A family torn. |
John Allen Amos, Jr. was found dead in August. The junk food media reported his passing on Monday. His family just found out like everyone else.
A family torn. |
Coincidentally, I think Trump and allies want chaos. Union boss of ILA pictured with former president. The union boss say he will cripple the economy if he doesn't get his way. |
Dock workers and longshoreman strike is adverted for now. They set negotiations on Jan. 15, 2025. Dockworkers agreed to suspend the strike on October 3, 2024, with their current contract extended until as negotiations continue.
President Joe Biden is working to end the strike but is the union boss trying to prolong the event to help former president Donald J. Trump?
The longshoreman strike affects Maine to Texas. It includes ports of entry in Houston, Brownsville, New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, Charleston, Wilmington, NC, Newark, Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Portland, ME.
The International Longshoremen's Association are on strike and everyday they continue it cost the economy over $5 billion.
In September 2024, the ILA demanded a total ban on automation of cranes, gates and containers at 36 U.S. ports. The ILA threatened to strike that month unless they would receive wage hikes and a ban on automation at U.S. ports. ILA members were offered a nearly 50% wage hike, triple employer contributions to pension plans, and better health care options while retaining current rules on automation, but the ILA rejected the offer and began a strike in October. According to Politico, the strike was primarily the decision of ILA head Harold Daggett, who had been known as a critic of the Joe Biden administration and who said the strike would "cripple" the economy prior to the 2024 presidential election. Daggett criticized a labor agreement that the ILWU, the main longshoreman's union on the West Coast, achieved in 2023 with the help of the Joe Biden administration, which boosted salaries by 32%. Daggett criticized the agreement for not doing enough to stop automation.
Negotiations between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance began breaking down in June 2024. One major sticking point was wages. The ILA wanted members to receive a $5/hour raise each year of the next six-year contract, whereas the Maritime Alliance proposed a $2.50/hour raise each year.
The U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) negotiated intensively with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) on pay raises, the latter representing East Coast and Gulf Coast port workers which handle 43% to 49% of all U.S. imports, constituting several billions of USD in trade every month. with the latter proposing an opening offer of a gradual pay raise of 77% over the course of the six-year contract to account for several years of smaller wage increases and inflation. The union also demanded that automation be completely banned for port work. The prior contract gave dockworkers starting wages between $20 to $39 per hour based on experience.
Port of Virginia in Norfolk is one of the country's busiest ports. |
On the evening of September 30, the eve of the strike, the U.S. Maritime Alliance proposed a 50% pay raise and a commitment to limited incorporation of automation, but not a complete ban, as means to resume negotiations. The alliance also claimed that they had tripled port employer contributions to worker healthcare and retirement benefits. At night, the ILA made a statement accusing the alliance of refusing to incorporate their requests for a fair contract. The union called the 50% pay raise proposal "unacceptable". USMX accused ILA of refusing to negotiate, and asked labor regulators to command that the union continue them in a formal complaint. ILA dismissed the complaint as a "publicity stunt".
Coincidence?
Doggett in 1977 was involved in the strike during Jimmy Carter's administration.
Doggett in 2024 involved in the strike during Joe Biden's administration and Kamala Harris' presidential bid.
The Justice Department has lost two cases against Daggett, in which he was accused of being an associate of the Genovese crime family. In testimony at a trial in 2005, George Barone, a former Genovese "soldier" who was a Mafia enforcer before turning state's evidence, testified that Daggett was controlled by the Mafia; in his own testimony, Daggett depicted himself as a victim of the Mafia and said that Barone had threatened to kill him in 1980. Daggett and the two codefendants in the trial were found not liable in November 2005 on civil RICO charges of extortion conspiracy and fraud. One of the codefendants, Lawrence Ricci, disappeared during the trial; his body was found weeks later in a New Jersey diner decomposing with multiple gunshot wounds; the murder is still unsolved.
Daggett was reported in 2017 as owning a 76-foot yacht, the Obsession. In 2021, the yacht was sold with an asking price of $3.795 million.
He was also reported to drive a Bentley, a luxury car.
When pictures of Doggett with Trump hit the social media, the union boss became the focus of junk food media concern. Trump has allies who are willing to cause chaos to help him win. Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to start a global war. Vladimir Putin and his Russian GRU tried to put out an artificial intelligence propaganda about Harris doing a hit and run. Now Doggett who knew Trump for years was going to cripple the economy to hurt Biden. Sean O'Brien and the Teamsters refuse to endorse Harris but he spoke at the Republican National Convention. Republicans are trying to change the rules in Nebraska to eliminate single proportion electoral vote. Republicans are preparing to file lawsuits if they lose.
Yeah, it seems like a set up.
Jack Smith puts the cards on the table. |
The 165-page document, which lands weeks before an election in which Trump is taking another shot at the White House, offers new detail about special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president’s efforts to lean on state officials and paint a narrative of widespread fraud that prosecutors say Trump knew was untrue.
It includes new details of Trump’s frayed relationship with former Vice President Mike Pence; FBI evidence of Trump’s phone usage on January 6, 2021, when rioters overtook the US Capitol; and conversations with family members and others where the then-president was fighting his loss to Joe Biden.
Broadly, and in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling this summer that granted Trump sweeping immunity for official actions, Smith’s motion claims the former president took the steps he did as a political candidate – not as a president – and that, therefore, he is not entitled to protection from prosecution the justices identified in July.
“When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” Smith wrote in the brief, which Chutkan released in partially redacted form.
”At its core, the defendant’s scheme was a private one,” prosecutors wrote. “He extensively used private actors and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office.”
The filing weaves together what prominent witnesses told a federal grand jury and the FBI about Trump, along with other never-before-disclosed evidence investigators gathered about the former president’s actions leading up to and on January 6.
Trump and Vance as expected slammed the Smith report. |
The document is broken into four sections. The first section lays out the case prosecutors said they would attempt to prove at trial, including a summary of evidence; the second section gives Chutkan a roadmap for how to assess which actions are official – and therefore potentially covered by immunity – and which are not; the third section walks through how the principles should apply in Trump’s case; the fourth is a brief conclusion that asks Chutkan to rule that the actions described are not protected by immunity and that Trump “is subject to trial on the superseding indictment.”
More evidence could come out in coming days. A hefty appendix accompanying Wednesday’s filing remains under seal, and the judge has asked both sides to weigh in on how much of it should be made public. Among the documents in the appendix are grand jury transcripts and notes from FBI interviews conducted during the yearslong investigation.
Trump’s team had fought the release of the document and the former president on Wednesday called it a “hit job” and claimed without evidence it was released in response to the vice presidential debate Tuesday night.
“Democrats are Weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they know I am WINNING, and they are desperate to prop up their failing Candidate, Kamala Harris. The DOJ pushed out this latest ‘hit job’ today because JD Vance humiliated Tim Walz last night in the Debate,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
On August 27, 2024, the special counsel issued a superseding indictment that maintained the same four charges but omitted some specific allegations.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has maintained that issuing the superseding indictment did not violate any election-related Justice Department rules. The Justice Department has a policy not to overtly investigate any candidate within 60 days before an election; the superseding indictment was issued 70 days before the November 5 election. Further, Garland said, the Justice Department issued the new indictment "to respond to the direct instructions of the Supreme Court". Though Trump's team argued that the superseding indictment should be invalid due to its timing so close to an election, Judge Chutkan said she would not consider this argument.
On September 3, Trump submitted a court filing in which he once again pleaded not guilty. He waived his right to appear at his second arraignment and did not attend. He was represented at the hearing by John Lauro, Todd Blanche, and Emil Bove. As of his second arraignment on September 5, 2024, he has not yet appeared in person before Judge Chutkan.
At the September 5 hearing, Trump's lawyers argued that they were dealing with a new indictment. Judge Chutkan disagreed, observing that the four charges remained the same and that the related allegations had been reduced: "It's not more stuff, it's less."
Iran vows retaliation if Israel continues to attack them. |
The evil Israeli regime vows to strike Iran. |
America's dad, John Amos passed away. |
Eddie Murphy and John Amos. |
Good Times was a blockbuster sitcom. |
Tonight, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee will debate Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democratic vice presidential nominee on CBS.
Israel invades Lebanon despite President Joe Biden repeatedly warning this regime to not provoke a regional war. The president is not stopping military aid and continues to defend this regime despite 95% of world leaders demanding Israel be held accountable for its actions. It was never about the settlers (IDF) being held in Gaza. It was about Greater Israel.
Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants and opening a new front in a yearlong war against its Iranian-backed adversaries.
The incursion follows weeks of heavy blows by Israel against Hezbollah — including an airstrike that killed its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah – and seeks to step up the pressure on the group, which began firing rockets into northern Israel after the start of the war in Gaza. The last time Israel and Hezbollah engaged in ground combat was a monthlong war in 2006.
The Israeli military said in a brief statement it had begun “limited, localized and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” it said.
There was no word on how long the operation would last, but the army said soldiers had been training and preparing for the mission in recent months. Israel has said it will continue to strike the group until it is safe for displaced Israelis from border communities to return to their homes.
Ahead of the Israeli announcement, U.S. officials said Israel had launched small ground raids inside Lebanon, and Israel declared three small border communities to be a “closed military zone,” restricting access only to army personnel.
There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants. But throughout the evening, Israeli artillery units pounded targets in southern Lebanon and the sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut.
Smoke rose from the capital’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate.
Israel has a long and bloody history in Lebanon. It briefly invaded in 1978 in a strike against Palestinian militants. It invaded again in 1982 in an operation that turned into an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
The stepped-up action against Hezbollah also could raise the risk of a broader region-wide war as Israel confronts a series of foes backed by archenemy Iran.
Israel this week carried out an airstrike in Yemen against the Houthi militia in response to a series of missile strikes. Netanyahu has also threatened Iran, warning the Tehran government that Israel is capable of striking anywhere in the Middle East.
The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe.
France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, visiting Beirut Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive.
Barrot also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group “bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented.
Like Kamala Harris needed this racist Joe Manchin endorsing her. |
October Suprise is a coming. |
Former president Jimmy Carter wants to die peacefully knowing Kamala Harris is president-elect. |
Roselyn Carter, the love of Jimmy Carter had passed away in 2023. |
Then president George W. Bush invites then president-elect Barack Obama to the Oval Office. Obama is greeted by George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former presidents. |
President Joe Biden and First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden greet the Carters. |
Pete Rose, the legendary infielder/outfielder and manager of the Cincinnati Reds died in Las Vegas. |
He passed away in Las Vegas of possible natural causes. He was in Nashville prior for an autograph signing.
Disgraced after a betting scandal while managing the Cincinnati Reds, he died trying to reclaim his name and legacy in Cooperstown, New York at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Lodged as a possible sexual predator after three women claimed abuse including one who was a minor, Rose maintain no sexual encounter occurred.
Hailed one of the members of the Big Red Machine, he took the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Philies to MLB Division and World Series Championships.
Rose played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds lineup known as the Big Red Machine for their dominance of the National League in the 1970s. He also had a successful stint playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, where he won his third World Series championship, as well as a brief stint with the Montreal Expos. During and after his playing career, he served as the manager of the Reds from 1984 to 1989.
Rose is MLB's all-time leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215) and outs (10,328). He won three World Series championships, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Glove Awards, and the Rookie of the Year Award. He also made seventeen All-Star appearances at an unequaled five positions (second baseman, left fielder, right fielder, third baseman and first baseman). Rose won both of his Gold Gloves when he was an outfielder, in 1969 and 1970.
The all time hit king. Pete Rose's passing could finally put him in the Baseball Hall of Fame. |
He was fired from the Reds soon after. The commissioner who placed the lifetime ban, Bart Giamatti had passed away from a massive heart attack.
Rose had a brief stint with a few minor league teams that were not affiliated with the MLB or MiLB. He managed the Bridgeport Bluefish.
Thanks to his gambling and debts, he avoided paying taxes.
Pete Rose had a brief stint as a wrestler and celebrity referee in the WWE. |
Rose married Karolyn Englehardt on January 25, 1964. The couple had two children, daughter Fawn (b. 1964) and son Pete Rose Jr. (b. 1969). The marriage ended in divorce in 1980. In 1978, a paternity suit was filed naming Rose as the father of Morgan Erin Rubio. In a 1996 settlement of the lawsuit, Rose acknowledged that Rubio was his daughter.
Rose married his second wife, Carol J. Woliung, in 1984. They had two children, son Tyler (b. 1984) and daughter Cara (b. 1989), who was born two days before Rose's banishment from MLB. Rose filed for divorce from Carol in March 2011, citing irreconcilable differences, but his petition did not offer any additional details. Rose did not include a date for their separation. Documents in the filing said that Rose was looking to acquire all memorabilia and other possessions from before the marriage.
John Ashton, known for the Beverly Hills Cop franchise has passed away. |
Ashton died Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, his family announced in a statement released by Ashton’s manager, Alan Somers, on Sunday. No cause of death was immediately available.
In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Ashton was a regular face across TV series and films, including “Midnight Run,” “Little Big League” and “Gone Baby Gone.”
But in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films, Ashton played an essential part of an indelible trio. Though Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, a Detroit detective following a case in Los Angeles, was the lead, the two local detectives — Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Ashton’s Taggart — were Axel’s sometimes reluctant, sometimes eager collaborators.
Of the three, Taggart — “Sarge” to Billy — was the more fearful, by-the-book detective. But he would regularly be coaxed into Axel’s plans. Ashton co-starred in the first two films, beginning with the 1984 original, and returned for the the Netflix reboot, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” released earlier this year.
Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton in the first movie. They reunited for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (IV) this year. |
Speaking in July to Collider, Ashton recalled auditioning with De Niro.
“Bobby started handing me these matches, and I went to grab the matches, and he threw them on the floor and stared at me,” said Ashton. “I looked at the matches, and I looked up, and I said, ‘F—- you,’ and he said, ‘F—- you, too.’ I said, ‘Go —- yourself.’ I know every other actor picked those up and handed it to him, and I found out as soon as I left he went, ‘I want him,’ because he wanted somebody to stand up to him.”
Ashton is survived by his wife, Robin Hoye, of 24 years, two children, three stepchildren, a grandson, two sisters and a brother.
Dikembe Mutombo passed away from brain cancer. |
The words of iconic point guard Dikembe Mutombo. He passed away at the age of 58 from brain cancer.
Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mutombo, a Basketball Hall of Famer who was one of the best defensive players in NBA history and a longtime global ambassador for the game, died Monday from brain cancer, the league announced.
His family revealed two years ago that he was undergoing treatment in Atlanta for a brain tumor. The NBA said he died surrounded by his family.
“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”
Mutombo was distinctive in so many ways — the playful finger wag at opponents after blocking their shots, his height, his deep and gravelly voice, his massive smile. Players of this generation were always drawn to him and Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon, looked to Mutombo as an inspiration.
“It’s a sad day, especially for us Africans, and really the whole world,” Embiid said Monday. “Other than what he’s accomplished on the basketball court, I think he was even better off the court. He’s one of the guys that I look up to, as far as having an impact, not just on the court, but off the court. He’s done a lot of great things. He did a lot of great things for a lot of people. He was a role model of mine. It is a sad day.”
Mutombo spent 18 seasons in the NBA, playing for Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and the then-New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-2 center out of Georgetown was an eight-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection and went into the Hall of Fame in 2015 after averaging 9.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for his career.
He also was part of one of the league’s most iconic playoff moments, helping eighth-seeded Denver oust top-seeded Seattle in the first round of the 1994 Western Conference playoffs. That best-of-five series marked the first time a No. 8 beat a No. 1 in NBA history.
“It’s really hard to believe,” Toronto President Masai Ujiri said Monday, pausing several times because he was overcome with emotion shortly after hearing the news of Mutombo’s death. “It’s hard for us to be without that guy. You have no idea what Dikembe Mutombo meant to me. ... That guy, he made us who we are. That guy is a giant, an incredible person.”
Mutombo last played during the 2008-09 season, devoting his time after retirement to charitable and humanitarian causes. He spoke nine languages and founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997, concentrating on improving health, education and quality of life for the people in the Congo.
Mutombo's hilarious GEICO ad where he blocks random people. |
“My fondest memory of Dikembe Mutombo? He fractured my face on my birthday in Cleveland with an elbow,” James, the Los Angeles Lakers’ star, said while taking several minutes Monday to pay tribute to Mutombo’s life. “I never even got an opportunity to tell him about that. But yeah. I don’t remember how old … I was in Cleveland, my first stint, and I think I was turning 22 maybe?
“I went to the hole and caught one of those Dikembe elbows, and if anybody know about the Dikembe elbows, they do not feel good. He fractured my face, and I went to the hospital that night, and I wore a mask for a little bit. That is my memory of Dikembe,” James said.
James was close on the details: Dec. 29, 2004, was when that play happened, late in the first half, one day before his 20th birthday.
Mutombo told reporters that night he wasn’t sure how James got hurt. “He was laying there and I was like, ‘What happened, what happened?’” Mutombo told the Houston Chronicle after that game. “All I know, I was running to the basket. ... LeBron turned around to stop me going to the basket. The collision happened.”
Ryan Mutombo, the Hall of Famer’s son, said in a tribute posted on social media that his father “loved others with every ounce of his being.”
“My dad is my hero because he simply cared,” Ryan Mutombo wrote. “He remains the purest heart I have ever known.”
Mutombo served on the boards of many organizations, including Special Olympics International, the CDC Foundation and the National Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
Drake reference Dikembe Mutombo in Jumpman by saying you keep getting rejected which was one of the veteran player's moves. |
Mutombo is one of three players to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year four times. The others: reigning DPOY winner Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Hall of Famer Ben Wallace.
“He was always there to talk to me and advise me on how to approach the season and take care of my body and icing after games and stretching and trying different things like yoga,” Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “He will be always remembered and may his soul rest in peace.”
Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey — who was with Mutombo for many seasons in Houston — was informed of his friend’s death during the team’s media day on Monday. Tears welled in Morey’s eyes as he processed the news.
“There aren’t many guys like him,” Morey said. “Just a great human being. When I was a rookie GM in this league, my first chance in Houston, he was someone I went to all the time. ... His accomplishments on the court, we don’t need to talk about too much. Just an amazing human being, what he did off the court for Africa. Rest in peace, Dikembe.”