Category: Opinion

After being caught on body camera footage flashing her badge during a traffic stop and saying she hoped the deputy would “let us go,” Tampa, Florida’s police chief was placed on administrative leave.

On November 12, a Pinellas County deputy pulled over Police Chief Mary O’Connor and her husband for operating a golf cart without a license plate tag.

In the video, the deputy informs the couple that they were stopped because they were operating an unregistered vehicle without a tag.

O’Connor states, “I’m the police chief in Tampa,” while flashing her law enforcement badge. “I’m hoping you’ll just let us go tonight,” she added.

“If you ever need anything, call me,” O’Connor said, handing the deputy her card. “Seriously.”

The couple was let go without incident.

O’Connor later said her actions were a result of “poor judgment” and  she realized her handling of it could be viewed as inappropriate.

“It was poor judgment on our part to be driving a golf cart on a public roadway without the appropriate tags. This was the first time we had exited the golf-cart friendly community in which we own property with this vehicle, prompting the need for a license plate,” O’Connor said. “In hindsight, I realize how my handling of this matter could be viewed as inappropriate, but that was certainly not my intent. I knew my conversation was on video, and my motive was not to put the deputy in an uncomfortable position. I have personally called the Pinellas County Sheriff offering to pay for any potential citation.”

She added, “I have expressed great remorse to the mayor, and I apologize to the residents of Tampa who have a reasonable expectation of better judgment from their chief of police. As someone who has dealt with, taken ownership of and grown from my past mistakes, I know that no one is above the law, including me.”

In a statement about the incident issued on Friday afternoon, Mayor Jane Castor said that O’Connor had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the traffic stop.

While O’Connor is away, assistant chief Lee Bercaw is in charge in Tampa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Texas Catholic bishop criticized Hillary Clinton on Twitter for what appeared to be a comparison between the American abortion debate and rapes carried out by soldiers fighting for Russia in the conflict with Ukraine and Taliban rule.

“Please, please don’t listen to this evil woman,” Bishop Joseph Strickland said in a tweet. “Her lies and immorality need to be silenced for the good of humanity.”

The article that accompanied Strickland’s post highlighted remarks made by the former Democratic presidential contender while she was being interviewed by Christiane Amanpour for a summit on women’s rights held by the Clinton Presidential Center. Amanpour questioned her about a previous claim that women’s rights were “unfinished business.”

“We have come a long way since I made that statement, back in 1995, on so many fronts,” Clinton responded. “But we are also in a period of time where there is a lot of pushback and much of the progress that has been, I think, taken for granted by too many people is under attack.”

While speaking at the summit, Clinton also drew attention to the suffering of women in Sudan by bringing up the abortion debate.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned earlier this year, states in the U.S. are free to enact their own abortion laws. While some have placed strict restrictions on abortion, many others permit it up until the final weeks of pregnancy. Clinton asserted that abortion restrictions are anti-democratic.

“This struggle is between autocracy and democracy, from our country to places we can’t even believe we’re being compared to,” Clinton added.

Clinton spoke about abortion in another appearance this week saying, “I really, truly believe that when women are denied their basic rights anywhere, it gives heart to those who want to take away rights somewhere else.”

More cryptocurrency businesses will go bankrupt in a Ponzi scheme-style, but cryptocurrencies will still be an essential tool for international money transfers.

“Overall, I think you’re going to have most things crash,” said Joe Lonsdale, an investor and a co-founder of software company Palantir. Various crypto lenders, crypto tokens and other parts of the ecosystem were “a Ponzi scheme, and it made no sense whatsoever.”

“This is what you’d expect in any situation where you have stuff that’s not regulated,” he added.

Over the last several years, crypto projects have been “valued not based on cash flows, not based on creating value in the economy, but based on what people would pay for it,” Lonsdale said.

Early in November, the Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX declared bankruptcy under Chapter 11 after allegedly suffering losses of at least $1 billion.

BlockFi, a sizable cryptocurrency firm, also declared bankruptcy last week, joining Celsius Network and Voyager Digital in entering Chapter 11 proceedings.

Some companies that have declared bankruptcy “have had a lot of corruption,” Lonsdale said, though he only named FTX. “Long term, there’s a good part of crypto, but most of what we saw in crypto the last three, four, five years was a speculative bubble driven by cheap money and driven by a lot of these Ponzi schemes.”

Despite the recent unrest in the cryptocurrency markets, Lonsdale predicts that crypto-based technologies will continue to advance. According to Lonsdale, the blockchain technology used in cryptocurrencies makes it possible to

“It does make sense to have more decentralized power and for something like Bitcoin to exist,” he said. “It’s helped people get money out of Russia, out of Venezuela, out of China.”

“It allows more kind of liberty for the financial system from really bad-acting governments,” Lonsdale continued.

Blockchain technology will still be an important part of the future, the venture capitalist said.

“This ecosystem, long term, I think you will have some of this stuff emerge as useful for the world,” he said. “But that’s not all we’re seeing right now.”

The censorship of the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 sparked outrage among liberal pundits, who rushed to discredit a bombshell Twitter thread from Elon Musk and Substack journalist Matt Taibbi. The thread revealed internal communications between Twitter employees and US lawmakers.

The revelations, dubbed the “Twitter Files,” were made public by Taibbi on the social media platform on Friday night at Musk’s request. Musk provided emails and other documents that revealed Twitter’s internal censorship practices leading up to the 2020 presidential elections, including removing the Post’s report.

Taibbi claimed that because there were more liberals on Twitter, requests to throttle conservative accounts were received more frequently. Among the revelations was that Twitter staff had open channels with powerful third parties, including members of both political parties, so they could flag tweets they deemed problematic and have them “handled.”

The most notable were the documents Taibbi released, which showed conversations between high-level Twitter employees who ultimately agreed to emergency moderation measures to stop the spread of the Hunter Biden story, despite the fact that many of them were concerned they had little reason to use such measures.

According to one eye-opening email, Yoel Roth, the former head of trust and safety at Twitter, advised staff to suppress the New York Post story despite the fact that “the facts remain unclear” in light of the “lessons of 2016.”

Although some liberals on the platform tried to intimidate Taibbi and Musk, they did their best to minimize the information from the “Files.”

“Pod Save America” podcast co-host and former Obama White House staffer Jon Favreau criticized Musk directly: “Elon is spending the evening trying to embarrass someone who’s struggled with addiction so that he can juice engagement on the platform he bought that’s hemorrhaging money. Great guy.”

Elon is spending the evening trying to embarrass someone who’s struggled with addiction so that he can juice engagement on the platform he bought that’s hemorrhaging money.

Great guy. pic.twitter.com/PP5JC115sO

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) December 2, 2022

 

Liberal commentator Brian Tyler Cohen tried to destroy the thread’s entire argument by saying, “So Twitter was acting under orders of the government except Biden wasn’t POTUS in 2020. And it’s a First Amendment violation except Twitter can’t violate 1A as a private biz. And the takedown requests from team Biden were nudes against Twitter’s TOS. But going great otherwise!”

 

 

Outside of their Los Angeles home on Friday, a coyote ambushed a California family and dragged their 2-year-old daughter across the lawn before her father charged at the animal and scared it away.

The girl was treated in the emergency room for non-life-threatening wounds and given the rabies shot, according to the girl’s family.

Shira Eliyahuo, the girl’s mother, said that her daughter suffered from scratches and some bruising.

“She has a lot of scratches on her left leg and one of them is really deep,” she said.

She added: “The coyote just kind of dragged her, so her face is also a little bit bruised.”

The incident was captured by the family’s Ring home security system and happened on Friday at around 3:42 p.m.

Ariel Eliyahuo can be seen in the video taking his daughter out of the car seat and setting her next to the SUV as he turns around to reach inside.

The animal then made a strike.

The coyote leaps at the girl and drags her across the driveway and onto the sidewalk, dragging her several feet away. The girl is lying face-down on the ground.

In response to the disturbance, the girl’s father chases after her and grabs her in his arms. The coyote then flees after being hit by what appears to be a water bottle that he threw at it.

The father emerges from welding a piece of wood after bringing the young child inside and then appears to be on the lookout for and pursuing the creature.

Within a short period of time, the entire incident is over.

The parents claimed that the family had just returned from her preschool.

Los Angeles is home to many coyotes, but they rarely attack people.

In response to the disturbance, the girl’s father chases after her and grabs her in his arms. The coyote then flees after being hit by what appears to be a water bottle that he threw at it.

 

 

 

 

Some 401(k) plan managers and other investment fiduciaries will now be able to offer investment options that take into account environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues like climate change and social justice initiatives. This is thanks to a new regulation that was recently released by the White House. Tens of millions of Americans nationwide could see their retirement investing completely changed as a result of the action.

Over the next year or two, some employees may not notice any changes to their 401(k) and other retirement options, but others will soon find themselves forced to choose from a small number of ESG-focused investment funds, effectively forcing some employees who want to take advantage of the tax advantages provided by 401(k) plans to contribute to ideas they disagree with.

How can you guard against being forced to invest in ESG funds? First, let them know that you are not interested in ESG investing by communicating with your employer, pension fund manager, or other fiduciaries who are in charge of your retirement accounts. The Biden rule only permits fiduciaries to offer ESG investments; it does not mandate them.

Second, under the new Biden regulation, employers are allowed to make an ESG fund the default selection for workers with 401(k) accounts. As a result, workers who typically choose certain 401(k) investments voluntarily may soon have their hard-earned money automatically invested in an ESG fund. The change won’t even be noticed by many employees. Make sure to submit your own 401(k) elections if you want to prevent this from happening in the upcoming years.

Third, if your employer or pension manager severely restricts your options, making it difficult to avoid ESG investing when making 401(k) contributions, think about other investment opportunities that would give you more control over your money. For instance, a better choice might be an individual retirement account or IRA.

The goal of Biden’s most recent regulatory change is to direct more funding—possibly trillions of dollars—toward the causes that he and other progressives support. Start preparing right away if you don’t want your money to be used to support ESG initiatives.

Sam Brinton, a senior Energy Department (DOE) official, was charged with stealing a stranger’s luggage in the Minneapolis airport in September, shortly before suspiciously taking a leave of absence.

Brinton — who serves as the DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition — was said to have taken a Vera Bradley suitcase worth $2,325 from the luggage carousel at the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport (MSP) on Sept. 16. Brinton had traveled from Washington, D.C., to MSP that day.

After the suitcase’s owner reported it to police, officers reviewed video surveillance of the baggage claim and identified Brinton taking the luggage before disposing of its tag identifying the true owner. Law enforcement then learned Brinton used the luggage during at least two other trips to Washington, D.C.

“If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual,” Brinton told the officer at the time. “That was my clothes when I opened the bag.”

Two hours after the initial phone call, Brinton called the officer back and confessed to not being “completely honest.” But Brinton claimed it was a mistake and used the excuse of being tired for taking the wrong bag.

“DEFENDANT said when they opened the bag at the hotel, they realized it was not theirs,” the court filings stated. “DEFENDANT got nervous people would think they stole the bag and did not know what to do. DEFENDANT stated they left the clothes from the bag inside the drawers in the hotel room.”

Brinton was eventually charged with felony theft of a movable property without consent, a charge that could come with a five-year sentence, $10,000 fine or both.

 

 

 

 

 

Currently speaking about the rescue, a U.S. Coast Guard diver claims that the 28-year-old “had between a minute and 30 seconds left before we lost him completely.” The man fell off the Carnival Valor cruise ship.

The person, who WWL identified as James Grimes, was found about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, a channel that runs through Louisiana at the Mississippi River’s mouth. He went missing on Wednesday night around 11 p.m. after leaving a bar to use the restroom; he was eventually discovered around 8:25 p.m. on Thanksgiving night.

“Mr. Grimes had nothing left. He had no energy. He had nothing left to give,” said a U.S. Coast Guard aviation survival technician. “My best guess is that he had between a minute and 30 seconds left before we lost him completely.”

After giving Grimes the rescue sling, Grimes “just collapsed into it,” according to Hoefle.

While en route to Cozumel, Mexico, the cruise ship turned around to aid in the search before continuing.

Prior to receiving medical care at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport, Grimes was lifted out of the water and onto a helicopter.

Before learning that Grimes had been spotted by another ship, the four-person Coast Guard crew conducting the rescue was searching a region in the Gulf of Mexico the size of Rhode Island, according to WWL.

“It’s hard to keep your mind in the right place, and then to throw that Hail Mary last couple of minutes of waving, swinging a sock around, anything to make himself more visible to us, that’s survival,” Hoefle said. “He just had an incredible will to survive. And he did whatever he had to do.”

 

 

 

 

It means downright deceitful. Manipulating. Misleading. Merriam-Webster has named its word of 2022 – “gaslighting.”

The official definition for “gaslighting,” according to Merriam-Webster, is the psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”

According to Merriam-Webster, there were 1,740% more people searching for the definition of the word in 2022 than there were in 2021.

In a world full of deepfakes, the dark web and fake news, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large Peter Sokolowski said he was surprised that there was not a single event that drove significant spikes in the curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.

“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large.

The word was brought to light more than 80 years ago with “Gas Light,” a 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton.

Later, mental health professionals used the term “gaslighting” to clinically denote a prolonged form of coercive control in abusive relationships.

Based on data, Merriam-Webster selects its word of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

Actor Will Smith said he would understand if some of his former fans are not willing to see his new film, “Emancipation,” after he assaulted comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars earlier this year.

Since he smacked Rock in the face in March, Smith hasn’t released a new film until “Emancipation.” In response to a joke that Rock had made about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her alopecia, an autoimmune condition that results in hair loss, Smith had slapped the comedian.

Smith has issued numerous apologies and resigned from the Academy since the incident.

The actor stated that he would comprehend if people were not prepared to see his film as a result of his slap at the Oscars in a recent interview.

“I completely understand that, if someone is not ready, I would absolutely respect that and allow them their space to not be ready,” Will Smith said. “My deepest concern is my team – [director Antoine Fuqua] has done what I think is the greatest work of his entire career.”

He claims that his team has done “some of the best work of their entire careers” and that his only “hope is that my actions don’t penalize my team.”

“I’m hoping that the material – the power of the film, the timeliness of the story – I’m hoping that the good that can be done would open people’s hearts at a minimum to see and recognize and support the incredible artists in and around this film,” Smith added.