Guess hoaxing for a raise didn’t work too well.

Via ABC:

CHICAGO — Jussie Smollett’s character will be written off the last two episodes of the TV show “Empire.”

The executive producers of the show, including Lee Daniels, issued a statement Friday morning that said they have decided to remove Smollett’s character, Jamal, from the last two episodes of the season.

The producers said they care deeply about Smollett, who has been an important member of the show’s family since the beginning. They said the last few weeks have taken an emotional toll on the cast and crew, and called the allegations “very disturbing.” The producers decided to remove Jamal to avoid further disruption on set, as the legal process plays out.

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Bye, bye middle class.

Via NY Times:

From the very first day of the 2020 presidential race, when Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts blamed “generations of discrimination” for black families earning far less than white households, Democratic hopefuls have broadly emphasized racial justice and closing the wealth gap in their policy platforms.

But in recent weeks, some candidates have started embracing specific goals and overtly race-conscious legislation that even the most left-wing elected officials stayed away from in recent years.

Last week, Senator Kamala Harris of California agreed with a radio host’s recent suggestion that government reparations for black Americans were necessary to address the legacies of slavery and discrimination. Ms. Harris later affirmed that support in a statement to The Times.

“We have to be honest that people in this country do not start from the same place or have access to the same opportunities,” she said. “I’m serious about taking an approach that would change policies and structures and make real investments in black communities.”

Ms. Warren also said she supported reparations for black Americans impacted by slavery — a policy that experts say could cost several trillion dollars, and one that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and many top Democrats have not supported.

The Warren campaign declined to give further details on that backing, but it came amid her calls for the federal government to provide special home-buying assistance to residents of communities that were adversely affected by “redlining,” the discriminatory practice of denying mortgages, usually in poor and nonwhite areas. She also announced a sweeping universal child-care proposal that could strongly benefit minority communities that often have limited early childhood services.

The morally driven policy goals of Ms. Harris and Ms. Warren reflect a broader shift in the importance of race and identity issues in the Democratic Party, according to several scholars and political leaders who focus on the intersection of race and politics. While Democrats have long cast themselves as more inclusive than the Republican Party, grass-roots organizers and many liberal voters of all races are now pushing elected officials to go further on policies of racial equality, regardless of any political calculations.

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The nutmeg State is going to hell in a handbasket.

Via Washington Examiner:

A flag honoring law enforcement was removed for the Connecticut State Capitol building Tuesday because Democrats said it could offend African Americans.

“In the context of history behind it [the flag] a lot of my members expressed a lot of concerns especially in this building,” Connecticut State Rep. Brandon McGee, a Democrat and chairman of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, said, according to a local NBC affiliate.

“We are not anti- you know — police, we support our men in blue,” he said, “but we also know that given the history around black people, people of color with respect to this particular issue. I just think it was necessary to share our concerns with our leadership.”

A wooden plaque with a “thin blue flag” — a black-and-white American flag with one of the horizontal lines changes to blue, altered to pay homage to U.S. law enforcement — was donated by a member of the State Capitol Police.

Similar flags have been seen at counterprotests to Black Lives Matter rallies across the country, and in 2017, a version of the flag was removed from an Oregon courthouse after it was associated with white supremacists at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.

The handmade plaque was hung in the Police Memorial Hall, which connects the Legislative Office Building to the Capitol. It was taken down Tuesday morning.

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Good luck. The local mall has lost the big-name stores, nothing to draw a law-abiding crowd.

Via WACH:

Vice President Mike Pence joined Senator Tim Scott in Columbia Thursday at The Meeting Place Church to speak before they toured an Opportunity Zone.

Sen. Scott pushed for Opportunity Zones to be included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Both Vice President Pence and Sen. Scott will tour the Capital 8 Theater, a designated Opportunity Zone.

Scott said the creation of these Opportunity Zones will only help people who feel they’ve lost hope for a brighter future before introducing Vice President Pence.

“There are places in our nation where folks have felt left behind,” he said. “I designed the Opportunity Zone legislation to look in those areas where people have potential but needed help. The ‘why’ behind it is more important than the ‘what.'”

Vice President Pence applauded Sen. Scott’s efforts for his work in helping South Carolina’s economy grow, citing Scott helping spearhead tax reform in the state in 2017. He said nearly 80,000 jobs have been added to the state in the last two years and is enjoying a lower unemployment rate.

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Reparations not reconciliation.

Via Daily Caller:

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam was asked to cancel an appearance at a historically black college as part of his “reconciliation tour” after the university’s student government asked him to stay away in a Monday letter.

Northam was set to appear at an event, “Faith, Identity and Social Justice” at Virginia Union University (VUU) Thursday, where the Richmond 34 would be commemorated. The Richmond 34 was a group of VUU students who were arrested for protesting segregated lunch counters at a department store in 1960.

“It is our understanding you are seeking to gain atonement from your past actions while simultaneously affirming your constituents that you hold true to your beliefs in leading Virginia forward, a letter from VUU Student Government Association President Jamon Phenix said.

The letter added that the student body was in support of having an honest conversation surrounding race. (RELATED: Northam Official Denies Claim That Governor Was Considering Party Switch)

However, they felt that the governor’s presence would take away from the Richmond 34, especially given recent controversy over a picture featuring a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan costume appearing under Northam’s name in his 1984 medical yearbook.

Northam got further engulfed in a media storm after admitting at a press conference that he darkened his face with shoe polish for a Michael Jackson costume.

Phenix wrote that they would like to reschedule Northam’s visit for a date in the Spring.

Northam responded Wednesday, saying he will “abide by the students’ wishes.”

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Bout that time.

Via WJHL:

The first-ever Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference set for later this year.

Several speakers all under one roof will talk all things Bigfoot. The event is headlined by Cliff Barackman from the Animal Planet show ‘Finding Bigfoot’.

The event will be Saturday, July 27 from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Gatlinburg Convention Center.

Tickets start at $25 dollars.

Visit gatherupevents.com/smoky-mountain-bigfoot-conference for more information.

HT: Smokey

"Mother (expletive), you come in here, I’m going to blow your damn brains out!"

Coming up on Channel 2 Action News at 5: @BPetersenWSB has THE INTERVIEW you can't miss…

Great-grandma grabs her gun & goes straight after the guy who broke into her home – https://t.co/a5BvuGgo1R pic.twitter.com/sMwc1C0Osq

— George Marshalek (@MarshalekWSB) February 21, 2019

Gotta love this woman.

JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. – A great grandmother with a pistol fired shots at a man trying to break into her home – scaring him into a closet until police arrived, according to investigators.

Gwendolyn Agard, 79, was in her house in Jackson County when a man shattered the glass on a second-floor door in the back of the house and came inside, police say.

Agard quickly grabbed her gun and called 911. She told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen she yelled at the man and fired a few shots at him. She missed, but the alleged thief was so scared, he hid in an upstairs closet until police arrived.

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We have just built this powerful Wall in New Mexico. Completed on January 30, 2019 – 47 days ahead of schedule! Many miles more now under construction! #FinishTheWall pic.twitter.com/TYkj3KRdOC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019

Cue the Democratic implosion at all that immorality.

Via Daily Caller:

Several days after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, construction began on the fifth border wall project of his administration.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday that work has started on replacing 14 miles of a steel-mesh fence along the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, The Associated Press reported. The fence is being replaced with 30-foot high steel bollards. It is actually the second layer of barrier to be put up in the area, with the first layer nearly complete.

SLSCO Ltd., a company located in Galveston, Texas, scored the $101 million contract in December 2018. The Trump administration has already awarded around $1 billion in contracts to cover 97 miles of the southern border, with the project in San Diego being one of the latest.

Trump touted the construction Wednesday of a border wall in New Mexico.

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MOMENTS AGO: Jussie Smollet mobbed as he leaves court in Chicago following bond hearing.

pic.twitter.com/A3CjR97O3a

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 21, 2019

He got the attention he wanted.

Via Fox News:

The judge who set “Empire” star Jussie Smollett’s bond at $100,000 gave the actor an earful after Smollett was charged Thursday with disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report.

“As you stand before me we presume you’re innocent but the state read me a proffer that is outrageous. If true, the noose conjures up [the] greatest evil in this country,” Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. told Smollett.

The 36-year-old actor said little other than giving his name at the beginning of Thursday’s hearing. His attorney, who said the actor denies all charges against him, asked the judge to release Smollett on his own recognizance. However, the judge said that would be inappropriate. Smollett was later released from jail after posting bond.

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Not only did the police have the check he used to pay the brothers, they had all his text messages arranging it.

Here is the proffer that was red in court in Jussie Smollett case. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/3tVQkw6JDy

— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 21, 2019

Wouldn’t be entering illegally anymore.

Via Napa Valley Register:

The Napa County Sheriff’s Office published dramatic body camera footage Wednesday that shows part of a deputy’s fatal confrontation with a driver who shot at her.

Deputy Riley Jarecki noticed a car parked in the 1100 block of rural Henry Road at 10:59 p.m. Sunday, the Sheriff’s Office said. The graphic, 48-second video clip, first uploaded to YouTube, shows the deputy speaking with a man, Javier Hernandez Morales, seated behind the wheel.

Jarecki stood next to a red, parked car, and spoke with Hernandez Morales through a slightly open front window on the passenger’s side. The man permits her to look around. She shines her flashlight into the car and walks around the rear of the vehicle, approaching the driver’s side window.

The deputy then knocks on the front, driver’s side window.

“Roll it down,” Jarecki said.

Hernandez Morales hesitates, murmurs something to himself, and rolls down the window. In Spanish, Hernandez Morales asks, “What’s up?”

He points a gun at her and fires at least once. Jarecki radios that shots have been fired as the car’s rear lights flash. The ignition turns over and Jarecki, who appears to have retreated to the passenger side of the vehicle, fires numerous rounds toward the driver’s seat.

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This people are legitimately delusional. And this woman makes a career out of supposedly giving people advice?

Iyanla Vanzant on Jussie Smollett: "He told a lie. That's what he did. Now we can make up whatever we want to make up about it, but he told a lie the same way the leader of this country does every day" #BlackWomenInHollywood pic.twitter.com/yVpiivLnG6

— Variety (@Variety) February 21, 2019

HT: Twitchy

Why is this not surprising? The difference between how the police and Hollywood are looking at it is striking.

Sheryl Lee Ralph on Jussie Smollett: "Is it a big, bad mistake? Absolutely. But a lot of people have made some awful, awful, big, bad mistakes. Some people have even killed people, they're walking around free" #BlackWomenInHollywood pic.twitter.com/xl5lPqsZgx

— Variety (@Variety) February 21, 2019

“What he did to the Jews.”

Via Chicago Sun-Times:

A Muslim civil rights group is calling for a congressional investigation after the U.S. government acknowledged sharing its terrorist watchlist with more than 1,400 private entities such as hospitals and universities.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Wednesday that Congress should probe why the FBI has given such broad access to the list.

The council filed a class-action lawsuit in 2016 challenging the list’s constitutionality. It says many people are mistakenly placed on the list and face frequent difficulty in travel and interactions with law enforcement as a result.

In response to the lawsuit, a federal official acknowledged in a court filing that more than 1,400 private entities received access to the list, which contains hundreds of thousands of names.

For years, the government had insisted that it does not generally share the list with private entities.

Negative reports of any butthurt in the Marine Corps community.

Via Military Com:

Heckler & Koch may be making and delivering thousands of M27 infantry automatic rifles to the Marine Corps, but that’s not going to stop the company from taking a few jabs at jarheads.

The U.S. branch of the German weapons maker is executing a contract, inked in April 2018, to deliver up to 15,000 M27s to the Marine Corps. The rifles, previously fielded in smaller quantities to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, are now replacing M4 carbines for many infantry Marines.

Most Marines love the fully automatic, more accurate M27. But the feeling may not be completely mutual, judging from a post Tuesday on the H&K Facebook page.

“A fresh batch of M27 rifles leaving Georgia headed to the Devil Dogs,” the post read, alongside photographs of rows of the guns ready for shipping. “If any of you crayon eaters are reading this, please treat them nice, even though we built them to be Marine proof.”

In fewer than 24 hours, the post went viral, with more than 19,000 shares and 26,000 reactions. The author of the post, who identified herself as “Social Media Girl,” returned multiple times to pile on in the comments section.

“FYI, this was not a challenge to try to break them, we know reading comprehension is [not] a strong suit,” she wrote later.

Others, picking up on the cherished stereotype of Marines as tough but none-too-smart crayon-eaters, added their own takes.

“As a Marine veteran, I can’t read what that said, but looked at the picture,” one commenter wrote.

H&K’s social media wisecracker had a comeback ready.

“We wrote out a training manual that used no words over 6 letters, we were told we didn’t use enough pictures,” she wrote. “By the time we submitted a manual that was approved, it was literally nothing but pictures …”

As the post picked up steam hours after publication, Social Media Girl voiced tongue-in-cheek worries that she would be “pulled into a meeting” for ragging on Marines.

Keep reading…

HT: TAH

Speaking of wack.

Via Daily Caller:

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized a prominent conservative group Wednesday night for erecting a billboard in New York City’s Times Square criticizing her for running Amazon out of the state.

“Few things effectively communicate the power we’ve built in fighting dark money & anti-worker policies like billionaire-funded groups blowing tons of cash on wack billboards (this one is funded by the Mercers),” she tweeted, noting the conservative group Job Creators Network funded the billboard. The group is tied to the Mercer Family Foundation.

Amazon’s decision to ding a planned New York campus will cost the city thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost economic activity, the billboard claims.

“Thanks For Nothing, AOC!” the sign reads.

BFF

Cash up front.

Via WWSB:

A married couple were arrested Tuesday morning in North Port for allegedly performing dentistry services without a license.

Enrique Gravier, 48, and Adriana Gutierrez Hoyos, 47, both of North Port, have been charged with two felony counts, one for Practicing Dentistry without a license and another for Conspiring to Commit a third degree felony.

The Florida Department of Health first started receiving tips from a person who wished to remain anonymous about an unlicensed dentistry practice in operation a few months ago in November.

According to police, the defendants only performed work on Hispanic clients and they performed known dentistry services which included extractions, braces and crowns. According to police reports, the only way that clients could book an appointment was to call Hoyos and tell her that they needed a cleaning (to the teeth) in Spanish and to say that someone recommended them.

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Says the fake Indian.