Yearly Wrap Up!

Chaos ahead.

I said I would end my time. I've changed my mind. I want to see Donald J. Trump fail once again.

To the people reading from the posts of me, LeReyna, George Cook Reports and all the contributors to the blog, thank you.

2025. 

Another year to discuss and so much unpredictable events between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025.

I rather keep fighting than giving up. 

Covering 365 days of chaos.

Keeping it short.

Donald J. Trump was the 45th and will be the 47th President of the United States.

His win shocked the world. As much as I hated the election results, I came to the conclusion that America was comfortable under the chaos of Trump.

Are you rooting for President Donald J. Trump to succeed in this term?

Yes

No

Created with Poll Maker

So in 2025, we continue on.

Jimmy Carter, Joe Madison, James Earl Jones, Rich Homie Quan, Quincy Jones, Tony Todd, Lily Ledbetter, John Amos, Frankie Beverly, Tito Jackson, Phil Donahue, Louis Gossett, Jr., Shannen Doherty, OJ Simpson, Marian Robinson, Willie Mays, Martin Mull, Jellybean Bryant, Bob Newhart, Amalija Knavs, Dexter King, Toby Keith, Carl Weathers, Charles Osgood, Hydeia Broadbent, Brother Marquis, Angela Bofill, Richard Simmons, Shelley Duvall, Lou Dobbs, Sheila Jackson Lee, Donald Payne, Jr., Benji Gregory, Ismail Haniyeh, Famous Wally Amos, Fatman Scoop, BeatKing, Pete Rose, Hassan Nasarallah, Kris Kristofferson, John Ashton, Ethel Kennedy, Cissy Houston, Liam Payne, Yahya Sinwar, Chuck Woolery, Brian Thompson, Greg Gumbel, Dikembe Mutombo, Linda Lavin, Aaron Brown, Ebrahim Raisi and so many others passed away in 2024.

The overall losers for 2024.

1. Joe Biden 
2. Kamala Harris 
3. Tim Walz 
4. Democrats 
5. Donald J. Trump 
6. Republicans 
7. Israel 
8. The Anti-Defamation League
9. Sherrod Brown 
10. Jon Tester 
11. Bob Casey 
12. Joe Manchin 
13. Kyrsten Sinema
14. Hakeem Jeffries
15. Cori Bush
16. Jamaal Bowman
17. Mark Robinson 
18. MSNBC
19. CNN
20. Comcast
21. Warner Bros Discovery
22. Paramount Global
23. Newsnation 
24. Rite Aid
25. Party City 
26. Big Lots
27. Joe Scarborough
28. Mika Brzezinski 
29. Springfield, Ohio
30. Aurora, Colorado 
31. Law and order
32. Drake
33. Sean "Puffy" Combs
34. TikTok 
35. Fox News
36. Fani Willis 
37. Jack Smith
38. Jaime Harrison 
39. Women's Rights 
40. The American Dream
41. Raymond "Benzino" Scott 
42. Nicki Minaj
43. Lil Wayne 
44. Eric Adams
45. Liz Cheney
46. Adam Kinzinger 
47. Mark Zuckerberg 
48. George Conway
49. King Charles III
50. Ice Spice
51. U.S. Supreme Court 
52. Merrick Garland 
53. Chuck Schumer
54. Mitch McConnell
55. Keir Starmer 
56. Rishi Sunak
57. Justin Trudeau
58. The Gateway Pundit
59. Rudy Giuliani
60. One America News Network 
61. Jeffrey Shaun King
62. Nikki Haley 
63. Dean Phillips 
64. Gypsy Rose Blanchard 
65. Ronna McDaniel
66. Family Dollar 
67. Dollar Tree
68. The Talk
69. Future
70. Metro Boomin
71. Rick Ross
72. Sean Kingston
73. John Easton
74. Nkechi Diallo (Rachel Dolezal)
75. Prince William 
76. Princess Catherine
77. The junk food media
78. Cable providers
79. Netflix
80. _______________

White privilege won. 

Trump's return signals the further decline of American democracy and influence.

The Anti-Defamation League, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Freedom Caucus, X and Fox are considered threats to democracy. In my opinion, these groups are offering more chaos and disruption than any organization ever named.

The Solar Eclipse that covered North America from Texas to Quebec was a memorable 2024 moment.

The ADL was once a group I supported. I denounce Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism and anti-semitism to the fullest. The far right and centrists exploited antisemitism to a point where its not serious anymore. 

The ADL under the leadership of Jonathan Greenblatt has become a joke. It's now a propaganda tool for Israel. From this point, it is crying wolf.

AIPAC and the ADL have tried to stifle free speech in the wake of Israel's relentless campaign on the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The most recent event in Oct. 2023 has only intensified the Israeli far right government to eliminate Gaza and the West Bank. Their are 35 states that have legislation that mandates that you can't protest against Israel which is a challenge of free speech. As the protests are getting larger and louder, many media personalities, lawmakers and Israel have come to a conclusion, let them speak but force them to condemn the actions of Hamas first. They were instrumental in getting TikTok banned.

Biden was betrayed by unions. Sean O'Brien of the Teamsters International Union and Harold Daggett on the Longshoreman Union are white nationalists.

I hope they fail and be ousted from their union leadership. I hope Trump fucks them over with laws that undermine unions and hurt working class Americans (i.e. white people). I want to see how it feels.

Biden lost Democrats. Young Democrats hated Biden for signing a law that forced a sale of TikTok from ByteDance. Black men hated Biden for ignoring the concerns about jobs, criminal justice reform and equal footing. Arab American voters hated Biden for standing with Israel despite the ethnostate relentless aggression in the Middle East and the stifling of Palestinian independence.

Are you glad 2024 is over?

Yes

No

Created with Poll Maker

Trump survived three assassination attempts. He exploited everything from his jury decision on E. Jean Carroll, his fraud trial, his indictments and his endless victimhood to win the White House. Trump is seriously in cognitive mental decline and his decisions will be even more dangerous if he invokes, provokes or instigates.

Had Biden stayed in the race, quit funding Israel and stop being nice, he would have a second term. Oh well.

Sit back and watch the chaos unfold.

I am not going to cover everything this time. You can visit the blog's previous posts.

Let's wrap this up.

I am an American.

I am Black.

I am a father.

I am a human.

I will make a New Year's resolution. I want to stay alive for 2026. 

The year 2025 will be more celebrity and political controversies. More famous figures will pass away. There will be more mass shootings, more police shootings of unarmed people of color and still nothing being done with gun violence. 

There will be more major natural disasters. 

Who knows what happens next?

Add your feedback here in the comments section.

Well wishes this New Year. 

Keep the faith.

The Midway Wrap Up will happen on May 31, 2025.

Linda Lavin Passed Away!

Linda Lavin, famed singer and actress passed away from lung cancer.

The veteran actress and singer Linda Lavin has passed away. She is best known for playing the workaholic waitress Alice and her most recent role on B Positive.

Lavin, a Tony Award-winning stage actor who became a working class icon as a paper-hat wearing waitress on the TV sitcom “Alice,” has died. She was 87.

Lavin died in Los Angeles on Sunday of complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her representative, Bill Veloric, told The Associated Press in an email.

A success on Broadway, Lavin tried her luck in Hollywood in the mid-1970s. She was chosen to star in a new CBS sitcom based on “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” the Martin Scorsese-directed film that won Ellen Burstyn an Oscar for playing the title waitress.

The title was shortened to “Alice” and Lavin became a role model for working moms as Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son working in a roadside diner outside Phoenix. The show, with Lavin singing the theme song “There’s a New Girl in Town,” ran from 1976 to 1985.

The show turned “Kiss my grits” into a catchphrase and co-starred Polly Holliday as waitress Flo and Vic Tayback as the gruff owner and head chef of Mel’s Diner.

The series bounced around the CBS schedule during its first two seasons but became a hit leading into “All in the Family” on Sunday nights in October 1977. It was among primetime’s top 10 series in four of the next five seasons. Variety magazine listed it among the all-time best workplace comedies.

Lavin soon went on to win a Tony for best actress in a play for Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound” in 1987, which also garnered her Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Helen Hayes awards.

Linda played a hardworking sassy waitress Alice Wyatt.

“She was a tremendous performer with a generous heart,” the union Actors Equity said on X. The group in 2023 honored her with the Richard Seff Award — given to veteran performers in supporting roles — for her work in Noah Diaz’s “You Will Get Sick.”

She was working as recently as this month promoting a new Netflix series in which she appears, “No Good Deed,” and filming a forthcoming Hulu series, “Mid-Century Modern,” according to Deadline, which first reported her death. She also appeared in 2024 as a guest star in “Elsbeth,” the spinoff of “The Good Wife.”

Lavin grew up in Portland, Maine, and moved to New York City after graduating from the College of William and Mary. She sang in nightclubs and in ensembles of shows.

Iconic producer and director Hal Prince gave Lavin her first big break while directing the Broadway musical “It’s a Bird ... It’s a Plane ... It’s Superman.” She went on to earn a Tony nomination in Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” in 1969 before winning 18 years later for another Simon play, “Broadway Bound.”

In the mid 1970s, Lavin moved to Los Angeles. She had a recurring role on “Barney Miller” and in 1976 was chosen to star in a new CBS sitcom based on Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar-winning waitress comedy-drama, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”

Back on Broadway, Lavin later starred in Paul Rudnick’s comedy “The New Century,” had a concert show called “Songs & Confessions of a One-Time Waitress” and earned a Tony nomination in Donald Margulies’ “Collected Stories.”

“A star in every medium, but pure theatrical genius. Blissfully funny, deeply emotional, and audiences adored her. She never disappointed: I worked with her, and just watching her rehearse and build a performance was an education and the greatest joy,” Rudnick wrote on X.

Linda Lavin along with an ensemble cast of Chuck Lorre's B Positive.

Michael Kuchwara of the AP gave Lavin a rave in “Collected Stories,” writing that she “gives one of those complete, nuanced performances, capturing the woman’s intellectual vigor, her wry sense of humor and her increasing physical frailty with astonishing fidelity. And Lavin’s sense of timing is superb, whether delivering a joke or acerbically dissecting the work of her protegee.”

Lavin basked in a burst of renewed attention in her 70s, earning a Tony nomination for Nicky Silver’s “The Lyons.” She also starred in “Other Desert Cities” and a revival of “Follies” before they transferred to Broadway.

The AP again raved about Lavin in “The Lyons,” calling her “an absolute wonder to behold as Rita Lyons, a nag of a mother with a collection of firm beliefs and eye rolls, a matriarch who is both suffocating and keeping everyone at arm’s length.”

She also appeared in the film “Wanderlust” with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, and released her first CD, “Possibilities.” She played Jennifer Lopez’s grandmother in “The Back-Up Plan.”

When asked for guidance from up-and-coming actors, Lavin stressed one thing. “I say that what happened for me was that work brings work. As long as it wasn’t morally reprehensible to me, I did it,” she told the AP in 2011.

She and Steve Bakunas, an artist, musician and her third husband, converted an old automotive garage into the 50-seat Red Barn Studio Theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina.

It opened in 2007 and their productions include “Doubt” by John Patrick Shanley, “Glengarry Glen Ross” by David Mamet, “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire and “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” by Charles Busch, in which Lavin also starred on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination.

She returned to TV in 2013 in “Sean Saves the World,” starring “Will & Grace’s” Sean Hayes, a show which lasted a season. Lavin also made appearances on “Mom” and “9JKL.”

🇵🇷 ¡Puerto Rico en la oscuridad en Nochevieja!

The Puerto Rican electric grid collapses.

Puerto Rico In The Dark On NYE! 

Maybe its time for Puerto Rico to declare self dependency from the United States. The U.S. Congress once again fails its citizens. 

Power grid failure.

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, President-elect Donald J. Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Cance, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, Gov-elect Jenniffer González-Colón and Congress were made aware. The Department of Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and Department of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will have to spend their final weeks hoping to get Puerto Rico back in order.

blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early on Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s, leaving more than 1.3 million clients in the dark. Officials said it could take up to two days to restore power.

The outage hit at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as electrical appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators turned them on.

“It had to be on the 31st of December!” exclaimed one man, who only gave his name as Manuel, as he stood outside a grocery store in the capital of San Juan, grumbling about the outage that coincided with his birthday. “There is no happiness.”

Nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were left in the dark, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution.

By Tuesday night, more than 336,000 clients, including 16 hospitals and Puerto Rico’s water and sewer company, had power back, according to Luma. However, the company’s webpage detailing who remained without power was down.

Biden promises Gov. Pedro Pierluisi the necessities for Puerto Rico.

“We understand the deep frustration this outage has caused, especially on a day like today,” Luma said in a statement. “We apologize for the disruption to your plans.”

Luma said the power outage was likely caused by a failure of an underground power line. It said it’s restoring power “in the quickest and safest way possible.” Hugo Sorrentini, a Luma spokesman, told The Associated Press that the incident was under investigation.

Discover Puerto Rico, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the island, warned travelers about the outage on its website and asked that cruise ship passengers contact tour operators directly to determine whether they had generators and were open for the day.

Five cruise ships were scheduled to dock in Puerto Rico on Tuesday. While most hotels were running on generators, short-term rentals lacking them reported cancellations. The main international airport in San Juan remained open.

The blackout fanned simmering anger against Luma and Genera PR, which oversees the generation of power in Puerto Rico, as a growing number of people call for their ouster.

González Colón, who is set to be sworn in on Jan. 2, has called for the creation of an “energy czar” to review potential Luma contractual breaches while another operator is found.

“We can’t keep relying on an energy system that fails our people,” she wrote on the social media platform X, adding that stabilizing Puerto Rico’s energy grid would be her top priority in office.

Meanwhile, Pierluisi said he was in touch with Luma and Genera PR, adding on X that “we are demanding answers and solutions.”

PBiden spoke with Pierluisi on Tuesday evening about the outage and offered federal assistance. Biden also spoke with U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm and directed her to offer any help needed to speed power restoration on the island.

The outage forced businesses, parks and several malls to close, and the government announced limited schedules for some of its agencies. Workers checked on hundreds of bedridden patients and distributed ice for diabetics to keep their insulin cold.

Other Puerto Ricans began to plan ahead.

“I’ll go to my balcony. That’s where I’ll sleep,” Raúl Pacheco said with a shrug, as the 63-year-old diabetic sat on a walker nursing an injured foot.

Julio Córdova, a municipal worker, said he got dressed by the light of his cellphone and planned to buy candles.

“This affects me because I had plans. It couldn’t have been yesterday or tomorrow?” he said, shaking his head as he raked leaves.

While island-wide blackouts are rare in Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory struggles with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was razed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm in September 2017.

The system, however, was already in decline after years of lack of maintenance and investment.

Only recently did crews start making permanent repairs to Puerto Rico’s power grid following Hurricane Maria. The island continues to depend on generators provided by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to help stabilize the grid.

In November, Puerto Rico’s government asked U.S. officials for permission to keep using more than a dozen portable generators for two additional years.

Some Puerto Ricans took the latest outage in stride.

“They’re part of my everyday life,” said Enid Núñez, 49, who said she ate breakfast before work thanks to a small gas stove she bought for such events.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority struggles to restructure more than $9 billion in debt, the largest of the island’s government agencies.

Power plants that rely on petroleum generate more than 60% of Puerto Rico’s energy, followed by natural gas and coal. Solar rooftops account for only about 7% of electricity consumption on an island with a poverty rate over 40%.

The U.S. territory is a self governing (commonwealth) island. It has been a territory since 1898 and in U.S. administration since. The citizens are frustrated with the mainland ignoring them. They backed three options:

• Statehood
• Independent nation
• Continued U.S. possession under self-governance

The territory has 3.5 million residents. Its largest city, San Jaun is the territorial capital. The main languages spoken is Spanish 85% and English 15%.

Those born on the island are U.S. citizens.

But they are not allowed to vote in presidential elections. 

The resident commissioner, Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR) will be the governor of Puerto Rico on Jan. 2. She will inherit a territory with issues.

Her buddy President-elect Donald J. Trump called for Puerto Rico to be sold off so he could seize Greenland. He also allowed a comedian call the territory an island of trash.

Republicans have long delayed statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia because the territories are majority minority.

Washington, DC, the nation's capital and itself a federal district has 745,000 residents and three electoral votes. But it has no governor. The mayor of the city of Washington is the de facto governor de jur. 

Pierliusi and Muriel Bowser have long complained about how Congress stifles Americans who voted for their the government to be maintained as a state.

Republicans also block U.S. territories like American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands from statehood, voting in presidential elections. and self declaration of independence.

OG Maco Passed Away!

OG Maco has passed away. His manager said he committed suicide.

It is confirmed.

Atlanta based rapper OG Maco has passed away on Dec. 26, 2024. The rapper committed suicide after years of mental illness and health issues stemming from a disease.

Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or 988, or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential. Contact social media outlets directly if you are concerned about a friend’s social media updates or dial 911 in an emergency. Learn more on the Lifeline’s website or the Crisis Text Line’s website.

You can get help if you, a loved one or friend is dealing with drug abuse.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

On Friday, December 27, Maco's manager Poppa Perc confirmed the tragic news in an Instagram Story. "We lost a legend last night," he wrote. According to TMZ, the Atlanta artist passed away in a hospital in Los Angeles while surrounded by family members. He had been recovering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center since December 12 after he suffered from a gunshot wound to the head. Paramedics responded to Maco's home after a neighbor called for help. A firearm was reportedly discovered near the rapper. He was only 32.

Mac Miller, OG Maco and Takeoff. 

Maco was best known for his 2014 debut single "U Guessed It", which spawned a remix featuring 2 Chainz that entered the Billboard Hot 100. He signed to Quality Control Music that same year, which became an imprint of Motown and Capitol Records the following year. He was chosen as part of XXL magazine's 2015 annual Freshman Class. He was also the founder of the hip hop collective OGG, through which he discovered then-unknown producer OG Parker. In 2016, he released an extended play titled For Scott… as a tribute to his biggest influence, American rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi.

Benedict Chiajulam Ihesiba Jr. was born on April 23, 1992, in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up with friends in a band named Dr. Doctor, in which he was a guitarist and singer.

Maco cited Black Sabbath, Kid Cudi, and Currensy as major influences.

Ihesiba was seriously injured in a traffic collision on July 28, 2016. He suffered multiple skull fractures, cracked vertebrae, a broken orbital, and heart palpitations, and nearly lost his right eye.

In 2019, he was diagnosed with the flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis, causing an improperly treated minor skin rash to leave much of his facial skin disfigured. Ihesiba struggled with depression from his battle with the condition, and on December 12, 2024, he was hospitalized after a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Y'all Might As Well Call Him.... We Know How Y'all Act!

Miss me with the bullshit. Biden commutes a federal intern from DEATH to LIFE and the far right is bitching. The very same folks who defended the Jan. 6 thugs who tried to overthrow democracy.

The Republicans and far right agitators are outraged over President Joe Biden pardoning his son Robert Hunter Biden and commuting federal interns from DEATH to LIFE.

Biden doesn't give two fucks anymore.

So the latest boogeyman for the far right to exploit is a Black intern who had his sentence from DEATH commuted to LIFE.

These motherfuckers can't understand that these federal interns will spend the rest of their lives in federal time out. They are not getting out of the federal time out, ever.

The endless hypocrisy and utter lack of empathy.

They have no problem with Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri commuting the sentences of corrupt police officers and white vigilantes. Oh, he is a Republican.

They have no problem with Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas pardoning and commuting the sentence of Daniel Perry, a racist who killed a Black Lives Matter activist. Oh, he's a Republican too.

They have no problem with Kyle Rittenhouse who killed two men and seriously injured one.

They have no problem with Daniel Penny who strangled a man on New York City subway.

President-elect Donald J. Trump promised that he will pardon and commute the sentences of these motherfucking Jan. 6 insurrectionists who tried to violently disrupt the Joint Session of Congress doing the electoral college count. The very same assholes screaming at Biden are running cover for a fucking felon and his minions of seditious thugs.

Sean "Softball" Hannity, the country's most annoying and fucking old ass agitator used crispy ass Leo Terrell as a source.

Monster Who Brutally Murdered Two Female Bankers Makes New Insane Demand After Biden Commutes His Death Sentence https://t.co/TwNDNAKpeE

— Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 (@seanhannity) December 30, 2024

Terrell, a former civil rights attorney who crossed over into MAGAland is often vilifying Black people who support the Democratic Party. Let a Black man or woman become a voice of Black people and the Democratic Party. Expect folks like Terrell and Candace Owens to nitpick every fucking thing he or she does.

Seen on camera shooting a teller after he got the bundle.

Brandon Council is the new Willie Horton.

He is currently interned in Terre Haute maximum security federal time out for murder and bank robbery.

Council killed two South Carolina bank employees while taking $15,000 during a robbery was sentenced to die by a federal jury. Council’s federal death sentence was among 37 commuted by Biden early Monday. He will now serve life in federal prison without the possibility of parole.

Council was sentenced to death by a jury for the deaths of Donna Major and Katie Skeen during a 2017 robbery at CresCom Bank.

The same jurors found Council guilty last month of armed bank robbery resulting in death, among other charges for killing the manager and a teller at CresCom Bank in Conway in August 2017.

The jury’s other option was life in prison without parole. They deliberated less than six hours over two days, news outlets reported.

Prosecutors pushed for the death penalty, saying Council deserved to die because he chose to murder everyone in the bank while seeking easy money, pulling a gun out instead of the robbery note he had in his pocket.

“He did not have to kill anyone,” prosecutor Nathan Williams said. “He killed everyone.”

Council’s lawyers detailed his troubled childhood, raised by his grandmother who died just as he became a teenager. They also emphasized Council’s remorse for his crime and how he cooperated with investigators after his arrest at a motel near his Wilson, North Carolina, home several days after the fatal robbery.

They reminded the jury Council would never leave prison whether he was executed or served out his life sentence.

“Does he die from lethal injection?” defense lawyer Duane Bryant said. “Or does he die when someone calls for him?”

The jurors were presented evidence over two weeks, including surveillance video of Council walking into the bank on Aug. 21, 2017 — the same day a full solar eclipse was seen in other parts of South Carolina and elsewhere.

Council stood by teller Major for nearly a minute before pulling out a gun and shooting her first in the arm and then in the chest as the stunned teller held papers in front of her face trying to protect herself.

Manager Skeen ran into her office and hid under her desk. Council shot her in the forehead, according to the video and testimony.

Council took $15,000 from the bank, including special bills that trigger a call to police if removed, authorities said. He then went back into Skeen’s office and took the keys to her SUV to escape.

The families of Donna Major and Katie Skeen are furious. Biden commuted several interns from DEATH to LIFE.

Council was arrested several days later at a Greenville, North Carolina, motel. He had bought a used Mercedes with the robbery money, according to his confession.

Council asked investigators if the women were still alive and cried when he found out they were dead.

“I’m a doofus. I’m an idiot,” Council told police. “I don’t deserve to live.”

However, on Friday, Council filed a motion in federal court for compassionate release which means he would be released early from prison due to “extraordinary or compelling circumstances.”

In the documents filed, Council provided documents and position papers that state why Terre Haute, where he was housed, is one of the worst prisons in the world in 2022.

During his time incarcerated at Terre Haute, Council was held in solitary confinement, which on multiple occasions he requested to be removed from.

“My administrative detention classification is keeping me housed in solitary confinement permanently, which is psychologically harmful and torture which violates the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel [Inhumane] or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is a ratified United States treaty,” Council wrote in his request for administrative remedy in 2023.

This request was denied.

Council began his solitary confinement in 2019 and each request written to be removed was denied.

The latest motion for compassionate release was filed Friday.

Big Lots Got A Lifeline!

It may not be over for Big Lots. This location in Dayton, Ohio already folded.

There may be some life left in Columbus, Ohio based retailer Big Lots. A North Carolina company has expressed interest in buying the company.

It may be too late for some locations already preparing for their going out of business sales.

The discount retailer, which declared bankruptcy in September, announced Friday it has agreed to a sale with asset liquidation firm Gordon Brothers Retail Partners that transfers 200 to 400 Big Lots stores to Variety Wholesalers Inc. Variety Wholesales owns more than 400 retail stores in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states under the Roses, Roses Express, Maxway, Bill's Dollar Stores, Super 10, Super Dollar and Bargain Town names.

Variety Wholesalers intends to continue to operate the acquired stores under the Big Lots banner. Variety Wholesales also is obtaining up to two distribution centers and intends to continue employing Big Lots workers and some corporate officials.

"This sale agreement and transfer present the strongest opportunity to preserve jobs, maximize value for the estate and ensure continuity of the Big Lots brand," Big Lots President Bruce Thorn said in a statement. "We are grateful to our associates nationwide for their grit and resilience throughout this process."

Lisa Seigies, Variety Wholesalers' President and CEO, said, "We are excited to partner with Gordon Brothers to provide a path forward for the Big Lots brand and hundreds of its stores. We look forward to working with members of the Big Lots team to realize the exciting opportunities ahead."

The agreement is subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval.

Big Lots had been closing certain stores as it went through bankruptcy proceedings and previously announced plans to shutter more than 340 stores. As of March, the company had more than 1,300 stores across the country.

Yeah, There Are Black Racists!

Embrace your heritage but avoid the notion of superiority.

The scams that Tariq Nasheed and Umar Johnson run have Black men turning into MAGAland bigots. 

Waka Flocka Flame, Fivio Foreign and Ray J are performing at a President Donald J. Trump inauguration party.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) are still promoting MAGAland despite being left on the sidelines by Trump and J.D. Vance.

Foundational Black Americans is a scam created by Nasheed to line his pockets so he can "spread his word" around Black and white women. This was the guy who told Black women to "wash yo ass." 

Johnson is trying to create a Pan African school called the Frederick Douglass Marcus Garvey Institute which he has never even got started. But yet encourages men and women to donate, buy his books, follow his podcast and fund his trips to spread the word. Oh, Johnson has to eat and spend time enjoying the luxurious casinos once in a while. And yes, he likes snow bunnies despite not hopping into their nest.

MAGA embraces the grifters. Jesse Lee Peterson, Umar Johnson and Candace Owens. 

Hoteps, a bunch of Black idots masquerading as saviors of African American culture.

Hoteps espouse a mixture of black radicalism and social conservatism, often through generating social media content on sites such as Twitter and Instagram. Members of the subculture promote conspiracy theories, often through internet memes, as well as inaccurate historical claims. Hoteps often denounce homosexuality and interracial marriage, promote the view that Black women should be subordinate to Black men, and oppose LGBT rights and feminism, which they view as inimical to Black liberation. A substantial number of hoteps promote antisemitic conspiracy theories. Commentator Matthew Sheffield wrote in 2018 that "a significant portion of self-identified hoteps have so much in common with far-right white nationalism" that the subculture "has been dubbed the 'ankh right' by some of its black critics" (a play on the term "alt-right").

A post-clinch proposal!! 💍🥹

Congrats to @JR1ERA and his fiancée! pic.twitter.com/f2gvIVoEDJ

— NFL (@NFL) December 30, 2024

Glad we got to share that moment with the best fans in the world! LUV❤️

— Jeremy Reaves (@JR1ERA) December 30, 2024

Jeremy Reaves of the Washington Commanders celebrates his wins over the Atlanta Falcons by proposing to his longtime girlfriend. It was praised and criticized.

Black chauvinists who align with MAGAland and FBA were quick to denounce him for chasing after a white woman.

The reactions to a Black man proposing to a white woman coming from these bigots ranged from white extremist to black extremist.

Trump and Republicans relish on culture wars. Like Tim Walz said, it just sad and weird for these people to sound up so tight about people or things that don't affect their lives.

Picture of Eve and her husband enjoying Christmas with family goes viral pic.twitter.com/OSMof6DOK6

— Voice Of Our Ancestors Channel (@VoiceOfOurAnces) December 30, 2024

Racism agains Mexicans was ok.
Racism against Haitians was ok.
Racism against Puerto Ricans was ok.
Racism against Black ppl was ok.
But now that it’s DIRECTED AT YOU it’s a problem?
So when Trump said “immigrants are poisoning the blood of America” did you think you were exempt? https://t.co/fqkJ7r2W76

— Chicano Marine 🇲🇽🇺🇸💙 (@elchicanomarine) December 28, 2024

Alas, it drove them to the polls.

Immigrants, especially people of color are vilified by the far right. Those from the Global South, The East and Sub African are often targeted.

Black extremists are often supporting Trump's call to deport all immigrants who are illegal. They also support canceling HB-1 Visas for Indians, Haitians and Chinese immigrants.

Tariq Nasheed aka K-Flex, the Mink Slide. The rapper/singer turned Pro Afrikan activist. A notorious grifter.

Fat Joe is currently feuding with the FBA. The legendary rapper proudly endorsed Kamala Harris for president and tried to encourage Black and Latino men to back her. FBA has been out to get him ever since.

FBA played a role in hurting Harris with Black men.

Trump earned 25% of the Black male vote. 

Even rapper Eve is catching smoke from these bigots. She married Maximilian Cooper in 2010 and has a child with him. Cooper is a British mogul. She has American and British citizenship. 

These idiots are barking about her marriage to a white man.

Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Don Lemon, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Ice T, Bryant Gumbel, Playboi Carti and many other Black celebrities are targeted by FBA because they don't fir their standards.

As Black man with a biracial son, I will say this.....

I hope FBA, Pan Afrikanism, Jesse Lee Peterson, Umar Johnson, Jeffrey Shaun King, Ice Cube, Tariq Nasheed, Waka Flocka Flame, Orlando Brown, Ray J, Fivio Foreign, Sage Steele and Black Republicans fail. If they pass away, oh fucking well. One less nuisance.

Being proud of your roots is cool but to the push for Black superiority is not going to help us. It is no different than these white extremists who advocate Christian, Jewish and anti-immigrant views.

What Happened To Robert Brooks? [NSFW]

Robert Brooks was lynched by New York State Correctional Officers. 

Warning the contents are graphic.

Take discretion.

All individuals involved in the incidents involving Robert Brooks aren't criminally charged yet. The New York Attorney General's office has ordered a formal investigation through the New York State Police and the U.S. Justice Department is involved.

The individual involved in the murder of Ohio correctional guard Andrew Lansing will be formalized and he will stand trial.

The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Police and correctional officers who engage in brutality are often escaping criminal charges. Usually if they are committing acts that involve murder, it may take not only state but federal authorities to investigate.

President Joe Biden faced a backlash from police unions and border patrol unions because of the perception that he was weak on crime.

The Republicans often exploit crime for short term election games. Often retail theft, illegal immigration, Black on whatever crime, auto thefts, Hunter Biden's legal woes and denying the incoming president's illegal actions motivate Republicans to the polls.

Did you know a correctional guard was beaten to death at an iron college in Ohio?

In the spirit of fairness, I will discuss it briefly.

Ohio correction guard went to work on Christmas and got attacked by an inmate. He died soon after. The suspect is facing murder charges.

The incident happened on Christmas morning at the Ross Correctional Institution. Officials said Lansing died following an "inmate assault" at the high-security prison in Ross County.

Andrew Lansing, a veteran of the Ross Correctional Institution who volunteered to work on Christmas to relieve his co-workers. The suspect Rashawn Cannon who was serving a six year bid plotted revenge after he caught Lansing off guard as he was doing his routine checks on the facility. Cannon who was a medium risk intern was immediately transfered to the Lucasville's Southern Ohio Correctional Institute facility and it expected to be held in custody on murder charges which carry LIFE or the DEATH card.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said Lansing died “following an inmate assault.” 

“The inmate suspect has been transferred to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility,” the department said.

Lansing was described as “a longtime, well-respected employee” at the prison who “was loved by his colleagues.”

“He was a friendly, outgoing officer who treated everyone with respect and was always a professional,” the department said.

Gov. Mike DeWine will lower flags in honor of Lansing. 

Ohio inmate brutally assaults a correction guard. He plotted a revenge after he received a discipline punishment.

President-elect Donald J. Trump will eventually be pressured to pardon corrupt police officers and military officials. He will also be pressured to pardon Americans who served in the Israeli Defence Forces.

The New York State Police are tasked to investigate a brutal beating of a man while in their custody. The U.S. Justice Department is also involved.

The office of New York’s attorney general released body camera footage Friday showing the fatal beating of a state prisoner this month by correctional officers who punched and kicked him repeatedly while he was handcuffed on an infirmary bed.

The incident, which has drawn outrage from political leaders and was condemned by the officers’ union as “incomprehensible,” is being investigated by state Attorney General Letitia James. The inmate, Robert Brooks, 43, died in the hospital a day after the Dec. 9 attack.

“I do not take lightly the release of this video, especially in the middle of the holiday season,” James said at a virtual news conference.

“These videos are shocking and disturbing,” she added.

Brooks can be seen in the videos with his hands cuffed behind his back. In one video, he is sitting up as an officer presses his foot down on him. He is then punched by two officers.

At another point, he is forcefully yanked from the bed by his shirt collar and held up above the ground, his face visibly bloodied.

Bloody and swollen will be the last images of Robert Brooks.

Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to begin the process of firing 14 workers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, where the incident occurred. They include correctional officers, sergeants and a prison nurse. In the interim, all have been suspended without pay, except for one officer, who already resigned.

In a statement following the release of the videos, Daniel Martuscello, the commissioner of the state corrections department, said his office has launched its own investigation in an effort to bring “institutional change.”

“Watching the video evidence of Robert Brooks’ life being taken left me feeling deeply repulsed and nauseated,” Martuscello said. “There is no excuse and no rationalization for a vulgar, inhumane act that senselessly took a life. This type of behavior cannot be normalized, and I will not allow it to be within DOCCS.”

James said the officers had not activated their body cameras, but they were still on and recorded in standby mode. As a result, she added, they did not capture audio and only recorded for 30 minutes.

Her office released the entirety of the four officers’ videos, which included some blurring.

On Dec. 9, James said, Brooks was being transferred from the Mohawk Correctional Facility, also in Oneida County, to Marcy Correctional Facility. The events unfolded in a medical exam room before 9:30 p.m. Brooks was carried into the room hanging upside down with his hands handcuffed behind his back, one video shows.

Without audio, it’s unclear what words were exchanged between Brooks and the officers. While he does not appear to physically retaliate in the footage, the videos present different angles, and at times it’s unclear what is happening to Brooks as officers move and stand around the room.

After the officers yank Brooks from the bed, he is brought to a corner. Later, he is seen on the bed wearing only his underwear and being tended to by the nurse.

Brooks was taken to the hospital and died the following day. An autopsy was conducted, and “preliminary findings show concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another,” according to a state corrections office investigative report obtained by NBC affiliate WKTV in Utica.

In the wake of the initial media reports, James said her Office of Special Investigation would conduct a review and make the video public after Brooks’ family viewed it first.

One correction guard is on the neck of Brooks.

“I have a responsibility and duty to provide the Brooks family, their loved ones and all New Yorkers with transparency and accountability,” she said Friday.

Brooks had been imprisoned since 2017 on a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault involving a longtime girlfriend. State corrections officials declined to detail what led Brooks to be transferred to the Marcy Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison, that night.

The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, but the union has previously said it viewed parts of the videos.

“What we witnessed is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day,” the union said in a statement this week, adding what transpired is the “opposite of everything NYSCOPBA and its membership stand for.”

Hochul said in a statement that the “vast majority” of correctional officers “do extraordinary work under difficult circumstances,” but “we have no tolerance for individuals who cross the line, break the law and engage in unnecessary violence or targeted abuse.”

The corrections guard gave Brooks a toe jam sandwich while handcuffed.

Martuscello said the agency has expanded its body camera policy effective immediately, requiring all corrections officers to have their cameras activated any time they are engaging directly with inmates.

The Correctional Association of New York, an independent prison oversight group, released a report last year after monitoring the Marcy Correctional Facility in October 2022. The report noted complaints of “rampant” physical abuse by staff members, with 80% of incarcerated people reporting having witnessed or experienced abuse and nearly 70% reporting racial discrimination or bias.

Brooks’ family thanked Hochul in a statement this week for taking action “to hold officers accountable.”

“We cannot understand how this could have happened in the first place,” the family said. “No one should have to lose a family member this way.”

Jimmy Carter Passed Away!

Thank you Jimmy. I wished we had more presidents like you.

Former president James Earl Carter, Jr. has passed away at the age of 100. He was the oldest former president when he turned 100 in October.

Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career.

Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian, would become a staple of his political campaigns.

Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career.

Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband.

Then senator Joe Biden engaging with Jimmy Carter. Biden would eventually become the president.

Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board.

“My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021.

He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign.

Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed.

Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct.

“I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine.

President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald J. Trump, former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will react to the passing. Vice President Kamala Harris, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, former vice presidents Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Mike Pence will also react to the passing as well.

The 39th President of the United States who served from 1977 until 1981, will be remembered as a man who worked to bring peace to the Middle East, called out Israel for its crimes, Habitat for Humanity, his late wife Roselyn Carter, the Nobel Peace Prize, civility in the White House and the fact that he did it with a bunch of far right Republicans meddling.

Carter became president after his predecessor Gerald Ford failed at appealing to voters. His support for pardoning his former boss Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War and inflation all but sealed Ford's fate. Ronald Reagan, Carter's successor used the far right noise machine of Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, Lee Atwater and Rupert Murdoch to help him win over voters in the South and Midwest upset with inflation, the Cold War and Iran hostage crisis.

Of course, Israel had a role in the Iran hostage crisis. The Israelis worked with Reagan and Iran's leaders to get the release. Israel saw Reagan as their savior.

The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said.

President Joe Biden and First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden greet Jimmy and Roselyn Carter.

“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s.

“My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said.

Oh similairties in how Israel is continuing this war despite Biden trying to stop it (well not actually stopping it). Israel worked with Trump and AIPAC to ensure voter turnout will favor him. Biden was forced out after his debate performance and Harris lost because of her refusal to listen to Arab American and Black men frustarated with Biden's policies. Also having Liz Cheney on her roster kind of made it clear she backed Israel despite the apartheid ethnostate supporting Trump.

Then president-elect Barack Obama pose with George H.W. Bush, then president George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Clinton, Obama and Biden can testify, the Republican Party is too damn extreme. But as they continue to win elections on the grounds of white supremacy and ignorance, the Democratic Party is still wandering in the forest. Trying to court Republicans isn't a strategy of winning. They backed Trump overwhelmingly despite Harris having the backing of many Republicans.

A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia.

“If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon.

Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy.

Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan.

Then president Donald J. Trump greet former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush at his father George H.W. Bush's funeral in 2018. Former vice president Joe Biden in the far irght would become the current president until Jan. 20, 2025. Trump returns afterwards.

Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes.

“It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders.

Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term.

Demcorats didn't want Republican-lite. They wanted Biden and Harris to call out Israel, stop funding them, brag more about their accomplishments, fight against MAGA and stop being nice.

History will be good to Jimmy and Roselyn Carter.

A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing.

Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides.

The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school.

Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll.

Alas, 2028.

Anyway, the junk food media will cover Jimmy Carter's passing. Expected to be held in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, the honoring of the former president who served as governor of the state.

Atlanta and Washington, DC will be the places where they will hold his funeral.

Biden, 82 is the current president and oldest elected. Trump will surpass him again, being the second and fourth oldest president elected. Biden will be the last U.S. president in term when Carter was alive.

Biden also was the last U.S. president to greet Queen Elizabeth II. He is the first U.S. president to greet King Charles III.

Biden will have the same legacy as Carter. He pulled us out of a pandemic and got the economy back on track. But thanks to Trump, Republicans and the junk food media, we're back on the course of an economy on the downslide.

Biden will also leave office as an enabler of genocide. He didn't have the balls to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel and the lobbyists. He couldn't save the soul of the nation by being an enabler of the division.

He took Harris down with him. 

Carter hoped he could see a Black woman elected as president. Unfortunately, we are returning to status quo poltiics and the chaotic legacy of Trump. He served one term disgracefully. He is expected to serve a second term in the same fashion.

Jimmy Carter, I wished we could have more presidents like you and not like Bush, Biden and Trump.

I was born in 1980 as the election was in its final days. I lived through Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden and Trump again. Hell, I survived the worst and certainly will deal with another chaotic Trump presidency.