Michigan official calls cops over homeowner’s election-themed toilet display
A Michigan election official thinks a homeowner’s mail-in ballot joke is crap.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum saw no humor in the display on a lawn in the town of Mason, Michigan, featuring a toilet with a sign next to it that said, “Place mail in ballots here!”
The homeowner, who was not identified by the Lansing State Journal, also has a sign nearby reading, “Recall Whitmer Now.com,” a reference to an effort to oust the Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, along with another sign supporting John James, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate.
But Byrum didn’t interpret the toilet display as political commentary. Noting many people are voting absentee for the first time this year because of the pandemic, she filed a police report about it.
Michigan law says illegally taking possession of an absentee ballot is a felony which could result in a $1,000 fine and up to 5 years behind bars. More than 2 million Michigan voters could cast absentee ballots this year after changes in election law.
“It’s solicitation of absentee ballots into a container,” Byrum said in a statement. “Our election integrity is not a game. I expect everyone to act appropriately, and this is unacceptable.”
Over 400 military, overseas ballots printed with wrong Trump running mate
The Democrat said she found it “more than a little ironic” that public records showed the person registered at the address voted absentee for the past three years.
She told the paper ballots have already gone out to local clerks, so it’s possible someone who is unfamiliar with the process could end up flushing their vote by depositing it in the toilet.
“This kind of behavior needs to be quashed immediately,” she said. “They are making a mockery of our elections. I’m not going to stand idly by and watch it happen.”
While President Trump’s campaign website encourages voters to request absentee ballots, he has spent months criticizing mail-in voting, which he believes is more prone to fraud.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/19/michigan-official-calls-cops-over-election-themed-toilet-display/
Photo Credit: Lansing State Journal via AP
Man sentenced after police find loaded gun in his buttocks during strip search
A Louisiana man chose the cheekiest of places when he needed to find a quick hiding spot for his gun.
Justin Savoie, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to weapons charges after police in the town of Golden Meadow — who were arresting him late last year on a separate matter — discovered he had stashed a loaded .25 caliber Titan pistol in his buttocks, The Smoking Gun reports.
Police had taken Savoie into custody on Dec. 28, 2019, after they responded to “suspicious activity” in a home he was occupying with a female acquaintance, the report said.
Cops said they discovered Savoie possessed a handgun, marijuana and drug paraphernalia during an initial search.
Multiple other firearms were discovered in his truck at the scene, the report said.
But as Savoie was being strip searched after his arrest, police reportedly found the additional surprise weapon “concealed in his rear end.”
The pistol is more than four inches long with a 2.5-inch barrel.
Savoie was sentenced to a five-year suspended prison sentence during a District Court appearance. He received three years probation and an order to serve 90 days in the Lafourche Parish jail, the outlet reported.
As part of the terms of his probation, he’s barred from owning or possessing firearms, visiting bars or lounges or indulging in excessive use of alcohol or illegal drugs.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/19/man-sentenced-after-loaded-gun-found-in-buttocks-during-strip-search/
Photo Credit: Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office
Notorious RBG Ruth Bader Ginsburg. CBS SUNDAY MORNING original air date Oct 9th 2016
Original aired October 9th 2016
Ruth Bader Ginsberg Discussion CNN Special
This was an amazing woman whether you know it or not she open the doors for not only women but for women of color . Many of the decisions made we all take for granted. RIP RBG!
Suspect in killing of protesters listed in ‘hero’ assignment at Texas high school
DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas school district is investigating a high school English teacher who asked students to write about a modern-day hero and listed the 17-year-old accused of killing two people during Wisconsin protests as one possible option.
Kyle Rittenhouse has been accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding another in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
The writing assignment also listed Joseph Rosenbaum, one of the protesters Rittenhouse is accused of killing; along with Mahatma Gandhi, César Chávez, Malcolm X and George Floyd. The teacher misspelled Gandhi and Malcolm X.
The Dallas Independent School District did not release the name of the W. T. White High School teacher who assigned the report.
The teacher whose name was listed on the assignment did not immediately return KTVT-TV’s request for comment.
In a statement, the district said: “An unapproved assignment posted in Google Classroom yesterday has been brought to our attention. Understandably, this caused some concern for the impacted students, and we apologize. Campus administration immediately removed the unapproved content and students are not required to complete that assignment. Due to personnel policies, we are not able to comment further, however, the appropriate steps are being followed pending investigation.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/suspect-in-killing-of-protesters-listed-in-hero-assignment-at-texas-high-school/article_7bd87c24-924e-52d4-bbc4-3fb7015a7cf0.html
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Milwaukee firefighter who hung brown figurine inside station suspended
A white Milwaukee firefighter who hung a small brown figurine by the neck inside a fire station has been suspended without pay for 20 days.
The firefighter who hung the doll showed a “gross lack of judgment,” Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing told city council members Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
But an investigation into the February incident, which wasn’t made public until late June, found the firefighter didn’t have a “deliberate or intentional racist or sexist intent” when he brought the figurine into the firehouse after finding it in the street, Rohlfing said. The department’s investigation found it was an anti-abortion prop handed out at rallies.
The firefighter hung the prop in the kitchen of a downtown fire station using a pink ribbon after returning from a medical call, the chief said.
“He said that he tied the ribbons … together and hung it, hoping somebody would say, ‘Oh, I know what that is,’” Rohlfing said Tuesday.
The doll then either hung from a hook on a whiteboard in the kitchen or on a table for up to four days before the station’s lone black female firefighter alerted administrators. She was later transferred to another station at her request, the newspaper reports.
About a dozen firefighters were also disciplined, including several battalion leaders, for allowing the figurine to be displayed that long, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.
Rohlfing said he decided against firing the firefighter due to his past work history, his behavior with other colleagues and 10 years of military service, the outlet reports.
Some city council members, meanwhile, said they felt the punishment wasn’t severe enough.
Alderwoman Milele Coggs said she found it “unbelievable” that the white firefighter was unaware that his actions could have offended his colleagues, citing the “deep-rooted” history of blacks being lynched in the US, the Journal Sentinel reports.
“It is not a secret what hanging African Americans from ropes, nooses or anything of that nature, and the impacts that the visualization of anything that looks similar to that could have on particularly people of African descent but people in general,” Coggs said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/17/firefighter-who-hung-brown-figurine-from-ribbon-gets-suspended/
Photo Credit: Milwaukee Fire Department
Maine cops hunt woman leaving dog poop in Trump supporters’ mailboxes
Police in Maine are hunting a middle-aged woman who has been dumping dog poop in Trump supporters’ mailboxes, according to a report Thursday.
“She has been picking up dog feces and putting it in mailboxes, specifically of people who have Trump signs outside,” Alyshia Canwell, a patrol officer with Hampden Public Safety, told WGME.
The doggy-doo deliverer was spotted both Sunday and Monday, and was snapped riding a purple bike around Hampden while wearing a matching-colored T-shirt, glasses and Crocs, according to a police photo.
“She has been also defacing Trump signs, writing comments on the signs,” Canwell told the local station, without elaborating.
The mystery cyclist potentially faces charges for defacing political advertising and vandalism, the report said.
“Do not approach this lady she is armed … and she is dangerous,” she joked, using an emoji for poop.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/17/maine-cops-hunt-woman-leaving-dog-poop-in-trump-fans-mailboxes/
Photo Credit: Hampden Public Safety
‘I’m f—ing hungry!’: Maskless woman threatens to stab KFC worker who refused service
An irate customer at a California KFC restaurant hopped up onto the counter and threatened to stab a worker after she was refused service for not wearing a face mask, wild video shows.
The frenzied woman had just been refused her mashed potatoes and gravy at the chain in Fresno when she flew into a profanity-laced fit of rage.
“I’m f–king hungry!” she screams in the clip shared on TikTok. “Give me something to eat! Now!”
An employee at the fast-food joint responded that it’s against store policy to serve customers who aren’t wearing face coverings, telling her, “I can’t … I’ll get fired.”
But his explanation did little to stop her Kentucky-fried freakout.
“You don’t even work here!” she yells inexplicably at the worker — who is wearing a KFC uniform and standing by the register.
At one point, she also told a worker “she wanted some mashed potatoes and gravy or he was going to get stabbed,” a witness, Leah Chastain, wrote on TikTok.
The woman tromped across the counter, kicked a promotional sign and called the eatery “disgusting” before finally giving up and leaving.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the angry customer was charged with a crime.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/09/18/woman-threatens-to-stab-kfc-worker-after-refusing-to-wear-mask/
Photo Credit: @leahmaechastain
Former police officer receives kidney donation from woman he arrested: ‘She’s like another daughter’
A former police officer who received a kidney from a woman he arrested for felony crimes says he’s gained a new daughter.
For years, Jocelyn James of Phil Campbell, Ala., fought an opioid addiction and was arrested 16 times for credit card fraud, theft and drug-related crimes. “It was a hot mess — I was in a very dark place in my life,” James, 40, tells Yahoo Life. “I was doing a lot of bad things like stealing and robbing… I didn’t know what to do to get back on the right track.”
“She had a bad reputation for doing drugs and stealing,” former Police Sgt. Terrell Potter of the Phil Campbell Police Department tells Yahoo Life. During his 44-year career, Potter, 68, whose late daughter was friends with James, had arrested her several times.
James’s turning point came in 2012 when she was watching television and saw her photo flash across the screen. “It was for Franklin County’s Most Wanted [list],” she says adding that members of the public who knew of James’s whereabouts were asked to call the police.
“At that point, I was just tired,” she recalls. So James called the Phil Campbell Police Department and asked, “What do I have to do to make this right?” She was advised to turn herself in.
James’s two children, then ages 6 and 9, moved in with their father and she was sentenced to jail for six months, then went to a rehabilitation facility in Birmingham for eight months. Afterward, James dedicated her life to helping other women overcome substance abuse, working multiple jobs to pay for their rehabilitation and running a ministry out of the Franklin County Jail. In 2018, James, who is married now, started her non-profit organization The Place of Grace, where women learn Bible principles and life skills as part of their recovery.
Meanwhile, in 2014 Potter was diagnosed with prostate cancer and four years later, retired from the police force. Although his cancer is in remission, his kidneys began failing. “My kidney function was rapidly dropping,” he shares. “They said I was going to be on dialysis for the rest of my life or I’d [need] a kidney transplant.” He learned that finding a donor would likely take seven or eight years, so in November, his daughter April asked on social media if anyone knew of a potential donor.
“He is to the point now of dialysis with his kidneys now functioning at 10% and will have to start immediately if we cannot find a donor,” she wrote.
Two miles away from Potter’s home, James found the Facebook post and reached out to April. “The Holy Spirit spoke to me that night and told me I had that man’s kidney,” she says.
Potter’s daughter surprised him with James’s offer. “If you asked me if I could give you a list of a hundred names that would give me a kidney, her name would not have been on the list,” he says. “It’s not that I had anything against her… but you don’t generally think about somebody like that being willing to give you a kidney.”
Tests revealed that James and Potter were a compatible match for the kidney donation. “They thought he was my dad,” says James. “We were that perfect.”
After the July 21 surgery, Potter felt a big improvement in his health. And both feel grateful toward the other. “I’m really honored that someone would do that,” says Potter. “This is not like giving someone a pint of blood — she’s like another daughter.”
“God saved my life to help other people,” James says. “That’s what we are supposed to do as humans.”
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifestyle/former-police-officer-receives-kidney-donation-from-woman-he-arrested-213914007.html
Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com
Canadian police charge Tesla driver who was allegedly doing 90 miles per hour while asleep
Canadian police have charged a 20-year-old man with dangerous driving after he was arrested for allegedly being asleep at the wheel of a 2019 Tesla Model S while it was operating in its semi-autonomous “Autopilot” mode.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it received a complaint of a car speeding near Ponoka, Alberta at around 4 pm on July 9.
The vehicle was traveling at more than 140 km (86.9 miles) per hour, with both front seats “completely reclined and both occupants appearing to be asleep,” the RCMP said.
When a police officer approached the vehicle with emergency lights the Tesla “automatically began to accelerate” to 150 km (93.2 m) per hour, the RCMP said.
After pulling him over, the officer charged the driver, who is from British Columbia, with speeding and suspended his license for 24 hours. After further investigation, police charged him with dangerous driving and he is summoned to appear in court in December.
“Although manufacturers of new vehicles have built in safeguards to prevent drivers from taking advantage of the new safety systems in vehicles, those systems are just that — supplemental safety systems,” Superintendent Gary Graham of Alberta RCMP Traffic Services said. “They are not self-driving systems, they still come with the responsibility of driving.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.
The company has been adamant that drivers maintain control of the vehicle while the Autopilot system is in use, with a warning before it is first used saying drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel and be prepared to take over at any time.
While Autopilot can keep the vehicle in a highway lane and maintain distance from traffic, it is not a fully autonomous system and still requires driver oversight.
But it is not the first time the car manufacturer and Autopilot have been embroiled in a traffic incident — though the company has defended the technology.
Last year, a 50-year-old man died in a car crash after switching from manual mode to Autopilot, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
And in 2018, Apple employee Walter Huang died when his car veered off a highway to the left, accelerated and crashed before bursting into flames. The Autopilot feature had been engaged for nearly 19 minutes, the NTSB found. His family announced last year they were suing Tesla, claiming the feature caused his death.
At the time, Tesla said that the only way the vehicle could have crashed is if Huang had not “paid attention” to the road, “despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so.”
Another man, Joshua Brown, died in May 2016 when his Tesla crashed into a tractor-trailer in Florida while the software was active.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xandr/canadian-police-charge-tesla-driver-165302388.html
Photo Credit: RCMP Alberta / RCMP Alberta