Transgender actress Elliot Page, previously known as Ellen Page, claimed she was verbally attacked last year in Los Angeles for being a part of the LGBT community, but not everyone believes her story.
Page said she was "taking a quick walk to the Pink Dot convenience store" when the alleged incident occurred, according to an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.
“I’m going to f***ing gay bash you, f*****,” the 36-year-old recalled an unidentified man as saying. Page said she began to run towards the store, where she was hurried inside by workers.
The man allegedly yelled at the actress, "This is why I need a gun!”
Page told the Times it has affected the way she views Los Angeles.
"Now when I’m in Los Angeles, I don’t feel comfortable like I used to going for walks,” the actress said.
However, she added that she has a "fancy hotel room to go back to" and she "can afford to hire security."
However, some are not believing what Page claimed happened in 2022.
The popular Twitter account Catturd wrote, "Oh please -- Jussie Smollett 2.0," referring to the actor who claimed he was the target of a hate crime that later turned out to be a hoax.
Oh please - Jussie Smollett 2.0. https://t.co/gegaSYAHvI
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) June 6, 2023
Podcaster Tim Pool had a similar sentiment on the actress' story.
"Coming from a major proponent of the Jussie Smollett hoax I am skeptical," Pool wrote. "In LA? Specifically saying 'gay bash?'"
Coming from a major proponent of the Jussie Smollett hoax I am skeptical
In LA? Specifically saying "gay bash?" https://t.co/XWfmy4SMjN
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 6, 2023
Political commentator Ada Lluch added, "Elliot Page claims that 'he' was verbally attacked and threatened by a crazed transphobic man in California. I do not believe this for the same reason I did not believe Jussie Smollett.
"Just smells fishy," Lluch continued. "Elliot Page was born female, and this is how an hysterical female acts, not a real man.
"A real man would have given it right back to the attacker, not run to the press crying."
Elliot Page claims that "he" was verbally attacked and threatened by a crazed transphobic man in California.
I do not believe this for the same reason I did not believe Jussie Smollett.
Just smells fishy.
Elliot Page was born female, and this is how an hysterical female acts,…
— Ada Lluch 🇪🇸 (@ada_lluch) June 6, 2023
[firefly_poll] Page first announced she was transgender in a December 2020 Instagram post. The "Juno" actress is currently promoting her book released Tuesday titled "Pageboy: A Memoir."
"Trans people are facing increasing attacks, from physical violence to the banning of healthcare, and our humanity is regularly 'debated' in the media. The act of writing, reading, and sharing the multitude of our experiences is an important step in standing up to those who wish to silence and harm us," she said when announcing the book in December 2022.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Orlando Magic power forward Jonathan Isaac may be best know in conservative circles for standing during the pre-game playing of the national anthem while his teammates kneeled.
That may be about to change, however, as he branches out into a new career: selling pro-Christianity, anti-woke clothing.
Isaac tweeted Thursday about the new company, Unitus, which he said would launch in August.
Retail brands have the freedom to go woke. We have the freedom to create an alternative. UNITUS launches August 2023. Stay tuned🙃 #WeAreUnitus pic.twitter.com/2TIfkVc6Zt
— Jonathan Isaac (@JJudahIsaac) June 2, 2023
Isaac was also one of the few NBA players who went public about not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the video accompanying his tweet.
The goal of his new apparel company is to "[bring] people together over love of God and country," according to the video, which was a clip of a recent PragerU documentary that covered the new company, "Unwoke Inc.”
"UNITUS is a sports and apparel company," Isaac told fromer radical leftist Amala Ekpunobi in the clip, "and the basis of it for me is freedom."
"You have companies that are in that field who have made a conscious decision to either attack or undermine Christian values, you know, conservative values and things like that," he explained. "And I think that they have the free choice to do so, as much as I disagree. But I feel that we also have a freedom to create what we want to create."
Or, to put it more succinctly, as Isaac did in his tweet: “Retail brands have the freedom to go woke. We have the freedom to create an alternative.”
Isaac is confident that he's not the only one willing to put his name out there in promoting these products.
"The hope is to be able to sign athletes across all different sports and to create a real infrastructure of people who are in the sports world. Moms and dads who want to buy their kids sneakers and clothes but wanna give their money to a company that they know is going to work toward bolstering their values," he said.
“We can be proud of what we believe in," Isaac added in the video. "You know, we don’t have to hide or be ashamed of it.”
Isaac apparently expects western culture to continue its decline and move further from the foundation of Judeo-Christian values that made it great in the first place.
"As the day continues to get, you know, darker and darker and crazier and crazier, you standing up for what you believe in is only going to get harder," he said. "But it’s only going to become more and more necessary."
Isaac published a book last year, "Why I Stand," about his athletic career as well as his personal beliefs.
His last couple of years in the NBA have been plagued with injury, but he's expected to return to training camp next season, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
A multi-hour manhunt Friday resulted in the arrest of a suspect in the death of West Virginia State Police Sgt. Cory Maynard.
Maynard was shot at about 3 p.m. after responding to a "shots fired" call in what police have termed an ambush-type incident in the Beech Creek area, according to WSAZ-TV.
Timothy Kennedy, 29, was arrested Friday at about 10 p.m. and arraigned Saturday on a charge of first-degree murder, according to the New York Post.
Kennedy was arrested after driving into a state police command post set up after the incident.
“We received word there was a stolen vehicle nearby the area where we last had contact with him,” State Police Lt. Colonel B.L. Mankins said, according to WSAZ-TV.
“As fate would have it, the stolen vehicle came toward our command post at a high rate of speed. When he got to the command post, the troopers on scene determined it was the suspect in the shooting earlier today, and he was taken into custody at that point,” he said.
Here is an updated photo of West Virginia State Police Sgt. Cory Maynard just sent to @WVVA by WVSP. Trooper Maynard was shot and killed in an ambush-style attack Friday after responding to a call for shots fired near Matewan in Mingo County, https://t.co/rymltV3dUT pic.twitter.com/SQpKK2Vmc0
— Melinda Zosh (@mzoshWVVA) June 3, 2023
Benjamin Adam Baldwin, 39, of Matewan, was wounded in the Friday shooting, according to the Post.
"I heard two shots, and by the time I got through my house, the boy who was shot was knocking on my door telling me to let him in and get him some help because he’d been shot,” neighbor Doris Artis said, according to WSAZ.
Beech Creek resident Harriet Cisco said Kennedy appeared at her door. She said she called police but by the time she returned to the door, he and one of their cars were both gone.
“We called (the police) back later when we realized the car was gone and that he was in the car and we gave them the description of the car,” she said.
More than 100 law enforcement officers participated in the search, which also included a West Virginia State Police helicopter, according to WCHS-TV.
Maynard earned a state police lifesaving award in 2015 after he gave first aid to a man who crashed his vehicle during a pursuit and also stabbed himself in the neck, according to the Post.
In a Facebook post reprinted by the Williamson Daily News, Alison Endicott Wilson, an office assistant at the West Virginia State Police’s Williamson office, wrote, “Simply put, he was a TROOPER.”
“He loved his family fiercely and I was honored to be a part of his family. He was an amazing investigator and fought for his victims. He took his cases personally. He was my close friend … my brother … my Sergeant. He loved his Troopers and always went out and took calls with them. My heart is shattered and broken. I’ll always carry Cory with me,” she wrote.
“This is hard for me, but in this instance I want to say it. He was a man that loved being a Trooper, who was in love with his family … just a great, great friend. He was stolen from us. West Virginia lost a great protector,” she said later
Logan County Magistrate Dwight Williamson said Maynard “was just always super nice, quick to respond to anything that came up, and he always showed up for court.”
“It’s just terrible, terrible news. These guys put their lives on the line every day and it’s just sad with families. It’s just a terrible thing. I couldn’t do their job and I appreciate the fact that they do what they do,” she said.
Justin Marcum said Maynard “never met a stranger,” according to WOWK-TV.
“If it was a homeless person, if it was an attorney if it was whomever, a school teacher, he also took time to say hi to people,” Marcum said. “His presence in the community as a law enforcement officer and just as a man, it’s going to be dearly missed.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Capitol Police have come under scrutiny after stopping a children’s choir from singing the national anthem inside the U.S. Capitol.
A video of the May 26 incident has gone viral on social media, showing the moment Capitol officials approached David Rasbach, who was leading the Rushingbrook Children’s Choir in their performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The video shows a female officer in the background apparently instructing a congressional staffer to stop the singing. The staffer then approaches Rasbach, speaks into his ear, and Rasbach halts the choir.
🚨The Rushingbrook Children's Choir sang the National Anthem in Statuary Hall. a Capitol Police officer stopped them mid-song. Capitol Police claims they didn't stop the choir. The choir director tells the whole story in my exclusive interview here. 🚨https://t.co/ZRNbWy75la pic.twitter.com/ijiq4pw3X8
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) June 2, 2023
Rasbach, alongside Micah Rea -- who organized the children's trip from South Carolina to Virginia and Washington D.C. -- explained what actually happened to The Daily Signal.
When they had arrived at the Capitol that day, the choir had been briefly stopped by Andrew Tremel, the visitor operations manager at the Architect of the Capitol, Rea told the Daily Signal.
Tremel was informed that the choir had been given permission to sing and, after speaking into his earpiece, he told them they could do so, Rea said.
[firefly_poll]
Later on, when they had actually begun to sing, Rasbach said he witnessed the female officer talking to a congressional staffer and directing him to “go shut them down.” When they stopped singing, he spoke with the officer and was told that their "demonstration" wasn't allowed.
Rushingbrook Children's Choir were singing the National Anthem in the Capitol and were stopped by Capitol police.
They were told that "certain Capitol police said it might offend someone/cause issues."
The National Anthem sung by children is not offensive, it’s needed more. pic.twitter.com/PvSMJdw5EZ
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 2, 2023
Rasbach then reportedly asked the officer: “How do you think this is going to affect these children? Their first time visiting their Capitol and then they have this disappointment.”
“She shrugged her shoulders, saying, ‘They sounded beautiful, but… They can go outside and sing,” he said of her response.
According to Rasbach, the female officer went on to claim that multiple people had complained about the offensiveness of the anthem.
Rasbach explained to the Daily Signal that the choir was given permission to sing in the Capitol by Reps. William Timmons and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, as well as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The three lawmakers have since responded to the incident online, condemning the Capitol Police and reaffirming their support for the choir group.
We recently learned that schoolchildren from South Carolina were interrupted while singing our National Anthem at the Capitol. These children were welcomed by the Speaker’s office to joyfully express their love of this Nation while visiting the Capitol, and we are all very…
— Congressman William Timmons (@RepTimmons) June 2, 2023
It is unfortunate that the Rushingbrook Children’s Choir was prevented from finishing a wonderful rendition of our National Anthem. I will be introducing a bill which permits the singing of our National Anthem on all federal property bc love for one’s country should be celebrated
— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) June 3, 2023
Just learned kids were interrupted while singing our National Anthem at the Capitol. Unacceptable.
These children were welcomed by my office because your Capitol is back open, particularly for school groups. @RepTimmons, @RepJoeWilson, & @RepRussellFry, and I look forward to…
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) June 2, 2023
The Capitol Police also responded to the incident, placing most of the blame on the congressional staffer, who they labeled a liar.
“Recently somebody posted a video of a children’s choir singing the Star-Spangled Banner in the U.S. Capitol Building and wrongfully claimed we stopped the performance because it ‘might offend someone,’” Capitol Police said in a statement to the Daily Signal.
“Here is the truth. Demonstrations and musical performances are not allowed in the U.S. Capitol,” they claimed, adding: “Of course, because the singers in this situation were children, our officers were reasonable and allowed the children to finish their beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.”
They then said that the congressional staffer “lied to the officers multiple times about having permission from various offices.
“The staffer put both the choir and our officers, who were simply doing their jobs, in an awkward and embarrassing position.”
Rea and Rasbach have both responded to the statement with a fierce rebuke, with Rea calling it a “bald-faced lie.”
“You can see clearly in the video, they literally stopped him before they finished singing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’” Rea said. “That is absolutely, irrefutably wrong.”
“[The female officer] did everything she could to stop us and not let us continue singing, period,” he said, adding that the staffer did nothing wrong and did not lie to Capitol Police.
“That is not true—he did not lie to anybody,” Rasbach said in response to the Capitol Police's statement about the staffer.
The two also refuted the claim that musical performances aren't allowed in the Capitol, pointing out that as recently as March 29 a group of 80 pastors sang in the Rotunda. Sean Feucht, a Christian pastor and singer, also held performances in the Capitol in February and March, as the Daily Signal noted.
The Capitol Police have since apologized to the choir in a separate statement to Newsweek, this time blaming the incident on “miscommunication.”
"Although popup demonstrations and musical performances are not allowed in the U.S. Capitol without the proper approval, due to a miscommunication, the U.S Capitol Police were not aware that the Speaker's Office had approved this performance," the statement read.
"We apologize to the choir for this miscommunication that impacted their beautiful rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and their visit to Capitol Hill."
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
A children's cartoon beloved not just here, but all across the world, is taking heat after a year-old radical gay episode began making the rounds on social media again, angering parents who are wondering why paeans to the LGBT movement have to be shoved into shows aimed at toddlers.
In the episode of the popular "Peppa Pig" cartoon series, Peppa Pig learns that one of her friends is part of a "two mothers" family, a storyline that is an effort to indoctrinate little ones as early as possible with the gay agenda.
In the LGBT episode entitled "Families," which originally aired in September of last year, Penny Polar Bear is shown in the kitchen of her home as her "two mothers" are feeding her spaghetti.
In the clip recently re-shared to Peppa Pig's TikTok channel as a "pride month" post, Penny Polar Bear says, "I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One mummy is a doctor and one mummy cooks spaghetti."
@peppapig 🌈 Happy Pride Month 🌈 Here’s to celebrating love.❤ #happypride #pridemonth ♬ original sound - Peppa Pig
The LGBT episode came on after a petition campaign started about three years ago that urged the writers of the series -- which at that time had already become an international hit with more than 250 episodes produced -- to include radical gay content which, until then, had not shown up to corrupt the series.
"Children watching Peppa Pig are at an impressionable age, and excluding same-sex families will teach them that only families with either a single parent or two parents of different sexes are normal. This means that children of same-sex parents may feel alienated by Peppa Pig, and that other children may be more likely to bully them, simply through ignorance," the petition exclaimed.
Indeed, the clip above with the "two mums" was barely enough for the radical gay lobby. The LGBT site Mombian.com insisted that the episode selling lesbianism to tiny children was "a little uninspired." Mombian feels that one episode grooming tiny children is not enough and that Peppa Pigs needs "ongoing representation."
It's never enough for the radicals.
Remember, Peppa Pig is aimed at kids from ages four to six, and that says nothing of even younger children and toddlers who may watch the show just for the colors and music.
With that age group being so young, many parents are wondering why "representation" needs to be pushed on tiny tots at all? It's bad enough they were showing a child character being forced to eat spaghetti without any sauce, but some wondered why toddlers need to be indoctrinated by the extreme left's LGBT agenda?
"WHY IS THIS A KIDS SHOW?," one commenter asked in all caps on TikTok.
Another equally incredulous commenter asked, "IS THIS WHAT THEY TEACH KIDS NOW."
Yet another blasted the show, saying, "Why did you destroy an innocent kids show? That's ridiculous."
In addition, the series celebrated "Pride Month" on its official Twitter account where its post also brought criticism.
🌈 Happy Pride Month 🌈 Here’s to celebrating love.❤ pic.twitter.com/Yskvk199Aa
— Peppa Pig Official (@peppapig) June 1, 2023
This is grooming.
— JCraig425 (@JCraig425) June 2, 2023
Y'all ruined a great kids' show with this drek.
— Gabriella (@Pearlofwissdom) June 2, 2023
— User name here (@nytroxx) June 2, 2023
It's all just another example of the extreme, left-wing forcing their adult sexual agenda onto small children, indoctrinating them at their earliest ages to make sure they are open to perversion as soon as possible.
Parents need to be very careful about what their children are watching. The LGBT agenda is targeting younger and younger audiences by any means possible.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
One of the left's favorite tactics to discount criticism of anti-American billionaire George Soros is to claim detractors are "antisemites" because Soros has Jewish ancestry. But one Jewish group has just completely blown that defense out of the water.
A new Jewish group called "Jews Against Soros" has formed that will work to urge people to stop supporting Soros and his many organizations whose purpose is to undermine America and Western democracy.
Created by Newsweek editor Josh Hammer and conservative activist Will Scharf, the group announced its debut with a tweet on Wednesday.
"Today, we (@willscharf and @josh_hammer) are launching Jews Against Soros, a new grassroots coalition of Jews who oppose George Soros’s radical left-wing agenda," the pair tweeted or Soros and his campaigns to undermine democracy around the world.
There is nothing antisemitic about opposing George Soros.
Today, we (@willscharf and @josh_hammer) are launching Jews Against Soros, a new grassroots coalition of Jews who oppose George Soros’s radical left-wing agenda.
Find out more at https://t.co/Du1cnTmJzx pic.twitter.com/5KTUzKy5kn
— JewsAgainstSoros (@AntiSorosJews) May 31, 2023
In their prepared statement, the pair added that "Jews Against Soros" is a "grassroots coalition of Jews who oppose George Soros' radical left-wing influence on American politics."
"Attacking Soros for his influence on American politics, to say nothing of his nefarious agenda in Israel itself, isn't antisemitic. It is simply a fact that Soros funds a huge proportion of the radical left in this country. And he must be stopped," the statement continued.
Scharf also tweeted out a list of some of the anti-American causes Soros had funded.
"Soros's values are not Jewish values," Scharf wrote. "Opposing Soros's leftism is not antisemitic, and now more than ever Jews need to stand up and fight against Soros and those who support his radical agenda."
The new group is not alone. The group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) also recently bashed Soros and his "long history of backing anti-Israel groups."
George Soros has a long history of backing anti-Israel groups.
Now he’s giving $1 million to help @jstreetdotorg support anti-Israel candidates and attack pro-Israel Democrats.
AIPAC works to strengthen pro-Israel mainstream Democrats.
J Street & Soros work to undermine them. https://t.co/aL2Q1BUDOh
— AIPAC (@AIPAC) August 24, 2022
And back them he has. Just in the U.S. alone, the 92-year-old billionaire has spent more than $128 million in donations for the recent midterm elections to elect extreme left-wingers to office in the U.S. And he has spent $131 million between 2016 and 2020 to influence 253 media groups to push his agenda, the Media Research Center reported.
"Soros specifically funneled at least $131,111,250 between 2016 and 2020 into 253 journalism and activist media groups worldwide to spread his radical leftist ideas on abortion, Marxist economics, anti-Americanism, defunding the police, environmental extremism and LGBT fanaticism," the MRC's analysts wrote.
One of Soros' main campaigns has been to elect left-wing, anti-police, and soft-on-crime prosecutors to U.S. and county attorney positions all across the country. The campaign was highly successful, but a number of the candidates who won office have since resigned in disgrace or have faced recall efforts over their dangerous policies.
Last August, then Fox News star Tucker Carlson detailed how Soros is actively subverting the rule of law in the United States.
But despite the stark facts of Soros' dangerous campaign to undermine the U.S., groups like the Anti-Defamation League have absurdly proclaimed that any criticism of Soros is somehow based in antisemitism.
Elon Musk is another one who has been attacked as an antisemite when he began criticizing Soros last month.
The media has also applied this illogical line of reasoning to tamp down criticism of Soros. In April, for instance, the Washington Post's so-called "fact checker," Glenn Kessler, exclaimed that "repeated mention of Soros plays into antisemitic conspiracy theories that Soros, a Hungarian American Holocaust survivor, is a wealthy puppet-master who works behind the scenes to manipulate elections and further his goals. The Anti-Defamation League found in 2018 that Soros figures in a significant number of antisemitic tweets."
Kessler is far from alone. News outlets including the New York Times, Vice, Yahoo News, and many, many more have pushed the notion that criticism of Soros is somehow automatically "antisemitic."
With this new group ripping away the false claim that criticizing Soros is somehow rooted in antisemitism, instead of being based on the clear facts of his leftist, anti-American actions, perhaps America can finally have an honest debate about this man's dangerous attacks on our country.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s list of contact was a roster of powerful people, according to new documents.
The revelations from the Daily Mail are based on emails that were given to the government of the Virgin Islands by Epstein's estate. Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, owned two islands.
An upfront word of clarification: Epstein had long moved in the circle of rich and powerful people, not all of whom were clients.
The documents note several connections that have long been public, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, whose name was dropped in 2011 by Epstein while trying to persuade JPMorgan to invest in a fund in which he also wanted Microsoft founder Bill Gates to invest.
In 2011, he wrote bank executives “I am also aware JPM has a colorful array of clients so a client relationship is much less problematic than an institutional joint venture.” At that point, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender, as noted by the Associated Press.
In one message, Epstein, speaking of the prince, wrote, “He is now allowed to make money.”
Epstein’s frequent meetings with Gates are noted, as Epstein tried to rope Gates into his businesses.
While trying to convince JPMorgan executives to invest in a fund he proposed to oversee, he wrote them that the fund would “Allow Bill (Gates) to have access to higher quality people, investment, allocation, governance without upsetting either his marriage or the current sensitivities of the current foundation employees.”
Epstein offered a scheme to JPMorgan in which he would work with wealthy clients on a fee-splitting basis.
“I cook it slowly, adding various ingredients, almost fully cook it and then want to turn it over to you,” he wrote.
In proposing the fund, he wrote, “Though membership in the ‘club’ could be known the gifts can be given anonymously. This will fulfill the wishes of many that have spoken to Bill about wanting to do things but not wanting the publicity."
A report in The Wall Street Journal alleged that Gates had an affair with a Russian bridge player named Mila Antonova and that Epstein hinted at the affair while trying to get Gates to invest in a fund he was trying to establish at the time. The Journal said it was told the tale by “people familiar with the matter.”
The documents note that Epstein’s connection to Woody Allen included months in which there were multiple meetings between the two men.
From 2011 through 2013, there were consistent references to Epstein having dinner or other social events with Allen and Allen’s wife Soon-Yi.
Some name-droppings never panned out. For example, one entry suggests that comedian Chris Rock might attend a dinner, but a source close to Rock told the Daily Mail he never attended.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel met Epstein several times while Thiel was a member of the board of Facebook and ran a venture capital firm called Founders Fund.
Tommy Mottola, a past chair of Sony Music, confirmed that he met with Epstein.
“Mr. Epstein and I shared some mutual acquaintances, and he called me several times to request concert tickets, as many people do,” he said in a statement.
Other names dropped along the way include actress Irina Shayk, Wendi Murdoch, the former wife of Rupert Murdoch, and billionaire Richard Branson.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
A New York City woman who admitted she showed up to work late dozens of times in less than a year has been awarded millions of dollars by a jury after she successfully argued in court she was terminated because she is black.
Jurors in the case did not view dozens of instances of tardiness as a reason for separation from the company.
The New York Times reported a woman named Röbynn Europe sued a company called Equinox, which operates a number of high-end fitness brands and gyms.
Europe alleged after she was fired from her job on New York City's Upper East Side that her 10 months with the company left her feeling targeted over her skin color.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, she argued she had been subjected to a hostile work environment.
Equinox has been ordered to pay up after losing a race and gender discrimination lawsuit. https://t.co/uACdb20Xkp
— Black Enterprise (@blackenterprise) May 27, 2023
The woman said her issues were not just with Equinox but that the coastal fitness industry is prejudicial.
“Racism and sexism -- they are just pervasive in the fitness industry,” she said, per the Times.
During the civil trial, she lodged a series of complaints about one of her white subordinates, who was reported to be a man in his forties.
Europ claimed the man used the word “lazy” to describe people he did not view as hard workers.
He also once allegedly questioned if a black colleague might be “autistic,” the report states.
Europe also told the court that the man once asked her to help him court a black woman he was interested in dating.
She said that his attempts to enlist her in helping him get a date left her feeling offended.
Equinox defended itself from accusations of racism during the trial and said Europe was simply let go for being late 47 times.
The plaintiff did not dispute her attendance record at work but argued the company ultimately sacked her over her skin color.
A New York jury of five women and three men, most of whom were white, agreed with her and ordered her former employer to pay her more than $11 million -- $10 million in punitive damages and an additional $1.25 million to compensate her for her distress.
Europe also said being fired contributed to the worsening of an eating disorder she had already struggling with.
Equinox said it does not tolerate discrimination in any form and said jurors bought into the "sympathy and emotion" Europe brought to the trial. Attorneys intend to challenge the damages assessed.
The company also called the ruling “extreme” and “unconscionable.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw said he disapproves of the team’s decision to honor a blasphemous LGBT group during an upcoming game, but he was able to use the event to bring back the team’s Christian Faith and Family Day.
“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up," Kershaw told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.
"Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” he said, adding that Friday’s announcement of the July event was “my idea.”
This month, the Dodgers invited, disinvited and then re-invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to the team’s "LGBTQ Pride Night" event June 16. The second invitation came after an outcry from liberal groups.
The group uses imagery of Catholic nuns and even Christ himself for sexualized drag performances.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will receive a "Community Hero Award" from the Dodgers during the team’s LGBT event, according to the Times.
Kershaw said the team should not have invited the group.
“I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions,” he said. “It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion. So that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with.”
The star pitcher said he and his wife, Ellen, and others talked about the right way to respond. He also held a team meeting about the group and his plans.
“I think in these situations, instead of maybe criticizing or trying to find something wrong with a group, it’s better just to focus on what you do believe in,” Kershaw said. “For me, that’s Jesus. So I think that was our best response.”
“For us, we felt like the best thing to do in response was, instead of maybe making a statement condemning or anything like that, would be just to instead try to show what we do support, as opposed to maybe what we don’t. And that was Jesus. So to make Christian Faith Day our response is what we felt like was the best decision,” he said.
Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. More details to come— but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID. Hope to see you on July 30th! pic.twitter.com/yNu7HyEgR9
— Clayton Kershaw (@ClaytonKersh22) May 26, 2023
The three-time Cy Young award winner made it clear he opposes the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence because of their mockery of the Christian faith.
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or pride or anything like that,” Kershaw said. “This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.”
Kershaw said the team’s Christian event is “our opportunity to be able to kind of share our testimony of what we believe in and why we believe in it, and how that affects our performance on the field."
“It’s a great opportunity to see the platform that Jesus has given us and how to use that for his glory and not ours," the pitcher said.
He also said he won’t take his objections as far as a boycott.
“As a follower of Christ, we’re supposed to love everybody well. And I think that means being able to be at a lot of different places and be able to be a part of a lot of different things,” Kershaw said.
Not everyone agrees.
A major Catholic advocacy group is launching a $1 million campaign to promote a boycott of the team after the Dodgers said they would honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
“This is a slap in the face of every Catholic,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch said in a statement May 22. “We’re raising $1 million as fast as we can, and we will pummel this decision in advertising that the Dodgers can’t ignore.”
Catholic Vote president explains why the group is calling for the boycott of the Los Angeles Dodgers: "There's no need to engage in anti-Catholic mockery." pic.twitter.com/J3kn1X7yWP
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 28, 2023
“Every advertiser, every season ticket holder, every charity, every fan must speak out against the Dodgers’ decision to promote anti-Catholic hate,” Burch said. “Why does ‘pride’ have to include honoring the most grotesque and scandalous anti-Catholic perverts?”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Long before she was murdered, an Illinois woman told her sister who to suspect if she was killed.
The message was revealed last week in the trial of Tim Bliefnick, a former “Family Feud” contestant accused of killing his estranged wife in February.
Last week, Sarah Reilly testified that her sister, Rebecca "Becky" Bliefnick, said her husband should be the chief suspect in her death.
"If something ever happens to me, make sure the number one person of interest is Tim," Reilly said her sister texted her, according to Fox News.
"I am putting this in writing that I'm fearful he will somehow harm me, come after me, or will try to [do] something to me that takes me away from the kids or the kids away from me," the text read, Reilly testified.
“He already has lied multiple times to paint himself as a victim and me as the perpetrator when it is absolutely the other way around."
In a September 2021 text, Becky Bliefnick told a friend that a fellow nurse in the emergency room where she worked was killed by a person with whom she had had a relationship and she "literally had a panic attack" as she thought about Tim Bliefnick.
"I am scared of what he might do and his erratic behavior," she wrote, adding that her husband took away her guns and ammunition.
During the trial, prosecutors said Tim Bliefnick’s internet search history included instructions on the use of a crowbar, making a silencer, opening a window from the outside and washing off gunpowder from one’s hands, according to KHQA-TV.
In his opening statement, Adams County Assistant State’s Attorney Josh Jones painted a picture of the murder.
“The last minutes of Becky Bliefnick’s life were not spent surrounded by family, friends and loved ones. The last minutes of Becky Bliefnick’s life were not spent in the warm embrace of her three children, Deacon, Greyson, and Arlin. The last minutes of Becky Bliefnick’s life were not spent in love, and compassion, and tenderness. No, the last minutes of Becky’s life were spent in fear, and pain, and terror as she lay on the cold, gray tiles of her bathroom floor slowly bleeding to death,” he said, according to Law and Crime.
Jones said Becky Bliefnick was shot 14 times after her house was broken into with a crowbar and she was chased through the house.
Defense attorney Casey Schnack said it takes evidence, not theories, to win a conviction and ridiculed the story prosecutors are presenting.
“The state’s theory in this matter is that Tim left his 5-year-old, his 10-year-old and 12-year-old home alone in the middle of the night,” Shnack said. “He rode a bike from 16th and Hampshire to 24th and Kentucky road, shimmied up the side of his house and broke in using his crowbar. He walked in through a window, left a footprint on the floor, kicked down Becky’s door and shot her 14 times and then rode that bike back home,” she said.
During the trial, forensic pathologist Dr. Scott Denton said none of the 14 wounds Becky Bliefnick suffered was fatal, according to the Muddy River News.
“The gunshot wounds created defects and bleeding inside her body,” he said. “The mechanism or process of her dying was internal bleeding. One (bullet) that was highest up on her chest and beneath the breast went through her right lung. That was the most serious, the most, I would say, quickly fatal.
“The rest of them are all serious because they’re fatal and they’re going through her intestines and her spine. But the one (bullet) through her right lung would cause shortness of breath, and then the rest of them would cause bleeding also.”
“How long would it take her to bleed to death?” Jones asked
“None of the bullets struck her heart, she did not have any gunshot wounds to the head. So conservatively and fairly, she would have been alive with these gunshot wounds for at least several minutes,” Denton said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
