Local

Poll: Americans Say D.C. Is the 'Worst Place in the Country'

April 14, 2021 by Katherine Rodriguez Leave a Comment

Americans have ranked Washington, D.C., as the “worst place in the country,” according to a recent survey.

The YouGov poll put two states together in head-to-head matches, and ranked all 50 states plus D.C. on their “win percentage.”

D.C. ranked in last place, only winning 35 percent of its matchups. The pollsters said D.C.’s last-place finish could be due to its stature as the political capital of the U.S. or the fact that it is not a state.

D.C. has been fighting for statehood for years, and the House voted last year in favor of granting it such status. The measure has also garnered support from Senate Democrats.

Other low-ranking states include Mississippi, Alabama, and New Jersey — which has been the butt of jokes due to “its occasional odor or for being the birthplace of The Jersey Shore franchise.”

The top-ranking state was Hawaii, which won 69 percent of its matchups. The state’s popularity had mostly come from its weather, scenery, and reputation as a popular vacation destination.

Americans overall were more likely to favor their hometown state or where they currently live than in other states presented in the survey.

The poll surveyed 1,211 people from March 12 to March 15, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.

New York Parent Files Lawsuit to Marry Adult Child

April 14, 2021 by Katherine Rodriguez Leave a Comment

A New York parent who wishes to marry their own adult child filed a lawsuit to overturn the incestuous practice, saying the matter should be up to the “individual.”

“Through the enduring bond of marriage, two persons, whatever relationship they might otherwise have with one another, can find a greater level of expression, intimacy and spirituality,” the parent, who seeks to remain anonymous, argued in the Manhattan federal court claim filed April 1.

“The proposed spouses are adults,” the filing continued. “The proposed spouses are biological parent and child. The proposed spouses are unable to procreate together.”

According to New York law, incest is a third-degree felony with a penalty of up to four years in prison. Incestuous marriages are also considered void, and spouses are punished with a fine and up to six months in jail.

Marriage licenses in New York City require potential spouses to write down their birth parents and sign off saying there are “no legal impediments to the marriage,” according to the Office of the City Clerk’s marriage license page.

The parent is asking a federal judge to declare the incest laws unconstitutional and unenforceable in their case, which the lawsuit cites as falling under the category of “Parent and Adult Child Non-Procreationable” couples.

The case is Doe v. McSweeney, No. 1:21-cv-2806 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Placerville, California — 'Old Hangtown' — Replaces Noose in Logo After George Floyd

April 14, 2021 by Joel B. Pollak Leave a Comment

The city of Placerville, California, known as “Old Hangtown” since the days of informal justice among miners during the Gold Rush, will replace the noose in its municipal logo after a unanimous vote by the city council on Tuesday evening.

Though the symbol has no racial connotations, Placerville leaders decided that the noose was too provocative in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis, Minnesota, police last year. The Los Angeles Times reports:

It’s widely held that the city earned its nickname in 1849 after three men accused of robbery and attempted murder were sentenced to death by hanging. Those men — a Chilean national and two French nationals — spoke no English and were not present at the trial where the death sentence was handed down, according to a history presentation by Brendan Lindsay, an associate professor of history at Sacramento State.
The group of miners who ordered the hangings presented no evidence against the trio “beyond their fitting a general description,” Lindsay said in the presentation prepared at the request of Placerville officials.
…
A white oak tree at the center of the town was used as a gallows. The stump of that tree, all that remains, sits in the cellar of a bar on Placerville’s Main Street, “named — quite aptly — The Hangman’s Tree,” according to the city’s website. The stump was designated a historical landmark in the 1930s.
A dummy named George hangs from a noose above the second story of the bar. The greeting “Old Hangtown” still welcomes visitors to the city on a large sign along Highway 50.

The city council had postponed a decision to remove the noose from the logo last year, amid heated local debate. Sacramento-based NBC affiliate KCRA reported that local Black Lives Matter activists had rallied this week in support of changing the symbol, hoisting signs above state highway 50 that read “Lose the Noose.”

The cost of replacing the noose in local signs and on other municipal symbols will be roughly $3,500, plus $1,800 in labor, according to the Times.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new novel, Joubert Park, tells the story of a Jewish family in South Africa at the dawn of the apartheid era. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, recounts the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Report: Daunte Wright Had Warrant for Attempted Aggravated Robbery

April 14, 2021 by Gabrielle Reyes Leave a Comment

Daunte Wright allegedly had a warrant out for his arrest at the time he was shot and killed by a Brooklyn Center police officer near Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sunday, court papers obtained by the British Daily Mail newspaper suggest.

“Wright was due to face trial on a charge of attempted aggravated robbery – with a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison,” the newspaper reported on April 13.

The charge stems from an incident in December 2019 when Wright, then 19 years old, and a second man named Emajay Driver, then 18 years old, allegedly visited a residence shared by two women in Osseo, Minnesota. Wright allegedly tried to hold up one of the women to steal a sum of $820 in cash she had stashed inside her bra. Wright allegedly pointed a gun at the woman, choked her, and threatened to shoot her if she did not hand over the money.

“The $820 cash was tucked in the victim’s bra and defendant Wright placed his hand around victim’s neck and choked her while trying to pull the cash from under her bra,” according to Officer Mikkelson. “Victim was able to get loose from defendant Wright and started to kneel down and scream.”

“After more yelling, Wright allegedly told the woman that he was going to shoot her unless he got the money,” according to the Daily Mail.

Wright’s bail for the charge was originally set at $100,000, “with orders that he should not contact the victim or any witnesses, refrain from drugs and alcohol and not have any weapons. A bond bailsman paid $40,000 for his release,” the Daily Mail reports.

Wright’s bail was revoked in July 2020, however, “due to his ‘failure to not possess a firearm or ammunition’ and not keeping in touch with his probation officer,” according to court papers seen by the Daily Mail. A judge issued a warrant for Wright’s arrest at that time. The arrest warrant was still outstanding on April 11, the day he died.

The Daily Mail addressed claims made in recent days on the internet alleging “Wright may not even have known about the warrant because it was sent to the wrong address and returned to the court by the U.S. Postal Service.” According to the newspaper, “that letter, sent out on February 2 and returned to the court three days later, was just to advise Wright of a change of date for his court hearing.”

Wright was pulled over by members of the Brooklyn Center Police Department near Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 11 for having expired license plate tags. The police officers learned of Wright’s outstanding arrest warrant while verifying his personal information during the traffic stop and tried to arrest him. Wright resisted the arrest and got back into his car as officers attempted to handcuff him. An officer named Kimberly Potter accidentally shot Wright with a gun during the altercation, apparently believing she was firing her Taser, and he subsequently died.

Potter’s bodycam footage of the incident captures her shouting, “Taser, taser, taser,” before she shoots Wright, seeming to indicate she intended to use a taser against him.

Potter resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department on April 13. Wright’s death sparked protests, riots, and looting in Minneapolis on the evening of April 11. The unrest continued in the city for a second night on April 12.

Community Celebrates Korean War Veteran's 90th Birthday with Parade: 'A Very Nice Surprise'

April 13, 2021 by Amy Furr Leave a Comment

Family, friends, and neighbors gave Korean War veteran Dave Rheinhart a big birthday parade recently in Tehachapi, California.

Rheinhart, a Navy veteran, turned 90-years-old on Wednesday and called the parade a “wonderful surprise,” according to the Tehachapi News.

Army veteran Jim Jacobs served as the event’s emcee while trucks, cars, and motorcycles paused in the road to extend well wishes to Rheinhart for his birthday.

A caravan parade celebrated the 90th birthday of a Korean War veteran in Tehachapi.
Posted by Tehachapi News on Sunday, April 11, 2021

“We are losing so much history with these people. We need to attend these events and get that history and learn it so these youth don’t have to go through it again,” said Jacobs, who left home when he was 15.

“This guys lived and died in the mud and the blood. They really put their lives on the line,” he noted, adding he worked hard for everything he owned and in the process learned freedom is not free.

“It’s never free. Somebody paid for it, and now we have to pay it forward,” Jacobs stated.

Facebook user Chris Anderson shared photos of Rheinhart and everyone getting ready for the parade:

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸I would like to extend a Very Special Happy Birthday to U.S. Navy Korean War Veteran…
Posted by Chris Anderson on Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Attendees played “Anchors Aweigh” and sang “Happy Birthday” to Rheinhart before he saluted them and gave a speech.

During his service, the veteran served as a signalman on a destroyer.

“Our job was to support troops, take out any convoys that we saw, and rescue bodies out at sea. We were busy day and night and had very little sleep,” Rheinhart recalled.

A memory he will never forget is when he rescued a man who found himself frozen to the security lines.

“It was four in the morning, and we were about 150 miles south of Russia. We were supporting small units in North Korea. He would probably would have died within 15 minutes,” Rheinhart explained.

“It was pitch black, but I managed to free his hands by going below, which was a very treacherous situation… it was 40 degrees below zero,” he said.

He said he poured water on the man’s hands to free his grip, adding, “If I would have let go of the ladder, we would have both slipped into the waters of Japan, which was filled with ice.”

Rheinhart later served as a Marine and eventually became a teacher. He and his wife, Kathy, have two daughters and six grandchildren.