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Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Wake-Up Call: Another Shooting Rattles Cali


Seven people were killed in two related shootings Monday at agricultural facilities in a California coastal community south of San Francisco, marking the state’s third mass killing in eight days, including Saturday’s attack at a dance hall that killed 11 during Lunar New Year celebrations. Officers arrested a suspect in Monday’s shootings, 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, after they found him in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff’s substation, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said.

Four people were found dead and a fifth injured from gunshot wounds at a farm, and officers found three other people killed at another location several miles away, the Sheriff’s Office said. The killings occurred on the outskirts of Half Moon Bay, a city about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of San Francisco. Corpus said the two locations were nurseries, and it wasn’t immediately clear how they were connected.

Meanwhile, the Monterey Park shooter, Huu Can Tran, was a man who had built up a collection of grievances against his ex-wife, as well as the owners and instructors of the two dance halls where he killed 11 people. According to a former friend of Tran, who spoke to DailyMail.com on the condition of anonymity, Tran was an unhappy individual who was paranoid and mistrustful of others. The friend stated that Tran had spent years accumulating discontent towards people, particularly the individuals at the dance halls he targeted, and that he had been paranoid and delusional. The friend also mentioned that Tran had a dispute over a security deposit with him and it went to court, where he lost the case. 

➤FORMER FBI SPY HUNTER CHARHED: The FBI’s former top spy hunter in New York was charged Monday with taking secret cash payments of more than $225,000 while overseeing highly sensitive cases, and breaking the law by trying to get Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska removed from a U.S. sanctions list — accusations that shocked the cloistered world of his fellow high-ranking intelligence officials.

Charles McGonigal, 54, who retired from the FBI in September 2018, was indicted in federal court in Manhattan on charges of money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions and other counts stemming from his alleged ties to Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his role at the FBI, McGonigal had been tasked with investigating Deripaska, whose own indictment on sanctions-violation charges was unsealed in September. A second indictment, filed in Washington, accused McGonigal of hiding payments totaling $225,000 that he allegedly received from a New Jersey man employed decades ago by an Albanian intelligence agency. The indictment also accused him of acting to advance that person’s interests.

➤DeSANTIS PUSHES BACK FOR BANNING STUDIES COURSE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday doubled down on his decision to ban a course on African American studies, saying the class in question contained 'queer theory' and imposed a 'political agenda' on the state's children.  He defended his new policy during a press conference in Jacksonville in his first public comments on the controversy, which brought heavy criticism on the Republican governor and was seen as the latest attempt by his conservative administration to criticize and even outlaw some educational efforts  about racism and slavery. 

'When you try to use black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes,' DeSantis said. 'We want education, not indoctrination.'


➤POTENTIALLY HARMFUL METALS FOUND IN CHICOLATES: A leading watchdog is calling for confectionary giants to reduce the amount of harmful metals in their dark chocolate products ahead of Valentine's day — after more than a dozen lawsuits were filed against leading manufacturers.  Consumer Reports put out open letters to Hershey, Modelez International — which owns Cadbury — and Theo Chocolate and Trader Joe's on Monday, following the a report by the group in late 2022 which found high levels of lead and cadmium in the companies' dark chocolate products.  The watchdog highlighted that long-term exposure to the metals could result in nervous system problems, immune system suppression and kidney damage. Though there is no indication that any of the bars individually contain enough to cause harm.

Daily Mail US Composite 1/24/23

➤RIOTERS ARE SPOILED ELITISTS: The son of a millionaire surgeon has been charged with domestic terrorism for the second time in a month over his role in violent Antifa protests in Atlanta on Saturday. Francis 'Frankie' Carroll, 22, from Kennebunkport, Maine, is one of six people charged after riots over the death of a protester who allegedly shot a police officer. Details also emerged on Monday about the privileged backgrounds of several other rioters - most of whom travelled from their peaceful hometowns outside of Georgia to wreak havoc in the state. A police car was torched and buildings were vandalized on Saturday during clashes which followed the death of Antifa activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, 26, who was killed on Wednesday, January 19. Carroll, who grew up in a mansion in a luxurious beach town, was previously charged with domestic terrorism in December for his role in violent protests at the site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center .

➤U-S REP'S TRANS FACING CHARGES:  Riley Dowell, 23, appeared in court on Monday to face charges including assault and battery on a police officer and vandalizing a historic marker or monument. She was released on $500 bail. Her mother, Katherine Clark, is the House Minority Whip. Dowell, who was born male and transitioned to female, was arraigned under their birth name, Jared. She was arrested on Saturday night amid an Antifa riot, in in solidarity with 'Atlanta Forest Defenders'. An environmental activist in Atlanta, who went by the name Tortuguita, was killed by police on Wednesday after officials said the 26-year-old shot a state trooper.

➤GARLAND ADDRESSES CRITICS: Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday fielded his first questions on the Justice Department's handling of the investigation into classified documents found at President Joe Biden's Delaware home and a post-vice presidency think tank, responding in broad terms to criticism that Biden has faced fairer treatment than former President Donald Trump. "The department has a set of norms and practices," Garland said. "These mean, among other things, that we do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or powerless, different rules for the rich or poor."

➤STUDY...CHIMPS ARE MORE PATIENT THAN TEENAGERS:  A recent study found your teen might be less patient than a chimp! A University of Michigan study found that given two options, both adolescent humans and chimps opted for riskier behavior. However, when it came to waiting for food to receive more of it, the chimp displayed more patience. Unsurprising to most parents, human teens were more likely to grab one snack right away instead of waiting for three. Young and adult chimps were both willing to wait longer for a greater reward, but young chimps threw more tantrums as they had to wait. "Chimpanzees are quite patient compared with other animals," researcher Alexandra Rosati said. "Our study shows that their ability to delay gratification is already mature at a fairly young age, unlike in humans."

➤LOWER INCOME WORKERS BENEFITED MOST FROM RISING WAGES: Black workers, young workers and people on the bottom of the income scale were among those who saw the largest pay increases last year, when employers were readily handing out raises in a tight labor market and high inflation environment.  Median weekly earnings for all workers were 7.4% higher, year over year, at the end of 2022, according to an analysis of newly released Labor Department data. That outpaced the consumer inflation rate of 7.1% in the fourth quarter, from a year earlier.   For some workers, the gains were even larger. The median raise for Black Americans employed full time was 11.3%, compared with the prior year. Weekly pay for workers between 16- and 24-years old rose more than 10%. The bottom 10th of wage earners—those that make about $570 a week—saw their pay increase by nearly 10%.

➤MICROSOFT TO STOP SELLING WINDOWS 10 DOWNLOADS AS PART OF PLANNED 2025 SHUTDOWN: Microsoft is stopping Windows 10 Home and Pro sales downloads on January 31st. That date will be the last day Windows 10 download and all-important license keys will be offered for sale. However, it will continue to support Windows 10 with security updates until it's discontinued for good in October 2025. Windows 10 may still be offered elsewhere from other retailers and OEMs, until Microsoft confirms otherwise.

📲IPHONE APP LETS YOU 'TALK' TO HITLER AND JEFFREY EPSTEIN BEYOND THE GRAVE, FOR A PRICE: A new chatbot that lets you talk to AI versions of historical figures. The iPhone app, called Historical Figures, uses the ChatGPT algorithm to generate virtual versions of dead people, from Jesus to Jeffrey Epstein.  Developed by 25-year-old Sidhant Chaddha, the app gives you access to 20,000 historical figures who can talk to users as if they were still alive.

💲DOLLAR STORES ARE AMERICA'S FASTEST-GROWING FOOD RETAILER:  Are you tightening your budget? A Tufts University report shows dollar stores are now the fastest-growing food retailers, indicating Americans might be looking for a bargain. These discount stores have doubled the number of locations they have in rural regions, and their footprint is growing in the remote South. This could be a concern for nutrition policy, as dollar stores typically sell foods that are higher in calories and lower in nutrients. "When you start to look at race and ethnicity, there are some implications about equity in terms of people’s access to healthy food," Professor Wenhui Feng said.

⚾ARTE MORENO TO MAINTAIN OWNERSHIP OF ANGELS AFTER EXPLORING SALE: Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno announced Monday that he plans to continue overseeing the franchise for the foreseeable future, despite exploring the possibility of a sale five months earlier. In a statement, Moreno, 76, wrote that as talks about selling the team "began to crystallize, we realized our hearts remain with the Angels, and we are not ready to part ways with the fans, players and our employees."


🏀LAKERS SEND KENDRICK NUNN, SECOND-ROUND PICKS TO WIZARDS FOR RUI HACHIMURA: The Los Angeles Lakers acquired Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks, the team announced on Monday. The deal includes a 2023 second-round pick via Chicago, the Lakers' own in 2029 and the less favorable of the Wizards' and Lakers' 2028 second-round picks.

⚾TWINS ACQUIRING MICHAEL A. TAYLOR IN TRADE WITH ROYALS: The Minnesota Twins are acquiring outfielder Michael A. Taylor in a trade with the Kansas City Royals on Monday. An elite defensive center fielder and former Gold Glove Award winner, Taylor batted .254 with nine home runs and 43 RBIs with a .670 OPS in 2022.

🏈GEORGIA WR RODARIUS THOMAS ARRESTED ON FELONY CHARGE: Georgia wide receiver Rodarius Thomas was arrested early Monday morning on a felony charge of false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery-family violence.

Thomas, a junior from Eufaula, Alabama, recently transferred to Georgia from Mississippi State. He was released from the Athens-Clarke County Jail on Monday after posting bond.

🏌LIV GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MOVING TO SAUDI ARABIA: The LIV Golf League's team championship is moving from Trump National Doral in Miami to Saudi Arabia in November. The $50 million team championship will be played at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah on Nov. 3-5, according to a schedule that will soon be announced by LIV Golf.

🏀NBA SCORES:
  • Milwaukee Bucks 150 Detroit Pistons 130
  • Orland Magic 113 Boston Celtics 98
  • Chicago Bulls 111 Atlanta Hawks 100
  • Houston Rockets 119 Minnesota Timberwolves 114
  • Utah Jazz 120 Charlotte Hornets 102
  • Portland Trailblazers 147 San Antonio Spurs 127
  • Sacramento Kings 133 Memphis Grizzlies 100 


 


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