so long anti-masker!!

https://lawandcrime.com/crime/louisiana-judge-who-claimed-to-have-zero-recollection-of-racial-slur-video-resigns-from-bench/

A Louisiana judge has resigned from the Lafayette City Court, and admitted she was the one who used the N-word in video footage in which she and relatives narrated an alleged failed car burglary.


“I take full responsibility for the hurtful words I used to describe the individual who burglarized the vehicles at my home,” Michelle Odinet wrote in a letter dated Friday to Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer. “I am sorry for the pain that I have caused my community and ask for your forgiveness, as my words did not foster the public’s confidence and integrity for the judiciary.”

The video in question appeared to be a cell phone recording of a television set on a small entertainment center. Playing on the television is what in turn appeared to be a nighttime surveillance recording of the botched alleged burglary.

“And mom’s yelling, ‘N****r! N****r!’” a young man said in the footage while apparently describing and narrating the underlying incident.

“We have N****r!” a woman’s voice then said off camera while laughing and recounting the occurrence. “It’s a N****r! Like a roach.”

No one speaking appears in the footage. Ronald Handy, 59, who is Black, was arrested and charged with two counts of simple burglary in connection with the incident.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-12-31/south-africans-pay-respects-archbishop-desmond-tutu#nt=00000172-423d-d8f8-abf3-77bffd6a0001-liG0promoMedium-7030col1-main

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10358147/South-Africans-given-chance-respects-Desmond-Tutus-funeral-tomorrow.html

His body has been lying in 'the cheapest available' coffin, according to his foundation, with Tutu having previously requested 'no lavish spending' on his funeral arrangements.

Shocking video captures North Carolina store clerk, 68, using a stick to beat a 56-year-old customer who was having a seizure



Rocky Mount, North Carolina, store clerk Sobhi Hassan, 68, was taken into custody this week for attacking Gregory Evans, 56, while he was having a seizure

Evans visited the Princess Market last Wednesday and started to have a seizure while he was standing in the middle of the shop
Video footage shows Hassan instructing Evans to exit the store as he hit his legs with a stick



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10359135/Store-clerk-arrested-beating-customer-having-seizure.html

The shocking video shows Evans, who is black, standing in the middle of the shop as Hassan struck him six times on the legs.

Hassan could be heard telling Evans, 'Get out now,' before he leaned against the store counter.

Evans was hospitalized following the incident and was still undergoing additional medical tests.

'He's a little slow,' Evans' sister Edith Cooper said during a community meeting at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Monday. 'And he still doesn't have full mobility of his body at this time.'

Sen. Ted Cruz deleted a tweet after mixing up Washington state and another WA—Western Australia. The Republican senator retweeted a screenshot in which a WA Government account confirmed that dancing was banned at all New Year's events, PerthNow reports.

"Blue-state Dems are power-drunk authoritarian kill-joys," wrote Cruz, a frequent critic of COVID restrictions. "Washington State: NO DANCING ALLOWED!!! Any rational & free citizen: Piss off." He was soon mocked by critics including Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who told Cruz: " Hey Ted, WA is Western Australia. But cool tweet."

Before Cruz deleted the tweet, it was saved—and shared—by Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, among others reports the Guardian. Since Cruz deleted it, "I’ll post as a reminder to all of us to DO YOUR RESEARCH before posting misinformation," Kinzinger tweeted.

Western Australia, which has recorded a total of 1,158 COVID cases and nine COVID-related deaths since the pandemic began, has stepped up restrictions in Perth amid an outbreak that started with an infected French backpacker. The dancing ban was brought in on Dec. 23 and authorities say they plan to lift it on Jan. 4.

https://www.newser.com/story/315110/ted-cruz-mocked-for-mixing-up-washington-western-australia.html

New Zealand journalist made history and her own dream come true when she became the first person with Māori face markings to anchor the national news in primetime.



Oriini Kaipara — who has a moko kauae or a traditional chin marking worn by Māori women — filled in for the permanent anchors on Newshub Live's 6 p.m. news bulletin on New Zealand's Three channel on Monday according to Yahoo! News.

"I am proud of how far I've come in being able to anchor 6 p.m. right now," Kaipara told Stuff. "It's definitely a step forward and a step up. If there was a goal for me, it would be anchoring primetime news, and that's happened."

She added, "That is always at the back of my mind, that every step I make is like breaking through a glass ceiling. It's breaking new ground for us as Māori, but also for people of color. Whether you've got a moko kauae or not."

Kaipara previously received notoriety after she was named the first person with a moko kauee to anchor the TVNZ 1's midday news broadcast in 2019.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/new-zealand-broadcaster-becomes-first-person-with-m%C4%81ori-face-markings-to-anchor-primetime-news/ar-AASi85h

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston is not giving up on exposing how Donald Trump and his family fleeced America while he was in the White House. To that end, the bestselling author is back with a meticulously researched new book, "The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family."

I recently spoke to Johnston about his new book for "Salon Talks" and one thing is clear: His enthusiasm to see Trump held accountable has not waned just because the Trump presidency is over. In "The Big Cheat," he uncovers details on Trump's scams that began with his inaugural committee and ran straight through his "Stop the Steal" fundraising grift. In between, Johnston notes a range of corruption by Trump, such as stopping in front of his Washington hotel during the inaugural parade in 2017 to send a clear message: "If you want something from the Trump administration, you will first pay tribute to Donald." As Johnston writes, spending money at Trump's hotel was one way to do just that.

Johnston also takes aim at Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who saw their collective wealth rise by somewhere between $200 million and $600 million while working in the White House. This wasn't by happenstance, as Johnston details: It was because Javanka cashed in on Trump's presidency, with sweetheart deals from the Chinese government, the United Arab Emirates and more.

In our conversation, which you can watch or read below, the nearly 50-year veteran reporter also lays out safeguards that Congress should enact to prevent Trump, or another morally bankrupt president, from ever repeating this Trumpian fleecing of America again. But one of the best deterrents to future corruption, Johnston argues, would be the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump himself. "I would be eternally in favor of a long prison sentence," he told me.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Your book has granular details about Trump, some I knew and some I had no idea about. Let's start at the beginning: You go into great detail about the inaugural committee. Trump raised double the amount Obama did, and there are questions about where that money is. The D.C. attorney general is suing the Trump campaign right now about this very thing. Tell us more.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-and-his-family-fleeced-america-why-aren-t-they-being-held-accountable/ar-AASjdi0

The Reno Gazette Journal found some arresting details of stubborn, sometimes obstinate, drivers who ignored Caltrans and California and Nevada Highway Patrol officials’ advice to avoid driving around Tahoe for nonessential purposes.

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



Some of these drivers over the past week have not only delayed key services like gas trucks and electrical repairs from getting into the area, but have seemingly putting other drivers at risk.

One driver, Nevada Highway Patrol Officer Charles Caster told the newspaper, tried evading a closed-off highway, Nevada state Route 431, in order to take his wife to dinner to the Ritz Carlton in Truckee. (Caster said it wasn't clear if they made it up there at all.)

Another had 30 inches of snow on his vehicle, a Ford Bronco. And perhaps, most baffling of all, one stopped traffic on Interstate 580 to repair a tire chain. As the Gazette Journal notes, most drivers should have four when driving through icy conditions.

But most, ultimately, just tried to circumvent the massive highway closures earlier this week, taking poorly maintained and less-traveled throughways directed by Google Maps. Earlier this week, Caltrans District 3 spokesperson Steve Nelson told SFGATE that the agency saw drivers trying to skirt highway closures via side streets, only to end up stranded in these back roads.

https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/Nevada-Highway-Patrol-officers-deal-with-drivers-16738911.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

An eight-year-old Malayan tiger in a Naples, Florida zoo was shot to death after grabbing the arm of a cleaner and dragging it into the tiger's enclosure Wednesday evening, the zoo says.

The man, who is in his twenties, was airlifted to a hospital and was in serious condition, reports CBS Fort Meyers, Florida affiliate WINK-TV.

The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens says it was closed for the day when the man, who works for a third-party cleaning service, "entered an unauthorized area near a tiger that was inside its enclosure. The cleaning company is responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, not the animal enclosures."

According to the zoo, the man was either petting or feeding the tiger, named Eko, "both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tiger-shot-dead-after-grabbing-man-s-arm-dragging-it-zoo-says/ar-AASgMQY

Robin Fransman, a political economist in the Netherlands who preached against coronavirus lockdowns because of their high cost, has paid the ultimate price.

He died of COVID on Tuesday at 53, less than a month after revealing he had contracted the disease.


“Corona positive. It’s about time too,” the vociferous coronavirus-vaccine opponent tweeted on Dec. 3.


He lasted less than a month.


Hospitalized soon after that tweet, he died Tuesday, reported the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool.

Earlier this year Fransman had founded Herstel-NL, a group seeking what he called a balance between outright lockdowns and protecting the vulnerable. Joined by other economists, he advocated for creating “safe zones” for people whose underlying health conditions or age made them vulnerable to severe disease from the virus.

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-covid-robin-fransman-netherlands-anti-lockdown-vaccine-dies-age-53-20211230-xyufu4csnzchlohmakhgjedw6y-story.html

Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested that Democrats who move to red states should get a 'cooling off period' before being allowed to vote


Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Democrats moving to red states should be temporarily barred from voting.
Florida and Texas have received by far the largest influx of new residents relocating from other states.
Greene also once again discussed a "national divorce," where blue and red states split.
On Wednesday, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene advocated that people moving from Democratic-leaning states to Republican-leaning states should be temporarily barred from voting.

The congresswoman tweeted that "brainwashed people" moving from California and New York "really need a cooling off period."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-suggested-that-democrats-who-move-to-red-states-should-get-a-cooling-off-period-before-being-allowed-to-vote/ar-AASgep8