In the summer of 2014, James King was on a break from school, working two jobs. As he was walking from one job to the other, he was stopped by two men. It is here that everything starts to go wrong.
On that fateful July day, a detective with the Grand Rapids Police Department and a special agent with the FBI approached King, mistaking him for a man wanted for breaking into the home of a former employer and stealing. According to King, they didn’t identify themselves but asked him questions, then pinned him against their SUV and took his wallet. King says he thought he was being mugged and attempted to run. The two officers then attacked King and beat him unconscious.
Bystanders who watched this happen also didn’t realize that King’s attackers were police. Some called the police and others filmed. When more police arrived, they ordered bystanders to delete video of the beating (some complied).
Rather than acknowledge they mistook King for someone else, police and prosecutors instead charged him with assaulting the police officers and resisting arrest. They tried to get him to accept a plea deal but King refused, forcing a trial and risking years in prison. While he was completely acquitted by a jury in 2015, the fight bankrupted his family.
King was taken to the hospital and handcuffed to the bed. (more…)
Oh what a night it was in the City of Palm Bay Council Chambers last night.
At 6:30 PM Mayor Capote gave his annual “State of the City” speech. As usual, these types of speeches – particularly from Capote – are more “rah rah” than substance.
However, usually these types of speeches not only highlight the good things that are happening, but the challenges that lay ahead. That’s simply not Capote’s style. Despite the fact that the City was dragged before the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee after the Committee found 31 violations of policies and the law within a 16 month span, no mention of that was made. It would have been the proper thing to mention the JLAC Report and how far along the City was in correcting the violations, but that was not to be.
The Mayor did not mention the FBI reports concerning violations of the law by current and former City Council members. (more…)
(this is not the cat from the story, in case you were wondering)
Lacie is a cat who was owned by a Syracuse woman named Carol Money.
Lacie liked to sleep in the bed with Money but when Money was having medical issues due to cancer, she put Lacie up for adoption. It seems that due to the cancer treatments and associated medical issues, Lacie was not able to sleep in the bed with Money who put the cat outside of the bedroom door.
Lacie was not happy with that arrangement and proceeded to meow, whine and cry.
This broke Money’s heart so she put Lacie up for adoption. Money claims that sleeping in the bed with her owner is important for Lacie’s “mental health.” (more…)
Back in October, we wrote about a school crossing guard in Martha’s Vineyard who had his weapons wrongfully seized by the police after they had gotten an order from a judge. The crossing guard was not advised of the hearing so he could attend, make a statement or offer any rebuttal to that which he was being accused.
When it was discovered that the weapons were wrongfully seized, no one even apologized to the man. In fact, the police chief was applauded for his quick action in taking the veteran’s weapons.
There for the grace of God goes everyone who has a weapon.
God’s grace did not extend to South Florida resident Jon Carpenter.
Carpenter was sent a letter from the State of Florida demanding he surrender his firearm’s license and surrender his firearms.
One problem: the “Jon Carpenter” the state filed against was not the Jon Carpenter who had his weapons confiscated and his license suspended.
Jon is a veteran, sports fisherman, and law-abiding gun owner from St. Cloud, who just happens to have the same name as a drifter who threatened an elderly couple. (more…)
Turn off the lights. Go full screen. Crank up the volume and marvel.
From Darkness To Light is an 8k Time-Lapse film shot by storm chaser Ty Schmitt. All the clips in the film were captured on the Great Plains during the 2019 spring storm season. Ty traveled over 30,000 miles in 3 months chasing Mother Nature’s most intense moments.
(We appreciate the beauty, but if Ty wants intense moments, come sit through a hurricane, dude.)
Kids are funny. For some reason in a world where so called adults seem to want to judge everyone by race and gender, kids don’t. At a young age such as pre-K and kindergarten, kids see each other simply as playmates. That’s the way it should be in our opinion. Let kids be kids.
Of course, if you are a “social justice warrior” in New York who happens to teach in a state funded pre-k school you can’t allow that to happen.
What are they teaching in New York City preschools? At one taxpayer-funded Brooklyn nursery, it isn’t numbers, letters or nap time — but racism and victimhood, plus transgender and “queer’’ rights, with a heavy dose of political indoctrination in the mix.
“I was kind of horrified,’’ the father of a preschooler told me. “They say they’re trying to reduce racism and discrimination. To me, they’re perpetuating it, fomenting a sense of victimhood that 4-year-olds would never consider on their own.’’ (more…)
There has been an ongoing conflict between the City of Palm Bay and Brevard County concerning the “exchange to nowhere” and the connecting roads.
During the last City Council meeting on February 6, Palm Bay Councilmen ripped into the County on a variety of issues.
However, a week before that, on January 29, Brevard County Assistant Manager and head of the Development and Environmental Services Group, had sent an email to the City of Palm Bay and specifically to Deputy City Manager Suzanne Sherman as to the state of the negotiations between the City and the County.
The email was referenced at last Tuesday’s County Commission meeting in a discussion concerning the negotiations with Palm Bay on the proposed inter-local agreement. (ILA)
What caught our ear was the fact that the email implies the negotiations were a “sham” when viewed from the point of view of the County.
We decided to ask for the email which is found below. (more…)
