The former Dayton shopping center on North Dixie Drive after a powerful tornado destroyed it in May 2019.
Deadly tornadoes hit Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Texas. Again, we give billions to Israel while our own country is dealing with crumbling infrastructure due to natural disasters like tornadoes.
Many of these Republicans who vote against funding the government and assistance for some of America's less fortunate are willing to give billions to a foreign nation engaged in an illegal act of genocide. Same with Democrats. They claim they want to protect democracy but endorse a fascist government sworn to being an ethnostate on our taxpayer dime.
When will American lawmakers come to their senses and start focusing on the needs of Americans and not Israelis?
Over the weekend, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was hit with a series of destructive Ef2 and Ef3 tornadoes. The May 25–26 severe weather outbreak killed at least 18 people in total, including seven in Texas, two in Oklahoma, eight in Arkansas, and one in Kentucky. At least 14 of these deaths were due to tornadoes.
Today we mark the five year anniversary of the Dayton tornado outbreak.
I remember working at my previous employer on third shift when the word got out that a tornado emergency was issued. The powerful Ef3 tornado formed around Brookville.
It quickly picked up speed and became an Ef4. The tornado ravaged through Clayton, Trotwood, Harrison Township, Dayton and Riverside. It restructures around the Wright Patterson Air Force Base and quickly became an Ef3. It continued to ravage through Riverside, Bath Township and Beavercreek.
The outbreak also affected St. Mary's, Troy, Vandalia, Jamestown, Huber Heights, West Milton, Celina and Kessler.
Widespread major damage to numerous homes, businesses, apartments, industrial buildings, and other structures occurred throughout the Dayton metro. Remarkably, no direct fatalities occurred in the Dayton area, though at least 166 people were injured. May 27 was the most active day for tornadoes during the outbreak sequence, with a total of 59 confirmed tornadoes.
Gov. Mike DeWine in his first term as governor of Ohio had declared a state of emergency for about 40% of Ohio's counties. He asked then president Donald J. Trump for federal assistance for cleanup and rebuilding of the communities affected.
Today the community is still the same. Dayton lost a grocer, numerous apartments, homes, businesses and scenery.
Despite striking at night and producing major damage in a densely-populated urban area, remarkably, this tornado did not result in any direct fatalities. This was likely because most Dayton area residents heeded the warning issued as the tornado approached the city, and took shelter well before the tornado struck. In addition, only a small segment of EF4 damage was observed along the path, and was largely confined to a wooded area that was impacted. 166 people were injured by the tornado, however. In September 2019, the Montgomery County coroner ruled that an elderly Trotwood woman's death was caused in part by trauma from the tornado. She had been in poor health, and was trapped in her destroyed home following the tornado. However, her death was not officially listed as a direct tornado fatality in the National Climatic Data Center database. The tornado was the strongest to strike Ohio in nine years, and the first violent tornado to strike Ohio since an EF4 tornado hit Millbury, Ohio on the night of June 5, 2010. It was also the first violent tornado to occur in the month of May in three years.
Grayson Murray, a top ranked PGA golfer withdrew from Charles Schwab Cup Challenge on Saturday. That night, he found dead after an apparent suicide.
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.
Murray's parents issued a statement to the PGA Tour.
“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone. It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare,” Murray’s parents said in a statement. “We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and – it seems – by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed.”
Murray was 30 years old. He was a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina.
In his youth career, Murray won three straight Callaway Junior Championships and was the top-ranked golfer nationally in his age group. Murray attended Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he competed in golf and won both a team and individual state title.
Murray attended Wake Forest University, East Carolina University, and Arizona State University. He played in the 2013 U.S. Open as an amateur.
Murray earned conditional status on the 2016 Web.com Tour by tying for 74th at Q School. A tie for tenth at the Rex Hospital Open in his native North Carolina, in which he competed on a sponsor exemption, gave him entry into the following tournament, where he tied for eighth and guaranteed himself full playing time for the rest of the season. He had four further top 10s, including a playoff loss at the Digital Ally Open, and finished 18th on the regular-season money list, earning a PGA Tour card for 2017. On July 23, 2017, he earned his first PGA Tour victory by winning the Barbasol Championship.
Murray won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2023 season, winning the AdventHealth Championship and the Simmons Bank Open, the latter being a Korn Ferry Finals event. These results earned Murray a tour card for the 2024 PGA Tour season.
On January 14, 2024, he earned his second PGA Tour victory by winning the Sony Open in Hawaii in a playoff.
Murray was a Christian. After winning the Sony Open in Hawaii, Murray said, "Jesus Christ is first and foremost. Without Him, none of this would be possible. And He's just given me a platform to write a new story. To write my own story. And I hope that everyone at home watching can get a little inspiration from me."
In October 2022, Murray was severely injured in a scooter crash in Bermuda before the Butterfield Bermuda Championship leading him to withdraw from the event.
Murray died on May 25, 2024, at the age of 30. He had withdrawn from the Charles Schwab Challenge the day before, citing an illness. The next day, his parents confirmed that he had died by suicide.
A bunch of washed up rappers, B-list celebrities and extremists are flocking to the former president.
As President Joe Biden works to decriminalize marijuana, a one hit wonder rapper who briefly ran for president endorsed Donald J. Trump at the Libertarian Party Convention.
Biden did not attend.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Trump did and of course the two threw out conspiracy theories and simpleton bullshit. Since the Libertarian Party has no serious contender, Kennedy is likely the de facto nominee. He is running as an independent candidate.
Trump wanted to build a coalition to defeat Biden. Libertarians aren't buying it.
“Within minutes of beginning speaking — and after enduring sustained jeering and boos — the former president turned on the third party, mocking its poor electoral record in presidential elections even as he appealed to them for their endorsement,” write Brittany Gibson and Peder Schaefer.
“‘What’s the purpose of the Libertarian Party … getting 3 percent?’ Trump asked the crowd, which proceeded to pelt him with jeers. ‘You should nominate Trump for president only if you want to win.’
“The libertarians in attendance didn’t want to hear it, as hecklers chucked insults at Trump all night. ‘Liar,’ they called him. ‘Panderer,’ they shouted. ‘You crushed our rights,’ they belted.”
Trump and his minions try to spin his booing.
Kennedy called for a debate against Trump. Kennedy said that Trump was responsible for the pandemic shutdowns. Kennedy claimed that Trump pushed for vaccine mandates and wearing face masks. Trump continues to blame Biden for the pandemic and business shutdowns.
Afroman got into the act. He decided to write a song to attack Biden's son Hunter.
Afroman claims that Hunter got privileges while others got prison.
Afroman said: "Some people are above the law while regular people have to obey it. When you lay the facts out about Hunter, it's just a little funny, so we wrote a parody song to have fun with life and politics."
At the time of publishing, the video of the song, released by Baste Records, had racked up over 800,000 views on YouTube and had reached number three on the iTunes video chart.
Trump has 23% of the Black male vote. Trump only has 6% of the Black woman vote.
Overall Trump has 14% of the Black vote.
Other rappers and hip-hop figures who endorsed Trump.
Sexxy Red
Lil Pump
Waka Flocka Flame
Teddy Riley
Kanye West
Benny the Butcher
Forgiato Blow
Vanilla Ice
Suge Knight
Kodak Black
DaBaby
Topher
Shoreline Mafia OhGeesy
Ray J
Lil Wayne
Takeshi 6ix9ine
Sheff G
Sleepy Hallow
Take this as a warning. The Democrats must change course on Israel. The president and Vice President Kamala Harris can't drop the ball on this. These entertainers want Trump back regardless of Project 2025 and Greater Israel. Republicans are hell bent on authoritarianism and if we get Trump it is because of Biden not listening.
Biden is walking the tightrope and it is snapping everyday we see a Black celebrity endorse Trump.
Afroman was spotted at the event taking pictures with Trump and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). The Utah senator is insufferable and has no accomplishments. Also attending was failed presidential candidate, Cincinnati businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Republicans have exploited Hunter Biden's mental issues and drug abuse as a wedge issue to hurt Biden. Since Beau (Joe Biden III) passed away, Hunter (Robert) had went through a series of depression and drug abuse. He admits he made mistakes. Hunter is facing federal charges for possession of a weapon while being on drugs and tax evasion.
Trump continues to exploit this as a way to get at Biden. Trump used X, Truth Social, The Daily Mail, The New York Post, Real America's Voice and Fox to push these claims of Hunter being corrupt and the president taking bribes from Ukraine. John Solomon, Sara Carter, Miranda Devine, Rudy Giuliani and Sean "Softball" Hannity are known conspiracy theorists pushing these claims about the president's son.
The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Biden, Trump and Kennedy support Israel. The apartheid ethnostate is continuing to ignore international law and is driving the U.S. closer into another armed conflict in the Middle East.
If the Republican Party is the party that freed the slaves, why is it the party continuing to protect the remnants of the Confederacy?
If George Floyd was a criminal and deserved to die for an alleged phony bill, why is Ashli Babbitt not a criminal for breaking into the U.S. Capitol, shoving police and ignoring lawful warnings of force not a criminal?
If Joe Biden hates Black people, why did he get picked as his vice president by his former boss Barack Obama?
Why do the conservatives always compare their ungrateful actions in history to things that progressive done in the past?
If Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive today, would the Republican Party vilify him and cast him as a "DEI agitator" as they labeled Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Brandon Johnson, Brandon Scott, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris?
Today marks the four year anniversary of George Floyd's tragic death by the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. On May 25, 2020, Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the street, calling out "I can't breathe", during an arrest made with three other officers. Chauvin was dismissed by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) on May 26 and arrested on May 29. The murder set off a series of protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul and across the rest of the United States, later spreading around the world.
Following his death, the City of Minneapolis settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd's family for $27 million. Chauvin was convicted on two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter on April 20, 2021, and on June 25, 2021, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. The other three officers at the scene were also later convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.
As we mark today for the death that sparked a movement, we will now push for a Free Palestine 🇵🇸 and an end to funding aid and cover for Israel 🇮🇱.
The Israeli flag will be in the dustbin of history. The world will finally put Israel in its place and we will see a free sovereign Palestine.
Biden promised to get the George Floyd Policing Act into law. The president is stalled by House Republicans who control the majority, Senate Republicans who filibuster constantly, as well as Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin and John Fetterman who oppose stripping the filibuster rule. Gridlock and insufferable actions by both parties.
Daunte Wright, Philando Castile, Justine Damond, Winston Boogie Smith, Jamar Clark, Amal Locke, Dolal Idd and Leneal Frazier were robbed of their lives by police violence.
We still fight a battle for the soul of our nation. Biden is on a tightrope.
Everyday I despise Biden's actions with Israel and the economy. It makes me very cautious about supporting his reelection. But every time I see Donald J. Trump, I remind myself of how he degraded Floyd, failed to take care of a deadly pandemic, constantly lie about issues, refuse to take accountability for his actions and led his supporters into almost uprooting the democracy he swore to uphold as president.
Both of them are so fucking stupid. But given that Trump and Republicans will criminalize speech, punish Americans for having abortions, punish Americans for being transgender, remove the filibuster to ram through inappropriate laws and inexperienced federal workers.
Democrats are not good at messaging. They need to remind themselves that George Floyd matters. Palestinians matter. Ukrainians matter. International law matter.
Today, we honor the movement that sparked at least small steps in how America views Blacks.
Floyd's death changed television, radio, social media and some of our toxic politics.
Trump's "huge" rally featured MAGA rappers, bloated bigots and a ton of bogus claims.
Former president Donald J. Trump held a rally in The Bronx, a borough of New York City.
It had a gathering of several Black and Hispanic supporters. Of course, he had another round of endorsements from rappers. He also claimed his event was "packed."
Again, Democrats hold their candidates accountable. Republicans love to praise their candidates as gods and political prisoners. The hypocrisy of Republicans is just too much.
Republicans have no shame in how they operate. Democrats do not care about President Joe Biden having massive rallies. They care about protecting women's rights, voting rights, stopping Israel, Ukraine and Russia from starting a global war, holding Biden and Trump accountable for their actions and changing the status quo in politics and media.
New York rappers Sleepy Hallow and Sheff G came to endorse Trump.
Sleep Hallow was heard on Shade45 before.
Trump has 23% of the Black male vote. Trump only has 6% of the Black woman vote.
Overall Trump has 14% of the Black vote.
Other rappers and hip-hop figures who endorsed Trump.
Sexxy Red
Lil Pump
Waka Flocka Flame
Teddy Riley
Kanye West
Benny the Butcher
Forgiato Blow
Vanilla Ice
Suge Knight
Kodak Black
DaBaby
Topher
Shoreline Mafia OhGeesy
Ray J
Lil Wayne
Takeshi 6ix9ine
Take this as a warning. The Democrats must change course on Israel. The president and Vice President Kamala Harris can't drop the ball on this. These entertainers want Trump back regardless of Project 2025 and Greater Israel. Republicans are hell bent on authoritarianism and if we get Trump it is because of Biden not listening.
Biden is walking the tightrope and it is snapping everyday we see a Black celebrity endorse Trump.
The two pledged support to the former president. Some in the junk food media pointed out the two rappers have ongoing criminal trials in New York.
That "Never Surrender" with Trump's mugshot must be an appealing message to Black Republicans. Trump, the very definition of white privilege has state and federal charges.
Trump did turn himself in to Georgia, New York, Florida and Washington, DC authorities.
He was indicted by the federal government and two state governments. He was also held liable for fraud and sexual abuse. He still owes the state of New York over $490 million in damages.
He could be the first former president ever convicted of a crime. He still can run for president. Trump claims that Biden sicced the U.S. Justice Department on him. He falsely claims that this election interference.
Trump, Biden, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., are staunch supporters of Israel. It does not matter who is the president is, they will continue to allow Israel impunity with its war crimes and apartheid.
Drill rapper Sleepy Hallow boost his MAGA support for Trump.
The two rappers certainly will face a backlash as well.
Michael Williams, better known as Sheff G, is a 25-year-old rapper whose songs and videos have millions of YouTube views and Spotify streams. He’s also a central figure in the gang case unveiled by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez over a year ago, while he was serving a separate attempted weapons possession sentence.
Tegan Chambers, 24, who raps as Sleepy Hallow, has close to 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He faces conspiracy charges in the gang case. Both he and Sheff G have pleaded not guilty.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s appearance with suspected gang members comes as Trump is on trial himself in his New York hush money case and as he recurringly slams New York and other Democrat-run cities as crime-ridden. Trump has railed against the Manhattan district attorney who is prosecuting him for “letting violent crime run rampant all over our city.”
Sleepy Hallow gets a rousing support from the folks who don't even know who he is.
Challenging the reelection of Biden, Trump is trying to make inroads with Black Americans, who are traditionally supportive of the Democratic Party. AP VoteCast found Trump won just 8% of Black voters nationwide in 2020 versus 91% who voted for Biden.
He has claimed that his criminal indictments have boosted his support among Black voters, comparing his legal challenges to anti-Black prejudice in the U.S. legal system.
At a rally on the Jersey Shore earlier this month, Trump was joined on stage by NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who pleaded guilty in New York in 2011 to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual misconduct and is a registered sex offender. Taylor said he had always been a Democrat until he met Trump.
Sleepy Hallow and Sheff G were indicted last May along with 30 other gang members on a 140 count criminal indictment including murder and at least 12 shootings. Sheff G recently posted a $1.5 million cash bond to get released. And here he is with Trump.
Fun Fact: The rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow, who Trump had on stage, were charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, including a 2020 mass shooting on Folk Nation territory that killed one person and injured five others. They are facing a long prison sentence. pic.twitter.com/2FZWGZtaw3
Madeline Brame, the mother of an army veteran who was brutally stabbed to death in Harlem and a former Bronx resident, SLAMS Democrats for demonizing comments about Trump supporters and UNLEASHES hard-hitting facts:
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 24, 2024
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Zionist openly gay insufferable Democratic lawmaker who represents the Bronx in Congress, said it is an offensive strategy for Trump to associate with people who are accused of violent crimes in order to appeal to Black voters.
“The conflation of communities of color with criminality is a racist trope that Donald Trump repeats,” said Torres, who is Black.
Images captured on Thursday show Sheff G walking into the park where the rally took place with cameras following him as teenage boys seem visibly excited at spotting the rapper. One of them said, “Oh my God. It’s Sheff G.”
Toward the end of his speech on Thursday, Trump asked his supporters, “Does everybody know Sheff G? Where is Sheff G?” before also introducing Sleepy Hallow.
“President Trump, my man,” Sheff G was heard saying before Trump gestured to him to approach the microphone.
“One thing I want to say: They are always going to whisper your accomplishments and shout your failures. Trump is going to shout the wins for all of us,” Sheff G told the crowd before Sleepy Hallow moved to the microphone to utter Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.”
A spokesman for Trump’s campaign was asked about whether the campaign knew about the charges and whether it was the former president who sought the rappers’ support or the other way around.
Sheff G joins the MAGA circus of buffoonery.
“As Sheff G said: ‘They always whisper your accomplishments and shout your failures.’” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded in an email.
A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, which provides protection for Trump and secures his rallies, did not respond to a request for comment about Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow’s appearance on stage.
Trump called other speakers to the stage Thursday, including Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and the Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., a former Democratic city council member in New York and state senator. Diaz is an anti-LGBTQ agitator who challenged Torres in the 2020 primary but lost. He endorsed Trump.
Also attending this rally was Forgiato Blow, the Florida rapper who calls himself the "Mayor of Magaville." He has ties to the Proud Boys and is under federal watch for his appearance at the Jan. 6 insurrection. He filmed a music video at Capitol while it was being attacked.
The New York Police and Fire Department unions likely endorsed Trump. Wondering how they fell about the former president having two indicted men who had likely carried out orders on NYPD officers at the behest of their top capos.
Trump's calvary of grifters were in New York. The idiots were from Florida and Texas.
Both Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow are due back in court next month. Sheff G’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Friday that “intense litigation” was ongoing and “we’re cautiously optimistic that Mr. Williams will be exonerated.” A message seeking comment on the case was left with Sleepy Hallow’s attorney.
After being paroled in his weapons case in June 2023, Sheff G was held on the new charges until last month, when a judge set bail at $1.5 million cash. Sleepy Hallow was released on $200,000 bail in May 2023.
Prosecutors say Sheff G’s money fueled and rewarded multiple shootings as members of the 8 Trey Crips and affiliated 9 Ways gangs affiliates battled foes. He treated Sleepy Hallow and others to a steak dinner to celebrate an October 2020 shooting that killed a purported member of a rival gang and injured five others, prosecutors say.
“It is how, in part, Sheff G and Tegan Chambers — Sleepy Hallow — assert influence, right? Because they take people out, and they’re able to spend money, and they’re able to encourage others to do some of the gang violence that’s just critically important to them and their status in the community,” Gonzalez said at a May 2023 news conference with New York Mayor Eric Adams. Both are Democrats.
Prosecutors have said they have surveillance video, text messages, social media posts, cell phone data and more to back up the allegations. While Gonzalez has noted that the rappers’ songs refer to gang retaliation and some of their rivals, he has said the lyrics weren’t used as evidence.
Prosecutors also say Sheff G chauffeured three co-defendants to and from an April 2021 shooting that targeted a gang rival but instead hit two bystanders.
The DA’s office declined to comment Friday on the case.
American filmmaker Morgan Spurlock passed away from cancer.
The filmmaker and actor who made the controversial film Super Size Me has passed away from complications of cancer.
Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar nominee whose most famous works skewered America’s food industry and who notably ate only at McDonald’s for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.
Spurlock died Thursday in New York from complications of cancer, according to a statement issued Friday by his family.
“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” Craig Spurlock, who worked with him on several projects, said in the statement. “Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas, and generosity. The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”
Spurlock made a splash in 2004 with his groundbreaking film “Super Size Me,” which was nominated for an Academy Award. The film chronicled the detrimental physical and psychological effects of Spurlock eating only McDonald’s food for 30 days. He gained about 25 pounds, saw a spike in his cholesterol and lost his sex drive.
“Everything’s bigger in America,” he said in the film. “We’ve got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the biggest food, and finally: the biggest people.”
In one scene, Spurlock showed kids a photo of George Washington and none recognized the Founding Father. But they all instantly knew the mascots for Wendy’s and McDonald’s.
The film grossed more than $22 million on a $65,000 budget and preceded the release of Eric Schlosser’s influential “Fast Food Nation,” which accused the industry of being bad for the environment and rife with labor issues.
Spurlock returned in 2017 with “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” — a sober look at an industry that processes 9 billion animals a year in America. He focused on two issues: chicken farmers stuck in a peculiar financial system and the attempt by fast-food chains to deceive customers into thinking they’re eating healthier.
“We’re at an amazing moment in history from a consumer standpoint where consumers are starting to have more and more power,” he told The Associated Press in 2019. “It’s not about return for the shareholders. It’s about return for the consumers.”
Spurlock was a gonzo-like filmmaker who leaned into the bizarre and ridiculous. His stylistic touches included zippy graphics and amusing music, blending a Michael Moore-ish camera-in-your-face style with his own sense of humor and pathos.
“I wanted to be able to lean into the serious moments. I wanted to be able to breathe in the moments of levity. We want to give you permission to laugh in the places where it’s really hard to laugh,” he told the AP.
After he exposed the fast-food and chicken industries, there was an explosion in restaurants stressing freshness, artisanal methods, farm-to-table goodness and ethically sourced ingredients. But nutritionally not much had changed.
“There has been this massive shift and people say to me, ‘So has the food gotten healthier?’ And I say, ‘Well, the marketing sure has,’” he said.
Not all his work dealt with food. Spurlock made documentaries about the boy band One Direction and the geeks and fanboys at Comic-Con. One of his films looked at life behind bars at the Henrico County Jail in Virginia.
Super Size Me took on the addiction to McDonald's.
With 2008’s “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” Spurlock went on a global search to find the al-Qaida leader, who was killed in 2011. In “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” Spurlock tackled questions of product placement, marketing and advertising.
“Being aware is half the battle, I think. Literally knowing all the time when you’re being marketed to is a great thing,” Spurlock told AP at the time. “A lot of people don’t realize it. They can’t see the forest for the trees.”
“Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” was to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 but it was shelved at the height of the #MeToo movement when Spurlock came forward to detail his own history of sexual misconduct.
He confessed that he had been accused of rape while in college and had settled a sexual harassment case with a female assistant. He also admitted to cheating on numerous partners. “I am part of the problem,” he wrote.
“For me, there was a moment of kind of realization — as somebody who is a truth-teller and somebody who has made it a point of trying to do what’s right — of recognizing that I could do better in my own life. We should be able to admit we were wrong,” he told the AP.
Spurlock grew up in Beckley, West Virginia. His mother was an English teacher who he remembered would correct his work with a red pen. He graduated with a BFA in film from New York University in 1993.
He is survived by two sons — Laken and Kallen; his mother Phyllis Spurlock; father Ben; brothers Craig and Barry; and former spouses Alexandra Jamieson and Sara Bernstein, the mothers of his children.
The International Court of Justice ordered an immediate end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The United States is down sliding in democracy.
Democrats and Republicans are insufferable. They are only bipartisan when it comes to one country engaged in one of the worst acts against mankind.
President Joe Biden is willing to sacrifice his reelection to stand with the apartheid ethnostate of Israel. Biden and Democrats have banned TikTok, want to redefine antisemitism, continue to ignore their core base of progressive voters to suit the narratives of moderate and conservative Democrats. They also back sanctions on the International Criminal Court. Democrats will cave to Israel.
Former president Donald J. Trump is very definition of white privilege. He is running for president to stay out of legal jeopardy. He continues to parrot false narratives about his criminal and civil trials. He still lies about his election loss. Trump and Republicans claim to be the party of "law and order" only when it suits their authoritarian interests. They want to arrest protesters, punish women for having safe medical care, ban transgender Americans from being themselves, ban Muslims, ban Arabs, make English the official language, continue to build a border wall (the monument to white supremacy), pardon seditionists, pack the Supreme Court, push for prayer in public schools, give Israel unilateral support, instigate a trade war with China, banned TikTok, redefine antisemitism and sanctions on the International Criminal Court. Republicans will cave to Israel.
Israel is still engaging in destroying Gaza. The Rafah offense is on and the U.S. is still allowing it to happen. The U.S. will likely veto the emergency session by the United Nations after the International Court of Justice ordered an immediate ceasefire to the conflict.
The ICJ ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave. Although Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country.
The fascist regime of Israel will not abide to international law. The UN is going to figure out ways to bypass U.S. interference when it issues sanctions against the apartheid ethnostate.
Criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, particularly since it turned its focus to Rafah. This week alone, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor for another international court requested arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, along with Hamas officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under some pressure at home to end the war, which was triggered when Hamas stormed into Israel. Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 people, most civilians, and taking some 250 hostage. Thousands of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to bring the hostages home, fearing time is running out.
Although the ruling by the International Court of Justice is a blow to Israel’s international standing, the court doesn’t have a police force to enforce its orders. In another case on its docket, Russia has ignored the court’s 2022 order to halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The sharply focused decision sent a clear, three-pronged message to Israel, ordering a halt to the Rafah offensive, access to Gaza for war crimes investigators, and a big and immediate increase of humanitarian aid to the region, parts of which are enduring famine.
“This legally binding and very specific ruling leaves Israel with very little wiggle room,” said Reed Brody, a veteran human rights lawyer and prosecutor.
Benny Gantz, a popular Zoinist member of the war cabinet, appeared to indicate that Israel would not change its course regarding Rafah.
“The State of Israel is committed to continue fighting to return its hostages and promise the security of its citizens — wherever and whenever necessary — including in Rafah,” he said.
“We will continue operating in accordance with international law wherever we might operate, while safeguarding to the best extent possible the civilian population. Not because of the ICJ, but because of who we are and the values we stand for.”
Immediately after the ruling, Netanyahu announced that he would hold a special ministerial meeting to decide how to respond. Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, derided the decision.
“The fact that the ICJ did not even directly connect the end of the military operation in Rafah to the release of the hostages and to Israel’s right to defend itself against terror is an abject moral failure,” he said.
Biden's support for Israel still strong but its declining due to his frustration with Netanyahu.
Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the court’s order underscored the perilous situation of Palestinians in Gaza, but warned that it could be ignored if the international community doesn’t use whatever leverage it can on Israel.
“The ICJ’s decision opens up the possibility for relief, but only if governments use their leverage, including through arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, to press Israel to urgently enforce the court’s measures,” Jarrah said.
The court’s president, Nawaf Salam, read out the ruling as a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.
Fears the court expressed earlier this year about an operation in Rafah have “materialized,” the ruling said, and Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive” in the city and anything else that might result in conditions that could cause the “physical destruction in whole or in part” of Palestinians there.
Rafah is in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, and over 1 million people sought refuge there in recent months after fleeing fighting elsewhere, with many of them living in teeming tent camps. Israel has been vowing for months to invade Rafah, saying it was Hamas’ last major stronghold, even as several allies warned that an all-out assault would spell disaster.
Israel started issuing evacuation orders about two weeks ago as it began operations on the edge of the city. Since then, the army says an estimated 1 million people have left as forces press deeper inside.
Rafah is also home to a critical crossing for aid, and the U.N. says the flow of aid reaching it has plunged since the incursion began, though commercial trucking has continued to enter Gaza.
The court ordered Israel to keep the Rafah crossing open, saying “the humanitarian situation is now to be characterized as disastrous.”
But it did not call for a full cease-fire throughout Gaza, as South Africa, which has historic ties to the Palestinian people and brought the case, requested last week.
South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, said the country’s allegation that a genocide is underway is getting “stronger and stronger by the day.”
“We are really pleased that the court has given very serious consideration to the matters that we put before it and has affirmed that an urgent decision is needed from the court to pause this onslaught against innocent Palestinian people,” she told South African state broadcaster SABC, adding that it’s now up to the U.N. Security Council to determine how to protect the Palestinians.
John Fetterman and Lindsey Graham support banning International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan from entry into the U.S. because of the indictments of Israeli regime officials.
The cease-fire request is part of a case accusing Israel of committing genocide during its Gaza campaign. Israel vehemently denies the allegations. The case will take years to resolve, but South Africa wants interim orders to protect Palestinians while the legal wrangling continues.
The court ruled Friday that Israel must ensure access for any fact-finding or investigative mission sent by the U.N. to investigate the genocide allegations.
At public hearings last week at the International Court of Justice, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to “totally and unconditionally withdraw” from the Gaza Strip.
The court has already found that Israel’s military operations pose a “real and imminent risk” to the Palestinian people.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The operation has obliterated entire neighborhoods, sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes, and pushed parts of the territory into famine.
“This may well be the last chance for the court to act,” Irish lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who is part of South Africa’s legal team, told judges last week.
In January, ICJ judges ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive. In a second order in March, the court said Israel must take measures to improve the humanitarian situation.
The ICJ rules in disputes between nations. A few kilometers (miles) away, the International Criminal Court files charges against individuals it considers most responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
On Monday, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he has asked ICC judges to approve arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three top Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Israel is not an ICC member, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
Rights lawyer Brody said the that ICJ decision together with the ICC prosecutor’s request for warrants “are a 1-2 legal punch to the conduct of Israel’s war in Gaza.”
Ohio governor demands Republicans get Biden and Trump on the ballot.
Ohio governor is calling a special session of the statehouse after Republicans refused to place President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the general election ballot. It has become clear that the Republican Party is doing all it can to stop Biden.
Biden is being challenged by the left for not doing enough to stop Israel from its genocide.
The president is being challenged from the right over conspiracy theories about his son Hunter Biden, his age, his stuttering, the Russian operative Tara Reade accusing him of sexual assault, his handling of the economy, his handling of the Israel genocide and just their plain hatred of him.
The state of Ohio is not in play.
Donald J. Trump will likely carry Ohio in the general election. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is facing Bernie Moreno in the general election. It is a toss up. Brown voted to ban TikTok if the company can't find an American investor. Moreno supports an abortion ban nationwide and supports the former president Donald J. Trump's false belief of the 2020 election being stolen.
Colorado, Maine and Illinois had Trump disqualified from the primary ballot and his campaign fast tracked it to the Supreme Court. The states believe Trump's role in the insurrection is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
They had the legal right to reject an insurrectionist. The Supreme Court made it clear that Congress had the right to disqualify candidates. However, it did not make a broad impact on Trump in the primaries. He won despite not attending any Republican presidential candidate debates or even following the rules. He forced Ronna McDaniel out because of that.
DeWine on Thursday called a special session for the state's Legislature to get President Joe Biden on the ballot this November, saying his patience has "run out" with his fellow Republicans who appear less than inclined to offer a legislative fix for a timing problem with the Democratic convention.
“The Legislature had [a] session yesterday and again failed to take any action. This is simply unacceptable,” DeWine said in remarks to the press. “Ohio is running out of time to get Joe Biden, the sitting president of the United States, on the ballot this fall. Failing to do so is simply not acceptable. This is a ridiculous — this is an absurd situation.”
“The purpose of this session will be for the General Assembly to pass legislation ensuring that both major presidential candidates will be on the Ohio ballot in November, as well as legislation that would prohibit campaign spending by foreign nationals,” DeWine said.
NBC News has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment on DeWine's remarks.
The late date of this year's Democratic convention, at which Democrats are set to certify Biden as their nominee, comes after Ohio's statutory deadline to certify presidential candidates for its November ballot. In the past, such issues have been handled with quick legislative fixes, but a number of Republican legislators have balked this year.
DeWine has been at odds with the GOP-dominated state Legislature in the past. In 2021, lawmakers voted to limit his authority to issue public health orders. By votes of 23-10 in the Senate and 62-35 in the House, legislators overturned his veto of a bill that aimed to give them more power to reject his moves. The override set up a power struggle with DeWine, who had mandated masks and balanced other social distancing regulations against the reopening of schools and businesses.
Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters blasted "corrupt GOP politicians" in a statement after DeWine's announcement.
"Meanwhile, Republican politicians who hold supermajorities in both chambers at the statehouse must put politics aside and pass a clean bill to put Joe Biden on the ballot," Walters said. "Despite Republicans’ political gamesmanship, we’re confident Joe Biden will be on the Ohio ballot.”
Across the aisle, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex M. Triantafilou agreed with DeWine's decision to call a special session, "although we are confident that Donald Trump will win decisively."
Ohio used to be considered a vital swing state, but it has trended to the right in recent elections.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump won the state with about 53.3% of the vote, compared to Biden's 45.2%. Four years earlier, Trump won with 51.8% to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 43.7%. President Barack Obama won the state in 2012, marking the last time a Democratic presidential nominee has won Ohio.
When Brock Turner is out in the city, he likes to be called Allen.
Be warned, there will be details of sexual abuse.
Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner is using his middle name to avoid the publicity and try to rebuild his life. Not saying all individuals deserve a second chance, Turner is by far an unrepentant figure in the game.
White privilege kept him out of a California iron college. He now lives with the shame of being labeled a TIER III in California and Ohio where he lives.
Turner grew up in Dayton. He attended prestigious schools and was accepted into Stanford on a full ride swimming scholarship. He was hoping to be an Olympian.
But all that changed when he decided to take advantage of a woman who was too intoxicated for sexual encounters. Chanel Miller (formerly the Jane Doe) who Brock sexually assaulted was robbed of her life. Two men saw Turner drag her behind a dumpster and tried to penatrate while she was unconscious.
Two Swedish graduate students, Peter Lars Jonsson and Carl-Fredrik Arndt, were cycling on the Stanford campus at about 1:00 a.m., on January 18, 2015, when they spotted the assault taking place. According to Arndt and Jonsson, they surprised Turner behind a dumpster as he was on top of an unconscious 22-year-old Chanel Miller, whose dress had been pulled up to expose her genitals, her underwear and cell phone having been dropped beside her. Jonsson and Arndt saw Turner thrust his hips into Miller, whom the two men observed appeared to be unconscious. Jonsson testified that he confronted Turner and asked him, "What the fuck are you doing? She's unconscious." According to Jonsson, Turner quickly rose and attempted to flee the scene. As Arndt briefly went to determine whether she was breathing, Jonsson chased Turner, tripped him and held him down around 75 feet (23 m) away from the dumpster, asking "What are you smiling for?" Later, responding to the assistant District Attorney's questions during the trial, Turner testified that he was laughing because he found the situation ridiculous. Arndt then joined the chase, helping to pin Turner down while a third bystander called sheriff's deputies. When the authorities arrived, they arrested Turner on suspicion of attempted rape.
According to a deputy sheriff who described the victim as unconscious at the scene, when Miller arrived at the hospital, she did not respond to shouting and being shaken by the shoulders. She regained consciousness at 4:15 am. She later testified at Turner's trial that at the time she regained consciousness, she had pine needles in her hair and on her body, and dried blood on her hands and elbows. In an interview with police, she said she did not recall being alone with a man during the night and that she did not consent to any sexual activity. At the hospital, she was found to have abrasions and erythema (reddening) on her skin. One nurse who administered a sexual assault response team examination at the hospital determined that she had experienced significant trauma (physical injury, bruising, etc.) and penetrating trauma (piercing and cutting injuries).
Turner and Miller had attended a party at Kappa Alpha Order fraternity earlier in the night. Her sister testified in the trial that Turner, a man previously unknown to Miller, had approached her twice and attempted to kiss her, but that she pulled away. She also testified that she never saw Turner and her sister at the party. According to a police report compiled in the morning after the incident, Turner at first told police that he met Miller outside the fraternity house and left with her. He also stated he did not know her name and "stated that he would not be able to recognize her if he saw her again."
Chanel Miller.
After his arrest, Turner told police that he met Miller at the Kappa Alpha house, they "drank beer together," "walked away from the house holding hands," and that he took off her clothes and fondled her while she rubbed his back. Turner then said he got nauseous and told her he needed to vomit. Turner said he got up and started to walk away to throw up, and heard another person saying something to him which he could not understand, then heard the same person talking to another person in a foreign language. Turner initially denied but later admitted that he ran from the two Swedish graduate students before being tackled. During his trial testimony, Turner stated that he and Miller drank beer together, danced and kissed at the party, and agreed to go back to his room. Turner stated that Miller slipped on a slope behind a wooden shed, then Turner got down to the ground and started kissing her. Turner stated he then asked her if she wanted him to "finger" her, to which she said yes. He stated that he "fingered" her for a minute as they were kissing, then they started "dry humping." Turner testified that he stumbled down an incline where he was confronted by Jonsson and Arndt, who were saying things like "You're sick" and "Do you think that's OK?" Turner testified that he did not know what they were talking about. Turner stated that he fled when Jonsson tried to put him in an armlock.
Both prosecuting Attorney Alaleh Kianerci and Miller stated that Turner's narrative during trial testimony was fabricated. Kianerci argued to the jury, "He's able to write the script because she has no memory. But just because he wrote the script doesn't mean that ... knowledgeable jurors have to believe it." The victim described Turner's testimony as presenting "a strange new story, [that] almost sounded like a poorly written young adult novel."
The jury found Brock guilty and recommended a 25 year term.
The state judge, Aaron Persky decided to sentence Turner to six months in the Santa Clara County jail followed by three years of probation. After three months in jail, Turner was released on September 2, 2016. He is permanently registered as a sex offender and was obligated to participate in a sex offender rehabilitation program.
The decision was controversial. Persky was a former Stanford student and an alumni.
He called it a youthful discretion that ruined a good person's life. It led to his recall and eventual disbarment. Turner lost his scholarship and was booted from Stanford. Upon returning home, some of his allies backed him, most of the world condemned him.
Turner works at factory in Springboro and travels to his Alcoholic Anonymous and probation office. He has stayed out of the limelight.
Until now.
Folks around Dayton seen him back in the clubs and he is using his middle name Allen to pick up women.
Turner should just try to find women who are willing to take him. The club scene is going will put this predator in the iron college.
The Supreme Court's six morons dismiss the NAACP complaint about racial gerrymandering in the South.
If former president Donald J. Trump wins, he will likely stack the Supreme Court and of course, progressives will blame each other. While I am angry with President Joe Biden and his "iron clad" support for Israel as well as him signing laws giving Israel billions while banning TikTok, Democrats have a rare chance at unifying.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of segregationists. Yes, Republicans.
The very same political party that claims to "freed the slaves" but always wants them "locked up" or "put in their place" allowed the South to continue its hyperpartisan gerrymandering to keep Republicans in power for decades to come.
Biden, Congress and the Supreme Court are tanking in job approval. Trump so far has 23% of the Black vote. The former president has gained more support despite him being a confirmed rapist, deadbeat, adulterer, thief and seditionist. A liar and con man who tries to paint his rival as such.
The Court ideology is not popular. Rolling back progress is the price we pay when we don't vote or hold our vote against a candidate over a political disagreement.
Yeah, I am pissed that Biden still favors Israel. It will doom him. But the Supreme Court and the fact that the 6-3 majority is close to destroying everything should be a warning sign.
The Court's fascist wing basically stomped on fair elections and it will provide a future president an opportunity to flip a district to win a state.
The Republicans intentionally gerrymandered a map to give them an advantage.
The Court overturned a lower court decision that found that South Carolina Republicans improperly used race to gerrymander the state’s 1st Congressional District in a Thursday decision.
A three-judge federal district court panel ruled in 2023 that the lines drawn in the state’s 1st Congressional District were an illegal racial gerrymander. The legislature’s movement of Black voters out and white voters in amounted to a “bleaching” of the district, the district court said in a ruling that Republicans in the state legislature later appealed to the Supreme Court.
But the conservative majority on the Supreme Court disagreed in a 6-3 opinion that reversed and remanded the lower court decision. The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, argued that the complaint brought by the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP relied on “circumstantial” evidence that the state legislature used race when it drew the 1st District’s lines. Instead, the majority sided with South Carolina’s argument that the state’s movement of Black voters in and white voters out of the district was merely a side effect of their attempt at partisan gerrymandering.
“A circumstantial-evidence-only case is especially difficult when the State raises a partisan-gerrymandering defense,” Alito wrote in the opinion, noting that the majority of Black voters in South Carolina voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. “When partisanship and race correlate, it naturally follows that a map that has been gerrymandered to achieve a partisan end can look very similar to a racially gerrymandered map.”
Racial gerrymandering keeps insufferable lawmakers like Nancy Mace in power.
Justice Clarence Thomas filed a concurring opinion, while the three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined in a dissent.
The decision casts a bright light on the difficulties in determining when a state, particularly one like South Carolina that has a Black population twice the national average and presents a high degree of racial polarization with most Black voters and white voters supporting different parties, uses race or partisanship to redraw district lines.
And since the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that federal courts cannot adjudicate claims of partisan gerrymandering, as the Constitution has nothing to say about it, states simply need to show that they only relied on partisan information, like party registration, when engaging in redistricting.
The conservative justices were not convinced by the district court’s reliance on expert analysis showing that South Carolina could not have moved the exact number of Black voters out of the district it needed to in order to achieve the desired GOP balance without relying on race.
″[N]o direct evidence supports the District Court’s finding that race predominated in the design of District 1 in the Enacted Plan. The circumstantial evidence falls far short of showing that race, not partisan preferences, drove the districting process, and none of the expert reports offered by the Challengers provides any significant support for their position,” the majority opined.
Thomas’ concurrence goes further, questioning what is even appropriate for the Supreme Court to weigh in on.
“In my view, the Court has no power to decide these types of claims. Drawing political districts is a task for politicians, not federal judges. There are no judicially manageable standards for resolving claims about districting, and, regardless, the Constitution commits those issues exclusively to the political branches. ... It behooves us to abandon our misguided efforts and leave districting to politicians,” Thomas wrote.
In a pointed dissent, however, Kagan and the other liberal justices suggest that in interpreting the evidence of the case, “the majority goes seriously wrong.”
″[T]he Challengers introduced more than enough evidence of racial gerrymandering to support the District Court’s judgment. The majority’s attempt to explain its contrary result fails at every turn,” Kagan wrote, accusing the majority of picking and choosing evidence and inverting the burden of proof.
“In every way, the majority today stacks the deck against the Challengers. They must lose, the majority says, because the State had a “possible” story to tell about not considering race—even if the opposite story was the more credible,” she added. “When racial classifications in voting are at issue, the majority says, every doubt must be resolved in favor of the State, lest (heaven forfend) it be ‘accus[ed]’ of ‘offensive and demeaning’ conduct.”
Prior to redistricting in 2021, the 1st District featured a much closer partisan balance than it does now, with voters choosing Donald Trump over Joe Biden by just six percentage points in 2020. Democrat Joe Cunningham won the district by 4,000 votes in 2018 and then lost to current GOP Rep. Nancy Mace by fewer than 6,000 votes in 2020. Mace walked to an easy 14-point win in 2022 following the redistricting that exchanged Black voters for white voters in the district.
The Supreme Court’s decision would not have mattered for the 2024 election, however, as the district court ruled in March that the state could go forward with the challenged map while it waited on the high court’s ruling.
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