January 5, 2022

Tech founder out -claimed the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a plot by "the Jews" to exterminate people

A Utah tech company founder and onetime prominent figure in state Republican politics resigned from the board of the company he started Tuesday after sending an email outlining an antisemitic vaccination conspiracy theory.



David Bateman, founder and board chair of the company Entrata, claimed the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a plot by “the Jews” to exterminate people, Fox13 reported.

The email attacks the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and urges people not to get it. It claims the pandemic and “systematic extermination of billions of people” will lead to an effort to “consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule"

-----------

Bateman confirmed he sent the email in a text message to the news station. He said he had “nothing but love for the Jewish people” but he echoed the assertions in the email. The email contained his personal opinion and was intended for a few friends, he said.

https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Tech-founder-called-on-to-step-down-after-16749558.php

January 5, 2022

Inside Klete Keller's fall from Olympic gold to the Capitol riot

** really long sad story***


The USC graduate had been among the world’s elite freestyle swimmers in the 2000s, competing in three Olympics and winning two gold medals. Friends and fellow swimmers knew him as easygoing and likable. Now they were mystified. Why had someone who spent much of his life representing his country joined the mob to attack a defining symbol of American democracy?

------------

Hundreds of pages of court records, emails and interviews with more than 30 friends, teammates and associates show that Keller’s journey to the Capitol was the latest and most bewildering choice in a life beset by struggles since retiring from swimming more than a decade ago. A revolving series of jobs. Divorce. Living in his car for 10 months. A bitter child custody dispute. Allegations of erratic behavior.

His ex-wife testified in a child custody trial in October 2020 that he had attempted suicide and, after they separated, pinned her against a wall and asked whether she had “ever heard of marital rape.” Keller denied the allegation in a court filing. He described himself during the trial as “overwhelmed” and “lost” in the years after his career ended. The belonging and identity he found while swimming eluded him on dry land.

-------

In an interview with NBC’s Olympic Talk blog in spring 2014, Keller sounded conflicted about his years of swimming: “I should have put a lot more time into thinking about careers and what I was doing after swimming. … I still probably hold some bitterness toward myself mostly, but also a little bit toward my sport because I let myself get too deep into it. I’m still not quite over that, unfortunately, but I’m working on it.”

Sherrill sued Keller for child support in Mecklenburg County District Court in North Carolina and, that September, Judge Christy T. Mann ordered him to pay $191 a month and get a full-time job. The judge wrote: “Defendant’s underemployment is voluntary and is a result of Defendant’s naive indifference to his children’s immediate financial needs.”


https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-01-04/olympic-swimmer-klete-keller-capitol-riot-jan-6-anniversary

January 4, 2022

Man Who Stopped Wife From Driving Drunk Charged With Manslaughter After She Died Walking Home

An Alabama man was arrested and charged with manslaughter after his wife was fatally hit by a motorist while walking home drunk.

Jason Todd, 42, allegedly refused to let his wife, Tanya Anderson, get behind the wheel of her car while under the influence.

According to Alabama Local News, Todd and Anderson had been at Friends Steakhouse in Clanton, Alabama, where Todd’s band was playing their final set back in summer 2018.

Anderson had gotten drunk, demanding to drive herself home but Todd refused, telling her that he’d drive her home himself after he paid his tab.

Anderson reportedly refused and threatened to leave, at which point Todd told her to “walk home,” believing that she wouldn’t.

According to court records and police reports, Anderson began walking home, although she did not make it very far before being fatally struck by an oncoming vehicle.

Authorities immediately accused Todd of causing Anderson’s death by allowing her to walk home while intoxicated.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-who-stopped-wife-from-driving-drunk-charged-with-manslaughter-after-she-died-walking-home/ar-AASoQxA

January 4, 2022

"Ashli Babbitt should have complied"

https://twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1478006945701318660

January 4, 2022

Kazakhstan protesters chasing military vehicles away with stones

https://twitter.com/jardemalie/status/1478492274338193408

https://twitter.com/Wild_Vagabond_/status/1478496704949325828

January 4, 2022

Republican talk show host Larry Elder won't run against Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022

Republican talk show host Larry Elder announced Tuesday that he will not run again against Gov. Gavin Newsom in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

Elder was one of dozens of candidates to run against Newsom in the 2021 fall recall election. The recall election failed, with Newsom defeating the effort to remove him with 61.9% of the vote.

About 12.9 Californians voted in the recall, but more than 5.4 million of them did not cast a ballot for a replacement candidate. Elder emerged as the clear frontrunner among candidates on the replacement ballot, claiming 48% of that vote.

“I ran for Governor because I wanted to make a difference,” Elder said in a statement. “While I may not know what the future holds for me politically, our campaign’s ability to attract millions of votes and millions of dollars in a very short time demonstrates we have a message that resonates with Americans, and I believe we can put that to good use.”

Elder said he has launched a new political action committee, Elder for America, which he says will focus on re-taking the U.S. House and Senate for the Republican Party, as well as local elections that affect public safety and education.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article257039497.html#storylink=cpy

January 4, 2022

Shepherd gets 700 sheep and goats to form a message to Germans

https://www.newser.com/story/315224/shepherd-hopes-germans-get-her-sheeps-message.html

Tasty bits of bread did the trick for about 700 sheep and goats to join Germany's drive to encourage more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The animals were arranged on Monday into the shape of a roughly 330-foot syringe in a field at Schneverdingen, south of Hamburg. Shepherd Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan spent several days practicing with her animals, news agency dpa reported. But she said that in the end, it wasn't difficult to work things out—she laid out the pieces of bread, and the sheep and goats gobbled them up when they were let out into the field, the AP reports.

Organizer Hanspeter Etzold said the action was aimed at people who are still hesitating to get vaccinated. "Sheep are such likeable animals—maybe they can get the message over better," he said. The German government has made an accelerated vaccination campaign its top priority in attempting to beat back the latest wave of COVID-19 infections. The share of the population that has received at least two shots stood on Monday at 71.2%. The rate of those who have received a booster shot has increased much faster in recent weeks and now stands at 38.9% of the population.

January 4, 2022

State Trooper Accidentally Kills Brother, a Fellow Trooper

State Trooper Accidentally Kills Brother, a Fellow Trooper
North Carolina trooper lost control of his vehicle while coming to assist a traffic stop

A state trooper in North Carolina lost control of his vehicle and fatally struck a fellow trooper and a civilian. Compounding the tragedy: The two troopers were brothers, reports Fox News. Authorities say the accident unfolded about 9pm Monday, when trooper John Horton pulled over a motorist in Rutherford County. Horton's brother, James, arrived at the scene to assist, but his vehicle swerved into his brother's patrol car and struck the two other men, who were standing by the roadside, per the Charlotte Observer. The stop occurred on a rural road—WYFF has a photo—and neither the reason for the stop nor the civilian's identity have been released.

The official incident report makes no mention of road conditions, but the Observer notes that snow and sleet fell that day. James Horton was treated and released after suffering minor injuries. His brother was a 15-year veteran of the force. Their ages were not released. "Our hearts are broken with the loss of our friend and our brother," said Colonel Freddy L. Johnson Jr. in a press release. "For all involved in this tragic event the coming days will undoubtedly be difficult, but we are committed to stand alongside with them with our thoughts, prayers, and unwavering support."

https://www.newser.com/story/315259/trooper-accidentally-killed-by-fellow-trooper-his-brother.html

January 4, 2022

A record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November

WASHINGTON — A record 4.5 million American workers quit their jobs in November, a sign of confidence and more evidence that the U.S. job market is bouncing back strongly from last year’s coronavirus recession.

The Labor Department also reported Tuesday that employers posted 10.6 million job openings in November, down from 11.1 million in October but still high by historical standards.

Employers hired 6.7 million people in November, up from 6.5 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday in its monthly Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Nick Bunker, research director at the Indeed Hiring Lab, noted that quits were high in the low-wage hotel and restaurant industries. “Lots of quits means stronger worker bargaining power which will likely feed into strong wage gains,’' he said. “Wage growth was very strong in 2021, and ... we might see more of the same in 2022.’'

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-01-04/a-record-4-5-million-americans-quit-their-jobs-in-november

January 4, 2022

Texas pol who suggested grandparents willing to die from COVID tests positive

https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/tx-pol-who-suggested-grandparents-willing-to-die-from-covid-tests-positive/

Dan Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor who once suggested elderly Americans were willing to die of COVID-19 in order to save the economy, now has the virus himself.

Patrick, who’s been a critic of government shutdowns and other efforts to stop the spread of the disease, is recovering at his Houston home after testing positive, his campaign said Monday.

His campaign says his symptoms are mild and he intends to return to his regular schedule next week after testing negative for COVID-19.

The 71-year-old politician, a grandfather of seven, drew ire in March 2020 after suggesting shutdowns should be avoided at any cost — even if it meant lost lives.

“As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in,” said Patrick during a FOX News interview.