Portland, Oregon will lose all of its Walmart stores.
They build these damn Walmart stores in these cities, drive out the smaller retailers, dominate the area for at least a few decades before they all of sudden decide to close up shop and place the community in a situation where a ghost box store remains, a food desert and blame the closing on allegations of minor crime being a reason for leaving.
I hate to say this, but crime is an issue going into 2024.
Inflation, economic stress due to working at crappy jobs, drug abuse and social media are contributing factors to theft.
I was a victim of a crime. The Kia Boyz got into my vehicle and damage the window and stole property. They did not steal the car because it has an immobilizer but they could have tried to damage the vehicle at some point if they learned how to hack an immobilizer.
I couldn't go to work and I had to listen to the loud noise of wind ravaging through the broken window. Thankful I had full coverage for the replacement of a window.
I feel the pain and it has me concerned that crime will become an anchor on President Joe Biden's neck.
Republicans offer no real solutions to stopping crime. They only see it as a potential culture war. They have unpopular ideas and completely out of touch with America.
But they sure know how to message. Scare folks with things like crime and claims of the Democrats wanting to defund the police.
“Theft is growing at a faster rate than sales,” said Dean Rosenblum, a senior U.S. retail analyst at Bernstein Research. Mr. Rosenblum said theft is becoming a big enough problem that it’s starting to affect margins, which is why retailers are talking about it more frequently.
Retailers typically conduct a physical count of their inventory once a year and compare it to what is recorded on their books. The difference is known as shrink, a broad term that encompasses not just internal and external theft but also process failures that could lead to inventory being lost or recorded inaccurately.
Walmart, Inc. based in the northwestern city of Bentonville, Arkansas is deciding to close 280 stores in local communities citing theft and constant police reports.
The shutdowns come after Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillan issued a warning on the downside impact of crime and retail theft in urban locales.
“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” McMillon stated in a CNBC “Squawk Box” interview late last year. “I think local law enforcement being staffed and being a good partner is part of that equation. If that’s not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close.”
Walmart has closed stores in Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, Albuquerque, Milwaukee, Chicago, Portland, OR, Tampa, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Juneau, Cleveland and Baltimore.
Walmart is struggling with online retail which dominates with Amazon. Folks are feeling safer having groceries, hardware and electronics delivered to their homes. Walmart can claim crime and low performance all they want, but in the short term, folk who felt betrayed by Walmart closing will not travel to the nearest store.
I believe if communities boycott stores that close in their neighborhoods, it may in the short term hurt their bottom line. But I am just going to keep my head down and head to Walmart for the cheapest products since I drive.
Portland, Oregon is the largest city in the state. It has a population of 653,000 residents.
This rapper has a creepy obsession with Washed Up 45.
Forgiato Blow, a white rapper from Tampa is the grandson of Stu Arnold, founder of Auto Trader. Known as Kurt Jantz, the white rapper is a far right extremist who used his inheritance to start a career in music. He dubbed himself "Trump's Nephew" and "the mayor of MAGAville."
He is under federal watch for his participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He appeared at many Republican events and is the biggest stan for Washed Up 45.
Jantz has been making music since 2013. Back then, he’d rap about money, cars, guns, and women. He never achieved any mainstream musical recognition of note, but like many other MAGA World celebrities, he was later able to carve out a niche for himself within the movement surrounding Washed Up 45. In 2016, he put out his first pro-Trump song, “Silver Spoon.” Today he’s got more than 116,000 subscribers on YouTube, racks up hundreds of thousands of views on his videos, and has streams in the millions on Spotify. His “Let’s Go Brandon” Christmas single (he recorded five versions of “Let’s Go Brandon” tracks in total) hit over a million views on YouTube. He’s collaborated with Vanilla Ice and Rick Ross (though, to be fair, their collaborations have been less about MAGA and more about partying in South Florida).
“I’ve always thought I was the Donald Trump of rap,” said Jantz. “In the music industry, everyone loved me, but nobody wanted to support me on a big record label. Or everybody wants to support me and be my friend when they need something from me. I felt like that was like Trump—before he was president, everybody loved him… Said he’s going to be the president and they said, ‘No way.’ And then what happened? He became the president. That’s like me and music. I said I was going to make it through, you know, being a white rapper.”
He also is a pretty racist asshole.
So he decided to throw out a troupe about former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The claim was Obama was born a man. And a photoshopped image of a pregnant woman was supposedly her.
He used a photoshopped image of the former first lady in a stupid promotion of a rap video. He supports the release of those who participated in the insurrection. He also believes that rioter Ashli Babbitt was murdered by the police.
Babbitt, a conspiracy theorist who traveled from California to Washington, DC to hear Washed Up 45 spew lies about the election. She was motivated to storm the Capitol.
She was fatally shot by the U.S. Capitol Police after she attempted to penetrated a barrier near the location of former vice president Mike Pence and then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Her mother became an extremist as well. When the cop walked, it made these extremists believe that Black Lives Matter and Democrats plotted her death.
Forgiato Blow tattooed her on his body and made numerous songs in honor of her.
He is a Proud Boy who supports the noise. Mind you, he is not a wack rapper. But he is no where close to the levels of Eminem, LL Cool J, De La Soul or Rakim. He is what many see as a country rapper who dabbles in mumble rap and conspiracy theories.
I always remember the words of the former first lady:
"When they go low, we go high!"
“Going low is easy, which is why people go to it,” Obama said. “It’s easy to go low. It’s easy to lead by fear. It’s easy to be divisive. It’s easy to make people feel afraid.
“That’s the easy thing and it’s also the short-term thing,” Obama said.
“For me, what I learned from my husband, what I learned from eight years in the White House, this life, this world, our responsibility in it is so much bigger than us. When I want to go low, it’s all about my own ego. It’s not about solving anything.... It’s about seeking revenge on the thing that happened to you.”
Boebert gave birth at in early 20s. Her son (left) about to be a dad.
The insufferable lawmaker will play on the voter's sympathies in 2024. She will exploit her 17 year old son's life into parenthood as a way to justify a reason to be a member of Congress.
Boebert revealed this family news at a women’s breakfast during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland that ended last weekend, where she received a “mothers of influence” award. Boebert addressed women and men at the breakfast after accepting the award.
“I’m going to tell you all for the first time in a public setting that, not only am I a mother of four boys, but, come April, I will be a Gigi to a brand new grandson,” she said.
Boebert’s son, when she talked with him about becoming a grandmother, pointed out that Boebert made her own mother a grandmother at 36 and he suggested it was “hereditary,” Boebert told those at the breakfast.
She then praised the values of “rural conservative communities” where teen pregnancy rates tend to be higher, she said, “because we value the preciousness of life.” Boebert has challenged abortion laws and told conference participants that she and her husband were concerned about whether her son and his partner would “choose life…….And they did. And we are so proud of them — for making that sacrifice and being selfless in that position…”
Boebert staffers on Friday confirmed the announcement. Breaking from a meeting for an interview, Boebert verified her son and his girlfriend are not married and declined to reveal the age of the girlfriend, other than to say she’s over 14. (Colorado’s age of consent is 17, with exceptions allowing unmarried consensual sex when partners are within four years of the same age.)
Boebert said she and her husband, Jayson, plan to do all they can to support the young parents. “It’s something Jayson and I did not have — family that could step in and help us…. We want them to have everything possible for the baby and for themselves.”
Her son soon will graduate from high school, she said, and works at a retail tire store.
“I am just very proud of both of them for being responsible for their situation. This is a huge responsibility they are taking on. They made the right choice. Nothing was forced on them. This is a decision they made on their own,” Boebert said, adding that she doesn’t intend to change her political position opposing sex education in schools as critics have urged her to do.
“He is very excited to be a father. My mom was 18 when she had me, which inspired me to be a mother when I was 18 years old.”
Well Boebert is facing a rematch. Adam Frisch is running again and hoping this time folks will eventually see Boebert as noise and not progress. Her old restaurant Shooter's Grille in Rifle will be a Mexican Restaurant.
Kathryn Adams is the widow of the far right bigot Rush Limbaugh. She ended up inheriting his $659 million dollar fortune. The late King of Talk Radio had a sprawling West Palm Beach property and it was where he recorded his show.
Someone bought it after Adams sold it.
The roughly 2.7-acre waterfront property was quietly on the market last year, asking $150 million to $175 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The sale is a record deal for Palm Beach, according to property records and real-estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel. In 2013, hedge-funder Ken Griffin paid $129.6 million for four parcels. Last year, Oracle Corp. co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison purchased a $173 million home in nearby Manalapan, Fla., setting a record for that area.
Located on North Ocean Boulevard, the compound has multiple structures, including a large main house built in West Indies style. The property has roughly 250 feet of ocean frontage and direct access to the beach, records show.
The filth left a home worth $155 million.
Limbaugh, a talk-radio icon who died in 2021, purchased the property for $3.9 million in 1998 through a limited liability company, records show. The seller was a trust tied to his widow, Adams.
The roughly 24,000-square-foot main house was largely decorated by Limbaugh himself, according to the 2010 book “An Army of One” by Zev Chafets. A vast salon was meant to invoke Versailles, the book said, and a dining room chandelier was a replica of the one in New York’s Plaza Hotel.
Good jobs report. Still concerns about a recession and inflation.
Despite the very good job numbers, impacts in the job sector are happening. Businesses are closing up shop. Tech companies are laying off. People are still quiting their jobs at record pace. The average pay is still stagnant and measly.
Being laid off or being fired from a job really sucks. Take it from me, I hate it. I am stable but I hate the two jobs I am working at. They don't pay enough and I based my whole life around them and nothing else. It has to come to an end soon.
Nonetheless, it will get better and I believe there will be something better down the line.
Okay, for the month of February the Labor Department saw a net of 311,000 jobs. Being spread across 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia, someone is benefiting from President Joe Biden's policies.
Job creation decelerated in February but was still stronger than expected despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow the economy and bring down inflation.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 311,000 for the month, the Labor Department reported Friday. That was above the 225,000 Dow Jones estimate and a sign that the employment market is still hot.
The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, above the expectation for 3.4%, amid a tick higher in the labor force participation rate to 62.5%, its highest level since March 2020.
The survey of households, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to compute the unemployment rate, showed a smaller 177,000 increase. A more encompassing unemployment measure that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons rose to 6.8%, an increase of 0.2 percentage point.
There also was some good news on the inflation side, as average hourly earnings climbed 4.6% from a year ago, below the estimate for 4.8%. The monthly increase of 0.2% also was below the 0.4% estimate.
Fetterman being out leaves Democrats with 50 members. Sinema and Manchin will oppose several of Biden's budget proposals.
Though the jobs number was stronger than expectations, February’s growth represented a deceleration from an unusually strong January. The year opened with a nonfarm payrolls gain of 504,000, a total that was revised down only slightly from the initially reported 517,000. December’s total also was taken down slightly, to 239,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous estimate.
Leisure and hospitality led employment gains, with an increase of 105,000, about in line with the six-month average of 91,000. Retail saw a gain of 50,000. Government added 46,000, and professional and business services saw an increase of 45,000.
But information-related jobs declined 25,000, while transportation and warehousing lost 22,000 jobs for the month.
The president has delivered his budget proposal this month. The Republicans have balked at it and complained. They offered no real solutions so far.
The debt ceiling was reached and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that the U.S. will default on its payments if Congress does not pass a rise in the debt. We are at $31.4 trillion in acquired debt. Republicans want spending cuts but refuse to acknowledge what they want cut. They already bellowed they won't take out Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
With Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) out for a concussion after a nasty fall, Republicans only have 48 senators. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is out for mental health issues. Democrats have 50 senators. It leaves most of the Senate decisions in the hands of Vice President Kamala Harris and the two pains in Biden's neck, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
McConnell being out has Republicans scrambling to get Manchin to support blocking several of Biden's nominees and budget proposals.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is very unpopular. His own conference is always trying to embarrass him. From Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the Republicans have so far accomplished symbolic legislation that will have no freaking chance of passing in the Senate or even reaching Biden's desk. The president said he will veto any attempts to cut the safety net, funding for Ukraine and any culture war issues.
Train derailments in Ohio, Alabama, West Virginia, Illinois and California have sparked calls for regulation and train safety. These issues have sparked after the East Palestine derailment. Washed Up 45 and Republicans turned it into a culture war. The former president rolled back safety regulations. He blames Biden for most of the messes he created.
Florida's controversial governor Ron DeSantis is inching closer to running for president.
The CPAC Straw Poll is rigged says a Republican candidate running. Vivek Ramaswamy said that embattled CPAC head Matt Schlapp makes millions off these bogus polls. Schlapp is facing a lawsuit from Carlton Huffman, a man who accused the conservative activist of sexual assaulting him.
Washed Up 45 warned his competitors and Biden that the gloves are off. The former president is facing possible criminal charges in New York after a story from the New York Times revealed Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg has considered filing charges in the hush money payments to adult entertainer and activist Stormy Daniels.
Republicans already signal impeachment, national abortion bans, more guns on the streets, ending birthright citizenship, stopping the Biden pledge to cancel student debt, use taxpayer money to build a border wall, ban transgender people from playing gender based sports, start endless investigations into Hillary Clinton, Hunter Biden, Big Tech, the FBI, the pull out in Afghanistan, repeal the Affordable Care Act, repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, end COVID pandemic assistance and enforce voter ID laws on all Americans.
Republicans see the only path to victory is basically obstruct and complain about the president. They won't offer solutions or policies. All they care about is trying to keep folks angry with culture wars and distractions.
Despite having a one seat majority, Manchin and Sinema can derail Biden's policies.
President Joe Biden's headaches:
The Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Gun violence and Congress not doing anything to stop it.
Inflation.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. George Santos (R-NY), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).
The junk food media and their never ending dramatizing of world events.
Anti-Vaxxers.
Lawmakers and activists who protest the CDC guidelines during the pandemic.
The endless culture wars that Republicans find outrage in.
Washed Up 45 and his minions on Fox, Newsmax, OANN and the internet.
Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. The idiots who run it and the idiots who post on it.
Fox, The Daily Mail, Newsmax and OANN's relentless talk about conspiracies, Hunter Biden, Ashley Biden and the president's mental capacity and health.
The endless racism towards Biden's allies Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Barack Obama.
The relentless talk about spending despite the former president's reckless spending.
The lack of civility towards fellow Americans.
Vladimir Putin.
Xi Jinping.
Kim Jong-Un.
Benjamin Netanyahu.
The coronavirus doesn't care about your age, race, gender, sexuality, nationality, religion, politics, economic or social standings. It doesn't care about your business, your performances, your personal finances and travel. It doesn't care about the funerals, the birthday parties, the weddings, the vacations, the events and your graduations.
An active shooter doesn't care about the politics, race, gender, sexuality, nationality, religion, your finances, your family, your plans that day, your successes, your failures, and most importantly, your life.
You're not safe in the school, the concert, the hospital, the church, the casino, the bus station, the subway, the light rail train, the buses, the malls, the local big box store, the political rally, the protest rally, the women's center for reproductive surgeries, the mosque, the synagogue, the state buildings, the workplace, the gas station, the family picnic, the food truck rally, the funerals, the birthday parties, the graduations, the wedding, the televised events, the sporting events and many more events that have some terrorist with a firearm. Domestic violence, suicide, racism, culture war inspired, politically motivated and international operative inspired are types of gun violence.
Food prices, energy prices, rent, city services and college education have risen. Companies are struggling to find workers. They are now trying to push incentives to get workers in.
Real Reasons To Why Unemployment Rate Stays The Way It Is!
DEAD
BORN
THE PANDEMIC
CLIMATE CHANGE
IN PRISON
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
IN HIGH SCHOOL
IN COLLEGE NOT LOOKING
VOLUNTEER
DISABLED
INFLATION
STAY AT HOME PARENT
RETIRED
QUIT ON THEIR OWN
TERMINATED FROM EMPLOYMENT
NOT HIRING UNQUALIFIED
NOT HIRING TOO QUALIFIED
ACTIVE MILITARY
NATURAL DISASTERS
MASS SHOOTINGS DISRUPT DAILY ROUTINE
BEING LAID OFF DUE TO CLOSING OR STAFF REDUCTION
DESTRUCTION TO FACILITY OR PROPRETY
OUTSOURCING JOBS TO OTHER STATES OR COUNTRIES
BEING UNDOCUMENTED IN FEAR OF I.C.E. OR U.S. AGENCIES
BEING PUBLICLY OUTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA DOING SHAMEFUL ACTS
PARTICIPATING IN UNCIVIL OR VIOLENT PROTESTS
Jobs are looking good despite fears of an economic slowdown.
Companies are still trying to hire employees. With the average wages stagnant, many are not looking forward to returning to a job that pays dirt wages. Many who worked in the retail, restaurant and low end service industry are not willing to take a job for less than $10 an hour. Matter of fact, no one can survive on $15 an hour.
Republicans don't see the bigger picture itself. They rather continue to believe in conspiracies about people collecting the safety net and not going back to work.
Give them a liveable wage and maybe things might improve in the job market.
We can't always assume that folks are lazy. People are literally dying from being exposed to the coronavirus and folks are tired of the status quo of their jobs.
Many single mothers are having trouble trying to find quality daycare or family members to watch children. On top of that, some have lost family members due to the pandemic. A homemaker may have lost their spouse. Some may have no choice but to watch their children or loved ones due to the aftermath of the pandemic.
The two lying lawmakers. Greene and Santos are notorious liars and conspiracy theorists.
Folks are still trying to rebound from medical bills, late rent payments, owing taxes and college loans.
Republicans are white nationalists without a conscience.
Washed Up 45's presidency and Republican controlled governments killed millions of Americans. Biden has a slim majority in Congress and things can't be done with obstruction from both parties.
Holding these lawmakers accountable is not just a pledge, but a promise. You need to learn who represents your community. Your local community member, your school board member, your mayor, your state representative, your state senator, your governor, your U.S. Representative, your U.S. Senator and the president need to be held accountable for their actions.
We need to put pressure on Republicans and Democrats to do something to improve everyone's lives.
The call number to the U.S. Capitol is now going to be used. This is the official phone number, 202-224-3121. Let them know that "thoughts and prayers," "hearts going to" and "good guys with guns" are no longer acceptable and you want legislation to curb gun violence. Let them know that women deserve the right to safe medical procedures. Let them know that their failure to pass legislation to lower prices are the reasons why the economy is in a free fall.
Robert Blake, actor accused of murdering his wife and getting acquitted passed away.
The actor who was acquitted of murder passed away at the age of 89.
Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.
Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.
In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”
He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him “Robert,” not “Dad.”
It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the “Our Gang” comedies and acted in a movie classic, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller “In Cold Blood.”
His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, “Baretta.” He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was often quoted.
He may have walked but ended up being found liable for her death. He owed over $30 million for punitive damages.
Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.
In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, “Judgment Day: the John List Story,” portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.
Blake’s career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films.”
He was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant and his mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, “The Three Little Hillbillies.”
When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the “Our Gang” comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake.
He went on to work with Hollywood legends, playing the young John Garfield in “Humoresque” in 1946 and the little boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a crucial lottery ticket in the Oscar-winning “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
In adulthood, he landed serious movie roles. The biggest breakthrough was in 1967 with “In Cold Blood.” Later there were films including, “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” and “Electra Glide in Blue.”
In 1961, Blake and actress Sondra Kerr married and had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.
His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness.
“Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out,” he said in the AP interview. “I’d been alone for a long time.”
He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: “She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for.”
When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando — son of Marlon — as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.
Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child.
“Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me,” he said. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together.”
Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.
On her last night alive, Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at a neighborhood restaurant, Vitello’s. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred.
Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor’s Guild pension.
In a 2006 interview with the AP a year after his acquittal, Blake said he hoped to restart his career.
“I’d like to give my best performance,” he said. “I’d like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am. I’m not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I’d like to go to bed each night desperate to wake up each morning and create some magic.”
For the Dayton Fire Department, this is one of the worst tragedies they've seen in their lives. Five people died in a multi structure house fire in Dayton View. The fire at the 500 block of North Broadway.
The building was vacant and it appears the victims were staying inside.
The building was badly damaged, the city has to literally demolish it. While searching the debris, they would discover the bodies.
Responding crews could see heavy smoke from a mile away and on arrival began to make an aggressive interior search but had to back out due to intense fire and concerns about a collapse, said Deputy Chief Mike Rice of the Dayton Fire Department.
“We were pulled out very quickly, within a few minutes, because of the heavy fire conditions,” he said. “In the back of the structure we had fire on all floors and in the basement and we could not continue our search.”
Because of the building’s collapse during the fire, it is not clear on which floor the first deceased person found had been.
Crews also called two cadaver dogs to search for any other possible victims, Rice said.
“A second deceased victim was located under heavy debris,” a news release issued around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday from the Dayton Fire Capt. Brad French stated. “Extensive search operations are still ongoing within the collapsed portions of the structure.”
A third body was recovered around 6:45 p.m., according to emergency scanner reports, and two more were found after that. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office later Wednesday night confirmed the morgue had received five deceased people from the North Broadway Street fire.
In a release issued at 9:45 p.m., the fire department called the fire “one of the most tragic fire incidents for loss of life in the history of the City of Dayton.”
The release said that fire personnel had been working for 18 hours, but that the scene remained active and crews would continue to search “as long as necessary as long as necessary to ensure that all collapsed areas are fully accessed for search and investigative purposes.”
The house where the bodies were found was vacant and had not had gas service since 2013. However, neighbors reported seeing people going in and out of the building.
The five whose bodies were pulled from the debris have not been identified. The coroner’s office will work to determine their cause and manner of death.
Dayton Police Department homicide detectives also are investigating the deaths, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
An adjacent house also caught fire and was destroyed. Crews ordered an emergency demolition of that house as well, and a third house sustained damage.
One firefighter suffered a minor injury during operations and was evaluated at the scene, French said.
Anyone with information regarding this fire is urged to contact the DFD Fire Investigation Unit at 937-333-TIPS (8477).
Drama queens. Lauren Boebert and Cori Bush keep being in the news.
Two insufferable lawmakers getting a shouting match over the latter's support for a witness who has a white supremacist past. Mind you, both lawmakers have no real legislative accomplishments and yet voters supported them.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) is a lawmaker, activist and an ordain minister. She beaten longtime lawmaker W. Lacy Clay in a Democratic primary rematch in 2020. She gained fame during the 2015 Black Lives Matter protest against the police shooting of Michael Brown. She won after she ran a second time in a primary calling Clay out of touch with St. Louis. She is a second term member who is part of The Squad. She recently married her "security" Cortney Merritt. She used her campaign funds for private security despite having U.S. Capitol Police protection being a high profile threat. That right there is a FEC and ethics investigation. She faces a potential primary challenger in 2024.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is a lawmaker, conspiracy theorist, activist and former restaurant owner. She gained fame from being featured on Nightline. She launched a gun themed restaurant called Shooters Grille in Rifle, Colorado. She was upset over Colorado's COVID 19 mandates. She won after she called longtime lawmaker Scott Tipton a RINO. She called the Washed Up 45 supporting lawmaker insufficiently conservative. She is part of the Freedom Caucus. She ended up winning in 2020. In 2022, she barely won her election against Adam Frisch.
She has since closed Shooter Grille and may have used campaign funds for her restaurant. She is barely in her district. Last week she spoke at CPAC and last month at a church in Dallas.
Both lawmakers are controversial and worthless.
“Future events can be best ameliorated or prevented by reducing our demand for and our reliance on fossil fuels,” argued Bush in her opening statement, adding:
But my Republican colleagues have unironically invited for-profit think tank and oil titans whose expertise is in maximizing profits, especially at the expense of our Black or Brown and our indigenous neighbors’ health, safety, and well-being.
One of these so-called energy experts is a philosopher who has previously espoused White supremacist views. For instance, in his 2000 college newspaper, he wrote, quote, ‘The African and American Studies Department has 23 classes in many of these classes. African culture is presented not–
She gets cut off by Boebert.
“Mr. Chairman, I demand the gentlelady’s words be taken down,” Boebert objected. “She just called the witness a White supremacist.”
“No, I referred to the words, not to the person. Not to him. The words,” Bush shot back.
“The gentlelady is referring to the witness’s statement and referred to him as a white supremist [sic],” Boebert replied as Bush declared, “No, I did not.”
“I would like a parliamentary inquiry into having the gentlewoman’s words taken down,” Boebert demanded.
“Excuse me,” said the chairman, “The chair recognizes Congresswoman Boebert.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like a parliamentary inquiry into taking down the general lady’s words, the ranking member’s words for insinuating that our witness made white supremace [sic] statements using his words,” Boebert added, using a unique pronunciation for “supremacist.”
“The chair cannot take down words that are directed toward a witness only to other members. All right. Chair recognizes Ranking Member Bush to continue your opening statement,” Chairman Pat Fallon (R-TX) clarified.
Boebert then asked for another parliamentary inquiry, which Fallon granted. “Is it appropriate for the ranking members to show respect to the witnesses who are here present in the committee room today?” Boebert demanded.
“I think it would obviously be warranted to show respect for anyone,” Fallon replied.
“I would like that sentiment to be expressed and the members to be reminded to show respect to our witnesses who were here today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield,” Boebert concluded.
“Thank you. Chair recognizes ranking member Bush,” Fallon repeated.
“As I was saying, the African and African-American Studies Department, this is the quote, ‘has 23 classes in many of these classes. African culture is presented not as inferior to Western culture, but as on equal footing with it in other departments. The same is done with Latin American, Indian, and American Indian culture,’ end quote,” Bush continued, adding:
"When confronted about these views over two decades later, rather than disavow them, he doubled down on this narrative saying, quote, It has nothing to do with skin color. I was arguing that those cultures overall are inferior to Western culture. We are not inferior to any culture. Speaking as the descendant of one of those cultures, this is the witness the Republicans invited to discuss issues of energy security."
The Americans who died in Mexico are being returned.
What better way to win voters? Complain about the issue, offer no reasonable solutions and resort to blaming and name calling.
Since the Republican Party is obsessed with crime and xenophobia, they are obviously blaming the Biden Administration for the deaths of two Americans who went into Mexico during a gang war in the state of Tamaulipas. The U.S. State Department issued a warning to all travelers visiting northern Mexico to be alert for potential violence. This was a Level 4, one of the highest advisories meaning do not travel.
The four Americans who traveled to the city of Matamoros, a city bordering Brownsville, Texas.
They were caught in the crossfire of two warring cartels. Two men were killed. One woman and a man survived. The man was injured. The woman was sparred. In earlier posting, I thought it two women and two men.
Anyway, the victims: Eric Williams and LaTavia Washington McGee survived. Zindell Brown and Shaheed Woodward died in the crossfire.
According to The Washington Post, officials do not believe the victims were targeted before the encounter and there is no evidence to believe that the four were linked to any organized crime in the area.
McGee, Woodard, Brown and Williams did not have criminal records.
In an update to the press on March 7, 2023, Tamaulipas Governor, Américo Villarreal, said: “Of the four, two of them are dead, one person is wounded and the other is alive and right now the ambulances and the rest of the security personnel are going for them for give the corresponding support."
These idiot Republicans live nowhere close to the U.S.-Mexican border. By the way, they're scared to go into Mexico and threaten military forces to fight the cartels.
According to the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, an "innocent" Mexican citizen also died in the attack.
The White House had announced that they're going to handle the matter with Mexican authorities, the U.S. Marshals and FBI.
The far-right pretend that this hasn't happened under Washed Up 45's administration.
Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Fox are exploiting this. They are calling for military action which involve soldiers risking their lives for a meaningless war.
On top of that, none of these lawmakers would risk their lives fighting in a combat battle.
The blame game for Americans freely traveling to foreign countrieks. Like many of these folks go to Russia, North Korea, Iran, Chad, Sudan, Niger, Botswana and other places that are red flag alerts.
Of the 32 states in Mexico, two are deemed cautionary. The rest have raised levels from 3 to 4 on the avoid travel scale.
Two Americans died by bullets of the Mexican cartel.
Two of four Americans ended up dead after they were kidnapped over the weekend.
The Mexican cartels are at war and it has been a bloody battle. It is a high alert around the areas where
They were caught in a gun fight in the city of Matamoros, Mexico. They were caught and taken to an undisclosed location. Two of the victims, both men were killed. The women were spared. They were not raped or tortured.
One of the victims warned the group it was dangerous. The American consulate in Mexico had issued a warning to travelers that day. On Tuesday, Mexican officials announced that two of them had been found dead and two survived, one of whom was injured. Officials have not shared any information about the surviving Americans' location.
The women survive. The men were shot and killed.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that authorities would give more information throughout the day.
U.S. officials also confirmed on Monday that a Mexican citizen was killed in the initial attack.
CBS News has learned that the kidnapped Americans are Latavia "Tay" McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Eric James Williams and Zindell Brown. Mexican officials have not released any information about who died and who survived.
Zalandria Brown, of Florence, South Carolina, told The Associated Press she'd been in contact with the FBI and local officials after learning that her younger brother, Zindell Brown, was one of the four victims.
Zalandria Brown said Zindell Brown, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and two friends were with a third friend who was going to Mexico for "tummy tuck" cosmetic surgery. A doctor who advertises such surgeries in Matamoros didn't answer calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Zalandia Brown said the four knew of the dangers in Mexico and Zindell kept saying they shouldn't go.
The four Americans traveled to Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the FBI said.
The agency's San Antonio Division office said in a statement Sunday that the vehicle came under fire shortly after it entered Mexico.
"All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men," the office said.
The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of the culprits.
On Friday the U.S. Consulate issued an alert about a shooting and local authorities warned people to shelter in place. The alert also reminded U.S. citizens that this particular part of Mexico is a "Level 4: Do Not Travel," which is the highest warning in the U.S. State Department's travel advisory system.
The consulate in Matamoros has posted at least four security alerts since February 2020, warning of drug cartel violence, crime, kidnappings and clashes involving armed groups.
Moron plays footage that exposes lawmakers' safe spots at Capitol during 1/6 attack.
I really hope Dominion wins its lawsuit against Fox.
After years of whipping up viewers with nonstop lies and bullshit, they went into the U.S. Capitol to overthrow democracy. This was not a typical protest. It was an insurrection.
Fox downplayed the attack on the U.S. Capitol. They blamed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for the incident. They claimed that the attack and investigation into the insurrection is partisan. They claim the left is always trying to undermine Washed Up 45 and conservatives.
So now they're obsessed with "woke", "drag queens", "critical race theory" and imaginary "voter fraud". They based their programming on conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton and Chicago.
The network has continued on attacking Democrats and progressives.
Dominion Systems has revealed a lot of things about Fox. It literally is suing the network for nearly $2 billion for defamation.
They are saying that Fox literally lied about the company and knowingly knew that the network was trying to appease its viewers by allowing conspiracy theorists slander the company.
On Monday, Tucker Carlson releases portions of the footage of the 1/6 that was seen by the U.S. House Select Committee. It was given to him by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Carlson has repeatedly downplayed the Capitol riot, where a mob of Washed Up 45 supporters attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results being certified by Congress. Washed Up 45 had spent two months lying to them about how the election had been stolen and the rioters succeeded in delaying the process for several hours. Four people died in the melee. A 42-year-old Capitol police officer who was sprayed with an unknown substance at the Capitol died of a stroke the next day. At least two officers who responded to the riot died of suicide shortly after.
“The protestors were angry. They believed the election they had just voted in had been unfairly conducted. They were right,” said Carlson, who apparently thinks nothing of repeating the same falsehood that spawned the insurrection in the first place. “In retrospect, it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy. Given the facts that have since emerged about that election, no honest person can deny it.”
Carlson then aired a few minutes of surveillance footage that showed trespassers not committing violence inside the Capitol, as if to suggest that was the most notable takeaway from that day.
“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” he said. “Taken as a whole, the video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim. And that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its allies in the media prevented you from seeing it. By controlling the images you are allowed to view from Jan. 6, they controlled how the public understood that day. They could lie about what happened and you would never know the difference.”
Carlson then referred to the people in the Capitol that day as mere “sightseers” and insisted they actually had reverence for the building.
The host acknowledged the presence of a handful of violent “hooligans,” but tried to downplay the riot by saying most who were present weren’t violent.
“The overwhelming majority weren’t [violent],” he said. “They were peaceful. They were orderly and meek. These were not insurrectionists. They were sightseers. Footage from inside the Capitol overturns the story you’ve heard about Jan. 6. Protesters queue up a neat little lines. They give each other tours outside the speaker’s office. They take cheerful selfies and they smile. They’re not destroying Capitol. They obviously revere the Capitol. They’re there because they believe the election was stolen from them. They believe in the system.”
As expected, I became a victim of a crime. On Sunday, I was about to head to an overnight job and I noticed that my back passenger side window was busted out. I am an owner of a Kia and the vehicle was broken into but was stopped because the vehicle is a keyless/push button vehicle with an immobilizer. The vehicle cannot move with a key fob within range. My vehicle has some damage and property stolen. The sheriff's department said they're nothing much they can do seeing the vehicle was not stolen. My car's value depreciates and my insurance rate goes up. The vehicle will have $2,000 worth in damages and once it hits Carfax, it will be extremely difficult to sell it knowing it was a result of a crime.
The suspect(s) got away. I could not go to work and I am angry.
I cannot kill them over property. In Ohio, the Castle Rule applies only to homeowner not lease home. A vehicle can be replaced, fixed and found. Shooting and killing a thief over property is murder in the eyes of police and state prosecutors. The thief has to pose a danger to the life of the victim for use of deadly force.
The Kia Boys is a bunch of young children who learned a simple hack to hotwire Kia and Hyundai vehicles. It is seen on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. They are literally impacting the lives of Americans.
Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, St. Louis, Washington, DC, Atlanta and St. Petersburg are hot spots for Kia and Hyundai thefts. The car makers are aware but are struggling to curb the "Kia Challenge." It is coast to coast.
Republicans see an opportunity to exploit a criminal act into another pathetic culture war. The culture war the Republicans are focusing on is crime.
Crime has increased in many big cities. Not like it was in the 1980s and 1990s, crime has been relatively low in the United States. However, it is an issue now. Extremism is on the rise.
Violent crime is up nationwide and in major cities, Democrats’ main support base, as downtowns struggle to recover from the pandemic.
Last fall, Gallup found that a record 56% of Americans reported crime had gone up in their area — the highest uptick since the pollster first started asking the question in 1972. A follow-up survey in January found that 72% of Americans expected crime to continue to rise this year.
Residents of urban areas reported a 15 percentage point drop in their perceived quality of life over past year in deep-blue New Jersey, according to a new Monmouth University poll, while suburbanites said their quality of life remained stable.
In the nation's capital, home to both the local and federal lawmakers considering the crime law, homicides were up 30% over last year.
Last month, Rep. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, was attacked in the elevator of her Washington apartment building by a man with 12 previous assaults on his record.
Feds are getting into the matter of Kia and Hyundai thefts.
In an interview with a local radio station last week, Craig criticized some reformist Democrats on crime, pointing to, as an example, a failed 2021 ballot measure in Minneapolis to abolish the city’s police department and replace it with a new agency.
“There are people that have been, in my view, reckless with their words over the past few years,” she said. “If we have to choose as a nation between social justice and public safety, we’ve all lost. We have to choose both.”
This Kia Challenge is extremism. These young Black teens are willing to risk their lives, their reputation and their freedom for a simple joyride and petty theft.
President Joe Biden is expected to seek reelection. He is facing a primary challenge from leftist Marianne Williamson. He is encouraging Democrats to focus on the achievements and get tough on crime.
Democrats have focused predominantly on police reform since the George Floyd protests reignited a national debate over race and law enforcement three years ago. But rising violent crime rates and growing perceptions of unease in major cities have prompted a chorus of party strategists and officials to call for a tougher approach to counter Republican attacks.
Biden — who has a history of pushing for stauncher crime laws — has tried to straddle the Democratic divide but was forced this week to choose sides when he said he wouldn't allow the Washington, D.C., city government to enact laws that would lower some criminal penalties.
“If Republicans thought President Biden would hand them a wedge issue for 2024, they thought wrong,” said Democratic strategist Lis Smith, a veteran of former President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and an architect of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s rise. “It’s going to be very hard to define him as soft on crime after he’s denounced defunding the police and reducing sentences for crimes like carjackings.”
Nothing focuses the mind of a White House gearing up for re-election like an incumbent getting only 17% of the vote, as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot did Tuesday in the city’s crime-focused mayoral contest.
The Washington, D.C., bill offered a slew of complications. The Democratic-controlled city council passed a sweeping criminal reform measure but then the mayor, also a Democrat, vetoed it. The council overrode her veto.
Gun violence is at record highs.
But D.C.'s unusual existence as not fully independent of the federal government means that Congress can quash any law change. A Republican-led bill got the support of about 30 Democrats in the House and is now expected to pass the Senate with a handful of Democrats, forcing Biden to either sign or veto it. Democrats, who have increasingly pushed for D.C. to be left to rule itself, called on Biden to veto the measure on the grounds that it isn't the federal government's place to determine local criminal law. But Biden didn't acquiesce.
"I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule – but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings," the president said on Twitter.
The White House is planning a full-throated effort to present him as tough on crime to try to chip away at any Republican advantage on an issue that has put many Democrats on the defensive.
I support D.C. statehood as well. But I also support criminal reform which is more than corrections. I support deterrence, punishment and penalties. I believe that juvenile crime should be no longer a minor stint in juvenile iron schools. They commit adult crimes, they should face adult charges.
Crime is not a political issue. It is choice to commit an illegal act for a short term or long term gain.
Next week the president will ask for an increase in funding for his Safer America Plan, aimed at crime prevention and policing, in his 2024 budget proposal, according to a White House official. Biden is also expected to continue publicly emphasizing his record on crime issues.
The White House is more broadly preparing to intensify its criticism of Republicans on crime, with plans to highlight some GOP efforts to cut the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program; oppose an assault weapons ban; and defund the FBI. The White House plans to argue that by proposing that federal spending return to 2022 levels, for instance, Republicans would cut funding for programs that fight crime.
The effort will look similar to how Biden talked about crime while campaigning during last year’s midterm elections, the White House official said.
