Charles Barkley on Breonna Taylor: ‘Have to take into account that her boyfriend shot at the cops’ Shaquille O’Neal agrees
(CNN/Meredith) — Basketball legend and NBA analyst Charles Barkley is taking some heat following his comments on the grand jury’s decision on charges in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.
“I don’t think this one was like George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery and things like that,” Barkley stated on Thursday during TNT’s pregame coverage of the Western Conference Finals. TNT and CNN are both owned by parent company WarnerMedia.
On March 13, Taylor was killed when police in Louisville, Kentucky, broke open her front door while serving a search warrant and fatally shot the 26-year-old Black EMT in her home. The killing has led to nationwide protests and calls for racial justice and police reform.
Barkley is hesitant to compare Taylor’s death to other cases leading to the deaths of unarmed African-Americans.
Arbery was fatally shot on February 23 after he was chased by two White men while he was jogging in Brunswick, Georgia. Floyd died in Minneapolis after an officer pinned him to the ground by kneeling on his neck for several minutes on May 25. Both fatal encounters were seen on video.
“I feel sad that this young lady lost her life,” said Barkley, a basketball Hall of Famer. “But I am worried to lump all these situations in together.”
Earlier this week one officer involved in the incident leading to Taylor’s death was indicted on three charges of first-degree wanton endangerment for allegedly firing blindly into an apartment. Two of the officers who shot at Taylor, one of whom was shot and wounded, were not indicted in the case as the Kentucky Attorney General said the men were justified in shooting out of self-defense because Taylor’s boyfriend had fired first. As such, no charges were directly connected to Taylor’s death.
“We do have to take into account that her boyfriend shot at the cops and shot a cop,” said Barkley, as Black Lives Matter protests continue nationwide following the outcome in Kentucky.
Shaquille O’Neal, Barkley’s TNT colleague and a fellow NBA Hall of Famer, concurred.
“I have to agree with Charles, this one is sort of lumped in,” said O’Neal during the broadcast. “Everyone was asking for murder charges. When you talk about murder, you have to show intent. A homicide occurred and we’re sorry a homicide occurred. When you have a warrant signed by the judge, you are doing your job, and I would imagine that you would fire back.”
Barkley and O’Neal’s takes differ vastly from others in the NBA community and prompted criticism on social media.
In a video on TikTok, former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who was close friends with George Floyd, said Barkley was insensitive and heartless.
Lakers superstar LeBron James has been consistent in his outrage and calls for justice, a stance he reiterated publicly following his team’s win Thursday.
“We want justice, no matter how long it takes,” James said during his post-game interview on TNT.
“We’re here playing this game and it’s very challenging on us, it’s very difficult, but at the same time, our hearts [are] with that family… we hope for better days and to spread love and not hate,” James added.
Barkley and O’Neal, along with colleagues Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith, are next scheduled to be on the air on Saturday, as The NBA on TNT continues at 8 p.m. ET ahead of Game 5 between James’ Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/charles-barkley-on-breonna-taylor-have-to-take-into-account-that-her-boyfriend-shot-at/article_69cdf2fb-c1c5-5420-b82e-983e9d2e9115.html
Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka
Woman’s ‘White Lives Matter’ sign in predominantly Black St. Louis community infuriates neighbor
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — A couple’s clash with their neighbors has taken an ugly turn. They say they’re being threatened with racist yard signs and symbols, but the city admits their hands are tied.
A man who goes by Jacob wants his identify concealed because of what’s happening next to his home on Delmar.
His neighbor, Karen Hudson, has no problem showing her face to defend the display that adorns her house.
“Why? It’s ok to put Black Lives Matter signs up and not white?” argued Karen.
It’s not just the White Lives Matter sign that has Jacob upset. Karen also has a White Pride World Wide sign hanging above the caricature of a Black person eating a watermelon, which sits near windows with Confederate flags.
Karen also has a car with the words “Raccoon City” on the bumper. Karen claims Raccoon City is where her son works.
News 4 checked and according to state records there is no business listed with that name.
If you look up the letters “U-B-C-S” along with Raccoon City it references a fictional town in the video game, “Resident Evil”, but Jacob believes the bumper and letters are aimed at him.
‘When I have neighbors like the vets next door who see this Raccoon City on the back of the car a couple walk up and say ‘what do you mean’? They say they live in a city of coons,” Jacob said.
There’s no question there is bad blood between the two neighbors. Karen claims it started when Karen’s dog went to the bathroom near the property line. She says Jacob overreacted and made racial comments at her family.
“Only after he went off on us about everything racial that’s when we said to ourselves, you want to start a race war, you calling us racist, we will put up all kinds of stuff. So that if you want to believe then feel free to look at it that’s why we did it,” Karen said.
Karen doesn’t get why Jacob thinks it’s a threat to her neighbor. Both sides call the other side racist and only coexist a few feet from each other.
“Yeah, whatever Karen, stop lying Karen. You Karen’s have been lying all over America and getting caught,” Jacob muttered.
It has the potential to get worse. Jacob is concerned with the target practice poster in the window and claims lasers have been pointed at him.
“I pointed it at their camera. You a damn liar!” Karen yelled back.
Jacob says he will defend himself.
“You trying to provoke us to kill you? I want the city to know that we are dealing with white supremacist who trying to provoke us in this age of provocation,” Jacob said.
“No I’m not, Here’s what I’m getting at, none of this was ever up. We were friends with everyone around here except for him,” Karen said.
Karen says she’s not taking down her signage. The city is not aware of any ordinance that would force the removal of signs like the ones hanging in Karen’s yard.
“Our neighborhood is 99 percent black. These white supremacists moved next door at first they were covert with the racism then it began to be overt,” Jacob said.
“I’m getting tired of Black Lives Matter getting shoved down my throat. Black Lives Matters signs. No, All lives matter…even his pathetic life,” Karen said.
Jacob and Karen now have cameras all over their homes as a matter of protection from each other.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/womans-white-lives-matter-sign-in-predominantly-black-st-louis-community-infuriates-neighbor/article_a9a15ab0-fee6-11ea-b77d-87cb7734d326.html
Photo Credit: kmov.com
California sheriff’s deputy pleads guilty to having sex with teen boy – sentenced to 6 months
A California woman was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old boy while working as a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy.
Shauna Bishop, 44, will serve six months in custody and five years of formal probation. She is also required to register as a sex offender, KCRA reported.
Bishop turned herself in back in June 2019 after the boy’s parent filed a report with police in their hometown of Folsom, California.
Investigators began looking into Bishop’s relationship with the boy in May and police later issued a warrant for her arrest. She had been on paid leave during the investigation and resigned in August 2019 after her arrest, the local CBS affiliate reported.
A five-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, Bishop did not meet the teen through work or have sex with him on duty. Authorities said the crime was not involved in any way with her law enforcement duties.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/24/california-sheriffs-deputy-pleads-guilty-to-having-sex-with-teen-boy/
Photo Credit: Folsom Police Department
Lawmaker resigns after kissing girlfriend’s breast in virtual session of congress
A married Argentinian MP has resigned after cavorting with his girlfriend during a virtual session of congress — pulling down her top to kiss her newly enhanced breast.
Juan Emilio Ameri, 47, shocked fellow lawmakers by sitting through parts of the on-camera session being played on a giant screen in parliament with a woman on his lap, snuggling her as he pulled her close.
In bawdy scenes that quickly went viral, he then stared at her breasts — and pulled down the right side of her vest to expose, and kiss, one.
House president Sergio Massa interrupted the session to report “a serious offense,” and the disgraced lawmaker from the northeastern province of Salta was immediately suspended for 180 days.
Ameri later told Todo Noticias (TN) in a tearful interview that he had resigned.
“It was serious, really. I take responsibility. I’m very ashamed,” he told TN.
The politician claimed he thought he was off-camera because his internet had gone down — and admitted he could not keep his hands off his girlfriend because she had recently had a boob job.
“I saw that my partner came out of the bathroom and I asked how she was, due to the operation,” he told TN. “At that moment she sat with me and I kissed her on the breast without realizing that the connection had returned.”
“It was a moment of intimacy with my partner that leaked. It was serious, really, I take charge and I am very ashamed. I am very distressed by what is happening,” he told TN, breaking into tears.
Local reports said he was estranged from his wife, and others identified the girlfriend in the video as Celeste Burgos, one of his advisers.
“I apologize to the citizens, to my family, to my partner, for all this situation,” the disgraced politician told TN.
“I want to apologize to my mother, my sisters, my daughters, with whom I have not yet spoken,” he said.
With Post wires
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/25/lawmaker-resigns-after-kissing-girlfriends-breast-in-virtual-session/
Photo Credit: Juan Emilio Ameri and Celeste Burgos/nypost
Police in Vietnam seize 345,000 used condoms that were cleaned and sold as new
Police in Vietnam have confiscated an estimated 345,000 used condoms which had been cleaned and resold as new, state media reported.
Footage broadcast by state-owned Vietnam Television (VTV) this week showed dozens of large bags containing the used contraceptives scattered across the floor of a warehouse in the southern province of Binh Duong.
Police said the bags weighed more than 360 kilograms (794 lbs), equivalent to 345,000 condoms, according to VTV.
The owner of the warehouse said they had received a “monthly input of used condoms from an unknown person,” state newspaper Tuoi Tre reported.
A woman detained during the bust told police that the used prophylactics were first boiled in water then dried and reshaped on a wooden phallus before being repackaged and resold.
VTV said it was not clear how many of the recycled condoms had already been sold. The detained woman said she had received $0.17 for every kilogramme of recycled condoms she produced.
Neither she nor the owner of the warehouse were available for comment.
via: https://abc7.com/used-condoms-vietnam-police-contraceptives/6545264/
Photo Credit: cnn.com
Black man shot dead by police after witnesses say he was stopped for jaywalking
A black man has been shot dead by homeless outreach police in San Clemente, California, after reportedly being stopped for jaywalking.
On Wednesday two Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) deputies, who were part of the city’s homeless outreach team, approached a man who is thought to have been homeless, according to The Orange County Register.
“Shortly after they contacted him, a physical altercation broke out,” said OCSD Seargent Dennis Breckner. “Shortly after that two gunshots were fired.”
The officers performed CPR on the man, who has not been identified, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told KNBC that deputies approached the man after they saw him jaywalking in a street. Sgt Breckner said the man who was shot is black, and that his race was not part of the investigation into the shooting.
Sgt Breckner said that CCTV footage from a nearby business at the time of the incident showed the man reaching for a deputy’s weapon during the altercation.
Chloe Miller, 23, told The County Register that she witnessed the two officers and the man in the middle of the road before moving back to the pavement where they then tackled him to the floor.
“I heard two shots, and it was after he was on the ground,” Ms Miller said.
Mobile footage taken of the incident reported by KNBC showed the man shouting “stop touching me,” as he attempts to walk past two deputies and the officer’s gesturing for the man to sit down.
The man refuses to sit down and deputies are later seen knocking the man to the ground and scream before two shots are fired in succession.
According to CBSLA witnesses said that a deputy screamed that the man had hold of the weapon just before shots were fired. Authorities did not immediately specify if the man was armed.
Residents said that the man is known to the area. Melinda Steinmetz, a local resident, told The County Register: “He went to the flower store and asked for money because he was hungry.”
“Then he went to get something to eat and the next thing we knew, he was dead in the street.”
Sgt Breckner said that an investigation will determine if the gunshots came from just one deputy or if both were involved.
“Right now it appears only one fired,” he said.
The Orange County District Attorney’s office will investigate the incident and the Sheriff’s Department will also conduct an administrative investigation.
The sergeant said that the department would be as transparent as possible in light of ongoing tensions over police brutality in the US.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xandr/black-man-shot-dead-police-182151153.html
Photo Credit: CBSN
41 razor blades found on playground equipment at a Michigan park
(CNN) — Razor blades — 41 of them — were found at a playground in Eaton Rapids, prompting officials to canvass parks in the Michigan city out of caution.
“Some of the blades appeared to have been placed intentionally to cause harm,” city police said in a news release.
A group of people found 39 blades around playground equipment at Howe Park on Monday. Police and city staff found two more when they searched the park.
The city put out an all-call for large, construction grade magnets to help find and collect any other razor blades that may have been left at other parks in the community.
City workers found more in the grass at GAR Memorial Island.
“Although we have done everything in our ability to ensure the safety of the park spaces, please remember to always remain aware, alert and diligent about your surrounding,” the city said in a statement.
Witnesses reported seeing four teenagers on the Howe playground equipment before the razor blades were discovered.
The city is offering a $2,500 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
All parks are now open again.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/41-razor-blades-found-on-playground-equipment-at-a-michigan-park/article_2ecd925e-3eed-5105-93b3-fd1a690be7e9.html
Photo Credit: foxcarolina.com
Trump won’t commit to peaceful transfer of power if he loses
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election.
“We’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said at a news conference, responding to a question about whether he’d commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”
It is highly unusual that a sitting president would express less than complete confidence in the American democracy’s electoral process. But he also declined four years ago to commit to honoring the election results if his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, won.
His current Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, was asked about Trump’s comment after landing in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday night.
“What country are we in?” Biden asked incredulously, adding: “I’m being facetious. Look, he says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say about it. But it doesn’t surprise me.”
Trump has been pressing a monthslong campaign against mail-in voting this November by tweeting and speaking out critically about the practice. More states are encouraging mail-in voting to keep voters safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The president, who uses mail-in voting himself, has tried to distinguish between states that automatically send mail ballots to all registered voters and those, like Florida, that send them only to voters who request a mail ballot.
Trump has baselessly claimed widespread mail voting will lead to massive fraud. The five states that routinely send mail ballots to all voters have seen no significant fraud.
Trump on Wednesday appeared to suggest that if states got “rid of” the unsolicited mailing of ballots there would be no concern about fraud or peaceful transfers of power.
“You’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer frankly,” Trump said. “There’ll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control, you know it, and you know, who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats know it better than anybody else.”
In a July interview, Trump similarly refused to commit to accepting the results.
“I have to see. Look … I have to see,” Trump told Chris Wallace during a wide-ranging July interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.”
The Biden campaign responded Wednesday: “The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also protested Trump’s remarks. “The peaceful transfer of power is essential to a functioning democracy,” National Legal Director David Cole said. “This statement from the president of the United States should trouble every American.”
Trump made similar comments ahead of the 2016 election. When asked during an October debate whether he would abide by the voters’ will, Trump responded that he would “keep you in suspense.”
It’s unlikely that any chaos in states with universal mail-in voting will cause the election result to be inaccurately tabulated, as Trump has suggested.
The five states that already have such balloting have had time to ramp up their systems, while four states newly adopting it — California, New Jersey, Nevada and Vermont — have not. Washington, D.C., is also newly adopting it.
Of those nine states, only Nevada is a battleground, worth six electoral votes and likely to be pivotal only in a national presidential deadlock.
California, New Jersey, Vermont and D.C. are overwhelmingly Democratic and likely to be won by Biden.
Madhani reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe contributed to this report from Wilmington, Del.
Photo Credit: Drew Angerer/kmov.com
Massachusetts man dies from eating excessive amount of black licorice
A Massachusetts man died last year from eating an excessive amount of black licorice, doctors said Wednesday.
The unusual case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing how the man consumed a bag and a half of the candy every day for two weeks prior to his death.
Licorice contains glycyrrhizic acid, which could deplete potassium levels and contribute to heart rhythm problems, doctors explained.
“Even a small amount of licorice you eat can increase your blood pressure a little bit,” said Dr. Neel Butala, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who described the case in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The man had collapsed inside a fast food restaurant and died the next day. Doctors discovered he had dangerously low potassium, which led to heart rhythm and other problems.
The Food and Drug Administration warns that eating only 2 ounces of black licorice a day for two weeks could lead to an irregular heartbeat.
Jeff Beckman, a spokesman for the Hershey Company, which makes the popular Twizzlers licorice twists, told the Associated Press that “all of our products are safe to eat and formulated in full compliance with FDA regulations.”
Beckman added that all candy “should be enjoyed in moderation.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/24/massachusetts-man-dead-after-consuming-too-much-black-licorice/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Breonna Taylor protesters threaten to ‘knock out’ diners at Florida restaurant
Protesters inflamed by the decision not to charge cops for Breonna Taylor’s death took their anger out on a couple dining in Florida — gatecrashing their table and threatening to knock the man the “f–k out.”
A man clutching a skateboard was filmed by a Tampa Bay Times reporter as he strolled up and sat with the couple at their outdoor table as dozens chanted at the edge of the St. Petersburg restaurant.
“No! This is my table,” the female diner told him, trying to push him from the chair — but just for three other protesters to stroll over and join them.
The male diner hugged his wife as she said she was calling the police — just for the initial dinner-crasher and another woman to hurl abuse.
“I ought to knock your old ass boyfriend the f**k out,” the man threatened, as he derided the woman as a “wild Karen in her natural f–ing habitat.”
The threatened man was filmed smiling in bemusement, as more protesters appeared to gather around the table — including one continually blowing a horn. The video quickly went viral, getting more than 1.8 million views on Twitter in less than 12 hours.
Reporter Josh Fiallo, who filmed the clip, said some diners had “yelled back” at protesters “starting multiple confrontations,” but he was not sure why the couple filmed were targeted.
The unidentified initial gatecrasher appeared to be the same man Fiallo filmed walking across a car that was surrounded and attacked with skateboards and signs. “F–k you, c–t!” one shouted as the car drove off.
The tactic of browbeating outdoor diners has also been used in other cities across the country, caught in viral videos in Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, where three were recently charged.
In many, diners are screamed at if they refuse to raise a fist in support of BLM, with mobs screaming that “white silence is violence.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/24/breonna-taylor-protesters-threaten-to-knock-out-restaurant-patrons/
Photo Credit: nypost.com