July 21, 2021

'Eaten alive': Hawaii bars reportedly receive backlash when asking for vaccination proof

https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-restaurants-bars-vaccine-rules-covid-16327053.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

Bars and restaurants in Oahu were recently told they can lose all social distancing restrictions, but there was a catch: Under the order, staff are required to ask customers to show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result within the prior 48 hours to allow entry.

Establishments that attempted this were met with a backlash from customers and "eaten alive on social media," reports Hawaii News Now.

Now, the Hawaii Restaurant Association can’t name a single eatery still participating in the program.

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July 20, 2021

Olympics Composer Keigo Oyamada Resigns After Outrage Over Past Bullying of disabled

Oyamada, also known by his stage name Cornelius, made the comments in a pair of interviews in the mid-Nineties when his career was taking off. The popular Japanese music blog, Arma! Japan, stated that Oyamada told reporters that he tormented a classmate from elementary school through high school, with the blog characterizing Oyamada’s comments at the time as “boastful.”

In the interviews, Oyamada reportedly said he would force his classmate to eat his own feces and masturbate in front of other students. He also reportedly made the boy walk around the school with his penis exposed, tied him up, trapped him in a box, and duct-taped a cardboard box around his head and poured chalk dust inside.

https://talesbuzz.com/tokyo-olympics-composer-steps-down-after-comments-about-bullying-classmate-resurface/


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In both the January 1994 issue of the Rockin’On Japan magazine and the March 1995 issue of the Quick Japan magazine, the composer had confessed to bullying classmates with disabilities.

A change.org petition with over 30,000 signatures had been set up calling for his resignation, citing quotes from the interview, where he confessed, “I’d strip (one disabled kid) naked and roll him up in cords and make (him) masturbate. I made him eat shit and then performed a belly-to-back-drop wrestling move on him.”

Many Twitter users expressed their disgust at the hiring of Oyamada. One user wrote, “Athletes with disabilities will come to the Paralympic Opening Ceremony with the music of this Keigo Oyamada. What a joke from Tokyo.” Another posted, “The music of Keigo Oyamada, who once abused minorities and people with mental disabilities, should not be eligible for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

https://variety.com/2021/artisans/news/olympics-composer-resigns-1235022906/


With the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympic games days away, composer Keigo Oyamada has stepped down, after quotes in which he acknowledged bullying classmates in his youth resurfaced and stirred controversy.

Keigo Oyamada, 52, also known as Cornelius, posted on his social media platforms, “I sincerely accept the opinions and advice I have received, express my gratitude, and will keep them in mind for my future actions and thoughts. I apologize from the bottom of my heart.” He added, “As for my participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, I acutely feel that my having accepted the request was lacking consideration for various people.”

“I made arrangements with relevant parties and submitted my resignation to the organizing committee.”


“We offer our deepest apologies for the offense and confusion caused to so many during this time,” organizers said. Oyamada, 52, apologized online last week, writing, "We sincerely apologize for making many people feel very uncomfortable about my participation in music production at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games... I am deeply sorry for my classmates and their parents who have been hurt by my remarks and actions, and in school life, which is supposed to make fun memories, I did not become a good friend, but rather I was in a position to hurt. I feel deep regret and responsibility. When I was a student and at the time of the interview, I think I was a very immature person who could not imagine the feelings of the victims."

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9603174/cornelius-keigo-oyamada-resigns-olympic-opening-ceremony-bullying/


Oyamada, whose works have been compared with the American rock musician Beck, talked about the abuse in Japanese magazine interviews he gave in the 1990s.

In a statement on Sunday, Atsuko Kubo, head of an association of families of the mentally disabled, “strongly protested” against Oyamada’s past actions and said it was disturbing he had targeted the disabled, who were less likely to fight back, and that he still bragged about it years later.

https://apnews.com/article/composer-keigo-oyamada-bullying-2020-tokyo-olympics-674cac7836e317f9926a94ed93fee884

July 20, 2021

builder builds two car garage that won't fit two cars

July 20, 2021

I Can't Stop Staring at This Siberian Mosquito Tornado

https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/07/siberian-mosquito-tornado/



I Can’t Stop Staring at This Siberian Mosquito Tornado
Take a look, if you dare:

Exceptionally heavy rains, the kind that are sometimes linked to human created climate-change, can create new wet areas where mosquitos lay eggs and bring about frightening swarms after hatching. But according to the Twitter account of the Siberian Times, a highly-followable English language content-creator from Russia’s far east, what you’re seeing here—roughly one gazillion male insects circling and looking for females—is typical Siberian summer fare.

https://twitter.com/siberian_times/status/1416718343122276355

July 20, 2021

brown bear had enough of dancing while wearing hat and glittering scarf

The harrowing 20-second clip starts off with a brown bear following its trainer around a ring on its hind legs while sporting a hat and glittering scarf, one of the many get-ups the circus makes its bears wear during their performances.

Things go south, however, when the bruin suddenly lunges at the woman and latches onto her leg, causing her to fall to the ground in full view of the aghast audience. The trainer can be seen trying in vain to wriggle free before fellow performers manage to yank the enraged animal off.

https://twitter.com/siberian_times/status/1416832071998132224

https://nypost.com/2021/07/19/circus-trainer-mauled-twice-by-bear-in-front-of-crowd/

The clip then cuts to the bear making a second pass at its master before her male co-star breaks it up. Local outlets reported that the show was not stopped despite the multiple attacks, which included a third mauling that was not caught on camera.

The trainer reportedly didn’t seek medical attention following the ordeal, the Mirror reported.

Despite the video evidence, Harlequin Circus p.r. reps denied that an attack took place.

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July 19, 2021

outcome of leaving hit and run at 80-100mph - driver is ok

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Multiple recordings show the car speeding on Highway 99 sometime on Thursday before sustaining air of up to 50 feet and then crashing on the other side of the road.

A spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol told the Sacramento news outlet KOVR that the vehicle had just been involved in a hit-and-run, driving backward on the highway and speeding excessively. A spokesperson for the CHP did not provide further comment to SFGATE.


Brian Conejo, an employee at a nearby agricultural equipment shop whose surveillance cameras recorded the crash, told KOVR the car was "probably doing 80 [to] 100 miles per hour in a 25 zone."

"There’s a really hard left-hand turn up here [on Highway 99],” he told the station. “They failed to make that turn, just kept going straight and literally went flying over the whole overpass.”

Surprisingly, the woman driving the vehicle was left unharmed with only minor injuries, the station reports. Also, the incident, Conejo told the station, could have gotten much worse if she had tangled up with some power lines.

“Pretty crazy to see someone flying through the air,” he added.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Car-flies-50-feet-air-Highway-99-Yuba-City-16324439.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

July 19, 2021

Pence dubbed 'Antichrist' by Trump fans as his 2024 chances look slim

Former Vice President Mike Pence is hitting the speaking circuit once again less than a year after leaving office, but his reception has been lukewarm at best - and furious at worst.

'There are some Trump supporters who think he's the Antichrist,' an Iowa GOP official told Politico after Pence's first trip to the state since the election.

A recent Conservative Political Action Conference poll showed the ex-VP with just 1 percent of support for a possible 2024 run.

And while Iowa Republicans gave him a warm welcome Friday - calling him a 'man of faith,' Republicans in other parts of the country have been less friendly.

At a June Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Florida, Pence was heckled and called a 'traitor' by crowds who were furious he didn't stop the certification of the presidential election on January 6.

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Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said supporters of the ex-president 'understand Pence betrayed them' and so he's now 'being shunned and erased from the MAGA movement' as a result.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pence-dubbed-antichrist-by-trump-fans-as-his-2024-chances-look-slim/ar-AAMkMVi?ocid=msedgdhp

July 19, 2021

Paralympian Olivia Breen said an official called her sprint briefs 'too short and inappropriate'

Double Paralympic world champion Olivia Breen says she was left "speechless" after an official at the English Championships told her that her sprint briefs were "too short and inappropriate."

The 24-year-old detailed the incident in a Twitter post on Sunday, saying that while she was grateful to the volunteers who officiate at the competitions, women should not be made to feel self-conscious while competing.

"I am always grateful for the incredible volunteers who officiate at athletics events," Breen told her 10,200 followers. "They do an amazing job and make it possible for us to compete."

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Breen said the remark hurt more coming from another woman.
"You have no right to say what I can and can't wear," said Breen, adding that she went public to raise awareness.





https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/19/sport/olivia-breen-shorts-briefs-intl-scli-gbr/index.html

Olivia Breen, a two-time Paralympic world champion, said she was told by an official at the English Championships in Bedford, England, on Sunday that her competition briefs were "too short and inappropriate."

Breen, who wrote about the exchange in a statement on Twitter on Sunday, said she was left speechless and outraged, and questioned whether a male athlete would be subjected to the same remarks.

"I have been wearing the same sprint style briefs for many years and they are specifically designed for competing in," Breen, 24, wrote. "I will hopefully be wearing them in Tokyo. It made me question whether a male competitor would be similarly criticized."


Breen, who has cerebral palsy, is scheduled to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics next month. She previously won the world gold medals in the T35-38 4x100m in 2015 and the T38 long jump in 2017.

https://www.insider.com/paralympian-olivia-breen-official-called-sprint-briefs-too-short-2021-7

July 19, 2021

Dog trapped between concrete walls for 5 days rescued by firefighters, found wagging tail

The dog, Gertie, went missing on Tuesday after owner Connie Frick told WXIX her dog ran into the woods and didn't return. She made posters for the missing dog and put them around her neighborhood. On Sunday morning, a nearby homeowner heard dog cries coming from their garage wall and called the Cincinnati Fire Department.

A dog that had been missing for five days was found on Sunday after firefighters saved it from being stuck between two concrete walls.

July 19, 2021

violent spree by 35 yr old male in Arizona leaves 5 shot, several kids missing, one dead

A series of attacks on paramedics, firefighters and police on Sunday left five people shot, several children missing and one person dead in Tucson, Ariz., USA Today reported Monday.

The suspect, who is in critical condition after being shot by police, is an unidentified 35-year-old man accused of opening fire on an ambulance responding to a medical call at Quincie Douglas Park at about 3:45 p.m.

The man allegedly shot the 20-year-old male EMT driver in the head and struck the 21-year old female passenger in the chest and arm, according to USA Today. Both were hospitalized, the driver in critical condition and the passenger is in stable condition.


The suspect is then accused of driving to the scene of a nearby house fire about a mile away and opening fire on firefighters and neighbors who were attempting to put out the fire. A neighbor was fatally shot in the head while the fire captain was shot in the arm. Another person was grazed in the head by a bullet. That person and the fire captain are reportedly in good condition.

One person was killed in the house fire and two or three children are currently missing, according to NBC News. The relationship between the suspect and the victims of the fire is currently unknown.


https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/563652-five-people-shot-including-ambulance-crew-in-arizona-attack