the face while riding the 1 train in Manhattan. The woman said that none of the passengers around her said or did anything to come to her defense. As her assailant, whom she described as a white male in his 60s, was about to get off the train at the 75th Avenue station, the woman managed to take a photo of him with her cellphone. The suspect was last seen wearing a ski mask on his head revealing a pair of grey bushy eyebrows, and a black jacket with an American flag patch on his chest. The victim told the blog she considered getting off the train right away and reporting the incident to the police, but she said she was 'alone and afraid,' so she continued on her way. The 25-year-old has since filed a harassment report with the police. So far, no arrests have been announced. This incident comes amid a dramatic increase in attacks targeting Asian-Americans since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, 36-year-old Marc Mathieu was arrested on a charge of assault as a hate crime for allegedly beating a 68-year-old man from Sri Lanka while yelling anti-Asian slurs on board the 1 train in Manhattan on Friday. In a separate attack that took place on Saturday, a 66-year-old Asian man was punched in the face by a homeless man in Manhattan's Chinatown. Last week, the NYPD revealed that it had recorded a 1,300 per cent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic. On Sunday, thousands marched in Atlanta, New York and Washington DC, among other cities, following the mass shooting last week at Asian-owned spas in Georgia, which claimed the lives of eight people, including six Asian women. The shooter, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, admitted to the murders but denied that the attacks were racially motivated.

#Trump #Internet #SocialMedia #Miller #Twitter Donald Trump will return to social media in the next few months with a platform of his own, longtime advisor Jason Miller revealed Sunday. 'I do think that we're going to see President Trump returning to social media in probably about two or three months here with his own platform – and this is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media,' Miller said during an interview with Fox News 'MediaBuzz' host Howard Kurtz on Sunday morning. He added that the new platform will 'completely redefine the game' of social media. Miller, a principal at SHW Partners and spokesperson for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, predicted the former president will attract 'tens of millions' of new users to his online presence. Trump was a prolific Twitter user before and during his presidency, but the social media platform shuttered his account and permanently banned him from posting after January 6, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building. 'After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,' Twitter said in a January 8 statement. Twitter executives said in February that the ban would stand. 'When you're removed from the platform, you're removed from the platform,' Twitter CFO Ned Segal told CNBC on February 10. 'He was removed when he was president and there'd be no difference for anybody who's a public official once they've been removed from the service.' Since being booted from his favorite social media site to use and criticize, Trump started releasing statements both from his America First political action committee and from the Office of the 45th President. Those statements, which are more long-form but reminiscent of Trump's Twitter activity, have been lauded as more presidential than his tweets ever were by supporters and critics. Miller said he couldn't give too much information about the specifics of Trump's plans for a new social media site, but said it is a long time in the making and will be 'big.' 'I can't go much further than what I was able to just share, but I can say that it will be big once he starts,' Miller told Fox. 'There have been a lot of high powered meetings he's been having at Mar-a-Lago with some teams of folks who have been coming in. And I got to tell you, there have been – it's not just one company that's approached the president. There have been numerous companies. But I think the president does know what direction that he wants to head here.' He added: 'This new platform is going to be big and everyone wants him. He's going to bring millions and millions, tens of millions of people to this new platform.' Twitter suspended Trump's account indefinitely shortly before Joe Biden was inaugurated, claiming his posts were inciting violence and spreading false information. Police have testified that at least 800 people entered the Capitol after a smaller number forced their way in, seeking to block Congress from confirming the November presidential election victory of Joe Biden, The Washington Post reported. More than 300 people have been charged in connection with the riot, with charges expected for at least 100 more in what authorities describe as one of the largest investigations in American history. Authorities have said 139 police officers were assaulted by Trump supporters wielding sledgehammers, baseball bats, hockey sticks, crutches and flagpoles. More than 40 people are accused of assaulting police officers. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died a day after the riot. Acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman said the investigation of Sicknick's death remains active and is being led by D.C. police and the FBI. Trump was accused of inciting the violence during a speech to a crowd on the National Mall shortly before the rioting began. Trump exhorted his supporters to march on Congress, where politicians were meeting to his Democratic opponent's victory.

#Progesterone #Covid #Study #Men Injection with the female s** hormone progesterone could improve outcomes for men hospitalised with severe COVID-19 infections, a study has concluded. The finding by researchers from California follows multiple reports that men are at a higher risk of severe illness and death from coronavirus than women. Progesterone has certain anti-inflammatory properties and thus, the team said, may be able to dampen the often fatal immune responses called 'cytokine storms'. The research was undertaken by pulmonologist Sara Ghandehari of the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles and her colleagues. 'As an ICU doctor, I was struck by the gender disparity among COVID-19 patients who were very sick, remained in the hospital and needed ventilators,' she said. Progesterone is produced in both men and women's bodies, although the latter produce considerably more of the hormone during their reproductive years. Experts have also noted that premenopausal women tend to experience less severe cases of COVID-19 than their postmenopausal counterparts. Premenopausal women tend to have higher progesterone levels while such tends to decrease to lower levels post-menopause. In their clinical trial, which was undertaken from April–August last year, the researchers recruited 40 male patients who had been hospitalised with moderate to severe COVID-19 and randomly divided them into two groups. One group acted as a control sample, for comparison, and received only the standard medical care given at that time for the disease. The experimental group, meanwhile, also received 100 milligram injections of progesterone twice daily for five days during the time they were hospitalised. All the patients were assessed by the team daily for either 15 days or until they were discharged from hospital. On the seventh day, each patient was ranked on a standard seven-point scale of clinical status, which ranged from 7 ('not hospitalized, no limitations on activities') though to 1 ('death'). The researchers found that, compared with the control group, patients who received the progesterone treatments scored a median of 1.5 points higher on the scale. The experimental group also had fewer days of hospitalisation overall and a lower need for supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilation, although the team said the differences between the groups in these areas was not statistically significant. No serious adverse effects were observed as a result of the progesterone injections. Two patients did die during the 15-day study period — one from each of the two groups — but such were unrelated to the experiment treatments, the team said. 'While our findings are encouraging for the potential of using progesterone to treat men with COVID-19, our study had significant limitations,' cautioned Dr Ghandehari. Firstly, she explained, the sample size was relatively small and was primarily made up of White, Hispanic and obese individuals with a moderate burden of other conditions, which serve to increase the risk of worse outcomes. Furthermore, while the trial was randomised and featured a control group, it was also unblinded — meaning that the research team, physicians and patients all knew who had received the experimental treatment. 'Further research is necessary in larger, more heterogeneous populations, including postmenopausal women and at other treatment centres,' Dr Ghandehari added. This, she continued, will allow the team 'to establish the degree of clinical efficacy and to assess any other potential safety concerns of this treatment approach.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal Chest.

#Biden #Fall #Vaccine #BBQ #Idiot President Joe Biden stumbled multiple times then fell to his knees as he climbed the steps of Air Force One on Friday in the latest of a string of incidents which raise concerns over his health. Biden, 78, was boarding the aircraft at Joint Base Andrews just before noon for a flight to Atlanta when he stumbled. He gripped on to the railing, steadied himself and kept going but lost his footing a second time and then a third. On the third trip, he fell to his knees. He got back up then carried on up the stairs before giving a salute at the top then disappearing into the aircraft. Once on the plane, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that he was '100 percent fine' and was preparing for his trip in Atlanta. The fall was not reported on immediately by reporters who were at the base or on Air Force One. The delay in reporting and coverage of it prompted Republicans including Donald Trump Jr. to say it was another example of the mainstream media giving Biden the soft treatment after hammering President Trump for four years. The fall is also the latest in a string of incidents which raise concern over the President's health and comes a day after he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as 'President Harris'. Earlier this week, Biden also engaged in a bitter stand-off with Russian President Vladimir Putin which ended with Putin wishing him 'good health' and withdrawing an envoy to the US which puts the relationship between the two countries in perilous territory.

#Veterans #Cats #PTSD #Experiments #WestLA #LosAngeles The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has spent millions in taxpayer dollars to perform laboratory tests on cats at three facilities nationwide — including a secretive lab at the West Los Angeles VA. The White Coat Waste Project, an advocacy group aimed at stopping taxpayer-funded experiments on animals, sued the VA to get the photos and documents pertaining to the experiments. “These are healthy cats who are purchased from commercial breeders by the VA with our tax dollars, brought into the laboratory, locked in a tiny cage, mutilated, tortured, have chemicals injected into them, asphyxiated and then are killed and dissected,” Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at the White Coat Waste Project, said. The photographs show the cats hooked up to electronic monitors, implanted with electrodes and eventually euthanized in the name of science. Artemis, a 1-year-old cat purchased by the VA, was described in documents as purring, friendly and curious. Artemis was subjected to a procedure called a head implant, in which scientists drilled holes in his skull to test for sleep patterns. After three years of tests, Artemis was euthanized due to the completion of the study, according to documents. “It’s exploiting veterans to basically get tax money to torture cats,” Goodman said. “That’s what’s happening here. It’s indefensible.” The agency, which was called on last year by Congress to explain the experiments, has admitted that it has spent nearly $5 million in taxpayer money on the testing at the West L.A. laboratory alone. The VA claims that the experiments benefit vets because sleep disorders are associated with many of the consequences of combat experience, including post traumatic stress disorder. “It blows my mind that we can fight a pandemic with a code, but they have to bash a cat in order to come up with some sleep pattern,” Madeline Bernstein, president of the L.A. chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said. “It really doesn’t make sense in 2021.” Both Goodman and Bernstein believe the studies offer no benefit for veterans at all. “The studies that are done on a cat’s brain, most medical experts say will not replicate in the human brain,” Bernstein said. Following congressional inquiries, the VA said it would be ending the secretive experiments later this year, but Goodman said he had his doubts. “Based on our past experience with the VA, we always have to be very careful in accepting anything they say at face value,” he said. As for Congress, a bill called the CATS Act has been introduced. It would permanently ban unnecessary taxpayer-funded experiments on cats conducted by the VA. The act builds on other legislative efforts, including the PUPPERS Act, to permanently ban all unnecessary animal testing at the VA.

#Disneyland #Universal #Corona #Mask #Scream #Fun LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – When Southern California theme parks such as Disneyland, Universal Studios and Magic Mountain reopen as early as April, they will likely have to take steps to ensure that screaming on rides doesn’t lead to the spread of COVID-19. The California Attractions and Parks Association (CAPA), a trade group which represents theme parks statewide, is backing a plan that would tamp down on the effects that shouting and yelling on rides, such as rollercoasters, could have in spreading the virus. California’s reopening guidelines call for businesses to limit activities that can spread the virus, such as singing and shouting. “Face covering usage and/or modifications to seat loading patterns will be required on amusement park rides to mitigate the effects of shouting,” CAPA wrote in its responsible reopening plan. “Additionally, on rides, guests generally face in one direction.” Both Los Angeles and Orange counties moved into the red tier of the state’s reopening blueprint this week, which allows for theme parks to reopen beginning April 1. They have been closed since March of 2020. Under the guidelines, they will be allowed to reopen at 15% capacity, but with in-state visitors only. Visitors are limited to groups of no more than 10 and from no more than three households. No indoor dining is allowed and tickets must be purchased online in advance.

#Hagler #Death #Covid #Vaccine #Complications #Hearns #Champion #Boxing Boxing was in mourning on Saturday night after the shock death of one its all-time greats, Marvin Hagler, at just 66, after he reportedly suffered side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. The American boxer - born in Newark, New Jersey - dominated the sport's middleweight scene, which he was champion of between 1980 and 1987. He was also named as the Fighter of the Decade for the 1980s by Boxing Illustrated magazine and won the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year award twice. Earlier on Saturday, former professional boxer Thomas Hearns - who was knocked out by Hagler during their famous bout in 1985 - wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of his old opponent: 'A real true warrior Pray for the king and his family.. he’s in ICU fighting the after effects of the vaccine! He’ll be just fine but we could use the positive energy and Prayer for his Full Recovery!' Following his death, Hearns shared: 'Allow us to have our peace. Our love and respect to Marvin and his family, this is not an anti vaccine campaign... it's outrageous to have that in mind during the passing of a King, Legend, Father, Husband and so much more.' Rapper R.A. the Rugged Man tweeted before Hagler's death: 'One of the greatest athletes of my lifetime Marvelous Marvin Hagler is in ICU fighting the after effects of taking the Vaccine. Tommy Hitman Hearns just posted about it. I hope this great champion recovers. One of our GOATS #boxing.' His son James told TMZ his father was rushed to hospital with chest pains and was experiencing trouble breathing before dying about four hours later. A statement on Hagler's website read: 'We are very sad to report that Marvelous Marvin Hagler died on March 13 of natural causes near his home in New Hampshire. He was a champion until the end. His family asks for privacy at this time of sorrow.' The unfashionable Hagler, who turned pro in 1973 out of Brockton, Massachusetts, took seven years to earn his first middleweight title crack after almost beating everyone in his path. He had to settle for a controversial draw against Vito Antuofermo in that first crack but essentially ruined Antuofermo who lost his title in his next defence to Alan Minter. Hagler then challenged Minter and on a night of pure hate at Wembley Arena cut up the Crawley southpaw in three rounds before having to run for his life to the dressing room while a racist crowd rained bottles on him. It summed up Hagler's career. He had to do everything the hard way. But now that he had finally won the title, there was no way he was going to lose it without a fight. Hagler duly destroyed a whole new generation of challengers in the 1980s, including Britain's Tony Sibson. He simply cleaned up the division. If it was a bit brash that he officially changed his name to Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1982, who could begrudge him after all he had been through. Joe Frazier told him in Philadelphia in the 1970s that he had three strikes against him… he was good, he was a southpaw, and he was black. In 1985 came Hagler's finest hour when slugged it out with Hearns in one of the greatest fights of all time. He walked right through Hearns in three savage rounds.

#Biden #Discrimination #Reparations #Farmers White farmers have voiced their frustration after President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package this week awarded $5billion to minority farmers while not offering them the same aid. The Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act was introduced to the relief package by Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock in early February to provide immediate financial relief to black, indigenous, and Hispanic farmers. The bill provides $4billion in direct payments to farmers of color and has allocated $1 billion to address systemic racism at the U.S. Agriculture Department (USAD), providing legal assistance to farmers of color and grants and loans to improve land access for minorities. The $4billion will provide direct payments of up to 120 percent of a 'socially disadvantaged' farmer or rancher's outstanding debt as of January 1, 2021. Yet white farmers believe the add-on to the relief package is discriminatory as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham blasts the money as 'reparations'. The American Rescue Plan will provide $10.4 billion in total for farmers of all races and farm-related programs, according to CBS, but most of the money is earmarked for debt foregiveness for minority farmers. Half of the fund is going to them, despite white farmers in the US vastly outnumbering their minority counterparts. According to the USAD, which last issued figures in 2017, there are 3.2million white farmers in America. However, there are only 45,500 black farmers, 112,500 Hispanic or Latino farmers, 58,200 American Indian or Alaska Native farmers and 22,000 Asian farmers. This totals only 238,200 minority farmers who will be in recent of 50 percent of the offered aide. White farmers outnumber them more than 13 times. Sen. Graham appeared on Fox News this week to blast the bill as an example of 'out of control liberals' and claimed that it had nothing to do with the coronavirus and so should not be included in the COVID-19 relief package. 'Let me give an example of something that really bothers me. In this bill, if you are a farmer, your loan will be forgiven up to 120% of your loan, not 100%, but 120%, if you're socially disadvantaged, if you're African American, some other minority,' he said. 'But if you're White person, if you are a White woman, no forgiveness. That's reparations. What does that got to do with Covid?' It was also criticized by Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, who claimed that the Empire State's majority white farmers were being discriminated against. 'The bill looks more like reparations than COVID relief,' she wrote in an op-ed for the New York Post. 'It says farm aid is 'for the purposes of addressing the longstanding and widespread discrimination against socially disadvantaged farmers.' Truth is, farmers have been struggling for a decade, and more than half lose money year after year. 'Minority-owned farms are generally less indebted than those owned by whites, though diminished access to credit may be part of the reason. White and minority farmers alike need debt relief,' she added. Angered white farmers also took to social media to hit out at the bill after the packages was passed, as they claim that they are being discriminated against by not being offered the same loan forgiveness. 'Farmers of color' get $4 billion bailout to pay off their debt. White farmers get nothing. They say it's reparations, but it's not. It's racism. Pay your bills, America,' wrote podcast hist Toss Starnes.

#Cuomo #Granny #Meme #Twitter #Harassment #Criminal People all across the political spectrum relished in poking fun at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after the embattled politician was spotted with a cover draped over him as he moped in Albany. As more Democrats joined onto the call for Cuomo to resign in the wake of s***** harassment allegations, folks on Twitter felt the blanket was just another opportunity for the controversial governor to try to garner sympathy points. 'What’s with Cuomo and the blanket? He looks like the crime victim sitting at the back of an ambulance from some crime procedural show,' said one user. 'Might as well be holding a styrofoam cup.' 'Cuomo going undercover as one of the grandmas he killed,' said TV writer Jess Dweck. Another user asked: 'Which nursing home individual did you steal that blanket from?' A different user asserted: 'Cuomo's political career, if it wasn't over before, it has to be now after this granny photo w blanket and bottle!' #CuomoCoverup soon took on a new meaning besides being about the nursing homes as the blanket took on a life of its own. Others just poked fun at the governor, with people noting that Cuomo resembled Steve Martin from the 1979 film The Jerk. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are demanding New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resign - becoming the most powerful Democratic voices to call for him to leave office in the wake of s***** harassment allegations. Schumer and Gillibrand, who serve as New York's two sitting senators, released a joint statement Friday afternoon, which read: 'Confronting and overcoming the Covid crisis requires sure and steady leadership. We commend the brave actions of the individuals who have come forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct. 'Due to the multiple, credible s***** harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo should resign.' Both had previously said an independent investigation into the allegations against Cuomo was essential. Shortly after the Senators' joint statement was released, House Intelligence Chairman and California Rep. Adam Schiff also urged Cuomo to resign. 'I don't think he can carry on,' Schiff told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Meanwhile, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapooli tweeted: 'These allegations are extremely disturbing and are impairing Governor Cuomo’s ability to lead, as our state struggles through a crisis and must make critical budget decisions. It is time for him to step down.' Earlier on Friday, New York representatives Jerry Nadler and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined 12 of the 17 other New York Congressional Democrats also demanding that the Governor step aside. Pressure is growing on Cuomo as a seventh woman alleged s***** harassment in a first-person essay published in New York magazine on Friday. Additionally, 30 women spoke to the same publication claiming they experienced bullying while working for the Governor. But a defiant Cuomo told reporters in a conference call Friday that he will not bow to 'cancel culture' by tending his resignation. He then hit out at colleagues who are calling for him to go. 'Politicians take positions for all sorts of reasons including political expediency and bowing to pressure,' he stated. 'People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth... let the review proceed. 'I am not going to resign. I was not elected by the politicians. I was elected by the people - part of this is that I am not part of the political club and you know what, I'm proud of it.' On Friday evening, Cuomo was seen looking strained as he paced up and down outside the Governor's Mansion in Albany with his daughter, Mariah. At one point, the Governor draped a blanket over his shoulders as he spoke into the phone while sipping from a bottle of Saratoga Springs water.

#Louisville #Walker #Taylor #Riot #Protest #MostlyPeaceful #Antifa #BLM Demonstrations to commemorate the first anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death have turned violent as protesters clashed with cops and members of the public at marches across the country. Hundreds of activists took to the streets in Los Angeles for a march on Saturday night, where two demonstrators were seen smashing a squad car. Video shared on social media shows the men beating the hood of the LAPD vehicle as it stopped on a road in Hollywood with its siren blaring. The cop car then slowly started to move with the men still smashing the hood, before it abruptly accelerated throwing the men onto the road. 'LAPD just ran over two protesters at the Hollywood Breonna Taylor march,' one activist stated beneath a video of the incident. Other footage shared to social media showed police clad in riot gear as they stood off against protesters. Several businesses in the Hollywood area were also reportedly vandalized. Meanwhile, in Louisville, Kentucky - the city where Taylor was shot dead during a botched police raid on her home on March 13, 2020 - armed demonstrators blocked roads prompting police to declare an unlawful assembly. 'Arrests will be made to those that refuse to disperse,' the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department wrote on Twitter at 9.30pm local time. It is currently unclear whether anyone has been taken into custody In Seattle, police were seen blocking roads as other cops on bikes were pictured pushing a crowd forward into the downtown area. Meanwhile, in Portland, there was a heavy police presence as hundreds of demonstrators protested outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. The city has been on high alert following two nights of unrest earlier this week during unrelated protests purportedly held by Antifa. During those rallies, far-left activists set fires, smashed windows of businesses and vandalized a federal courthouse.

#Oprah #Digital #Blackface #Struggle #Racism White and non-black people are being told not to share any of the numerous Oprah Winfrey memes from her bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - because they are a form of 'digital blackface'. The Slow Factory Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to social and environmental justice, this week issues a warning about digital blackface, describing it as an online phenomenon where white and non-black people share GIFs and photos of black people to express emotion, and stating that it often perpetuates negative stereotypes that they are 'aggressive, loud, and sassy.' In an Instagram post, the organization used an Oprah meme as a direct example of 'digital blackface' - sparking a furious debate in the comments where some agreed with the message, while others hit back, claiming that banning non-black people from posting the memes equates to 'black erasure'. 'Performing Blackness, be it IRL or online, is not an acceptable form of expressing reaction or dissatisfaction, especially not in exchange for likes and retweets,' the organization wrote in its post. The Slow Factory Foundation went on to insist that people shouldn't be sharing the recent onslaught of Oprah memes just because they're popular, suggesting that they are reminiscent of white people wearing blackface in minstrel shows. 'Since the #MeghanandHarry interview on Oprah, we’ve been seeing a lot of digital blackface infractions with a few of Oprah’s reaction gifs and images going viral, but that doesn’t mean you should be using them,' the non-profit explained. The comments were limited, likely to weed out any racist messages, but thoughts on the post were incredibly mixed. Some praised the organization for raising awareness for digital blackface, while others felt the inclusion of memes was going too far and actually a form of black erasure. 'Thanks for educating! Didn’t know about this,' one person wrote, while another added: 'What an interesting point that I’ve never even considered. I never been a fan of non Black people using Black emojis because it felt obviously wrong. 'But sharing gifs and images is one that never even crossed my mind and the example given makes so much sense. Definitely going to evaluate what I post and when.' While a number of commenters agreed that white and non-black people shouldn't use black emoji, there was a popular argument that equating memes and GIFs with digital blackface was doing more harm than good. Some said the conversation was actually taking the focus away from more important issues such as blackface and cultural appropriation. 'Blackface is a violent and harmful representation of black people rooted in violence. Using a gif of Oprah is NOT blackface. That is such a gross misnomer and false equivalency,' one person commented. 'I...think we need to cover the basics before we start trying to coin terms like digital blackface,' another Instagram user said. 'Racial reconciliation and decolonizing is getting very oversaturated and overcomplicated. 'Can we just try to heal from all the racial trauma that has impacted all people before we start trying to police how people use gifs and emoticons? I'm sure this can be a part [of] the process, but it's really a leap.' The idea of digital blackface has been around for years, but it gained mainstream traction when writer Lauren Michele Jackson used the term in her viral essay for Teen Vogue that was published in 2017. Following Meghan and Harry's tell-all with Oprah, a number of media outlets published stories highlighting the most hilarious memes to come out of the interview.

#Stavian #OklahomaCity #Police #Shooting #Robbery #Teen The five Oklahoma City police officers charged with first-degree manslaughter after a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot while allegedly attempting to rob a convenience store have been pictured for the first time. Stavian Rodriguez was shot 13 times by officers responding to reports of an attempted armed robbery at a convenience store on November 23 last year. The officers who have been charged after firing lethal rounds are: Bethany Sears, Jared Barton, Corey Adams, John Skuta and Brad Pemberton. If convicted, they could face up to life in prison. A sixth officer, Sarah Carli, was the first to fire a 'less-lethal' weapon and will not be charged, cops said. Surveillance video obtained by KOCO appears to show Rodriguez attempting to cooperate with police when he was shot. 'Show us your hands, sir. Nobody has to get hurt,' cops tell Rodriguez over a speaker. Rodriguez is seen climbing out of the drive-thru window with his hands raised, as cops scream: 'Hands!' The boy then slowly moves his hand to his waistband and lifts his shirt to show cops that he is removing the weapon tucked into his jeans. 'Get face down on the ground,' cops order as Rodriguez removes the weapon and drops it to the floor. 'Oh, don't do that!' a male officer says to the kid as a female cop orders him to get on the ground and 'drop it.' Rodriguez then reaches in his pocket in what appears to be an attempt to remove something else, as cops scream and multiple gun fire shots are heard. Eventually, a commanding officer orders the cops to 'cease fire.' Another video taken by KOCO's news crew, which was at the scene when the shooting happened, shows another view of the shooting. 'He had dropped his f**king gun. He had dropped his f**King gun!' a woman's voice is heard screaming. Master Sergeant Gary Knight told the outlet immediately after the incident that: 'He came out with the gun in his hand, he did not follow officer's instructions while he came out with the gun in his hand. Ultimately, he was shot.' Oklahoma City District Attorney David Prater has charged five of the responding officers with first-degree manslaughter. After being shot with the 'less-lethal' round, five officers 'unnecessarily fire lethal rounds at Rodriguez, striking him numerous times and inflicting mortal wounds,' Prater's investigator, Willard Paige, wrote in an affidavit. An autopsy determined Rodriguez suffered 13 gunshot wounds, Paige wrote. Officials have not yet revealed which officer fired the fatal shot. It was also not immediately clear whether any of the officers had attorneys who could speak on their behalf, but John George, president of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police, defended their actions. 'Officers must make life and death decisions in a split second, relying on their training. When an armed robbery suspect did not obey police commands, five officers perceived the same threat and simultaneously fired their weapons,' he said. 'A loss of life is always a tragedy and we know these officers did not take firing their weapons lightly. The OKC FOP stands by these officers and maintains they acted within the law.'

#Milo #Yiannopoulous #LGBT #Change #Conversion #Trump Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has declared himself 'ex-gay' and 'sodomy free' and said he wants to rehabilitate 'conversion therapy' as he called transsexuals 'demonic' and vowed to 'devote' himself to the Catholic Church. The 36-year-old, who became the poster boy for the alt-right due to his misogynistic, racist and homophobic rants, claimed he is no longer gay and likened homosexuality to 'addiction' and 'being an alcoholic' three years after he wed his boyfriend in Hawaii. Yiannopoulos told LifeSite he plans to dedicate the next 10 years to reviving the widely banned practice of conversion therapy that aims to forcibly change an individual's s***** orientation, gender identity or gender expression, claiming 'it does work.' The British expat, who once endorsed s** between 'younger boys' and older men, fanned the flames of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment once again by hitting out at the 'Terror of transsexuals' and saying 'Tranniees are demonic.' Yiannopoulos told the right-wing website he 'wasn't entirely joking' when he said he 'became gay' to annoy his mom and questioned how anyone could be 'wholly at home in the gay lifestyle.' 'When I used to kid that I only became gay to torment my mother, I wasn't entirely joking,' he said. 'Of course, I was never wholly at home in the gay lifestyle — Who is? Who could be? — and only leaned heavily into it in public because it drove liberals crazy to see a handsome, charismatic, intelligent gay man riotously celebrating conservative principles.' The firebrand likened his former life as a gay man to 'degeneracy' and said he felt it was 'all I deserved.' 'That's not to say I didn't throw myself enthusiastically into degeneracy of all kinds in my private life. I suppose I felt that's all I deserved,' he said. 'I'd love to say it was all an act, and I've been straight this whole time, but even I don't have that kind of commitment to performance art. Talk about method acting.' Yiannopoulos compared himself to controversial 24 character Jack Bauer, saying everyone has to 'confront his maker sooner or later.' 'Four years ago, I gave an interview to America magazine which they declined to print. It's taken me a long time to live up to the claims I made in that interview, but I am finally doing it. 'Anyone who's read me closely over the past decade must surely have seen this coming. I wasn't shy about dropping hints. In my New York Times-bestselling book Dangerous, I heavily hinted I might be 'coming out' as straight in the future,' he said. 'And in my recent stream-of-consciousness Telegram feed, I've been even more explicit — stomach-churningly so, if the comments under my 'x days without sodomy' posts are anything to go by.' He continued: 'I've always thought of myself as a Jack Bauer sort of figure — the guy who does the hideous, inexcusable things no one else can stomach, without which the Republic will fall. 'I know that means my name will always be cursed, and I'll always be a scorned outsider, so the temptation is to throw out any consideration of living well or truthfully. But even Jack Bauer has to confront his maker sooner or later.' When asked about previous comments he made on right-wing platform Parler about members of the ex-gay Christianity movement being 'saved' and 'cured of their sinful urges', he said he doesn't see himself in the same way but views his homosexuality as an 'addiction'. 'I don't suppose I'll ever be brave enough to declare it a thing of the past. I treat it like an addiction. You never stop being an alcoholic,' he said. 'As for the CHANGED movement, I guess because they're Californian they don't see how funny their website is, or maybe they're dirty non-doms who think God loves you more the gayer you act, but I was slightly making fun of them with that caption. (Walker Percy was right: Modern man has two choices — Rome or California.) 'Someone really ought to tell them to use more heterosexual-looking photos on their website.' The 36-year-old, who once compared feminism to cancer, said his husband John had been 'demoted to housemate' but brushed off any suggestion of heartbreak because he said he showers him in designer goods. 'The guy I live with has been demoted to housemate, which hasn't been easy for either of us,' he said.

#Harry #Meghan #Markle #Oprah #Interview #UK #Royals #Kirk Conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk has attacked 'unbelievably ungrateful' Meghan Markle, accusing her of setting out to tarnish her in-laws and inventing the shocking story of how a senior member of the Royal family asked about the color of her son Archie's skin. Kirk, 27, delivered his scathing verdict on Markle's remarks on his radio show on Monday. He was unimpressed with Markle, who he described as a 'self-indulgent tradition-destroying leftist', and her husband Prince Harry, who was labeled 'a metrosexual beta male really lacking in almost all testosterone'. And he saw her criticism of the Royal family as deeply ungrateful. Kirk then showed a clip of Piers Morgan, speaking on Fox News on Monday morning and discussing the couple's bombshell claim that someone within the family asked about the color of baby Archie's skin. Morgan said that the pair were wrong not to specify who in the family made the remark, arguing that it left the entire family open to accusations of racism. He accused Markle of inventing the story, in the same way that actor Jussie Smollett staged a racial attack on himself in January 2019 in Chicago, because he was unhappy with his salary and wanted to promote his career. Kirk said: 'I don't think anyone said it. 'I think she's making it up, like Jussie Smollett. 'I think somebody said something, completely different, in a different category, and she is using it now to go make people feel sorry for her.' A hunt is now on to find who uttered the racist remark about the unborn child. Prince Philip was cleared, with Oprah saying Harry had confirmed the comment was not made by the Duke of Edinburgh or the Queen. Asked about the alleged comment at his COVID press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'The best thing I can say is that I've always had the highest admiration for the Queen and the unifying role she plays. 'And as for all other matters to do with the royal family I've spent a long time now not commenting on royal family matters and I don't intend to today.' Harry refused to reveal the person's identity on Sunday night as did Meghan and claimed they wanted to protect whoever it was - leaving the rest of the family open to suspicion. Asked by Oprah if the couple left the UK because of racism, Harry replied: 'It was a large part of it.' Speaking on CBS on Monday, Oprah said she was 'surprised' the Sussexes revealed details of an alleged conversation with a member of the royal family who expressed 'concern' before he was born about how dark their son Archie's skin tone might be. The talk show host also said she was taken aback by Meghan's disclosures about her mental health, and about Harry's revelation at feeling 'trapped', during their explosive interview. Asked if she was surprised that the conversation about skin tone happened or that they were revealing it, Oprah replied: 'I was surprised they were telling me about it. 'Even on the tape you can hear me go 'Whoa, I cannot believe you are saying this right now'.' Asked how the couple is feeling after the interview, Winfrey said: 'I haven't really spoken to them since the interview because we are in different time zones.'

#McConnell #GOP #Trump #Lara #Taylor #2022 #2024 Mitch McConnell has said he is open to opposing any 'unelectable' candidates in 2022, even if they are strongly backed by Donald Trump, as he wrestles with how to handle a deeply-divided party following Trump's impeachment hearing. McConnell voted on Saturday to acquit the former president, but then publicly attacked him, accusing him of a 'disgraceful dereliction of duty' in his most critical remarks ever uttered. His tightrope walk between defending and demonizing the former president impressed few. On Sunday, McConnell told Politico that he was now focused on the future - with or without Trump's support. 'My goal is, in every way possible, to have nominees representing the Republican Party who can win in November,' he said. 'Some of them may be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. The only thing I care about is electability.' McConnell did not mention any names. Candidates backed by Trump such as QAnon believer Marjorie Taylor Greene, who only entered Congress in January, have already caused him and his party significant headaches, with her previous incendiary comments. Other candidates likely to be backed by Trump, such as his daughter-in-law Lara, expected to make a run for the Senate in 2022, could not count on McConnell's support, he said. 'I'm not predicting the president would support people who couldn't win,' McConnell said. 'But I do think electability — not who supports who — is the critical point.' McConnell declined to say whether he would support the former president if he seeks re-election in four years time. 'I'm focused on '22,' he said. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican senator for West Virginia, admitted that the party was at a crucial juncture with deep divisions between loyal Trumpites and those committed, like her, to McConnell. 'I don't know what happens to the party as a whole in terms of the folks deeply committed to President Trump,' she told the site. 'But I hope they stick with us.' Andy Biggs, a representative for Arizona and head of the arch conservative House Freedom Caucus, said many people in his party were upset at McConnell. 'A lot of people are frustrated with his comments. I'm not going to sugarcoat it,' he said, adding that Trump's influence remained. 'The fact he is no longer in the White House does not mean he is not the leader of the movement he started four or five years ago.'

#Mississippi #Idaho #Miami #Masks #Party #SpringBreak Hundred of people took to the streets of Mississippi without a mask in sight on Friday night after the state lifted their COVID 19 restrictions on March 3. Oxford, home of Ole Miss, saw people out in full force, eating at restaurants and shopping at stores like the coronavirus pandemic was a distant memory - rather than a virus that has killed more than half a million people and infects tens of thousands on a daily basis. In Florida, Spring Breakers were also abandoning masks as bikini-clad college students flooded onto beaches and crammed into bars in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to kick of their vacation. And in Idaho, a group gathered to burn their masks outside of the statehouse in protest of COVID-19 restrictions after other states this week made the decision to ditch mandates and open back up. A group of children joined their parents, several of whom were armed, as they burned pictures of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi in the flames, before beging egged into disposing of their surgical masks into the fire. Joe Biden slammed Mississippi and Texas' decisions to reopen as 'Neanderthal thinking' on Wednesday, warning that big, maskless gatherings would lead to another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. Texas is the largest state to lift their mask mandate, despite the fact that over 42,000 in Texas have died of COVID-19. However, the president has since been criticized for his comment by conservatives including Montana governor Greg Gianforte who complained Biden was 'degrading' himself with 'name-calling.' Meanwhile, revelers across Mississippi seemed unconcerned by the threat of another COVID-19 surge as they packed into busy bars and clubs for the first time in months. Many people even went shopping without masks, scenes most of the country would view as foreign a year after the pandemic began. In total, there have been at least 296,000 COVID-19 cases and 6,783 deaths in Mississippi since the onset of the pandemic. On Friday, Mississippi reported 576 new cases and 22 new deaths. Mississippi will maintain their 50 percent capacity restriction on indoor arenas and keep their current rules in place for K-12 schools. Elsewhere in Idaho, protests against mask mandates were held across the state on Saturday as angered residents push back against the continuing restrictions. At least a hundred people gathered at the front of the Idaho Capitol to burn masks in a protest against measures taken to limit infections and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Videos posted on social media showed adults encouraging children to toss masks into a fire. Some of the masks were branded with criticism of Biden while one person was seen burning a picture of the president himself. One video, which has been viewed more than 2.6million times, showed one adult shouting 'all at once' at the children before more started cheering and dozens of masks were thrown into the fire. 'Destroy them,' another person said. The children were heard saying 'Feed them to the fire' and 'We don't want them in our lives'. 'I will not self-suffocate,' signs at the protest read. 'No masks, no mandates. Our face, our mind,' said another, while one quoted Benjamin Franklin stating: 'Those who give up liberty to purchase safety deserve neither liberty or safety.' 'We’re standing here today to rein back government. To reestablish our Republican form of government, a government that has balance between the branches,' said Daar Moon, a protest organizer, in a Twitter video. 'It’s a widespread grassroots movement, an uprising in that regard, it’s come off very well today here in Boise.'

#Pandemic #SelfHarm #Depression #Anxiety #School #Corona Teenagers and young adults have had their mental health battered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a vast study of medical records and insurance claims nationwide. FAIR, a nonprofit organization which describes itself as being 'dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information', released the findings of their report into mental health on Tuesday. They studied 32 billion private healthcare claim records, looking at the 13-18 age range and 19-22, and tracking month-by-month changes from January to November 2020, compared to the same months in 2019. They found startling results. Younger teenagers were markedly more affected than those in the older 19-22 age range, it emerged. In March and April 2020, the number of insurance claims for mental health issues among young people aged 13-18, as a percentage of all medical claim lines, approximately doubled compared to the previous year. In the same age range, claims related to overdoses increased 119.31 per cent in April 2020, versus April 2019. 'Infection-related fears, bereavement, economic instability and social isolation have triggered and exacerbated mental health issues,' they wrote in their white paper. 'Young people have proven especially vulnerable to mental health issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 'School closures, having to learn remotely and isolating from friends due to social distancing have been sources of stress and loneliness. 'A review of the international literature identified high rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic symptoms among children during the pandemic.' Women were disproportionately affected, they found: in August, females accounted for 84 per cent of the self harm cases. There were also significant geographical ranges. In the Northeast, there was a 333.93 per cent increase in self harm cases in August, among 13-18 year-olds. April and November also saw spikes in the region. The West had its highest increase in self harm cases in June, and the South had its highest in April and May. The Midwest had its highest increase in March, and another relatively high mark in August. The researchers found that April 2020 was overwhelmingly the worst month for mental health problems, across the board and across the country. Generalized anxiety disorder - the most commonly found condition - increased 93.6 per cent over April 2019, while major depressive disorder increased 83.9 per cent and adjustment disorders 89.7 per cent. April was the peak month for overdoses, but overdose claim lines continued above 2019 levels throughout the remaining months to November. They found that, while the number of ER visits for conditions such as broken bones, abdominal pains and respiratory issues went down, the number of people being admitted for mental health conditions increased. Schizophrenia, in particular, increased markedly from 2019 levels for the older youngsters studied, ranging in age from 19-22. From April 2019 to April 2020, schizophrenia claim lines increased 61.29 per cent as a percentage of all ER claim lines. Afterward, schizophrenia had a lower but sustained increase over 2019 levels. They found, coincidentally, that among younger children the number of ADHD claims dropped noticeably. Among children aged 6-12, ADHD was still the most common mental health disorder, but it was less frequently reported. 'One possible reason for the decline was that many children were learning remotely, and teachers observing children in the classroom are typically the first to suggest a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder,' they reported. President Joe Biden has made reopening schools a priority, and on Tuesday announced that teachers would be prioritized for vaccinations. However, experts warn that the mental health impacts will likely be long lasting. Some children will likely require long-term treatment, Axios reported - something the U.S. health system has historically been bad at. Call the toll-free 24-hour hotline of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255); TTY: 1-800-799-4TTY (4889)