Posts Categorized: News

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Alec Baldwin may face manslaughter charges

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Actor Alec Baldwin may face federal manslaughter charges after shooting and killing a cinematographer and injuring a director on the set of his low budget independent film, "Rust."

Chicago-based attorney Andrew Stoltmann believes Baldwin "needs to start thinking like a potential defendant instead of just somebody who made a tragic mistake."

"I'm certainly not saying he's going to be charged," Stoltman told Fox News, "but what I am saying is anytime somebody shoots another human being – even on accident, even in self-defense – the police and eventually prosecutors look very, very carefully at what happened.”

According to an affidavit released Sunday night, Baldwin, 66, was practicing firing into a camera when camerawoman Halyna Hutchins was shot in the chest on Thursday.

The bullet went through Hutchins and struck director Joel Souza in the clavicle. Hutchins, 42, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Souza was treated and released from a hospital the same day.

A sheriff's investigation is ongoing, but no charges are expected to be filed against Baldwin.

However, federal prosecutors are considering filing charges against the volatile actor who reportedly angered unionized crew members earlier in the day.

The crew members say they walked off the set because of poor working conditions and gun safety issues.

They crew was fired and replaced by non-union workers. One of those non-union workers, a 24-year-old woman with no experience, was given the assignment of preparing a prop gun for Baldwin.

It was revealed in the affidavit that some crew members used the same gun for target practice on the desert set earlier.

Investigators say Baldwin and his crew violated the 1st rule of gun safety: never point a gun at someone. Always assume the gun is loaded.

There's a difference between a "prop gun" and a real firearm -- and the crew members knew the gun was real.

At least one scripted television series, ABC's cop show "The Rookie," has banned the use of real guns on the set going forward.

Whether Baldwin is charged or not, his acting career is over.

Hollywood insiders say the low budget movie he was filming at the time of the incident will never see the light of day.
 

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Violence Ends at Louisiana High School After Concerned Dads Go On Patrol

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CBS Evening News

23 students were arrested at Southwood High School in Shreveport, Louisiana for fighting over the course of three days.

The violence ended when a group of Black fathers decided to take matters into their own hands and patrol the school's hallways.

The fathers call themselves "Dads On Duty" and they have already made a difference in a school that was known for violence among the students and toward teachers.

Southwood is a majority Black high school where the students are primarily raised by single mothers in fatherless households.

Parent Michael LaFitte saw a need for strong Black fathers to patrol the hallways to represent the father figures that some students lack at home.

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CBS Evening News

"We're dads. So, we decided the best people who can take care of our kids are who? Are us," LaFitte, told CBS Evening News.

Another dad said, "Because not everybody has a father figure at home." LaFitte added, "Or a male, period, in their life. So just to be here makes a big difference."

The men don't just patrol the hallways to protect their own children, they also get to know the students on a first name basis.

Dads On Duty are examples of real men for young Black males. They encourage students to do better in class -- things a father would do at home.

Dads On Duty has 40 members who volunteer to work shifts at the school as peace-keepers.

The group is so successful that there are are plans to take Dads On Duty national with chapters in cities where school violence is rampant - such as Chicago, New York City, and Atlanta.
 

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Republicans and Democrats Sign Letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci Demanding to Know Why Beagles Used in Horrific Experiments

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Getty Images, White Coat Waste

24 lawmakers signed a letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci who approved grants to fund horrific experiments on adorable beagle puppies.

The White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit organization, obtained documents and photos about the experiments on beagle puppies in Bethesda, Maryland in 2016 and Tunisia, Africa in 2018 and 2019.

In one photo released by the White Coat Waste Project, two drugged beagle puppies lay on a table with their heads trapped inside mesh cages.

The cages were filled with flesh-eating sand flies that ate the dogs alive.

The dogs' vocal cords were cut so the laboratory staff could work in peace.

iStock / Getty Images Plus

Purebred beagle puppies sell for $500 to $5,000 in the U.S.

The beagle puppies were used in research for anti-parasitic medications.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) does not require drugs such as anti-parasitic medications to be tested on dogs.

Dr. Fauci is a clinical associate with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The NIAID, led by Fauci, reportedly spent $2 million on the beagle research project.

White Coat Waste told Changing America:

"Our investigators show that Fauci's NIH division shipped part of a $375,800 grant to a lab in Tunisia to drug beagles and lock their heads in mesh cages filled with hungry sand flies so that the insects could eat them alive. They also locked beagles alone in cages in the desert overnight for nine consecutive nights to use them as bait to attract infectious sand flies."

South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace wrote a letter to the NIH after learning of the investigation by the White Coat Waste Project.

Fifteen House Republicans and 9 House Democrats signed the letter asking Fauci to explain why beagle puppies were used in the heinous experiments.

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1 Person Killed, 1 Injured On Alec Baldwin Movie Set, Prop Gun ‘Malfunctioned’

Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com

A cinematographer was killed and the director injured when a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin apparently was loaded with live amunition.

According to Deadline, Baldwin, 68, was filming a scene for a movie that required him to fire a gun loaded with blanks. However, the gun was loaded with live ammunition and fired projectiles at the crew.

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Facebook

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was struck by shrapnel or a bullet and died at a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Wednesday.

Writer-director Joel Souza, 48, was transported to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury and has been released.

Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com

Baldwin, pictured with his wife, Hilaria, is starring in a new western called "Rust."

Baldwin was not injured and is said to be "distraught", according to the film company.

Earlier Thursday, Baldwin posted a picture of himself in character on the set. No criminal charges have been filed and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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Netflix Trans Employees Walk Out in Protest of Dave Chappelle Comedy Special

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The Netflix employee walkout is happening now outside Netflix's Los Angeles headquarters in protest over Dave Chappelle's comedy special.

Hundreds of employees walked out of Netflix's headquarters on Wednesday, Oct. 20. The protesters are angry over Chappelle's transgender jokes in his comedy special The Closer.
 

 

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

"Transphobia is not a joke," said Ashlee Marie Preston (pictured), who organized the walkout.

"We're up against the emergence of hate economy. And there is this manipulation of algorithmic science that distorts the way that we perceive ourselves and others. And I think that companies like Netflix, Facebook, and Instagram, they play into it, and they monetize on it. And so I think that this is important to show up today."

Preston invited Chappelle to meet with them before the walkout, but he refused.

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Chappelle's transgender supporters tried to disrupt the protest.

Counter protesters held up signs reading "Jokes Are Funny," and "Netflix Don't Cancel Free Speech."

"We are protesting this walkout. They have the right to do it, but we have the right to standup for Dave Chappelle and his freedom of expression," said Gigi LaRoux, a transgender Chappelle supporter.

"This boils down to equality, and if people want equality they need to be put on the same level as anybody else. Comedians are equal opportunity destroyers. You can't pick and choose who you're going to make fun of."

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos walked back memos he sent to staff in support of Chappelle.

"I can tell you I screwed up those two communications, but my stance hasn't changed," Sarandos said in a phone interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Sarandos said he should have acknowledged that "a group of our employees were in pain" and "hurt" by the company's decision to air the special.

"I'd say those emails lacked humanity, in which I like to and I do generally communicate with our teams," he added.
 

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Atlanta man who almost shot 14-year-old boy trying to steal his Benz speaks on incident

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Twitter

An Atlanta man who nearly shot a teenager trying to steal his Benz explained why he let the kid go.

The incident was captured on surveillance video at a gas station in East Atlanta.

The undated video shows a 14-year-old boy casually approach the idling Mercedes and jump into the car.

Before the kid could drive off, the car's owner ran up to the vehicle with his gun drawn and the boy gave up without a fight.

The man and the boy then walk out of the camera frame.

Instagram blog @ATLuncensored shared video of the man explaining what happened afterwards.

The Macon, Georgia native said he realized the car thief was "just a kid" and he saw himself in the boy.

"I did some crazy sh*t when I was coming up, that I could'a got my head blowed off too, um when I was younger... I pretty much got him out the car, lifted his shirt up to make sure he didn't have no pistol on him, cause I was gonna take that."

The man said he talked to the youngster and advised him to get a new hustle. He said he wanted to discipline the fatherless boy.

"I wanted to whup him, you know what I'm saying. I wanted to knock his teeth out his mouth, but I didn't.

"He lived to see another day. The next person ain't gonna be as lenient as I am."

Watch the videos below.
 

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Trump’s Surgeon General Blames Unvaccinated for Colin Powell’s Death

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Former Trump administration Surgeon General Jerome Adams blamed the unvaccinated for the death of retired Gen. Colin Powell.

Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state, died from complications related to Covid-19 on Monday, Oct. 18, at age 84.

Powell was fully vaccinated, according to his family in a Facebook post.

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Dr. Adams, who is fully vaccinated, appeared on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" on Monday night. He claimed that Powell died because some Americans refuse to get vaccinated.

Howver, recent studies have shown that the vaccinated can spread and contract the virus.

Cuomo asked Adams if "Powell passing while being vaccinated is proof that the vaccination is not necessary?"

Adams responded:

"It's absolutely untrue. We've got people out there who are in the vaccine-resistant crowd. We've got people who have completely different agendas, agendas that have nothing to do with vaccines, and as you mentioned, want to divide us."

Adams continued:

"We've got a lot of people out there who are just thrown, who react to misinformation. They need the correct facts. For those of you out there in the moveable middle, I want you to know there have been 7,000 breakthrough deaths since people have been fully vaccinated starting in January of this year. That's compared to over 300,000 unvaccinated people who died in this country, 7,000 to 300,000. These vaccines work."

Adams went on to say Powell had co-morbidities which made him more vulnerable to dying from a Covid breakthrough.

"[Powell] was someone primed for a breakthrough infection. He's someone who did what he was supposed to do. He got vaccinated, but it proves we can't just say we're only going to protect the vulnerable, we're only going to worry about those people getting vaccinated, and everyone else doesn't matter. We all matter. And the fact is that General Powell died because we didn't take the proper measures to lower spread in this country. We didn't do everything that we could."

The former surgeon general's words left many on Twitter.com asking, if the vaccinated need the unvaccinated to protect them, what exactly does the vaccine do?

Since everyone around Powell was probably vaccinated (family, nurses, doctors, etc.), it is more likely that he caught the virus from a vaccinated person.

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Fully Vaccinated Colin Powell Dead From COVID-19 at Age 84

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Retired Gen. Colin Luther Powell, who served as the first Black U.S. secretary of state, has died of COVID-19. He was 84.

Powell died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on October 18. His death was due to complications related to COVID-19.

He was fully vaccinated, his family said in a statement on Facebook.

Corbis via Getty Images

"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," his family wrote. They thanked the staff at the hospital near Washington, D.C., but didn't clarify which vaccines he received.

Powell was previously diagnosed with multiple myeloma before he died. It isn't clear if the multiple myeloma diagnosis was related to the vaccines he received.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells in the immune system. Plasma cells are white blood cells that produce antibodies in response to an invasion of a virus or other antigen, such as an experimental vaccine.

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Powell was a highly decorated retired four-star general and one of the highest-ranking Black people in the White House when he served as U.S. secretary of state under ex-President George W. Bush from 2001-2005.

Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, also served as national security adviser to ex-President Ronald Reagan (1987-1989), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), and an adviser to ex-President Barack Obama (2007).

Corbis via Getty Images

Former President George W. Bush, right, called Powell "a great man" in a statement on Monday.

Bush noted that Powell "was such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom – twice.

Powell leaves behind his wife Alma Johnson, and their three adult children, Michael, Linda, and Annemarie.

Condolences continue to pour in from around the world on social media.

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Netflix fires trans employee for leaking that it paid Dave Chappelle $24.1 million for his special

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Netflix fired a longtime employee who leaked the amount that the company paid Dave Chappelle for his controversial comedy special The Closer.

The employee was let go after they leaked that Netflix paid Chappelle $24.1 million for The Closer and $23.6 million for his 2019 comedy special Sticks & Stones.

Juan Rico / BACKGRID

By comparison, Netflix spent $21.4 million for Squid Game, which is Netflix's biggest series launch ever.

A spokesperson for the company announced on Friday:

"We have let go of an employee for sharing confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company."

The job termination comes amid ongoing tensions over transgender jokes Chappelle told in The Closer.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos, pictured with his wife Nicole Avant, previously said he would not pull The Closer off the air after three employees were suspended for crashing an annual meeting of Netflix's top directors.

The three employees were reinstated this week. However, Netflix's transgender employees plan to strike on Oct. 20.

Netflix's other co-CEO Reed Hastings told angry staff "We are on the right side of history" in a post on an internal message board.

Lesbian comedian Hannah Gadsby wrote an open letter to Sarandos on Instagram slamming him for using her name to defend Chappelle.

"F**k you and your amoral algorithm cult..." she wrote.

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Subway Worker Fired After WALKING On Food (Video)

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YouTube

A Subway worker who posted a shocking YouTube video of himself walking on food has been fired.

Unfortunately, the worker made a plethora of videos of himself playing with Subway food before he was let go.

The worker, whose name is Jumanne Way, filmed himself walking on trays of salad

In a video uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 14, the worker filmed himself walking on salad trays that he placed on the floor of a Providence, Rhode Island restaurant. He then placed the trays back on the counter to make sandwiches that he served to customers.

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YouTube

In a video uploaded on Oct. 10, the worker lines a toilet seat with meats that were served to customers.

In another video uploaded on October 2nd, he is seen tossing salad, meats and bread on the floor of the restaurant.

The videos were posted on Reddit.com under the title "Subway worker walks on food for clout."

Reddit users claim he made the TikTok videos in hopes of going viral and earning cash on TikTok and YouTube.

In a statement issued to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Subway confirmed that the worker had been fired after uploading the videos.

"Subway and our network of franchisees take health and food safety extremely seriously and don't condone any behavior that violates our strict policies in these areas.

"While Subway restaurants are individually owned and operated, we have confirmed with the franchisee of this location that the employee was immediately terminated after he learned of the employee's actions."

So far, no charges have been filed.