36 hours of violence leaves four dead, 36 shot in New York City

NYC violence continues to surge in a weekend that saw multiple people fatally shot and beaten in various parts of the city

The city of New York was hit by a tsunami of violence over the weekend. Several incidents of shootings and beatings across the boroughs over the course of 36 hours resulted in the death of four people and 36 others were injured.

The New York Daily News reports that starting from just after midnight on Friday, Aug. 14 through to the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 15, there were 23 shootings across the boroughs.

READ MORE: Man arrested after New York teen is stabbed, set on fire

The mayhem started at 12:01 a.m. Friday when a shooting happened behind a home in Queens’ Laurelton neighborhood. Three people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

By 5 a.m., two separate shootings in the Bronx and Queens’ Rockaways section sent two more people to the hospital, respectively.

By the afternoon, a Brooklyn man was fatally shot. DeShawn Reid, 28, was shot dead at 4 p.m. on Friday in front of his apartment in Brooklyn’s Flatbush area.

Dashawn Reid, John Jeff and Deshawn Bush all killed in a violent weekend in New York City (New York Daily News, acquired from social media)

By early Saturday morning, a 30-year-old man died in Harlem Hospital from gunshot wounds he received on W.128th St. This was swiftly followed by the death of an off-duty corrections officer in South Jamaica, Queens.

John Jeff was shot 11 times at 3:05 a.m. near a party after an argument took place while he was looking for a parking spot.

Hours after Jeff was killed, and just two miles away from where Reid was murdered, another Brooklyn resident, Jamel Copeland, was found dead in East Flatbush. Copeland, 30, is believed to have been killed during a domestic dispute.

The final incident came Saturday afternoon when a 40-year-old man was shot in the arm while fleeing a gunman on the 4 train platform at midtown Manhattan’s Grand Central Station.

Police stand at the scene of a shooting which happened as Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) was holding a peace march in response to a surge in shootings in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn on July 16, 2020, in New York City. The march and shooting were held near the scene in Brooklyn where a one-year-old child, Davell Gardner Jr., was recently shot and killed. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In addition to the shootings, a Brooklyn native, Deshawn Bush, was beaten to death in Manhattan’s West Village after a confrontation with an unknown assailant early Friday morning. He was killed after leaving a bagel shop on Christopher Street with friends, and the suspect is still at large.

Read More: 18 shot overnight in Cincinnati, at least four dead

Violence in New York has seen an increase in 2020. There were 253 homicides being investigated by police prior to Friday’s first incident in Laurelton. As of August 9, there was a 79% increase in shootings, from 466 to 833.

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Kamala Harris reacts to Trump’s racist birther attacks: ‘They’re going to engage in lies’

EXCLUSIVE: In an interview with theGrio, Sen. Kamala Harris talks about the fight for the White House with Joe Biden, her record on policing, and why she has what it takes to help lead America.

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Senator Kamala Harris‘ entire life changed over a Zoom call last Tuesday. Like many Americans, stuck at home during a pandemic, Harris was socially distancing in her D.C. apartment, when the call came to step into a historic leadership position.

“The vice president contacted me through Zoom, as is the way that we all meet in person these days. That’s when he asked me if I’d join him,” Harris tells theGrio in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

Biden would invite his wife Jill Biden into the call, and Harris would invite her husband Doug Emhoff to join as well. After confirming she was up for the challenge, Harris shared the news with the rest of her family. “It was very special,” she says with a smile.

Read More: Kamala Harris has a message for voters who aren’t feeling her and Joe Biden

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We are in a battle for the soul of this nation. But together, it’s a battle we can win. @JoeBiden—I’m ready to get to work.

A post shared by Kamala Harris (@kamalaharris) on Aug 12, 2020 at 6:50am PDT

From that instant, Harris was propelled at rocket-speed into campaign life again, this time with a mission to amplify the Biden-Harris team as the remedy for a torn America. She made a speaking appearance in Delaware, helped the Biden campaign raise $48 million in just 48 hours, and dodged racist and played out birther attacks from President Donald Trump.

“They’re going to engage in lies,” Harris tells theGrio. “They’re going to engage in deception. They’re going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the American people. And I expect that they will engage in dirty tactics. And this is going to be a knockdown, drag-out.”

Harris has no qualms about going toe to toe with Vice President Mike Pence or President Trump, who called her his “No. 1 pick for VP.”

Read More: Trump takes aim at Kamala Harris, calls her ‘nasty’ after VP announcement

“I am [ready] and Joe Biden is,” Harris tells theGrio. “What’s at stake right now is that we’ve had over 160,000 people die in the last few months and many of them needlessly … tens of millions of people who have lost their jobs … we’re in the midst of a hunger crisis in our country. The media isn’t covering it so much.”

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) arrive to deliver remarks at the Alexis Dupont High School on August 12, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“I’m prepared to fight because this is a fight that is for something, not against something. This is a fight for where we need to be … We need to focus on what can be unburdened by what has been,” Harris continues.

But being unburdened by the past hasn’t always been possible for Sen. Harris in the face of scrutiny over her record as a prosecutor.

“I understand why people are distrustful of a system that historically has been unjust and unfair to them, I get that,” Harris tells theGrio. “That’s why I chose to become a prosecutor. I decided to go up the rough side of the mountain.”

Harris, however, insists she was more progressive than she is given credit for, and touts her recidivism program as a point of pride.

“I’m proud of the work that we were accomplishing, which was about one of the first in the nation reentry initiatives focusing on young men, mostly Black and Latino, who had been arrested for drugs and getting them jobs,” Harris explains.

Harris said her effort was mocked and called the “Hug A Thug Program,” by critics. “They would say to me, ‘What are you doing? You’re supposed to be putting people in jail, not letting them out,'” Harris recalls. “This was long before the beauty and the power of Black Lives Matter.”

The criminal justice reform future Harris wants to build with Biden includes eliminating cash bail, banning chokeholds, and having attorney generals take on pattern and practice investigations.

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

“George Floyd would be alive today if that were the case,” Harris tells theGrio. “If you look at my background, I’m probably best equipped to be a leader and a national leader in this administration on what we need to do to reform the system. 

Harris is intentional about naming other priorities for the Black community outside of criminal justice reform, including addressing record-low homeownership rates, supporting Black businesses, and forgiving student loans, which are disproportionately taken out by Black families.

Harris says she wants Black communities to be hyper-aware of attempts to suppress their votes. “You may not fall in love with who you’re voting for,” Harris tells theGrio. “We have to be heard and not let them stop us or prevent us or deter us from exercising our voices and making sure our voice is strong in this election.”

Watch the full conversation with Sen. Harris above and visit theGrio’s YouTube channel for more political updates.

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Tiffany Haddish reveals she couldn’t read until her teen years

The actress, who had a turbulent family life, reveals she was functionally illiterate for much of her youth

Tiffany Haddish’s ascension as one of the most in-demand comedic actors in Hollywood is only eclipsed by her story of overcoming a turbulent childhood. During a recent interview on VLAD TV, the stand-up comic reveals that she had trouble reading as a child.

Read More: Kamala Harris has a message for voters who aren’t feeling her and Joe Biden

Haddish, 40, was featured on the popular YouTube interview show, created by former DJ, Vladislav Lyubovny. However, instead of Vlad, Haddish was interviewed by fellow comedian Luenell.

The Night School actress spoke about her come-up in California, living in foster homes, connecting with her Eritrean roots, and finding her comic voice at the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp.

Luenell referenced Haddish’s book, “The Last Black Unicorn,” which was a New York Times Best Seller in 2017. Haddish narrated the audio version of the book, which was nominated for a 2018 Grammy.

READ MORE: Tiffany Haddish says she’s fearful of having children due to racism

It was at this point that Haddish spoke of the irony of getting a Grammy nod for book narration when there was one point she was unable to read at all.

“That was kinda cool to be nominated for a Grammy for reading out loud when I couldn’t read at one point in time in my life when I was in my teens,” Haddish disclosed. She said that a drama teacher helped her learn to read.

Actress Tiffany Haddish helps donate Chromebook computers to students in foster care during a drive-thru giveaway event at Wesson’s district office on July 30, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

When Luenell asked what caused Haddish’s literacy issues, she said much of it was a lack of self-esteem based on the messages she received in childhood.

“Because I thought I was stupid. Everybody would say to me, ‘You’re stupid, you’re stupid, you so stupid.’ At that time in my life, I took things literally,” Haddish said. “So if everybody’s telling me you’re stupid – my stepdad, my mom, grandma, everybody used to say, ‘You so stupid.’ So, I believed I was stupid and I can’t read and I can’t do these things because I’m stupid.”

However, when she was 18 and worked at the Los Angeles airport, a woman Haddish encountered there gave her a different perspective. When she said ‘Girl, you so stupid,’ Haddish says she was ready to fight, until the stranger clarified that she meant stupid as in ‘funny.’

Common and Tiffany Haddish attend Toast To The Arts Presented by Remy Martin on March 2, 2018, in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Remy Martin)

“All these years people been telling me I’m funny, but they didn’t say ‘funny,’ they said ‘you stupid?’ So, I learned a lesson that day.”

Haddish is currently dating rapper Common, as previously reported by theGrio. She says it’s been the best relationship of her life.

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Georgia State Patrol trooper arrested for murder after shooting Black man during traffic stop

A 60-year-old Black man was shot and killed in fatal traffic stop

Jacob Gordon Thompson, a Georgia State Patrol trooper, is in custody facing murder charges for allegedly fatally shooting a Black man during a traffic pursuit. CNN reports that his arrest happened on Friday, Aug. 14.

READ MORE: Georgia Lawmaker loses chairmanship after derogatory John Lewis comments

Thompson, 27, has been charged in the shooting death of Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, 60. According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Thompson attempted to stop Lewis for a broken taillight. Lewis didn’t stop and a pursuit ensued.

Former Georgia state trooper Jacob Gordon Thompson (Georgia Department of Public Safety)

Using a “precision intervention technique,” Thompson was able to end the brief chase by steering Lewis into a ditch to stop his car. Once stopped, according to the New York Times, Thompson observed Lewis with both hands on the steering wheel but says that he then saw Lewis maneuver the car in his direction. Thompson opened fire, shooting Lewis in the face.

Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Mr. Lewis was no threat as a 60-year-old man just trying to make it home from a convenience store run,” said the Lewis family attorney, Francys Johnson.

Johnson told the New York Times that Lewis went to the store around 9 p.m. on Aug. 7 to purchase a grape soda for his wife when he was stopped near Sylvania, Georgia.

The family was not notified of his death until 1 a.m. the next morning.

Thompson was fired from the Department of Public Safety and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. GBI says that he will be booked into the Screven County Jail.

In addition to GBI, the FBI is now also involved, according to Kevin Rowson, an Atlanta public affairs specialist for the FBI.

“The FBI is aware of the Screven County matter and we have been in contact with local and state authorities,” stated Rowson. “The FBI is always prepared to investigate whenever information comes to light of a potential federal violation.”

Johnson issued a statement on Friday, following Thompson’s arrest.

“The unprecedented pace of the investigation is a direct result of years of activism on these issues along with a sea-change in law enforcement leadership at the top of the GBI. This was not business as usual.”

Read More: Florida sheriff who recently endorsed Trump arrested in sex scandal

The Georgia chapter of the NAACP declared a state of emergency in the state “with respect to the never-ending acts of police violence that regularly and consistently put our communities in danger.”

Betty Lewis, Lewis’ widow, is relieved that Thompson was charged.

“I want justice for Julian. He was too good to die as he did,” Mrs. Lewis said in a statement. “This is one step towards justice.”

A candlelight vigil was held for Lewis on Friday at Sylvania City Hall and his homegoing ceremony took place Saturday at Charlestown Methodist Church in Sylvania.

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Netflix Presents: The Science of Superpowers | Project Power
Got a radioactive spider handy? How about a superpower pill? If you said no, then you’re one of the 7.59 billion members of humanity that currently doesn’t shoot flames or have bulletproof skin. But would powers ever be possible? We joined forces with scientists and doctors to explore the distant pathways to each of 4 superpowers in Project Power, whether it’s futuristic technology or borrowed biology. Come see what upgrades you’ll need. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Netflix Presents: The Science of Superpowers | Project Power https://youtube.com/Netflix An ex-soldier, a teen and a cop collide in New Orleans as they hunt for the source behind a dangerous new pill that grants users temporary superpowers.

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18 shot overnight in Cincinnati, at least four dead

Gun violence on the rise over bloody weekend in the Queen City

This weekend, Cincinnati, Ohio becomes the latest city to join a grim list – that of those who are adversely impacted by increasing gun violence in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read More: Florida sheriff who recently endorsed Trump arrested in sex scandal

As reported by Cincinnati.com, 18 people were shot over a deadly weekend with four believed dead. Although Cincinnati has had its problems with gun violence in the past, the uptick in gun violence may be related to the coronavirus pandemic that took hold in March.

The loss of jobs, the resulting strain on families, and the uncertainty of the future may have placed additional stress on already struggling communities.

A local pastor says more needs to be done to curtail the looming pandemic on both fronts.

“More importantly, call this for what it really is, a public health crisis,” Rev. Ennis Tait, pastor of New Beginnings of the Living God church in Avondale told Cincinatti.com. “Black, white, rich, poor, urban, suburban, preachers, police and politicians. It’s going to take us working together to get to the root cause of this problem in our city.”

The first set of three victims were shot around midnight on Lincoln and Gilbert Aves. The second wave was when four people were shot just an hour later on Chalfonte Ave. in Avondale. Another ten people were shot at McMicken and Lange Streets around the same time, with two known fatalities. Hours later, another shooting at Liberty and Linn Streets resulted in another death.

“One extremely violent night in the city of Cincinnati. Looking at possibly 17 victims, up to four that could be fatal at this time. Why? That’s going to be the question,” Asst. Chief Paul Neudigate told WLTW.

“Not that we have any information that they’re tied together. These all seem to be separate independent incidents but horrific and tragic that we have this much violence and potential for that much loss of life in our city.”

According to WLTW news reports, there have already been 60 homicides so far this year. According to Cincinatti.com, gun violence in the city of 500,000, boasting an almost equal population of Black and white residents, has increased by almost 65% in the last year. The average person killed is a 33-year-old Black male.

“Each of those lives matter and the majority of those who have lost their lives this year, last year and the year before that are African American,” Christopher Smitherman, chair of the city’s law and public safety committee told Cincinatti.com. “It’s unfortunate to say it is at the hands of other African Americans.”

Read More: Florida sheriff who recently endorsed Trump arrested in sex scandal

The increasing gun violence in Cincinnati reflects that of other cities like Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia, all who have seen shootings both fatal and otherwise increase over the summer.

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Zimbabwe rejects Catholic bishops' criticism of corruption and abuse

A government minister accuses the Church leaders of joining groups seeking "to manufacture crises".

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Kamala Harris has a message for voters who aren’t feeling her and Joe Biden

In an interview with theGrio, Sen. Harris explains why showing up to vote is a life or death matter in the age of COVID-19.

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Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has a message for anyone considering sitting out on this year’s presidential election. 

Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman VP nominee for a major political party, has won over voters who see her as a fierce advocate for the marginalized and who will give President Donald Trump a run for his money.

Since the VP announcement last week, the Biden-Harris campaign has brought $50 million in new fundraising.

Even former vocal critics are changing their tune due to Harris’ recent efforts around criminal justice reform.

Read More: Andrew Gillum recalls Kamala Harris’ advice to him during ‘dark’ time in rousing post

But backlash still came from those who see Democratic presidential presumptive nominee Joe Biden’s choice of Harris as a safe pick, or a problematic one because of her former career as a prosecutor, at a time when the nation is reckoning with race and police brutality.

The controversy is not lost on Harris.

“We have to meet people where they are and address their needs,” Sen. Harris told theGrio in an exclusive interview on Saturday, when asked about voters who are uninspired by her and Joe Biden.

“You may not fall in love with who you’re voting for, but if you just look down on a piece of paper at the issues that are impacting you every day, ” Harris continued.

“Whether you’ve got relatives who have been impacted by the COVID virus, you’re unemployed or trying to get that extra check that unemployment, that six hundred dollars. Or you look at who’s going to pay attention to whether the Black community is going to have equal access to a vaccine when it’s created … There is so much on the line in this election.”

Photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President

The fever pitch online debate over the Harris selection even moved award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay, to post about the stakes of the election, writing:

“There is no debate anymore. There’s no more room for it in my book. We either make this happen or literally more of us perish. ‘Oh but Kamala did this or she didn’t do that.’ I don’t wanna hear anything bad about her,” DuVernay wrote, listing the most egregious actions of the Trump administration. “We need all our energy focussed.”

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Harris understands why messages of “vote because people sacrificed” fall short to some. The daughter of two immigrants who met while protesting civil rights, says there’s more to voting than symbolism.

“It’s not only saying that people we need to vote to honor the ancestors because absolutely that is true,” Harris told theGrio. “We need to vote to honor the life and the legacy of John Lewis. That is absolutely true. But let’s also remember why they don’t want us to vote.”

Harris points out Russian interference in the 2016 election and says there is a targeted campaign to keep Black voters at home this November.

Read More: Kamala Harris shares video of Biden sharing VP news with her during call

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) (R) hugs Mara Peoples, Executive Vice President of the Howard University Student Association, beside Amos Jackson III, Executive President, after announcing her candidacy for President of the United States, at Howard University, her alma mater, on January 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)

Harris says the Black community’s needs include closing the racial wealth gap, promoting Black business and homeownership, and loan forgiveness for Black student graduates of HBCUs.

“We have to be heard and not let them stop us or prevent us or deter us from exercising our voices,” Harris told theGrio.

When asked, Harris says she wants to be held accountable for showing up for the Black community should she win the White House with Biden.

“Of course. Absolutely. Absolutely. But you know what? That won’t be a subject of conversation if folks don’t vote,” Harris says.

“Hold the current people accountable and look at what they’ve been doing and then decide. Is that working for you?”

Watch the rest of the interview with Senator Kamala Harris below, where she discusses her prosecutor record and facing off with President Trump.

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Mauritius oil spill: Wrecked MV Wakashio breaks up

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Robert Trump, President Donald Trump’s younger brother, dead at 71

Trump called Robert his ‘best friend’ in a statement on Saturday

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump‘s younger brother, Robert Trump, a businessman known for an even keel that seemed almost incompatible with the family name, died Saturday night after being hospitalized in New York, the president said in a statement. He was 71.

The president visited his brother at a New York City hospital on Friday after White House officials said he had become seriously ill. Officials did not immediately release a cause of death.

“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Donald Trump said in a statement. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”

The youngest of the Trump siblings had remained close to the 74-year-old president and, as recently as June, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family that unsuccessfully sought to stop publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece, Mary.

Read More: Trump startled after White House reporter asks ‘do you regret all the lying?’

In this April 5, 1990, file photo, Donald Trump waves to staff members of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort as they cheer him on before the grand opening ceremonies in Atlantic City, N.J. The preside (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Robert Trump had reportedly been hospitalized in the intensive care unit for several days that same month.

Both longtime businessmen, Robert and Donald had strikingly different personalities. Donald Trump once described his younger brother as “much quieter and easygoing than I am,” and “the only guy in my life whom I ever call ‘honey.’”

Robert Trump began his career on Wall Street working in corporate finance but later joined the family business, managing real estate holdings as a top executive in the Trump Organization.

“When he worked in the Trump Organization, he was known as the nice Trump,” Gwenda Blair, a Trump family biographer, told The Associated Press. “Robert was the one people would try to get to intervene if there was a problem.”

Robert Stewart Trump was born in 1948, the youngest of New York City real estate developer Fred Trump‘s five children.

The president, more than two years older than Robert, admittedly bullied his brother in their younger years, even as he praised his loyalty and laid-back demeanor.

“I think it must be hard to have me for a brother but he’s never said anything about it and we’re very close,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1987 bestseller “The Art of the Deal.”

Read More: Trump requests absentee ballot after attacking mail-in voting

“Robert gets along with almost everyone,” he added, “which is great for me since I sometimes have to be the bad guy.”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an East Room event at the White House March 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In the 1980s, Donald Trump tapped Robert Trump to oversee an Atlantic City casino project, calling him the perfect fit for the job. When it cannibalized his other casinos, though, “he pointed the finger of blame at Robert,” said Blair, author of “The Trumps: Three Generations that Built an Empire.”

“When the slot machines jammed the opening weekend at the Taj Mahal, he very specifically and furiously denounced Robert, and Robert walked out and never worked for his brother again,” Blair said.

A Boston University graduate, Robert Trump later managed the Brooklyn portion of father Fred Trump’s real estate empire, which was eventually sold.

Once a regular boldface name in Manhattan’s social pages, Robert Trump had kept a lower profile in recent years. “He was not a newsmaker,” Blair said.

Before divorcing his first wife, Blaine Trump, more than a decade ago, Robert Trump had been active on Manhattan’s Upper East Side charity circuit.

He avoided the limelight during his elder brother’s presidency, having retired to the Hudson Valley. But he described himself as a big supporter of the White House run in a 2016 interview with the New York Post.

“I support Donald one thousand percent,” Robert Trump said.

In early March of 2020, he married his longtime girlfriend, Ann Marie Pallan.

The eldest Trump sibling and Mary’s father, Fred Trump Jr., struggled with alcoholism and died in 1981 at the age of 43. The president’s surviving siblings include Elizabeth Trump Grau and Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal appeals judge.

Authors Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher described Robert Trump as soft spoken but cerebral in “Trump Revealed: The Definitive Biography of the 45th President”: “He lacked Donald’s charismatic showmanship, and he was happy to leave the bravado to his brother, but he could show flashes of Trump temper.”

___

AP researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report from New York.

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Florida sheriff arrested after framing mistress

Daniels will be up for reelection in a few days and questions the timing of his arrest.

In May 2019, Darryl Daniels, a Florida sheriff called his deputy and said he was being followed by someone in a Jeep and believed he was in danger.

Daniels was being followed by Cierra Smith, a woman with whom he had been having an affair for six years. She was on her way to their regular meeting spot.

Daniels falsely accused Smith, of stalking him. Although Smith was detained for hours, she was never charged, and Daniels ended up in jail.

READ MORE: Florida sheriff says he’ll deputize gun owners in response to BLM protesters

The Washington Post reported that, following a year-long investigation, Florida authorities filed four charges against Daniels. He was then arrested.

Daniels will be up for reelection in a few days and questions the timing of his arrest. He refused to drop out of the race and insists the scandal doesn’t prevent him from doing his job.

Darryl Daniels Sheriff Photo (via Florida Sheriff Directory)

“One thing I take ownership of as a man is my failure as a husband. That has nothing to do with me as a sheriff,” Daniels said in a video.

The Florida Times-Union reported that Daniels was charged with tampering with evidence, which is a felony. He was also charged with three misdemeanor counts of giving false information to other law enforcement officials.

Of course Darryl Daniels endorsed Trump. Birds of a feather, flock together. https://t.co/n4CpKqjmzY

— Marilyn 🤦‍♀️🌊🌊🌊 (@mlauriat) August 15, 2020

As reported by theGrio, Daniels was in the news again last month when he threatened to deputize every gun-owner in the county if BLM protests were to turn violent.

READ MORE: Activists call for justice after BLM protester Tianna Arata charged with five felonies

Smith, who was a 21-year-old rookie corrections officer when she began her affair with Daniels, is planning to sue the beleaguered lawman, according to her attorney, Latoya Shelton Williams.

Smith called the wrongful arrest that took place in front of her 8-year-old daughter, “an abuse of power.”

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Los Angeles mayor wants DIY coronavirus kit

Current testing kits rely on laboratories to process samples and typically takes day or weeks to return results.

Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, is promoting the concept of low-cost, do-it-yourself (DIY) coronavirus kits.

Garcetti has teamed up with health experts, bioscience executives, government leaders, and philanthropists to create DIY kits that do not require lab equipment or special instruments.

Is there a single good policy or political argument *against* accelerating FDA approval and manufacturing of these rapid DIY tests? https://t.co/xX5l22NJmO

— Joe Kristol (@JoeKristol) August 12, 2020

READ MORE: California surpasses New York state in confirmed virus cases

The at-home COVID-19 testing kits would allow real-time detection. Current testing kits rely on laboratories to process samples and typically take days or weeks to return results, according to Reuters.

“If we get this right, we could be doing as many as a million tests a week using paper strip testing just here in Los Angeles,” Garcetti said.

The DIY kits could be the best option to stop the spread of the virus, according to advocates like Michael Mina, a Harvard University epidemiologist.

“This is something we can actually do at warp speed,” Mina said. He also mentioned that these tests could be produced for as little as $1 a piece.

A healthcare worker gives a girl a throat swab test at a drive-in coronavirus (COVID-19) testing center at M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism on August 11, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. California reported 12,500 new cases after backlogged cases from a data glitch began appearing in the state’s system. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

READ MORE: California reports record high number of coronavirus deaths

For COVID-19 screening, the gold standard of testing is called a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test, which looks for traces of viral genetic material, Reuters reported.

Experts say quick and simple kits cannot meet this gold standard, and are generally prone to false-negative results.

As theGrio previously reported, California is currently the state with the most coronavirus cases.

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Postal union endorses Joe Biden for president

The postal carriers union blasted President Donald Trump for refusing to provide financial relief.

Issuing a staunch warning that the “very survival” of the U.S. Postal Service is at stake, the National Association of Letter Carriers endorsed presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president on Friday.

Reuters reported that the postal carriers union blasted President Donald Trump for refusing “to provide the necessary financial relief that would strengthen the agency during this pandemic.”

We can’t let Donald Trump destroy the U.S. Postal Service.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 9, 2020

Neither the president nor any of his respresentatives have commented.

The union referred to Biden as a “fierce ally and defender” of the postal service. They also praised Biden’s running mate, Senator Kamala Harris for advocating for a healthy and financially-stable post office.

READ MORE: Postal Service removing mail sorting machines as election nears

Democrats have been vocal in their criticism of Trump-supporter and new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, accusing him of carrying out Trump’s desire to disrupt the postal service by delaying mail and leaving much of it undelivered.

Trump recently said, “They want $25 billion for the post office. Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all these millions and millions of ballots.” He went on to say, “But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.”

So here is a suggestion for the Democratic convention: have Joe Biden or Kamala Harris do a roundtable discussion with four people whose lives have been uprooted by Postal Service delays. People not getting checks, long delays in needed medications, businesses w/o deliveries

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) August 15, 2020

On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer cited Trump’s remarks while criticizing their actions towards the postal service.

Pelosi and Schumer further said, “The president, his cronies and republicans in congress continue to wage their all-out assault on the Postal Service and its role in ensuring the integrity of the 2020 election.”

READ MORE: Postal Service running ‘out of cash’ and that may hurt African Americans

Pelosi and Schumer also said that Trump made it clear that he will manipulate the operations of the post office to guarantee his re-election. They added that President Trump’s own words confirm that “he needs to cheat to win.”

According to Reuters, Trump said he would support giving $25 billion to the Postal Service if he won other priorities in a coronavirus relief bill.

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Coronavirus: Ten African innovations to help tackle Covid-19

Coronavirus has inspired Africans to create a wide range of inventions to help fight the pandemic.

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Jusuf Nurkic’s grandmother passed away from coronavirus

Nurkic had been concerned about his grandmother’s health since she was diagnosed.

Jusuf Nurkic, center player for the Portland Blazers, posted on Instagram to let his followers know that his grandmother had passed away due to the coronavirus.

In a rough translation from Croatian to English, his caption read, “One of the best. We are all Allah’s and we return to Him. #ripgrandma #loveyou.”

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Inna lillahi we inna ilejhi radži'un. “Svi smo Allahovi i Njemu se vraćamo” #ripgrandma #loveyou

A post shared by Jusuf Nurkić (@bosnianbeast27) on Aug 15, 2020 at 9:51am PDT

Nurkic made the announcement two hours before today’s playoff game. The Blazers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday in the NBA’s first-ever play-in game. Nurkic has been inside the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort.

READ MORE: NBA players instructed to invite guests to bubble they have ‘significant’ relationships with

Nurkic had spoken openly about the grief he felt as his grandmother was dealing with the coronavirus. He first revealed that she was sick after Portland lost to Boston on August 2.

At the time, the 25-year-old was hopeful about her recovery and said “I’m praying for her.”

Love you big fella @bosnianbeast27 . We gonna hold you down 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/z6IDQXOBPz

— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) August 15, 2020

Game 1 of the first-round series will be between the Lakers and Blazers, and is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday. This marks the Blazers’ seventh consecutive season into the NBA playoffs, according to The Oregonian.

“Obviously the court is the safest place for me. I’ve been through a lot in my life. It’s not going to change my mindset. It will be the same when I’m on the floor,” said Nurkic.

READ MORE: NBA Foundation commits $300M to Black economic growth

Nurkic, whose total played time against the Grizzlies was 40 minutes and who scored 22 points, according to the official NBA box score, is dealing with the loss of his grandmother all while fighting to keep the Blazers in the playoffs.

As of now, beating the Grizzlies 126 to 122, the Blazers are the eighth seed in the Western Conference, making them eligible to play against the Los Angeles Lakers, first seed, in the first round of the playoffs.

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Meghan Markle says she is inspired by BLM protests

Markle spoke during The 19th Represents Virtual Summit.

Upon arrival to the U.S. Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, said she was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests honoring George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.

In an interview with The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics, and policy, Markle spoke about being a bi-racial mother and said she is happy to be home.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry relocate to ‘family home’ in Santa Barbara

The interview took place during The 19th Represents Virtual Summit. Markle spoke with The 19th CEO and co-founder, Emily Ramshaw.

“It was so sad to see where our country was in that moment. If there’s any silver lining in that, I would say that in the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, in the peaceful protests that you were seeing, in the voices that were coming out, in the way that people were actually owning their role,” Markle said.

“It shifted from sadness to a feeling of absolute inspiration, because I can see that the tide is turning,” she continues.

As theGrio previously reported, Markle and her husband Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, had relocated to a new mansion, owned by Tyler Perry, in a Beverly Hills.

They recently moved into a new home in Montecito, California, one of the wealthiest areas in the country.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry talk racism with Commonwealth youth leaders

Together, they have also spent time volunteering and lending their time to important causes. The couple teamed up with Project Angel Food, delivering meals to people living with critical illness this past Easter.

The couple has also expressed an interest in using their platform to speak out against racism and injustice.

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Georgia lawmaker loses chairmanship after derogatory John Lewis comments

Rep. Tommy Benton claimed that Lewis ‘milked’ his beating on the Edmund Pettus Bridge

Georgia Representative Tommy Benton (R.-Jefferson) had some harsh words for recently departed congressman and civil rights pillar John Lewis. As a result, he’s lost his seat as a committee chairman.

In a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rep. Benton was being interviewed on WJJC (1270 AM) on Thursday, August 13. During the radio interview, a mere two weeks since Lewis’ memorial, Benton stated that he felt Lewis had no significant accomplishments in 33 years as a congressman.

“John Lewis, his only claim to fame was that he got conked on the head at the (Edmund) Pettus Bridge,” Benton said. “And he has milked that for 50 years — or he milked it for 50 years.”

Rep. John Lewis (Photo by Melina Mara-Pool/Getty Images)

READ MORE: Trump evades paying respect to John Lewis: ‘He didn’t come to my inauguration’

Benton, who was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2004, also stated he didn’t agree with a bipartisan effort to remove a U.S. Capital statue of Confederacy Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens and replace it with one of Lewis.

“I would suggest that before they do something like that, that they take a pilgrimage down to Crawfordville and visit the Alexander Stephens museum, and read all the stuff that he did do,” Benton went on.

“Now, the other person they’re talking about replacing his statue with — I have never read of a significant piece of legislation that was passed with his name on it.”

After his interview, it was announced that his chairmanship of the House Retirement Committee had been revoked by House Speaker David Ralston.

“The comments made by Representative Benton are offensive and disgusting. These comments do not reflect the values or the views of the House Majority Caucus. I can neither condone nor ignore such hurtful remarks,” stated Ralson, a Blue Ridge Republican.

“Congressman John Lewis spent a lifetime of public service advancing equality for all. He stood with Dr. King to fight for civil rights during dangerous times for which he paid a brutal price.”

Respected Rep. John Lewis has passed away. Lewis announced in December 2019 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. (Photo from 2013 by Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images for U.S. Postal Service)

This was the second time Benton had a chairmanship stripped for similar behavior.

In 2017, Benton gave his House colleagues copies of an article entitled “The Absurdity of Slavery as the Cause of the War Between the States.” The piece argued that slavery was not the main cause of the Civil War.

This came just a year after making a statement about the Ku Klux Klan, saying that the terrorist group “was not so much a racist thing, but a vigilante thing to keep law and order,” and that their presence “made a lot of people straighten up.”

After circulating the article, Benton was then removed as chairman of House Human Relations and Aging Committee for one legislative year.

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Tyler Perry to Launch The Virtual Madea Museum

Tyler Perry is officially saying goodbye to his signature character Madea with the release of “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play” and the launch of The Virtual Madea Museum.

After more than 20 years of making audiences laugh, Madea’s final act will stream exclusively on BET+ on Aug. 27. BET’s streaming platform is also paying tribute to the beloved character with a virtual museum experience titled, “The Virtual Madea Museum,” which captures Madea’s legacy, cultural influence, and achievements, according to a press release sent to BLACK ENTERPRISE. Each aspect of the museum will honor the comedic matriarch through a series of exhibits. Fans, however, will only be able to experience the digital interactive museum for a limited time, starting Monday, Aug. 17.

Perry first introduced Mabel “Madea” Earlene Simmons with the premiere of his stage play I Can Do Bad All By Myself in 1999. Perry then raised $5.5 million budget in part from the ticket sales of his stage productions to fund his first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which premiered in 2005 and went on to gross $50.6 million in the U.S.

Per the press release, The Virtual Madea Museum experience will include exhibits like “The Legacy Portrait Shop,” a virtual wall of portraits of Madea chronicling her first stage play appearance to her last; “The Hall of Song,” which highlights the best musical moments in Madea stage play history and allows guests to take part in a virtual singing experience; and the “Museums & Pearls Costume Exhibit,” a visual documentation of Madea’s style evolution. The museum will also include a gift shop featuring limited-edition memorabilia.

Since Tyler Perry Studios and BET Networks launched BET+ almost a year ago, the SVOD service has crossed the 1 million subscriber mark, reports Deadline. In addition to Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play, BET+ features other original films and TV series including the drama Ruthless and comedy Bruh, as well as Tracy Oliver’s First Wives Club and the Will Packer’s Bigger.

 

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Netflix on YouTube

Drag Queens Trixie Mattel & Katya React to The Umbrella Academy Season 2 | I Like to Watch | Netflix
Drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya react to scenes from the hit Netflix series Umbrella Academy Season 2 -- in this episode of "I Like to Watch". Watch The Umbrella Academy, Only on Netflix: https://ift.tt/2DmZSrQ SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Drag Queens Trixie Mattel & Katya React to The Umbrella Academy Season 2 | I Like to Watch | Netflixhttps://youtube.com/Netflix Blasted back in time to 1960s Dallas, the scattered siblings build new lives for themselves — until a new doomsday threat pulls them back together.

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