Stupid people of the week

BLM co-founder “triggered” by requests for the charity’s transparency forms

She’s *this* close to getting it. I’ll highlight my personal favorite comment from this grifter.

Laws that require charities to disclose their finances and activities to the public endanger the lives of activists, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors said at a recent event.

The embattled activist, who is facing renewed criticism following reports BLM Global Network Foundation, while under her control, purchased a $6 million Los Angeles mansion, said she gets triggered whenever she hears the term IRS Form 990, the document charities are required to file to the public every year disclosing their financial activities.

“It is such a trip now to hear the term ‘990,’” Cullors said Friday during an event at the Vashon Center for the Arts. “I’m, like, ugh. It’s, like, triggering.”

“I actually did not know what 990s were before all of this happened,” Cullors said, an apparent reference to the Washington Examiner’s reporting in January about BLM’s lack of financial and leadership transparency that led multiple states, including California, to order the charity to cease raising funds until it discloses what it did with the $90 million it raised in 2020.

Cullors said activists suffer trauma and that their lives are put at risk when charities under their control are required to disclose publicly what they did with their tax-deductible donations.

“This doesn’t seem safe for us, this 990 structure — this nonprofit system structure,” Cullors said. “This is, like, deeply unsafe. This is being literally weaponized against us, against the people we work with.”

Cullors said she’s been approached by countless activists who are worried that they too will soon field requests from reporters demanding copies of their 990 forms, which charities are required by law to disclose to the public upon request.

“People’s morale in an organization is so important. But if their organization and the people in it are being attacked and scrutinized at everything they do, that leads to deep burnout. that leads to deep, like, resistance and trauma,” Cullors said. [Emphasis added for the bitter taste of irony left in my mouth]

Cullors, who left BLM without a leader after she resigned in May 2021 amid scrutiny of her personal real estate purchases, said media scrutiny of the charity is an “experiment,” that, if successful, will be used to take down other black-led activist groups.

“They know what they’re doing: how to create the infighting, how to create the distrust,” she said. “We have to stop it before they do it. We have to shut it down. We have to be showing up against it.”

Cullors did not return a request for comment.

The $6 million LA mansion BLM purchased in October 2020, just two weeks after the charity received a $66.5 million cash infusion from its former fiscal sponsor, was used in multiple videos on Cullors’s personal YouTube channel, raising concerns from watchdog groups that BLM used nonprofit assets for the private benefit of its leaders.

Cullors disclosed in a phone call with reporters Monday that BLM’s mansion was used as a “safe place” for her to stay for at least four nights amid an FBI investigation into a death threat made against her, NBC News reported.

“So we did use the campus as a haven, as a safe place. That derailed an announcement strategy,” Cullors said in reference to the death threats. “Conditions changed, and that’s it.”

Source; Washington Examiner

Greenville County sheriff asks for people to stop having sex at Pelham Mill Park

Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis is asking for people to stop having illegal sexual activity at a Greer park.

In a message posted on Facebook, Lewis says the sheriff’s office has received numerous complaints over the years of people meeting up for sexual activity in the parking lot, in the woods and out in the open at the park on East Phillips Road in Greer.

“On behalf of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Hobart Lewis wants to share some concerning but essential information with the community regarding illegal sexual activity consistently occurring on the property of Pelham Mill Park, located at 2770 E. Phillips Rd., in Greer. The Sheriff’s Office has received numerous complaints over the years regarding people meeting up for sex in the parking lot, in the woods, and out in the open. Our agency has conducted extra patrols, canvassed the area, and piloted several undercover operations throughout the years.

“While we have made some arrests, the problem has persisted. As a result, innocent bystanders, including children, have unfortunately witnessed this activity. As put by Sheriff Hobart Lewis, ‘Under no circumstance should a young child or community member who is trying to enjoy a peaceful day at a park have to be exposed to this sort of activity. We are continuing our efforts to patrol the area and to identify those who are blatantly exposing themselves and engaging in illegal sexual activity, but we also need the community’s help with reporting this suspicious behavior.

“More importantly, I want to speak to the people who are committing these acts and simply let them know, that we are familiar with the apps you use to engage in this activity, we know your intentions, and to STOP. There are appropriate places to engage in adult activities, and a public place is not that area. We must think about others when we act, and I ask the community to be considerate of one another and especially our youth.’ If anyone in the community witnesses such activity, they are encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 864-271-5210.”

“It’s terrible, really terrible. I don’t like that at all,” one concerned neighbor said regarding the situation. “Kids don’t need to be seeing anything like that. Nobody needs to be seeing anything like that. That’s not a place for stuff to go on like that at all.”

We asked one woman if they would consider taking their children to this park

“Absolutely not. I have never been to that park but I definitely wouldn’t go now,” Julie Bennett said.

That neighbor also had a message for the perpetrators.

“You’re a terrible person. It’s really bad for the kids and the neighborhood,” one nearby neighbor said.

Source; WYFF

Florida teen killed while friends were taking turns shooting one another in bulletproof vest, police say

A Florida boy, 16, was killed this week after he and at least two others took turns shooting one another while wearing body armor, officials said.

Joshua Vining and Colton Whitler, both 17, were arrested Thursday and are being tried as adults in connection with the shooting incident Sunday in Belleview (about 70 miles northwest of Orlando), where Christopher Leroy Broad Jr. was killed, according to the Belleview Police Department.

Officers said they responded to a dispatch call where they found the boy in the residence with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital where he later died, police said.

A video of the incident was recorded by 18-year-old Evan Vowell, who was allegedly at the home at the time of the incident, and later provided the video to law enforcement, Click Orlando reported.

Vowell told police that Vining initiated the shooting game after he produced a firearm and a bulletproof vest, asking if they “had ever seen anyone get shot with a bulletproof vest on,” officials said.

Investigators determined Vowell’s statement to be true after Whitmer initially misled police, saying “my house just got shot up, my friend got shot in the chest,” according to affidavits before he called the police. In a later statement, Whitler said Vowell shot Broad Jr., but the evidence did not support this claim, police said.

Police charged Vining with aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm and Whitler was charged with providing false information to law enforcement, both as adults.

Source; Fox News

Charges: Former MN police chief used $65K in city funds on personal items

The former chief of the Alexandria Police Department is accused of using his city-issued credit card to buy more than $65,000 of personal items.

Richard Wyffels, 57, was charged Friday with theft by swindle after a year-long investigation into his alleged financial crimes, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said in a news release Friday.

According to the criminal complaint, Wyffels used his city-issued credit card to make $65,724.04 in personal purchases from Dec. 16, 2014, through July 7, 2020, while he was police chief. The purchases he made include: computers, computer software, technology equipment, snow shovels and lawn care tools, a Star Tribune subscription, cell phones and services, a Nest smoke/carbon monoxide sensor and surveillance cameras, TVs, rodent control products, a car battery, an iPad, a spotting scope, and gas, among other items.

Court documents say “numerous items” Wyffels “unlawfully purchased” with his city credit card haven’t been recovered nor have been located at the Alexandria Police Department, while some items were discovered at Wyffels’ home and others were liquidated for monetary gain.

Court documents allege Wyffels bought a Swarovski Spotting Scope and several accessories on Dec. 1, 2015, for $4,920.85 using his city credit card. The BCA learned Wyffels sold the scope on eBay for $3,710, and he deposited the money into his bank account.

Wyffels’ PayPal account includes at least 10 other items totaling about $12,388.47 that he had sold with descriptions that matched items Wyffels had purchased with his city credit card and that were missing from the police department, charges said.

Court records allege on April 5, 2020, Wyffels bought a car battery for $149.99 at Fleet Farm in Alexandria, which he used in his Toyota Corolla and then sold the car.

In his home on April 8, 2021, the BCA executed a search warrant on Wyffels’ home in Alexandria, where authorities found several items Wyffels bought with his city credit card, including an iHome alarm clock, calculator, WiFi equipment, tools, light switches, door handles, cameras and various other items, charges state.

Wyffels’ position with the police department allowed him to authorize his own fraudulent activity on his city card, charges said, adding that his “authority combined with the high number of purchases for smaller value items significantly impedes BCA ability to recover the items.”

On April 8, the BCA conducted “an operation” at Wyffels’ home in an attempt to recover “additional items unlawfully purchased,” at which time Wyffels was taken into custody, charges said. The investigation is ongoing.

Wyffles, who retired from the police department on Sept. 30, 2020, has a bail hearing scheduled for April 11.

Source; Fox 9

Driver ‘killed cycling brothers while suffering uncontrollable diarrhoea’

Literal stupid shit here…

A woman drove her car into two brothers riding their bicycles and fled the scene, later blaming her irritable bowel syndrome for the fatal accident.

Julie Ann Budge, 47, told police that medications she took to treat her condition caused her to ‘defecate on herself without warning’.

She claimed that was the reason she lost control of her car near Washington City in Utah on Saturday and hit the cyclists.

Budge’s Hyundai veered into the bike lane at noon and hit the two cyclists who were competing in the the Spring Tour of St George.

She said she ‘began to uncontrollably defecate on herself while driving, so she swerved’ the documents state.

Budge apparently told cops that she knew that she struck the two cyclists but could not stop her vehicle.

Meanwhile, a witness said that it ‘appeared that Julie did not have the intention of stopping after hitting the two cyclists’, an arresting officer wrote.

‘The witness stated he followed Julie’s vehicle until she pulled over and stopped several hundred yards away from the accident,’ the statement reads.

Both cyclists were unresponsive when first aid was administered at the scene. They were transported to St George Regional Hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries.

The brothers’ identities have not yet been released.

Police later found Budge and administered field sobriety tests, which she failed, according to arresting documents. She had a prior conviction for driving under the influence in 2015.

Budge claimed that she received Fentanyl using an IV drip in the hospital the day before the crash.

She was arrested on suspicion of two counts of automobile homicide owed to criminal negligence, two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury due to negligent operation and two counts of failure to stay at a fatal accident scene. Budged is also charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor, and an infraction for improper lane driving.

Washington City is about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Source; MSN

A man asleep at the wheel of an SUV leads to what Hobart-Lawrence police call the largest drug bust in its history

It started as a guy sleeping at the wheel of an SUV at a southern Brown County Kwik Trip around midnight.

Two weeks later, as police have sorted out their findings, Hobart-Lawrence police say the March arrest turns out to have been the largest drug bust the department has ever made. Among the items seized by police include marijuana and five types of dangerous drugs, enough cash to buy a new car and four handguns.

At least one person is in jail in connection with the case, which began with the arrest March 29 of a man who nodded off in the driver’s seat of an SUV parked at a gas pump island at the Kwik Trip on Freedom Road, just west of Interstate 41. Someone notified sheriff’s dispatchers that the driver of a car at the station appeared to have been asleep at the gas pumps for roughly an hour.

Officers “had to wake the guy up,” Hobart-Lawrence Police Chief Randy Bani said. “When he woke up, his hands came out of his pocket, and drug paraphernalia was visible.”

It’s fortunate, police say, that someone made that telephone call.

Police say they took thousands of dollars’ worth of illicit drugs off the street, as well as four loaded handguns and ammunition.

The drug haul was destined for Brown County, and would likely have been sold locally, police said. They wouldn’t release the man’s name because the investigation is continuing, but Lt. Matt Ronk of the Brown County Drug Task Force said authorities believe the man intended to deal drugs in the county.

What was going to be sold? Police said the man’s “stash” included significant amounts of cocaine, as well as methamphetamine, fentanyl, LSD, marijuana, heroin, drug paraphernalia and about $50,000 in cash.

Hobart-Lawrence police seized approximately $50,000 during a March drug bust at a Lawrence convenience store.
Hobart-Lawrence police seized approximately $50,000 during a March drug bust at a Lawrence convenience store.
In addition to the illegal drugs, police seized what they called “a large amount” of prescription medications and designer pills.

Police said the man brought $20,000 to $30,000 worth of drugs into the county, though the value of the substances could reach much higher depending how it is packaged and distributed. Ronk said a gram of cocaine can sell for about $100, while an ounce of the stimulant can fetch between $1,300 and $1,800 depending on how pure it is, where it is sold and other factors.

A quantity of illegal drugs will sell for significantly more in Upper Michigan than in northeastern Wisconsin, Ronk said.

While the arrest was good news for law enforcement in Hobart and elsewhere in Brown County, Bani doesn’t pretend that this arrest will make the use of illicit drugs in the region go away. He said police have seen the flow of drugs into the region increase in the past five years; the same improved highway system that make it so families can reach vacation destinations more quickly also makes it easier for drug sellers to reach customers in the region.

Police also confiscated the 2019 Ford Explorer the man had been driving. Such a vehicle can retail for between $28,000 and $35,000 in this region, depending on mileage and condition.

Source; Yahoo!

Four men arrested for ‘raping’ Bengal monitor lizard in western India

Four men have been arrested after one of the accused’s phones was discovered to contain a video of them gang-raping a Bengal monitor lizard at the Sahydari Tiger Reserve in Maharashthra, India.

CCTV footage from the Maharashtra Forest Department showed the four men lurking around the forest and trespassing into the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, which was created by the Indian government in 2008 to conserve Bengal tigers.

In addition to the video of the men sexually abusing the monitor lizard, officials also found photos of various animals such as porcupines and deer on the mens’ phones.

Bengal monitor lizards can grow up to five and a half feet long and weigh almost 16 pounds. They are currently categorized as reserve species under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

Forest guards initially only caught one of the accused, while the others fled. The remaining three were later found in Hativ village in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Officials said the men came to Kolhapur’s Chandoli village from Konkan to hunt.

The four hunters have been identified as Sandeep Tukram, Pawar Mangesh, Janardhan Kamtekar and Akshay Sunil.

The case was taken to the Indian Penal Court to discuss proper legal action and charges against the four men. According to the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 states that anyone who voluntarily commits intercourse with an animal “shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

Source; Yahoo!

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Stupid Criminals