#Rego Park Queens NYC
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Photography: Rego Park 9/8/22
I had to walk to Citibank to deposit a check — a rare occasion. But it allowed me an opportunity to get out of my apartment for the first time in a few days. It was a lovely day for a walk with my trusty Canon 6D Mark II, too.
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#Graffiti#nyc#Photo Essay#Photography#Queens#Queens NYC#Rego Park#Rego Park Queens#Rego Park Queens NYC
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Houses in #Rego_Park, #Queens.
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Women's Self-Defense Classes NYC: Martial Arts for Ladies
In an ever-changing world where safety is a growing concern, women’s self-defense classes in New York City (NYC) have gained significant prominence. These classes not only provide physical skills to fend off potential threats but also cultivate mental strength, confidence, and empowerment. This article delves into various aspects of women's self-defense, focusing on martial arts as a pivotal discipline for ladies, with a special look at classes available in NYC and Long Island.
Women's Self-Defense
Women's self-defense encompasses techniques and strategies designed to help women protect themselves from physical harm. It extends beyond physical combat skills to include situational awareness, risk reduction, and psychological resilience. The essence of women's self-defense is empowerment through knowledge, physical readiness, and mental preparedness.
The need for self-defense training has become increasingly clear in light of rising crime rates and instances of harassment. Self-defense classes offer women a safe space to learn and practice techniques that could be life-saving. These classes typically cover a range of scenarios, from street attacks to home invasions, ensuring women are prepared for various potential threats.
Female Awareness Self-Defense - Martial Arts
Martial arts form the backbone of many self-defense programs. Disciplines such as Karate, Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), and Krav Maga are popular choices due to their comprehensive approach to self-defense. Each martial art brings unique techniques and philosophies that contribute to a well-rounded defense strategy.
Karate: Originating from Okinawa, Japan, Karate emphasizes striking techniques using punches, kicks, knee strikes, and elbow strikes. It also includes blocking techniques and quick counterattacks. Karate's disciplined training regimen enhances physical fitness and mental toughness.
Taekwondo: Known for its high, fast kicks and dynamic movements, Taekwondo, which hails from Korea, focuses on powerful leg techniques. This martial art also teaches a variety of hand strikes and self-defense maneuvers, making it a versatile option for women seeking effective self-defense skills.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ): BJJ is a ground-fighting martial art that emphasizes leverage and technique over brute strength. It teaches women how to defend themselves against larger and stronger opponents by using joint locks, chokeholds, and positional strategies. BJJ is particularly effective in close-contact situations where escaping to a standing position might not be possible.
Krav Maga: Developed by the Israeli military, Krav Maga is known for its no-nonsense approach to self-defense. It combines techniques from various martial arts, including boxing, wrestling, and street fighting. Krav Maga focuses on real-world scenarios, teaching women how to neutralize threats quickly and efficiently.
These martial arts not only equip women with physical defense mechanisms but also foster a sense of discipline, respect, and inner strength. Regular practice leads to improved fitness, coordination, and mental acuity, all of which are vital for effective self-defense.
Self-Defense Classes for Women on Long Island
Long Island offers a variety of self-defense classes tailored specifically for women. These classes are designed to address the unique challenges women face and to provide a supportive environment for learning and growth.
These classes not only teach physical self-defense techniques but also emphasize the importance of situational awareness and mental preparedness. Women who attend these classes often report increased confidence and a greater sense of personal security.
Empowerment Self-Defense
Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) is an approach that combines physical self-defense techniques with strategies for psychological empowerment and assertiveness. ESD programs are designed to help women recognize and respond to threats while building confidence and resilience. Key components of ESD include:
1. Awareness and Avoidance: Teaching women to recognize potential dangers and avoid risky situations is a cornerstone of ESD. This includes understanding body language, identifying safe exits, and being aware of one’s surroundings.
2. Verbal Strategies: ESD emphasizes the importance of using one’s voice as a tool for self-defense. Women learn how to assertively communicate boundaries, de-escalate confrontations, and call for help when necessary.
3. Physical Techniques: ESD programs teach practical self-defense techniques that are easy to learn and remember. These techniques focus on vulnerable points on an attacker’s body and are designed to be effective regardless of the woman’s size or strength.
4. Psychological Empowerment: Building mental resilience and confidence is a key aspect of ESD. Women learn to trust their instincts, overcome fear, and respond assertively in threatening situations.
5. Legal and Medical Considerations: ESD programs often include information on the legal aspects of self-defense and first aid training. Understanding the legal ramifications of self-defense actions and knowing basic medical responses can be crucial in the aftermath of an incident.
Empowerment Self-Defense is more than just physical training; it is about equipping women with the skills and mindset needed to protect themselves and feel confident in their ability to do so.
Conclusion
Women’s self-defense classes in NYC and Long Island offer a comprehensive approach to personal safety, blending physical techniques from various martial arts with psychological empowerment and situational awareness. Programs tailored specifically for women address the unique challenges they face, providing a supportive environment for learning and growth.
Martial arts such as Karate, Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Krav Maga form the foundation of many self-defense classes, offering techniques that are practical and effective in real-world scenarios. Empowerment Self-Defense programs further enhance this training by incorporating strategies for mental resilience and assertiveness.
Ultimately, women's self-defense classes aim to empower women, equipping them with the skills and confidence needed to navigate their world with a greater sense of security and self-assurance. Whether in the bustling streets of NYC or the suburban neighborhoods of Long Island, these classes provide invaluable training that can make a significant difference in women's lives.
#women's self defense class nyc#martial arts nyc adults#modern martial arts nyc#best self defense classes nyc#aikido schools in queens ny#martial arts school in rego park
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Instagram: iliketoseeeverythinginneon
#time capsule house#rego park#queens#new york#nyc#real estate#zillow#zillowcore#interior#interiors#vintage bathroom#vintage kitchen#1945#1940s#40s#lawn#carpet#drapes#wallpaper#chandelier#the max#tile#vintage furniture#bedspread#fan#dolphins#memories
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I testified Thursday against the City Council Fair Chance for Housing Act, my second time in Council Chambers. The first was in May 2019 when I spoke personally and passionately about protecting New York City’s specialized high schools.
The bill, also known as Int. 632, is another City Council measure designed to protect lawbreakers at the expense of the law-abiding. It would prohibit criminal background checks on prospective tenants and buyers of residential housing.
After testifying, I left City Hall. It wasn’t until hours later that I heard the racist response to my testimony from Douglas Powell, who spoke on behalf of city-funded nonprofit Vocal-NY. He and his organization want individuals such as Powell, who has a criminal record and is a level 2 registered sex offender, to be able to access housing without criminal background checks.
His testimony laid out his criminal-justice experience and his lived experience of anti-black discrimination at Asian stores — culminating in a racist attack on the Asian community where he lives. In his three-minute tirade, he called Queens’ Rego Park the most racist neighborhood because it is majority Asian. “It’s not their neighborhood — they from China, Hong Kong,” he said. “We from New York.”
Convicted sex offender spews anti-Asian slurs during NYC Council meeting — and pols do nothing to stop him
This anti-Asian, perpetual-foreigner, “You don’t belong here” rhetoric is dangerous hate speech that incites violence. Unprovoked attacks on Asian New Yorkers are on the rise.
Powell’s racist rant was delivered in the presence of three councilmembers without interruption or admonishment. Committee chair Nantasha Williams even thanked Powell for his testimony. It’s as if his anti-Asian hate speech in the chamber was unremarkable white noise. It took hours, after online pressure from constituents, for those present to issue generic disapproval statements, retweeting other electeds’ condemnation, and say “both sides” share blame for systemic racism.
Like many Asian Americans, I am a property owner and small landlord. When I graduated, my parents encouraged me to live at home, pay off my debt and save to buy a property. I lived at home for a few years and paid off my student loans as quickly as I could. Decades later, I bought my first investment property. I rented mostly to young men and women at the start of their careers. As a landlord, I treated my tenants the way I wanted to be treated: fairly and responsively. I’m fortunate real-estate brokers and condo management could conduct criminal and credit checks, not only for my benefit but for the safety of neighbors in the building.
Powell spewed hateful, anti-Asian rhetoric at the council meeting.Stephen Yang
Asian Americans have the highest rate of home ownership in the city, 42%. The stability of owning property as a means of building wealth is deeply rooted in Asian culture. New York’s pro-tenant policies, especially the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, have resulted in heartbreaking stories from small-property landlords. The laws, intended to help tenants, some of whom lost jobs during COVID, disproportionately hurt immigrant landlords. Not only have they not been paid rent for three years; some living in multi-family units are terrorized by tenants who know they can’t evict. Many Asian property owners are working class, and their modest rental income helps pay for the mortgage, property taxes and unit upkeep.
While bad tenants existed before this bill, it would make things worse. Private-property owners should not bear the burden of unknowingly renting to convicted arsonists and murderers and letting them live next door to New Yorkers who want a safe place after a long day braving our unpredictable city streets and subways. We worry about higher insurance, liability in endangering other tenants and frivolous lawsuits in tenant-friendly courts. That becomes a cost-benefit question for owners — whether it’s worth it to rent with little profit.
Like most landlords, I don’t live in the building I rent, but I do worry about the tenants I rent to. I think of the kindhearted young Asian professional who pleaded with me to let her have a Hurricane Sandy rescue dog. I worry about the wheelchair-bound young man grateful to find independence in living in an accessible building and appreciative of me letting him install an automatic door opener for his convenience. I want them to have the peace of mind that when they return to their small haven in the city, they will be safe, among neighbors who won’t pose a risk to them.
The fight to save specialized high schools that brought me to council the first time galvanized many Asian voters who had never been involved in city politics before. I am one of those newly politicized voters. This year, I co-founded Asian Wave Alliance to make sure that Asian-American New Yorkers’ needs are not ignored by the very councilmembers who sat quietly and listened to Powell’s racist attacks.
This time, I went to council to convince the Committee on Human and Civil Rights and the bill’s sponsors that the Fair Chance for Housing Act is not “fair” at all to small landlords and already-existing tenants. Getting rid of reasonable safeguards like criminal background checks is not “fair” to the city’s law-abiding citizens and will put people in danger. True fairness requires listening to all New Yorkers and prioritizing safety and transparency.
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Simple Roofing Solutions for NYC: Protecting Your Home Across the Boroughs
Hello, New York City! Whether you're soaking up the suburban charm of Staten Island or navigating the bustling streets of Queens, your roof plays a critical role in your home’s safety and comfort. Let's break down why maintaining your roof is essential and how our straightforward, reliable roofing services can help.
Why Roof Maintenance Matters
Think of your roof as the cap on your favorite winter outfit. Just like your cap keeps the cold out and warmth in, a well-maintained roof keeps your home cozy and dry. Here’s what proper roof care can do for you:
Prevent Leaks: Regular maintenance helps catch and fix small issues before they lead to big problems like leaks.
Save Energy: A good roof keeps your home better insulated, which can lower your heating and cooling bills.
Increase Home Value: If you're thinking about selling one day, a well-cared-for roof can boost your home’s market value.
Our Roofing Services Made Simple
We keep roofing simple and stress-free. Here’s what we offer across NYC:
Quick Inspections: We’ll check your roof regularly to ensure everything’s holding up as it should.
Efficient Repairs: Got a damaged spot? We can fix it fast so you can get back to enjoying your home without worries.
Easy Installations: Need a new roof? We offer hassle-free installations with durable, high-quality materials.
Why Choose Us?
Choosing us means opting for simplicity and reliability. Here’s why we stand out:
Local Know-How: We know NYC’s weather and architectural styles, so we’re always prepared with the right solutions.
Straightforward Service: We explain everything in easy terms—no complicated jargon!
Dependability: We’re here when you need us, ready to solve your roofing problems with a friendly smile.
Protecting Your NYC Home, Simply
No matter which borough you call home, from the diverse neighborhoods of Brooklyn to the bustling avenues of the Bronx, we’re here to make sure your roof does its job perfectly. Simple problems call for simple solutions, and we’re here to deliver just that with professionalism and care.
Don't wait for a small issue to become a big headache. Contact us today, and let’s keep your home safe, efficient, and comfortable together!
Find Roof repair Services in Queens & Brooklyn Areas Mentioned Below:
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Aikido Classes NYC
Genyukan Dojo is a Martial Arts School in Rego Park, New York. We have the best martial arts classes and these classes are taken by professional and experienced martial arts teachers. Our other classes are Self Defense Class, Aikido Class, Iaido Class, Shotokan Karate, and Modern Martial Arts Class. You can call us at +1 347-642-3447 to know more about our classes and activities in Queens, New York City, NYC.
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About Our Phlebotomy Technician Program In Rego Park, Queens
The Metropolitan Learning Institute’s Phlebotomy Technician training course will get you ready for your future career in the medical industry. Phlebotomy Technicians in Rego Park and surrounding areas of Queens are always needed. If you want to get started in the allied health field, you should inquire about our comprehensive phlebotomy technician training. Metropolitan Learning Institute will give you the tools you need to be the best phlebotomy technician you can be, and find a job in Queens, Long Island or the greater NYC area.
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We just spotted MATEO CRUZ ( DAVID CASTANEDA ) hopping off a plane in the City that Never Sleeps! Make sure to send in your account within 24 hours and read our NEW MEMBER CHECKLIST before getting settled. Can you make it in the Big Apple?
Not everyone can say they’ve been to the Big Apple, but [ MATEO CRUZ ], a [ 30 ] year-old [ MALE ] has lived in [ REGO PARK, QUEENS ] for [ 8 YEARS ]. This is the city of dreams and [ HE/HIM ] knows it, because they came to NYC to be a [ ER NURSE ]. Living in the city means they meet all kinds of people, but everyone always seems to think they look like [ DAVID CASTAÑEDA ]. They even got away with free cab fare once because of it!
HEADCANONS:tw poverty, homelessness
Born and raise in Los Angels, CA spent a lot of his childhood living out of hotels, and cheap apartments, and homeless shelters with his family. They always just made it by or were struggling even when his parents were working jobs, his father normally working two jobs to support his family. That was his wife, four kids and his own parents. Mateo did his best to help his family out but not always in the best ways.
Mateo got himself into trouble since he would steal a lot. He was only one to take what he needed to get by, food mostly for his family and at times clothes and other needed items. Normally he was able to get away with it, since he never took a lot at once.
School he went too when he could he did struggle during his years by he got by and was able to graduate. He wasn’t one to do anything extra at school he went, and left to go back home. After high school he started working odd jobs, normally yard work and fast food. He still was stealing to get by and one time during the winter months, his family was back in shelter so he started to step up his stealing into robbery. Gas stations and more before one time he was stopped and arrested.
He quickly was sent to prison since it was his first time and he really had no record he was only spent four years in the prison that he did his best to behave and went to school online. He got out at twenty three and knew he needed a change with his life and moved to New York where he had more family. He ended up finishing up Nursing college online and in school after a few months. During this time he was in and out of shelters and living in hotels.
It was hard for a while for him and he did struggle for a few years. Starting off working in nursing homes and rehabs as he finishing up Nursing school. He now is doing good the best he has ever lived and sends his family money each month and works at one of the ER’s in the heart of the city.
(starr, 29, pst, she/her, none)
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Two killed in separate crashes minutes apart on NYC streets
Two killed in separate crashes minutes apart on NYC streets
A pedestrian and a motorcyclist were killed in separate crashes minutes apart in Queens and the Bronx on Tuesday, police said.
In the Queens incident, a 74-year-old man was at the intersection of 62nd Road and Woodhaven Blvd. in Rego Park when the driver of the motorcycle hit him around 5:10 p.m., cops said.
Medics rushed the pedestrian to Elmhurst Hospital, where he died.
The 22-year-old…
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Photography: Graffiti, Rego Park, Queens, NYC 8/14/22
https://flic.kr/p/2nEzrYr
Saturday night, a regular at Clem’s hosted his annual backyard party: He happens to have a backyard big enough to host 200 people — without it being cramped. I had a great time: A lot of my pals from Clem’s where there. I ran into the members of Reliant Tom and just had random conversations with a bunch of random, very nice folks that the host had invited.…
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Houses in #Rego_Park, #Queens.
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CJ current events 3nov22
Yup, that’s murder
Police in Oklahoma released bodycam footage of an officer responding to a car crash that killed two people. An 18-year-old driver involved in the crash was allegedly driving the wrong way and reached speeds above 150 miles per hour before the collision.
Video from the Stillwater Police Department shows the scene of the Oct. 15 crash: a white Ford Mustang on its side and a destroyed red Chevrolet Impala. An officer runs from car to car, checking on those involved and talking to witnesses.***
Police said in a press release that the Mustang was driving the wrong way and hit the Chevy head on in the city of Stillwater, which is roughly 63 miles west of Tulsa. The Mustang then continued on, while debris hit an occupied vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store and several unoccupied vehicles at a nearby car dealership lot.*** https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stillwater-oklahoma-crash-luke-christopher-house-murder-charges/
***
Nellie Bowles notes
***
→ Actually, wait a second: It turns out China is operating secret police stations across five continents. Want to leave the Communist Party, blow the whistle on something you saw, and find safety in Europe? Or want to be a vocal, dissident student at a European university? Good luck with that. ***
→ But seriously WTF is going on in New York’s subways: This year so far, at least 25 people have been pushed into the New York City subway tracks, and two of those shoves were fatal. I used to think they were just aiming for petite people in vulnerable spots close to the edge, but the latest, a father of three, is a normal-sized man being body slammed into the tracks. I don’t stand a chance out there.***
https://www.commonsense.news/p/tgif-let-this-sink-in-edition
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The wheels of Justice....
Football coach Joe Kennedy won his case at the Supreme Court, Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. on June 27, 2022. The school district is still litigating exactly how he will to coach. Kennedy, 16-cv-05694 (W.D.Wash.) https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/10/27/19711039654116.pdf Looks like he’ll be reinstated on 15mar23.
***
There’s a subreddit for that?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Methany/
***
Seeing the iceberg
The city’s beleaguered transit system has already seen people violently shoved from the platform at least 25 times this year, eclipsing the total from last year, sources said on Wednesday.
A total of 22 people have been shoved in the subway system as of Oct. 16 and another three subway attacks have occurred since then, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Last year, the city tallied a grand total of 21 subway shoves as of Oct. 16.
Two of the subway attacks this year have been fatal, including on Oct. 17 when a father of three was knocked onto the subway tracks and fatally struck by a train in Queens.*** https://nypost.com/2022/10/27/nyc-subway-shoves-exceed-number-of-incidents-compared-to-last-year/
+++
NEW YORK - Police say they have arrested a robbery suspect caught on video trapping a woman inside a subway turnstile.
It happened shortly before midnight Tuesday at the 63rd Drive-Rego Park station.
Surveillance video shows the 26-year-old woman entering the turnstile when the man comes up from behind and pulls it in the opposite direction to get in with her. The victim tries to fight back, as the suspect forces himself on her.
The struggle went on for more than a minute before police said he grabbed her wallet from her hand and fled out of the station.*** https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/caught-on-video-robbery-suspect-traps-woman-inside-subway-turnstile-in-rego-park-queens/
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Broad spectrum criminals
*** The Douglas County Sheriff's Office announced the deaths of David Strain, 31, and Clarissa Daws, 29, in a Facebook post Thursday after positive identifications were made by the coroner's office.
Strain and Daws had warrants for their arrests related to auto theft and one was wanted for questioning in another Denver metro-area shooting, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Wednesday at a press conference.
On Thursday, the sheriff’s office released an edited video of the shooting that resulted in the pair's deaths.
Officials reported deputies were patrolling the rail station's parking lot, 10203 Station Way, late Tuesday when they noticed a “suspicious Black Kia with no license plates and the locks punched out.” The vehicle was tucked in a hidden spot in the garage and its front window was covered by a shade visor, Spurlock said.
A deputy called for backup and six officers responded. Deputies announced themselves and knocked on both side windows, but did not get a response, Spurlock said.
The suspects opened fire on the deputies through both side windows. All six deputies fired back. Spurlock said the deputies exchanged three separate volleys of gunfire about 7-9 minutes apart and said each volley was initiated by the suspects.
One deputy was hit in the face with car window glass and went to the hospital with minor injuries. All the involved deputies are on leave, which is standard operating procedure for any officer-involved shootings.*** https://denvergazette.com/news/local/southern-colorado-man-woman-identified-in-rtd-shooting-deaths/article_67443b29-f9b5-5db9-9be5-82db1b5c240b.html
***
Good Bari Weiss substack debate
pro-incarceration:
*** Are some people behind bars who shouldn’t be? Yes, and that’s a serious problem. A close look at the prison populations of every jurisdiction in the country would surely yield examples of wrongfully convicted (and factually innocent) defendants, inmates whose sentences constitute unjustifiable upward deviations from what is generally regarded as appropriate for their offenses, and offenders who do not constitute threats to their communities.
But I believe the bigger issue is under incarceration. That is, those who have come into contact with the criminal justice system and should be incarcerated, but aren’t.
Some respond that it would be better and more humane to invest in rehabilitation so that there are fewer incorrigible offenders. The problem with this is that it presupposes that we know how to rehabilitate criminal offenders at scale. We don’t. A recent meta-analysis of the literature on the “Effectiveness of psychological interventions in prison to reduce recidivism,” published in The Lancet, found little evidence in the form of rigorous, high-quality studies to support the suggestion that a solution to the recidivism problem is within reach. This, of course, doesn’t mean we should stop trying, but until we can figure out how to rein in recidivists (especially violent ones), prison remains our best bet.***
anti:
*** Are there some people who are so dangerous they need to be incarcerated unless and until they no longer pose a danger to others? Yes. Does the system make mistakes and let dangerous people out? On occasion, yes. But more often than not, it locks away people for far longer than necessary, and to deleterious effect.
The risk of de-carceration will never be zero. But neither is the cost of over-incarceration. As this Brennan Center report found, by using criteria that separates those most likely to reoffend from the rest of those incarcerated, the U.S. could release about 40 percent of our prisoners without harming public safety. ***
https://www.commonsense.news/p/has-criminal-justice-reform-made
***
Novak v. Parma, No. 22-293
Babylon Bee submitted its amicus curiae brief on 28oct22:
*** As a matter of fact, The Bee is serving a brutal life sentence in Twitter jail as we speak.8 Its writers would very much like to avoid a consecutive sentence in a government-run facility.
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
Truth is stranger than fiction. And fiction is illegal. At least in the Sixth Circuit. That court’s decision—depriving Petitioner Anthony Novak of any opportunity to hold accountable those who searched his home, arrested him, and jailed him because the parody he wrote was too effective—should be reviewed by this Court on the merits.***
Second, the Sixth Circuit’s ruling will allow the state to punish vast swaths of speech erstwhile protected by the First Amendment. The Bee and its writers could be held criminally liable for many, if not most, of the articles The Bee publishes. Good grief, The Bee could even be on the hook for publishing this brief’s doppelganger.9
*** Furthermore, parody shouldn’t be stripped of constitutional protection just because it’s not clearly labeled as parody. And requiring that parody be written so as to ensure that the most gullible in our society— the Facebook-using grandmother, the tween TikTok addict, the CNN reporter—don’t take it seriously ruins the parody for everyone else.***
It was The Bee, after all, that first reported on these recent antics at the FBI: FBI Storms Convent to Arrest Group of Dangerous Pro-Life Extremists11 and FBI Gets Great Night’s Sleep after Raiding MyPillow Guy.12
*** had a caller contacted the FBI field office in Cleveland or Cincinnati to inquire about one of those stories—or to express outrage over the suspicious timing of the FBI’s raid on Melania Trump’s Mar-a-Lago closet and Attorney General Garland’s acquisition of a haute couture wardrobe13— The Bee would have been subject to a felony charge and writer jail time under the Ohio statute for “disrupt[ing], interrupt[ing], or impair[ing] . . . governmental operations.” Ohio Rev. Code § 2909.04(B).***
The writers at The Bee are a hearty bunch, accustomed to regularly and brilliantly absorbing blows from powerful, prestigious media outlets—and also from CNN—that desperately want to muzzle The Bee. Child’s play. But whining establishment types who are unable to take a joke and who possess the coercive power of the state are an entirely different matter. Add to that mix the aggressive, unbridled strain of qualified immunity propagated by the Sixth Circuit. It’s enough to make Chuck Norris sweat.18
The parody brief includes
***
Stay classy, Jose
Substitute Teacher Arrested for Sexual Exploitation of Children
Centennial- On 10/28/2022, Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Investigators arrested Jose Tomayo, age 25, for:
18-6-403 Sexual Exploitation of Children Class 5 Felony
ACSO Investigators received a tip from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The information revealed someone had uploaded suspected child pornography through the social media platform Snapchat using the screen name freakygurls420.
ACSO ICAC Investigators found through their investigation that the suspected person lived in the City of Centennial and worked as a substitute teacher for the Littleton Public Schools.
Jose worked as a substitute teacher for the Littleton Public Schools during the 2021 - 2022 school years and the Englewood Public Schools as a substitute teacher and Paraprofessional during the 2020 -2021 school year.*** https://www.arapahoegov.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2750
***
Whacko who attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer
David Depape, Described as ‘Very Odd,’ Is a ‘Former Castro Nudist Protester’ & Hemp ‘Jewelry Maker’ Who Once Lived in a Berkeley Storage Shed, Reports Say
https://heavy.com/news/david-depape/
***
Outreach all you want
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (FOX 9) - Three people were shot in a drive-by shooting on Lake Street in Minneapolis on Friday afternoon.
Officers from Minneapolis's third precinct responded to reports of a shooting on the 2200 block of Lake Street, near Hiawatha Avenue, at 3:02 p.m. and located three injured victims, all with potentially life-threatening gunshot wounds: a 15-year-old boy, a 19-year-old man, and a 65-year-old woman, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.***
Police are not yet aware of any connection between the victims.
"Sad. We are living in the last days. What can I tell you? Things are not getting better, they are getting worse," said Buenano.
As the Crime Lab collected evidence at the scene, there were markers for 66 bullets scattered in the half block where the shooting took place.
Ironically, all this happened outside the office of T.O.U.C.H. Outreach, a violence prevention group that works with the city to de-escalate community tensions and mentor youth, but luckily no one was inside when the shooting occurred.*** https://www.fox9.com/news/three-people-shot-in-minneapolis-drive-by-shooting
***
Only one stabbed? That’s progress.
New York City police are searching for a man accused of stabbing a subway rider Friday morning at a Harlem station.
Police said the victim, a 58-year-old man, was walking on a southbound ‘A’ line platform in the station located at 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue around 4:20 a.m. Friday when he was approached by the suspect.
The suspect reportedly attempted to start a "verbal dispute" with the victim, but was ignored, according to NYPD Crimestoppers.
When the victim walked off, the suspect followed behind him, pulled out a knife and stabbed him once in the upper back.*** https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-city-subway-rider-stabbed-back-man-after-walking-away-argument-police
***
Used to be a pretty safe place
Two residents of the Greeley area were arrested and face second-degree murder charges in the fatal attempted carjacking of a 21-year-old Denver woman early Sunday morning north of Longmont.
According to a Boulder County Sheriff’s Office news release, 23-year-old Martin Cerda and 24-year-old Adriana Vargas were arrested early Sunday and face one charge each of second-degree murder. Cerda also faces charges of attempted aggravated robbery, vehicular eluding and possession of a weapon by a previous offender. Vargas also faces a charge of possession of a weapon by a previous offender and was also arrested on several warrants not related to the homicide investigation.***
investigators believe the woman, who was riding in a vehicle driven by her mother, happened across the suspects in their disabled vehicle near the intersection of U.S. 287 and Yellowstone Road. According to the release, investigators say the suspects got out of their vehicle and shot at the victim’s vehicle with a handgun, shooting the victim. Investigators believe Cerda, the primary suspect, shot at the victims’ vehicle in an attempt to carjack them.
A third person in addition to Cerda and Vargas was detained on warrants unrelated to the homicide investigation, the release stated.*** https://www.timescall.com/2022/10/30/two-arrested-in-boulder-county-homicide-north-of-longmont/
***
Aurora
#APDAlert
: Officers are on scene of a shooting w/ 4 victims in a house near 900 of N. Geneva St. The male suspect is believed to be in the area & reverse 911 has been sent to those nearby. Multiple officers are in the area searching. Call 911 to report anything suspicious.
Aurora Police Dept@AuroraPD·21hSuspect is 21 y/o Joseph Castorena. 5'04, slim build. Unknown what he is wearing today. Note the Lion tattoo on his neck. Suspect is armed and dangerous, call 911 if you see him or know where he is. (photo is from a previous arrest)
***Tues
Who wants police?
JACKSON, Miss.—State officials and some residents in Mississippi’s capital are at odds over how to address rampant violent crime, causing tensions to escalate in a city already rife with arguments over who was responsible for a breakdown that left many without clean drinking water.
Mississippi officials are planning to more than double the size of the police force that protects the Capitol and state office buildings to 170 officers by the end of next year. They gave the police force power to patrol a larger area of Jackson, which has one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the U.S. The Jackson Police Department, which has about 250 officers, will continue to oversee the remaining 92% of the city.
Officials in the state government, dominated by Republicans, say the move will make state buildings and the areas around them safer for workers and visitors. Some residents in the predominantly Black city say the mostly white Mississippi leadership is essentially creating a bubble around where they work and neglecting poorer communities with more violence.
“It’s like poor people are left out when it comes to fighting crime,” said Willa Womack, the president of the Battlefield Park Neighborhood Association, representing an area that isn’t part of the Capitol Police expansion plan.***
Jackson, population 150,000, reported 154 homicides last year, up from 128 in 2020 and 82 in 2019. As of Oct. 26 this year, 114 homicides were reported—a rate of 76 per 100,000 residents. That compares with a homicide rate in Chicago of about 21 per 100,000 for the same period.***
Jackson’s police department, like many across the country, is struggling with staffing shortages. It currently has about 100 fewer officers than its budget allows. The City Council recently voted to increase starting salaries for officers, but pay remains below that of nearby departments.*** https://www.wsj.com/articles/debate-on-police-in-jackson-miss-adds-tension-to-city-divided-by-water-crisis-11667107964
Holy smokes, Batman!! 1995 UCR Table 5 says DC's homicide rate was only 65/100k.
***
Paul Pelosi case getting curiouser and curiouser
DAILY “Corrupdates” (@MoonShotUK) tweeted at 8:01 AM on Sun, Oct 30, 2022:
https://t.co/vrXFT3AIte
Pelosi story is getting weird ???
The emergency Dispatcher was told that the attacker was A friend. Both men were found by police in their underwear?
Tell the truth and quit spinning this into something it’s not ! ***
(https://twitter.com/MoonShotUK/status/1586689785384652804?t=ywmb1WD2_dajGX-0DVdBHA&s=03)
***
Defund?
*** Despite the political divide on the issue, a new theGrio/KFF Survey of Black Voters, conducted Aug. 24 through Sept. 5, found that very few Black voters (17%) support decreasing funding for police departments in their area. In fact, 34% of Black voters surveyed by theGrio/KFF said they would like to see police funding increase, while a majority (48%) would like to see funding kept about the same. Additionally, the survey found that Black voters living in urban areas are somewhat more likely to support increased police funding compared to those in suburban areas (39% vs. 29%).*** https://thegrio.com/2022/10/25/black-voters-thegrio-kff-funding-police/
***
If Pravda on the Potomac notices....
Anarchists and an increase in violent crime hijack Portland’s social justice movement
By
Scott Wilson
May 31, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
PORTLAND, Ore. — The church, on the edge of this city, was built to hold thousands, and on this drizzly day the pews of Mannahouse were filled with hundreds of mourners, scattered throughout the broad, high-ceilinged chamber to comply with pandemic rules.
Nearly all of them were Black.
They had gathered to memorialize Jalon Yoakum, 33, whose body lay in a clear casket at the front of the stage. The wounds on his face had been brushed over; a blue suit and white open-collar shirt hid the rest of the scars from the daylight gunshots that killed him in a pizza restaurant parking lot this month.
Portland is a White city, overwhelmingly so — African Americans account for just 6 percent of the population. But it is Black people such as Yoakum, an aspiring union electrician, who are dying at near-historic rates and filling churches with grief.
On May 12, Yoakum, a father of two young boys, became the city’s 30th homicide victim this year. That is five times the number recorded during the same period in 2020, a frightening pace that could see more slayings here by the end of the year than in the past four decades.***
After months of social-justice activism that made Portland a vivid, sometimes violent focal point for a nation debating the same issues around police accountability and reform, the movement here has splintered into bickering groups, at odds over tactics, goals and an overall direction for how to make the city safer, with the police force still at the debate’s bitter center.***
A city of about 650,000 people, Portland has long experienced the push and pull of its stridently felt politics. By many measures, particularly on social issues such as marijuana legalization, the environment and gay rights, the city has been at the vanguard.
But there has also been a historical strain of violent independence in some of its residents, a trait that has helped small groups of self-described anarchists overwhelm the year-old push for police reform and social justice.
From the assessments of the White mayor, Ted Wheeler, and the Black police chief, Chuck Lovell, this smaller faction comprises mostly White, middle-class students and others, who have made places such as churches, public libraries, small Black-owned businesses and a Boys & Girls Club the confounding targets of their vandalism.
Last Tuesday, police declared a riot when one of two groups that had gathered to mark the anniversary of Floyd’s murder broke windows, set fires and threw objects at police. Five people were arrested; all were White.***
Kris R. Henning, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Portland State University. “But when you look over the longer history of what’s been going on in Portland — there’s something else happening. It’s not just the protests. It is not just covid-19. There is something else going on in Portland.”
Henning and others say crime was rising in the city before the pandemic shut it down and before Floyd died in Minneapolis with a White police officer’s knee on his neck. From 2019 to 2020, the number of homicides nearly doubled, something Henning called “unheard of” in Portland. This followed years with some of the nation’s lowest crime rates for a city its size.
“So these perpetrators, my guess, were coming of age, were in elementary and middle school right around the Great Recession,” said Brian Renauer, director of the Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute at Portland State. “Now they’re in their early to mid-20s. So what we’re seeing is the outgrowth of a breakdown in the family, in the economy, in those neighborhoods they came out of, if this is very much a homegrown phenomenon.”***
“What I know is that being chief, and being a Black chief in particular, this movement to really exclude police from some facets of enforcement or community interaction, it really bears the brunt on the African American community,” Lovell said. “These shootings have an outsized impact on people of color.”
The chief’s goal to reestablish a larger uniformed presence on Portland’s streets and in its most dangerous neighborhoods appears to be supported by many residents, who just a year ago were very much opposed to the city’s police practices.***
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anarchists-and-an-increase-in-crime-hijack-portlands-social-justice-movement/2021/05/28/d49ee1b6-bf1a-11eb-a55f-4871b8ac676f_story.html
***
Even whiny wimps can have a point....
On the holiest night of the Jewish year earlier this month, my rabbi looked up from his Kol Nidre sermon — a homily about protecting America’s liberal democracy — and posed a question that wasn’t in his prepared text: “How many people in the last few years have been at a dining room conversation where the conversation has turned to where might we move? How many of us?”
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He was talking about the unthinkable: that Jews might need to flee the United States. In the congregation, many hands — most? — went up.
The sermon included a quotation from the Jewish scholar Michael Holzman: “For American Jews, the disappearance of liberal democracy would be a disaster. … We have flourished under the shelter of the principles behind the First Amendment, and we have been protected by the absolute belief in the rule of law. Without these, Jews, start packing suitcases.”*** https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/28/american-jews-exile-fears/
Once the rule of law goes away, life gets really ugly.
***
Why would Oregon voters change gov’t?
[Portland’s] biggest homeless encampment stood just across the street from the floating-homes community, in what’s called the Big Four Corners Natural Area. The camp was founded in 2018 by homeless activists on a protected wetlands site. They used to call it the Village of Hope.
By 2020, hundreds of people were living in the Village of Hope, and crime was rampant. Houseboat community residents started finding their car windows smashed in. Thieves stole their catalytic converters, and then their cars. On one occasion, a resident returned to his floating home to find someone in his bathroom taking a shower.
“We considered hiring a nightly foot patrol, but it was too expensive,” said Denise Olson, another floating home resident. “We felt terrorized.”
The sound of gunfire became routine, residents told me when I visited the site last week. One said you could smell the paint thinner-like odor of meth labs in the encampment, which burst into flames on several occasions. City firefighters refused to go into the encampment; it was too dangerous.
Then the homeless started stealing neighborhood dogs for ransom, Kevin Dahlgren, the president of a Pacific Northwest homeless advocacy group, told me. One homeless person told Dahlgren that bodies of deceased camp residents are buried in the site’s marshy ground. ***
The murder rate is surging in Portland, especially among those living on the street. In a recent survey of Portland residents, 84% of those polled said they felt unsafe downtown at night, and 61% felt the same way during the day. Eighty-two percent want more police in the city.
Drug addiction is as bad as ever. “There is no evidence that Measure 110 has reduced drug use, drug-related crime, or overdose in the state,” Keith Humphreys, a psychologist who specializes in addiction and served as a senior advisor in the Obama administration, told me, referring to a progressive 2020 initiative that decriminalized drug possession. Meanwhile, Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel is active in “every corner of the state”, as The Oregonian puts it. (Police in Eugene recently seized 18 pounds of fentanyl in a single traffic stop, enough to kill most of the state of Oregon.)
And, for the first time in over a decade, Portland is shrinking, with young adults leaving in particularly large numbers: between 2020 and 2021, the county that includes Portland had a net loss of more than 4,000 residents between the ages of 25 and 29. Oregon as a whole has experienced one of the biggest slowdowns in population growth in the country.***
“The biggest thing to me, though—the most off-putting thing, is open defecation,” [Angela Renteria] said. “I’m walking down the street with my kids going to a bookstore, and someone is squatted on the sidewalk taking a shit.”
“My kids, there are times they want to go to Portland and check out shops,” Diana Sapera told me. “Now, I don’t feel comfortable doing that. My kids are scared, seeing grown adults yelling, hitting things, throwing things. They see needles and are like, ‘What is that?’”
“I don’t know one person who says ‘I want to go downtown today, want to come?,’” said Olson. “Nobody wants to go there.”***
Key to her appeal is [governor candidate] Drazan’s break with the status quo on homelessness—rejecting the Housing First philosophy that has become orthodoxy in progressive cities up and down the West Coast. Housing First posits that the main reason people are living on the streets is lack of affordable housing, and the best way to solve the problem is to build more of it.
Drazan thinks the real problem is drug addiction—not high rent. She wants to “end encampments,” repeal Measure 110 and expand addiction-treatment services, in addition to building more housing. “We have to help Oregonians get sober and stay sober,” she said in August in response to a series of questions posed by Oregon Public Broadcasting.***
“There’s a stunning amount of violence from Antifa,” he said, referring to the self-styled radical “anti-fascist” activists who are particularly numerous and active in Portland.
Antifa has become the most dramatic symbol of the city’s lawlessness.
Angela Renteria’s old job, at U.S. Bank, was near where the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 happened. “They had to shut down the branch—people were blocking the streets, throwing trash cans at cars,” she told me, adding: “Right after Columbus Day, they spray-painted our bank. Our higher-ups and security instructed us on what to do if things got out of hand: you’re going to lock yourselves in the vault.”
She said the entire time she worked at the branch, she saw “maybe two police cars the whole time. I saw ambulances, fire trucks, but no cops. They just let them do their thing.”*** https://www.commonsense.news/p/why-lifelong-democrats-in-oregon
Measure 110 legalized drugs. https://www.oregon.gov/OHA/HSD/AMH/Pages/Measure110.aspx
***
Suppressing speech
*** Behind closed doors, and through pressure on private platforms, the U.S. government has used its power to try to shape online discourse.***
There is also a formalized process for government officials to directly flag content on Facebook or Instagram and request that it be throttled or suppressed through a special Facebook portal that requires a government or law enforcement email to use. At the time of writing, the “content request system” at facebook.com/xtakedowns/login is still live. DHS and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.***
How disinformation is defined by the government has not been clearly articulated, and the inherently subjective nature of what constitutes disinformation provides a broad opening for DHS officials to make politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous speech.***
The broad definition of “threat actors” posing risks to vaguely defined critical infrastructure — an area as broad as trust in government, public health, elections, and financial markets — has concerned civil libertarians. “No matter your political allegiances, all of us have good reason to be concerned about government efforts to pressure private social media platforms into reaching the government’s preferred decisions about what content we can see online,” said Adam Goldstein, the vice president of research at FIRE.***
Last year, a top FBI counterterrorism official came under fire when she falsely denied to Congress that the FBI monitors Americans’ social media and had therefore missed threats leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. In fact, the FBI has spent millions of dollars on social media tracking software like Babel X and Dataminr. According to the bureau’s official guidelines, authorized activities include “proactively surfing the Internet to find publicly accessible websites and services through which recruitment by terrorist organizations and promotion of terrorist crimes is openly taking place.”***
“There is growing evidence that the legislative and executive branch officials are using social media companies to engage in censorship by surrogate,” said Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, who has written about the lawsuit. “It is axiomatic that the government cannot do indirectly what it is prohibited from doing directly. If government officials are directing or facilitating such censorship, it raises serious First Amendment questions.”***
[Gov’t email to social media] concerns free speech advocates, who note that the agency is attempting to make an end run around the First Amendment by exerting continual pressure on private sector social media firms. “When the government suggests things, it’s not too hard to pull off the velvet glove, and you get the mail fist,” said Adam Candeub, a professor of law at Michigan State University. “And I would consider such actions, especially when it’s bureaucratized, as essentially state action and government collusion with the platforms.”
“If a foreign authoritarian government sent these messages,” noted Nadine Strossen, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, “there is no doubt we would call it censorship.”*** https://theintercept.com/2022/10/31/social-media-disinformation-dhs/
***
Surprise, surprise, surprise
The man who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer has been “mentally ill for a long time,” his former partner said in a new interview.
Oxane Taub, who goes by the name “Gypsy” and is a noted activist for public nudity in the Bay Area, said she has known accused maniac David DePape for more than 20 years and is the mother of his children.
“He is mentally ill. He has been mentally ill for a long time,” Taub told ABC7 in a call from the California Institution for Women, where she is serving time after being convicted last year of abducting a 14-year-old boy near his Berkeley high school.***
https://nypost.com/2022/10/30/paul-pelosis-alleged-attacker-mentally-ill-his-ex-says/
***Wed
1 dead/5 wounded in Denver at Colfax & Verbena
[Denver Police Commander Matt] Clark said the area has extra patrol and undercover officers because it has a higher rate of violent crime, and that the department is working with community members in the area to try to cut down on the crime rate.
about 1:10 in video https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/6-people-shot-near-east-colfax-ave-in-east-denver
***
Denver is worst place for car theft?
CAPTA's latest update is not yet complete, but the agency has released a list of the ten most stolen vehicles in the metro area from July 1-September 30. The roster includes four Kia models and three types of Hyundais, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado, the Ford F-250 and the GMC Sierra. The total thefts of these vehicles alone add up to 2,845 over three months.
https://www.westword.com/news/denver-is-one-big-car-theft-hot-spot-15306202
***Thurs
Interesting case like Florida v. Riley, 488 US 445 (1989).
Can the government pilot a low-flying drone over your property without a warrant and then use the evidence against you in court? That’s the question at the heart of an application for appeal filed with the Michigan Supreme Court today on behalf of Todd and Heather Maxon. For two years, the government flew a sophisticated drone over Todd and Heather Maxons’ property to take detailed photographs and videos, all without ever seeking a warrant. Now, the Maxons, represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to hold that the government violated their Fourth Amendment rights and can’t use its illegally obtained photos and videos to punish them in court.
“This is bigger than just some drones flying over my home,” said Todd Maxon. “If I’m not safe from this kind of surveillance, nobody will be.”
Todd spends his free time fixing up vehicles on his five-acre property in rural Long Lake Township, located in northern Michigan. He keeps those vehicles away from public view and he doesn’t bother his neighbors. But that doesn’t matter to officials in Long Lake Township’s zoning enforcement office. For years, officials have been trying to pin someviolation of Long Lake’s zoning code on the Maxons. The government first brought a code enforcement lawsuit against them in 2007, claiming they’d illegally stored “junk” on the property. The Maxons fought the case and won, with the government agreeing to a favorable settlement in which it agreed to drop the lawsuit against them and reimbursed the Maxons for their attorneys’ fees.
Less than a decade later, Long Lake amended its zoning code and soon afterwards used a drone to surveil the Maxons’ home. Over two years, it flew all over their property, taking intrusive, high-resolution photographs and videos of their home and backyard, all without ever seeking a warrant. Now the government wants to use those photos and videos as evidence in a zoning enforcement lawsuit to punish the couple for alleged code violations on their property.*** https://ij.org/press-release/warrantless-drone-surveillance-lawsuit-appealed-to-michigan-supreme-court/
***
Need I label it parody?
https://babylonbee.com/news/DHS-announces-they-will-suppress-as-much-speech-as-it-takes-to-preserve-democracy
U.S. — Amid shocking leaks that showed the Department of Homeland Security colluded with tech companies to suppress speech they disagreed with, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has doubled down, promising to suppress as much speech as it takes to preserve democracy.
"As everyone knows, democracy is when Democrats hold unlimited power, and today that sacred foundation of our country is under attack from free speech," said Mayorkas from a massive television screen being played in the town square before an assembly of glassy-eyed citizens in identical grey jumpsuits. "We will not tire of protecting our country from violent threats such as speech, opinions, people saying stuff, and bad inward thoughts that poison the mind against your benevolent overlords. I love democracy!"***
The essay conclude by unfairly saying Sec Mayorkas looks like a pink toad when everyone knows he just looks like a thumb.
***
Paul Pelosi redux
U.S. Capitol Police officers were reportedly not monitoring the cameras around House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) home in San Francisco when a man broke in and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer on Friday.
An officer in Washington, D.C., only seemed to notice something when seeing police lights flashing outside the abode, pulling up additional camera angles and backtracking to see the break-in, officials told the Washington Post. This was as a "handful" of officers in the Capitol Police command center were shifting through feeds from 1,800 cameras from the Capitol complex and beyond, the report said. *** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/pelosi-home-attack-capitol-police-failure-watch-cameras
***
There’s platinum in them cats
Federal, state, and local law enforcement partners from across the United States executed a nationwide, coordinated takedown [2nov22] of leaders and associates of a national network of thieves, dealers, and processors for their roles in conspiracies involving stolen catalytic converters sold to a metal refinery for tens of millions of dollars.
Arrests, searches, and seizures took place in California, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, and Virginia. In total, 21 individuals in five states have been arrested and/or charged for their roles in the conspiracy.
The 21 defendants are charged in two separate indictments that were unsealed today in the Eastern District of California and the Northern District of Oklahoma following extensive law enforcement arrest and search operations. In addition to the indictments, over 32 search warrants were executed, and law enforcement seized millions of dollars in assets, including homes, bank accounts, cash, and luxury vehicles.***
“With California’s higher emission standards, our community has become a hot bed for catalytic converter theft,” said U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert for the Eastern District of California. “Last year approximately 1,600 catalytic converters were reportedly stolen in California each month, and California accounts for 37% of all catalytic converter theft claims nationwide. I am proud to announce that we have indicted nine people who are at the core of catalytic theft in our community and nationwide.”
“In Tulsa alone, more than 2,000 catalytic converters were stolen in the past year,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma. “Organized criminal activity, including the large-scale theft of catalytic converters, is costly to victims and too often places citizens and law enforcement in danger. The collective work conducted by federal prosecutors and more than 10 different law enforcement agencies led to the filing of charges in the Northern District of Oklahoma against 13 defendants operating an alleged catalytic converter theft operation.”*** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-takedown-nationwide-catalytic-converter-theft-ring
***
Culture/Politics/Law
“This is like a breaking point,” said Nicole Avant, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas under Barack Obama and is the wife of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. We were talking about Los Angeles, where she was born and grew up and met her husband. “Who is in charge here? How is this happening? It’s the drug addicts in front of people’s houses, it’s people naked in the street—there’s so much chaos, and Rick is the opposite of that, and we just need to reel things in and do things in a different way.” She was referring to Rick Caruso, the billionaire real-estate developer running for mayor of the second-biggest city in the country.
Avant is black Hollywood royalty. Her father, Clarence Avant, now 91, was a legend in the music industry, managing the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Freddie Hubbard and Bill Withers. They called him the Black Godfather.
So you might think that Avant would be supporting Karen Bass’s bid to be mayor of Los Angeles. Bass, who is black, is a six-term Democratic congresswoman. In 2020, she was on Joe Biden’s vice-presidential shortlist. ***
Homicides are up. Homeless encampments are metastasizing. Public spaces are overrun with graffiti and needles and human feces. In the first year of the pandemic, an estimated 160,000 people left Los Angeles County. ***
Two years ago, at the apex of the nation’s “racial reckoning,” Hollywood was all in on Black Lives Matter, defund the police, social justice—marching, preaching, hashtagging. Many A-listers gave to the campaign of George Gascon, who was then running for District Attorney of Los Angeles on a platform that prioritized decarceration and anti-racism. Reed Hastings, the other co-CEO of Netflix, gave more than $1.7 million to Gascon. (Avant noted that her husband, Ted Sarandos, did not, some media reports notwithstanding.)
When Gascon won, Hollywood celebrated.***
Everything had gotten worse—the crime, the homelessness, the feeling that the city was spiraling, that the bottom was falling out from under it.
Everyone in L.A. has had that moment when something awful and crystallizing happens. Perhaps it was the UCLA graduate student stabbed to death in a furniture store. Or the college student shot and killed near USC. Or the 12-year-old in Wilmington struck by a stray bullet.
For many in Hollywood, it came on December 1, 2021, when a robber—a repeat offender—broke into the Beverly Hills home of Nicole Avant’s parents. He shot Avant’s 91-year-old mother in the back, killing her—and later, according to court records, laughing and bragging about it. He did not expect to spend the rest of his life in prison; he figured Gascon’s office would be lenient. (He was wrong.)
The message was like this neon billboard hovering over the city, the Hills, the tennis courts and Michelin-star restaurants: You can live in a beautiful neighborhood several freeway stops from the poor and the violent. You can wall yourselves off with gates and security systems. You can even hire a personal security guard, as Avants’ parents had. And it still doesn’t matter. ***
This is the new conversation just starting to take place about class.
They talk endlessly about representation and inclusivity in Hollywood. They do not talk about all the people who aren’t being included, Avant said. She recalled driving in Beverly Hills a few years ago, and it was raining, and she passed a bus stop, and there was a woman standing in the rain, waiting for the bus, because a homeless person had taken over the bus stop for the night. “Somebody, please tell me why that’s okay,” she said. https://www.commonsense.news/p/the-hollywood-power-brokers-mugged
***
Oh, that?
A Michigan teenager was found with a dead body in a pickup truck he was driving following a fender bender, authorities said.
Authorities said Stephen Freeman, 19, fled after a minor crash in Roseville, 18 miles north of Detroit, last week, Fox Detroit reported. When officers checked the truck, they found the body of 62-year-old Gabrielle Seitz in the bed.
Seitz had a shoelace around her neck and there were signs of strangulation, authorities said. *** https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-teen-arrested-dead-body-found-truck-following-traffic-crash
***
You thought the middle schooler was hot?
Two brothers have been convicted of murder in the grisly cold case stabbing deaths of a Detroit-area woman and her 11-year-old daughter, prosecutors said.
A jury deliberated less than two hours Monday before convicting Tony Johnson, 42, and Henry Johnson, 37, of two counts each of premeditated first-degree murder and premeditated felony murder, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office said.***
Tina Geiger, 36, and Krissy Geiger, 11, were slain July 24, 2013, in their Clinton Township apartment. Tina Geiger suffered about 60 stab wounds and Krissy had more than 20 stab wounds, mostly to her neck, the Detroit Free Press reported.***
A bloody palm print and DNA found on the girl matched Tony Johnson, prosecutors said. DNA also confirmed blood found in the stairwell and on a railing outside the apartment came from a male relative of Tony Johnson’s. Henry Johnson resided in the same apartment complex.***
Tony Johnson was identified on video surveillance at a convenience store at the same time as the victims, prosecutors said. Investigators believed the brothers walked the victims home, sexually assaulted the girl and stabbed both victims. https://www.foxnews.com/us/2-brothers-fatally-stabbed-detroit-area-mother-60-times-11-year-old-daughter-20-times
***
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Unlocking the Mind-Body Connection: The Role of Martial Arts in Mental Wellness
In today's fast-paced world, the quest for mental wellness has become more important than ever. As stress levels rise and anxiety becomes increasingly prevalent, people are seeking holistic approaches to improve their mental health and well-being. One such approach that has gained popularity in recent years is the practice of martial arts. Beyond its physical benefits, martial arts offer a unique opportunity to unlock the mind-body connection, fostering mental resilience, emotional balance, and inner peace. In this article, we delve into the profound role of martial arts in promoting mental wellness, exploring its psychological effects, therapeutic benefits, and transformative potential.
The Mind-Body Connection:
At its core, martial arts is more than just a physical discipline—it is a practice that integrates the mind, body, and spirit. By cultivating mindfulness, discipline, and self-awareness, practitioners learn to harness the power of their thoughts and emotions, fostering a deeper connection between mind and body. This mind-body connection lies at the heart of martial arts training, serving as a foundation for personal growth, emotional resilience, and holistic well-being.
Stress Relief and Emotional Regulation:
One of the most immediate benefits of martial arts training is its ability to alleviate stress and promote emotional regulation. Through focused breathing exercises, meditation techniques, and repetitive movements, practitioners learn to quiet the mind, release tension, and center themselves in the present moment. This mindfulness practice not only reduces stress levels but also enhances emotional resilience, allowing individuals to navigate life's challenges with greater ease and equanimity.
Self-Confidence and Empowerment:
Martial arts training instills a sense of self-confidence and empowerment that extends beyond the dojo. As practitioners progress in their training, mastering new techniques and overcoming obstacles, they develop a strong sense of self-efficacy and belief in their abilities. This newfound confidence translates into all aspects of life, empowering individuals to pursue their goals, assert themselves in challenging situations, and navigate adversity with grace and resilience.
Discipline and Focus:
The disciplined nature of martial arts training cultivates a focused mind and disciplined spirit. Through rigorous practice and adherence to a structured curriculum, practitioners learn the value of perseverance, dedication, and self-discipline. This mental fortitude not only enhances their performance in martial arts but also carries over into other areas of life, such as work, academics, and personal relationships. By honing their ability to stay focused and disciplined, practitioners become better equipped to achieve their goals and realize their full potential.
Emotional Resilience and Mental Toughness:
Martial arts training challenges practitioners both physically and mentally, fostering resilience and mental toughness in the face of adversity. Whether sparring with an opponent, enduring grueling workouts, or overcoming setbacks and injuries, practitioners learn to embrace discomfort, push past their limits, and persevere in the pursuit of excellence. This resilience-building process not only strengthens their resolve but also equips them with valuable coping skills that can be applied to navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Self-Reflection and Personal Growth:
Martial arts training provides a platform for self-reflection and personal growth, inviting practitioners to embark on a journey of self-discovery and self-improvement. Through regular practice, individuals confront their fears, insecurities, and limitations, gaining insight into their strengths and weaknesses. This process of self-awareness and introspection fosters personal growth, allowing practitioners to evolve not only as martial artists but also as individuals. By embracing the challenges and opportunities for growth that martial arts offer, practitioners cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world.
Community and Connection:
Beyond its individual benefits, martial arts fosters a sense of community and connection among practitioners. Whether training in a traditional dojo, sparring with teammates, or competing in tournaments, practitioners form bonds forged through shared experiences, mutual respect, and camaraderie. This sense of belonging provides a support network that extends beyond the confines of the dojo, offering encouragement, friendship, and a sense of belonging that enhances mental well-being and social connectedness.
Conclusion:
In an age where the mind-body connection is increasingly recognized as essential for holistic well-being, martial arts offers a powerful pathway to unlock this synergy. Through its emphasis on mindfulness, discipline, resilience, and self-awareness, martial arts, Shotokan Karate New York training provides a transformative journey of personal growth and self-discovery. By cultivating mental wellness, emotional balance, and inner peace, martial arts empowers individuals to navigate life's challenges with grace, resilience, and confidence. Whether seeking stress relief, emotional regulation, personal growth, or community connection, martial arts offers a holistic approach to mental wellness that transcends the physical realm, unlocking the full potential of mind, body, and spirit.
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Best Gyms In Queens, NY
Exercise is good for you. It improves your cardiovascular health, helps with weight loss, and reduces the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. But that doesn't mean you have to spend hours at the gym every week in order to benefit from exercise. In fact, most experts agree that 30 minutes per day of moderate exercise is enough to see some health benefits—and if you do it consistently for even one week, you'll see measurable changes in your body's chemistry! So why not start by joining a gym close to home? Here are my picks for best gyms in Queens, NY:
Planet Fitness - Queens Center Mall
Planet Fitness is a popular gym in Queens. It is a low-cost gym and has a large number of equipment. Planet Fitness offers many classes and has a good atmosphere to work out.
You can join Planet Fitness for as little as $10 per month and get access to all of their locations, which makes it an affordable option that doesn't require you to spend much money on membership fees.
Retro Fitness - Forest Hills
The gym is a perfect place to exercise, especially if you're new in town or just looking for something new. The Retro Fitness-Forest Hills location has all of the equipment needed for a successful workout: from treadmills and ellipticals to weight lifting machines and free weights. The space isn't too big but it's not too small either; it's about the size of your average hotel room, so there's plenty of room for some cardio practice or stretching out on one of the mats provided by the gym (or even better: bringing your own).
The atmosphere at Retro Fitness is welcoming, with friendly staff members who will answer all questions regarding membership options. There's also an on-site massage therapist available if you need to take care of any nagging injuries before hitting up an intense workout session!
If you live close enough to this location, we highly recommend checking out their classes—they offer everything from yoga classes (which start at $10 per class) all the way up through CrossFit training sessions ($25 per hour). You'll find trainers waiting inside each class offering guidance throughout every single move so even beginners can feel comfortable trying something new—and everyone else becomes inspired when they see how well each person performs!
LA Fitness - Rego Park
LA Fitness is a chain of gyms that offers plenty of classes, a pool and sauna, juice bar, and full service cafe. This gym has something for everyone! They have a wide variety of equipment that allows you to do any workout you like. In addition to the basic weight machines, there are also circuit training areas where you can complete exercises like burpees or lunges in rapid succession while getting your heart rate up fast.
LAC Fitness has an indoor track which is great for jogging or running outside when it's too hot out during summer months here in NYC (or if it's raining). They also have two basketball courts so if you're looking to play some pickup games with your friends this can be done easily at LAC Fitness Rego Park without having to drive anywhere else.
All memberships come with access to their pool which opens up at 6am every day except on Fridays when opening time will be at 7am instead since they close early on those days due to being closed on Saturdays as well! This makes it easy for people who work late hours because now they won't have
Blink Fitness - Fresh Meadows
Blink Fitness - Fresh Meadows is located at 10-15 Little Neck Parkway, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365. The gym is open 24/7 and offers several membership options for you to choose from. If you're new to Blink Fitness, the first month of your membership is free!
A few of the classes offered at this location include:
Cardio: This class features low impact exercises that are great for building endurance and burning calories. You'll also gain strength and flexibility in this 60 minute class!
Yoga: If it's been a while since you've tried yoga then this is a great place to start again because they offer beginner level classes that are specifically designed for people who haven't done any before or those who need modifications because they have physical limitations such as injuries or disabilities (or just general clumsiness!).
Zumba Gold: This hour long workout combines dance moves with light weights which makes it easy for everyone in any shape or form achieve their fitness goals no matter what stage their fitness journey may be currently at!
Blink Fitness - Bayside-Bell Boulevard
Blink Fitness - Bayside-Bell Boulevard
20-12 Bell Boulevard
Bayside, NY 11361
Phone: (718) 224-6800
We hope this list has helped you find the best gym in Queens. If none of these gyms are quite what you’re looking for, don’t worry! There are plenty more out there, and we know that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to fitness. While we can’t recommend one gym over another due to personal preferences, we do hope our list gives you some ideas on where else may be worth checking out before making a final decision.
You can't always avoid divorce, but you can make it easier on yourself. At Gordon Law, P.C., we believe in providing our clients with the resources they need to make informed decisions about their future and the future of their children. We're here to help you navigate the legal system so that you can focus on your family relationships, rather than worrying about whether or not they will be intact after the divorce.
If you're looking for a divorce lawyer Queens ny, look no further: Gordn Law, P.C. is here to help! We are dedicated to providing quality legal services for families throughout Queens and beyond. Our team understands what it takes to build a solid case for you and your children in order to ensure that all parties involved are treated fairly by the courts.
Gordon Law, P.C. - Queens Family and Divorce Lawyer
161-10 Jamaica Ave #205, Queens, NY 11432, United States
(347) 670-2007
https://www.nylawyersteam.com/family-law-attorney/locations/queens
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R&J Capital Group LLC include FHA & VA loans without any income verification
R&J Capital Group LLC is the number one choice of many clients in Long Island, NY. Residents of NYC and Long Island can take our assistance for premier mortgage and loan brokering. Furthermore, we reassure that clients always get the best price on home loans and mortgage rates, and refinancing. R & J Capital Group is among the top industry leaders in terms of financing coops, condos, and other expenditure properties. We are prepared to offer anyone a mortgage as long as recorded income is presented. We are dedicated to helping clients to get no income no credit mortgage. R & J Capital Group LLC has the reputation and experience to handle FHA loans, refinances, and overturn mortgage services. Our offices are nestled in central Queens, near Forest Hill, Long Island, Rego Park, Briarwood, Kew Gardens, Flushing, Elmhurst, Jamaica, Ozone Park, Middle Village, and Fresh Meadows. Contact us immediately through our official email id: [email protected] or phone us at 516-274-7722 to avail mortgages on the new house with less than a 20% down payment. Visit our office today in 1 Linden Pl #406, Great Neck, NY 11021 to get a professional help. R&J Mortgage & Loan Brokers Long Island’s official website https://www.getmemortga
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