theblaze--2020-07-21--US surgeon general says whether or not schools open 'has little to nothing to do with the actual sch

US surgeon general says whether or not schools open 'has little to nothing to do with the actual schools'

US surgeon general says whether or not schools open 'has little to nothing to do with the actual schools '

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams weighed in on the school reopening debate, saying the decision about whether to open isn't as much about the actual schools as many believe it is, CNN reported.
"What I want people to know is the biggest determinant of whether or not we can go back to school actually has little to nothing to do with the actual schools — it's your background transmission rate," Adams said. "And it's why we've told people constantly that if we want to get back to school, to worship, to regular life — folks need to wear face coverings, folks need to practice social distancing. Those public health measures are actually what's going to lower the transmission rate."
Transmission rate measures the average number of people who get infected by a person infected with COVID-19. A transmission rate below 1 is needed to show that the disease is gradually being contained, rather than continuing to accelerate in its spread.
Adams acknowledged that the COVID-19 risk to children is low but said minimizing transmission of the virus is important to protect teachers, staff, and parents/guardians.
"We know the risk is low to the actual students. But we know they can transmit to others," Adams said. "We need to take measures to make sure we protect those who are vulnerable either because they are older or they have chronic medical conditions."
According to Statista, only seven states in the U.S. have a transmission rate below 1: North Carolina, Delaware, and Connecticut at 0.99; South Dakota and New Hampshire at 0.95; Utah at 0.92; and Maine at 0.85.
Montana has the highest transmission rate in the nation at 1.36. New York is among the states with the lowest transmission rates, at 1.03.
Possibly Adams' most well-known contribution to the public COVID-19 response is his proclamation early in the pandemic that masks don't work to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19 in the general public, so people should stop buying them in order to save them for health care workers.
That tweet is still active on the surgeon general's Twitter page, currently accompanied by a profile picture of Adams himself wearing a mask.
Now, Adams is insisting that wearing masks is crucial to lowering the transmission rate, which in turn is essential in getting schools open. This assertion seems to indicate that either Adams was lying in February about masks not being effective, or he's lying now about how important it is to wear them.


theblaze--2020-07-21--State delivers disturbing news to Nashville man: He's COVID-19 positive. There's just one problem —

State delivers disturbing news to Nashville man: He's COVID-19 positive. There's just one problem — he never took a test.

State delivers disturbing news to Nashville man : He 's COVID-19 positive .
There 's just one problem — he @ @ @ @ @

A Nashville, Tennessee, man says that the state called him several times last week to tell him that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The man, Brock Ballou, says that he never took a test for COVID-19.
What are the details?
Ballou told WSMV-TV that he received no less than three phone calls from contact tracers working on behalf of the state of Tennessee earlier in July.
Ballou said that the call came after one of his co-workers tested positive for COVID-19. Ballou, who said he neither showed symptoms of the virus, nor had he been tested, said that the caller insisted that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
"She specifically said — I'm looking at it right here — you tested positive. This is a follow-up call to see how your symptoms are," he recalled.
Ballou said he was confused and asked the woman to clarify. He said that she repeated the news of the positive test several more times.
"I'm 100 percent sure that's what she said, she was looking right at it," he told the station. "She told me I'm in the system — looking right at it that you're showing positive."
That wasn't the only call he received about his alleged positive test.
A second caller later told him that they were "still seeing that you're positive."
"Courtesy call," Ballou recalled. "Checking your symptoms."
Ballou said he told the caller that the information was just wrong.
What else?
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Health told the station that the department is investigating the calls.
"I can also tell you there is no concern with our count of cases in regard to our reporting of those who test positive," the spokesperson said. "Those entries are based on lab results, not on information provided from the monitoring team."
You can watch a video report on the incident here.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Scientists say COVID-19 temperature checks are not reliable and might do more harm than good: report

Scientists say COVID-19 temperature checks are not reliable and might do more harm than good : report Could we get @ @ @

If you've gone to the doctor or the gym or maybe even to your own place of employment, you've likely had your temperature taken. The reason, we've all been told, is that temperature checks are a good way to screen for COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control has told businesses to check employees and doctors to check patients.
But that whole process might be doing more harm than good, according to a new report from Popular Science.
What are they telling us now?
Popular Science reported Tuesday that scientists say the practice of screening via temperature checks is not rooted in science.
The screening method was started in the early 2000s, the magazine noted, to battle the SARS epidemic, and at that point it was a "fairly reliable indicator of a SARS infection."
But that's not true for the novel coronavirus the world is currently battling, Arizona State University professor of biomedical diagnostics Mara Aspinall told Popular Science.
Temperature checks are "almost useless this time around," Aspinall said.
She also noted that data shows that less than half of people with COVID-19 ever get a fever and that people who do show symptoms are frequently contagious before their temperature shoots up.
Executive Vice President of Scripps Research Eric Topol told Popular Science, "There's never been any data to show that it's prevented any transmissions [of COVID-19]. The temperature check is of no value. It should be abandoned."
According to the magazine, fevers are not likely to show up at all among both the group of patients most likely to be asymptomatic spreaders — young people — and the group that is most vulnerable — the elderly and "immunocompromised individuals."
Young folks are more likely to not show any symptoms, including fever, and the elderly just aren't healthy enough to mount a fever, the outlet said.
And with flu season approaching, good luck using temperature checks to effectively screen for COVID-19, Aspinall noted.
The magazine stated that "temperature checks won't help, and they may hurt," because such an ineffective method of screening could cause lull people into a false sense of security.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Hallmark Channel says LGBT storylines and characters will be announced 'in the coming months'

Hallmark Channel says LGBT storylines and characters will be announced 'in the coming months' Just in time for Christmas ?

The Hallmark Channel has long been the cable TV destination for families seeking safe programming — especially during the Christmas holidays.
Because the company has had a history of being faithful to the goal of providing family-friendly programming, it has become a target of the left that wants to see the entertainment outlet become a platform for its cultural agenda, specifically the promotion of the LGBT movement.
In a statement on Twitter last week, the Hallmark Channel announced something sure to set the left-wing agitators' hearts aflutter: America can expect to see announcements of LGBT storylines and characters "in the coming months" — which would be just in time for Hallmark's annual "Countdown to Christmas" programming block.
Hallmark's statement came as a response to a fan who was praising the channel's announced Christmas lineup but lamenting the absence of LGBT representation.
"I love your movies a lot but I can't say I'm not looking forward to some lgbtq rep that goes further than just a hint of it. I look forward to seeing the moves but also more rep," the fan wrote.
Hallmark responded, "Diversity and inclusion is a top priority for us and we look forward to making more programming announcements in the coming months, with projects featuring LGBTQ storylines, characters, and actors."
"We are committed to creating a Hallmark experience where everyone feels welcome," the outlet added.
This isn't the first time in the last several months that Hallmark has faced controversy over LGBT content.
In late November, then-Hallmark Channel chief executive Bill Abbott said the company is "open" to doing movies with gay leads.
Asked whether Hallmark had discussed having stories about same-sex couples at Christmas, Abbott said, "We're open to really any type of movie of any type of relationship in any space."
Then, in December, the channel was in hot water over an ad showing a lesbian couple. Hallmark initially yanked the ad after getting pressure from a conservative group, telling the New York Times that the company pulled the ad because the channel doesn't run ads "that are deemed controversial."
After a left-wing call to boycott Hallmark, the company relented and reversed course. It not only began running the ads, it fell over itself apologizing for the "hurt" it had caused.
In January, after the Christmas season was wrapped up, Abbott resigned from Hallmark.
(H/T: The Christian Post)


theblaze--2020-07-21--'Arrogant' Starbucks worker was 'bragging' about spitting in cops' drinks, police say. Now he and hi

'Arrogant' Starbucks worker was 'bragging' about spitting in cops' drinks, police say. Now he and his nose ring are facing charges.

'Arrogant ' Starbucks worker was 'bragging ' about spitting in cops ' drinks , police say .
Now he and @ @ @ @ @ charges .

A Starbucks worker in in Park Ridge, New Jersey, was "arrogant enough to be bragging about" spitting in the drinks of police officers, Chief Joseph Madden told NJ.com Tuesday — which led police to question him.
Police said Kevin A. Trejo, 21, admitted to the spitting, the outlet reported — and he lost his job and got the book thrown at him.
What are the details?
After his arrest Monday, authorities told NorthJersey.com Trejo's charges include subjecting a law enforcement officer to bodily fluid, purposely tampering with a law enforcement officer's drink, and creating a hazardous environment.
Park Ridge Police Capt. Joseph Rampolla told the outlet that "under the current COVID threat, it is extremely disturbing to think that someone would intentionally spit in your drink."
It wasn't known how many times Trejo allegedly spit in drinks or how many officers' drinks were tainted, NorthJersey.com said.
Officers who may have received the tainted drinks will be tested for the coronavirus, police told the New York Daily News.
The Park Ridge coffee shop historically enjoyed an amicable relationship with local police and hosted numerous "Coffee with a Cop" events, Rampolla added to NorthJersey.com.
"We believe this was an isolated act, but it does not remove the shock and disgust that our officers feel," Rampolla noted to the outlet.
Patrick Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, said in a statement that "officers risk their lives daily; it shouldn't be while getting coffee," NorthJersey.com added.
What did Starbucks have to say?
A Starbucks spokesperson called Trejo's actions "reprehensible" and said he's no longer employed by the company, NorthJersey.com reported.
"We will continue to support Park Ridge Police in their investigation and have a deep respect for the Park Ridge Police Department and the officers who help keep our partners and communities safe," the spokesperson added to the outlet.
Mounting animosity
The incident comes amid a growing anti-cop sentiment in many communities across the United States in the weeks since George Floyd's death in Minneapolis on Memorial Day — but the New York City metropolitan area has seen a particularly long list of attacks on police:


theblaze--2020-07-21--Teacher goes viral after claiming district fired him for tweeting 'Trump is our president' — but the

Teacher goes viral after claiming district fired him for tweeting 'Trump is our president' — but there's a bit more to the story

Teacher goes viral after claiming district fired him for tweeting 'Trump is our president ' — but there 's a @ @ @ @ @

UPDATE: July 7, 2020 4:42 P.M. ET:
A spokesperson for Walled Lake Schools tells The Blaze that Kucera is no longer employed by the district.
In a lengthy statement, the spokesperson said:
When media stories/issues that garner public attention arise, we want to keep you informed around the District response.
Recently there have been stories in the media regarding a former employee of Walled Lake. As a matter of policy and practice, Walled Lake Schools does not comment on current and/or former employees as it relates to specific personnel issues.
These are difficult times in our community and across our country. When issues arise there's a temptation to view items through the lens of our fractured political discourse. Walled Lake encourages students and staff members to engage each other with mutual respect and civility.
We believe in the power of education and critical thinking. We believe vigorous community discussion, done with civility and mutual respect, leads to productive and innovative outcomes. In the Walled Lake Schools' educational setting, we encourage positive discourse and working together to make decisions that benefit our community.
Original story continues below ...
A Michigan high school teacher says his district fired him for saying "Trump is our president" on social media.
His account of the alleged incident is in dispute, however, following a report of conflicting information.
What are the details?
On July 6, Justin Kucera — a social studies teacher and varsity baseball coach at Walled Lake Western High School — wrote, "I'm done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president. Don't @ me."
That same day, he shared a tweet from President Donald Trump, which says, "SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!"
Kucera said his statements ruffled feathers within the school and the district at large, and insisted that he was left without a job after speaking with school officials.
In a recent interview, Kucera told the Washington Free Beacon that the school's principal and district superintendent contacted him shortly after he made the remarks on Twitter.
"I was required to meet with [human resources], the superintendent, and my principal [on July 10]," he told the outlet. "They initially took my statement on why I tweeted those tweets and they told me they would have a decision about my future employment in the upcoming days.
"When they completed the meeting," he continued, "I was told I had the option to either be fired or resign."
Kucera added that he wasn't trying to send an inflammatory message with the tweet, but instead, wished to unite people.
"I know a lot of people are just rooting for Tump to fail, and I don't think that anybody should do that," he reasoned. "Agree with him or not, you should want the president to do well. I apologized that [the tweet] brought so much negative attention, but I'm not sorry for what I said."
What else do we know?
A Tuesday Fox Business report noted that Kenneth Gutman, Walled Lake Consolidated School District superintendent, said that he was not in any meeting with Kucera, and that no disciplinary action had been taken against the social studies teacher and coach for his remarks about Trump.
He said, "No disciplinary action was taken as a result of any support of President Trump and we are unable to comment on specific staff discipline/personnel matters."
TheBlaze reached out to the Walled Lake Consolidated School District and Kucera for comment on the developing story, but did not receive a response in time for publication.


theblaze--2020-07-21--California cancels high school sports until at least December

California cancels high school sports until at least December The bleachers at the Brady Family Stadium at Junipero Serra High @ @ @ @ @ California .
( Photo by Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images )

The California Interscholastic Federation announced Monday that high school sports won't begin in the state until at least December because of COVID-19, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The announcement delays football, girls volleyball, cross country, boys water polo, girls golf, girls tennis, and field hockey until the winter or spring.
"This is the best possible plan we have with what's going on to give students an opportunity to participate," Vicky Lagos, commissioner of the Los Angeles City Section, said, according to the Times. "There are going to be issues in terms of facilities and multiple-sport athletes, but this is the best scenario for the most people. I have confidence the schools and coaches will work it out among themselves. My take from coaches is they want the opportunity to participate and be with the kids."
The new calendar means the football season will end in April, and basketball, baseball, and softball will all be concluding postseason championships in mid- to late-June.
The schedule will create numerous complications for athletes who are usually able to participate in multiple sports with little overlap or conflict, such as football and basketball, or football and track, for example. Coaches who are normally able to coach both boys and girls volleyball will have to make other arrangements.
Most California schools will start the academic year with online instruction, until they meet the strict guidelines set by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that would allow them to reopen for in-person classes. Schools can't reopen in-person until their county has been off of a statewide monitoring list for rising COVID-19 infections for 14 days.
Currently, 31 out of California's 58 counties are on the monitoring list, leaving a majority of schools without the option to hold classes in-person to start the year.
Whenever schools can reopen in California, students third grade and above will be required to wear masks, and younger students will be encouraged, but not required, to wear a face covering of some kind.
Schools that have more than 5% of students sick will be forced to close, and districts with 25% or more schools closed within a two-week period will be forced to shut down.
The state reportedly is better prepared for online instruction than it was in the spring, when teachers were overwhelmed by the challenge of balancing their own home lives with teaching students through an unfamiliar method, and when some students didn't have access to the technology necessary to participate.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Carvel ice cream store manager claims boss fired him for refusing to serve unmasked, coughing custom

Carvel ice cream store manager claims boss fired him for refusing to serve unmasked, coughing customer. Carvel owner says he's lying.

Carvel ice cream store manager claims boss fired him for refusing to serve unmasked , coughing customer .
Carvel owner @ @ @ @ @

A Carvel ice cream manager from New York is reportedly out of a job after he refused to serve a customer who was coughing a wet cough without wearing a mask.
The franchise's co-owner — the manager's boss — says that she never fired the employee and that he quit after being rude to a customer.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) issued a mandate several months ago requiring all residents to wear face coverings in public settings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
What are the details?
According to WABC-TV, former manager Thomas DeSarle says he was working on the evening of July 11 when an unmasked male customer entered a Long Island Carvel location.
The unnamed customer was reportedly "coughing loud, like a wet cough" into his hand.
"I heard a customer coughing in the front of the store, so I walked to the front," DeSarle said. "He was standing there coughing on his hand. And again, coughing not to clear his throat."
He recalled asking the customer, "'Sir, do you have a mask?'"
"[He] didn't respond to me," DeSarle said. "I said, 'Sir, can I get you a mask?' All he did was keep looking up at the board, trying to order."
It only got worse from there, according to the former manager, when the customer attempted to move closer to DeSarle and pay with a "sweaty $10 bill."
DeSarle says he was unable to take the man's money out of fear of the potential for getting sick.
Management reportedly fired DeSarle after he refused to serve the man.
"I was told that if it was too scary to work here no more, too scary to work here, you don't have to work here anymore. And I was terminated from my job," he recalled.
DeSarle also said that his manager reportedly demanded he serve customers even if they weren't wearing masks because the store was reportedly losing too much money.
The former manager, who hired an attorney, said that it isn't right that the store fired him for "following rules and for following state guidelines."
"We have a few options," his attorney, Jon Bell, said. "First is filing a complaint on the state website with Cuomo, we're considering that. Or we may go file a state action with a whistleblower violation."
What is the co-owner saying now?
On Monday, the New York Post reported that DeSarle's manager, identified as co-owner Annie Chen, refused to comment on the matter and referred the outlet to Carvel's corporate office.
Chen, however, told Newsday on Tuesday that DeSarle's account is inaccurate at best.
She said that DeSarle was rude to the customer and shouted at him, refused to provide a mask to the man, and then quit three days after the incident.
"He yelled at the customer very loudly," Chen said. "I told the manager that 'You can't talk that way.' Just talk to the customer politely."
Chen insisted, "Nobody fired him."


theblaze--2020-07-21--Planned Parenthood to remove founder Margaret Sanger's name from NYC clinic because she supported ra

Planned Parenthood to remove founder Margaret Sanger's name from NYC clinic because she supported racist eugenics

Planned Parenthood to remove founder Margaret Sanger 's name from NYC clinic because she supported racist eugenics But a biographer @ @ @ @ @ were the 'opposite of racism ' and have been misrepresented

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York will remove the name of Margaret Sanger — a founder of the organization — from its Manhattan clinic due to her "harmful connections to the eugenics movement," the New York Times reported Tuesday.
What are the details?
A public health nurse, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in Brooklyn in 1916, the paper said, adding that since then she's been lionized as a feminist icon and reproductive rights pioneer.
In front of the Sanger Clinic on Amber Street in Brooklyn, October 1916, which became Planned Parenthood of America. Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images
But the Times reported that Sanger also supported eugenics. The paper defined it as "a discredited belief in improving the human race through selective breeding, often targeted at poor people, those with disabilities, immigrants and people of color."
"The removal of Margaret Sanger's name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood's contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color," Karen Seltzer, the chair of the New York affiliate's board, said in a Tuesday statement, the paper added.
Planned Parenthood also is talking to city leaders about replacing Sanger's name on a street sign — Margaret Sanger Square — near its offices on Bleecker Street, the Times said, adding that Planned Parenthood of Greater New York lobbied for the Sanger street sign after moving its offices there over two decades ago.
More from the paper:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the national organization, has defended Ms. Sanger in the past, citing her work with Black leaders in the 1930s and 1940s. As recently as 2016, the group issued a fact sheet saying that while it condemned some of her beliefs, she had mostly been well intentioned in trying to make birth control accessible for poor and immigrant communities.
The national organization said in the fact sheet that it disagreed with Ms. Sanger's decision to speak to members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1926 as she tried to spread her message about birth control.
It also condemned her support for policies to sterilize people who had disabilities that could not be treated; for banning immigrants with disabilities; and for "placing so-called illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, and dope fiends on farms and in open spaces as long as necessary for the strengthening and development of moral conduct."
The national Planned Parenthood offices said in a statement that it supports the New York chapter's decision to remove Sanger's name from the clinic, the Times said, adding that while there's no sign on the clinic, it had been identified internally and publicly with Sanger's name. Now the clinic will be called the Manhattan Health Center, the paper said.
There are still Sanger fans out there
Ellen Chesler — author of a Sanger biography and senior fellow at a think tank called the Roosevelt Institute — told the Times that Sanger's views have been misinterpreted.
Chesler added to the paper that Sanger rejected some eugenics tenets, including that white middle-class families should have more children than others, and instead believed that the quality of all children's lives could be improved if parents had smaller families. She also noted to the Times that Sanger believed black people and immigrants had a right to that better life.
"Her motives were the opposite of racism," Chesler told the paper while citing Sanger's relationships with prominent black leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois.
Agreeing with anti-abortion conservatives?
In disavowing Sanger, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York now finds itself agreeing — on at least one point — with anti-abortion conservatives such as Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and federal HUD Secretary Ben Carson, both of whom have questioned Planned Parenthood for its connection to a eugenics proponent, the Times said.
But Merle McGee, the New York chapter's chief equity and engagement officer, told the paper it won't concern itself with conservatives' reaction.
"We're not going to obliterate her," McGee added to the Times. "If we obliterate her, we cannot reckon with her."
Anything else?
Amid the furious movement since George Floyd's killing to cancel historical figures who owned slaves or otherwise held racist views, the National Review's Alexandra DeSanctis earlier this month asked, "How Long Will Margaret Sanger Last?"
In fact, DeSanctis pointed out that in June, "more than 350 current and former staffers of Planned Parenthood's Greater New York affiliate — along with several hundred donors and volunteers — published an open letter condemning Sanger as 'a racist, white woman' and arguing that the organization is guilty of 'institutional racism.'"
Upon hearing the news that the clinic is removing Sanger's name, DeSanctis tweeted that "it's great that one Planned Parenthood affiliate has finally decided to admit that Margaret Sanger was icky. But isn't it a sign of our upside-down world that they'll apologize for having the name of a racist on their building while continuing to kill 350K unborn children a year?"
DeSanctis in her National Review piece added that "if removing offensive statues is the new norm, perhaps the bust of Sanger in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery should be the next to go."
Image source: YouTube screenshot
A group of black pastors and pro-life leaders in 2015 demanded that the gallery remove the Sanger bust over her eugenics support, but the gallery reportedly said no.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Cop goes viral for open letter on how disrespectful protesters have 'broken' him: 'You have not earn

Cop goes viral for open letter on how disrespectful protesters have 'broken' him: 'You have not earned my duty and dedication'

Cop goes viral for open letter on how disrespectful protesters have 'broken ' him : 'You have not earned my @ @ @ @

A man purported to be a Seattle police officer penned an open letter to the city, insisting that he was "broken" over the fact that Seattle's citizens turned their backs on the police department.
The letter subsequently went viral on the internet.
What are the details?
Conservative radio host Jason Rantz of KTTH-AM shared the letter on Monday, writing, "A Seattle police officer shared with me a heartbreaking letter explaining why they are 'broken' after so many years protecting the public."
"This is an officer who has committed much of their adult life to serving a community that, right now, is doing little to support police," Rantz writes. "This officer is 'broken' due to recent experiences as activists demonize cops and the Seattle City Council pushes to defund the department by 50%."
Rantz insists, "This is an officer you don't want to lose."
The now-viral letter begins, "I am a police officer in your city. I say your city because I don't live in the geographic boundaries that make up 'Seattle.' My kids were fully entrenched in school in a neighboring city when I decided to become an officer and I didn't want to uproot them."
"My experiences are my own," the letter continues, "but I believe other officers will have had similar experiences and may be nodding their heads when they read portions of this letter."
The letter points out that he always built a rapport based on respect with the citizens of Seattle, including even the most hardened of criminals.
"The criminals who I have interacted with trust me because I always treated them as human beings first, while still holding them accountable for their illegal behavior," the letter continues. "Police officers are very mission oriented problem solvers by nature and I am definitely that type of person."
The letter explains that the officer works in a thankless career in order to serve and protect citizens only to be shunted to the side by the very people who he promises to protect.
"Along the way my spouse and children suffered," the letter continues. "They didn't understand why I would choose to experience all this for strangers. Over the years I have tried to explain it to my family. I think my spouse understands but I am not sure my children have had enough life experience to fully grasp what I have been teaching them."
The officer explains that he fought against crime even at the risk of putting his personal safety at risk.
"Then came the George Floyd protests. It was not a new experience to have protesters screaming in my face. Telling me to 'go kill yourself, pull out your Glock, put it in your mouth, and pull the trigger and make the world better,'" he writes. "'They hired you because you have an IQ below 80 and will do whatever they tell you to do' and 'I know you beat your wife because…'"
The officer points out that protesters assaulted him and other officers with any possible means, including "glass bottles, rocks, pieces of steel, chunks of concrete."
The officer adds that demonstrators even attempted to maim or even kill him and other officers with what he says were "improvised explosive devices."
Of the latter, the officer says the media knows full well about the explosives, but refuses to share video evidence with the public.
"Then came the politicians standing right in front of me, on the front lines, calling me a racist killer cop," he adds. "Standing next [to] people who were telling us to kill ourselves, with people around them handing out rocks and bottles which were thrown at me shortly thereafter."
"That," he insists, "didn't break me either."
What has broken the officer, he writes, is that he no longer believes in "the mission" — or at least in what he says is his ability to complete the mission.
"At this point in time you have not earned my duty and dedication to 'THE MISSION,'" he writes. "You don't deserve me. That may sound harsh. You may recoil at that line. But go back to my experiences before the part where the politicians sold me and you out. I made it through all of that unbroken … When a mob can control city streets, those who do not agree with the mob are not free. Who is responsible for this breakdown? You. You are allowing it."
The letter adds, "Whether you are afraid to speak up to your political leaders. Whether you feel like 'I pay the police to deal with that stuff.' Or maybe you just try to ignore political stuff altogether. This is your responsibility. I, & the collective 'we' the police officers, cannot change the trajectory Seattle is on right now."
"Only you can change it," it concludes. "Only you can march in the streets against the mob or flood the city council meetings…only you who don't want to see mayhem, disorder, and anarchy in your city can stop it. Only you can make the politicians allow us to complete 'THE MISSION.' Only you can unbreak me. Only you can let me return to THE MISSION. I await your decision."


theblaze--2020-07-21--Texas border county enters new COVID-19 lockdown as it sees disproportionate spike in cases

Texas border county enters new COVID-19 lockdown as it sees disproportionate spike in cases US Border Patrol vehicles are seen @ @ @ @ @ border fence near the US-Mexico border on June 12 , 2019 , in Hidalgo , @ @ @ @ @ LOREN ELLIOTT/AFP via Getty Images )

Hidalgo County, a border county in Texas, will enter into a new COVID-19 lockdown Wednesday as it is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, The Hill reported.
Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez issued an order stating "all individuals currently living within Hidalgo County, Texas are ORDERED to SHELTER-AT-HOME in their residence."
The order requires people 17-years-old and younger to be accompanied by a parent or guardian when participating in an "essential activity," and people 18 or older are subject to a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Essential activities include those related to the health and safety of household members or family members, to obtain necessary supplies, or to perform work to provide essential services or supplies.
"It is highly encouraged and recommended that all commercial businesses operating within Hidalgo County, except essential covered businesses should cease all activities at facilities that may not be provided by curbside, drive-through, or take-out services," the order states.
The order does state, notably, that "no law enforcement or other official may detain, arrest, or confine in jail any person for a violation of this Order, provided however that law enforcement may enforce trespassing laws and remove violators at the request of a business establishment or other property owner."
The governor's office told the Texas Tribune that the shelter-in-place order is not enforceable.
"This order has no enforcement mechanism, which makes it simply a recommendation for those to stay home if they can, which Gov. [Greg] Abbott supports," spokesman John Wittman said. "However, this order does not force businesses to shut down in the Rio Grande Valley."
Counties on the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas have accounted for a significant portion of the recent increase in cases and hospitalizations.
Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that border counties (including Hidalgo, Brewster, Cameron, El Paso, Hudspeth, Kinney, Maverick, Presidio, Starr, Terrell, Val Verde, Webb, and Zapata) have seen a sharper increase in cases and deaths per capita dating back to mid-June.
Some of these cases are reportedly coming from Mexico, where the health care system is not well equipped to handle the COVID-19 outbreak. From KVEO-TV:
"One of the factors is the border, we in McAllen Medical are receiving many patients from Mexico, they are coming in because their resources over there are also limited so they are coming in to our area seeking medical attention and by law we have to provide it," said Dr. Lopez, "The patients that cross the border say 'we don't have hospital space over there, the oxygen is gone, we don't have medications so we cross the border', that's the situation in the border."
Dr. Ivan Melendez, the Health Authority of Hidalgo County says Mexican nationals are coming due to the lack of medical resources in Mexico.
"Contacts I have from my friends that are in Matamoros and Reynosa paint quite a grim story- that story shows hospitals packaged to the gills, there aren't any beds, people can't come in, I had one day someone send me a list of 45 people in a particular hospital in Reynosa and 45 people out of 45 beds diagnosed with a typical pneumonia, and I called him and he said we don't have tests so we're assuming they're COVID," said Dr. Ivan Melendez, M.D., Hidalgo County Health Authority.
The state of Texas is already under a mask mandate issued by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, but Abbott is on the record saying there won't be a need for the statewide lockdowns that were implemented in the spring as long as people wear masks and comply with social distancing policies.
"People are panicking, thinking I'm about to shut down Texas again," Abbott said last week. "The answer is no. That is not the goal. I've been abundantly clear."
Abbott had warned of a potential lockdown the previous week, if cases and hospitalizations continued to increase.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Disney fires high-level ABC News exec after she reportedly made racist remarks about black employees

Disney fired top ABC News executive Barbara Fedida after she reportedly made racist remarks about the company's black employees earlier in the year.
The company placed Fedida on administrative leave in June pending an investigation into reports that Fedida had a lengthy history of making racially insensitive remarks, was difficult, and was hard on employees.
While employed by the company, Fedida was senior vice president of talent, editorial strategy, and business affairs for the network.
What are the details?
On Monday, Walt Disney Television Chairman and Disney Media Networks co-chairman Peter Rice announced Fedida's departure.
In a memo, Rice said, "The investigation substantiated that Ms. Fedida did make some of the unacceptable racially insensitive comments attributed to her. It also substantiated that Ms. Fedida managed in a rough manner, and, on occasion, used crass and inappropriate language."
"Lastly," Rice's memo added, "the investigation found no basis for the claims that Ms. Fedida was the subject of dozens of HR complaints and that ABC News spent millions of dollars in confidential settlements related to Ms. Fedida, as alleged in some press accounts."
The memo concluded, "Although Ms. Fedida made contributions to the organization over the 20-year span of her career, in light of the overall findings, we have determined that she can no longer serve in a leadership role and will not be returning to ABC News."
Fedida reportedly made remarks about "Good Morning America" host Robin Roberts' contract renewal in 2018, asking "what more Roberts could want and said it wasn't as if the network was asking Roberts to 'pick cotton.'"
Fedida also reportedly said that Sunny Hostin — co-host on "The View" — was "low rent."
Last month, former CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien tweeted in response to the reports, said that a "CNN exec" engaged in offensive behaviors, and insisted that exec would only book the "right kind" of black people on O'Brien's show.
You can read more on the allegations against Fedida in a lengthy report here.
A June statement from Fedida said:
Throughout my career, I have been a champion for increased diversity in network news. Building a news division where everyone can thrive has been my life's mission. I am proud of my decades of work of hiring, supporting and promoting talented journalists of color. And, unlike these heartbreaking and incredibly misleading claims about me, that track record is well-documented and undeniable.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Nearly two months after Minneapolis building was burned during George Floyd riots, investigators fin

Nearly two months after Minneapolis building was burned during George Floyd riots, investigators find a dead body inside

Nearly two months after Minneapolis building was burned during George Floyd riots , investigators find a dead body inside

In a jarring story, investigators found the charred remains of a dead body this week inside the Max It Pawn store in Minneapolis, nearly two months after the store was burned down during riots sparked by the death of George Floyd.
The body is believed to belong to an adult male, and a police spokesman told Fox News, "The body appears to have suffered thermal injury and we do have somebody charged with setting fire to that place."
Police have not otherwise identified the body or released any details of their investigation.
Images of the Max It Pawn as it was burning became some of the most enduring images of the civil unrest that flared up across the country in the wake of Floyd's death on May 25. Floyd was killed as former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, and his death sparked nationwide protests that have at times turned violent and have encouraged many cities to enact police reforms and others to consider completely defunding or dismantling their police departments.
According to the New York Post, Montez Terrill Lee, 25, of Rochester, Minnesota, has been charged with the arson of the pawn shop. If it is determined that the fire killed the as-yet-unidentified person inside, Lee could face felony murder charges as well.
Investigators, including the Minneapolis Police Department, Minneapolis Fire, the ATF, and the state fire marshal, reportedly decided to search the building earlier this week after they received an anonymous tip.
KSMP-TV reports that the Minneapolis Police Homicide Division has taken over the case. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.


theblaze--2020-07-21--'Obey' appears in Kentucky skies just days after Democratic governor's COVID-19 mask mandate

'Obey ' appears in Kentucky skies just days after Democratic governor 's COVID-19 mask mandate The mandate — in effect @ @ @ @ @ masks in public when people are unable to socially distance

A skywriter drew the word "obey" above a pair of Kentucky cities, WLEX-TV reported — and the stunt took place just days after Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's COVID-19 mask mandate.
What are the details?
WLEX said "obey" appeared above Lexington and Frankfort last Tuesday, and many viewers contacted the station about what they witnessed. Naturally many photos and videos of the skywriting were taken.
Image source: WLEX-TV video screenshot
The station noted that the "obey" skywriting recalls the 1980s movie "They Live" about a totalitarian society.
Roger Chui of Lexington told WLEX he saw the "obey" message in the sky, hopped on flightaware.com, tracked the flight pattern, and learned the plane spent about an hour in the air over Lexington and Frankfort before returning to Danville.
Image source: WLEX-TV video screenshot
WLEX said it tracked the plane that performed the skywriting to "Ghostwriter Airshows" of Boyle County.
Image source: WLEX-TV video screenshot
The pilot — who didn't want to be identified and said he'd been bombarded with calls about the stunt — told the station he was hired to write "obey" in the sky above the two cities but wouldn't disclose the name of his client or how much the job cost.
"You figure if someone wants to get a message out at that scale the next thing they would want to do is talk to the media," Chui added to WLEX. "I mean they already have everyone's attention."
Peter Zhurbich, also of Lexington, told the station that "it has to be somebody making a point about the mask mandate probably."
What's up with the mask mandate?
Beshear's mask mandate — which went into effect July 11 — requires the wearing of masks in public, WFIE-TV reported.
The station said the mandate means that masks are required when people are near each other and unable to socially distance. WFIE added that Beshear said prior to the mandate that Kentucky's increasing number of coronavirus cases was a concern.
"A decision not to wear a mask — you could think that there's some liberty component, but any of that ends when you put the health and safety of someone else at risk," he said during July 10 press conference, the station said.
The mandate requires masks in places such as retail stores, restaurants, gyms, and in outdoor spaces where people can't stay six feet apart, WFIE said.
"I'm very aggravated and I won't be wearing a mask," McClean County resident Sabrina Sonner told the station. "And many of my family and friends — they won't be wearing a mask, either."
In a follow-up story, WFIE reported that at the time of the mask mandate, Beshear lost a lawsuit over COVID-19 restrictions that claimed to block the governor's new executive order.
But Beshear said his mask mandate is an administrative agency regulation, not an executive order, the station added.
Anything else?
Beshear on Monday expressed anger toward those who he said had been "secretly and covertly" taking photos of his son at baseball games and posting them online, the Courier-Journal reported.
At his daily news conference, Beshear answered a question about why he pulled his son, Will, 11, from a baseball tournament Sunday and replied that players weren't taking precautions against COVID-19, including requiring masks, the paper said.
Beshear said he believes the photos were meant to send a message, the Courier-Journal added.
"I know when people try to post pictures of my kids, what they're really trying to tell me is, 'We know where you are. We can get to you,'" the governor added, according to the paper.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Report: Ghislaine Maxwell paid Jacob Wohl $25,000 to smear Epstein victims

According to a report from the Daily Mail , alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell paid conservative muckraker and former Gateway Pundit reporter Jacob Wohl $ 25,000 to smear Epstein 's victims and attempt to get prosecutor Geoffrey Berman fired , all in order to prevent charges from being filed against Maxwell .
Maxwell allegedly paid Wohl and his partner Jack Burkman $ 25,000 to `` dig up dirt '' on Maxwell 's alleged victims .
Also , Burkman was reportedly supposed to use his alleged influence with Attorney General William Barr to attempt to get Berman fired , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alleges that a woman named Kristin Spealman — one of the people who was allegedly approached by Wohl and Burkman as part of their plot — told the Mail that Wohl and Burkman bragged to her that Maxwell had paid them $ 25,000 for their services .
Additionally , documents obtained by the Mail appear to show that Wohl and Burkman were retained as lobbyists by `` Granite Realty , LLC , '' the fictitious company named by prosecutors as the vehicle Maxwell used to purchase the house she allegedly used to hide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question her about her dealings with Epstein .
When reached for comment , Wohl told the Mail , `` Every person , even those accused of the most odious of crimes , deserves representation and possesses the right to engage lobbyists to petition the government on their behalf .
Otherwise , we can not comment on client matters . ''
Wohl has been repeatedly accused in the past of orchestrating plots to discredit public figures by pushing stories of fake or fictitious sexual assaults .
In 2018 , Wohl was accused of soliciting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct .
At the time , Wohl wrote for Gateway Pundit , which carried Wohl 's reporting on the alleged scandal .
When the allegations unraveled , Gateway Pundit announced that it was `` suspending '' its relationship with Wohl and modified some of its stories on the allegations .
Wohl and Burkman were also accused of orchestrating a similar plot against former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg in 2019 .
In 2020 , a woman came forward and claimed that Wohl and Burkman paid her to lie about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Wohl was also charged earlier this year with multiple felonies related to alleged unlawful sale of securities .
Wohl has pleaded not guilty to those charges .

According to a report from the Daily Mail, alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell paid conservative muckraker and former Gateway Pundit reporter Jacob Wohl $25,000 to smear Epstein's victims and attempt to get prosecutor Geoffrey Berman fired, all in order to prevent charges from being filed against Maxwell.
Maxwell allegedly paid Wohl and his partner Jack Burkman $25,000 to "dig up dirt" on Maxwell's alleged victims. Also, Burkman was reportedly supposed to use his alleged influence with Attorney General William Barr in an attempt to get Berman fired, as part of the deal.
The report alleges that a woman named Kristin Spealman — one of the people who was allegedly approached by Wohl and Burkman as part of their plot — told the Mail that Wohl and Burkman bragged to her that Maxwell had paid them $25,000 for their services.
Additionally, documents obtained by the Mail appear to show that Wohl and Burkman were retained as lobbyists by "Granite Realty, LLC," the fictitious company named by prosecutors as the vehicle Maxwell used to purchase the house she allegedly used to hide from law enforcement as they sought to question her about her dealings with Epstein.
When reached for comment, Wohl told the Mail, "Every person, even those accused of the most odious of crimes, deserves representation and possesses the right to engage lobbyists to petition the government on their behalf. Otherwise, we cannot comment on client matters."
Wohl has been repeatedly accused in the past of orchestrating plots to discredit public figures by pushing stories of fake or fictitious sexual assaults. In 2018, Wohl was accused of soliciting women who would falsely accuse special counsel Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct. At the time, Wohl wrote for Gateway Pundit, which carried Wohl's reporting on the alleged scandal. When the allegations unraveled, Gateway Pundit announced that it was "suspending" its relationship with Wohl and modified some of its stories on the allegations.
Wohl and Burkman were also accused of orchestrating a similar plot against former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg in 2019. In 2020, a woman came forward and claimed that Wohl and Burkman paid her to lie about inappropriate sexual conduct by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Wohl was also charged earlier this year with multiple felonies related to alleged unlawful sale of securities. Wohl has pleaded not guilty to those charges.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Florida teachers union sues the state over executive order to reopen schools in August

Middle school teacher Danielle Weigand stands in protest in front of the Hillsborough County Schools District Office on Thursday in @ @ @ @ @ and administrators from Hillsborough County Schools rallied against the reopening of schools due to health @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 pandemic .
( Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images )

A teachers union in Florida has sued the governor and the state Board of Education over an executive order calling for schools to open five days a week for in-person instruction in August, NPR reported.
The lawsuit, which was filed by the Florida Education Association, names Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
The union believes August is too early to safely bring students and teachers back into schools,
"Any sensible person would tell you we have got to get the positivity rate down," union president Fedrick Ingram said, according to NBC News. "This is a life or death situation. We don't want to be reckless; we don't want to be irresponsible."
What does the order say? The order, issued by Corcoran, states, "Upon reopening in August, all school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools at least five days per week for all students, subject to advice and orders of the Florida Department of Health, local departments of health, Executive Order 20-149 and subsequent executive orders."
The order allows for waivers or flexibility regarding some state requirements for number of days of operation, as long as that flexibility is exercised within a reopening plan approved by the state.
While schools will be reopened under the order, the state will also provide online education options for students and parents who need it due to medical conditions that either the student or someone they live with might have.
What is the state saying about the lawsuit? DeSantis deflected questions about the order by pointing out that he didn't issue it.
"I didn't give any executive order. That was the Department of Education," DeSantis said, according to NPR, which noted that DeSantis appointed the education commissioner and six members of the education board.
Corcoran dismissed the lawsuit as "frivolous" and "reckless."
"Clearly the FEA hasn't read nor understands the Florida Department of Education's guidance, the Emergency Order No. 2020-EO-06, or Florida Law," Corcoran said in a statement. "Currently, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida Statute 1001.42 (the law) required K-12 Schools 'to operate 180 days' a school year. If you do the math, that equates to 5 days a week for 36 weeks."
"This E.O. did not order any new directives regarding the requirement of schools to be open, it simply created new innovative options for families to have the CHOICE to decide what works best for the health and safety of their student and family," Corcoran said.


theblaze--2020-07-21--POLL: Which VP pick would be the biggest disaster for the Biden campaign?

POLL : Which VP pick would be the biggest disaster for the Biden campaign ?
Cast your vote and do @ @ @ @ @

POLL: Which VP pick would be the biggest disaster for the Biden campaign?
Cast your vote and don't forget to share!


theblaze--2020-07-21--Horowitz: Medical directors in Texas border counties: We’re treating patients from Mexico

`` We in McAllen Medical are receiving many patients from Mexico . ''

Who would have thought it: That when a neighboring country without stable medical care gets hit by the virus, anyone with the ability to come here would seek care in our hospitals when they get sick?
I've written a six-part series detailing how the border counties have a worse crisis than anywhere else in the country because of a mix of cross-border travel, medical tourism, and dual citizens traveling back and forth. You can read the series here, here, here, here, here, and here. Until now we have seen remarkable data that shows the the timing and severity of the surge in relation to the sister cities and states in Mexico. California hospital directors have gone on the record admitting that they have been treating patients from Mexico. Now we have on-the-record proof that this is happening in Texas as well.
The numbers are truly extraordinary. On Sunday, 42% of all deaths reported in Texas were in border counties, even though those counties account for just 9% of the state's population and are generally much less dense than the counties closer to the major population centers. The positivity rate of testing is almost twice as high in Hidalgo County (border) as in Harris County (Houston). Since June 1, Hidalgo County's cases have grown by 1,800%, while Harris County's cases have grown by 346%. Now we know why.
On Friday, KVEO's Sydney Hernandez, who has been covering cross-border news for years, reported that "doctors say they are not only treating Rio Grande Valley residents but people who crossed the border seeking medical attention."
"One of the factors is the border, we in McAllen Medical are receiving many patients from Mexico, they are coming in because their resources over there are also limited so they are coming into our area seeking medical attention and by law we have to provide it," said Dr. Ivonne Lopez, medical director of McAllen Hospital Group at McAllen Medical Center. "The patients that cross the border say 'we don't have hospital space over there, the oxygen is gone, we don't have medications so we cross the border,' that's the situation in the border."
Hernandez also quotes a Hidalgo County health official attesting to the fact that hospitals in Texas' sister cities in Mexico are overrun and dysfunctional. This is why we are getting the most vulnerable people and serious cases from Mexico. That is the only logical explanation for why these counties seem to have more deaths per capita than any place in the country, especially with comparable population densities.
It's truly astounding that nobody in the state or federal government thought to either block medical tourism, issue mandatory quarantines for travel to and from Mexico, or at least set up field hospitals in Mexico at the border rather than burden our own hospitals and risk the danger of spread within hospitals of the most serious virus cases coming into our country. Americans were locked down under the premise of avoiding a strain on the hospitals, yet Mexican nationals were able to walk in.
In March, our government issued a travel ban at the border, but it categorically exempted dual citizens and Mexican nationals who hold green cards, as well as those with other visas and border crossing cards if they were deemed essential. In addition, travel for medical treatment was also exempted from the ban.
If our government believes it is our responsibility to treat these people in American hospitals, then rather than blaming Americans for spreading the virus and demanding more lockdowns, officials should own up to the source of the most serious cases. Every day, we see liberals lament that America is experiencing a much longer epidemic than Europe. But Europe didn't have a Mexico on its border, where governments not only failed to fully halt cross-border travel but openly invited people from a country with subpar medical care to enter and seek treatment. Green card holders should never have been allowed to come in while Americans are locked down. Even dual citizens should have just been given the option to come in one time at the beginning, not to travel back and forth in middle of the epidemic.
In addition to those who reside in Mexico, there are likely many Americans who have gotten sick because they traveled to Tamaulipas during the worst weeks in late May and early June. In deference to the strong cross-border bond (more so than in any other part of the border), there were never any warnings against travel or mandatory quarantines issued for those who returned. But should that cross-border culture have been accommodated more than the cross-border culture between Pennsylvania and New Jersey/New York in March and April or between Texas and Louisiana when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent out state troopers to enforce a quarantine on travel from Louisiana?
Now, the Hidalgo County government has issued a stay-at-home order for its residents, after failing to simply enforce a quarantine against travel to Mexico.
Just how far has the spread from Mexico gone? We don't know for sure, but once we know that Mexican nationals have sought treatment in the border counties and we know border counties, which have tiny hospitals, have been transferring patients to other cities, it's inconceivable that a certain number of serious patients in ICUs in other parts of Texas are not from the border.
The Texas Tribune reported last week that sick patients from the border town of Harlingen have been medically evacuated as far north as Amarillo.
The trip from the Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle is too far to make in a helicopter. So earlier this week, when an intubated COVID-19 patient left Harlingen,nearthe state's southernmost tip, for Amarillo, its northernmost metro area, hospital officials sent a fixed-wing airplane.
The South Texas hospital, inundated with a surge of sick and dying coronavirus patients, had tried sending the severely ill patient to closer facilities — but Northwest Texas Healthcare System was "the first hospital between them and us" that had the capacity to take the patient, said Dr. Brian Weis, the Amarillo hospital's chief medical officer.
Logic dictates that the reason why some of the closer major cities, such as Houston and San Antonio, are full is because of the border problem. Yes, the border towns have less medical infrastructure, so transfers would be natural. But what is not natural, as proven by viral patterns throughout the country, is for rural counties to get more deadly COVID-19 cases than the major cities in a given state. This has created an inverse pyramid of strain on the state's hospital system.
All because the only thing that can never be locked down during a national shutdown during an epidemic to stop the viral spread is travel across the Mexican border, especially if they are coming with COVID-19.


theblaze--2020-07-21--Kanye West claims wife Kim Kardashian is trying to involuntarily commit him after abortion announcem

Kanye West claims wife Kim Kardashian is trying to involuntarily commit him after abortion announcement She reportedly wants him to @ @ @ @

Rapper Kanye West says his wife, Kim Kardashian, is trying to involuntarily commit him to a mental health facility following his bombshell claim that the two considered aborting their first child, North West.
West made the abortion remarks during a Sunday presidential rally in Charleston, South Carolina.
West announced a presidential bid on July 5. Though he missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, he was able to appear as a candidate on Oklahoma's presidential ballot.
What are the details?
On Monday night, West accused his wife of trying to "lock [him] up" in a series of concerning tweets — all of which have apparently been deleted.
"Kim tried to bring a doctor to lock me up with a doctor," he wrote. "If I get locked up like [Nelson] Mandela... Ya'll will know why."
West later added, "Kim was trying to fly to Wyoming with a doctor to lock me up like on the movie Get Out because I cried about saving my daughters life yesterday."
He also fired a pointed tweet at Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, writing, "Kriss [sic] don't play with me you and that calmye [sic] are not allowed around my children Ya'll tried to lock me up."
West deleted the tweets in question — screenshots of which you can read in the tweet below.
Instead, West dropped a photo about his forthcoming album, apparently titled "DONDA," after his mother, who died in 2007.
"DONDA coming this Friday," he captioned the photo.
Some of the tracks featured on the new, decidedly Christian-themed album include "Know God Breathed on This," "Praise God," "Keep My Spirit Alive," and "New Body."
He added, "Ima focus on the music now."
What else?
On Monday night, TMZ reported on West's tweets and the subsequent fallout.
"As we've reported," the outlet wrote, "our Kanye sources say he's in the middle of a serious mental health episode and those around him have urged him to get help ... but the decision needs to be his."
On Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported that Kardashian is pressuring West to drop his presidential bid.
The outlet reported, "Sources have since claimed that Kim was considering divorcing him if he didn't drop his presidential bid and that she was 'furious' he had spoken about their seven-year-old daughter at his rally."
The Sun also reported on Tuesday that Kardashian is furious over West's behavior and allegedly "lost her s**t" over the remarks about the couple's daughter.
A source reportedly told the outlet that "Kim has had it and she does not believe that he is well enough to be running for president."
"He is an embarrassment to himself and to her family and Kim does not want this charade to go on any longer," the source added.
A Kardashian source also reportedly told Entertainment Tonight that the family is concerned over how West's remarks may impact the couple's 7-year-old daughter when she gets older.
"Kanye isn't in a good place and isn't listening to anyone trying to talk him into getting help. Kim is upset with Kanye for his rants yesterday, especially talking about the possibility of having an abortion and not giving birth to North," the source told Entertainment Tonight. "She knows this is something North will see when she gets older and that's heartbreaking."


theblaze--2020-07-22--Evangelist Josh McDowell warns that COVID will make depression, addiction, and pornography worse

Evangelist Josh McDowell warns that COVID will make depression , addiction , and pornography worse It 's more than just @ @

Famed evangelist Josh McDowell is worried about the impact COVID-19 is having on an already beleaguered population, warning that the pandemic wiIl likely worsen a variety of social issues, including pornography addiction, loneliness, and depression.
"The lockdown ... it feeds into pornography, loneliness, depression and mental health," McDowell recently told "The Pure Flix Podcast," noting that stress, isolation and fear of the unknown are all issues that are increasingly intensifying amid the COVID-19 crisis.
(Find Hope:Watch Thousands of TV Shows and Movies on Pure Flix Today)
And the evangelist, who has spent decades exploring cultural issues and ministering to the masses, added that he believes these issues will be more pronounced once the lockdowns end.
Listen to McDowell's warnings and solutions on "The Pure Flix Podcast":
"These things are not under the radar. It's just that [the] church is not looking at the radar," McDowell said. "When we come out of this COVID — and we will — you're going to see a greater in-depth problem with loneliness, depression, anxiety and pornography."
McDowell also discussed young people in Generation Z and the already increasing mental health and loneliness concerns that were observed among this population prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Among his concerns are the ways in which young people are choosing to communicate with one another. While McDowell said people were designed to relate to one another in interpersonal relationships, technology has transformed the realities of how we interact.
"This generation has learned to communicate with their thumbs, not their tongues," McDowell said. "They might be connecting with people on the internet, but they're not relating to people on the internet."
The evangelist is on a mission to help pastors, Christians and churches meet these needs, though, with his ministry rolling out free resources to help combat loneliness,depression, and other pervasive cultural issues.
(Read Also: Depression in the Bible: How Scripture Heals Us)
"We need to figure out how do we minister to people like that and it doesn't come easy," he said. "The church had better address these things or the church will be marginalized — period. If we don't address loneliness, depression, anxiety, mental health and relationships we will be obsolete."
McDowell knows how hard pastors work and how much is on the plates of various church staffers, but he's hoping these resources will help ease some of these burdens while also providing healing. Visit Josh McDowell Ministry for resources and more information on how you can help.
This article was originally published on Pure Flix Insider. Visit Pure Flix for access to thousands of faith and family-friendly movies and TV shows. You can get a free trial here.


theblaze--2020-07-22--New Trump memo omits illegal aliens from census count used to determine House seats

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Tuesday aiming to exclude the illegal immigrant population from the 2020 census apportionment base used to determine how many House seats each state will have.
"For the purpose of the reapportionment of Representatives following the 2020 census, it is the policy of the United States to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status," the president wrote in the memo, arguing that the new policy "is more consonant with the principles of representative democracy."
Under the new guidelines, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and census officials are directed to provide the president with the total number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, at which point the president can exclude that number from the apportionment base.
The memo argues that the Constitution "does not specifically define which persons must be included in the apportionment base." It suggests that the illegal immigrant population should be categorized similarly to other groups — such as those who are in the country only temporarily for business or tourism, or foreign diplomatic personnel — that are not counted in the apportionment base.
"My administration will not support giving congressional representation to aliens who enter or remain in the country unlawfully, because doing so would create perverse incentives and undermine our system of government," Trump said in a statement announcing the new policy.
What's the background?
President Trump has been working diligently to include citizenship data in the 2020 census. Last year, his administration attempted to include a citizenship question in the census, but that move was effectively blocked by the Supreme Court.
After the citizenship question effort stalled out, Trump directed the Department of Commerce in an executive order "to strengthen its efforts, consistent with law, to obtain State administrative records concerning citizenship."
As a part of that effort, the administration began reaching out to individual states in order to arrange data-sharing agreements. As of last week, the administration had entered such agreements with four states — Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota — which agreed to share driver's license and state identification information.
Democrats are furious
Immediately following its announcement, Democrats in Congress slammed the memo and promised a legal fight.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer chalked it up as an unconstitutional attempt to disparage immigrant communities.
Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi similarly promised to contest the move, calling it "unconstitutional and unlawful."
Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee, including Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), announced that they would hold an emergency meeting next week to discuss a plan of action against the move.


theblaze--2020-07-23--Black Lives Matter protesters vandalize Oakland mayor's home; she accuses them of terrorism

Black Lives Matter protesters vandalize Oakland mayor 's home ; she accuses them of terrorism They also shot projectiles and @ @ @ @

The Democratic mayor of Oakland, California, accused vandals who left Black Lives Matter messages spray painted at her home of trying to "terrorize" her and her family.
The incident occurred early Tuesday morning outside Mayor Libby Schaaf's house.
Witnesses say that 30 to 40 protesters dressed in black fired off projectiles and firecrackers during the vandalism. They spray-painted messages on the mayor's stone wall, sidewalk and garage, including "Defund OPD," "homes 4 all," and "blood on your hands."
A neighbor of the mayor told KGO-TV, "I know there's a lot of unrest and frustration and I sympathize with that, but this was jarring and felt like to another level."
A spokesperson for Schaaf released a statement condemning the vandalism.
"This attack designed to intimidate the Mayor and strike fear into her family, will not stop her from advocating for the policies she believes are in the best long-term interests of her beloved hometown," said Justin Berton.
"Like all Oaklanders, she supports passionate protest but does not support tactics meant to harm and terrorize others," the statement concluded.
'A wake up call to Libby'
The Sacramento Bee reported that a post at the San Francisco Independent Media Center's website contained a message from someone claiming responsibility for the vandalism.
"Last night we sent a wake up call to Libby and a call for action to the whole Bay Area. We left a note on her garage, and treated her to a nice fireworks display and the musical notes of pots and pans and assorted noisemakers," read the message.
"Our message to Libby and other elected officials is simple: You have the power to take the boot off our necks — so we have the duty to struggle against you until that boot is lifted," they added. "You can't hide from your responsibility!"
The message included four demands from the group. They called for the defunding of the Oakland Police Department, cancellation of rent, "Homes for All," and "Drop the Charges," without elaborating.
Police are investigating the vandalism.
'Racist dog whistle'
President Donald Trump has threatened to send federal officers to Oakland in order to quell the protest violence there.
"Oakland is a mess. We are not going to let this happen in our country," he has said.
On Monday, the day before the vandalism on her home, Schaaf called the threat a "racist dog whistle."
Here's a local news report about the vandalism:


theblaze--2020-07-23--EXPOSED: BLM unites with Islamists and communists to DISMANTLE the West

EXPOSED : BLM unites with Islamists and communists to DISMANTLE the West Glenn Beck exposes the true intentions of this @ @

The violent Leftists from the 1960s never went away; they just retreated underground. They've come back to lead the radicals of today, but they've added a new ally — Islamists.
It's a nine-year-old Glenn Beck prediction fulfilled and playing out violently on our streets. Glenn warned that the unrest in the Middle East would spread to the West under the guise of spreading freedom and democracy.
On tonight's Glenn TV special, Glenn connects the dots and exposes the true intentions of the unholy alliance between communists, anarchists, Islamists, and Black Lives Matter.
Watch a preview below:
In order to watch tonight's episode, you must be a BlazeTV subscriber. Join today to get a 30-day free trial, and get $10 off a one-year subscription with code GLENN. Then head over to BlazeTV to watch.
Want more from Glenn Beck?
To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.


theblaze--2020-07-23--Lancet study: Border closures, full lockdowns, and increased testing are not associated with lower C

Lancet study: Border closures, full lockdowns, and increased testing are not associated with lower COVID mortality rates

Lancet study : Border closures , full lockdowns , and increased testing are not associated with lower COVID mortality rates @ @ @ @ @ were told

A study published Tuesday in The Lancet medical journal evaluated the various measures governments have taken to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and the results will no doubt be a surprise to some.
According to the study's authors, three measures that have been touted as highly significant in controlling the spread of the virus (rapid border closures, full lockdowns, and widespread testing) were found to be "not associated with COVID mortality."
The report noted that governments have implemented measures across the globe that have "Varied considerably with respect to the restrictiveness of interventions, the acceptance of widespread implementation, and presumed effectiveness in reducing disease transmission."
However, the report specifically noted that, "Although containment measures implemented in countries like China, South Korea, and Taiwan have reduced new cases by more than 90%, this has not been the case in many other countries such as Italy, Spain, and the United States."
The report concluded that one potential cause of this discrepancy is that "less than optimal population compliance in western democracies may be an important contributing factor to variation in outcomes among the various countries."
In China's case, of course, the statistics provided by the government may well be entirely fictional, a possibility not mentioned in the report.
Interestingly, the report found that two significant mortality factors in a country's mortality rate are the prevalence of obesity in that country, and higher per capita GDP — two indicators of personal wealth.
However, the study did note that lockdowns and border closures were associated with better health outcomes and recovery rates, because they presumably helped reduce the load on hospital systems and improved patient recovery times.
The findings have implications for the continuation of the shutdown measures that have driven unemployment rates to historic highs and have ground most activity in the United States to a halt. The number of detected coronavirus cases has risen in the United States in recent weeks; however, the number of reported deaths per day has not risen as many sectors of the economy have reopened.


theblaze--2020-07-22--Disturbing viral photo shows Black Lives Matter supporter kneeling on crying baby's neck

Police have identified a suspect after a photograph of a Black Lives Matter supporter kneeling on a crying baby 's neck went viral on social media .
The photo shows a shirtless tattooed man kneeling on the baby , who is crying , while another person holds the child 's arms behind their back .
The baby appeared to be white and the photo was posted with the caption , `` BLM now . ''
WHIO-TV posted the disturbing photograph with the faces of the baby and the man blurred out .
The act of kneeling on the child 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death of George Floyd , a black man , after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest in Minnesota .
Video of the arrest led to protests erupting all across the country , some of which turned into rioting and looting .
The Clark County Sheriff 's Office in Ohio announced on Wednesday that they had a suspect in relation to the photograph and that charges were pending a review by the Clark County Prosecutor 's Office .
Investigators said they contacted the mother of the child and had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ examination .
They said the baby did not sustain any injuries from the incident .
`` Subsequent interview with the mother revealed that she was unaware of the photo having been taken , or its contents , until she had been informed by other parties , '' said Clark County Sheriff 's Office Lt. Kristopher Shultz in a release to the media .
Deputies booked Isaiah Jackson , 20 , into the Clark County Jail on a probation violation .
The sheriff 's office said the prosecutor 's office will `` provide a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the felony charges , '' but they did not offer any indication on what the charges might be against Jackson .
`` Black Lives Matter '' protests and rioting have continued in some cities , including Portland , Oregon , where the violence has escalated so badly that President Donald Trump ordered federal officers to aid in quelling the rioters .
On Wednesday , the president announced that he would be sending federal officers to Chicago , Illinois , also after a rash of violent crime in the city .

Police have identified a suspect after a photograph of a Black Lives Matter supporter kneeling on a crying baby's neck went viral on social media.
The photo shows a shirtless tattooed man kneeling on the baby, who is crying, while another person holds the child's arms behind their back.
The 2-year-old baby appeared to be white and the photo was posted with the caption, "BLM now."
WHIO-TV posted the disturbing photograph with the faces of the baby and the man blurred out.
Image Source: WHIO-TV video screenshot
The act of kneeling on the child's neck was apparently an allusion to the death of George Floyd, a black man, after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest in Minnesota. Video of the arrest led to protests erupting all across the country, some of which turned into rioting and looting.
Charges are pending
The Clark County Sheriff's Office in Ohio announced on Wednesday that they had a suspect in relation to the photograph and that charges were pending a review by the Clark County Prosecutor's Office.
Investigators said they contacted the mother of the child and had the baby transported to a hospital for examination. They said the baby did not sustain any injuries from the incident.
"Subsequent interview with the mother revealed that she was unaware of the photo having been taken, or its contents, until she had been informed by other parties," said Clark County Sheriff's Office Lt. Kristopher Shultz in a release to the media.
Deputies booked Isaiah Jackson, 20, into the Clark County Jail on a probation violation. The sheriff's office said the prosecutor's office will "provide a determination on the scope and breadth of the felony charges," but they did not offer any indication on what the charges might be against Jackson.
Black Lives Matter protests and rioting have continued in some cities, including Portland, Oregon, where the violence has escalated so badly that President Donald Trump ordered federal officers to aid in quelling the rioters. On Wednesday, the president announced that he would be sending federal officers to Chicago after a rash of violent crime in the city.


theblaze--2020-07-22--Homeschool enrollment booms as uncertainty over school reopening leads more parents to withdraw thei

Homeschool enrollment booms as uncertainty over school reopening leads more parents to withdraw their children from public schools

As local school districts across the country struggle to develop reopening plans in the face of uncertainty about a possible resurgence of COVID-19 and teachers' unions that are in many cases holding districts hostage with laundry lists of insane leftist demands, many parents are responding by pulling their children out of public schools altogether in favor of homeschooling.
In Texas, the Texas Homeschool Coalition says they have been "flooded" with calls from parents who have been dissatisfied with the distance learning they received from their public school system during the spring shutdowns, and have decided to pull their kids out of public school entirely and homeschool them.
After the Texas Education Agency announced that schools in Texas will be permitted to use online-only learning for at least the first eight weeks, the Texas Homeschool Coalition estimated that their average weekly number of contacts from interested parents doubled.
Texas is not alone. Nebraska's homeschool filings have jumped 21% over last year already, and many educators predict that the number will grow even higher in the cornhusker state. A recent poll also revealed that 40% of parents are more likely to consider homeschooling their children this year due to concerns about school reopening plans amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Some parents are no doubt considering home schooling due to uncertainty over what their school district's plans will involve, or dissatisfaction with online learning in general. Others are certainly considering homeschooling because of nervousness about the virus itself.
As the issue becomes more and more of a political football, with teachers' unions flexing their political muscle in order to extract concessions in order to return to school, one thing seems certain: There are likely to be fewer children in public schools this year than in previous years, which means less societal influence for an educational system that has been increasingly criticized as an indoctrination ground for liberal values.
Meanwhile, science strongly suggests that kids should return to in person learning as quickly as possible whether at home or in the classroom. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that children should return to school and in person learning this fall. Districts that refuse to do so may soon find themselves permanently short of a large percentage of their student population.


theblaze--2020-07-22--'Help is on its way': Trump orders federal officers to Chicago to fight the city's 'rampage of viole

'Help is on its way': Trump orders federal officers to Chicago to fight the city's 'rampage of violence'

'Help is on its way ' : Trump orders federal officers to Chicago to fight the city 's 'rampage of @ @ @ @ @ to federal help against rioting

President Donald Trump announced that he ordered federal troops to Chicago in order to fight the surge of violence in recent weeks.
The president made the announcement on Wednesday at the White House East Room.
"No citizens have suffered more from the menace of violent crime than the wonderful people of Chicago, a city I know very well," Trump said.
"At least 414 people have been murdered in the city this year, a roughly 50% increase over last year. More than 1,900 people have been shot. These are numbers that aren't even to be believed. Yesterday alone 23 people were shot in Chicago including at least 15 who were shot in a merciless onslaught of gunfire outside a funeral home," he continued.
"Over the Fourth of July weekend, nearly 80 people were shot and at least 12 people were killed," the president added before recounting more statistics of the horrific violence in Chicago.
"Behind each of these horrifying statistics is a victim, a family, a loved one, a life cruelly shattered and it's so sad to see and so sad to look and so sad to see how these lives have been been just torn apart," he continued.
The president offered comfort to the families of victims of violence that were invited to the White House announcement.
"I am announcing that the Department of Justice will immediately surge federal law enforcement to the city of Chicago," said the president.
"The FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security will together be sending hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers to Chicago to help drive down violent crime," Trump added. "And murderers and violent criminals are breaking a wide range of federal laws, we have that, it's as wide as it can be. We will find them, arrest them and prosecute them, they will be in jail for many years to come."
The president has faced criticism after he sent federal officers to Portland, Oregon, to help quell the violence erupting from protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody. Among the critics were Democratic Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler who said the order was "a blatant abuse of police tactics by the federal government," and accused the officers of escalating the violence.
"For those people in Chicago and other cities where we'll be, help is on its way," the president said.
Here's the announcement from the president:


theblaze--2020-07-22--WATCH: Major League Baseball shows support for Black Lives Matter

On Wednesday 's episode of Pat Gray Unleashed , Pat , Keith , and Jeffy discussed the political stand Major @ @ @ @ @ show of support for Black Lives Matter .
Watch the video below to get Pat @ @ @ @ @ as he explained why politics have no place in baseball .
Use code PAT to @ @ @ @ @ year of BlazeTV .
Want more from Pat Gray ?
To enjoy more of Pat @ @ @ @ @ wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world , subscribe to BlazeTV — @ @ @ @ @ voices who love America , defend the Constitution and live the American dream .

On Wednesday's episode of Pat Gray Unleashed, Pat, Keith, and Jeffy discussed the political stand Major League Baseball took in a show of support for Black Lives Matter. Watch the video below to get Pat's take on the issue as he explained why politics have no place in baseball.
Use code PAT to save $10 on one year of BlazeTV.
Want more from Pat Gray?
To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.


theblaze--2020-07-22--Teenage Afghan girl uses family's AK-47 to fend off Taliban militants after they murdered her parent

Teenage Afghan girl uses family's AK-47 to fend off Taliban militants after they murdered her parents

Teenage Afghan girl uses family 's AK-47 to fend off Taliban militants after they murdered her parents

A teenage girl in Afghanistan was a tragic witness to her parents' murder at the hands of the Taliban, but rather than allow the murderous thugs to also kill her and her brother, she used the family's AK-47 to kill three of the intruders and stall the rest until the local militia was able to force the Taliban fighters to retreat.
According to the New York Post, the incident took place in the village of Geriveh in Afghanistan. The 16-year-old girl, who was identified as Qamar Gul, was sleeping at home when Taliban fighters came looking for her father, who was the village's local leader and a supporter of the Afghani government. When they knocked on the door, Gul's mother refused to open it because she saw that the men outside were armed. The Taliban fighters then barged in and killed her parents.
At this point, Gul took matters into her own hands, grabbing the family's AK-47 and shooting and killing three Taliban fighters, saving her own life and the life of her 12-year-old brother in the process. The Taliban fighters were forced to retreat outside the house, where they were engaged by the local militia, who forced them to retreat.
CBS news reports that Gul has been hailed as a hero in her home country for her bravery, and was invited to the presidential palace where President Ahsraf Ghani lauded her for her bravery.
According to Gul, "It was around 1 a.m. that the Taliban knocked on our door. My mother answered and refused to open the door. They broke our door and dragged my parents into the hallway and killed them both."
Gul told CBS News that her father taught her how to shoot the gun.
"I am proud I killed my parents' murderers. I killed them because they killed my parents, and also because I knew they would come for me and my little brother. After I killed the two Taliban, I went to talk to my parents, but they were not breathing. I feel sad I could not talk to them one last time," Gul said in an interview with AFP.


theblaze--2020-07-22--Team of Miami cops assigned exclusively to COVID-19 mask enforcement — and violations can cost as mu

Team of Miami cops assigned exclusively to COVID-19 mask enforcement — and violations can cost as much as $500

Team of Miami cops assigned exclusively to COVID-19 mask enforcement — and violations can cost as much as $ 500 @ @ @ @ @ 've been fined one too many times

The city of Miami has assigned 39 of its police officers exclusively to COVID-19 mask enforcement, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported — and fines for violations can cost as much as $500.
Miami officers will fine mask violators $50 for first offenses, $100 for second offenses, and $500 for third offenses, the paper said, adding that additional offenses could lead to arrests.
A citywide emergency order was issued last month calling for mandatory facial coverings at all times in public until further notice, WFOR-TV reported, adding that the following limited and specific exceptions are:
A child under 2 years of age;
An individual engaged in outdoor work or exercising with appropriate social distancing in place;
An individual with one or more medical conditions or disabilities that prevent wearing a facial covering;
An individual obtaining a service involving the nose or face for which temporary removal of the facial covering is necessary to perform the service;
An individual in a profession where use of a facial covering will not be compatible with the duties of the profession;
An individual eating or drinking; and
An individual who is hearing-impaired or communicating with an individual who is hearing-impaired.
Miami Beach Police and Code officers will begin issuing $50 civil citations starting Thursday for those not wearing facial coverings while in public places or spaces, WFOR noted.
"We all need to be serious about flattening the curve and putting this deadly virus behind us," Mayor Dan Gelber told the station. "Please do your part and wear a mask."
Anything else?
Miami-Dade County sent over 60 code inspectors and 100 police officers last week to ticket people for not wearing masks, among other violations, the Sun-Sentinel added, which resulted in 35 fines by Friday morning.
WFOR said there's a countywide mandate in effect requiring everyone to wear a mask at all times when in public.
In addition, the city of Miami is looking into banning private parties of more than 10 people, the paper reported, citing Mayor Francis Suarez.
More from the Sun-Sentinel:
Miami police's enforcement team also plans to scour social media channels to track down parties that need to be broken up.
The city's efforts come just days after Miami-Dade commissioners passed an ordinance giving all of the county's code and fire inspectors the power to issue tickets of up to $100 for individuals and $500 for businesses, bringing an increase to the number of officials — in addition to police — who can enforce the rules. Too many people have been ignoring the rules, so it's now up to local government to enforce them.


theblaze--2020-07-22--Woman goes into full meltdown over masks at Panera Bread — with a bizarre explanation: Pants don’t s

Woman goes into full meltdown over masks at Panera Bread — with a bizarre explanation: Pants don’t stop farts. Bystanders gang up and savage her.

Woman goes into full meltdown over masks at Panera Bread — with a bizarre explanation : Pants don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ up and savage her .

A woman has gone viral after being featured in a video in which she refuses to wear a mask in a Panera Bread location in California.
In the video, the woman — who has been dubbed "Panera Patty" by the internet — argues that because pants don't stop flatulence, neither will masks stop COVID-19.
What are the details?
In the video, a woman can be seen and heard telling employees at Panera Bread that she should not have to adhere to their rule of wearing a mask while inside the store.
The woman tells an employee that she will not put on a mask while in the store. The employee, in kind, tells the woman that she will not be served if she does not follow the rules.
The woman becomes irate and begins shouting about the rule, and insists that masks do not prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Other customers apparently begin filming the unnamed woman, encouraging her to show her face since she's so against masks.
One customer can be heard saying, "Why don't you show your face since you're not wearing your mask?"
Another customer adds, "Wow, you're sure brave."
Another customer can be heard saying, "Can we get this lady out of here, please?"
Customers' voices can be heard overlapping, while one person shouts, "Just put on a mask, don't be such a moron!"
"You selfish piece of s***!" another adds.
She fires back, "You think that mask is going to protect you? [W]hen you fart out your a**, you can smell it! You think that mask is going to protect you?"
She then can be seen storming out of the restaurant.
What else?
A spokesperson for Panera Bread told Newsweek that the woman flat-out refused to wear a mask inside the eatery.
"We are committed to following the COVID guidance of the state of California who mandate wearing of masks by team members and guests," the statement reads. "We offer masks to guests who do not have them and make an effort to offer other accommodations whenever possible."
An employee at the location told the outlet that the restaurant provided a mask for the woman.
"After she left, she threatened to come back with her husband. She was provided a disposable mask by us, which is shown in the video, but she refused to put it on," the employee told Newsweek in a statement.