Variable Enhancement Services

NYC Federal workers Protest Trump's Government shutdown

2019-01-21T10:28:00.000-05:00

Food stamps, rent aid and the safety net for American’s poorest at risk as shutdown drags on. As the partial government shutdown continues into its third week, the impacts are falling hardest on those who can afford it the least — and the effects will grow even more punishing if key agencies remain paralyzed beyond Feb. 1 and into March. At risk: food on the table for millions of vulnerable households, rental assistance and other safety net programs.

Trump last week threatened to keep the government partially closed for months, even years, if the impasse over the border wall continues.

Under criticism, the Trump administration this week moved to shore up one of the most important pillars of the social safety net, the food stamp program, which benefits 38 million Americans and whose funding was due to run out at the end of January.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Tuesday that the agency would rely on a little-known budget provision to give states the money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for the month of February ahead of time — by Jan. 20 — to circumvent the expiration of federal appropriations.

Perdue also ensured that other nutrition assistance programs, including school meals and a program for mothers and young children, would be funded through February. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides food, baby formula and breast-feeding support to 7.3 million mothers and children under 5 years old.

Callie Schneider, 11, fills plastic bags with food that will go to families in need. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
But officials could not promise that those benefits would continue if the shutdown lasts until March. The food stamp program has a $3 billion reserve, which would cover less than two-thirds of the $4.8 billion in benefits distributed each month.

Beginning in March, families could experience an average cut of at least $90, or close to 40 percent, assuming the agency spreads the $1.8 billion shortfall evenly across the 19 million households receiving SNAP benefits, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The USDA has not said what it would do in the event the shutdown lasts that long. When the SNAP contingency money runs out in April, the food assistance program will probably be closed altogether, anti-poverty advocates said.

“At that point, it will take Congress taking some sort of emergency action to fund the program if the government doesn’t reopen,” said Rebecca Vallas, vice president of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. “We will see hunger in America skyrocket. It’s going to take more than just flipping a switch to make things right after this.”

[Wisconsin is the GOP model for ‘welfare reform.’ But as work requirements grow, so does one family’s desperation.]

Already, more than 2,500 grocers and other retailers are no longer accepting food stamps because their SNAP licenses were not renewed before the shutdown started Dec. 22, according to the Food Marketing Institute, an industry group.

Federal funding has also been shut off for cash welfare benefits, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), for 3.4 million of the poorest Americans, the majority of whom are children. For now, states are picking up the financial burden — $4.2 billion they were to have received from the Department of Health and Human Services to cover January through March. States are providing benefits by cobbling together previously unspent federal funds with state dollars.

“We don’t know at what point states will start to panic and that will start to affect people relying on TANF,” said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, an expert on the social safety net at the Center for Law and Social Policy.

If the government does not fully reopen by Feb. 1, nearly 270,000 rural families who receive federal rent subsidies through the USDA would also be at risk of eviction because their landlords would no longer be paid, said Bob Rapoza, executive secretary of the National Rural Housing Coalition.

“These are the poorest rural people in the country,” Rapoza said. “They’re farmworkers, they’re senior citizens, they’re disabled.”

An additional 2.2 million low-income households receiving rent assistance could be put in jeopardy in March when funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 voucher program runs out.

State and local public housing agencies would also stop receiving money to operate more than 1 million public housing units in March.

And another 100,000 low-income tenants are already at risk because HUD did not have staff in place during the shutdown to renew at least 1,150 affordable housing contracts that expired in December.

That means apartment owners will not be paid and must now dip into their reserves to cover their mortgages — which they may not be able to do indefinitely.

HUD officials told The Washington Post this week that furloughed staffers have been called back to work to scour agency accounts for money that could be used to cover contracts that expired before the shutdown. But those that expired after Dec. 22 remain in limbo, with payments possible only after renewal of the earlier batch of contracts. The agency sought to downplay the impact of the expired contracts.

“No one has ever been evicted because of a shutdown, and the landlords have always been made whole,” said HUD spokesman Jereon Brown.

But he acknowledged that more contracts expire with each day that the government remains closed. Another 500 contracts are scheduled to expire by the end of January, and 550 in February, the agency said.

The risk of eviction for low-income tenants grows the longer the government remains closed, housing advocates say.

“The longer the shutdown continues, the more the lowest income people will be hard hit,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “If we get to March, we’re going to be looking at a potentially significant number of evictions.”

HUD also announced Wednesday there could be major delays in the disaster relief funding it is sending to Puerto Rico, Florida, and a number of other places because of the shutdown, saying it likely would not be able to meet a timeline set by Congress .

The shutdown has hit Native American tribes especially hard because so many of their basic services depend on federal funding, as a legacy of their negotiated treaties with the U.S. government.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) — a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and one of two Native American congresswomen newly sworn in this month — said one tribe witnessed a member die during the shutdown because road crews did not plow snow-filled roads and an ambulance could not get through. She did not provide further details, saying she wanted to respect the tribe’s privacy.

Several tribes have reallocated funds to keep hospitals and clinics open on their lands. But staff at those hospitals has already grown thinner, Davids said.

“For many in these communities, this is the only way people can access health care,” she said.

[Already reeling from tariff war, some farmers aren’t receiving government support checks amid shutdown]

Kerry Hawk Lessard, executive director of Native American Lifelines — a Baltimore-based group that provides health assistance to Native Americans living in urban areas — said she has needed to turn away members seeking rides to doctor’s appointments and halt funding for previously promised eyeglasses as a result of the shutdown.

Nonprofit groups in Washington say they are making contingency plans after facing an uptick in calls from furloughed federal workers — with 362,000 of them living in the area — as well as families starting to panic about losing a slew of social safety benefits.

The Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington revamped its website to lead with a tutorial on how to get food during the shutdown. The food bank sought assurances from federal authorities that the government will continue supplies of food and is trying to persuade grocery stores and other partners to help shore up dwindling supplies.

“We’re hearing from first-timers trying to understand how we work, what the hours are, whether there’s any near their homes,” said Radha Muthiah, the food bank’s president and chief executive.

Valerie Beaudin, 51, who was furloughed from her job as U.S. Census geographer, spent Tuesday morning handing out supplies at a food pantry in Huntingtown, Md., during a special event for federal workers.

Some were young, newly hired workers with no savings. Others were couples who both worked for the federal government.

“They were grabbing everything from luncheon meat to oranges to diapers and baby supplies,” Beaudin said.

Muthiah said Capital Food Bank has started talking about creating a fund for future shutdowns.

“We have an emergency cushion we use for natural disasters like floods, tornadoes,” Muthiah said. “We’ve never had to allocate for shutdowns before, but given how things are shaping up, this may be the new norm.”

Jeff Stein, Damian Paletta and Amy Goldstein and NY Times contributed to this report.

Education & Employment Needs in NYC

2018-10-15T23:38:00.000-04:00

College Credit and Out-of-State Testing

College Credit

The New York State High School Equivalency Diploma Based on Earned College Credit may be awarded to candidates who have completed 24 credits (or its equivalent) as a recognized candidate for a degree or a certificate at an approved institution. (Refer to Attachment J)

The NYSED Adult Education High School Equivalency Office does not recognize, nor evaluate, secondary or post-secondary transcripts from countries outside of the United States.
The NYSED Adult Education High School Equivalency Office does not recognize, nor evaluate, transcript evaluations of foreign secondary or post-secondary credits.
In New York State all applicants must have reached “maximum compulsory school attendance age” to be awarded the HSE diploma based on college credit. Applicants reach “maximum compulsory school attendance age” when the school year in which they turn sixteen (16) years of age has ended (June 30). In New York City, and in some other public school districts throughout the State, applicants reach “maximum compulsory school attendance age” when the school year in which they turn seventeen (17) years of age has ended (June 30).

Important Note: Do not send cash. Only money orders or certified checks payable to the "New York State Education Department" will be accepted.

To have your credits reviewed:

Complete Attachment J for College Credit
Enclose a certified check or money order for $10.00
Enclose official college transcripts from all institutions of higher education
Send to: THE NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
HSE Office
P.O. Box 7348
Albany, New York 12224-0348

Out-of-State Testing

The New York State High School Equivalency diploma may also be awarded to eligible candidates who meet New York State requirements and submit an official GED ® (2002-2013 Series) or TASC™ ( 2014-present) Score Report for GED/TASC subtests taken outside of New York State. Out-of-State scores will then be added to a New York State record, and candidates will receive an updated official New York State High School Equivalency Score Report to include their Out-of-State and New York State test scores. The New York State High School Equivalency diploma will be awarded to eligible candidates who meet all requirements. Please note if you already hold a high school or high school equivalency diploma from another state, then you are not eligible for the New York State High School Equivalency diploma.
Important Note: There is a $10.00 non-refundable processing fee. Please do not send cash. Only money orders or certified checks payable to the New York State Education Department will be accepted.

To obtain an official copy of your updated New York State Score Report for High School Equivalency:

Download and complete Attachment I
Enclose a certified check or money order for $10.00.
Ask the state where you previously tested to forward an official copy of your GED ® (2002-2013) scores to us, or contact the TASC HelpDesk at (888) 282-0589 to request the Interstate Testing Request Form for TASC™ ( 2014-present) scores. If you took the GED® Tests outside of New York State before 2002, and have questions about your high school equivalency record, please contact our office for more information at (518) 474-5906.
Send to:

THE NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
HSE Office
P.O. Box 7348
Albany, New York 12224-0348

College Admissions

One in twenty college freshman holds a high school credential earned by taking and passing the HSE Tests. See More

How to write a grant proposal and file application

2018-09-12T15:15:00.002-04:00

Grant Applications Are Available Today!

Billions are Given Out in Free Funding
As you know, each and every year BILLIONS of dollars are awarded to people and organizations, in the form of free-money and other types of funding. This money comes from all different sources including but not limited to state and federal agencies and through private corporations and foundations. Most people know this money exists, but just don't know where to apply, how much they qualify for, or even where to get an application.

Incidentally, the amount of money given away by these entities each year can vary as well as the time of the year that the money is given away, so it's important to check the date the application is due and when the money will be distributed. Many people think this money is given out at the beginning of the calendar year, and this is not the rule. Some entities give out money several times a year or even all year long depending on who is eligible and who is not.

As you know our country has bailed out banks, investment firms, and other failing businesses in recent years. You need to also know that they are not the only ones giving out money. There are thousands of private corporations and foundations, who have money to help individuals and small businesses, too, through different types of funding programs! Funding programs have eligibility criteria, which an applicant must meet before a funding application will even be considered. USA Grant Applications was designed to give you the help you need to locate and apply for these funds because if you are like most Americans, you just don't know where to start.

Get Access to Grants Applications
Here are some of the categories of assistance given away by these different organizations through all different types of programs:

Small and large business ventures including start-up and expansion
Real estate ventures including rehab, repair, low-cost housing, rentals, and hundreds of other real estate-related investments
Inventions
Community development
Historical building restoration
Medical research
Education
First-time home purchase
And many others!

Don't worry about your present financial situation. Funding applications do not require collateral, credit checks, security deposits or co-signers. You can apply even if you have a Bankruptcy. Also remember that government funding is not available for personal expenses or paying off debt but there may be other assistance programs out there to help you out of your situation!
Get your piece of the big funding pie. Start the Application Process Now! Don't wait. The money you need may be given to your neighbor, if they qualify!

Getting started is easy! Just fill out the registration membership form below, pay the registration fee, and begin your search for the funding through our specialized funding site!

Get Started Here!

National People Show: Season 1, Episode 2: (Chicago 66 and Tariq Nasheed)

2018-09-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

National People Show:

Hosted By Derrick Pringle Sr., Daryl Rush is interviewed, as he gives his opinion on the on the statements made by Tariq Nasheed, "Black people are to dumb to get smart" (White supremacist are smarter than all people).

Also, Derrick addresses the implications made about white supremacist being involved in the 12 killings in Chicago, where 66 black people were shot. There were accusations of real people look alike mask being worn, As shockingly seen is the video, and there were implications of white supremacist shown wearing them.

Tariq Nasheed: An Anti-White Black Supremacist

By Red Pill | 06-18-2017 News
Photo credit: Redpill | thegoldwater

Tariq Nasheed calls himself an Anti-Racist Strategist. However, he's a provocateur of promoting Anti-White rhetoric day in and day out.

Every time a terror attack happens, anytime a black man is charged with a crime, Tariq finds some way to blame it on what he calls the “oppressive racism of Whites” instead of being accountable for the actions of his own people.

Tariq just today tried to vilify rape victims of Bill Cosby, by stating that Gloria Allred, the attorney for an African American rape victim, somehow used the woman to “Blacken-It Up” so the trial wouldn't appear to be racist.

Tariq is disgusting, and will never hold accountability for crimes committed by other blacks. Bill Cosby actually raped women, admitting himself he would drug them beforehand and later use their intoxication to take advantage of them sexually.

How do you even defend that? Tariq thinks it's somehow related to Cosby’s skin color. Very disturbing to say the least.
A white man questioned him and said “If there are so many murderous white supremacists then why is Tariq Nasheed remaining unmurdered” to which Tariq used the tweet to somehow insinuate the man was a white supremacist sending him a death threat. Absolutely absurd.

It's not just Whites who call out Tariq on his obviously racist and anti-white antics, even ethnic minorities have attacked his clearly bigoted remarks.

A Sikh YouTube commentator Annand Virk, popularly known as Bunty King on social media, was banned on Twitter following a race-related argument with “anti-racism strategist” and failed rap artist Tariq Nasheed.

After a complex chain of argumentative replies between the two, Virk brought up the racism involved with Nasheed’s daily Anti-White tweets on race and white supremacy to which the ever unintelligent Nasheed and professional sleaze responded by calling Virk a “Hapa” in a reply.

For those who are unaware, this is the equivalent of using the word “nigger” to a Sikh and often used to refer to them with a bigoted attack. Nasheed uses the slur in reference to all non-white people who, in his estimation, perpetuate white supremacy by disagreeing with him.

So who is Tariq Nasheed? A man who spends his day on Twitter railing against white supremacy and hidden white supremacist symbols.

He’s famous for such tweets like “the Cleveland Facebook killer may be used as an excuse for white supremacists to go around shooting black people.” He has also on Tucker Carlson’s show to crucify the police for shooting the OSU terrorist last year.

Inciting such hatred and division is common for Black Supremacist pundits such as Tariq who would rather see us divided versus uniting against a common enemy.
Over Philando Castille, Tariq tweeted “Black people, while we out here bull***ting around, white supremacist training, and coming up with ways to KILL you 247” which prompted Twitter user and white rights advocate @BasedMonitored to reply “Tariq Nasheed is a problem. People actually listen to his drivel.”

Based Monitored is correct. People do listen to these Anti-White rhetoric and mistake it for the fact. Since we're discussing facts, however, let's point out a few of them.
First off, the officer who shot Philando Castille was Hispanic Officer Jeronimo Yanez who's clearly not white nor a White Supremacist.

Next, Havard Studies have shown there is no racial bias on shootings by police officers. The paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, which examined thousands of incidents at 10 large police departments in California, Florida, and Texas, concluded that police were no more likely to shoot non-whites than whites after factoring in extenuating circumstances.

Harvard economics professor Roland G. Fryer Jr. said, “On the most extreme use of force officer-involved shootings we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account.” Mr. Fryer, who is black, told The New York Times that the finding of no racial discrimination in police shootings was “the most surprising result of my career.”

In fact, the entire “Hands Up, Don't Shoot” motto is founded on a lie. Through exhaustive interviews with witnesses, including going as far as to cross-checking their statements with previous statements to authorities and the media, ballistics, DNA evidence and results from three autopsies, the Justice Department was able to present a credible and troubling picture of what happened to Michael Brown.

The Justice Department, and a reminder this was under President Obama, found that Officer Wilson knew about the theft of the cigarillos from the convenience store and had a description of the suspects. Michael Brown proceeded to have fought with the officer and tried to take his gun. And the popular hands-up storyline, which isn’t corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements, was perpetuated by an unknown Witness 101.

In fact, the entire media and Witness 101, whom we all know as Dorian Johnson, the friend with who was with Brown that day, was not supported by the evidence and other witness statements. The entire concept is a lie. Michael Brown was a thug and he tried to take the officer's gun.
Once again the narrative being pushed by Anti-White Black Supremacists such as Tariq Nasheed is completely without merit.

If you wanted to get even more technical, Adjusted for the homicide rate, whites are 1.7 times more likely than blacks die at the hands of police. Adjusted for the racial disparity at which police are feloniously killed, whites are 1.3 times more likely than blacks to die at the hands of police. Tariq and these Anti-White bigots simply cannot comprehend the truth or they choose to ignore it completely.

The Journal of Experimental Criminology found that officers took longer to pull the trigger on black men than on white or Hispanic men. So that argument is completely invalid.
To further benefit those claims, Whites are actually fifty percent more likely to be killed by police officers than blacks. 50 percent of the victims of fatal police shootings were white, while 26 percent were black.

Heather Mac Donald in a speech at Hillsdale College said: “Such a concentration of criminal violence in minority communities means that officers will be disproportionately confronting armed and often resisting suspects in those communities, raising officers’ own risk of using lethal force.”
To summarize the criminal activities of those who are black far surpass that of those who are white.

President Trump on the campaign trail actually echoed these facts saying that has effectively declaring that blacks were responsible for 81 percent of the killings of white Americans, that "African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they've ever been in before," and that "inner-city crime is reaching record levels."

The statistics show that the 500 killings of white people attributed to blacks last year were the most since black perpetrators were determined to be responsible for the homicides of 504 white people nationwide in 2008. Last year's total was up 12 percent from the 446 recorded in 2014 and 22 percent from the 409 seen in 2013, a year that saw the lowest total this century and one that capped seven years of general declines in black-on-white homicides. Prior to that, 2006 saw the most black-on-white killings since 2001, with 573.

By Red Pill | 06-18-2017 News
Photo credit: Redpill | thegoldwater

FCC Attacks first amendment to freedom of speech

2018-08-16T15:05:00.002-04:00

The FCC and Freedom of Speech

FCC Attacks our first amendment to freedom of speech, this is very unacceptable.

The Federal Communications Commission receives numerous complaints that television and/or radio networks, stations or their employees or guests have broadcast extreme, incorrect or somehow improper political, economic or social statements.

In some cases, the complaints allege that certain broadcast statements may endanger the United States or its people, or threaten our form of government, our economic system or established institutions like family or marriage. They say these statements are “un-American” and an abuse of freedom of speech.

The FCC also receives complaints that some broadcast statements criticize, ridicule, “stereotype” or demean individuals or groups because of the religion, race, nationality, gender or other characteristics of the group or individual. Finally, many consumers complain that television or radio broadcasts are obscene, indecent, profane or otherwise offensive.

What is the FCC’s Responsibility?

The FCC is barred by law from trying to prevent the broadcast of any point of view. The Communications Act prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast material, in most cases, and from making any regulation that would interfere with freedom of speech. Expressions of views that do not involve a “clear and present danger of serious, substantive evil” come under the protection of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press and prevents suppression of these expressions by the FCC. According to an FCC opinion on this subject, “the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views.”

This principle ensures that the most diverse and opposing opinions will be expressed, even though some may be highly offensive.
The FCC, however, does have enforcement responsibilities in certain limited instances. For example, the Courts have said that indecent material is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and cannot be banned entirely.

It may be restricted, however, in order to avoid its broadcast when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. Between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. (when there is the greatest likelihood that children may be watching,) airing indecent material is prohibited by FCC rules. Broadcasters are required to schedule their programming accordingly or face enforcement action. Similarly, the Commission has stated that profane material is prohibited between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M.

Chicago teens Torture White Male live On Facebook

2017-01-05T22:35:00.001-05:00

Chicago Police revealed today how the man seen bound and allegedly tortured in a Facebook Live video was able to escape captors.

After nearly six hours of being tormented by his captors Tuesday, the 18-year-old-man with "mental health challenges" managed to free himself and escape after his captors left the apartment to confront a neighbor on a lower floor who had complained about the noise they were making, Chicago Police Cmdr. Kevin Duffin said at a press conference today.

The neighbor initially complained to two of the suspects who live in the apartment unit -- sisters Brittany Covington, 18 and Tanishia Covington, 24 -- and threatened to call the police if the noise didn't stop, Cmdr. Kevin Duffin said.

The sisters were angry that they had been asked to quiet down, so they left the apartment and went downstairs to kick in the neighbor's door, Cmdr. Duffin said.

That provided the man an opportunity to escape to the street.

Police officers had originally responded to a damaged property call at the Covingtons' building, stemming from the sisters kicking the neighbor's door, when they located the victim on street nearby.

Officer Michael Donnelly was responding to the damaged property call when he spotted the victim wearing jean shorts, sandals and a tank top that was inside out and backwards, despite the frigid temperatures. Donnelly said the victim was "bloody" and "battered" when he approached him. He then called an ambulance and left him with two other officers while he continued the investigation at the Covingtons' building.

Criminal Charges Filed Against 4 Suspects in Facebook Live Assault Case
Facebook Responds to 'Sickening' Assault Video Posted on Social Media
On Saturday, the victim's parents had dropped him off at a McDonald's in Streamwood, a suburb northwest of Chicago, under the premise that he would be spending the night with his friend and school acquaintance, suspect Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville.

Hill then picked up the victim in a stolen van, which the victim assumed was his, and the pair drove to the west side of Chicago and visited with friends for two days, sleeping in the van overnight, Cmdr. Duffin said.

The victim’s parents reported him missing on Monday. The next day, the victim and Hill went to the home of the Covington sisters.

Several hours later, a “play fight” between the victim and Hill escalated, and the suspects bound him and began to assault him, Duffin said.

“That’s when racial slurs and deference to his mental capacity starts coming out,” Duffin said of the video. “That’s primarily one of the reasons why they were charged with the hate crime.”

The video was initially posted on Facebook but was later removed. The social media company said it "does not allow people to celebrate or glorify crimes on Facebook."

The video of the violent assault shows the victim, a white man, with his mouth taped shut as his captors allegedly repeatedly torture him. Someone is heard yelling, "F---- white people."

At one point, the victim was threatened with a knife and told to curse President-elect Donald Trump.

"Say f--- Donald Trump," someone is heard saying.

"F--- Donald Trump," the victim says.

President Obama addressed the video today, telling ABC affiliate WLS in Chicago, "we appear to have seen" a hate crime in the alleged attack on the victim.

"It's terrible," he said about the incident.

Trump hits Toyota against carmakers and Mexico

2017-01-05T21:52:00.002-05:00

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump targeted Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Thursday, threatening to impose a hefty fee on the world's largest automaker if it builds its Corolla cars for the U.S. market at a plant in Mexico.

"Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax," Trump said in a post on Twitter.

It was Trump's latest broadside against automakers building cars in Mexico and first against a foreign automaker. The president-elect's attacks on investments by companies in Mexico have cast a shadow over cross-border production networks central to more than $583 billion a year in trade between the two countries.

The value of the Mexican peso has skidded amid fears that Trump's policies would harm Latin America's second-biggest economy -- and declined Thursday after Trump's tweet.

Toyota, which announced plans to build a new Mexican facility in Guanajuato in April 2015, said it would not take away from U.S. employment.

"Toyota looks forward to collaborating with the Trump administration to serve in the best interests of consumers and the automotive industry," Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said.

Trump's tweet confuses Toyota's existing Baja plant with the planned $1 billion plant in Guanajuato, where construction got under way in November. A Trump spokeswoman did not return a request seeking additional comment.

Baja produces around 100,000 pickup trucks and truck beds annually. The Guanajuato plant will build Corollas and have an annual capacity of 200,000 when it comes online in 2019, shifting production of the small car from Canada.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump talks to members of the media as retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn stands next to him at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The Japanese automaker's American Depositary Receipts fell after Trump's tweet and closed down 0.6 percent at $120.44 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in Japan on Thursday that the automaker has no immediate plans to curb production in Mexico, preferring to wait until after Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration before deciding whether to make any changes.

"We will consider our option as we see what policies the incoming president adopts," Toyoda said at an industry gathering in Tokyo on Thursday before Trump's tweet, when asked whether his company was considering any changes to a production plant the automaker was building in Mexico.

Automakers in the United States have been slammed by Trump for building cars in lower-cost factories south of the border, which he said costs American jobs. Pressure to curb that production intensified this week after Ford Motor Co (F.N) scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Mexico after Trump harshly criticized the investment.

Ford, however, still plans to shift production of small cars to Mexico from Michigan, even as it uses $700 million from the planned Mexico investment to expand its operations in Flat Rock, Michigan, and add 700 jobs.

During the campaign, Trump criticized barriers to U.S. auto exports to Japan and said the U.S. government did not do enough to open the market to more American-made vehicles.

"Until you open your markets, you’re not selling any more cars over here,” Trump said of Japan in an August 2015 interview with the Detroit News. "That’s going to force people to build in the United States."

Toyota has extensive U.S. investments, operates 10 U.S. plants in eight states and builds more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States annually.Between 1994 and 2013, U.S. auto factory jobs dropped by a third while jobs in Mexico rose almost five-fold over the same period as lower-wage production boomed.

Train accident in Brooklyn injures over a 100

2017-01-05T10:53:00.002-05:00

NEW YORK - A packed Long Island Rail Road rush-hour train crashed at the end of a platform as it pulled into a major Brooklyn transportation hub on Wednesday, hurling passengers onto the floor and slamming them into each other.

The front of the slow-moving train hit a bumping block as it pulled into Atlantic Terminal, left the tracks and smashed into a small structure, apparently a work area; a rail pierced the floor of a train car, authorities said.

About 100 people were treated for minor injuries after the 8:30 a.m. crash; many had been standing as they prepared to get off the train at the last stop.

Donald Trump makes Official Statement about his plans for America

2016-11-21T19:10:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON — Eight days after President-elect Donald J. Trump won election in a stunning upset, surprising even himself, the process of transferring power from the Obama administration to the Trump administration has yet to grind into motion, delayed by a series of shake-ups at Trump Tower that have sown confusion and discord. One associate of Mr. Trump’s has told people that his operation is a month behind schedule.

The briefing materials are ready, loaded into tablet computers, secure internet sites or cloud computing applications. Officials from the White House and 100 federal agencies are on standby, waiting to meet “landing teams” from the president-elect’s staff and brief them on how things really work in government. The organizational charts have been meticulously mapped.

Under ideal circumstances, the process — months in the planning by the Obama administration and aides to both Mr. Trump and his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton — looks far different. Parts of it are governed by a statute President Obama signed this year to streamline the transition process and ensure an early start to a task that has been compared to a giant corporate merger involving a $4 trillion budget.

But for all the drama surrounding his transition to power, Mr. Trump is hardly the first president-elect to preside over a disorderly takeover.

The 1988 transition from Ronald Reagan to George Bush was particularly nasty, because many Reagan administration aides assumed — wrongly, as it turned out — that they would be in line to keep their jobs in a government that remained in Republican hands.

Bill Clinton’s transition in 1992 was marred by a staff shake-up that upended a carefully planned process: Mr. Clinton replaced his transition chief, Mickey Kantor, who had been Mr. Clinton’s campaign chairman, with Warren Christopher, who would become secretary of state. It was also hobbled by Mr. Clinton’s campaign promise to slash White House staff by 25 percent, which made it more difficult to manage the government.

And even in the 2008-9 transition from George W. Bush to Mr. Obama that members of both parties consider a model of efficiency, Mr. Obama had to replace his head of personnel several times.

“There is a long history of unfortunate transition activity,” said Max Stier, the president and chief executive of the Center for Presidential Transition, a project run by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

Still, he added, the Trump transition is different in that it appears to lack guidance from seasoned government professionals who grasp the magnitude of the bureaucracy he is about to inherit.

See More: Trump, Obama Discuss Transition At White House

65-year-old Billy Lewis charged with stabbing in Sumter, SC church

2016-10-26T16:49:00.000-04:00

WEDGEFIELD, S.C. (AP) – A 65-year-old Sumter County man is charged with stabbing the person sitting in front of him in church.

Local media outlets report Billy Lewis of Wedgefield is charged with attempted murder for stabbing a man during services Sunday at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Authorities have not identified the victim. He was airlifted to a hospital in Columbia with severe injuries.

Witnesses told Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies that Lewis stood about 9:30 a.m. and began stabbing the man in front of him in the back and head for no apparent reason. A nurse attending the service helped the victim until emergency respondents arrived.

Deputies say Lewis has a history of mental health issues, but that hasn’t included violence.

"There'd been no argument," said Ken Bell, public information officer at the Sumter County Sheriff's Department, and "as far as we know there'd been no animosity between the victim and the suspect."

"I've never heard of anything like this," Bell added.

Witnesses said Lewis, who was a regular at the church, simply stood up and started stabbing the older man, believed to be in his 60s, injuring him in the head, shoulder and neck.

Although the suspect has a history of mental illness, Bell said this was the first time he became violent, making it a surprise for those who know him.

The victim was airlifted to the hospital for treatment and was in stable condition.

Lewis was charged with attempted murder but police say he may receive other charges at a hearing scheduled for Monday at 2 p.m.

"This is certainly a tragic event," said Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis. "As bad as it was, we are fortunate it was not worse. Our thoughts and prayers go out the church members as well as the victim and his family and the suspect."
"I've never heard of anything like this," said Ken Bell, the public information officer at the Sumter County Sheriff's Department.

Bell says the suspect is 65-year-old Billy Lewis of Wedgefield, South Carolina.

"He apparently during the service according to witnesses just stood up and began stabbing the man in front of him," Bell said.

Bell says Lewis stabbed the victim three times.

"Once in the head, once in the shoulder, and once in the neck," Bell explained.

Both the suspect and the victim are parishioners of the church, but Bell says there did not seem to be a motive.

"There'd been no argument," Bell said, "as far as we know there'd been no animosity between the victim and the suspect."

Officials tell us the victim is also in his 60's. A nurse who was at the church tended to his stab wounds until help arrived.

"The victim was airlifted out because his injuries appeared very serious," Bell said.

Until now, Bell says the suspect's only run in with law enforcement have been for traffic tickets.

"Mr. Lewis does have a history of mental illness although he doesn't have a violent past," Bell said. "This is the first time we've ever known violence so this is really a surprise for all of us."

A surprise Bell says is even more shocking given the location.

"Especially in church, you know, you don't think about parishioners coming in and attacking each other," Bell said.

The pastor of St. Paul A.M.E. did not wish to speak on camera, but Bell tells us they say they are praying for both the suspect and the victim. The victim was taken to Palmetto Health Richland and was in stable condition at last check.

Officials say there could be other charges filed against Lewis later. His bond hearing is set for Monday, October 24, 2016 at 2 PM at the Sumter County Jail.

9 shot dead in Charleston, South Carolina church

2015-06-18T02:12:00.000-04:00

A white gunman killed nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, the city's police chief said on Thursday, describing the attack as a "hate crime".

The suspect, who police described as a 21-year-old white man wearing a sweatshirt, jeans and boots, was still at large hours after the shooting on Wednesday evening.

Eight victims were found dead in the church, Chief Gregory Mullen told reporters at a media conference, and a ninth person died after being taken to a hospital. One other person was wounded and receiving treatment.

Mullen said: “It is unfathomable that somebody in today’s society would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."

None of the victims were immediately identified. But the Reverend Al Sharpton, the New York-based civil rights leader, said in a Tweet that the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the church's pastor and a member of the state Senate, was among the fatalities.

The shooting occurred at the Emanuel AME Church in the historic center of downtown Charleston around 9 p.m. (0100 GMT), according to Charleston Police Department spokesman Charles Francis.

After the shooting, a bomb threat was reported near the church, Charleston County Sheriff's Office spokesman Eric Watson said, and people who were gathered in the area were told by police to move back.

Chief Mullen told the press conference that the all-clear had been given after checks following the bomb threat.

A police chaplain was present at the scene of the shooting, and a helicopter with a searchlight hovered overhead as officers combed through the area.

Several men stood in a circle in front of a hotel near the church.

"We pray for the families, they've got a long road ahead of them," Reverend James Johnson, a local civil rights activist, said during the impromptu prayer service.

Police took a man with a backpack and a camera into custody, but later said they were still searching for a suspect in the shooting.

Following the attack on the church, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, canceled an appearance in Charleston that had been scheduled for Thursday morning.

"Governor Bush's thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy," his campaign team said in a statement.

Local broadcaster WCSC reported the FBI was on the scene. The FBI could not be reached immediately for comment.

The website for the church said it has one of the largest and oldest black congregations in the South. It has its roots in the early 19th century, and the current building was built in 1891. It is considered a historically significant building, according to the National Park Service.

Among the dead was the state senator who was pastor of the church, Democrat Clementa Pinckney, WCBD reported. Pinckney, 41, was married with two children and had served in the state Senate since 2000, according to online biographies.

People were taking part in a prayer meeting at the time of the incident, Mayor Joe Riley said during the press conference.

"This is inexplicable," Riley said. "It is the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible... The only reason someone could walk into church and shoot people praying is out of hate."

Fresh fighting has been reported in the southern Yemeni city of Aden

2015-04-08T10:19:00.001-04:00

Fresh fighting has been reported in the southern Yemeni city of Aden between Houthi rebels and militiamen loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
Several houses in the central Crater district were set on fire after being hit by rockets as the rebels advanced, residents told the Reuters news agency.
Warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition, which backs the government, meanwhile bombed rebel targets to the north.
Iran is also reported to have sent navy vessels to the Gulf of Aden.

Southern Yemeni militias backed by warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition attacked Houthi fighters across several provinces in south Yemen on Monday, driving the Shi'ite rebel forces from some of their positions, witnesses and militia sources said.

The southern fighters' gains came on the 12th day of an air campaign by Saudi Arabia and mainly Gulf Arab allies trying to stem advances by the Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and have advanced on the southern city of Aden.

The fighting has killed hundreds of people, cut off water and electricity supplies and led the United Nations children's agency UNICEF to warn that Yemen is heading towards a humanitarian disaster.

Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni Arab power in the Gulf, launched the air campaign on March 26 to try to contain the Shi'ite Houthis and restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled Aden for refuge in Riyadh.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF plan to fly aid planes into Yemen on Tuesday, but the missions have been delayed as they seek clearance from Arab states waging the air strikes and hunt for planes prepared to fly to Yemen.

In Aden, Houthi forces gathered at the edge of the main port area on Monday but pulled out of two residential quarters on its fringes, residents told Reuters. Around 60 people were killed in heavy fighting in the area on Sunday, they said.

Explosions shook Aden's suburbs as residents reported a foreign warship shelling Houthi positions on the outskirts.

Military momentum is hard to judge in a disjointed conflict playing out across hundreds of miles of mountains, deserts and coastal positions, but in the southern provinces surrounding Aden the Houthis' foes said they had made gains.

Hong Kong violence erupts in chaos at famous shopping center

2014-10-03T11:43:00.001-04:00

Violent scuffles broke out in one of Hong Kong’s most famous and congested shopping districts on Friday, as supporters of Chinese rule stormed tents and ripped down banners belonging to pro-democracy protesters.

In the gritty, bustling district of Mongkok – considered one of the most crowded places on Earth with its high-rise apartment blocks packed closely together over neon lights, bars, restaurants and open-air markets – about 1,000 Beijing supporters clashed with about 100 protesters on Friday, spitting and throwing water bottles.

Hong Kong’s mass pro-democracy protests had ebbed on Friday morning after the chief executive offered talks to student representatives minutes before their midnight deadline for his resignation.

But hundreds remained in Mongkok and around government offices in the city’s downtown, angered by Leung Chun-ying’s refusal to quit and deeply sceptical that dialogue will win any changes to Beijing’s plans for elections in the region.

Police formed a human chain in Mongkok to separate the two groups amid the wail of sirens. Beijing supporters shouted at police for failing to move on the pro-democracy demonstrations.

The Hong Kong government on Friday evening issued what it called “another stern warning to protesters” urging the pro-democracy protests to immediately leave the area outside Leung’s offices and the government complex.

“The behaviour of these protesters is illegal, extremely unreasonable and inhumane, and is even worse than that of radical social activists and almost complete anarchy,” the statement said.

“Nonsensical acts of obstructing the police and other public officers carrying out their duties to serve the community will not be tolerated. People gathering in the vicinity of the CGO and the CEO will be dealt with resolutely in accordance with the law”

There were earlier scuffles on Friday between police and demonstrators at Leung’s office, and angry debates between protesters trying to block the road running past it and the larger number who opposed them, warning it would only antagonise the public.
Demonstrators created safe passage lines so that vehicles could get through.

The spontaneity and diversity of the movement will make it harder to bring the protest to a smooth end. Student and Occupy Central organizers have stressed for days that they are no longer the leaders of the protests.

At Causeway Bay, the third protest site, only a handful of protesters remained and police cleared away most of the barriers they had erected. Some residents complained angrily to demonstrators about the disruption.

Mongkok is popular with tourists from the mainland but not as well known to western tourists as the luxury shopping area of Causeway Bay.Leung said in his 11th-hour press conference that he was staying, but announced that he had asked the chief secretary Carrie Lam to speak to student representatives, as they had requested. Beijing had earlier expressed its total confidence in his leadership.

The Hong Kong Federation of Students said in a statement early on Friday that it would take part in the talks with the government, stressing that the dialogue would cover only political reform. It repeated its demand that Leung step down, saying he “had lost his integrity”.

Joshua Wong, co-founder of another student group, Scholarism, wrote on Facebook: “People have asked me what my position is. People have asked me what my thinking is. To me, it is not complicated nor hard to understand … For Leung Chun-ying to step down; to fight for civic nomination; the withdrawal of the NPC decision [which imposed tough restrictions on future chief executive elections].”

Occupy Central also welcomed the talks but still insisted that Leung quit. Leung’s remarks were the first concession in a standoff that has lasted for days, with tens of thousands of protesters paralysing parts of central Hong Kong at its peak.

Obama and G7 leaders meet without Russia for second day

2014-06-05T18:33:00.001-04:00

The political uproar over the release of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captivity intensifies as his hometown cancels plans for a rally celebrating his return.

G7 leaders to focus on energy, economy as they meet without Russia for second day of talks.

NATO Commander General Phillip Breedlove says Russia is no longer a partner, and that NATO's decisions about force size, and placement will be made with that change in mind.

Airlines flight MH370 Vanishes with 239 people aboard

2014-03-12T15:45:00.000-04:00

The Boeing 777 jetliner, with 239 people aboard, silently vanished early Saturday morning on its way to China, disappearing from radar so suddenly and inexplicably that it might as well have flown into another dimension. But so far, all the technological eyes and ears of the world have failed to find the missing plane.

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is the kind of mystery that’s not supposed to be possible anymore. The Information Age is also the age of surveillance, of interconnectedness, of cloud computing, of GPS satellites, of intelligence agencies that can monitor terrorists from space or call in a drone strike from a control console on the other side of the world.

The civilian and military assets of multiple nations, including the United States, are being devoted to the search for wreckage on both sides of the Malay Peninsula, in the Gulf of Thailand and the Strait of Malacca. A Colorado commercial satellite firm, DigitalGlobe, is crowdsourcing the hunt by asking volunteers to scan images for signs of the plane.

But the satellite coverage of the planet isn’t as complete as some people might assume.

“Despite the impression that people get when they use Bing and Google Earth and Google Maps, those high-resolution images are still few and far between,” said John Amos, president of SkyTruth, a nonprofit organization that uses such images to engage the public on environmental issues.

The pilots of Flight MH370 never communicated distress. No one activated an SOS signal. No debris or fuel slick has been found. The plane’s flight recorders may be on the seafloor, buried in sand.

Scenarios abound. Did the plane disintegrate at 35,000 feet from a mechanical failure and sudden decompression? Did the pilot commit suicide by flying it straight down into the sea? Did terrorists blow it up? Did a passenger plant a bomb so that his family would collect life insurance? Was the plane shot down by a jumpy military? Could it have crash-landed in a jungle somewhere, where the passengers are now fighting to survive?

From a long list of possibilities that range from the unlikely to the extremely far-fetched, the truth about what happened to Flight MH370 will probably emerge eventually. For now, it’s the mystery of the year — and a source of immense anguish for the families of the missing passengers and crew.

There were media reports Tuesday, quoting Malaysia’s air force chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, saying that military radar picked up the plane Saturday flying far off-course, to the west, hundreds of miles from its scheduled flight path. That would suggest foul play — for example, a cockpit intrusion and forced diversion — if the reports hold up. But these reports still do not reveal where the plane is, whether it crashed on land or at sea, or is intact somewhere.

“As we enter into Day 4, the aircraft is yet to be found,” Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday in the company’s 11th media update.

The airline noted reports that the plane may have changed direction. “All angles are being looked at,” the airline said. “We are not ruling out any possibilities.”

“I can’t think of an airplane getting lost for a long period of time — not a modern, regular airliner with all the communications equipment,” said San Diego-based aviation consultant Hans Weber. “Sometimes a small plane disappears and it’s not found for a small time, but this is a completely different matter.”

One possibility, he said, is that an engine malfunction sent a turbine disk through the plane’s fuselage and caused an instant, catastrophic decompression. But that is very rare during the cruising portion of a flight and would not explain the lack of debris on the sea surface.

The plane had a transponder to signal where it was flying, but the signal vanished over the Gulf of Thailand. Someone could have turned it off intentionally and then diverted the plane to the west, Weber said. He said there was enough fuel aboard to fly at least 1,800 miles. “That airplane could have landed somewhere,” he said. But he acknowledged that this is extremely unlikely, because word of the secret landing would surely have gotten out by now.

“This whole thing is a series of puzzles and, frankly, red herrings,” said Washington-based aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group.

Aboulafia expects the wreckage to be found relatively soon.

“This is a big jet. This is a wide-body,” he said. “That means a lot of structure, a lot of components, a lot of luggage, a lot of fuel. You can’t make it all go away, even if you hit perpendicularly. It doesn’t all go straight, sucked into the seabed. It’s going to be found.”

The case has similarities to that of Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic after leaving Rio de Janeiro, killing all 228 people aboard, in 2009. But in that case, when airspeed measurements failed and led pilots to put the plane into a stall, the computers on the plane sent error messages to computers on land before the plane disappeared. Wreckage on the sea surface was spotted five days after the crash, and most of the bodies were eventually recovered, though it took two years for the black-box flight recorder to be retrieved from the seafloor.

The lack of a solid explanation for the Malaysia Airlines disappearance has spawned rampant speculation. Two Iranian passengers traveling on the plane with stolen passports do not appear to have any connection to terrorist groups, intelligence officials have told reporters.

Weber, the aviation consultant, said a case such as this captures our attention in part because we like to think such things can’t happen. “We like to think that we’re in control. That’s our culture,” Weber said. “Not knowing means you’re not in control. That’s hard for us to take.”

The missing plane may be a mystery, but the search for answers is likely to produce some sooner rather than later. Space aliens don’t abduct Boeing jetliners. Anyone wondering whether there’s the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle off the coast of Southeast Asia should remember that the Bermuda Triangle is a myth.

The plane is out there somewhere.

Simon Denyer in Beijing and Ashley Halsey III in Washington contributed to this report.

More from The Washington Post:

1 year old boy Antiq Hennis shot to death in Brownsville, Brooklyn stroller

2013-09-03T14:51:00.002-04:00

1 year old Antiq Hennis was killed by a bullet intended for his dad, officials said. While sitting in a stroller with his parents nearby their Riverdale Ave. home, at least four shots were fired Sunday evening. The child was hit in the head and was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Antiq is the 16th victim under the age of 16 to be shot on city streets since mid-May, and he is the second child to die, according to a Daily News review.
The boy’s grieving parents were hunkered down in their home late Sunday.
“The family is shocked and devastated,” Councilman Charles Barron said after comforting the bereft couple. “The child didn’t even get a chance to start his life, and now it’s over.”
A woman identifying herself as Antiq’s godmother left the hospital shaken after the boy died.
“I saw him, I saw him in there, oh my goodness, oh my God, oh my Lord,” she wailed. “He was just a baby.”
No arrests had been made as of late Sunday, police said.
But a source in the Brownsville community said the shooter’s street name has been given to cops.

Bishop Willie Billips, a local anti-violence activist, was with the parents as they made the gut-wrenching official identification of their lifeless child.
“I’m furious about what I’ve just seen. I’m outraged,” Billips said. “A 1-year-old baby lying on the bed? It’s horrible.”
There was little solace he could offer to the family, Billips added.
“What do you say? It brought me to tears. To see young parents suffer — for what?”

The relative said that Antiq’s parents, who hail from Trinidad, celebrated their son’s first birthday in May. He said it was the father, who has a record of more than 20 arrests, who was in the gunman’s crosshairs.
“They shot at him and ended up shooting the baby,” Dobson said.
Detectives believe the shooting was payback for an earlier dispute, according to sources.
Another source said the dad dashed away from the stroller to draw the gunfire from his son.

Subscribe to VesInteL World News by Email

Boston Marathon Bombing conspiracy theorist notice drill run

2013-04-16T01:10:00.000-04:00

Boston marathon bombing happened on same day as ‘controlled explosion’ drill by Boston bomb squad

Take a real good look at the only footage taken after the bombing, out of all the convenient shots that could have been taken, the footage really shows nothing. Panic isn't really in the air, shock doesn't see to even set in , and all respondents appear to be wearing the same cloths. There is footage of a man being rolled in a wheel chair with a blown off leg, is this even the legal protocol for a responding medic with a situation of such?. What ever happen to bandages? And where was the blood? and why doesn't the man show any pain on his face? Well, maybe he's showing a little, but his leg is off! What ever happen to sedation for shock prevention?

This is a horrible event taken place in Boston, Prayers go's out to the victims and families effected. We must all keep our eyes and ears open for any suspicious activities leading up to this tragedy.

For those who don't know:

Boston's Bomb squad unit was running “controlled explosion” drill on the same day. Mainstream media is not reporting the “controlled explosion” drill taking place only minutes away, and on the same day as the marathon explosion. As the Boston Globe tweeted today, “Officials: There will be a controlled explosion opposite the library within one minute as part of bomb squad activities.” Bloomberg news is now saying, “This is very likely a terrorist attack.”

The question is: Who are the terrorists? It’s far too early to take an informed guess on all this. However, it is indisputable that the FBI is actively engaged in carrying out bomb plots in the United States, then halting them at the last minute to “catch the terrorists.” This fact has been covered by the New York Times, among other publications. Either way, terrorism always works in the favor of the state. It makes presidents look presidential, and it gives the government an excuse to crack down on civil liberties all across the country.

SEE: Contributions and related articles posted Monday, April 15, 2013 at 3:58 pm

Subscribe to VesInteL World News by Email

Bodies found 33,Cheryl Colquitt-Thompson,32, and Rodney Cottrell, 43,

2013-01-15T20:14:00.000-05:00

WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather

Updated news on bodies found in car on a I-85 ramp in Union City, GA. Police said all three were victims of an apparent triple homicide, the two men were found in the back seat and the women was found in the trunk. The medical examiner said there were no gunshot or stab wounds on the victims. The Union City Police investigation continues. Cheryl Colquitt-Thompson was the niece of Quinones King.

A Union City police officer on routine patrol discovered three bodies in a car parked on an interstate ramp early Sunday morning.

Two bodies were found inside the car, and a third body was discovered in the trunk. The car was located on Flat Shoals Road near Interstate 85.

Police said the victims, Quinones King, 33, Cheryl Colquitt-Thompson, 32, and Rodney Cottrell, 43, were from Montgomery, AL.

"We have multiple leads and one lead does describe that incident happened in a different location but I can't give you any information about that lead," Union City police spokesperson Christopher Murphy said.
Authorities believe the victims may have known their killer or killers.
"There's no evidence that shows it was a random act," Officer Murphy said. Union City police have called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to help.

Adam Lanza Is A Muslim Convert: Trained and planned the sandy springs massacure.

2012-12-18T17:27:00.004-05:00

Adam Lanza is a Muslim convert:

Why did Lanza commit the atrocious act?

He's autistic or has a mental disability or some developmental disorder or he has Asperger’s syndrome, he was taking medications and so on.

But Adam was a honor student, was highly proficient in computer technology.

But he left no digital footprint, not even a Facebook page.

So what is his motive?

Adam knew how to shoot a weapon. The guns used in the murders belonged to his mother.

No one in the media knows the real motive for his crime.

Now the F.B.I. says that Lanza destroyed all of his computers leaving nothing behind. Lanza knew what he was doing - he had a plan and he destroyed all of the evidence that will bring to light his motives for committing Jihad.

How times do you have to read about some American punk converting to thee dark side of Islam as a young adult only later to find out that the punk carried out Jihad against innocent civilians - too many times.

Lanza was not just a gamer, everyone knows some kid who plays video games - so this is not the reason why he destroyed his computer - who care if he was watching video games.

No, there is something more to this. The guy is dead, why destroy all evidence that influenced him? Did the monster want to save face? Did the monster want to same embarrassment for his family?

Again, the monster killed himself - he does not care what you think. So there must be more behind destroying all of his "influences" What could they be unless someone told him that he will be rewarded in the afterlife with 72 virgins i he carries out Jihad - because the monster certainly was not getting any in this life.

He was converted to Islam by watching the videos of Muslims killing innocents. The monster watched the videos over and over again. Lanza eventually made contact with a near by Muslim who convinced him to kill his mother and commit Jihad on Sandy Hook.

He was told to destroy all evidence before going out on Jihad so that he would be rewarded in the Muslim afterlife.

Real Shocking Crimes caught on camera: "Warning Graphic."
What your mainstream media never tell you: Marvel at the al-Jazeera film crew whipping the crowd to hysteria. This is what most UK/american mainstream media do ; get the crowds TO ACT for the cameras. Ever noticed the STAGED gun shots or in-the-lens chanting? It's all fake, staged propaganda for the liars at Sky/ITN/BBC?CNN/Fox. اسامہ بن لادن ہلاکओसामा बिन लादेन को मार डाला قتل أسامة بن لادن Oussama Ben Laden tué Osama Bin Laden getötet Usama bin Ladin dödas DURBAN, South Africa -- “No high hopes for Durban.” “Binding treaty unlikely.” “No deal this year.” Thus ran the headlines. The profiteering UN bureaucrats here think otherwise. Their plans to establish a world government paid for by the West on the pretext of dealing with the non-problem of “global warming” are now well in hand. As usual, the mainstream media have simply not reported what is in the draft text which the 194 states parties to the UN framework convention on climate change are being asked to approve. Behind the scenes, throughout the year since Cancun, the now-permanent bureaucrats who have made highly-profitable careers out of what they lovingly call “the process” have been beavering away at what is now a 138-page document. Its catchy title is "Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action Under the Convention -- Update of the amalgamation of draft texts in preparation of [one imagines they mean 'for'] a comprehensive and balanced outcome to be presented to the Conference of the Parties for adoption at its seventeenth session: note by the Chair.” In plain English, these are the conclusions the bureaucracy wants. The contents of this document, turgidly drafted with all the UN's skill at what the former head of its documentation center used to call “transparent impenetrability”, are not just off the wall – they are lunatic. Subscribe to VesInteL World News by Email

Murder trial for 2010 death of Bobby Tillman begins Monday 8/13/2012

2012-08-12T09:03:00.002-04:00

Jury selection for a man facing the potential of the death penalty after being accused for his role in the 2010 death of Bobby Tillman is set to begin Monday morning.

The state is seeking death for 20-year-old Tracen Lamar Franklin in the nationally publicized case where Tillman was beaten and stomped to death outside of a Douglasville house party on Nov. 7, 2010. That night an estimated 60 to 80 people showed up at what was supposed to be a small house party on Independence Drive in the Governor’s Ridge subdivision in western Douglas County.

More than 300 jurors have been ordered to report for duty as the process of empaneling a jury to decide the Franklin’s fate. After a day filed with motion hearings Friday, Douglas County Superior Court Judge Beau McClain denied the defense’s motion seeking get more time to review the data that was used to select the pool. It was the first time a new state system was used.

McClain denied the request for more time for data review, reminding the defense team that they had originally asked for the new system to be used in a motion on May 22.

For Tillman’s family, the beginning of a trial it is yet another painful step towards justice for the fallen young man who was a freshman at Georgia Perimeter College at the time of his death.

“I just want justice,” Bobby Tillman’s mother, Monique Rivarde, said. “I trust Mr. McDade and his staff to do their job. I trust them 100 percent.”

Emanuel Benjamin Boykins, another suspect who had also been facing the potential of the death penalty, agreed in April to a plea deal, pleading guilty to murder and accepting a sentence of life in prison rather than going to trial in which the death penalty was in play.

Life in prison means that Boykins will not be eligible for the possibility of parole for 30 years. Boykins was said to be the one who threw the first punch in the brutal attack on Tillman, with Franklin then joining in. As part of the plea arrangement, Boykins agreed to provide truthful testimony in any subsequent legal proceedings or trials.

Franklin had a similar offer on the table, but had declined to accept the arrangement that would have taken the death penalty off the table in exchange for a guilty plea.

Two other teens, 19-year-old Quantez Devante Mallory and 20-year-old Horace Damon Coleman, were charged in the killing, but they aren’t facing the death penalty. The four were indicted in January by a grand jury on two counts each — Count 1 for malice murder and Count 2 for felony murder.

The prosecution, with Brian Fortner and Bonnie Smith leading the effort with District Attorney McDade, has a witness list that includes 140 names. As many as 80 could be called. Jury selection could take up to two weeks, the defense team led by Bruce Harvey speculated Friday.

The men accused of beating a teen to death outside a party speak out for the first time and offer condolences.

Read more: Douglas County Sentinel

U.S. job market takes dimmer view of country's growth prospects

2012-06-05T17:19:00.003-04:00

Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics LLC, talks about the U.S. May jobs report, outlook for economic growth and the European debt woes. Schenker speaks with Betty Liu, Michael McKee, Dominic Chu and Peter Cook on Bloomberg Television. The faltering U.S. job market has prompted economists to take a much dimmer view of the country's growth prospects. That's a shift from just a few weeks ago, when many were upgrading their forecasts.

Friday's surprisingly bleak jobs report for May followed a spate of disappointing data. Manufacturing activity slowed, an index of home sales fell and consumer confidence tumbled. Mounting troubles in Europe and elsewhere have heightened economists' concerns. "The latest economic data have been decisively disappointing," Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a client note.

JPMorgan Chase sharply reduced its growth forecast for the July-September quarter to a 2 percent annual rate, down from 3 percent. It cited the weaker U.S. hiring and a likely drop in U.S. exports related to slower growth overseas. And JPMorgan Chase now forecasts growth of 2.1 percent for 2012, down from 2.3 percent.

Julia Coronado, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York, said she now expects growth of 2.2 percent this year, down from her previous forecast of 2.4 percent. She also revised down her estimate of growth in the April-June quarter to a 2.2 percent annual rate, from a 2.5 percent rate.

"We keep hoping that we're going to turn a corner and move into a stronger phase of recovery, and the door keeps getting slammed shut," Coronado said.Forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers and Swiss bank UBS have also marked down their expectations since Friday's jobs report.

As a general rule, it takes about 2.5 percent growth to generate enough hiring to keep up with population growth and prevent the unemployment rate from rising. The reduced forecasts suggest that hiring may not strengthen much this year.After months of fitful expansion since the recession ended three years ago, many analysts had expected the economy to begin strengthening steadily.

Last month, the National Association for Business Economics said its latest survey of economists found rising expectations for job gains and housing construction. And in April, the Federal Reserve raised its forecast for growth this year to nearly 2.7 percent, from a January estimate of 2.5 percent. Now, it looks as if the recovery is stumbling again.

The biggest blow was Friday's jobs report. It said employers added only 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year. The government also said far fewer jobs were added in the previous two months than first thought — 11,000 fewer in March and 38,000 fewer in April. And the unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent, the first increase since last June.

Less hiring means fewer Americans have money to spend. That holds down consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of the economy and helps fuel job growth. And a rising unemployment rate tends to reduce confidence. That can further shrink spending.

Even at stronger levels of hiring, Americans' incomes had been already growing only weakly. They increased 0.2 percent in April, the government said last week, the slowest pace in five months.

Other reports last week showed that more people sought unemployment benefits, a sign that hiring could remain sluggish. Construction spending rose, but by less than many economists had forecast. And the government said the economy expanded at an anemic 1.9 percent annual rate in the first three months of 2012. That's down from 3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Florida couple brags on Facebook about killing 18-year-old Juliana Mensch

2012-05-31T19:47:00.001-04:00

Florida couple allegedly kills a young girl,then goes on Facebook to brag about partying and argue about disposal of the body Internet searches, texts and Facebook messages implicate the Florida couple in the murder of an 18-year-old friend in their Fort Lauderdale apartment, according to police.

Court documents allege that 32-year-old James Ayers and 23-year-old Nicole Okrzesik discussed killing Juliana Mensch and argued over what to do with her body online and in text messages after authorities believe the teen was asphyxiated in the early hours of March 24. Mensch’s decomposing body was found under a pile of clothing in the apartment five days later.

Ayers was charged with first-degree murder on March 29, and Okrzesik was also arrested for murder six weeks later on May 10. A probable cause affidavit for her arrest details the evidence detectives collected during that time.

The affidavit states that, when interviewed by detectives on March 30, Okrzesik claimed Ayers choked Mensch, who had been sleeping on the floor, “until she was dead and stopped moving” to steal her money so they could buy drugs and “get high.” In text messages allegedly sent by Ayers to Okrzesik on March 25, however, he accused her of actively participating in the crime.

“You held her down your guilty of murder to,” police say he wrote in one text.

According to the affidavit, many of the messages sent that day appear to involve Ayers threatening to confess to police and Okrzesik trying to convince him not to, including this exchange at 5:45 p.m.:

Ayers: “I only did what I did to Julie for you but you still continue to be unfaithful”
Okrzesik: “I’m being honest im scared of you”
Ayers: “Are you coming home, if not I’ll just turn us both in”
Okrzesik: “im scared of you right now, ya I told you if you calm down I will”

“At no point in the 100’s of messages did Okrzesik deny any involvement in the murder or tell Ayers she didn’t know what he was talking about,” the affidavit states.

In private Facebook messages over the next two days, police say the couple allegedly continued to argue. On March 27, they wrote:

Ayers: “We have to figure this out, Im not going to but if the smell gets worse were f***ed”
Okrzesik: “Cant we just go dump it somewhere then take off”

According to the affidavit, Ayers told a friend that he strangled Mensch after Okrzesik “tried to break her neck, couldn’t do it and she [Juliana] started screaming.”

The document lists numerous internet searches that records show were conducted on Okrzesik’s phone between 3:30 and 3:45 a.m. on March 24, about a half hour after she texted a friend to say Mensch was sleeping on her floor. Among the terms searched and pages visited:

“Whats on those rags that make people pass out”
“ways to kill people in their sleep”
“could you kill someone in their sleep and no one would think it was murder”
“how to suffocate someone”

The affidavit also alleges that Okrzesik posted photos on her Facebook wall on the night of March 24—just hours after police believe Mensch was killed—of herself and Ayers with others at a bar “partying,” as the affidavit describes it, along with the comment, “Wooooo—at Wet Willie’s South Beach.”

Attorneys for Ayers and Okrzesik did not return calls seeking comment on the case Thursday, but Ayers has pleaded not guilty. Both suspects are being held without bond in Broward County.

Pringle Services, LLC Home

2012-05-27T15:42:00.001-04:00

Pringle Services has acknowledged the high percentage rates of viruses and physical diseases cause by bacteria in the homes and commercial environments, and have designated their main cleaning purpose towards reducing these potential hazards.
See more: Visit Pringle Services, LLC Home

Secret Service records show Colombian prostitution scandal within agency

2012-05-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

The leaders of a Senate committee told the head of the Secret Service on Wednesday that widespread reports of sexual misconduct within the agency suggests the recent Colombian prostitution scandal was more than an isolated incident. Secret Service records alone show 64 instances of allegations or complaints of sexual misconduct made against agency employees in the past five years, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the chamber’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Lieberman, I-Conn., also urged others to come forward with information so investigators could learn whether a culture of misconduct was taking over the agency, despite Director Mark Sullivan saying the incident in mid-April in Colombia was an exception.

“The men and women of this organization do an outstanding job every day,” he said. “This is not an indication of their behavior.” Sullivan apologized for the behavior of the employees involved in the incident, ahead of President Obama’s arrival for a Latin American trade summit. But his assertion that the agency has a "zero tolerance" policy on such conduct did not convince the lawmakers.

Sen. Susan Collins said the agents’ behavior in Colombia, which included going out to nightclubs in small groups and registering the women they brought back as overnight guests, was “morally repugnant” and “suggests a broader problem, a culture.” “They made no attempt to conceal their identity or the women’s,” said Collins, R-Maine.

Collins said the employees' actions could have provided a foreign intelligence service, drug cartels or other criminals with opportunities for blackmail or coercion, threatening the president's safety.
She challenged assurances that the Colombia scandal appeared to be an isolated incident by pointing out that two participants were married Secret Service supervisors -- one with 21 years of service and the other with 22 years. Their involvement "surely sends a message to the rank and file that this kind of activity is tolerated on the road," Collins said.

She said near the close of the roughly one-hour hearing that she hoped to “finally become successful in convincing (Sullivan) that there is a broader problem.”
“I’m hoping to convince you it’s not," Sullivan said.
Lieberman also called the reported incidents “troubling” and said agency’s great reputation has become “sadly stained.”

He cited three complaints of inappropriate relationships with a foreign national and one of "non-consensual intercourse," on which he did not elaborate. Sullivan said that complaint was investigated by outside law enforcement officers, who decided not to prosecute. He also told the committee an agent was fired in a 2008 Washington prostitution episode, after trying to hire an undercover police officer.
Many of the other complaints cited by Lieberman involved agency employees sending sexually suggestive emails.

A historical pattern cannot be established from what is so far known, Lieberman said, however, "it is hard for many people, including me, to believe that on one night in April 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia, 11 secret service agents -- there to protect the president -- suddenly and spontaneously did something they or other agents had never done before; that is to say, gone in groups of two, three or four to four different night clubs or strip joints and drank to excess and bring foreign national women back to their hotel rooms."

The misbehavior became public after a dispute over payment between a Secret Service agent and a prostitute at a Cartagena hotel on April 12. "Contrary to the conventional story line, this was not simply a single, organized group that went out for a night on the town together," Collins said.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified previously that she would be surprised if there were other examples, but senators have been skeptical.

Sullivan also told senators that Obama's security was never at risk. The officers implicated in the prostitution scandal could not have inadvertently disclosed sensitive security details because their confidential briefing about Obama's trip had not taken place. "At the time the misconduct occurred, none of the individuals involved in the misconduct had received any specific protective information, sensitive security documents, firearms, radios or other security-related equipment in their hotel rooms," Sullivan said.

Sullivan has survived professionally so far based on his openness about what happened. Senators were not expected to ask for his resignation, and the acting inspector general for the Homeland Security Department, Charles K. Edwards, gave Sullivan high marks for integrity.
Edwards, who estimated that the early stages of his own investigation would be finished before July 2, said the Secret Service "has been completely transparent and cooperative."

"The Secret Service's efforts to date in investigating its own employees should not be discounted," Edwards told senators. "It has done credible job of uncovering the facts and, where appropriate, it has taken swift and decisive action." The White House on Tuesday reasserted its confidence in Sullivan. Obama "has great faith in the Secret Service, believes the director has done an excellent job," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The director moved very quickly to have this matter investigated and took action very quickly as a result of that investigation."

A dozen Secret Service officers and supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated. Eight Secret Service employees, including the two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The Secret Service is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. Sullivan told the lawmakers that two employees who originally resigned now are fighting to get their jobs back.

Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but Sullivan quickly issued new guidelines that made it clear that agents on assignment overseas are subject to U.S. laws. Sullivan said he directed Secret Service inspectors to investigate reports of similar misconduct in San Salvador. After 28 interviews with hotel employees and managers, State Department officials and others, "no evidence was found to substantiate the allegations," Sullivan said.

This week the Drug Enforcement Administration said the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General was investigating possible misconduct by two or more agents in Colombia. Collins revealed that the case involved at least two DEA employees who entertained female masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the DEA agents. The investigation is unrelated to the Secret Service scandal but is based on information provided to the DEA by the Secret Service.

Real Shocking Crimes caught on camera: "Warning Graphic."

13-year-old Shakanah China's killers brought to justice in Duram N.C

2012-05-19T21:47:00.000-04:00

The mother and grandmother of a Durham girl killed in a drive-by shooting more than a year ago said Friday that the arrest of two men was the answer to their prayers.

Demetriss China, mother of 13-year-old Shakanah China, said she never doubted police would solve the case.Shakanah, a seventh-grader at Lakeview School in Durham, was playing outside 7 Atka Court when someone fired several shots from a passing van. She was hit in the stomach and died.

Her grandmother, Diane Billings, remembered Shakanah as her favorite, the child she spoiled above other grandchildren. "That was my baby," Billings, said. "I miss everything about her."

Billings and China agreed, after Shakanah's death, they had sleepless nights, lost weight and prayed for closure. "I wasn't going to rest until I found them," China said of the men who killed her daughter. "Now I can't rest until they get what they deserve."

For Billings, the arrests bring a measure of relief, but don't ease her loss. "I tell everybody it still won't bring her back. The reason she was shot was so foolish. A beautiful, innocent person is gone over some mess that could've been avoided."

Right after the shooting, witnesses told police a green, older model Ford Windstar or Chevrolet Astro van came down Rochelle Street and someone inside the van fired several shots as the van approached Atka Court. Detectives said they didn't believe the seventh-grader at Lakeview School in Durham was the intended target.

China's mother told ABC11 right after it happened that the first shot missed her daughter, but two more struck her. Demetriss China said the girl died in her arms.

"My daughter was on her phone texting, and I had seen a green van ride by and didn't pay any attention to it. But then 30 minutes later, the same green van came through and started shooting," she said.

Neighbors described the teen as a vibrant young girl who had dreams of becoming a nurse. She was often seen babysitting her younger siblings.

On Friday, police charged Levette Lipscomb, 26, and Brandon Townsend, 19, with murder. Police said both men lived on North Briggs Avenue, and they were being held without bond.
"I'm glad," Billings said, "But by the same token, someone else's family will have to go through grief and heartache because of what their child has done."

Family members said there were more than two people in that van, and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for tips in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call 919-683-1200. Crime Stoppers pays cash, and callers do not have to leave a name.

Printed from the News & Observer - www.NewsObserver.com

Published Wed, May 11, 2011 09:35 AM
Modified Wed, May 11, 2011 09:17 PM

Drive-by kills Durham girl, 13, while she was texting

By Amy Dunn - Staff writer

Published in: Durham County

Related Images

Courtesy of the family

A family photo of Shakanah China, 13, taken in early 2010. The 13 year old was shot and killed Tuesday evening as she stood with a group of people in front of her apartment in east Durham.

CHUCK LIDDY - cliddy@newsobserver.com

Demetriss China ,left, speaks with Durham police officers outside her apartment at 7 Atka Court with her mother, Diane Billings, second from right, about the shooting of her daughter Shakanah China. The 13 year old was shot and killed Tuesday evening as she stood with a group of people in front of the apartment in east Durham.

Shakanah China, who had just turned 13 last month, was shot and killed Tuesday night in front of her Durham apartment as she texted on the cellphone she had received as her birthday gift.

Shakanah's little brother, age 10 months, her mother and her little sister, age 5, were all standing with her in a group chatting with neighbors when the shooting occurred, said Shakanah's aunt, Laresha King.

"Her little brother was right there beside her," said King, who had just left Shakanah and her family no more than an hour before the shooting on Atka Court near Rochelle Street in eastern Durham.

"If you can't call your home safe in your own yard where can you call safe," King said. "I just don't understand it. She was an innocent bystander."

Durham police said they received the shooting call about 7:30 p.m.

Shakanah, who lived in apartment 7-B with her family, was taken to Duke Hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.

Witnesses told police a green, older model Ford Windstar or Chevrolet Astro van came down Rochelle Street and an occupant of the van fired several shots. The van was last seen heading west on Holloway Street.

King said her sister told her four shots were fired. She mistakenly thought it might have been a BB gun and didn't realize Shakanah, her oldest child, had been hit.

"She took a couple of steps and she started going down," King said. "Shakanaha just fell in her mother's arms."

Until recently, Shakanah was a 7th-grader at Neal Middle School but her aunt said the child had recently been transferred to Lakeview, an alternative school. Shakanah didn't like Lakeview, her aunt said, and had told her mother she was going to work hard to return to Neal.

"I'm not saying she was a perfect child but she was a happy child. She loved making people laugh," King said.

Earlier Tuesday, King said she has gone over to her sister's apartment to do her niece's hair and bring her a jacket to wear over the spaghetti-strapped dress she planned to wear to the funeral of her great-grandmother.

"She sat between my legs and we did her hair. We talked about making plans to take her to the beauty parlor."

King said her sister, a single mother, and the children had only lived at the apartment complex for about four months.

Her sister was uneasy at the apartment and didn't like the surrounding neighborhood, King said, and had mentioned many times how she wished she had the money to move her family.

"I keep thinking what if, what if, what if," King said.

The family is now making arrangements to move the family out of the apartment while also trying to make funeral arrangements for Shakanah, the newly minted teen who loved Facebook, spending time with her grandmother and playing with her siblings. "She was the big sister and looked out for them," King said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Durham investigators at 560-4440 or Crime Stoppers at 683-1200. Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers never have to identify themselves.

Real Shocking Crimes caught on camera: "Warning Graphic."