During the weekend, some members of the black community, willing to risk being vilified for their support for President Trump and law enforcement, marched through the streets of Los Angeles carrying flags and signs emblazoned with Trump 2020.
One leader in the effort tweeted, “Amidst the scorn, and despite being called c**ns and Uncle Tom’s, a few of us black Trump supporters took to the front to head a collective march thru the streets of Los Angeles, as we all showed support for America, Trump, and our police.” He also added the hashtag #BLACKLIVESMAGA.
One of the leaders of the group slammed the media for not covering serious problems within the black community itself. “No cover on O Magazine. Not what? No good? No cover on O Magazine?” he said. “The 10-month old that died over on Monday? No cover on O Magazine. You’ve got an eleven-year-old, a five-year-old in his own crib, no cover on O Magazine?”
Amidst the scorn, and despite being called c**ns and Uncle Tom's, a few of us black Trump supporters took to the front to head a collective march thru the streets of Los Angeles, as we all showed support for America, Trump, and our police. #liberalsworstnightmare#BLACKLIVESMAGApic.twitter.com/d5BMF3sSFl
“I’m so proud. I need to find the courage to do this in Los Angeles. Honestly. I’m scared to rock the maga gear , for fear of being attacked . As a single female,” one supporter tweeted.
“These people are free. BLM is a method of control,” wrote another.
“Might be the best video of the year,” another tweeted.
In the beginning of July, the eminent black conservative radio host Larry Elder released his documentary “Uncle Tom,” of which he stated, “The ‘Uncle Tom’ movie simply asks a very simple question: Why can’t we have an intelligent, healthy discussion within the Black community without a whole cadre of well-educated, bright, thoughtful Black people being maligned and discarded as sellouts? What’s prompting this?”
Elder added, “The so-called war on poverty was launched in the 1960s … And what the welfare state has done, in my opinion, is incentivize Black women to marry the government, and allow men to abandon their financial and moral responsibilities to their families. We’ve gone from 25 percent of Black kids born outside wedlock in 1965 to nearly 70 percent now. You cannot attribute that to Jim Crow and racism. It has to do with bad government policy.”
“I have long since gotten over the idea that I should react emotionally when someone calls me a name,” Elder said. “I now feel sorry that you have been so corrupted, by Hollywood, media [and] academia, that I, Larry Elder, am your villain? Not the welfare state? Not bad economic policies? Not porous borders putting downward pressure on wages for Black and brown people, but I’m the bad guy? What’s wrong with you, what’s wrong with your thinking? Who has indoctrinated you like that? That’s my reaction.”
UCLA data collected just prior to the protests about the death of African-American George Floyd show younger black Americans have been holding more favorable views of President Trump than their parents and grandparents. The data collected from April 2-May 13 by the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape project, an initiative that conducted weekly surveys of thousands of potential voters for nearly a year, found that 29% of percent of black voters ages 30-44 and 21% ages 18-29 have a “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” view of President Trump. This compares to just 14% of black voters 45-64 and 9% of those 65 and older.
Legendary NFL coach Mike Ditka ruffled a few feathers in an interview with TMZ last week when he offered a great solution for athletes who have decided to use our country’s national anthem as a pulpit for their leftist politics.
“If they don’t like the country, they don’t like our flag … get the hell out,” the former Chicago Bears coach said of anthem protests in professional sports.
Some argued that the 80-year-old simply doesn’t get it, or that he has oversimplified a complex issue.
Of course, Ditka’s comments also quickly saw him labeled as a racist by some on social media.
If you were to ask many fans of professional sports, though, the coach hit the nail on the head.
Ditka, who coached one the greatest football teams to ever play in the NFL, the 1985 Bears, still keeps up with the game he loves.
But, like so many sports fans, he has little tolerance for the disrespect being shown to the country’s flag and anthem.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Mike Dikta traded his helmet in for a white hood as soon as he retired from football. Racism hiding behind faux patriotism is still racism. 🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/0wRTpyfMhB
Ditka joined Fox News host Jesse Watters over the weekend to discuss the sudden collision of sports and culture.
He offered no apology for his previous coments and instead doubled down, explaining how he would handle such blatant disrespect for the flag that so many Americans have died for.
Asked how he would have reacted if one of his players had knelt during the playing of the national anthem, Ditka was straightforward.
“They wouldn’t have played for us,” the coach said. “It’s that simple.”
“So you’d bench them?” Watters asked.
“I would bench them,” the coach answered.
“That’s it,” Ditka continued. “Until they found that it was honorable to respect the country.“
“This country has given them the opportunity to become millionaires. You understand what I’m saying?”
“You can’t play American football in Peru. You can’t play it in England. American football can only be played in America.”
“And they make a lot of money doing it. Enjoy it, respect it, but don’t act like a clown.”
Ditka, like so many older, affable Americans who have paid their dues and tried to lead lives of greatness, has been around long enough to see the civil rights movement make great strides.
But the country, generally speaking, has gone backward with regard to racial unity, as the current neo-Marxist movement seeking to drive a wedge between Americans has been successful to a degree.
Ditka, whose life is intertwined with sports, doesn’t know what to make of it.
“I played football my whole life and we had more black football players on our team than we did white, but there was never a problem,” he told Fox News.
“We played football. It wasn’t about the color of a guy’s skin, it was about the way he played the game and what his contributions could be to society and to the school.”
Senate Majority leader steams ahead of his rival Amy McGrath by a lot in what is expected to be one of the most expensive Senate races this year.
Louisiana Courier Journal reported a new survey by independent polling firm Morning Consult shows Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with a commanding lead in his bid for a seventh term in Kentucky, leading 53%-36% over his Democratic challenger, Amy McGrath.
About 700 likely voters were surveyed online in Kentucky from July 24 to Aug. 2 by Morning Consult, whose results have a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
The race between McConnell and McGrath is expected to be a very expensive U.S. Senate race. Each campaign had more than $16 million in cash on hand at the end of June.
Back in June, McGrath spent more than $9 million to pull out a narrow victory in the Democratic primary over underdog Charles Booker, whose campaign surged in the final month by portraying him as a more authentic and progressive Democrat.
The poll showed McGrath still has work to do in consolidating support among Booker voters and other Kentucky Democrats, with 79% supporting her, 12% supporting McConnell and 6% indicating they will vote for someone else.
McConnell had the support of 84% of Republicans surveyed, and independents favored the senator 45%-33% over McGrath.
More than 6% of the likely voters surveyed indicated they would vote for someone besides McConnell and McGrath, and nearly 6% are still undecided.
Another survey from the internal pollster of McGrath’s campaign showed McConnell leading by only 4 percentage points, two other polls since June found McConnell up by at least 20 percentage points.
A survey in mid-June by Oakland, California-based pollster Civiqs and commissioned by progressive think tank Data for Progress found McConnell leading McGrath 53%-33%.
FOX 8 meteorologist Dick Goddard, a man with a warm smile, a ferocius intellect, and always a place in his big heart for any animal in need, lived much of his life as a legend in his hometown – yet never forgot his humble beginnings.
Dick’s daughter, Kim, told FOX 8 News her father passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 89.
“I’ve been so lucky,” he said, during a wide-ranging interview in 2015, “and people have been so good to me.”
Born in the Depression, February of 1931, Dick grew up in what was then known as Greenberg – what is now the city of Green in Summit County.
An only child, Dick was the center of attention for his parents – Vachel Goddard, a railroad mechanic from southern Ohio, and the former Doris Dickerhoof.
Dick cherished his parents and learned a lot from them – including a passionate, lifelong love of animals.
“Any animal that showed up on our farm there near Greenberg, I said, ‘Mom, can we keep it?’ and usually it was yes, but the cow I had to give back.”
An amazing football and baseball player in high school, Dick, along with four friends, soon wanted to enlist in the military during the Korean War.
His father objected to Dick joining the Marines, but agreed that his son could enlist in the Air Force.
In the service, Dick would take an aptitude test that would change his life.
“One of the things it said I could become was a meteorologist,” he recalled, “and, even though I couldn’t pronounce it, I said ‘okay.’”
Returning from the service, Dick earned a Fine Arts degree from Kent State.
He was talented enough that Disney asked him to come to Hollywood to interview for a job as an artist.
He chose that path, and it would lead to a legendary career in Cleveland that spanned over half a century. But Dick was the first to tell you that it took him some time to get comfortable on TV.
“When I first started,” he joked, “my voice was so high that small animals gathered outside the station.”
During that time frame, the early to mid 1960s, weather was almost an afterthought on television newscasts.
But Dick Goddard brought something uncommon to the table – as a meteorologist, he was actually qualified to forecast the weather.
And even though he was known for the accuracy of those forecasts, Dick always remained humble about his profession.
“Weather is an educated guess at best,” he said, “and I’m a skeptic.”
Next, he became the statistician for the Browns radio broadcasts – a position he loved and held for 43 years.
And it was his love for his only child, his daughter, Kim, that led Dick to start what was originally just a tiny parade that was created as a PTA fundraiser.
Just a couple hundred people showed up for that first Woollybear parade back in the early 1970s.
Now, more than forty years later, over 100,000 people travel to Vermilion each fall to witness what is now an iconic event.
It has become one of the largest parades in the nation, and the largest outdoor event in Ohio every year.
“I had no idea it would become this big,” Dick said.
The parade and weekend festival focuses on families, fun, and the creatures Dick loved his entire life.
“I promote animal welfare, that’s my goal,” he said, “and before I go to the theme park in the sky, I want to do all I can for the four-footers.”
He spent much of his free time – and a lot of his own money – supporting animal charities across Northeast Ohio.
“They can’t speak for themselves,” he would say, “so we have to speak for them.”
Dick traveled to Columbus many times to lobby state lawmakers to pass what became known as “Goddard’s Law” – a provision that strengthened penalties for people convicted of mistreating animals.
A few years ago, the street in front of FOX 8 was renamed “Dick Goddard Way.”
Dick Goddard will be remembered for a long time in the hometown that he loved so much.
The head of the Revolutionary Communist Party USA is encouraging members to head to the polls in November to cast their votes for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden – stating that while Biden still represents a “murderous system of capitalism-imperialism” he is a better selection than President Trump.
In an extended email to his followers – which was also posted on the Revolutionary Communist Party USA’s website – Bob Avakian said that removing President Trump from the White House was too important of a goal.
“At this critical hour, every appropriate means of non-violent action must be utilized to remove this regime from power,” Avakian wrote. “And if, in spite of mass protest demanding the removal of the Trump/Pence regime, this regime remains in power when it is time for voting, then — without placing fundamental reliance on this — using all appropriate means to work for the removal of this regime must include voting against Trump (assuming the election is actually held).” – he added.
“To be clear, this means not a ‘protest vote’ for some candidate who has no chance of winning, but actually voting for the Democratic Party candidate, Biden, in order to effectively vote against Trump.”
Avakian, who founded the party in 1979 and has a controversial past that includes a prison sentence for desecrating the American flag and support for Peru’s Shining Path guerrillas, wants his followers to know that he is not actually endorsing Biden, but that he sees this election as choosing a lesser of two evils.
“Biden is not ‘better’ than Trump, in any meaningful way — except that he is not Trump and is not part of the move to consolidate and enforce fascist rule, with everything that means,” he said. “The struggle against this fascist regime needs to include voting against Trump by voting for Biden … and being prepared to carry forward this mass mobilization if Trump loses the election but refuses to leave.”
According to the most recent average of polls taken by RealClearPolitics, Biden maintains a seven-point lead over the current president.
Bodycam footage from two of the accused cops in the murder of George Floyd was revealed by DailyMail.com today — and it shows a rookie officer terrifying Floyd by pointing a handgun at his head and another callously picking a pebble from the squad car tire just inches from the dying man and seconds before he takes his last breath.
The tapes show in minute detail how a very distressed Floyd begs ‘Mr. Officer, please don’t shoot me. Please man,’ before the struggle that ended fatally on May 25.
It also shows how belligerent cops cursed at and manhandled the sobbing suspect, ignoring his pleas for sympathy.
Floyd resisted as the cops tried to force him into the back of the police car, telling them he suffers from claustrophobia and anxiety and how Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, leading to his death, ignoring Floyd’s repeated cries.
Floyd is even heard foreseeing his own death. ‘I’ll probably just die this way,’ he said.
Transcripts from the videos were released in mid-July but a judge in Minneapolis had ruled the video could only be viewed in the courthouse, meaning few people have had the chance to watch the powerful images.
But the footage has now been leaked to DailyMail.com so the world can finally see the tragedy of Floyd’s last minutes as the cops were ignorant of Floyd’s pain and agony.
The footage includes more than 18 minutes from Officer Alex Kueng’s bodycam and 10 minutes from Officer Thomas Lane. They were the first two cops to arrive on the scene after a complaint that Floyd had attempted to pass a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods, a store in the Powderhorn Park section of Minneapolis.
Chauvin and a fourth officer, Tou Thao, were called in to assist. All four were fired the day after Floyd’s death after pressures from the nation.
Chauvin, 44, has been charged with Floyd’s murder while the other three face charges of aiding and abetting murder. The events have led to months of Black Lives Matter protests throughout the country over police racism and brutality.
The two officers’ bodycam videos have been filed with Hennepin County District Court by Lane’s defense attorney.
It is clear from the video that Floyd was not trying to run away – he had plenty of time to escape the scene before the police officers arrived. But instead, he decided to sit in his car with two friends, giving the cops the opportunity to come forward.
The videos begin with Lane, 37, and Kueng, 26 — both in their first week as Minneapolis police officers — entering Cup Foods. A staff member rushes up to them waving the banknote. ‘Before they drive off. He’s parked right here. It’s a fake bill from the gentleman,’ he tells the cops.
Lane and Kueng then moved towards Floyd’s blue Mercedes SUV on the other side of the street. Lane goes to the driver’s side where Floyd is sitting at the wheel and Kueng approaches the passenger side, where Floyd’s ex, Shawanda Hill is in the back seat and a friend, Maurice Hall, is in the front.
Lane is seen knocking on the car window with his flashlight, but Floyd does not immediately open the door. Once the door is open, Lane immediately pulls out his handgun and points it straight at Floyd’s head.
‘Hey man, I’m sorry,’ Floyd says and apologizes again before Lane gets aggressive.
‘Put your f***ing hands up right now! Let me see your other hand,’ the cop is heard saying.
Floyd does not immediately put his hands on the wheel. ‘Put your f***ing hand up there,’ Lane orders him. ‘Jesus Christ, keep your f**king hands on the wheel.’
Floyd tells the officer he had been shot before, and Lane replies: ‘Keep your f***ing hands on the wheel.’
Lane then tells Floyd to put his foot inside the vehicle. ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,’ Floyd added. ‘God dang man. Man, I got shot the same way, Mr. Officer, before.’
‘Okay. Well, when I say ”Let me see your hands,” you put your f***ing hands up,’ Lane responds.
The cop then orders Floyd out of the car. ‘Hands on top of your head. Step out of the vehicle and step away from me,’ he says.
‘I’m not going to shoot you,’ Lane says. ‘Step out and face away.
‘I’ll look at you eye-to-eye. Please don’t shoot me man,’ Floyd replies. ‘I just lost my mom, man.’
Floyd, 46, is seen sobbing as Kueng and Lane pull him out of the car and handcuff him.
After getting Floyd out of the car, Lane then starts talking to the passengers. ‘Why’s he being all squirrelly and not showing us his hands and just being all weird like that?’ Lane asks.
‘Because he’s been shot before,’ Hill, 45, replies.
‘Well I get that,’ Lane says. ‘But still, when officers say: ”Get out of the car…”
‘Is he drunk or something?’
‘No, he’s got a thing going on,’ Hill says, pointing to her head and making a circular movement with her finger as if to suggest her ex had mental problems. ‘About the police,’ she adds.
The two officers then walk Floyd to the squad car and the struggle gets more intense when Floyd refuses to get in, saying he is claustrophobic.
He falls to the ground. ‘Stand up. Stop falling down,’ Kueng shouts. ‘Stay on your feet and face the car door.’
‘Please man. Don’t leave me by myself man, please. I’m just claustrophobic.’
‘Well you’re still going in the car,’ Lane says.
‘Y’all, I am going to die in here,’ Floyd protests. ‘I’m going to die, man. I just had COVID, man. I don’t want to go back to that.’
Lane offers to roll the cruiser’s windows down to help his phobia but Floyd still struggles. ‘I’m scared as f***,’ he says.
A bystander tells Floyd to calm down because he cannot win with them. ‘I don’t want to win,’ Floyd says. ‘I’m claustrophobic and I’ve got anxiety. I don’t want to do nothing to them.’
While still in the car, Floyd says for the first time the line that has become synonymous with his death. ‘I can’t breathe.’ Shortly afterward Chauvin and Thao show up.
The officers finally get him in the squad car and close the rear driver’s side door behind him, but for a reason that is not clear from the video, Floyd comes out of the passenger side door still struggling.
Shortly after he is lying on the sidewalk with Chauvin’s knee pressed on his neck and Lane and Kueng helping to restrain him.
He says he can’t breathe over and over again and calls for his ‘momma’ but his voice slowly gets weaker as his life drains away.
‘Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead,’ he says at one point.
Kueng is seen calmly picking a pebble from the squad car tire with his right hand as he restrains Floyd’s legs with his left one.
As his knee presses the life out of Floyd, Chauvin, the most senior officer on the scene, asks rookies Lane and Kueng if they are okay. ‘My knee might be a little scratched but I will survive,’ Lane answers.
Thao asks his fellow officers whether Floyd is high.
‘I believe so. We found a pipe,’ Kueng replies. Lane says: ‘We found a weed pipe. There might be something else, there might be like PCP or something.’
When Floyd continues to wail that he can’t breathe, Kueng is heard telling him. ‘You’re fine. You’re talking fine.’
Floyd replies: ‘I’ll probably just die this way.’
‘I’m through,’ Floyd says. ‘I’m claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please.’
‘Then stop talking. Stop yelling,’ Chauvin replies. ‘It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.’
As Floyd stops moving Chauvin keeps his knee on his neck, despite complaints from a small crowd that has gathered.
‘Check his pulse,’ one man says repeatedly. ‘You call what you are doing okay?
But the other officers do little to stop Chauvin. At one point Lane asks: ‘Should we roll him on his side?’ But Chauvin replies. ‘No, he’s staying where we’ve got him.’
‘Okay,’ Lane says. ‘I just worry about the excited delirium or whatever.’
‘Well, that’s why we got the ambulance coming,’ Chauvin says.
A former MSNBC producer wrote an open letter on Monday clearing up why she left the far-left network a little over a week ago. In the letter she said that they are a “cancer” that is “stoking national division” by amplifying “fringe voices” and forcing “journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis.”
The letter was written by Ariana Pekary, who Fox News noted described herself as an “integral member” of MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”
Pekary begins her letter by sharing quotes of what people said to her over the last couple of years as she pondered leaving the network due to the detrimental effect that it is having on society.
“July 24th was my last day at MSNBC. I don’t know what I’m going to do next exactly but I simply couldn’t stay there anymore,” Pekary wrote. “My colleagues are very smart people with good intentions. The problem is the job itself. It forces skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis.”
Pekary said that at MSNBC it was “practically baked in to the editorial process” that decisions on what and who give coverage to were based on what would generate the most ratings for the network. She said that behind closed doors “industry leaders will admit the damage that’s being done.”
A high profile TV veteran reportedly told her, “We are a cancer and there is no cure. But if you could find a cure, it would change the world.”
“As it is, this cancer stokes national division, even in the middle of a civil rights crisis,” Pekary said. “The model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events, at the expense of others… all because it pumps up the ratings.”
“Context and factual data are often considered too cumbersome for the audience,” Pekary later added. “There may be some truth to that (our education system really should improve the critical thinking skills of Americans) – but another hard truth is that it is the job of journalists to teach and inform, which means they might need to figure out a better way to do that. They could contemplate more creative methods for captivating an audience. Just about anything would improve the current process, which can be pretty rudimentary (think basing today’s content on whatever rated well yesterday, or look to see what’s trending online today).”
Pekary said that she has heard coworkers “deny their role as journalists,” and claims that a “senior producer” told her, “Our viewers don’t really consider us the news. They come to us for comfort.”
“Through this pandemic and the surreal, alienating lockdown, I’ve witnessed many people question their lives and what they’re doing with their time on this planet,” Pekary added. “I reckon I’m one of those people, looking for greater meaning and truth. As much as I love my life in New York City and really don’t want to leave, I feel fortunate to be able to return to Virginia in the near term to reconnect with family, friends, and a community of independent journalists. I’m both nervous and excited about this change. Thanks to COVID-19, I’m learning to live with uncertainty.”
Pekary concluded by writing, “More than ever, I’m craving a full and civil discourse.”
As the NBA and MLB return from their coronavirus-imposed break, it appears TV viewers are not as interested in what the increasingly woke leagues have to offer.
With both baseball and basketball draped in all sorts of Black Lives Matter and social justice symbolism for their opening games, a substantially smaller number of fans tuned-in to the rest of the week’s games.
According to Outkick.com, neither league did well.
As for the opening games, Outkick reported that the return of the NBA on TNT saw the following numbers:
Lakers-Clippers: 3.4 million Pelicans-Jazz: 2.1 million
ESPN’s MLB return numbers were also unsatisifying:
Yankees-Nationals: 4.0 million Dodgers-Giants: 2.8 million
Outkick’s Ryan Glasspiegel added more ratings numbers on Twitter
“To be fair since I compared MLB vs NBA return night 1, here is night 2,” (July 24) he wrote, adding:
NBA (last night ESPN) (July 31) Celtics-Bucks (6:30p) – 1.3M Mavs-Rockets (9p)- 1.7M
The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss also noted that the numbers continued to fall off for MLB:
MLB really fell off after opening day. In general, both leagues aren't getting the audience one might expect from a nation that's been deprived of entertainment for months https://t.co/GazeoR9SNB
For good measure, Strauss also pointed out that baseball can’t blame COVID-19. The virus didn’t stop people from watching Tom Brady golf with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson back in May.
You could chalk sagging interest up to pandemic conditions, but 5.8 million tuned in to watch Tom Brady hit golf shots into the woods https://t.co/vIPxNc1uDi
In fact, the charity golf match earned record TV ratings in May.
Dubbed “The Match II,” the game featuring Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods peaked at an astonishing 6.3 million viewers and raised more than $20 million for charity.
NY Post reported that Jeffrey Epstein “sex slave” Virginia Giuffre allegedly spent two days alone with Prince Andrew at the financier’s ranch, “endlessly’’ catering to every need of the royal.
The claims were made in a manuscript that she wrote about her alleged abuse at the hands of the late multimillionaire, his accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell and rich and powerful men including the prince — part of a trove of court documents released last week amid Maxwell’s battle against sex-trafficking-related charges in Manhattan.
Giuffre wrote in her book proposal — titled “The Billionaire Playboy’s Club’’ — that it was hard for her to stomach some of the men’s bizarre sexual preferences.
“It wasn’t easy meeting the sexual desires of these strange men, the Prince being one of them,” she claimed, according to the Daily Mail.
Giuffre alleged that she had sex on three separate occasions with the prince — essentially pimped out to him by Epstein and Maxwell — a claim the royal has vigorously denied.
According to the Daily Mail, Roberts, who also goes by married name Giuffre, recalled the alleged encounter in a 139-page manuscript titled, ‘The Billionaire’s Playboy Club,’ in which she documents the period of time she was sex trafficked by the convicted pedophile and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The papers were released few days ago as part of a tranche of documents compiled in a defamation case against Maxwell brought by Roberts in 2015.
Roberts has long claimed Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with Prince Andrew on multiple occasions, including once in her London home when she was only 17.
The British royal has denied the allegations.
In her manuscript, she also claims Maxwell sent her to Epstein’s 10,000-acre Zorro ranch some time in 2001 to ‘entertain’ the Prince for which she was later paid ‘close to a thousand dollars’.
Roberts said she was not initially informed who was going to be at the property as ‘it wasn’t my place to ask’.
Eventually she arrived at the sprawling ranch to find the Prince had already been waiting for her, she said.
‘”Hello,” that same old cheesy grin greeted me once again. It was his highness Prince Andrew, and what a sight,’ she wrote.
‘He wrapped his arms around my waist and greeted me like an old friend. I hugged him back rolling my eyes at the same time, already dreading what lay in store over the next couple of days.
‘My job was to entertain him endlessly, whether that meant having to bestow him my body during an erotic massage or simply take him horseback riding.’
Roberts claimed the mansion was ‘completely empty’ with the exception of a couple maids and bodyguards that ‘we hardly even saw at all.’
She recalled feeling ‘disgusted’ and was counting down the hours until she was due to fly back home, saying: ‘It wasn’t easy meeting the sexual desires of these strange men, the Prince being one of them.
‘He loved my feet and even licked in between my toes. Then there was the lack of passion in the intimacy we shared, to him I was just another girl and to me he was just another job,’ she wrote.
After their two-day retreat, Roberts returned to New York where she reunited with Epstein and Maxwell, who asked: ‘So… how was the ranch with the Prince?’
‘I think he had a really good time, he seemed relaxed during the trip and when we said goodbye to each other he gave me a kiss,’ Roberts replied.
‘I took him horseback riding, nowhere too far around the property, um..we went swimming in the pool, and of course I gave him plenty of massages. He had a massage at least a couple times each day, really seeming to enjoy his time there.’
Roberts said her response was ‘what they wanted to hear’, but added that in reality, she felt ‘disgusting over the whole thing.’
‘Like two proud parents they both looked over me with such content. “Good, you did really well,” Jeffrey complimented me,’ she wrote.
‘We all ventured up to Jeffrey’s office and out came the infamous duffel bag that went wherever he did. I was given close to a thousand dollars for my time in Santa Fe, more than what I thought anybody at my young age could make for a couple days of work.’
The allegations in Roberts’ manuscript are among many other claims that emerged this week alleging the Prince had been a frequent guest at Epstein’s properties, where the financier hosted orgies with young girls.
Roberts separately claims she had sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions at Maxwell’s apartment in London, in New York and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
The state of New York faces a budget deficit of $30 billion over the next two years because of the COVID-19 crisis, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday it’s up to the federal government to fill in the gap.
Without that help, Cuomo told reporters that funding for local governments and hospitals would take an enormous hit. Education will too, unless the federal bill requires states to fully fund education. His comments come a day after Senate Republicans in Washington revealed details of their latest COVID-19 relief package proposal, called the HEALS Act.
Cuomo sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation urging them to push for $500 billion in unrestricted state aid that the National Governor’s Association is calling on Congress to pass, and he wants them to fight for a bigger budget for New York.
With no federal funding, the state will see a 20% cut to education, health care and funding for cities and counties.
“The way we did the state budget this year is we basically had a big hole financially, and then we had a hole in terms of what the revenues would be because the revenues in large part are going to be the revenues that are provided by this federal bill,” Cuomo stated.
“There have been several attempts at this federal legislation. None of them have adequately served the state of New York, and they frankly have been politically motivated and they’ve shorted the state of New York. This is the last bill that they’ll probably get done, and this is going to be the determinative bill.” – he added.
In his letter to the delegation, Cuomo noted the state has received $25,000 for every COVID-19 case while Alaska has received $2.5 million for each case.
While the Senate Republicans plan to spend about $1 trillion, House Democrats’ proposed spending bill has about a $3 trillion price tag. It’ll be up to the chambers to reach consensus. Cuomo said the state’s delegation will be led by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.
In addition to getting funding for the state, Cuomo also wants to see the final bill restore the state and local income tax exemption for federal taxes.
Cuomo told reporters that he doesn’t see a possibility to raise money and address the shortfalls, and that includes a higher tax rate on billionaires and other high-income earners. His budget director, Robert Mujica, added that the state already has a hugely progressive tax rate, with the top 2% of earners accounting for 60% of state tax dollars.
The governor noted that asking them to pay more taxes would run counter to efforts in trying to lure those individuals out of the suburbs and bring them back into New York City.
“We’re in no position to be making it harder for businesses and people to stay in New York City,” Cuomo stated.
However, some state lawmakers aren’t backing Cuomo in that assertion. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said in a statement Wednesday that Albany will need to generate additional revenue to help fill the deficit and top earners will have to pitch in and help.
“We are all hurting, and this crisis calls for multimillionaires and billionaires to help our state shoulder this extraordinary burden,” Stewart-Cousins said. “While there is no single action that will solve all our problems, we shouldn’t be looking to the already overburdened working and middle class to solve the crisis.”
Stewart-Cousins’ Republican counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, protested the possibility of raising taxes during an economic downturn.
“New Yorkers shouldn’t be surprised – but should be dismayed – that tax hike-loving state Senate Democrats have announced a ‘tax hike working group,’” Ortt said in a statement. “Before the pandemic, when New York faced a $6 billion deficit, all while experiencing the best economy in years, Democrats wanted to tax New Yorkers in order to spend more money.”
The hole in the state budget is just part of New York’s shortfall. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs $12 billion, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey needs $3 billion and local governments, led by New York City’s $9 billion, need funding as well.
Without federal aid, MTA will have to resort to hiking fares, Cuomo added, and the Port Authority may have to stop or cut back on plans to rebuild John F. Kennedy International Airport.
