Entire California Town Destroyed; Tens of Thousands Flee in Los Angeles, Ventura Counties
At a Glance
- Evacuations were ordered for Paradise, Pulga and Concow in Northern California due to the Camp Fire.
- Authorities confirmed several injuries and hundreds of structures destroyed in Butte County.
- In Southern California, several fires burned in Ventura and LA counties, prompting thousands of evacuations.
Fast-moving wildfires prompted tens of thousands of evacuations in both Northern and Southern California, including the entire beachside city of Malibu, sending residents fleeing for their lives on short notice.
The largest inferno, sparked Thursday morning in Northern California, prompted numerous evacuations, including several entire towns.
By late Thursday, it became apparent that Paradise, a town of 27,000 people north of Sacremento, had been devastated by the fire.
“Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed, it’s that kind of devastation,” said Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean late Thursday. “The wind that was predicted came and just wiped it out.”
At a Thursday evening news conference, Butte County Cal Fire Chief Darren Read said several hundred buildings, possibly as many as 1,000 or more, were destroyed in Paradise, though they won’t have a more exact number until they survey the damage. Another 15,000 remained threatened in the area, according to CalFire.
“The whole town’s on fire,” Paradise councilman Scott Lotter, who evacuated with his family, told the Sacramento Bee earlier Thursday. “It’s pretty grim.”
By Friday morning, the fire was encroaching on the nearby city of Chico, prompting new evacuations.
Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said flames from the blaze had reached the eastern side of Chico, a city of more than 90,000 residents.
The small communities of Stirling City and Inskip, north of Paradise, were also evacuatedm Friday.
It’s unclear how many casualties there have been as a result of the fire, but CalFire confirmed that three firefighters have been injured.
Officials confirmed to the AP that some Paradise residents who attempted to escape the fire in their vehicles Thursday were forced to flee on foot – some holding pets and even babies in their grasp – as the flames drew closer. With few options out of Paradise, roads quickly became gridlocked, and abandoned cars left in the middle of the road only made problems worse.
“It is pure chaos up here,” CHP public information officer Ryan Lambert told the Los Angeles Times.
Fueled by dry, windy conditions, the Camp Fire quickly spread to more than 31 square miles within about 12 hours and forced the closure of several roads, according to Cal Fire. The fire is 0 percent contained and it’s not yet known what sparked it.
“Right now, Mother Nature is in charge,” Cal Fire spokesman Bryce Bennett told the Sacramento Bee.
Other towns being evacuated include Centerville and Butte Creek, northwest of Paradise. Evacuations were also ordered in the nearby hamlets of Pulga and Concow.
“It’s bad,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told the Chico Enterprise-Record. “We’re trying to get as many people out as quickly as possible and save as many lives as we can.”
In Concow, some residents, like Colton Percifield, were forced to drive through the flames and thick smoke just to survive.
“The hardest part was there was no visibility … it was pitch black,” he told The Weather Channel in a phone interview Thursday night. He also said many of the homes in his neighborhood were destroyed by the fire, but he was able to safely escape.
Read more via Weather.com
LaMelo Ball REACTS As Derrick Rose CUSSES OUT Lonzo Ball!
Video via The Fumble
Michelle Obama says she will ‘never forgive’ Trump for putting her ‘family’s safety at risk’
- In her coming book, “Becoming,” the former first lady Michelle Obama said she would “never forgive” Donald Trump for promoting the false birther conspiracy, according to excerpts published ahead of the book’s release.
- During the 2012 US presidential election, Trump advocated the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not a US citizen and touted the demonstrably false claim that Obama’s birth certificate was not real.
- Michelle Obama reportedly called the conspiracy “crazy and mean-spirited” and said it endangered her family.
- “What if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington?” she wrote, according to The Washington Post. “What if that person went looking for our girls? Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk.”
Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” lays out some of the former first lady’s most damning statements on record against President Donald Trump, according to excerpts published ahead of the book’s release next week.
In the book, Obama reportedly chastised Trump for promoting what she called the “dangerous” birther conspiracy that she said jeopardized her family’s safety.
“The whole [birther] thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, its underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly concealed,” Obama wrote, according to a Washington Post review. “But it was also dangerous, deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks.”
For years, even prior to the 2012 US presidential election, Trump advocated the racist conspiracy theory that questioned the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and his citizenship.
Read more via BusinessInsider
The Satanic Temple sues Netflix for $150 million for using a statue of a demon god in ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’
- The Satanic Temple is suing Netflix and Warner Brothers for $150 million, saying the companies infringed on its copyrights, violated its trademark, and caused injury to its business reputation in its show “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.”
- The Satanic Temple says in the lawsuit that it has a copyright on the depiction of Baphomet used in the show.
We usually do not pay much attention to The Church of Satan, but every few months they come about to remind us that they are very much active.
Netflix and Warner Bros. are feeling the wrath of satanists.
The Satanic Temple is suing Netflix and Warner Brothers for $150 million, saying the companies infringed on its copyrights, violated its trademark, and caused injury to its business reputation, according to court documents filed on Thursday in a New York district court.
At the center of the controversy is Baphomet, described in the court documents as “an androgynous goat-headed deity.” A statue of the satanic god surrounded by children is featured in the Netflix series “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.”
However, the lawsuit claims the show’s statue is similar to its real-life Baphomet monument, which was made famous by an Indiegogo campaign in 2014. Although it was intended to be installed next to the Ten Commandments at the Oklahoma State Capitol, it now resides in Detroit after multiple protests. The Baphomet statue has since become “a central icon that has come to represent us [satanists] as a people,” explained The Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves.
“To have that all at once entirely eclipsed by some Netflix show by a production department who did a Google Image Search… A lot of people who haven’t heard of us first stand to just recognize that monument as the ‘Sabrina’ monument, which dilutes and denigrates the entire project,” he said.
Because the statue is featured prominently in the show, The Satanic Temple claims its members are being associated with the “evil antagonists” depicted in the series. The characters of the show, who worship the “Dark Lord” or Satan, engage in cannibalism, necromancy, murder and torture, among other nefarious activities.
The Satanic Temple, on the other hand, “does not promote evil and instead holds to the basic principle that undue suffering is bad, and that which reduces suffering is good,” the organization claims. It hails Satan as a “rebel against God’s authority, rather than an evil being.”
The religious group reached out to Netflix and Warner Bros. to remove the depiction when it became aware of the statue in the series, but its request went unanswered.
“It does really kind of normalize this notion that the only true meaning of this type of religious identification is one that can be associated with a patriarchal, cannibalistic cult,” Greaves said. “We’re so inundated with this anti-Satan fiction that a lot of people think its superfluous to pursue to a claim like this at all.”
Netflix and Warner Bros. declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Article via CNBC
Check out Lovelyti’s video:
Ratchet FL~Middle School girls plot to k!ll classmates,drink their blood and sacrifice them to Satan
Twitter & The church of satanism GO OFF on Azealia Banks after she admits to Sacrificing chickens? ?
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
