Published by an old curmudgeon who came to America in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and proudly served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is a former law enforcement officer and a retired professor of criminal justice who, in 1970, founded the Texas Narcotic Officers Association. BarkGrowlBite refuses to be politically correct.
(Copyrighted articles are reproduced in accordance with the copyright laws of the U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 107.)
Savannah Daisley, 45, has faced court after being accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy in May last year
An Australian horse heiress is saddled with charges after being
accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy four times in a single day.
Savannah Daisley, 45, faced Waverley Local Court in Sydney on Tuesday
on child sex abuse allegations, with Judge Jaqueline Milledge denying
her bail over the “quite disturbing” allegations.
The glamorous mother of two, who is the daughter of famed Aussie horse breeder Ross Daisley, strongly denies the accusations and intends to plead not guilty.
Cops claim an unbridled Daisley molested the minor four times before 5
p.m. on May 20 last year. It’s unclear whether the pair were known to
each other prior to the alleged acts.
Daisley’s defense lawyer cried neigh — arguing that the accusations
against his socialite client were made “in spite,” and that it was an
“oath vs. oath” case.
However, prosecutor Daniel Richardson claims evidence,
straight from the horse’s mouth, exists: He said a police officer told
him about a recording of a tawdry phone call made by the heiress, in
which she allegedly admits to kissing the teen.
Daisley is a trained naturopath who founded the business Smart Cleanse, which offers various 14-day detox plans
Richardson claimed that the recording reveals that Daisley had little
recollection of the incident, perhaps due to her being intoxicated at
the time.
“But she says, ‘I thought you were going to call the police on me, I
thought we had placed this in a little box and thrown it deep into the
sea,'” the prosecutor told the court. “[The officer’s] instruction to me
was the phone call was quite damning to her. The facts are that
admissions were made that were captured on telephone intercept and it is
a quite serious matter.”
Daisley
is accused of having sex with the minor four times on May 20, 2021. The
glamorous mom of two is the daughter of famed Australian horse breeder
Ross Daisley, whose thoroughbred won the famed Royal Ascot in 2003
Daisley’s Instagram account has been deleted, but a screenshot of a recent post, obtained by news.com.au,
features a caption penned by the heiress revealing she was 223 days
sober. The post also reveals that she had “walked away from her partner
of 8 years.”
Daisley is a trained naturopath who founded the business Smart Cleanse, which offers various 14-day detox plans.
The company website reads:
“Over a number of years, Savannah has helped tens of thousands of
people detoxify their bodies, lose weight, heal their digestion, improve
strength and fitness, eliminate stress, reverse the aging process,
overcome various adverse health conditions through the benefits of
detoxification, and is passionate about doing so.”
The brunette is also the author of two books: “14 Day Smart Cleanse”
and the forthcoming “Epigenetics,” which is set to examine how “stress
and toxins have a detrimental effect on cell function and structure.”
Daisley’s father, Ross Daisley, shot to fame after his thoroughbred
racehorse Choisir won the prestigious Royal Ascot and Newmarket races
back in 2003.
He offered to pay $10,000 to ensure his daughter would return to
court if she was granted conditional freedom. A judge denied the offer.
Daisley will remain behind bars until her next court appearance on August 23.
Tyrone Harvin, now 17, was convicted by a jury of first-degree
murder, first-degree rape and weapons offenses in the August 2018 attack
that left Dorothy Mae Neal unresponsive in her apartment. She later
died at a hospital from her injuries during the brutal assault,
prosecutors said.
“Coming to terms with our youngest homicide defendant to date, raping
and killing one of our seniors is devastating,” Baltimore State’s
Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement. “It means the loss of two lives.”
Neighbors contacted Baltimore cops after not seeing Neal for a few
days and responding officers found dried blood on the outside of her
door. She was found unresponsive and nude on the floor, Mosby said.
Investigators also found bloody clothing, several condom wrappers, as
well as used condoms, and a broken lamp with blood on it, which
prosecutors said was the murder weapon.
Fingerprints on the condom wrappers belonged to Tyrone Harvin and DNA
testing revealed a partial profile consistent with the 14-year-old boy.
The lamp also had Neal’s blood on it, Mosby said.
An autopsy determined Neal had trauma to her head and genitals. A
coroner ruled her cause of death to be multiple injuries with
complications.
Harvin, who did not appear to have relatives in court Wednesday, stared down as a jury announced its verdict, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The teen’s attorneys had tried to cast doubt on the DNA software used
to match him to the murder weapon, according to the newspaper.
Prosecutors never offered a motive for the slaying, but police have
said Harvin was helping Neal with chores around her house before she was
attacked. The teen’s family, meanwhile, told the Baltimore Sun in 2018
that he was innocent.
“I know my son wouldn’t do nothing like this,” his mother told the outlet.
Harvin faces up to life in prison plus three years when he’s
sentenced in January, said Mosby, who added there was “no winner” in the
case.
“I’ve said repeatedly we must do more to reach out to young people
early, before they become entangled in the criminal justice system,”
Mosby said Wednesday. “And today exemplifies how dire that need is.”
Iran's new hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, isn't fooling anyone when he claims his nuke program is "peaceful."
Talks over a new or amended nuclear deal between Iran and some world
powers resumed on Tuesday in Qatar, the only Arab Gulf state with which
Iran has good relations.
This was very much against the wishes of Israel, and outgoing Foreign Minister Yair Lapidexpressed disapproval of these renewed negotiations that will take place despite increasing aggression by Iran in its conflict with Israel.
The resumption of indirect talks between a team of US negotiators and
representatives of the radical regime in Tehran had been encouraged by
the European Union.
Joseph Borrell, the EU diplomat responsible for the
organization’s foreign policy, was in Tehran last week and wrote on
Twitter that it was necessary to break the current “dynamics of
escalation.”
Iran, however, remained coy about the ‘breakthrough’ and told the US
to remain “realistic,” meaning all sanctions against the Islamic
Republic must be lifted.
The US government of President Joe Biden responded to news that Borrell had managed to break the deadlock by making another concession to Tehran.
Media in the US and Israel reported that some members of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps would now be re-allowed to enter the United
States.
Lapid lashes out
Lapid, who this week will take over as Israel’s interim prime minister, condemned Borrell’s visit to Iran.
Lapid said Borrell’s position was “very disappointing” in light of
the latest Iranian sabotage activity in the monitoring of the Islamic
Republic’s nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA).
Iran recently removed IAEA cameras from a number of its nuclear
facilities, and this led to strong condemnations from most members of
the IAEA and the adoption of a resolution by the agency’s governors
censuring the Islamic Republic.
The removal of the IAEA monitoring cameras rendered the inspection of Iran’s nuclear activities useless, said Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Lapid personally told Borrell that his actions were a “strategic mistake that sent the wrong signal” to Iran.
The top Israeli diplomat accused his EU counterpart of a “worrying lack of concern for the lives of Israeli citizens.”
This was a reference not only to Iran’s nuclear threat but also to
the events in Turkey, where members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) hunted down Israeli civilians last week.
What to do about Iran?
In Israel, top military and intelligence officials are divided over
the usefulness of resuming nuclear negotiations with Iran in Qatar.
For example, Aviv Kochavi, the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), opposes the renewed negotiations with Iran.
The same goes for David Barnea, the current head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign secret service.
Both Kochavi and Barnea believe that the only way to stop Iran from
advancing its nuclear program and curb its imperialist actions in the
Middle East is for Israel to use its military and intelligence
superiority.
Others think, however, that a new nuclear deal could still keep Iran from breaking out to an atomic bomb.
The EU team in Qatar on Thursday morning announced that two days of
indirect negotiations had failed to bring the anticipated breakthrough.
Iran reportedly stuck to old positions and even demanded new things not related to the nuclear dossier.
This shows again that the Israeli intelligence and military chiefs
were right about Iran’s stalling tactics and the need to use covert
warfare tactics to halt Iran’s nuclear and imperialistic drive.
Shadow war
Under Barnea, Mossad has recently stepped up its activities against
Iran, especially within the borders of the Islamic Republic, and
infiltrated the IRGC, a disgruntled top member of the organization
admitted this week.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Hossein Ta’ab
the head of the IRGC’s intelligence division, who was removed from his
position last week, had told the paper that Israel’s actions inside Iran
had “undermined our most powerful intelligence organization.”
Ta’ab’s admission finally confirmed that the Israeli intelligence
organizations are aware of most of Iran’s terrorist plots against
targets within and outside the Jewish state.
Ta’ab’s removal from one of Iran’s top jobs came after the secret arrest of another IRGC general, Ali Nasari, who also served in the IRGC’s intelligence service and was reportedly spying for Mossad.
Cyber superiority
On Monday, General Kochavi visited IDF Unit 8200, which is also known as SIGINT.
SIGINT is a special intelligence unit of the Israeli army that is responsible for most cyber attacks on targets in Iran.
These cyber-attacks are increasingly part of the so-called ‘covert
war’ between Iran and Israel, which has escalated significantly in
recent months.
This escalation was the result of a political decision by outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who in January said that Israel should take the fight against Iran to the “head of the octopus.”
Since then, not a week has gone by in Iran without sabotage acts,
assassinations, or cyber attacks that were mostly attributed to Mossad
or the SIGINT unit.
The latest cyber attack on vital installations in Iran took place
last Monday, when three major factories producing steel were sabotaged.
As a result of these cyber attacks, Iran’s entire steel production
came to a standstill, which in turn had serious consequences for the
large military industry of the Islamic Republic.
The attacks were carried out by a group of hackers called ‘Predatory
Sparrow,’ a group that was previously responsible for cyber attacks that
paralyzed fuel supply and rail transport in Iran.
The group must have the backing of “a state-actor,” Israeli cyber experts say.
Without precise intelligence about the three steel factories and the
physical presence of collaborators, these cyber attacks could not have
caused the damage that almost destroyed the facilities.
Military commentators later stated that Israel was definitely behind the new cyber attacks on Iran.
The group of hackers was previously associated with the Israeli security apparatus, specifically the IDF’s SIGINT unit.
After the attack, the group of hackers released a statement on social
media saying it was a response to “the aggression of the Islamic
Republic.”
Iranian hackers thwarted
The new cyber attack on Iran’s metal industry came more than a week
after sirens suddenly went off in the Israeli cities of Eilat and
Jerusalem.
The IDF’s Home Front division later announced that the sirens were
false alarms caused by a cyber attack from a group of hackers in Iran.
SIGINT’s deputy commander ‘Uri’ also made a rare appearance at the
Cyber Conference of Tel Aviv University, where he explained how his unit
prevented a group of Iranian hackers from poisoning Israel’s fresh
water supply.
SIGINT was aware of the planned hack long before the attack was
carried out and managed to neutralize it before scores of Israelis would
have been killed, ‘Uri’ said.
Due to the military censor, the full name of the SIGINT commander was barred from publication.
Israel’s National Cyber Directorate has now launched a new project
called “Digital Iron Dome” to protect companies and other civilian
projects from cyber attacks.
The name Iron Dome was taken from the successful anti-missile shield of the IDF.
Don’t mess with Israel
Bennett addressed the Iranian cyber threat to Israel during a speech at a week-long Cyber Conference in Tel Aviv.
“We are not causing havoc on the streets of Tehran, that has never
been our policy. Our policy is that if you mess with Israel, you will
pay a price,” Bennett said.
He added that just as there is a nuclear deterrent, there is also deterrence in the Cybersphere.
It was clear that Bennett also disagrees with Borrell’s position that
negotiations with Iran will “break the dynamics of escalation.”
Bennett will continue to be in charge of overseeing the covert war
against Iran after handing over the task of Prime Minister to Yair
Lapid, who is not an expert on military issues.
Hershel Williams, a Hero in the Battle for Iwo Jima, Dies at 98
"This Medal [of Honor] doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to them, because they gave their lives for me."
By Richard Goldstein
The New York Times
June 29, 2022
Medal of Honor recipient Hershel 'Woody' Williams
President Truman presented Hershel "Woody" Williams with the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 5, 1945
He was the last of the 27 Marines and Navy servicemen who received Medals of Honor in the 36-day fight for the Japanese island.
Hershel Williams, the last survivor among the 472 servicemen who were awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery in World War II and the oldest living recipient of the medal, died on Wednesday in Huntington, W.Va. He was 98.
His death, at the Huntington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, was announced by the Woody Williams Foundation.
Terror: US Marines crawl their way up the coastline of Iwo Jima, while
under heavy fire from the surprisingly intact Japanese defenses. Mount Suribachi looms in the background
Corporal Williams was lying prone on the black volcanic ash of Iwo Jima the morning of Feb. 23, 1945, when he was startled by the sounds of cheering. “Suddenly, the Marines around me starting jumping up and down, firing their weapons in the air,” he told the Marine Corps History Division long afterward. “My head was buried in the sand. Then I looked up and saw Old Glory on top of Mount Suribachi.”
Williams on Iwo for another look at Mount Suribachi, scene of the iconic flag raising
The raising of a large American flag by six Marines atop Iwo Jima, photographed by Joe Rosenthal of The Associated Press, became an enduring image of the American fighting man in World War II.
But the fight for the Japanese-administered island and its airfields some 750 miles south of Tokyo, needed by the Army Air Forces to support long-range bombing missions over Japan, was only in its fifth day when the flag went up. The battle was just beginning for Corporal Williams, a 21-year-old Marine from West Virginia.
That afternoon, Corporal Williams wiped out seven Japanese pillboxes with flamethrowers, opening a gap that enabled Marine tanks and personnel carriers to break through the enemy defenses. He scurried from one pillbox to another, miraculously untouched by the intense Japanese machine-gun fire that bounced off his equipment — sounding, as he told it, like a jackhammer.
As Williams approached the Japanese pillboxes, bullets ricocheted off the tank of his flamethrower.
During his four-hour foray, in which he received supporting fire from several fellow Marines, two of whom were killed during the mission, he returned five times to his headquarters to get new flamethrowers when his supply of diesel fuel and high-octane gasoline ran out.
He received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, from President Harry S. Truman in October 1945. The citation stated that his “unyielding determination and extraordinary heroism in the face of ruthless enemy resistance were directly instrumental in neutralizing one of the most fanatically defended Japanese strong points encountered by his regiment.”
A total of 27 Marines and Navy servicemen received the medal, 14 of them posthumously, for heroism in the 36-day battle for Iwo Jima.
Decades after World War II, the Medal of Honor was awarded to more than two dozen African American and Asian American servicemen who had engaged in extraordinary combat feats in the war but had been passed over for it, presumably a result of racial prejudice, bringing the total of recipients to 472.
The Medal of Honor was also accorded to an unidentified serviceman killed in World War II and another who died in the Korean War when their remains were reburied at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in 1958, joining an unidentified World War I serviceman.
Hershel Woodrow Williams, known as Woody, was born on Oct. 2, 1923, in the tiny community of Quiet Dell, W.Va., the youngest of 11 children of Lloyd and Lurenna Williams. Six of his brothers and sisters had died during the 1918-19 flu pandemic.
He helped his parents run their small dairy farm; after his father died of a heart attack when Woody was 11, his brother Lloyd Jr. took over the farm with help from the other children. He later quit high school to join the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, working on projects in Montana.
As a youngster, he had been impressed by the dress-blue uniforms and the bearing of some hometown boys on furloughs from the Marine Corps. He enlisted in the Marines in May 1943. He was only 5 feet 6 inches tall, the service’s minimum height requirement, and weighed just 135 pounds, but he was well muscled from his farm work.
The battle to retake Guam in 1944, Woody's first combat
He saw combat on Guam a year later, then arrived on Iwo Jima with the 21st Marines of the Third Marine Division. When Marine armored vehicles became bogged down in their attempt to penetrate the network of Japanese defense positions, his commander asked him if he could do something to support them.
Thus began his one-man flame-throwing foray.
He told Larry Smith for the oral history “Iwo Jima” (2008) that “you had to get within 20 yards of a pillbox, with machine-gun bullets kicking up.”
“One time, the men in one pillbox came out,” he recalled. “As they came running toward me with their rifles and bayonets poised, they ran straight into the fire from my flamethrower. As if in slow motion, they just fell down.”
Corporal Williams incurred a leg wound from shrapnel 11 days later, but he remained on Iwo Jima until the battle ended.
Iwo Jima was the halfway point for the Army Air Forces’ B-29 bombers that set out from their bases on the Marianas Islands to bomb Japan. The capture of its airstrips gave the United States a base for fighter planes escorting the bombers and provided emergency landing sites for crippled B-29s returning from their missions.
But the seizing of that eight-square-mile spit of volcanic debris was exceedingly costly. More than one-third of the 70,000 Marines who invaded Iwo Jima, from the Third, Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions, were killed or wounded. All but a thousand or so of the 20,000 Japanese defenders died in the battle.
Mr. Williams left active military service in November 1945 and returned to his native West Virginia, where he was a counselor for the Veterans Administration. He remained in the Marine Corps as a reservist and retired as a chief warrant officer in 1969. His foundation raises money to provide scholarships for children who had lost a parent in war.
In March 2020, he attended a ceremony in Norfolk, Va., for the commissioning of the warship Hershel “Woody” Williams.
Mr. Williams’s wife, Ruby (Meredith) Williams, whom he married in 1945, died in 2007. They had two daughters, Travie Jane and Tracie Jean, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
In February 2011, Mr. Williams spoke aboard the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima at Norfolk on the 66th anniversary of the battle. “I claim to be only the caretaker of the medal,” he said. “There were 27 medals awarded, but there were countless others who did as much, if not more.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last week, as he
marked his 74th birthday, Clarence Thomas achieved two long-sought
goals: expanding gun rights and overturning Roe v. Wade ’s nationwide
protection for abortion.
If
he was ready to take a victory lap, Thomas didn't let on. Instead, he
called on his colleagues to do more, to revisit the Supreme Court’s
cases acknowledging rights to same-sex marriage, gay sex and
contraception.
After 30
years on the court, Thomas' influence has never been greater, and yet he
remains a lightning rod for controversy. That includes recent questions
about his wife's role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020
election and his decision not to recuse himself from cases that
involved it. Thomas has said nothing in response to the criticism, and
he could still serve another decade or more, racking up additional
victories with a court that has become more conservative.
“If
you serve long enough sometimes things go your way eventually,” said
Ohio Northern University professor Scott Gerber, the author of a book on
Thomas. Gerber said that at this point there are people who have moved
through the conservative legal movement, studying conservatives like
Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who have now joined Thomas
on the court. “They've learned from him and agree,” he said.
Thomas
is now the senior member of a group of conservative justices with the
votes to control the court, not only what cases the court takes on but
how broadly it rules. That’s a change for Thomas, whose views were for
years seen as far out of the mainstream.
”He’s
always been known as not taking quite the same approach,” said George
Mason University law professor Jennifer Mascott, who worked for Thomas
as a law clerk. But in the guns case, she said: “Everybody joined with
him, his approach.”
Ralph
Rossum, who has also written a book about Thomas, said the justice once
compared himself to a marathon runner who has to take the long view.
Now, as time has gone on and more conservative justices have joined the
court, Thomas is, in a sense, running “faster and faster” and
“lengthening his stride,” Rossum said.
Thomas declined an interview request from The Associated Press.
Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas (left), wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (right)
On
top of the criticism Thomas has faced over the years for his views, he
and his wife, conservative activist Virginia Thomas, have faced
criticism recently for their actions following former President Donald
Trump's defeat in the 2020 election. Among other things, Virginia Thomas
exchanged messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows
encouraging him to work to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory and
urged Republican lawmakers in Arizona, where Biden won, to choose their
own slate of electors. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6,
2021, insurrection at the Capitol has asked her for an interview.
As
for the justice, there has been criticism that because of his wife's
actions he should have recused himself from a case involving the
committee's access to presidential documents and lawsuits challenging
the election results, challenges the court turned away. Democrats in
Congress wrote in a letter that his participation is “exceedingly
difficult to reconcile with federal ethics requirements.”
In
recent days, following the abortion decision, thousands signed a
petition saying he should no longer be allowed to teach a class at
George Washington University's law school. The university rejected that
idea.
More personally,
after a draft of the abortion decision leaked, there were protests at
his house and the homes of other conservative justices. In an appearance
after the leak Thomas drew a contrast between liberals and
conservatives in unusual us-versus-them terms. “You would never visit
Supreme Court justices' houses when things didn't go our way. We didn't
throw temper tantrums,” Thomas said.
What
many Americans know about Thomas stems largely from his bruising 1991
confirmation hearing, when he was accused of sexual harassment charges
by former employee Anita Hill — charges he denied. He wrote a
bestselling book in 2007 but for years — partly because he chose not to
ask questions during arguments at the court and partly because he is a
self-described introvert — Thomas spoke largely through his opinions.
Not infrequently, because his views were so conservative compared with
the rest of the court, he wrote opinions that spoke only for himself.
That
has changed. The court has grown more conservative over the last
several years during Trump's administration, particularly after the
death of the liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her replacement in
2020 by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Conservatives now have a
six-justice majority and can lose the vote of Chief Justice John
Roberts, who is sometimes less willing to issue sweeping rulings, and
still have a majority.
Thomas
has also become more vocal in general over the past two years. When the
court began hearing arguments by telephone because of the pandemic and
changed the arguments' format so justices asked questions one by one,
Thomas joined in. He continued asking questions when the justices
returned to their courtroom last fall, his colleagues deferring to him
for the first questions.
Thomas'
influence has been felt in other ways, too. Many of the men and women
Thomas mentored as law clerks held political appointments in the Trump
administration. That includes John Eastman, the conservative lawyer who
aided Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election results. Ten other
former law clerks are now federal judges who hold lifetime appointments.
Their ranks include Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, the federal judge in
Florida who in April struck down the national mask mandate on airplanes
and mass transit.
Thomas is
74. Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring this year, just before his 84th
birthday. Ginsburg served until her death at 87. In 2028, Thomas would
surpass Justice William O. Douglas as the longest-serving justice ever.
Gerber, the Ohio professor, said Thomas has always said that becoming a justice is a lifetime job.
Said
Gerber: “It’s like Queen Elizabeth. She’s been in power 70 years and
she’s going to stay until she’s carried out in a box. That’s his view
also.”
Chevron tells KHOU 11 News that the current real estate market on the
West Coast provides the opportunity to find a better suited office
space to meet the requirements of its employees based in San Ramon.
Chevron corporate headquarters in San Ramon
Those employees who are voluntarily willing to relocate to Houston,
will be compensated for doing so. According to The Wall Street Journal, Chevron will cover moving costs for employees who opt-in.
Chevron says it plans to keep its headquarters in California, so it
can maintain its 140-year history of operations and partnerships in the
state.
The move is expected to occur in late 2023.
Chevron did not say how many employees it anticipates moving to Houston. Its current downtown Houston office holds about 8,000 employees, which is about triple the size of its operation in California.
The announcement was part of the company’s plan to further streamline
its business structure by combining chemical and downstream companies
and centralizing technology and engineering.
ExxonMobil said the move from Irving to the Houston area will be completed mid-year 2023.
“We greatly value our long history in Irving and appreciate the
strong ties we have developed in the North Texas community,” Darren
Woods, chairman and chief executive officer, said. “Closer collaboration
and the new streamlined business model will enable the company to grow
shareholder value and position ExxonMobil for success through the energy
transition.”
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen said the West Village is "out of control."
The nights are dark and full of terrors for already COVID-battered
restaurant owners struggling to stay afloat or open new locations.
That’s because runaway crime and rampant homelessness are forcing
them to close early or spend extra money on security to keep their
patrons safe, according to interviews with several Big Apple
restaurateurs.
Richie Romero, a veteran restaurateur and nightclub impresario, told
Side Dish he was forced to hire a security guard until 4 a.m. on the
weekends at his Lower East Side spot Zazzy’s Pizza.
“I’m mobbed Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but I have to close early,
at 11 pm, during the week because people are too afraid to go out at
night,” said Romero, who also owns Zazzy’s locations in the West Village
and the Upper East Side, along with the plant-based eatery Innocent
Yesterday in the Village.
“The criminals are patrolling the streets,” he added. “I live in the
West Village and it’s even worse there. It’s desolate at night, just
homeless people and strange people walking around.”
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen — of Brooklyn Chop House and Brooklyn
Dumpling Shop — also said the West Village is “out of control.”
He described a horror show where drug dealers are sprawled out in
reclining chairs in front of closed stores, asking people walking by if
they want cocaine, Ecstasy and marijuana.
Morfogen said crime has delayed the opening of his new restaurant
A storefront covered with graffiti on the corner of Bleecker Street and MacDougal in the West Village
“This is the heart of New York City and NYU dorms. Where is the NYPD
to protect the students and small business owners?” Morfogen said,
adding that graffiti is “wall to wall.”
“There isn’t an inch of the neighborhood that hasn’t been tagged,” he
said. “We complain to the NYPD and they do nothing, and if they do
something, the criminals are back the next day. There is no real
solution. It took eight years to screw it up and it will take more than a
few months to fix the problem but it needs to be addressed because we
are losing our community.”
Morfogen signed a lease during the pandemic in 2020 to open Pappas
Taverna, a wood-fired Greek restaurant at 103-105 Macdougal St. with
Chef Peter Spryopoulos, formerly of Milos and Avra.
It was slated to open last fall but the opening kept getting delayed.
At first, there were the usual hold-ups, from building permits to
pandemic-related supply chain issues, but crime held things up even
more.
Morfogen said graffiti in the neighborhood is “wall to wall.”
“We’ve been broken into twice,” said Morfogen, adding that thieves
walked off with $20,000 worth of construction equipment that had been
locked up inside the restaurant. He now hopes to open by the end of the
summer.
According to the NYPD, overall arrests are up 44.6%, from 597 to 863, in the Sixth Precinct, which covers Greenwich Village.
“The problem is that we just don’t have enough police and Macdougal
St. is very difficult,” said Pari Dulac, of the Minetta Lane-Street
Association and former owner of the now-shuttered restaurant La Boheme
on Minetta Lane.
Dulac said that before COVID there were monthly community meetings in
a local church attended by police and local politicians, but the
meetings ended during the pandemic.
According to the NYPD, overall arrests are up 44.6%, from 597 to 863, in the Sixth Precinct, which covers Greenwich Village
An NYPD spokesman said the meetings are now held virtually and will be returning to in-person soon, but did not provide a date.
The problem isn’t limited to the Village.
One Lower East Side bar owner, who did not want to be named, said he
also needed to hire a third-party security company to keep vagrants away
from his customers.
“The drug dealers and panhandlers are very aggressive,” he said. “I have homeless camping out on my stoop.”
Jimmy Rizvi, owner of Gupshup, and Chote Miya, which is currently in
Dumbo and opening in Chelsea Market next week, says his Union Square
Gupshup has been broken into three times — and that homeless people and
drug users are shooting up in their outdoor shed, leaving their used
syringes behind.
“There is definitely a rise in crime and homelessness. We never saw
this before the pandemic. We need more policing and stricter laws. The
police tell us that unless it’s major they won’t even show up. They are
too short-staffed,” Rizvi said.
Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19, were freed on their own
recognizance in Tulare County on Saturday after being booked on charges
of possession, transportation and sales of illegal drugs.
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward and Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told Fox 26 News they weren’t even informed of the duo’s release until Monday.
“How does this happen without the top two law enforcement officers of the county not even know it?” Ward said.
The sheriff added, “That’s incredibly frustrating for someone who’s responsible for public safety.”
The men were released without bail after a public safety assessment was
carried out, which uses an algorithm to examine criminal history and
other factors to make a “risk prediction” on whether they’ll reoffend or
miss court dates.
The
pair were taken into custody after authorities allegedly discovered
150,000 pills — worth an estimated $750,000 — stashed inside their
vehicle
Zendejas and Madrigal already failed to show up to a scheduled court hearing on Tuesday, the sheriff said.
“Why aren’t the stakeholders involved in that process? We need to
stop thinking that drug crimes are victimless crimes,” Ward said, adding
that law enforcement “should have a right to be heard in that process.”
The pair were taken into custody during a traffic stop on Friday when
authorities allegedly discovered the 150,000 pills — worth an estimated
$750,000 — stashed inside their vehicle.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office was quick to issue a statement
Monday distancing itself from the decision to let the two alleged drug
traffickers back on the streets.
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said he was only made aware of the duo’s release on Monday
Sheriff Mike Boudreaux slammed the decision to release Zendejas and Madrigal without bail
“All inmates booked into Tulare County jails are sent through what is
known as the Risk Assessment Process through the Tulare County
Probation Department,” the statement said.
“That ‘Risk Assessment’ is then sent to a judge with the court, who,
then, determines whether or not the individual arrested is held on bail
or if they are to be released.
“Although Sheriff Boudreaux strongly disagrees with the release of
these individuals as a matter of public safety, the court order release
must be followed.”
The suspect approached the senior man and started petting his dog
A callous Queens thief on a motorcycle snatched a dog off the street
from a 75-year-old man in broad daylight, shocking video shows.
The senior was with his pup around 2:20 p.m. Saturday at 95th Avenue
and 88th Street in Ozone Park when the suspect approached and started
petting him, according to cops and video posted to the Facebook page for the Ozone Park Residents Block Association.
The gray and white mini pit bull, named Off White, is less than a year old, the victim, Carlos Gil, told WABC.
Then the suspect suddenly swept the dog into his arms and began revving his engine in an attempt to take off, the clip shows.
Gil tried in vain to block the pet-napper’s path, but he got away – driving along the sidewalk while still holding the pup.
The suspect then swept the dog into his arms and began revving his engine
Carlos Gil tried in vain to block the pet-napper’s path, but he got away
Off White belongs to one of Gil’s relatives, a 52-year-old woman, cops said.
“When he took off on his bike, I tried to push him,” Gil told WABC in
Spanish. “He rushed away, but I thought he was going to hit a pole.
Because I wanted to take him out.”
No arrests have been made.
The gray and white mini pit bull is named Off White
Off White is less than a year old
In a statement, the Ozone Park Residents Block Association described
the midday theft as “appalling,” and said it happened in front of the
victim’s house.
“We condemn the actions of this perpetrator and coward that preyed on
a senior and stole his dog,” the statement said. “These acts of
cowardness can not go unpunished, and this perp MUST be brought to
justice.”
The stolen pup is worth $800, according to police – but the family feels they lost something more valuable.
Off White belongs to one of victim Carlos Gil’s relatives
A relative said Off White is “very much a part of the family
“We really would just like to get the dog back,” relative Alonso Gil
told WABC. “It’s very much a part of the family, and it’s just very sad
to know that he’s gone.”
The
first two sheriff’s deputies will be removed from patrol duties in West
Hollywood in six months, and three more will follow six months after
that
West Hollywood has voted to slash law enforcement funding, leaving
the California city famous for its bustling Sunset Strip nightlife
destination with up to five fewer deputies on patrol — despite
skyrocketing crime rates in the area.
The council passed the budget with a 3-2 vote Monday, with Mayor Lauren Meister and Councilman John Erickson voting against it, reported WeHoville.com.
Meanwhile, the West Hollywood City Council approved keeping bars open
until 4 a.m. and increased funding for a Russian arts festival.
The vote came just three months after the Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department reported that crime in West Hollywood jumped a
startling 137 percent in February 2022, compared to the same time last
year.
With a public safety crisis, and residents, businesses and tourists
expecting us to deliver, I do not think this approach, while timed out,
would help the community achieve our goals of creating a safer West
Hollywood,” Erickson wrote in a tweet explaining why he voted to reject
the budget.
The trendy community of 35,000 residents, which is home to some of LA
County’s most buzzworthy restaurants and clubs, has recently become a
destination for pickpockets.
Tuesday’s council vote means that in the next two fiscal years, funds that were meant to pay the salaries
of up five sheriff’s deputies will be funneled instead to the city’s
Block by Block program, which provides unarmed security ambassadors.
“Prioritizing people’s safety doesn’t just mean people with badges
and guns on the street,” Councilmember Lindsey P. Horvath said during
the meeting. “We have to find another way to keep our residents safe in a
way that is affordable.”
Under the new budget, the first two deputies will be removed in six
months, and three more will follow six months after that, but an
Entertainment Policing Team deputy will be restored.
Mayor Lauren Meister, a Democrat, voted against the budget after expressing concerns about public safety
Meister, a Democrat, has been a vocal opponent of reducing the number
of deputies patrolling city streets — and many local business owners
and residents also have expressed serious concerns about public safety.
“I’m not going to vote for the budget if we cut the sheriff’s
(funds),” Meister said. “First of all, nobody has the gun problem that
we have in this country. You can’t expect us to have a public safety
team where most of the people aren’t armed in order to defend our
citizens.”
Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne countered by saying that the 30 safety
ambassadors who will be taking over patrol duties represented “more for
the buck” than sheriff’s deputies.
Councilman John Erickson rejected the budget, saying slashing funding to deputies was not the right approach.
“Reimagining policing means reallocating funding. You can’t just say it without actually doing it. Period,” she said.
At the same time, the council voted to increase the budget of a Russian
arts festival by $14,000 to $50,000, reported DailyMail.com.
Zelensky Challenges Israel Over Assistance to Ukraine in Hebrew University Address
“Tell me how can you not help the victims of such aggression?”
JNS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking on March 2, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a live speech from Kyiv last
Thursday, expressing frustration that Israel is not doing more to help
Ukraine defend itself against Russian invasion.
The speech was broadcast on the university’s social media channels
and followed by a short question and answer session with students and
staff.
“When the war will end, and I believe it will,” Zelensky said, “we
will have to look into one another’s eyes for many generations to come.
That’s why I wanted to speak with you, the current generation, today.”
Zelensky singled out Israel a number of times for not doing more to
help Ukraine. “This is about values,” he said. “Anyone who seeks to
destroy another country needs to be held accountable. Unfortunately, we
have not yet seen Israel join the other countries that are boycotting
Russia.”
“Tell me how can you not help the victims of such aggression?” he
asked the audience. “I’m asking this question because I know that you
are not indifferent. You do care, as do hundreds of millions of people
around the world.”
Russian troops manning the S-300 air defense system in Syria have not yet fired at Israeli warplanes bombing Iranian and Hezbollah military bases in the Syrian Arab Republic
Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk attended Zelensky’s address, and also asked for more help from Israel.
“We appreciate the support we’ve received from the citizens of Israel
and now ask for support from Israel’s government as well,” he said.
“Please help the Ukrainian people in their distress.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen
Korniychuk, has repeatedly pleaded with the Jewish state to help his
country defeat Russia
Israel has sent
protective gear to Ukrainian emergency responders and was the only
country to operate a field hospital in the country this year, which
treated some 6,000 patients. In addition, Israel has absorbed thousands
of Jewish and non-Jewish Ukrainian refugees.
Outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government
also sent considerable humanitarian aid, including medical equipment,
clothing, food and other supplies to displaced Ukrainians.
Diplomatically, Israel has changed its stance, voting for
condemnations of Russia at the United Nations after refraining from
doing so at first. The IDF has contributed by sending helmets, flak
jackets and body armor to Ukraine.
During the Q&A session after Zelensky’s speech, several Hebrew
University students asked what could be done to keep the world’s
attention on news of the war in Ukraine. Another student, born in the
Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, proudly told Zelensky that her father is in
Ukraine fighting against the Russians.
Moved by this, Zelensky said, “Ukraine’s warriors and civilians need
medication, drinking water, fuel. People forget that there is a war
going on in Ukraine.”
“No matter where you are, where you study, you can help those that
are fighting,” he said. “We have many student volunteers who are
collecting donations online to send food and medication to our cities
under attack. We also have student volunteers writing on social media to
make sure the world doesn’t forget about the war and to spread the
truth to the world.”
Israelis rally in support of Ukraine
Zelensky, who is Jewish, spoke of his and his nation’s
ties to the Jewish people, noting, “My office is located in the very
center of Kyiv. Nearby is the house where Golda Meir grew up. Not far is
where Shalom Aleichem lived. This is the heritage of Ukraine. … It
isn’t just historical facts. It’s real human life that has brought our
cultures together.”
Zelensky lamented the impact the war has had on national monuments in
Ukraine, including the one at Babi Yar honoring Jewish victims of the
Holocaust.
“The Russians even bombed Babi Yar,” he said. “We all remember and
treasure these sites. This is all under threat. How can you preserve
memorial places during an all-out war?”
Zelensky noted the difference between the calm and attentive Hebrew
University auditorium and the current state of Ukraine’s universities.
“2,000 academic institutions in Ukraine have been destroyed,” he
said. “Can you imagine it, sitting in your lovely auditorium in Hebrew
University?”
He added, “Week after week, the Russians are trying to hide the fact
that they’ve been burying dead Ukrainian civilians in unmarked graves.
They’re killing and raping and torturing innocent civilians along the
way. … By our estimates, more than 12 million Ukrainians have been
displaced. We haven’t seen these numbers since World War II.”
In his remarks, Hebrew University President Prof. Asher Cohen
said Zelensky’s address “is a seamless continuation of our policy to
not remain indifferent when innocent people are killed, families are
destroyed and life is put on hold by an unjust and unnecessary war.”
Cohen said people cannot “remain passive” and “we must do everything in our power to reach out and help the people of Ukraine.”
Looking ahead, Zelensky was optimistic about Ukraine’s candidacy for European Union membership.
“We’re moving towards a new future, closer to the European family,”
he said. “Soon we will be part of that family. This is for our
children—to become a European state that will be part of the EU. This
will provide us with strong protection.”
When Baraa Lahlouh, an Islamic terrorist, was buried
recently, he was draped in what the Agence France-Presse (AFP)
misleadingly described as “a flag showing the seal believed to have been
used by Islam’s Prophet Mohamed.” The wire service neglected to mention
that it was more specifically the Islamic State flag.
The Associated Press, as documented by
CAMERA, distributed photos of the burial while neglecting to describe
the ISIS flag. Along with burying a terrorist, they buried the lede.
The growing presence of ISIS in Israel and its overlap with the
established Islamic terrorist groups like the PLO and Hamas has forced
the media into new extremes of evasiveness.
Former PLO official Hanan Ashrawi accused Israel of
an “extrajudicial assassination.” The PLO’s Foreign Ministry responded
to the shooting of he ISIS terrorist by calling it a “hideous crime.” It
falsely accused Israel of “war crimes” against “defenseless Palestinian
citizens.” WAFA, the PLO’s news agency, charged Israel with
“cold-blooded murder” in which, according to the terrorist outlet, the
ISIS terrorist and his comrades were “ambushed and shot dead in cold
blood.”
It might have lost the Caliphate, but ISIS is alive and kicking and threatening the countries of the Middle East
The PLO’s support for ISIS terrorism against Israeli Jews is nothing new.
In March, an ISIS terrorist carried out an attack at a shopping mall
in Beersheva that killed four Israelis, including a rabbi who ran a soup
kitchen and who left behind four children. The terrorist, Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, had previously tried to join ISIS.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, the PLO’s official paper, praised the ISIS terrorist as a “martyr,” and PA TV featured a poster of the ISIS terrorist as a “martyr.” Hamas celebrated the attack as a “heroic operation,” and an Al Jazeera personality, an arm of the Qatari regime which backs Hamas, posted a message, “Four [dead]. Blessed are your hands.”
That same month, two terrorists, one of whom had previously tried to join ISIS, opened fire at a bus stop. They released a video featuring an ISIS flag and pledging allegiance to the ISIS caliph. After the attack, ISIS issued an official statement boasting
of “12 infidel Jewish forces killed and wounded in a sacrifice attack
carried out by soldiers of the Caliphate in northern Palestine.”
Hamas praised the “valor and courage” of the attack. Another Al Jazeera personality, Ahmed Mansour, celebrated
the attack for having “killed and wounded many occupation soldiers,”
calling it “a painful blow in the heart of Israel and of its Arab
Zionist allies.”
The Palestinian Authority made no official statement, but is likely
to make payments to the families of the terrorists under its
“Pay-to-Slay” program. That program was at the center of the debate over
continuing foreign aid by the United States to the PLO and its Ramallah
regime.
Even as ISIS is becoming part of this terrorist landscape in Israel,
Biden is preparing to visit the terrorist-occupied territories inside
Israel to meet with PLO dictator Mahmoud Abbas and assorted terrorist
leaders.
The administration is already undermining Israel by running a shadow consulate to the terrorists.
It has also poured hundreds of millions into PLO territories, with
official numbers topping $500 million. The unofficial numbers are likely
to go well beyond that figure.
And, as noted by Mark Goldfeder
of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, the shadow consulate is
“designed to help facilitate that aid … also illegal under the 2018
Taylor Force Act,” which bans “any assistance that directly benefits the
PA unless and until the PA stops paying terrorists to kill American and
Israeli citizens.” And the PA/PLO won’t stop doing that.
The growing presence of ISIS in Israel benefits from the
“Pay-to-Slay” program funding attacks against Israel, as well as the
larger infrastructure of terrorist media and organizations maintained by
the PLO. And, much as the Biden administration continues to funnel nearly $1 billion in “aid money” into Afghanistan despite the Taliban takeover, the same is true of terrorism in Israel.
Unlike the PLO, Hamas and the Taliban, ISIS remains so horrifyingly
unacceptable that the Biden administration and the media can only handle
its existence by entirely ignoring it.
The whitewashing of Baraa Lahlouh’s burial in an ISIS flag by
evasively describing it as the seal of Mohammed has become typical.
Pro-terrorist sites like Electronic Intifada denounced the death of the
ISIS terrorist as an “extrajudicial execution.” And they were not alone
in spewing anti-Israel hate while refusing to even mention the ISIS
elephant in the terrorist room.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) mourned the ISIS terrorist and his comrades, “Laith, Baraa and Yusuf“ as “young men with entire lives ahead of them.”
“They should be here today, but due to Israel’s relentless and deadly
violence against Palestinians, their loved ones will never see or hold
them again,” IMEU complained.
The organization is a 501c3 non-profit. Propagandizing on behalf of a
terrorist buried in an ISIS flag would seem to run counter to the
non-profit regulations that never seem to be enforced against the
enemies of this country, only against its patriots and its defenders.
IMEU has been funded in the past by the Soros network, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Tides Foundation,
and the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Leading leftist funders are
now kissing cousins with apologists for ISIS terrorists. And it doesn’t
stop there.
IMEU was just cited by Rep. Rashida Tlaib in her “Nakba” resolution attacking Israel’s existence.
Tlaib has a long-standing relationship with IMEU, with both the BDS
group and the anti-Israel politician promoting each other. And, in the
process, Islamic terrorism, including ISIS.
Savannah Daisley, 45, has faced court after being accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy in May last year
Daisley is a trained naturopath who founded the business Smart Cleanse, which offers various 14-day detox plans
Daisley
is accused of having sex with the minor four times on May 20, 2021. The
glamorous mom of two is the daughter of famed Australian horse breeder
Ross Daisley, whose thoroughbred won the famed Royal Ascot in 2003 
Iran's new hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, isn't fooling anyone when he claims his nuke program is "peaceful." 
President Truman presented Hershel "Woody" Williams with the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 5, 1945
As Williams approached the Japanese pillboxes, bullets ricocheted off the tank of his flamethrower.
Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas (left), wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (right)
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen said the West Village is "out of control." 
It might have lost the Caliphate, but ISIS is alive and kicking and threatening the countries of the Middle East
“That ‘Risk Assessment’ is then sent to a judge with the court, who, then, determines whether or not the individual arrested is held on bail or if they are to be released.
“Although Sheriff Boudreaux strongly disagrees with the release of these individuals as a matter of public safety, the court order release must be followed.”