D.L Hughley The Breakfast Club Nov 5th 2018
I always enjoy D.L’s insightful conversations!!
Uber driver charged after teen falls off vehicle’s roof and dies on LI
SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. — An Uber driver faces years in prison after he allegedly allowed a teenager to ride on his vehicle’s roof, ultimately causing the boy’s death, the Suffolk County District Attorney announced Monday.
Danyal Cheema is charged with manslaughter in the second degree, according to the DA. He was arraigned Monday.
Teenagers allegedly offered Cheema $40 to allow them to ride on the roof of his 2010 Toyota Highlander on Sept. 23, officials said. In court, officials said the incident happened in Cold Spring Harbor, but the DA earlier said it happened in neighboring Huntington Station.
Cheema agreed, and at least one of the teens “surfed” on the vehicle’s roof while his friends posted video on Snapchat, officials said.
The passenger, identified during the arraignment as 15-year-old Ryan Mullen, fell off the vehicle’s roof at some point and struck his head on the roadway.
Mullen’s injury was not readily visible. He went to sleep a few hours later, and died as a result of the skull and brain injury, officials said in court.
Cheema faces five to 15 years in prison and $200,000 bail.
An 11-year-old was told to clean his room. Instead, he killed his grandmother, then himself, in apparent murder-suicide
An Arizona boy fatally shot his grandmother, then killed himself Saturday, after being instructed to clean his room, his grandfather told authorities.
Doyle Herbert called police at about 5 p.m. to report his wife and their 11-year-old grandson were dead in an apparent murder-suicide, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Joaquin Enriquez, said in a statement. Hebert told authorities the boy shot his 65-year-old grandmother, Yvonne Woodward, in the back of the head after they’d asked him repeatedly throughout the day to pick up after himself.
The boy was apparently “being stubborn about it,” according to the statement. After killing his grandmother, the boy turned the handgun — which belonged to his grandfather — on himself, the statement said.
The couple had just sat down in their living room in their Litchfield Park, Ariz., home, located about 20 miles west of Phoenix, to watch television when the boy approached his grandmother from behind and shot her, the statement said.
Herbert told police he initially chased after his grandson but stopped to perform first aid on his wife. Moments later, he heard another gunshot, saw his grandson take a few steps, then collapse to the ground. Herbert retrieved the weapon and called 911, police said.
Neighbors told a CNN affiliate that the boy was known for playing around the neighborhood and was part of a “nice family.”
“It really hasn’t set in just yet. I mean this is a nice neighborhood, it’s really quiet — as you can see — it’s just a tragic, tragic thing,” neighbor Walter Venerable told azfamily.
The boy’s grandfather told detectives he and his wife had full custody of their grandson. Investigators have not found evidence that suggests the boy wanted to harm others or himself before this incident.
Amazon drops $25 free shipping minimum for all US holiday shoppers
Amazon, Target, Walmart, and others are fighting hard for your holiday dollars.
Amazon’s latest perk will be available not just for its Prime members but for all holiday shoppers this year. The online retailer announced that starting today, November 5, all US-based Amazon customers can get free shipping with no minimum purchase amount. While the perk lasts only for a “limited time,” Amazon explains that the promotion will affect orders that arrive in time for the Christmas holiday.
Typically, Amazon imposes a $25 minimum order amount for non-Prime members to get free shipping. This promotion waives that minimum for the time being and puts Amazon in step with competitor Target, which waived its $35 order minimum and now offers free two-day shipping to all customers through December 22. Walmart, arguably Amazon’s biggest competitor in the US, has kept its $35 minimum threshold for free shipping for this holiday season (so far, at least).
Amazon is trying to capture as much of the holiday shopping market as possible as it faces growing competition from the likes of Target, Walmart, and other retailers. Amazon already offers free two-day shipping to its Prime members as a standard benefit, but those customers pay $120 annually for Prime. Amazon raised the price of a Prime membership by $20 earlier this year.
Removing the minimum order amount could convince non-Prime members to shop at Amazon more this holiday season than they might have previously. Amazon has the advantage of inventory, with millions of items eligible for free shipping, while Target and Walmart have thousands. Also, Amazon’s shipping and delivery infrastructure is much larger than that of any other US retailer (Target and Walmart have been expanding and striking up partnerships in order to better match Amazon’s delivery system).
However, Target and Walmart have many more brick-and-mortar locations than Amazon does, even with Whole Foods’ locations counting in Amazon’s favor. Both retailers use their thousands of locations to their advantage by offering services like curbside pickup for grocery orders and special in-store promotions.
Amazon instituted a number of promotions and discounts at Whole Foods after it purchased the specialty grocer for $13.7 billion last year, but most of those deals are for Prime members only. As far as other brick-and-mortar stores go, Amazon has a bookstore, top-rated items stores, and cashierless Amazon Go convenience stores across the country, but the number of physical locations pales in comparison to traditional retailers. Amazon likely hopes that offering free shipping with no strings attached to all will convince more people to do most of their holiday shopping online.
Article via Arstechnica
Harvey Weinstein lawyers ask for case dismissal citing text from accuser
Lawyers for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein asked a judge Monday to toss the remains of the criminal case against him — revealing for the first time that one of the accusers tried to meet with him soon after she claims he abused her.
Production assistant Mimi Haleyi alleged in a press conference last year that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in his SoHo home in 2006.
According to the motion, on Feb. 12, 2007, she allegedly texted Weinstein’s phone: “Hi! Just wondering if u have any news on whether harvey will have time to see me before he leaves? x Miriam.”
“This message makes clear that Mimi Haleyi wished to continue seeing Mr. Weinstein even after the alleged sexual assault,” defense attorney Ben Brafman wrote in the filing.
He blasts prosecutors for not presenting this communication to the grand jury.
The Haleyi text is the latest dent in the Manhattan District Attorney’s rapidly crumbling sex abuse case against the former film industry giant.
She is one of two victims whose allegations are still propping up the indictment. The second victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, alleges that Weinstein raped her in March 2013.
A judge last month dismissed the felony count related to a third victim, Lucia Evans, over spiraling credibility worries.
Evans, who was once considered the strongest part of the case, accused Weinstein of forcing her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 in his Tribeca office when she was a fledgling actress.
But prosecutors eventually uncovered an exculpatory email she wrote to her husband that suggested that the encounter was consensual.
She also told a friend that the act was not coerced. Evans allegedly told a pal that she gave Weinstein oral sex in exchange for an acting job, according to Joan Illuzzi-Orbon.
The friend said she described her recollections to lead detective Nicholas DiGaudio – but that he pressured her not to disclose the information.
DiGaudio was kicked off the case for alleged misconduct.
A few weeks later, Illuzzi-Orbon disclosed that the same detective coached the second victim to “delete anything she did not want anyone to see” from her phone before turning it over to authorities.
DiGaudio has denied the allegations.
Brafman argues in the latest motion that the entire case has been irreversibly contaminated by DiGaudio’s conduct and Evans’ alleged “perjury.”
The attorney also questioned the credibility of the second victim, who had a “long-term, consensual” relationship with Weinstein, which continued after she alleges he raped her March 18, 2013, in a Manhattan hotel.
In an email sent nearly four years later, she allegedly wrote: “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call :)”
These communications, the lawyer says, were also not presented to the grand jury.
Article via PageSix
Filmmakers documented a historic Aretha Franklin concert. Nearly 50 years later, the public will get to see it.
“Amazing Grace,” an Aretha Franklin concert film regarded as one of the great lost treasures of both the documentary and music worlds, will finally see the light of day, according to its longtime producer and overseer.
Producer Alan Elliott and the Franklin estate struck a deal to end a three-year dispute and enable the movie to be shown at festivals and sold to distributors, Elliott told The Washington Post.
Elliott said the deal was struck with Sabrina Owens, Franklin’s niece and the executor of her estate. The film will now have its premiere next week at DOC NYC, a popular documentary gathering in New York, and will be shown to distributors for potential release without any apparent legal hurdles.
“We’re excited to finally bring the movie to the public and expose this legacy project — this is the premier document of American popular music that’s ever been filmed,” Elliott said in an interview.
“Amazing Grace” has been seen by scholars as a historic document to which the public has long been prevented access. The movie chronicles a landmark performance the soul great gave of the eponymous double album at a Los Angeles church in 1972. It was originally shot by the Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack. But it remained in the vault for decades, first for technical reasons — technology did not allow the audio and video to sync properly — and then for financial reasons, with not enough money to complete it.
According to Elliott, Pollack had asked him on his deathbed in 2008 to finish the movie, which Elliott did for the following seven years. The former producer, who now is a college professor, also called it “a really interesting tableaux we formed out of shrapnel.”
But Franklin opposed the release and went so far as to get an injunction stopping the movie from premiering at the Telluride Film Festival in 2015 on the eve of its premiere. The Toronto International Film Festival subsequently pulled the film because of the injunction as well. Franklin’s objections at the time were unclear.
A distribution deal with Lionsgate was later mooted after Franklin decided not to sign the papers, and the film was stuck in limbo.
After her death in August, The Post reported a deal could be more likely, though the possibility was complicated by the fact that Franklin left no will.
Endeavor, the Hollywood agency, has been selling rights to the movie, which could garner a significant distribution deal in the absence of any legal hurdle. An Endeavor executive did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for the Franklin estate did not respond to a request for comment.
Thom Powers, the Toronto doc programmer who also runs DOC NYC, told The Post he thought the movie was “one of the great lost treasures of documentary film.”
“A lot of us have been following this project for many years and waiting for the day when it would come to light,” he said. “About the biggest thriller I could imagine as a film-festival programmer is to be able to host this and bring it before an audience.” The screening will take place with a conversation between Elliott and the cultural critic Nelson George.
Because of a dispute between Elliott and the Pollack estate, the director’s name was taken off the film. It will premiere without a director.
“Amazing Grace” had earlier been qualified for the 2018 Oscars — essentially, a token week-long release in a theater to enable academy members to nominate it for the year’s biggest prize. The move was somewhat unusual for a film without a distributor. (Distributors like to formulate Oscar plans themselves.) Though the film is most likely a candidate for the documentary Oscar, Elliott said he would like to make a push for top categories, including best picture. “We want to dare the academy to honor Aretha,” he said.
The film does not have a publicist or other rudiments of Hollywood’s Oscar-industrial complex. That is by design, Elliott said, who noted he’d prefer a more homespun campaign.
Elliott had told The Post in August that “Ms. Franklin said ‘I love the film.’ Unfortunately for all of us, she passed before we could share that love. ‘Amazing Grace’ is a testament to the timelessness of Ms. Franklin’s devotion to music and God. Her artistry, her genius and her spirit are present in every note and every frame of the film. We look forward to sharing the film with the world soon.”
The development is likely to be welcomed by fans and scholars. “Amazing Grace,” which this reporter saw in 2015, contains an intimacy rare for a movie about an icon and also showcases its subject’s incipient talent, all taking place in a church. Franklin performs such gospel standards as Marvin Gaye’s “Wholy Holy” and gives a religious spin to pop hits like Carole King’s “You’ve Got A Friend.”
At the time of her death, the music publication Billboard extolled the performance it documents as central to the history of American music.
“For all the historic moments that she helped soundtrack and elevate over the span of decades, it was the pair of concerts delivered at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972 that rank as her finest hours,” the magazine said of the L.A. shows.
“For 11 full minutes she lives in a state of grace, as she sings to the Lord, for the Lord,” the magazine said, “letting his light and his love fill her body and soul, and then sending it pouring out into the microphone placed inches from her face and into the ears of the people sat rapt before her in the pews, and those listening months later at home or in their car, for all eternity.”
Article via WashingtonPost
Principal: Students who spelled out racial slur admit they planned it
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. – Several Brookwood High School students involved in spelling out a racial slur during a marching band performance at halftime of a weekend football game have admitted to planning the whole thing, according to the school district.
According to a letter to parents and students from Brookwood High School Principal William Bo Ford Jr., the investigation into the Friday night incident found that three seniors planned and executed the stunt.
Ford said a fourth student, who carried one of the letters spelling out the racial slur, appears to have agreed to go along with it “at the last minute.”
“In our interviews, the students — two of whom are African American, one of whom is Asian, and one of whom is Hispanic — indicated that this was intended as a joke, one that they thought would be funny,” Ford said in the letter. “However, they acknowledged that they knew this racist term was not acceptable.”
Ford said two more students weren’t involved in the planning and execution, but gave “false information to school officials.”
All six of these students will receive discipline consequences commensurate with their involvement in this incident,” Ford said in the letter.
Read the entire letter below:
I am following up to you on my communication from over the weekend regarding the situation that occurred during our band’s halftime show on Friday night. As promised, we started an investigation into this matter, and I wanted to share with you our current findings and the steps we are taking with the students who were involved. After extensive interviews with many students, we have determined that three seniors intentionally planned and executed the use of the sousaphone covers to spell out a completely unacceptable, racist term. The fourth student, a junior, who carried one of the letters spelling out the word, appears to have gone along with the plan at the last minute. However, all four of the students knew what was going to happen and knew what they were spelling out during the halftime show. In our interviews, the students– two of whom are African American, one of whom is Asian, and one of whom is Hispanic – indicated that this was intended as a joke, one that they thought would be funny. However, they acknowledged that they knew this racist term was not acceptable. We have identified two other students who do not appear to be involved in the planning and execution but did provide false information to school officials. All six of these students will receive discipline consequences commensurate with their involvement in this incident.
I am hurt and disappointed in these students and their actions that have stunned our community. As you all know, this is not who we are. Brookwood is proud to be an inclusive and accepting school community. This is a teachable moment for all of us, and students need to be aware that their actions and words have consequences.
We are wrapping up our investigation; however, in an effort to be transparent and responsive to our community, I felt it was important to share our findings with you as quickly as possible. I have heard from many of you since my first communication, and, unfortunately, I have not been able to get back with all of you. As you would expect, our first priority was to conduct a thorough and fair investigation into this matter. That said, I appreciate your patience and support and will be reaching out to those who have contacted me. It is also important for us to unite in support of our program and student and staff leaders of our award-winning band. I have faith in our students and community that we will rise together and become stronger in this challenging time. I hope that our program, school, and community will not be judged based on the unfortunate decisions and actions of a few developing teenagers. As always, thank you for your support of our students and school.
© 2018 Cox Media Group
Article via WSB-TV
Mo’Nique responds to Rebel Wilson’s ‘plus-sized’ romantic comedy claims
Mo’Nique reminded Rebel Wilson that history shouldn’t be erased after Wilson incorrectly said she’s the “first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy.”
A fan called out Wilson for making that claim on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” by name-dropping Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique as stars of past romcoms, the Australian actress tried to defend herself.
“Hey girl! Yeah I of course know of these movies but it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are [categorized]/billed as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area,” Wilson tweeted.
Mo’Nique, who starred in 2006’s “Phat Girlz,” had no time for Wilson’s “grey area” concept.
“Hey my sweet sister. Let’s please not allow this business to erase our talent with giving grey areas and technicalities,” Mo’Nique tweeted in response. “Take a moment and know the history. DON’T BE A PART OF ERASING IT. I wish you the best.”
Wilson responded, “Hi Monique, it was never my intention to erase anyone else’s achievements and I adore you and Queen Latifah so so much x I support all plus size ladies and everything positive we are doing together ❤️”
Mashable also reported that Wilson began blocking critics on Twitter, specifically critics of color. Film and television critic ReBecca Theodore-Vachon even gave it a hashtag: #RebelWilsonBlockedMe. Wilson eventually responded to a tweet from playwright Claire Willett and said she will address what happened “while promoting [Isn’t it Romantic] in the proper forums.”
Article via PageSix
Lowe’s is closing 51 stores in the US and Canada
New York (CNN Business)In another sign of the times for retail, Lowe’s is closing 51 North American stores.