Demovictory9
Demovictory9's JournalA Florida dog put a car into reverse and drove it in circles for nearly an hour
A Florida dog put a car into reverse and drove it in circles for nearly an hour
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/22/us/florida-dog-drives-circles-trnd/index.html
Anne Sabol's cul-de-sac in Port St. Lucie, Florida, is fairly quiet.
Well, it was, until a dog hopped in its owner's running car, kicked it in reverse, drove in circles for an hour and smashed a neighbor's mailbox before safely exiting the vehicle without so much as a scratch.
But Sabol didn't know who was behind the wheel when she first spotted the car, whirling around the block like an inept student driver might.
"At first I thought I saw somebody backing up, but then they kept going, and I'm like, 'OK, what're they doing?'" she told CNN affiliate WPBF.
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Then the cops came. And then the fire department. Authorities watched from a distance as the driving dog did donuts.
Finally, the vehicle hit a mailbox and some garbage cans, then slowed down.
Port St. Lucie police opened the door, and Sabol watched as a large black Labrador retriever hop out of the driver's seat.
"'OK, this is turning weird,'" she remembered thinking.
It turns out, the dog's owner, who asked to remain anonymous, had left his car running in the street when the dog changed gears and didn't stop driving for almost an hour, Port St. Lucie police said.
The community escaped injury save for the mailbox, which the dog's owner promised to fix.
As for the pup, it's impossible to know its thoughts behind the wheel. Did it jump at the chance for a joyride and a fleeting taste of freedom? Or was this all a harrowing accident as the dog felt all control slip through its paws?
'He cares about his grievances and his reelection, and that's it'
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/22/trump-sets-aside-policy-to-save-his-job-072769‘He cares about his grievances and his reelection, and that’s it‘
Trump spent the first years of his presidency micromanaging policy moves. These days, his monomaniacal focus is on surviving an existential threat.
As White House aides and senior administration officials scramble to keep his administration afloat, Trump has become monomaniacally focused on impeachment. Policy meetings and listening sessions have taken a backseat to his indignant tweeting and live analysis of witness testimony. The details of issues that once consumed his attention — such as immigration and trade — have been outsourced to senior officials, and Trump has opted to let others do the talking during meetings with foreign leaders that he would normally command himself.
“His top priority right now is making sure voters know this is the single greatest scam in the history of politics,” said a Republican close to the White House, borrowing a phrase Trump used in a White House video circulated last week. “If that sometimes means spending less time in Washington and more time interacting with Americans, that is what he’s going to do.”
But even when Trump has been at work in the West Wing, aides say his preoccupation with impeachment creeps into every discussion. Six current administration officials and people close to the president described Trump as increasingly interested in how the investigation is affecting his political standing, and more paranoid than ever about Republican defections.
In late-night phone calls to longtime pals, Trump has grumbled about the stain impeachment is likely to leave on his legacy, according to a Republican who spoke with the president recently. Others said he spends the bulk of his time monitoring reactions to impeachment, as well as what his defenders are saying, on Twitter and on cable news, and then relays his concerns to the group of aides handling the White House’s impeachment strategy.
When Trump has participated in official events recently — a White House reception celebrating his judicial appointments, a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart — they have been intrinsically linked to his reelection bid. And often, the president’s blustery comments about impeachment during those events have distracted from the events themselves.
Colorado District Closes All 46 Schools To Stop Spread Of 'Extremely Contagious Virus' TIME
Colorado District Closes All 46 Schools To Stop Spread Of 'Extremely Contagious Virus' | TIME
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/us/colorado-school-district-closed-virus-outbreak/index.html
A school district in Colorado has closed more than 40 schools for two days after a virus outbreak rapidly spread through the student population, according to school officials.
It's the first time the Mesa County Valley School District 51 has had to close all schools due to illness, the district said Wednesday.
"We are taking this highly unusual action because this virus is extremely contagious and spreading quickly across our schools," Nursing Coordinator Tanya Marvin said in the statement.
More than a dozen schools in the state's 14th largest district reported increased absences "due to illness and several incidences of vomiting in public areas of the schools," according to the Mesa County Public Health Department.
A second, related virus has also been affecting students in recent weeks, the district said. "The combination of the two has created an unprecedented spread of illness."
"Onset of symptoms for both types of viruses, including vomiting, is incredibly fast. The second version also causes fever in several cases," the district statement said.
The health department says it is working to identify the illness, which is "acting a lot like norovirus" and lasts between 12-24 hours.
under current governor, 4 Florida felons had voting rights restored
Florida voters passed Amendment 4 in 2018 with the intention of restoring voting rights to most felons who served their time. But how it will work remains uncertain due to litigation, and a waiting list for felons who want to restore their rights the traditional route continues to swell.State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said officials don’t have to wait on the legal battle to make the process easier for felons. The four-person state Cabinet could make the changes through the clemency board, she said, referring to the body that already has the power to grant restoration of civil rights.
Fried, the only Democrat on the Cabinet, asked her Republican colleagues on the board to adopt new rules for clemency. But that hasn’t happened, she said, and the result has been far fewer rights restored under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration than under previous governors Charlie Crist, Jeb Bush and Rick Scott.
"Under Governor Crist, over 155,000 Floridians had their rights restored," Fried said. "Under Governor Bush, over 76,000. Even under Governor Scott, more than 3,000 of our fellow citizens earned back their right to participate in society."
Fried then pivoted to lower numbers under the current Cabinet.
"But so far this year, under this clemency board, four have gotten their rights back," Fried told reporters at a pre-session gathering in Tallahassee. "That is not a typo. Four. Four people."
https://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2019/nov/18/nikki-fried/2019-few-florida-felons-got-their-voting-rights-ba/
U.S. TRUMP IS 'AFRAID' TO VISIT WAR ZONE COMBAT TROOPS BECAUSE 'PEOPLE WANT TO KILL HIM'
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-afraid-visit-war-zone-combat-people-want-kill-him-report-1224081?utm_source=newsweek&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=onesignal&fbclid=IwAR1gXINlMmicWHRHZE9KCD_jmB8CG4Rb2ZYfa98v3rhPviUUm7s9QGeN9jsresident Donald Trump has told aides and White House officials that he was afraid to visit U.S. troops in war zones, and didn't back the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"He's never been interested in going," one unnamed former senior White House official told The Washington Post. "He's afraid of those situations. He's afraid people want to kill him."
"I think you will see that happen," Trump told Wallace. "There are things that are being planned. We don't want to talk about it because of security reasons and everything else."
Trump also expressed his regret at not having visited Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, saying had been busy with phone calls.
"I should have done that. I was extremely busy on calls for the country. We did a lot of calling as you know," Trump said.
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a recent CNN interview described Trump not visiting troops in a war zone as a "failure of an obligation.
"I think it's bigger than just a misstep—I think it's a failure of an obligation, of a basic obligation of a commander in chief," Hagel said. "He's commander in chief of our forces, and not to go to a war zone where we have men and women dying, that's just wrong."
According to The Post, Trump will not be visiting troops over the Thanksgiving holiday, which he will spend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump Just Flipped a Court That Will Decide Crucial Voter Suppression Cases in the South
Lagoa, 52, was confirmed by a vote of 80–15. She will be the first Cuban American woman on the 11th Circuit. A day before her confirmation, the Senate elevated Robert Luck, 40, to the 11th Circuit by a vote of 64–31. Both Lagoa and Luck are members of the Federalist Society who previously served on the Florida Supreme Court for just 10 months. They were tapped for that job by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, as well as Leonard Leo, the head of the Federalist Society. (Leo personally screened applicants for the state’s high court.) Lagoa and Luck are staunchly conservative jurists.
The 11th Circuit encompasses Florida, Georgia, and Alabama—essentially the epicenter of Republican voter suppression today. It routinely hears challenges to these states’ efforts to disenfranchise citizens, including cases involving voter purges, targeted poll closures, stringent voter ID laws, burdensome registration requirements, attacks on student voting, felon disenfranchisement, and nullification of ballots. Lagoa’s and Luck’s confirmations dramatically increase the probability that the 11th Circuit will greenlight Republicans’ assault on suffrage in two states, Florida and Georgia, that will play an outsized role in the 2020 elections.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell boasted last Thursday at a Federalist Society event that he was poised to flip the 11th Circuit. “My motto,” he said, is to “leave no vacancy behind.” The Senate’s rapid confirmation of judicial nominees ensures that, no matter how and when Trump’s presidency ends, his judges will bend the law rightward for decades to come.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/trump-flips-11th-circuit-lagoa-luck.html
Donald Trump Judiciary Senate Voting Rights
Homeless dad approaches police officers at bus depot and gets more than he asked for
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/20/us/miami-dade-police-help-homeless-family-btc/index.htmlRecently, a homeless man approached several Miami-Dade police officers who routinely patrol a travel hub near the city's airport -- and the situation played out much differently.
He told the officers that he and his wife and four children had recently moved from Michigan in the hopes of him finding a job as a cook, but the family had been kicked out of a relative's home. With nowhere to go, the family of six headed to the bus depot with all of their belongings in plastic garbage bags.
"I saw his wife holding a 2-month-old, I saw the other kids and just immediately thought to myself, 'Wow, we have to help them,'" Officer Jose DeLeon recalled.
So DeLeon and fellow officers Roberto Azcuy, Isabel Soto, Dayane Wilhelm and Scott McBath -- all moms and dads, themselves -- reached into their pockets and came up with nearly $200 to help the family.
Beyond the Call of Duty
Being a new mother herself, Wilhelm couldn't fathom a newborn sleeping in the bus station.
"I had just taken out money that morning and ... I just, I gave it up," Wilhelm said through tears.
But the officers didn't stop there. After giving the family the money from their pockets, they made some calls and found a local shelter with room for the family of six. The police officers even drove them there.
"It took three units to carry everybody and their belongings," McBath recalled.
The man and his wife were extremely grateful and expressed their gratitude, the officers said. The family eventually made it back to Michigan with the money from the officers and assistance from the shelter.
People Are Absolutely Savaging Gordon Sondland's Hotels on Yelp
Reviewers on Yelp are taking out their anger with Sondland by leaving one-star ratings for the hotels to which he is linked.
“If you’re looking for a hotel owned by a Trump supporter who gave the campaign a million dollars in exchange for an ambassadorship that he’s unqualified for so he can extort foreign leaders into attacking fellow Americans, look no further,” Zee L., a Yelp user from West Hollywood, California, wrote for his assessment of the Revolution Hotel in Boston. “BONUS: plush bath robes and white hoods available in each room.”
Sondland was the founder and former chairman of Provenance Hotels, which owns and manages 14 boutique hotels across the U.S.—including the Revolution. The hotels had been well-regarded up until recently, with customers raving about the ambiance, amenities, and accommodating staff. But over the past few weeks, one-star Yelp reviews disparaging him for his involvement in the Trump-Ukraine saga have appeared on most of the hotels’ Yelp pages.
Zee’s review appeared on the day U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor told Congress that Sondland notified the Ukrainian government of an alleged quid-pro-quo arrangement pushed by the Trump administration. One user from San Francisco posted reviews on four different Provenance Hotels’ Yelp pages mentioning “swampy diplomat Gordon Sondland” was a “Major Trump supporter” on Oct. 8, the day Sondland was subpoenaed by Congress after the State Department blocked his scheduled deposition.
“Booked a rez and then discovered Dossier is owned by Gordon Sondland, a MAJOR TRUMP DONOR. Cancel!” the user wrote on the page of Portland’s Dossier Hotel.
Another California user, Will K., wrote that the Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Oregon, was an “otherwise nice-enough” but noted that Provenance Hotels was “controlled” by Sondland—who he said was a “major Trump contributor and participant in the Ukraine scandal.” “Do you want to support him?” he asked.
“I used to be an infrequent customer here but I’m appalled to learn that the owner, Gordon Sondland… was heavily involved in the Trump Ukraine scandal,” Karin W. of Portland wrote on The Heathman Hotel’s Yelp page. “I won’t be patronizing this business anymore, nor the others that he owns.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/people-are-absolutely-trashing-gordon-sondlands-hotels-on-yelp
black shoppers Spent $1K While Shopping. Then Came the Security Guard/cop. Fired!
‘I got my rights to do anything I want to do’: Officer immediately fired after viral video shows him stopping black shoppers for ‘acting suspicious’
Aaron Blackwell and his cousin Durell Cunningham had no idea why the Nordstrom Rack security guard was striding purposefully toward their car. It didn’t make sense, Blackwell would later recall. The man had watched the pair pay for their items inside the Indianapolis store, yet he still followed them outside and tried to take down their license plate number. Now, he was demanding Cunningham present his driver’s license.
“You’re acting suspicious,” the man told the cousins, who are both black. If he didn’t see identification soon, the man threatened to tow their car, or worse, have them arrested.
The tense standoff that played out last week in the parking lot outside the Nordstrom Rack was captured in a 17-minute cellphone video that has since gone viral, sparking accusations that the two men were racially profiled by the white security guard, who was later identified as Lawrence Township deputy constable Daryl Jones. The video was posted to YouTube on Nov. 13 and Lawrence Township chief constable Terry Burns told RTV6 he “made the decision immediately” to fire Jones, ousting the veteran law enforcement officer that night. Jones, who was off-duty at the time of the incident, is also no longer employed at the store, NBC News reported Tuesday.
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The men push back, repeatedly asking Jones why he needs to see identification.
“Because I told you to,” the deputy constable responds. He later says, “Because you want to run your mouth to me.”
The situation escalates when one of the men tells Jones he doesn’t have the right to run the car’s license plate.
“I got my rights to do anything I want to do,” Jones yells, leaning into the open driver’s window. “I’m a police officer.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/20/indiana-cop-fired-harassing-black-nordstrom-rack-shoppers-viral-video/
They Spent $1K While Shopping. Then Came the Security Guard
Cop Daryl Jones fired after targeting black shoppers in viral video
A white Indiana police officer has lost two jobs—one on the force and another as a store security guard—after he was seen targeting black shoppers in a viral video. Cousins Aaron Blackwell and Durell Cunningham were filming Nov. 12 as Nordstrom Rack security guard Daryl Jones, also a Lawrence Township deputy constable, approached their car after they'd spent more than $1,000 at the store north of Indianapolis, per the Washington Post. "You're acting suspicious," said Jones, who'd reportedly watched the men as they shopped and then tried to take down their license plate number. Told he didn't have the right, Jones replied, "I got my rights to do anything I want to do, I'm a police officer." He then threatened to have the pair arrested if they didn't show ID.
An Indianapolis police officer eventually arrived, spoke to the cousins, then took Jones aside. Returning, he said, "I don't think either of us have any reasonable suspicion to believe there's a crime taking place ... so there's no legal requirement for you to identify yourself." Lawrence Township Chief Constable Terry Burns tells NBC News that he fired Jones, a 20-year veteran of the force, within two hours of viewing the video posted Nov. 13, now seen more than 360,000 times. Staff at the store say Jones no longer works there, either. The fight isn't over for Cunningham, however. "This is not just about me or my cousin, or even just this city. It's about how things have been and how things cannot continue to be," he says in a video shared Monday, per the Post. "We're going to fight for everybody." (Read more racial profiling stories.)
https://www.newser.com/story/283312/cop-accused-of-racial-profiling-is-fired-twice.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_top
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