Ritzy restaurants feast on federal funds
as mom-and-pops scrounge for scraps
Posted By: Ribicon, 7/17/2021 11:31:10 AM
Fat-cat food-industry heavyweights have feasted on millions from the Biden administration’s $26.8 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund—while cash-starved mom-and-pop operators battle for crumbs at the bailout banquet, according to data released by the U.S. Small Business Administration. More than 70 percent of restaurant applicants nationally were denied any funding. But here in New York City, chains, celebrity chefs—and even alleged swindlers—hauled in windfalls.(Snip)“This is crazy. The whole thing stinks,” fumed Patrick Hughes, the owner of Hellcat Annie’s and Scruffy Duffy’s in Hell’s Kitchen. “Some places weren’t even open and got millions. Many of us who worked our
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Something seemed very wrong at the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. There was a locked closet with student files the registrar could not access. There were students arriving for a Chinese-language-only massage therapy program, siloed off from the rest of the classes at the Roseville campus. Students who were sent off to "internships" at local massage parlors where some of their supervisors were unlicensed, some had prostitution arrests on their record, and few bothered to fill out all the paperwork the students needed for legitimate degrees, according to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.(Snip)A national study of sex trafficking in higher education,
Kamala Harris will not be tested for COVID-19 or quarantine, her spokesperson said Saturday, even though she met on Tuesday with at least two Texas Democratic lawmakers who tested positive for the virus. 'On Tuesday, July 13th, Vice President Harris met with members of the Texas state legislature who are temporarily in Washington, D.C. Earlier today, it was brought to our attention that two of the members at that meeting tested positive for COVID-19,' the vice president's chief spokesperson Symone Sanders said in a statement Saturday evening.(Snip)'The Vice President and her staff are fully vaccinated,' she added. All three of the lawmakers who tested positive
Two dozen cases of debris thrown at
drivers in Seattle in two weeks,
spurring calls for action 22 replies
drivers in Seattle in two weeks,
spurring calls for action 22 replies
Seattle is now averaging more than two cases every day with debris thrown at drivers, mostly near downtown Seattle. Washington State Patrol, working with Seattle police, have arrested 4 people in the last couple of weeks. Yet, another case of rocks thrown from an overpass happened just Friday morning near the Washington State Convention Center. Troopers say no one was hurt in this latest case.(Snip) Scooters, bikes, rebars, rocks–all sorts of debris are getting thrown at drivers from the overpass or side of the road. Some drivers have been hurt seriously enough to require treatment at the hospital.
Millions of drivers in London are facing lower speed limits after more than half of the roads in the capital's built-up areas were reduced to 20mph.
More than 50 per cent of the capital's roads are now restricted to 20mph and a third of local authorities have also rolled out the measures to stop motorists exceeding the speed limit. The move comes after the Welsh government announced that it would be trialling eight pilot schemes in built-up areas with a 20mph limit before adopting the new speed limit measure by 2023. Calls are now being made to extend the 20mph speed limit across the country
One woman was killed and six others suffered bullets wounds in a “senseless” mass shooting in Portland Saturday, according to the local police department and mayor. An 18-year-old woman, who has not yet been publicly identified, died at a Portland hospital after gunfire struck seven victims around 2 a.m., according to the Portland police department and reports. The other six victims’ wounds are not life-threatening, cops said.(Snip)Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was “heartbroken” by the “senseless” fatal shooting. “What happened early this morning is devastating. It’s tragic and it’s senseless,” Wheeler said at a press conference after the shooting,
A pair of 84-year-old religious statues were smashed to pieces early Saturday by a woman outside a Queens church, the latest in a disturbing spate of incidents targeting local Catholic properties, church and police officials said. The incident occurred at the Our Lady of Mercy parish, where the venerable statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Therese the Little Flower were knocked over, dragged into the middle of the street and broken with a hammer around 3:30 a.m., said John Quaglione, a spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn.(Snip)A pair of similar incidents occurred within in a three-day stretch this past May,
Cops are asking the public’s help tracking down a laughing bigot who splashed a stranger walking her dog with a water bottle, calling her an anti-Asian slur. The 55-year-old Asian victim was out with her pup on Queens Plaza South near Crescent St. in Long Island City when the assailant walked up to her and splashed her, calling her a “c---k,” according to sources. The attacker was caught on surveillance video released by cops Sunday laughing as she walked away, the water bottle still in her hand. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating and cops are asking the public’s help
The vast majority of Covid-19 anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories originated from just 12 people, a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) cited by the White House this week found.
CCDH, a UK/US non-profit and non-governmental organization, found in March that these 12 online personalities they dubbed the “disinformation dozen” have a combined following of 59 million people across multiple social media platforms, with Facebook having the largest impact. CCDH analyzed 812,000 Facebook posts and tweets and found 65% came from the disinformation dozen. Vivek Murthy, US surgeon general, and Joe Biden focused on misinformation around vaccines this week
NYC comedian comes up with seriously
inventive app geared to lifting up
Black-owned businesses 15 replies
inventive app geared to lifting up
Black-owned businesses 15 replies
Jon Laster built a career on making people laugh. Now he wants to change the world. After George Floyd’s May 25, 2020 murder, the comedian was marching in a protest on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn when he decided to do something that would have a wider impact in the Black community.(Snip)Laster’s Silicon Valley connections used technology that provides a map of the Black owned businesses anywhere its user is in the United States. The idea is to let people shop local, support Black-owned restaurants and bars but also Black florists, moving companies, lawyers, plumbers, doctors, mechanics and accountants.
A 6-year-old girl was killed and five adults hurt after someone opened fire near a Popeye’s in Washington D.C., police said. The child was pronounced dead at Sibley Memorial Hospital, said cops, prompting Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict to plea for the public to help “bring these shooters to justice.”(Snip) The incident unfolded just after 11 p.m. Friday. Officers heard shots ring out at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE and Malcolm Avenue X SE, and arrived at the intersection to find the victims, including the child, three men and two women, Benedict said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is 'weaker' against the Indian 'Delta' variant than health officials had hoped, a new report from Israel claims
On Friday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a discussion about the coronavirus with his Cabinet at the Kirya in Tel Aviv. Israel once led the entire world in the vaccine race, vaccinating 61 percent of its population with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine—but is now dealing with a surge in cases.(Snip) As of June 6, the vaccine provides 64 percent protection against infection from the variant, according to the Israeli government. 'At the moment, there is an idea that is spreading
A House panel this week passed several measures aimed at cutting U.S. taxpayer funding for scientific research in China, as a growing number of lawmakers increase calls for transparency into the origins of COVID-19.
The House Appropriations Committee passed several measures attached to spending bills that would end U.S. taxpayer funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), cut funding for certain medical experiments in China, and investigate why COVID gene sequencing data was removed from the National Institutes of Health. “We owe it to the more than 600,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 and their loved ones–not to mention the small businesses and communities
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The National Football League (NFL) recently joined virtually every other American institution in lauding — and marketing to — the LGBT community during Pride Month in June. It did so by releasing a new 30-second commercial proudly proclaiming that "football is gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, bisexual and exciting."
The ad begins by stating "football is gay" to the sound of drums rolling and people cheering. (I'm not sure what Dick Butkus would have to say about this advertisement, but I digress.) [Tweet] The ad is in part a direct response to Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib's recent announcement that he is gay, a league spokesperson said.
The founder of Black Rifle Coffee, the ‘America first’ alternative coffee company that received an endorsement from Trump in 2017 and sponsors conservative media outlets like The Daily Wire and BlazeTV, had extremely harsh words for some of his customer base in a recent interview, calling them “such a repugnant group of people,” among other things.
WASHINGTON — Two weeks after celebrating America’s near “independence” from the coronavirus, President Joe Biden is confronting the worrying reality of rising cases and deaths — and the limitations of his ability to combat the persistent vaccine hesitance responsible for the summer backslide. Cases of COVID-19 have tripled over the past three weeks, and hospitalizations and deaths are rising among unvaccinated people. While the rates are still sharply down from their January highs, officials are concerned by the reversing trendlines and what they consider needless illness and death. And cases are expected to continue to rise in coming weeks.
The vast majority of Covid-19 anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories originated from just 12 people, a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) cited by the White House this week found.
CCDH, a UK/US non-profit and non-governmental organization, found in March that these 12 online personalities they dubbed the “disinformation dozen” have a combined following of 59 million people across multiple social media platforms, with Facebook having the largest impact. CCDH analyzed 812,000 Facebook posts and tweets and found 65% came from the disinformation dozen. Vivek Murthy, US surgeon general, and Joe Biden focused on misinformation around vaccines this week
More than 74,000 mail-in ballots were received in Maricopa County, Arizona than appear to have been mailed out, a forensic audit has determined. According to the auditors, 74,243 mail-in ballots were counted with “no clear record of them being sent.”The Arizona Senate, led by Senate President Karen Fann, held a hearing on Thursday to discuss the preliminary results of the first phase of the audit in Maricopa County.(snip)The irregularities revealed during the hearing amounted to hundreds of thousands of votes.
Biden won Arizona by only 10,457 votes.
The other day I highlighted the disturbing remarks of a local NAACP leader in Fairfax County, Virginia. On Thursday night, Michelle Leete stood outside the Jackson Middle School and rallied protesters in favor of Critical Race Theory (CRT) into a round of applause as she declared "Let them die" about her opponents. On Saturday morning, the Virginia PTA announced over Twitter that she's since resigned from her position with them.Leete resigned from her position of Vice President of Training at the Virginia PTA. She's also the Vice President of the Fairfax NAACP and the Vice President of Communications for the Fairfax County PTA.
Three Texas House Democrats who traveled to
Washington, D.C., test positive for coronavirus 34 replies
Washington, D.C., test positive for coronavirus 34 replies
Three Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Texas House Democratic Caucus.
The three lawmakers are among House Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., earlier this week to stave off GOP priority voting bills during the special legislative session. The three members who tested positive all have been fully vaccinated, which helps protect against severe illness.
On Friday night, one member tested positive for the coronavirus and immediately alerted colleagues, who, in addition to staff members, took rapid tests. On Saturday morning, two additional members tested positive after taking rapid tests. The cases were first reported by the Austin American-Statesman.
Here are the biased numbers for the recent Economist-YouGov poll that gives Joe Biden a 49% approval rating. (snip) Dem (324) Republican (235) Independent (260)
Ninety-nine more Democrats sampled vs. Republicans were included in the results. It is not hard to get the results you want if the polls are assembled in this way, and this is always the method with these polls.
A total of 819 from 1,500 participants. Does that mean the rest were dumped because they are not registered to vote or affiliated with a party? Were their answers included in the reported percentages?
Three Texas House Democrats who traveled to
Washington, D.C., test positive for coronavirus 33 replies
Washington, D.C., test positive for coronavirus 33 replies
Three Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Texas House Democratic Caucus. The three lawmakers are among House Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., earlier this week to stave off GOP priority voting bills during the special legislative session. The three members who tested positive all have been fully vaccinated, which helps protect against severe illness. On Friday night, one member tested positive for the coronavirus and immediately alerted colleagues, who, in addition to staff members, took rapid tests. On Saturday morning, two additional members tested positive after taking rapid
Attorney General Merrick Garland has been accused of breaking his pledge to be 'nonpolitical' by sharing a statement blasting election laws in Republican-led Georgia as he honored the anniversary of civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis' death. Garland and the Department of Justice have gone after the state of Georgia over its voting law which he argues violates federal law by inhibiting voting rights on the basis of race.The Justice Department sued the state in June after Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed a 98-page election law in March that made numerous changes to how elections will be administered,
A 6-year-old girl was killed and five adults hurt after someone opened fire near a Popeye’s in Washington D.C., police said. The child was pronounced dead at Sibley Memorial Hospital, said cops, prompting Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict to plea for the public to help “bring these shooters to justice.”(Snip) The incident unfolded just after 11 p.m. Friday. Officers heard shots ring out at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE and Malcolm Avenue X SE, and arrived at the intersection to find the victims, including the child, three men and two women, Benedict said.
House Democrats are trying to use a massive climate and infrastructure bill to change how Americans get around — by breaking states’ decades-old fondness for building highways. Legislation the House passed this month is the biggest advance yet in Democrats' efforts to bake climate policies into transportation, addressing the largest single contributor to the United States’ greenhouse gas output. It would also represent an historic shift away from the roads-first approach to federal transportation spending that has reigned since Dwight Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System. But the bill is riling up opposition from two potential allies of the Democrats'
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What, you think the Small Business Administration cares at all about small businesses?