Breaking News Events

[Kätzchen]

Our work campus has refused to fly the national flag since Jan 6th.

No half mast.

It is Zero Mast.

In response to both serious national issues: Covid-19 and the Capitol Riots, et al.

[Kätzchen]

Turns out to be the people who orchestrated seditious coup de tat (Capitol Riots).


https://abcnews.go.com/US/longtime-t..._live_hero_hed

[Kätzchen]

PS/ Be sure to catch the big blockbuster article on these events, over @ New York Times this coming Sunday.

[PlatinumPearl]

The NBA has fined the Nets' Kyrie Irving $50,000 for violating the league's health and safety protocols and assigned him a five-day quarantine

He will forfeit more than $400,000 in salary per game for those missed during quarantine at a rate of 1/81.6 of his season salary.

Kyrie Irving will forfeit $816,898 for the 2 games missed this past week.

Source: Twitter
Username: Marc Stein @TheSteinLine
Date: January 15, 2021

[homoe]

U.S. Capitol Police have arrested a Virginia man who attempted to get past a security checkpoint with fake inauguration credentials, a loaded firearm, and 500 rounds of ammo.

According to CNN, Wesley Allen Beeler was taken into custody Friday night after he pulled up to a checkpoint near the Capitol building in Washington D.C. He allegedly provided officers with an "unauthorized inauguration credential" before he admitted to having a Glock semi-automatic pistol in his vehicle. Officers later discovered the Glock was loaded with 17 rounds of ammunition and a round chamber ready to fire. A Metropolitan Police Department report also states Beeler had 509 rounds of ammunition and 21 12-gauge shotgun shells.

The man was taken to the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters and charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possessing an unregistered firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device.

[PlatinumPearl]

Police Say Oregon Man Who Stole A Car With A Child In The Backseat Came Back And 'Lectured' The Mom About Parenting.


A police offer makes a call on his radio. ftwitty/Getty Images.

* A carjacker in Beaverton, Oregon returned a child to their mother after realizing they were in the backseat of the car he was stealing.
The thief scolded the mother for leaving the kid in the car and threatened to call the police on her before driving off in the car, police said.

* "He actually lectured the mother for leaving the child in the car and threatened to call the police on her," Beaverton police spokesman Officer Matt Henderson told the Oregonian.


Oregon police are looking for a man who they say stole a car with a child in the backseat only to return the 4-year-old and reprimand the mom about her parenting.

The carjacking took place outside of a grocery store in Beaverton, Oregon on Saturday when the mom left the car running with the child in the backseat, local authorities said.

The mother left the car unlocked and went inside to buy a gallon of milk and some meat, acorrding to the Oregonian.

The thief happened to walk by and hopped in the car, the New York Post reported.

He soon realized the 4-year-old was in the backseat and U-turned in the parking lot, returning the child to the mother - but not without scolding her, according to Beaverton police.

"He actually lectured the mother for leaving the child in the car and threatened to call the police on her," Beaverton police spokesman Officer Matt Henderson told the Oregonian.

The thief ordered the mom to take the child before driving off in the stolen car.

"Obviously, we're thankful he brought the little one back and had the decency to do that," Henderson said.



Source: msn.com
Website: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...ng/ar-BB1cPBkp
Date: January 17, 2021

[PlatinumPearl]

Old article currently circulating social media. Definitely worth the read for those that support this fast food chain.



Chick-fil-A and Same-Sex Marriage

The fast food chain has been criticized for donating money to organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.



Snopes Staff
Published 9 March 2012
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ch...-gay-marriage/

[homoe]

Job Seekers With Trump White House on Their Resumes Face a Cold Reality.


Perhaps, if they don't mind the cold of Minnesota, the "pillow guy" could take on some of them!


https://www.yahoo.com/news/job-seeke...195444670.html

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Released

"Countries that perform well on the index invest more in health care, are better able to provide universal health coverage and are less likely to violate democratic norms and institutions or the rule of law."

The 2020 CPI was released yesterday by Transparency International, "the global coalition against corruption". Much of last year's corruption around the world was enabled by the Covid-19 situation, and took place in healthcare systems.

"Continuing on its downward trend" since 2012, the United States scored 67 points out of 100, with 100 being the ideal best score and 0 being the worst conceivable score.

Denmark and New Zealand achieved the best scores, at 88 points. The worst scores went to Somalia and South Sudan, with 12 points.

To read a release from Transparency International with highlights from the report, click here. To read the full report which contains a ranking of all countries, click here.

[homoe]

After storming the Capitol, alleged rioters now want Trump pardons

“I would like a pardon from the president of the United States,” said Jenna Ryan, a Texas real estate agent charged in the storming of the Capitol, in an interview with CBS News late last week. “I think that we all deserve a pardon. I’m facing a prison sentence. I think that I do not deserve that.”

Adam Newbold, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, told ABC News that he was seeking “clemency” after posting a Facebook video boasting about “breaching the Capitol,” which brought FBI agents to his door for an interview. “I would like to express to you just a cry for clemency, as you understand that my life now has been absolutely turned upside-down,” Mr. Newbold said.

An attorney for Jacob Chansley — the man who entered the Capitol wearing horns and carrying a spear — said on CNN that his client also deserved a pardon, as he was only in the Capitol because he had “hitched his wagon” to Mr. Trump and felt he was answering a “call” from the president to go there. “The words and invitation of a president are supposed to mean something,” said the attorney, Albert Watkins.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/cr...s/202101170157

[homoe]

Merrick Garland tells senators Capitol riot investigation will be his first priority as attorney general


Attorney general nominee Merrick Garland said Monday that his first priority and briefing if confirmed as attorney general would center on the sprawling investigation into the Jan. 6 riot the U.S. Capitol.

Testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland drew parallels to the domestic terrorism threat the Justice Department faced in confronting the Ku Klux Klan and the prosecution he led of Timothy McVeigh in the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. When Garland was last in the Justice Department, he supervised that case.

But, Garland said, “we are facing a more dangerous period than we faced in Oklahoma City at that time.” He said he imagined that investigators would explore not just those who entered the Capitol, but those who might be involved in other ways.

“We begin with the people on the ground and we work our way up to those who are involved and further involved,” Garland said. “And we will pursue these leads wherever they take us.”

[homoe]

Mitt Romney Delivers Ominous 2024 Prediction For The Republican Party


Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) says the former President is far from being crippled politically.

“I don’t know if he’ll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney told The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that polls show “if you put President Trump in there among Republicans, he wins in a landslide.”

Despite the prediction, Romney ― a frequent critic and the only Republican to vote in favor of conviction during both impeachment trials ― said he would not help make it happen.

“I would not be voting for Trump. I haven’t voted for him in the past,” Romney said. “I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent.”

[homoe]

'Not fair!': Man who put feet on Pelosi's desk has outburst at court hearing for Capitol riot

Richard Barnett, reportedly screamed at Judge Christopher R. Cooper during a virtual hearing where it was determined he would remain detained until at least his next hearing in May. He yelled at Cooper that it was “not fair” that he remained in jail as others were released, according to NBC Washington’s Scott MacFarlane.

“Everybody else who did things much worse are already home,” Barnett said. He later added, “I’ve been here for a month, they’re going to set it for another month, and everybody else is getting out.”

Barnett was taken into custody in his home state of Arkansas in January on federal charges of entering and remaining on restricted grounds, violent entry and theft of public property. He has also been charged with disrupting official proceedings, disruptive and disorderly conduct and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, according to court records.


Images of Barnett reclining in Pelosi’s chair with his feet up on her desk were widely shared and quickly became synonymous with the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building. Barnett later spoke to a New York Times reporter, who tweeted about the exchange following the incident in Pelosi’s office.

He told the Times that he took an envelope from Pelosi’s desk and left her a quarter in exchange, even though “she ain’t f------ worth it.”


“Mr. Barnett’s frustration stems from the fact that he is incarcerated pre-trial, despite lacking any criminal history, being gainfully employed, respected in his community, and in a stable relationship for over 20 years,” McBride said in a statement to NBC News. “Normally, facts like these are more than enough for an individual to fight their case from the outside.”

[PlatinumPearl]

Uber and Lyft create a shared database of drivers banned for assault

The program will be open to other transportation and delivery companies.

Uber and Lyft will work together to share information on US drivers and delivery people accused of physical and sexual assault to ensure those individuals are banned on both platforms, the two companies announced on Thursday in separate blog posts. HireRight, a company that specializes in conducting background checks, will oversee the Industry Sharing Safety Program database. Other transportation and delivery companies in the US will have the chance to contribute and access the database as long as they adhere to the same data accuracy and privacy policies that Uber and Lyft must follow.

"We want to share this information with each other and hopefully in the near future with other companies, so that our peers in this space can be informed and make decisions for their own platforms to keep those platforms safe," Jennifer Brandenburger, Lyft's head of policy development, told NBC News.

The database won't include information on victims. Additionally, the incident that landed a driver in the database will fall in broad categories.

Creating a joint database of physical and sexual abusers is a major step for the two companies. Both Uber and Lyft have been frequently and consistently criticized for doing too little to protect their passengers, particularly if they're women, from predatory drivers. When Uber published its first safety report in 2019, the company revealed it had received nearly 6,000 reports of sexual abuse reports between 2017 and 2018. In 2019, 14 unnamed women sued Lyft, alleging the company had failed to run adequate background checks on its drivers. Finding a way to share the identities of contractors whom it had removed from its platform was one of the actions Uber said it would take in its safety report.



Source: Engadget.com
Website: https://www.engadget.com/uber-lyft-i...hvLX81GpswGKDs
Date: March 11, 2021

[PlatinumPearl]

Meghan Markle Reportedly Considering a run for US President

Sources in Britain's Labor party claimed that Meghan Markle will be using the publicity surrounding her interview with Oprah to launch a political career with aspirations for the White House.

According to the Daily Mail a senior Labor figure, who is a veteran of the Blair administration and has ties to DC, claimed that Markle was working with members of the Democrat party to start a campaign and fundraising to become a future US president.

During the 2020 presidential election cycle, Markle and her husband Prince Harry urged voters to 'reject hate speech' and issued a 'a call for decency' against then President Donald Trump.

Another source told The Mail that 'The Blairite, internationalist and Democratic party networks are buzzing with talk about Meghan's political ambitions and potential backers.'

Last year, a friend of Markle told Vanity Fair that one of the reasons the Duchess of Sussex had not given up her US citizenship when she married into the Royal Family was so that she could have the option of entering American politics.

The unidentified friend told the outlet, "One of the reasons she was so keen not to give up her American citizenship was so she had the option to go into politics. I think if Meghan and Harry ever gave up their titles she would seriously consider running for president." The source added that the Markle was looking at a possible 2024 run. President Joe Biden would be 82 at the time of his next campaign.

Markle’s biographer, Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, said in a documentary that the former actress "has her eyes set on the US presidency."

When asked about the possibility, US constitutional experts said that Markle would have to renounce her title in Britain if she wanted to hold public office in American. The Founding Fathers also banned the government from granting titles of nobility under Article I of the Constitution.

Former "Good Morning Britain" host Piers Morgan said of Markle’s Oprah interview Monday "I don’t believe a word that she says." The comments came one day before Morgan walked off the set of his show during a discussing about the Royals and quit hours later.



Source: thepostmillennial.com
Website: https://thepostmillennial.com/meghan...r-us-president
Date: March 14, 2021

[PlatinumPearl]

Biden Planning First Major Tax Hike in Almost 30 Years: Report

President Biden is reportedly planning the first major hike in federal taxes in almost 30 years to fund the economic program set to follow the recently approved $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package.

Unidentified sources told Bloomberg that the increases will reflect the promises Biden made during his 2020 campaign.

The planned increases reportedly include: raising the corporate tax from 21 percent to 28 percent; increasing the income tax rate on people making more than $400,000; expanding the estate tax; paring back tax preferences on pass-through businesses such as limited-liability companies; and setting up a higher capital gains tax rate for individuals making at least $1 million.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

As Bloomberg notes, an independent analysis of the Biden campaign's tax plan conducted by the Tax Policy Center found that it would raise around $2.1 trillion over 10 years.

Tax hikes included as part of infrastructure and job packages will likely include repealing part of former President Trump's 2017 tax law that largely benefitted corporations and wealthy individuals, the news outlet notes, citing sources close to the matter.

Biden had said during his campaign that he would repeal Trump's tax cuts on "day one" of his administration, though he has yet to do so.

Democratic lawmakers have expressed some hesitance to support a tax increase. Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who has quickly become a key vote in Congress, previously told The Hill that he thought repealing Trump's tax cuts would be "ridiculous."

He later walked back his remarks, saying, “Everything’s open for discussion.”

“His whole outlook has always been that Americans believe tax policy needs to be fair, and he has viewed all of his policy options through that lens,” former Biden economic aide Sarah Bianchi told Bloomberg. "That is why the focus is on addressing the unequal treatment between work and wealth.”

Any tax increases that are passed would likely take effect beginning in 2022, according to Bloomberg, which noted some lawmakers have called for the administration to hold off as pandemic-related unemployment remains high.

An anonymous Democratic House member told The Hill in February that they did not think the government should be raising taxes.

“People would accept the corporate tax raised a few points but beyond that you’re going to have problems, especially in the middle of an economic crisis,” the lawmaker said at the time.

Republicans are expected to fight any proposed tax increases, though Bloomberg notes that there are some measures that they may get behind such as shifting from a gasoline tax to a vehicle-miles-traveled fee.

GOP lawmakers may also support tax incentives that stop U.S. companies from moving jobs and profits out of the country, though they may not support penalties against such companies.



Source: thehill.com
Website: https://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...0-years-report
Date: March 15, 2021

[C0LLETTE]

Best of luck President Biden. It's about time.

[C0LLETTE]

Originally Posted by PlatinumPearl

Meghan Markle Reportedly Considering a run for US President

Sources in Britain's Labor party claimed that Meghan Markle will be using the publicity surrounding her interview with Oprah to launch a political career with aspirations for the White House.

According to the Daily Mail a senior Labor figure, who is a veteran of the Blair administration and has ties to DC, claimed that Markle was working with members of the Democrat party to start a campaign and fundraising to become a future US president.

During the 2020 presidential election cycle, Markle and her husband Prince Harry urged voters to 'reject hate speech' and issued a 'a call for decency' against then President Donald Trump.

Another source told The Mail that 'The Blairite, internationalist and Democratic party networks are buzzing with talk about Meghan's political ambitions and potential backers.'

Last year, a friend of Markle told Vanity Fair that one of the reasons the Duchess of Sussex had not given up her US citizenship when she married into the Royal Family was so that she could have the option of entering American politics.

The unidentified friend told the outlet, "One of the reasons she was so keen not to give up her American citizenship was so she had the option to go into politics. I think if Meghan and Harry ever gave up their titles she would seriously consider running for president." The source added that the Markle was looking at a possible 2024 run. President Joe Biden would be 82 at the time of his next campaign.

Markle’s biographer, Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, said in a documentary that the former actress "has her eyes set on the US presidency."

When asked about the possibility, US constitutional experts said that Markle would have to renounce her title in Britain if she wanted to hold public office in American. The Founding Fathers also banned the government from granting titles of nobility under Article I of the Constitution.

Former "Good Morning Britain" host Piers Morgan said of Markle’s Oprah interview Monday "I don’t believe a word that she says." The comments came one day before Morgan walked off the set of his show during a discussing about the Royals and quit hours later.



Source: thepostmillennial.com
Website: https://thepostmillennial.com/meghan...r-us-president
Date: March 14, 2021

oh bulshit

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Headline from CNN: "In one hour, Atlanta-area spa shootings left 8 dead, including 6 Asian women, local reports say"

In the news, there has been some speculation that the shootings were racially motivated. The shooter has been caught, and is a white 21-year-old male from a rural suburb of Atlanta. They caught him headed south.

Okay, here's the thing to know: there are three kinds of "spas" in Georgia, because of statewide licensing rules. The first is the kind that may come to mind for you, with saunas, hot tubs, indoor swimming pools, workout rooms, massage therapy, facials, and the like. They are standalone buildings with their own parking lots, or they are located in high-rent areas of the city with parking decks attached and/or valet parking. Some are in high-end hotels. I have been to some of these. These are operated by different races of people in Atlanta. This is _not_ the kind of spa that the shooter targeted.

The second kind of spa sort of imitates the first, except that generally only aesthetic services are offered, such as massage therapy, facials, foot spa treatments, natural treatments, etc. They tend to be a lower class of establishment, often found in strip malls, and some of them are quite nice. I have also been to some of these. These are usually operated by Asian people and/or New Age practitioners/naturalists in Atlanta. These are also _not_ the kind of spa that the shooter targeted.

The third kind of spa are what are known as "jack shacks" or "massage parlors" in other parts of the country. These are the lowest of the low, usually found in standalone buildings with private/hidden entrances (usually in the back), and in sketchy parts of town. I have never been to one of these, although I have known three people who worked in them at one time or another. They offer sex for sale. They are occasionally discovered to be engaged in human trafficking, and they employ primarily Asian women, although also a few women of other races. I do not know what kind of people own these places, although I have heard of white men, gay men, and (mostly) Asian men and women operating them.

The third kind of "spa" are the kinds of places that the shooter targeted. This is speculation on my part, but it is based on my knowledge as a resident of Atlanta. I reviewed news photographs of the locations, as well as looked up their addresses. I expect that the women who were shot will turn out to have been sex workers (not, of course, that this in any way justifies them being murdered). These third types of "spa" tend to have lots of cash on hand (because what patrons of these places would want to use a credit card?), as opposed to the first two kinds of spa, which basically run on credit cards. I expect this will turn out to be the reason the shooter targeted these businesses, for the cash.

[homoe]

Jim Jordan’s Clumsy Attempt To Quote Reagan Spectacularly Backfires....

Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) posted a quote from former President Ronald Reagan on social media in an attempted dig at President Joe Biden. But the move didn’t go as well as he hoped.

Jordan cited a quote from Reagan that’s often used in right-wing memes on social media. President Reagan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.”

Jordan’s critics were quick to pounce, causing both his name and Reagan’s name to trend on Twitter. Many noted the role of government ― of which Jordan is a member ― in getting the urgently-needed coronavirus vaccine to Americans, including his own constituents. Numerous people pointed out that Reagan’s comment was said as he justified government help to farmers in 1986, saying “the government must act compassionately and responsibly” and vowing to provide “record amounts of assistance.” Some also noted Reagan’s failures during a different health crisis as AIDS cases and deaths exploded under his watch.

Other people referred to accusations that Jordan, as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University, knew of allegations the team’s doctor was molesting athletes but did nothing. Although Jordan denies those charges, multiple athletes from his time with the team have come forward to corroborate the story.