The post Fox News disavowed ‘horrific’ posts by Tucker Carlson staffer appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>- In a Saturday afternoon internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Fox News executives said the network condemns the “horrendous and deeply offensive” online activity of host Tucker Carlson’s former top writer.
- CNN Business first reported on Friday that writer Blake Neff secretly posted racist, sexist, and homophobic messages for years under the pseudonym CharlesXII on the forum AutoAdmit.
- A Fox News spokesperson previously confirmed to Business Insider late Friday that Neff had resigned, but did not confirm the circumstances behind his departure nor did they comment on the CNN Business report.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Fox News executives issued a memo on Saturday to condemn the “racist, misogynistic, and homophobic” online activity of host Tucker Carlson’s former top writer that were revealed in a CNN Business report.
In the internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace wrote that the network condemns the “horrendous and deeply offensive” online posts made by writer Blake Neff under a pseudonym.
“We want to make absolutely clear that Fox News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic, and homophobic behavior,” the memo read.
CNN Business first reported on Friday that Neff secretly posted racist, sexist, and homophobic messages for years under the pseudonym CharlesXII on the forum AutoAdmit. A Fox News spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider late Friday that Neff had resigned, but did not confirm the circumstances behind his departure nor did they comment on the CNN Business report.
“Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we accepted his swift resignation,” the memo read. “Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of the workforce.”
The memo also said Carlson would be addressing the incident on his Monday night show.
Neff has worked for Fox News for nearly four years and joined Carlson’s show shortly after its inception in November 2016, according to an article in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.
When he was the top writer for Tucker Carlson Tonight, Neff told the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine that “anything he is reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me,” adding that he initially discussed news coverage with Carlson every day but has since “gotten used to what he likes and what he thinks about.”
In one post identified by CNN, Neff wrote on June 26 that the only people concerned with changing the name of the Washington Redskins football team from a racial slur for Native Americans were “white libs and their ‘university-educated’ pets.”
On June 24, CharlesXII posted a message on the forum that read: “Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep,” according to CNN Business.
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]]>The post Horrific video shows black man who was out for a run shot dead by two men appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>Shocking video appears to show the moment when a black man jogging in Georgia was gunned down by a man who claimed he was looking for a burglar suspect – as the victim’s family lawyer saying the footage clearly shows a ‘murder.’
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was killed Febuary 23 in a neighborhood outside the coastal port city of Brunswick. No one has been arrested or charged in the case, prompting an outcry from the local NAACP and others. Arbery was black and the men who chased him are white.
The cellphone video has circulated heavily across social media on the same day as an announcement from a Georgia prosecutor that he wants a grand jury to decide if criminal charges are warranted against the two men.
Arbery can be seen jogging down the street, in the middle of the road as the parked pickup truck waits further up. Gregory and Travis McMichael are believed to be the two men waiting at the vehicle.
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Cellphone video has been circulating showing the moment Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was killedon Febuary 23 as he was jogging in a Georgia neighborhood
Arbery can be seen jogging down the street, in the middle of the road as the parked pickup truck waits further up. Gregory and Travis McMichael are believed to be the two men waiting at the vehicle. The clip shows the jogger trying to get around the group
Screaming can be heard, but it is inaudible.
The jogger can be seen trying to make his way around the vehicle but a man believed to be Travis blocks his path with a gun.
A shot can be heard and the two can then be seen scuffling as Arbery looks to try to get the gun away from Travis.
Two more shots can be heard and are fired at point-blank range before Arbery is seen stumbling to the ground.
Tom Durden, a Georgia prosecutor assigned to examine the case, declined to comment Tuesday when the prosecutor was asked if he could verify that the video showed the shooting of Arbery.
Durden announced on Tuesday he plans to have a grand jury hear the evidence in the shooting.
The announcement that a grand jury will review the case came as an attorney for Arbery’s mother posted a cellphone video on Twitter that he said shows the shooting. ‘This is murder,’ lawyer Lee Merritt said.
‘Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherence of their unlawful attempted stop,’ said a statement by Merritt, who represents Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper.
A shot can be heard and the two can then be seen scuffling as Arbery looks to try to get the gun away from Travis. Two more shots can be heard and are fired at point-blank range before
Arbery can be seen stumbling to the ground as the clip comes to a close. ‘This is murder,’ Arbery’s family lawyer, Lee Merritt said
The grand jury won’t happen for more than a month, as Georgia courts remain largely closed because of the coronavirus until at least June 13.
‘I am of the opinion that the case should be presented to the grand jury of Glynn County for consideration of criminal charges against those involved in the death of Mr. Arbery,’ Durden said in a statement Tuesday.
Reached by phone, Durden said no arrests have been made in connection with the shooting. He declined to say what charges he would have a grand jury consider or to comment further.
John Perry, a Brunswick pastor and president of the local NAACP chapter, said he was glad to hear that Durden will send the case to a grand jury. But he was dismayed that the armed men who went after Arbery remain free.
‘Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherence of their unlawful attempted stop,’ said a statement by lawyer Lee Merritt, who represents Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper
‘It’s very problematic,’ Perry said. ‘To shoot and kill and not get arrested, it doesn’t compute.’
Arbery was shot dead in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, just after 1pm on February 23.
According to Glynn County Police, officers responded to the area as a result of a 911 call, but by the time they arrived to the scene Arbery had been shot by a white man identified as 34-year-old Travis McMichael.
Travis and his father, Gregory, 64, a retired Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney investigator, had seen Arbery, who was unarmed, running in the area and armed themselves before chasing him down in a pickup truck.
Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, just after 1pm on February 23
According to Glynn County Police, officers responded to the area as a result of a 911 call, but by the time they arrived to the scene Arbery had been shot by a white man identified as 34-year-old Travis McMichael (right). The other man was identified as Travis’ father, Gregory (left)
According to The New Brunswick News, 911 dispatchers received two calls about Arbery being in the neighborhood.
About 50 seconds into one of the calls, the dispatcher interrupted the caller and said: ‘I just need to know what he was doing wrong.’
During the chase, the McMichaels yelled for Arbery to stop because they wanted to talk to him, according to The New York Times.
They then pulled up to Arbery, and Travis got out of the truck with the shotgun.
Gregory claimed that Arbery started to ‘violently attack Travis’ and the two men started fighting over the shotgun.
That’s when Travis fired one shot and then ‘a second later there was a second shot’.
More than two months later and neither Gregory nor Travis McMichael have been charged with Arbery’s death.
Arbery’s family has started a Facebook page called I Run with Maud that serves as an outlet for relatives to advocate for justice.
‘On February 23rd 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was wrongfully chased and killed by two individuals who took the law into their own hands after they thought Ahmaud ‘looked suspicious’ because he was ‘running’ down the street.
‘Join us in bringing light to this tragedy as we demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery,’ the page reads.
During the chase, the McMichaels yelled for Arbery (pictured with his family) to stop because they wanted to talk to him. They then pulled up to Arbery, and Travis got out of the truck with the shotgun
Gregory said Arbery (pictured with his family) started to ‘violently attack Travis’. That’s when Travis fired one shot and then ‘a second later there was a second shot’. More than two months later and neither Gregory nor Travis McMichael have been charged with Arbery’s death
In mid-April, the family shared a statement from the office of Jackie Johnson, the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District attorney, announcing that she had recused her office from the case because Gregory served as an investigator within the office.
Arbery’s case was then sent to George E. Barnhill, the district attorney in Waycross, Georgia.
But he also had to recuse himself from the case after Arbery’s mother argued that Barnhill had a conflict because his son also works for Johnson.
According to the Times, before Barnhill gave up the case, he had argued that there was not sufficient probable cause to arrest Arbery’s attackers.
Barnhill claimed that the McMichaels were within their rights to carry their firearms under Georgia’s open carry law and had the right to pursue a ‘burglary suspect’.
Under Georgia law, Barnhill had argued that if Arbery attacked Travis, he was ‘allowed to use deadly force to protect himself’.
Barnhill also claimed that Arbery had mental health issues and prior convictions, which include shoplifting and violating probation.
Arbery’s defender, Michael J. Moore, called Barnhill’s statements ‘flawed’, noting that the McMichaels were the ones who appeared to be the aggressors.
‘The law does not allow a group of people to form an armed posse and chase down an unarmed person who they believe might have possibly been the perpetrator of a past crime,’ Moore said, according to the Times.
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The coronavirus has killed nearly 70 veterans at an elder care facility in Massachusettes, in what’s being described as the deadliest known outbreak at a long-term care facility in the U.S.
An additional 82 veterans and 81 employees have also tested positive for the virus at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, and federal officials are trying to determine whether residents were denied proper medical care as deaths continue to climb.
“It’s horrific,” said Edward Lapointe, whose father-in-law lives at the home and had a mild case of the virus. “These guys never had a chance.”
AT MASSACHUSETTS VETERANS’ HOME, CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK AND 32 DEATHS PROMPTS FEDERAL PROBE
The outbreak has now claimed the lives of nearly one-third of all residents at the veterans’ home, with a new fatality being reported almost every day.
Cleaners unwrap their protective gear as they leave the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Mass on March 29. Nearly 70 residents have died from the coronavirus at the central Massachusetts home for aging veterans, as state and federal officials try to figure out what went wrong in the deadliest outbreak at a long-term care facility in the U.S. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via AP, File)
With limited staffing, workers were forced to routinely travel to other units in order to provide help, which caused the virus to spread at an extremely high rate, according to Joan Miller, a nurse at the home. Some workers were without proper personal protective equipment (PPE), the Boston Globe reported.
She added that an entire unit was forced to shut down because it didn’t have enough employees to run it, forcing veterans into close proximity with those uninfected.
“Veterans were on top of each other. We didn’t know who was positive and who was negative and then they grouped people together and that really exacerbated it even more,” said Miller. “That’s when it really blew up.”
Many of the veterans were at an age that made them susceptible to severe illness from the virus. Before the outbreak, about one-third of residents were 90 or older and needed round-the-clock care, the paper reported.
Only 106 residents remained as of Monday, according to Brooke Karanovich, a spokeswoman for Health and Human Services — leading some to believe the worst is over.
Flags and wreaths honor veterans April 28 on the grounds of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Mass., where a number of people died due to the coronavirus. While the death toll at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home continues to climb, federal officials are investigating whether residents were denied proper medical care while the state’s top prosecutor is deciding whether to bring legal action. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)
In late March, there were roughly 230 residents living at the home. Forty-three residents have since been hospitalized.
WISCONSIN WWII VET, WIFE OF 73 YEARS HAD CORONAVIRUS AND DIED WITHIN HOURS
“We’ve mostly contained the crisis, but we have such a small number so that’s almost expected,” Miller added, according to the paper.
The crisis has prompted investigations by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, and the federal Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Boston Globe reported.
The superintendent of the veterans’ home, Bennett Walsh, has been placed on administrative leave following the outbreak. He’s accused state officials of falsely claiming they were unaware of potential problems.
Earlier this month, he said they knew the home was in “crisis mode” when it came to staffing shortages and were notified early and often about the contagion at the facility.
Beth Lapointe said her father’s roommate tested positive for the virus in March — and later died — but her father was initially denied a test because he didn’t show any symptoms. As the virus spread, family members were kept in the dark about what was going on inside, she said.
“Every day I would ask different people, ‘What’s going on in there?’ And I would never get information,” she said.
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There is currently no official count of nursing home deaths across the country. The federal government has only recently required the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes to start reporting numbers of confirmed and presumed deaths and infections, but it is not yet clear when that count will be published.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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