https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Kyle Boykin got his Confederate flag tattoo covered up this year. George Floyd's killing in May was the "initial wow factor moment," he says.


And in a similar reckoning, tattoo artists around the country say that as protests took off this year, requests to remove or cover up racist tattoos did, too.

Kyle Boykin was 17 when he got a tattoo of the Confederate flag that covered his upper arm. "Growing up in rural, small-town Ohio, that was kind of the cool thing," he says. To him, it was about being proud of his family's history in the South.

But as Boykin got older, he began to understand that as a white man, the same Confederate flag that to him represented pride held dark reminders of slavery and white supremacy for many Black Americans.

Boykin says he was careful to wear sleeves long enough to cover his tattoo at work. He is a safety supervisor for the transit agency in Zanesville, Ohio, where he has lived his entire life.

"I work with everybody, of all races, sexes, everybody, rich to poor," he says. "... I never wanted somebody that I was trying to lend a hand to in the community to, for any reason, feel uncomfortable by anything I had on my body that was never meant for that purpose."

A few years ago, he got the words "Heritage, Not Hate" added to the tattoo to clarify his intentions.

Then came George Floyd's killing in May, which was the "initial wow factor moment" for Boykin.

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The nonprofit Atlanta Redemption Ink, which helps victims of sex trafficking, former gang members and people with self-harm marks, with cover-ups and removals, tells NPR it received an influx of applications specifically from people with racist tattoos.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/30/951178996/as-statues-of-americas-racist-past-were-removed-this-year-so-were-tattoos.

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/video-orange-county-mom-records-racist-rant-video-irvine-covid-19-coronavirus/2495358/

Police are investigating a verbal and racial attack that was caught on video at a popular Orange County shopping plaza, and the woman in the video believes she was targeted because she asked a man to keep his social distance.

The 30-year-old Irvine mom says she’s actually not surprised this happened to her. She says she has seen so many other incidents of Asians being unfairly targeted since the start of the pandemic that she anticipated it could happen to her one day. And that's why, she says, she’s speaking out.

"I’m kind of emotionally prepared for this kind of situation," Hanna Li said.

Late Sunday morning, Li found herself on the receiving end of racist abuse, so she began recording.

Li says the man in the gray jeep told her to go back to China, with the video catching the end of that exchange. But the man can be heard calling her a racial slur.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9098647/Landslide-hits-Norway-sparking-mass-evacuation.html











https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/31/europe/norway-landslide-intl-hnk-scli/index.html


Photos of the site showed a large crater with destroyed buildings at the bottom of it. Other buildings hung on the edges of the crater, TV footage showed. Two more houses collapsed into the crater on Wednesday afternoon, broadcaster NRK reported.
Norway's King Harald said the landslide had made a deep impression on him.
"My thoughts are with all those who are affected, injured or have lost their homes and those who now live in fear and uncertainty of the full extent of the catastrophe," the 83-year-old monarch said in a statement released by the royal palace.
Helicopters continued to hover over the area as night fell, at times lowering emergency responders towards the debris of collapsed houses.
"There could be people trapped... but at the same time we can't be sure because it is the New Year's holiday, which means people could be elsewhere," Prime Minister Erna Solberg told reporters after visiting the site.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/12/30/bicycle-mob-attacks-bmw-suv-midtown-manhattan/



A man was driving his mother in his SUV when a group of men on bicycles jumped on the vehicle, beating the windows and yelling for them to get out.

Surveillance video shows the wild scene in Midtown.


CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez spoke with the driver, who said he hasn’t slept and his mother is severely traumatized by Tuesday’s mob attack. Both said they thought their lives were over.


As the footage shows, it was a terrifying afternoon sight. A group of young bicyclists surround an SUV and throw their bodies and bikes onto vehicle as its driver freezes in fear.

The attackers finally retreat after one jumps onto the hood and smashes the windshield.

Max Torgovnick, of the Upper East Side, was behind the wheel of that vehicle.

“When he smashed the glass, at that point my biggest fear was, they’re going to get in the car, they’re going to pull me out, and I could be killed,” Torgovnick said. “All I could hear was my mother crying and screaming. That’s what haunts me the most.”

“There was someone doing a wheelie right behind the car and he crashed into the back and that’s kind of what instigated everything,” Torgovnick said. “All of them were off their bikes surrounding the car, banging on the glass, banging on the hood, screaming, ‘Get out of the car! Roll down your window!'”

“Before I knew it, my mom is crying. She’s screaming into the phone to the 911 operator, ‘Help! Send help! We are going to die. They are going to kill us,'” he added.

https://www.newser.com/story/300699/americas-worst-serial-killer-is-dead.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_top



Samuel Little, America's deadliest serial killer, died early Wednesday at a California hospital. Litle, who was serving multiple life sentences at a California state prison, was 80. No cause of death was immediately released, but the AP reports he suffered from various ailments including diabetes and heart problems. Little was convicted of three murders in 2014, but in recent years he started confessing to dozens more slayings—he claimed to have killed 93 people across 19 states between 1970 and 2005, in many cases recalling details so specific that authorities have definitively tied him to 60 murders so far.

In many cases, he even drew his victims for authorities, and could often recall where their bodies had been dumped. With his death, they fear the victims that are as yet unidentified may remain so for even longer, the Washington Post reports. Little targeted victims who would not be missed; many of their deaths were initially attributed to accidents or drug overdoses. He was a career criminal in and out of prison for decades, and denied murdering anyone until 2018. (The Post recently took a long look at how Little got away with it for so long.)

https://www.newser.com/story/299452/it-is-possible-to-get-away-with-murder.html

How Worst Serial Killer in US Got Away With It for Decades
Samuel Little enjoyed decades of impunity by targeting the unmissed: Washington Post

also... their upset about female action characters in films.

they don't express out right racist statements about the mixed races couples... just that it's "pushed in their face"

From rightwing talk radio recently.

https://wgntv.com/news/3-year-old-boy-and-his-dog-abandoned-in-ohio-cemetery/

Authorities in Ohio are investigating after a 3-year-old boy and his dog were abandoned at a cemetery two days before Christmas.

A witness reported seeing a car driving away from Hope Memorial Gardens cemetery in Hinckley on Wednesday and a little boy and a dog running after the vehicle.

The witness called 911 and protected the boy until Hinckley police arrived. The child told officers his name was Tony, but he only knew the first names of his parents. As police tried to identify the parents, Tony was temporarily placed in a foster home.

https://fox8.com/news/investigation-continues-into-little-boy-abandoned-in-hinckley-cemetery/

After Hinckley police asked Fox 8 and other media outlets to post Tony’s photo, a relative saw the photo and contacted Tony’s father. He immediately called police and indicated that Tony had been in the custody of his mother when he and his dog were abandoned at the cemetery.

“You know, I hope that the reasoning was that, you know, maybe somebody else can do better for Tony than that person could,” Lowe said.

Police said the boy’s father has been “very cooperative” in the investigation. Late Wednesday, he met police officers at the cemetery and they were able to catch Tony’s dog, after finding him still running around the property.

Hinckley police said Tony is now being cared for by his aunt and uncle. All involved are rooting for the little boy with the big smile.

“You know, I hope he’s young enough that he doesn’t carry this for the rest of his life,” Lowe said.

Hinckley Police Chief David Centner told FOX 8 on Monday afternoon that no criminal charges have been filed, as detectives and case workers continue their joint investigation.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/medina-county/hinckley-community-provides-toys-abandoned-boy-cemetery/95-b72283bf-30e1-4871-844c-e5c7322e4102

'Overwhelming love': Community rallies around boy abandoned in Hinckley cemetery
The lobby at the Hinckley Police Department is full of gifts for Tony, who was abandoned at the Hope Memorial Gardens Cemetery on Wednesday.

12 Members Of ‘The Family’ Accused Of Hundreds Of Crimes To Support Meth Addiction

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https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/12/29/sarah-lore-family-crimes-support-meth-addiction/

A Denver Grand Jury indicted 12 people for allegedly committing hundreds of crimes to support their methamphetamine addiction. According to the indictment, Sarah Lore, 38, who is known as “Street Mom,” is accused of maintaining control of “Family” operations through violent attacks on members.

mugshots of suspects in the investigation into a crime group called the family
(credit: Denver DA)

The defendants are accused of committing identity theft from more than 240 victims – mainly through mail theft – and of stealing more than $550,000 in vehicles. They are also accused of stealing and selling weapons, bicycles, sports memorabilia, jewelry, electronics, money and other items, between April 2019 and October 2020.


The Denver District Attorney identified the other suspects as:

Estevan Barrientos, 23,
Sherry Swain, 36,
Martynas Calka, 22,
Brian Hernandez, 30,
Dakota Hoffman, 27,
Misha Lamanna, 41,
Derrick Mowery, 33,
Clifford Puppe, 36,
Kimberly Redd, 30,
Matthew Sanchez, 34,
and Christopher Wallman, 39.
The 12 defendants are variously charged with violating Colorado’s Organized Crime Control Act, identity theft, second degree kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated motor vehicle theft, extortion, theft, menacing, assault and other charges.

Trump wins ONLY BECAUSE Dems split their vote between Obama and Biden
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18 percent of the U.S. adults surveyed in Gallup's annual poll named President Trump when asked which man “living anywhere in the world they admire most.” | Patrick Semansky/ AP Photo

By KELLY HOOPER

12/29/2020 06:30 PM EST

President Donald Trump has come out on top as Americans’ most-admired man for 2020, according to Gallup’s annual survey, ending former President Barack Obama’s 12-year run with the title.

This year’s poll results mark the first time Trump has won most-admired man on his own, after last year tying with Obama for the title. Former first lady Michelle Obama still ranks as the most-admired woman in 2020, earning the title for the third year in a row, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in second place.


18 percent of the U.S. adults surveyed named Trump when asked which man “living anywhere in the world they admire most,” while 15 percent named Obama. President-elect Joe Biden was third.


The results of the poll, conducted Dec. 1-17, were heavily split along party lines, with 48 percent of Republicans naming Trump and 32 percent of Democrats opting for Obama as their top choice. Biden was also a popular choice for Democrats, earning 13 percent of their responses.

No other public figure besides Trump received more than 2 percent of Republicans’ votes. Trump and Obama tied on the vote of independents, each earning 11 percent, while Biden earned 3 percent.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/29/trump-gallup-most-admired-452126