This is bound to tug at your heartstrings. If it doesn’t, then your heartstrings may have been cut a while back.
Joe Riquelme built the popular iPhone video editing app Videoshop, and his project has been so successful that he was able to surprise his parents this Christmas by paying off their mortgage.
Don’t tell Kim Jong Un, but the controversial movie, ‘The Interview’ was still released on December 25th, despite terrorist threats from The Supremes in North Korea. The movie, in case you still don’t know, is a comedy about the assassination of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un. And although the movie’s Christmas day release pales in comparison to other movie releases, Americans went to the theaters in clear defiant to the demands from North Korea.
Yes, North Korea actually had the balls to demand the movie not be shown here in America. The even invoked the threat of September 11th type attacks if the movie was shown. They really thought we would have cower and stay away from the theaters!
Variety predicts that this number may drop off due to The Interview‘s release on VOD, but it is better than no dollars, which is the amount Sony would have made had they gone through with the complete cancellation of the film thanks to hacker attacks possibly sponsored by North Korea. Many of the indie chains reported that their screenings were all completely sold out.
An interesting story by Reuters details how some active and retired black police officers are treated when off duty or out of uniform.
They too are profiled.
Reuters interviewed 25 African American male officers on the NYPD, 15 of whom are retired and 10 of whom are still serving. All but one said that they had been victims of racial profiling, which refers to using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.
The officers said this included being pulled over for no reason, having their heads slammed against their cars, getting guns brandished in their faces, being thrown into prison vans and experiencing stop and frisks while shopping. The majority of the officers said they had been pulled over multiple times while driving. Five had had guns pulled on them.
Desmond Blaize (pictured above), who retired two years ago as a sergeant in the 41st Precinct in the Bronx, said he once got stopped while taking a jog through Brooklyn’s upmarket Prospect Park. “I had my ID on me so it didn’t escalate,” said Blaize, who has sued the department alleging he was racially harassed on the job. “But what’s suspicious about a jogger? In jogging clothes?”
The NYPD and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the police officers’ union, declined requests for comment. However, defenders of the NYPD credit its policing methods with transforming New York from the former murder capital of the world into the safest big city in the United States.
Ex-Police Chief Skeptical.
“It makes good headlines to say this is occurring, but I don’t think you can validate it until you look into the circumstances they were stopped in,” said Bernard Parks, the former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, who is African American.
“Now if you want to get into the essence of why certain groups are stopped more than others, then you only need to go to the crime reports and see which ethnic groups are listed more as suspects. That’s the crime data the officers are living with.”
YouTube and other online services will carry The Interview, beginning on Thursday.
As first reported by CNN’s Brian Stelter and later confirmed by Sony, viewers are able to rent or buy the film from YouTube Movies, Google Play, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and via SeeTheInterview.com. (The cost is $5.99 to rent, and $14.99 to purchase).
Another teenager was shot and killed in Missouri yesterday. Another black teenager shot by another white police officer. And there is a video.
They said the teenager, identified as 18-year-old Antonio Martin, pointed a gun at the officers.
Here is the statement from the police department:
Surveillance video from officer-involved shooting in Berkeley, Missouri. This video shows the suspect pointing a gun at the officer.
More information on the incident:
At approximately 11:15 PM on December 23, 2014, a police officer with the City of Berkeley was conducting a routine business check at the Mobile Gas Station located at 6800 N. Hanley when he observed two male subjects on the side of the building. The Berkeley Police Officer exited his vehicle and approached the subjects when one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. Fearing for his life, the Berkeley Officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him. The second subject fled the scene.
The Berkeley Police Department requested the St. Louis County Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit to handle the investigation. St. Louis County Police Detectives have recovered the deceased subject’s handgun at the scene. At this time, I cannot confirm the identity of the deceased subject. The investigation is on-going and further details will follow as they become available.
Oh yes they can, and the Republican leadership has nothing to say about these felons working in Congress.
Take this Republican Representative from New York for example. Rep. Michael Grimm plead guilty to a felony charge on Tuesday, and not only is he refusing to quit the House, his leaders are ducking the issue.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has declined to comment on the case, saying he is waiting to talk to Grimm. The two Republicans haven’t spoken, according to a knowledgeable aide.
Story Continued Below
After a court appearance in Brooklyn earlier today, a defiant Grimm told reporters he had spoken to GOP leadership but had no intentions of voluntarily giving up his seat.
Like Boehner, other top House Republicans have ducked the Grimm scandal thus far. An aide to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had no immediate comment Tuesday. A spokesman for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said the No. 3 member of the Republican leadership had nothing to say.
Yet the situation will surely test the Republican leadership’s promise to hold members of Congress to the highest standards.
Inwood (Long Island) Firefighter, Joseph Sanford Jr. won’t be where he belongs this Christmas. His family will miss him dearly.
The 17 year department veteran succumbed to his injuries sustained in a house fire 5 days ago in Inwood. Sanford was helping to battle a blaze in the house. He was standing in the kitchen of the home when the floor gave out from under him. He was unaccounted for for several minutes before his dept. brothers found him in the basement. He fought for his life for (4) days but ultimately passed away yesterday.
Sanford is survived by his wife and daughter but his family went way beyond those who were related to him, as many firefighters are feeling the pain caused by his loss.
His loved ones have started a gofundme.com page to raise money for his wife and daughter in their time of need.
Sanford was 43 years old.
It’s always sad when these things happen but when it happens during the holiday season, it seems to be particularly harder to handle. This EZKOOL writer has already donated to the Sanford family and I ask that you do too.
Any amount will help. If you find that you cannot afford to donate, that’s okay too. Please just share Joseph’s story on social media.
Thank You and Merry Christmas from all of us here at Ezkool.com
Was it McDonalds?
It seems funny seeing all that french fries and mayo raining down on the prime minister of Belgium, but the use of “french” fries is rather significant – the country is divided between Dutch and French speaking citizens, so the dumping french fries on the prime minister is wholly political.
And they are so polite… so cute!
TMZ got a hold of this video. It shows a performer singing a brand spanking new song celebrating the murder of Ferguson’s Mike Brown by the hands of a former police officer, Darren Wilson. The celebratory song was performed at The Glendale, CA Elks Lodge. The lodge is investigating…
The song was a parody of “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” Gary Fishell, the performer and a member of the Lodge, changed the lyrics, which include:
Michael Brown learned a lesson about a messin’
With a badass policeman
And he’s bad, bad Michael Brown
Baddest thug in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog
Two men took to fightin’
And Michael punched in through the door
And Michael looked like some old Swiss cheese
His brain was splattered on the floor
And he’s dead, dead Michael Brown
Deadest man in the whole damn town
His whole life’s long gone
Deader than a roadkill dog
Video
Another case, this time in Houston. The grand jury is out and a decision is expected anytime now.
Jordan Baker, who was 26 years old, was shot and killed by HPD officer Juventino Castro on Jan. 16. He was shot in a northwest Houston strip center where a string of robberies had been reported.
HPD initially claimed Castro thought Baker was a robbery suspect and shot him when he charged the officer.
“My son was shot and killed for being in a place that he had every right to be in,” his mother, Janet Baker, said.
Protesters voiced their opinions about the local case which is similar to others happening across the country. The Houston Coalition for Justice says they see the writing on the wall.
“The pattern, there’s been 288 cases where there has not been an indictment of a police officer,” said Durrel Douglas,Houston Coalition for Justice.
Protesters said they would only be satisfied if there is a trial for Baker’s death. Even then, they said they will continue to protest the system.
This has to be the most fuss any movie has received in the history of movie making. The once on-again, off-again movie that depicts the assassination of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is now back on-again, and will be shown in selected movie theaters on December 25th.
“We have never given up on releasing ‘The Interview,‘ and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day,” Sony Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement.
He added that Sony is continuing to “secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”
Lynton’s statement came after Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas confirmed to NBC News that the Texas theater chain will run the film. The theater’s website posted multiple showtimes beginning Thursday for a location in Richardson, Texas.
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