#Police Beat July 22

[sissa-arrows]

During the night between July 1st and 2nd a group of cops in Marseille violently beat up Hedi a 22 years old North African man.

It’s so violent that they leave him behind thinking he is dead. After the cops left him he manages to get up and to run. He finds a friend and all the strength and adrenaline keeping him up just vanish. He lose control of his body cannot move and is taken to a hospital. He fall into a coma and for 48h the doctors don’t know if he will survive and if he does survive they think he won’t be able to walk again. To save him they had to remove his bones on the left side of his dead…

July 5th. An investigation is open.

July 18th. 8 cops are taken into custody for “violence from a person with public authority”

July 20th. 4 of those cops leave the building of the police of the police and outside their coworkers are waiting for them applauding them under a guard of honor made just for them by their coworkers… a fundraiser was also opened for the 4 cops.

Hedi still doesn’t see anything from his left eye, he still has a hard time walking and his mother says “he is trying to be strong but when he is alone at home with us he cries”. The mom also said that while she still believes in justice she told her son and his friend to get ready to receive a lot of hate and to be slandered…

Fuck everyone who still think justice exist and who still deny the huge racism problem in the country. Fuck you. And fuck you too if your support is conditional to us fighting the way you want us to with the priorities you want us to have. There is zero neutrality when it comes to oppression, you’re either with the oppressor or with the oppressed. So everyone in France choosing to stay silent everyone calling out the way we choose to fight. You chose your side and it’s the side of the oppressor.

[djuvlipen]

11.11.2023, Christos Michalopoulos, a 17yo Greek Romani teenager, was shot dead by the police.

09.19.2023, a Molotov cocktail is thrown at a Sinti encampment in Prato, Italy.

08.07.2023, Muszunye Mircea Vișan, a 33yo Romanian Romani man, is beaten by the Romanian police until he went into cardiac arrest and died.

04.13.2023, Jani Rustemaj, a 27yo Albanian Romani man, is beaten to death by cops while in police custody.

12.05.2022, Kostas Frigoulis, a 16yo Greek Romani teenager, was shot dead by the police. They fired 30 times.

07.25.2022, Hasib Omerovic, a 36yo Italian Romani, disabled man was beat up by the police and pushed out of his bedroom window, falling from a height of nine meters. He has been in a coma ever since.

07.2021, Brasilian military police murders the Romani families living in Vitória da Conquista. At least six Romani people were shot dead and another 15 wounded on the 13th of July. The following day, a 14-year-old Romani boy was shot dead by the police.

10.23.2021, Nikos Sabanis, an 18yo Greek Romani teenager, is shot dead by the police.

06.19.2021, Czech police officers kneel on the neck of Stanislav Tomas, a Czech Romani man, until he stopped breathing.

05.2021, Pîtea Constantin Daniel (22) and Constantin Dănuț Aurel (45), two Romanian Romani men, were beaten up by the police and threatened with execution: "Wait and see for yourself. We will take you to the field and there you will see that we will kill you

05.25.2020, Gabriel Djordjevic, a 14yo French Romani boy had to undergo surgery and almost lost his eyesight after being beaten by the police. He suffered PTSD following the attack.

09.27.2018, Henri Lenfant, a 23yo French Romani man, was shot dead by the police.

04.13.2017, a Romani man and his son were beaten by Bulgarian police.

09.26.2014, Raymond Gurême, an 89yo French Romani man, Holocaust survivor, and former Resistance fighter who helped liberate France from the Nazis, was beaten up by French cops in his own trailer.

[shadowsageingempress]

Florida Man Challenge: Final Fantasy VII Edition

(Note: These headlines do not line up with the characters or my opinion of them. I just did this for fun. Additionally, some of the birthdays are based solely on headcanon and will be marked as such with *)

Cloud Strife, August 11: Florida Man stole forklift, pickup, four-wheeler (and more) in 'impressive crime spree,' deputies say

Tifa Lockhart, May 3: Florida Man invites police to smoke pot while showing off his marijuana plant

Barret Wallace, December 15: Florida Man high on flakka rams car into jail to 'visit friends'

Aerith Gainsborough, February 7: Florida Man accused of hiding marijuana in box of Valentine's Day chocolates

Yuffie Kisaragi, November 20: Florida Man tries to evade police by 'playing Frogger' across busy highway

Vincent Valentine, October 13: Florida Man accused of forcing small alligator to drink beer

Cid Highwind, February 22: Florida Man throws toilet through School Board building window in Illinois

Zack Fair, August 19*: Florida Man arrested after allegedly shoving steaks worth more than $50 down his pants

Angeal Hewley, January 1: Florida Man who attacked McDonald’s worker over straw sentenced to jail

Genesis Rhapsodis, December 13: Florida Man who ran naked through airport screaming about a bomb sentenced to probation

Sephiroth Crescent, December 21*: Florida Man caught on video beating shark with a hammer

(author's note: the shark survived and was released back into the ocean)

Lucrecia Crescent, July 22: Florida Man shoots stepdaughter's boyfriend with shotgun

Weiss, October 2*: Florida Man drinks goat blood in ritual sacrifice, runs for senate

Nero, September 25*: Naked Florida Man outside Chick-Fil-A arrested for trying to fight passersby

Shelke Rui, January 26: Florida Man named ‘Paramedic of the Year’ accused of helping steal Covid-19 vaccines

Honorable Mentions:

12/15 Florida Man throws Christmas tree at wife after food fight

2/7 Florida Man steals car; train sends it crashing into house

2/7 Florida Man accused in plot to attack power grid, illegal street racing

10/13: Florida Man claims he killed, dismembered roommate because he was possibly 'next mass murderer,' cops say

7/22, Watch: Florida Man head-butts bus, loses

9/25 Florida Man throws bicycle, then other man off bridge

[beardedmrbean]

A 39-year-old Los Angeles man has been sentenced to nearly 23 years in federal prison for dozens of felonies that involved extorting Koreatown karaoke businesses using methods seemingly ripped from gangster films.

Woodland Hills resident Daekun Cho, 39, was convicted in March on 57 charges: 55 counts of interference with commerce by extortion, one count of attempted interference with commerce by extortion and one count of carjacking.

Prosecutors say that from 2018 until his arrest in March 2023, Cho “demanded ‘protection’ money from karaoke businesses in Koreatown, as well as from drivers of ‘doumis’ – or hostesses – employed by patrons of the karaoke establishments,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in news release.

Using threats — and at least once, a baseball bat — Cho “physically attacked, threatened, and instilled fear in his victims to induce them to pay him” so-called “protection fees” that ranged between $100 and $1,000 per month either in person or via Venmo, prosecutors said.

In one instance in May 2021, a doumi driver refused to pay Cho, so Cho and an accomplice “beat the victim with baseball bats until knocking him unconscious and then stole his minivan,” prosecutors detailed.

“The victim suffered a broken arm and multiple cuts and bruises,” the release said. “In response, the victim and his business partner closed their karaoke driving company, and the business partner left California.”

In July 2022, a different victim that was dropping two doumis off at a Koreatown karaoke bar was approached by Cho, who appeared to have something in the pocket of his hoodie. Prosecutors say the 39-year-old opened the victim’s car door with his sleeve to not leave any fingerprints and threatened the victim, telling him he was not “permitted to drop off doumis at the establishment.”

“As the victim drove away, he heard gunshots, breaking the car’s glass, a shard of which hit a doumi in the neck,” the release stated.

Yet another karaoke driver who paid Cho in cash for years and then over Venmo, which Cho began accepting during the pandemic, according to the DOJ, was assaulted in Jan. 2023 after he stopped paying.

The 39-year-old violently assaulted the man, stole $1,000 from him and threatened to kill him.

“In text messages shown at trial, Cho threatened many victims that if they did not pay him, they would ‘see the real demon,’ ‘face the consequence,’ ‘get beat up,’ or be ‘punch[ed],’ or Cho would ‘come see u’ or ‘kick u out of ktown,’” the release noted. “One victim testified at trial that Cho pointed a gun at a victim’s head when he refused to comply with Cho’s orders.”

At the time of his arrest, Cho had a 9mm firearm, a Glock 17 firearm, a partially built ghost gun, multiple high-capacity magazines loaded and ammo for a revolver. Prosecutors added that one of the firearms was fully loaded with the safety disengaged.

Cho also had an illegal knife, two metal baseball bats and $20,733 in cash.

“For years, this defendant terrorized merchants in Koreatown with his violent, shake-down schemes and intimidated victims into remaining silent,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “But working with our local partners, we were able to uncover and expose this incorrigible racketeer. Extortionists who seek to profit through violence are on notice that we will use federal tools to hold them accountable and the consequences will be severe.”

Cho was sentenced in August to 270 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $240,167 in restitution, as well as $5,700 in special assessments.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Los Angeles Police Department investigated the case.

[popculturelib]

This week, we are featuring four publications that covered LGBT/queer news in the 1970s.

The Advocate is the oldest active LGBT magazine, and was originally founded in 1967, two years before the Stonewall Riots. This issue - vol. 4 no. 11, July 22-August 4, 1970 - was printed in the aftermath of Stonewall's one year anniversary and features articles about marches across the country. Transcriptions of the articles are below the read more.

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

“13 Hours of Hell: Advocate writer arrested in bar, says cops beat him” by Darby Summers

(Darby Summers is the pseudonym used by a regular contributor to the ADVOCATE who reviews plays and other theatrical events for this newspaper.)

My story is so incredible that, even though it has happened to me, I can scarcely believe it myself. However, I assure you, every word of it is true. It is a story so shocking and disgusting that I tremble with nausea as I look back upon it.

My body is still racked with pain and my throat is so raw and on fire that it is difficult to swallow.

It is amazing that this should happen almost before the ink was dry on the newsprint of the issue of the ADVOCATE in which I reviewed the plight of four prisoners at the hands of sadistic guards in The Cage.

It all began at 1:30 on the morning of June 25th at a straight bar, Christine’s, 2028 West 7th St. in Los Angeles. A straight friend of mine, Chuck, invited me to have a nightcap with him. Normally I don’t drink because a past bout with hepatitis makes any drinking unwise. However, to be sociable, I will take an occasional drink now and then.

I was dressed in a sharp, ‘different-looking’ pair of slacks I had just bought at Jean’s West on La Cienega. I also had on a denim jacket that was custom designed for my by Phyllis Says of Beverly Hills. There is nothing quite like it, but then, there is nothing in our laws that states we all have to dress alike.

The bartender had just handed me a screwdriver, and I was about to take my first sip when I was struck on the shoulder by a heavy object. I turned to see two police officers confronting me.

“Let’s see your identification,” they barked.

Now I have lived long enough

Continued on Page 8

[next story]

“New York City has largest turnout, longest gay march”

by Nancy Tucker

NEW YORK CITY – Some two to three thousand homosexuals, from cities around the East Coast gathered here on June 28th and marched from Greenwich Village to Central Park to demonstrate for “Gay Pride” and “Gay Power.”

The New York Daily News and a local radio station, WINS, carried even higher estimates of the number in the parade. The New said 10,000, WINS, 20,000.

It was called “the most important event in gay history” by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee and was planned and supported by a coalition of eastern homophile organizations.

Marchers traveled to New York from Boston, Philadelphia, New Haven, Washington, and as far away as Alabama and New Mexico to commemorate the first anniversary of a spontaneous demonstration by Gays which took place on June 27, 1969 following a raid on the Stonewall Inn by New York City police.

At that time patrons of the bar, located at 53 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, were put out into the street as police took action against the bar’s management. Groups of Gays gathered and barricaded the police into the bar and then began a series of protest gatherings within the neighborhood. These led eventually to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist’s Alliance during the Fall and Winter.

The three-mile march took place in perfect 75° weather, be-

Continued on Page 5

[next story]

“1200 parade in Hollywood; crowds line boulevard”

The gay community in Los Angeles made its contribution to Americana on June 28.

Over 1000 homosexuals and their friends staged, not just a protest march, but a full-blown parade down world-famous Hollywood Boulevard.

Flags and banners floated in the chill sunlight of late afternoon; a bright red sound truck blared martial music; drummers strutted; a horse pranced; clowns cavorted; “vice copes” chased screaming “fairies” with paper wings; the Metropolitan Community Church sand “Onward Christian Soldiers”; a bronzed and muscular male model flaunted a 7 ½-foot live python.

On and on it went, interspersed with over 30 open cars carrying ADVOCATE Groovy Guy contestants, the Grand Duchess of San Francisco, homophile leaders, and anyone else who wanted to be seen, and five floats, one of which depicted a huge jar of Vaseline, another a homosexual “nailed” to a cross.

Christopher Street West, they called it.

Sensation-sated Hollywood had never seen anything like it. Probably the world had never seen anything like it since the gay days of Ancient Greece.

Crowds lined both sides of the boulevard up to 10 deep along the half-mile-plus parade route and spilled down the side streets and into the marshalling area at McCadden Place and down Ivar Street where the parade was supposed to disperse.

As the last united rounded the corner at Hollywood and Ivar, people began to stream blocks after them, following the three blocks south to Sunset Boulevard, where other crowds struck out on the sidewalks to watch. Although the marchers on foot had dispersed at Selma, the cars and floats remained mostly together and identifiable as a procession in the heavy traffic of Sunset nearly back to Highland Avenue, a block west of McCadden.

15,000 to 20,000

Laconic police estimates put the number of participants in the parade at anywhere from 400 to 1500, depending on which police source you took, and the number of spectators at 4000 to 5000.

More realistic estimates put the number of spectators at 15,000 to 20,000. Parade officials, using a mechanical counter, obtained a total of 1169 participants.

The turnout appeared to catch the Los Angeles Police Department largely unprepared. Although the police had opposed the parade on the grounds that hostile spectators might turn it into a riot, they had blocked off only one side of the boulevard, as specified in the permit, and permitted traffic to proceed on the other side.

As a result, cars were trapped in the rush of spectators who surged into the street all along the parade route, despite the efforts of a few squad car units and motorcycle-mounted patrolmen to force them back to the sidewalks. Shortly after the parade started, they gave up and began diverting all traffic except the paraders off the boulevard.

No Violence

There was no violence of any kind, and police would acknowledge only three arrests, those of MCC Pastor Troy Perry, Daughters of Bilitis Los Angeles Chapter President Carole Shephard, and Kelly Weiser of HELP, who were hustled away as they began

Continued on Page 6

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Persona Timeline Pt. 5: 2011-2015

This one covers Persona 4. Just a quick note: Unlike the previous games, P4 and P5 are more flexible of when you confront the bosses, so dates vary from playthrough to playthrough. This is just personal preference, but consider the days where you beat the bosses that suit you best.

[LAST UPDATED: JUNE 2024]

2011

? ??

- With humanity's wish changing away from the truth, Izanami-no-Mikoto's personalities split into Kusumi-no-Okami, Kunino-sagiri, Ameno-sagiri and Izanami-no-Okami (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

- Kusumi-no-Okami was sent by Ameno-sagiri and Izanami to spy on humans to find out their wish, but she became amnesiac and took the name of "Marie" (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

March 5

- Yukari, Fuuka, Kenji, Junpei, Rio, and Yuko graduated from Gekkoukan High School.

March ??

- Natsuki graduated from an unnamed high school.

April ??

- Naoto and Rise began to attend unnamed high schools.

- Naoki, Kanji, and Ayane began to attend Yasogami High School (Game: Persona 4).

- Due to a mistake, Adachi was dispatched to Inaba as Dojima's assistant (Game: Persona 4).

- Adachi shook a disguised Izanami's hand when he came to Inaba (Game: Persona 4).

April 9

- Mayumi left for Inaba and Adachi was assigned to protect her (Game: Persona 4).

- Namatame tried to contact Mayumi to apologize for the problems their affair brought her, but he was unable to reach her (Game: Persona 4).

April 10

- Namatame returned to Inaba and shook hands with a disguised Izanami, who told him about the Midnight Channel (Game: Persona 4).

- Namatame saw Mayumi in the Midnight Channel (Game: Persona 4).

April 11

- Namatame was hired by his family's company in Inaba after being fired from his job (Game: Persona 4).

- Yu arrived to Inaba, met Dojima, Nanako, and Marie, and shook hands with a disguised Izanami (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

- Adachi pushed Mayumi through a TV (Game: Persona 4).

April 12

- Yu transferred to Yasogami High School, met Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko (Game: Persona 4).

- Mayumi's body was found by Saki hanging from an antenna (Game: Persona 4).

April 13

- Saki appeared in the Midnight Channel (Game: Persona 4).

April 14

- Yu, Yosuke, and Chie entered the TV World for the first time and met Teddie (Game: Persona 4).

- Adachi pushed Saki through a TV (Game: Persona 4).

April 15

- Saki's body was found hanging from an antenna (Game: Persona 4).

- Yu awoke to his Persona (Game: Persona 4).

- Yosuke confronted his Shadow and awoke to his Persona as well (Game: Persona 4).

- When Namatame called the police, Adachi manipulated him into thinking he could save people by placing them in the TV World (Game: Persona 4).

April 16

- Namatame pushed Yukiko into a TV (Game: Persona 4).

April 17

- Chie confronted her Shadow and awoke to her Persona (Game: Persona 4).

April 27

- Yukiko confronted her Shadow and awoke to her Persona (Game: Persona 4).

April 30

- Yukiko joined the newly formed Investigation Team (Game: Persona 4).

- Sho began to secretly stalk the Investigation Team, hoping to find some hint that they would understand him (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

May 2

- Elizabeth won her annual fight against Erebus (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

May 16

- The Investigation Team met Naoto while investigating Kanji (Game: Persona 4).

May 17

- Namatane pushed Kanji inside a TV (Game: Persona 4).

May 25

- Kanji confronted his Shadow and awoke to his Persona (Game: Persona 4).

June 6

- Kanji joined the Investigation Team (Game: Persona 4).

June 22

- The Investigation Team met Rise while trying to warn her of her imminent danger (Game: Persona 4).

- Namatame pushed Rise into a TV (Game: Persona 4).

June 23

- The police arrested a wandering Risette fan, believing him to have something to do with the murders (Game: Persona 4).

July 1

- Rise and Teddie confronted their Shadows and awoke to their Personas (Game: Persona 4).

July 9

- Kubo killed Kinshiro Morooka and hung him from a water tower (Game: Persona 4).

July 10

- Rise joined the Investigation Team and developed a crush on Yu (Game: Persona 4).

July 27

- Kubo confessed to the murders out of nihilism and was arrested (Game: Persona 4).

- Adachi pushed Kubo into a TV out of sadism (Game: Persona 4).

July 29

- Kubo rejected his Shadow and was taken into police custody (Game: Persona 4).

September 9

- The Investigation Team drunkenly told Naoto about Personas, but they weren't believed (Game: Persona 4).

September 14

- Namatame pushed Naoto into a TV (Game: Persona 4).

September 17

- Naoto confronted her Shadow and awoke to her Persona (Game: Persona 4).

October 6

- Naoto joined the Investigation Team (Game: Persona 4).

October 20

- Adachi sent an anonymous threatening letter to Yu in an effort to make him drop the case (Game: Persona 4).

November 5

- Dojima found out the letter Yu had been sent and detained him. Yu tried to explain the truth but wasn't believed (Game: Persona 4).

- Namatame kidnapped Nanako and fled to the TV World (Game: Persona 4).

- Dojima ended up in the hospital after a car chase against Namatame (Game: Persona 4).

November 6

- The Investigation Team saved Nanako, but she was hospitalized due to the vibes of the TV World (Game: Persona 4).

- Namatame was arrested by the police (Game: Persona 4).

December 3

- The fog from the TV World began to slip into the physical world (Game: Persona 4).

- Nanako seemingly died in the hospital, and the Investigation Team went to Namatame's room to make sure Dojima didn't do anything (Game: Persona 4).

- Nanako stabilized again (Game: Persona 4).

- Teddie went missing (Game: Persona 4).

December 5

- The Investigation Team began to have suspicions that Adachi was the true culprit and went to confront him (Game: Persona 4).

- Adachi fled into the TV in Namatame's hospital room (Game: Persona 4).

December 6

- Teddie returned to the Investigation Team (Game: Persona 4).

December 7

- Adachi confessed to the murders and challenged the Investigation Team to defeat him (Game: Persona 4).

- Yu confronted Adachi later that night (Game: Persona 4).

December 22

- The Investigation Team defeated Adachi and the police arrested him (Game: Persona 4).

December 25

- Nanako finally recovered enough to return home (Game: Persona 4).

? ??

- Yukari pursued college with a modeling career on the side (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

- Sae passed the bar exam while still in high school (Game: Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight).

BETWEEN 2011 AND 2012

March 5

- Hidetoshi and Kazushi graduated from Gekkoukan High School.

? ??

- Hidetoshi decided to become a teacher (Game: Persona 3).

BEFORE 2012

? ??

- Mitsuru founded the Security Department, Shadow Response Unit / Shadow Operatives. She was joined by Akihiko and Aigis. The rest of SEES stayed as Reserve Members (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Akihiko dropped out of college to travel the world, master his punch and become stronger (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Akihiko learned how to summon his Persona without an Evoker (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Yukari was hired as the Pink Argus for Phoenix Ranger Featherman Victory (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

- Junpei became a little league coach (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

2012

January 3

- Marie said goodbye to Yu in a dream after her memories returned (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

January 20

- Dojima and Nanako were completely cleared out from the hospital (Game: Persona 4).

February 3

- Margaret managed to locate Marie (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

February 13

- The Investigation Team rescued Marie (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

March 5

- Chihiro graduated from Gekkoukan High School.

March 20

- The Investigation Team defeated Izanami (Game: Persona 4).

March 21

- Namatame was released from prison (Game: Persona 4).

- Yu left Inaba (Game: Persona 4).

March ??

- Rise left Inaba to return to her idol career (Game: Persona 4).

April ??

- Yu, Naoto, and Rise transferred to unnamed high schools.

- Ryuji met Ann (Game: Persona 5).

April 30

- Naoto was hired by public safety to spy on the Kirijo Group (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

May 1

- Labrys was stolen by Hi-no-Kagutsuchi and Sho while Mitsuru and Aigis were transporting her, and they went to Inaba to look for her (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Labrys ended in the TV World where her Shadow Self organized the P-1 Grand Prix, all so Hi-no-Kagutsuchi could absorb the Shadow Selves of Persona Users (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Rise, Kanji, and Teddie went missing (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Yu returned to Inaba (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

May 2

- Elizabeth won her annual fight against Erebus (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis ventured to the TV Worls to find Labrys, followed by Naoto (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Yu, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko returned to the TV World to fight in the P-1 Grand Prix against their wills (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- The Persona Users defeated Labrys' Shadow Self, who was accepted and became a Persona. They also saved their missing friends (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Hi-no-Kagutsuchi briefly took control over Labrys before being overridden by Fuuka (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

- Labrys joined the Shadow Operatives (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

May 3

- Inaba was engulfed in a red fog (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

- The Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team battled in the P-1 Climax (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

- Sho was possessed by Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, which was defeated by the Persona Users. Minazuki also disappeared for good (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

- Sho managed to escape, vowing to one day kill Yu (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

- Ken left the Shadow Operatives to enjoy the rest of his childhood (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

May 5

- Yu left Inaba again (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

Between July and August

- Suguru Kamoshida participated in the Summer Olympics and won gold (Game: Persona 5).

September ??

- Rise recruited her friends to dance with her in the Love Meets Bonds Festival (Game: Persona 4: Dancing All Night).

- Kanamin Kitchen, except Kanami, was kidnapped by Mikuratana-no-Kami to the Midnight Stage. Ochimizu was kidnapped as well (Game: Persona 4: Dancing All Night).

- The Investigation Team saved Kanamin Kitchen and defeated Mikuratana-no-Kami, who returned them to the physical world (Game: Persona 4: Dancing All Night).

December 16

- Yoshida lost his sixth elections.

- Owada won his ninth term as a legislator.

? ??

- Kanji began a puppet-making class (Game: Persona 4).

- Sayoko transferred out of the Inaba Municipal Hospital (Game: Persona 4).

- Marie, under the name Mariko Kusumi, became Inaba's weather girl while also being a minor goddess of Inaba (Game: Persona 4 Golden).

- Akihiko returned to college to become a police officer (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

BETWEEN 2012 AND 2014

March ??

- Hanako and Yumi graduated from Yasogami High School.

BETWEEN 2012 AND 2015

? ??

- Ryuji borrowed money from Ann during a school trip to buy his mother a gift and never paid her back (Game: Persona 5).

2013

March ??

- Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kou, Daisuke, and Ai graduated from Yasogami High School.

- Yu graduated from an unnamed high school.

May 2

- Elizabeth won her annual fight against Erebus (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

? ??

- Chie began to attend a police academy (Game: Persona 4).

- Sae and Makoto's father died while solving a case. Sae had to assume legal responsibility for Makoto (Game: Persona 5).

- Sae began to work as a prosecutor (Game: Persona 5).

- Kou left Japan to study overseas (Game: Persona 4).

BEFORE 2014

? ??

- Alice Hiiragi attended and graduated from Shujin Academy (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

2014

? ??

- Yaldabaoth took over the Velvet Room and separated Lavenza into Caroline and Justine (Game: Persona 5).

- Morgana was created by Igor at the last moment (Game: Persona 5).

February 3

March ??

- Rumi's parents were murdered during a home invasion and she fell into a catatonic depression (Game: Persona 5 Royal).

- Naoki, Kanji, and Ayane graduated from Yasogami High School.

- Naoto and Rise graduated from an unnamed high school.

April 6

- Makoto and Haru began to attend Shujin Academy (Game: Persona 5).

April 8

- Ken began to attend Gekkoukan High School (Game: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax).

April ??

- Akechi began to attend an unnamed high school.

May 2

August 21

- Elizabeth won her annual fight against Erebus (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

May 21

- Yaldabaoth granted Akechi his Persona abilities and put him in the path of Shido to begin the Conspiracy's activities (Game: Persona 5).

- Akechi began to plot against Shido to get his revenge (Game: Persona 5).

- Wakaba died due to a mental shutdown induced by Akechi in front of Futaba (Game: Persona 5).

- The Conspiracy forged a suicide note from Wakaba blaming Futaba, in order to steal her research (Game: Persona 5).

- Futaba began to be passed around by uncaring relatives (Game: Persona 5).

December 14

- Sojiro quit his government position and opened Leblanc (Game: Persona 5).

August 23

- Takuto Maruki awoke to his Persona, using it to purge Rumi of her trauma and her memories of Maruki (Game: Persona 5 Royal).

- Yoshida lost his seventh elections.

- Owada won his tenth term as a legislator and became the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

? ??

- Naoki pursued college to later help his family business (Game: Persona 4).

- Ayane left Inaba to study music abroad (Game: Persona 4).

- Shido became a Cabinet Minister (Game: Persona 5).

BETWEEN 2014 AND 2016

- Maruki's research was suddenly rejected by his university due to Shido's machinations (Game: Persona 5 Royal).

? ??

- Hifumi began to attend Kosei High School (Game: Persona 5).

BEFORE 2015

? ??

- Ryuji's abusive father left the house forever (Game: Persona 5).

- Kamoshida got into a scandal with a female reporter, but his crime was covered. He retired from his position of leader of the japanese volleyball team (Game: Persona 5 Royal).

2015

February ??

- Mariko Hyodo was betrayed by her staff after they got a faulty snow sculpture to kill a nine-year-old girl, but she chose to keep it secret (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

March ??

- After graduating middle school, Futaba stopped going to school (Game: Persona 5).

April 6

- Kamoshida became the volleyball teacher at Shujin Academy (Game: Persona 5).

- Ann, Ryuji, Mishima, and Shiho began to attend Shujin Academy (Game: Persona 5).

April ??

- Yusuke began to attend Kosei High School (Game: Persona 5).

- Akira began to attend an unnamed high school.

May 2

- Elizabeth won her annual fight against Erebus (Game: Persona 4 Arena).

? ??

- Owada hit Aoi Hasegawa in a hit-and-run while drunk, witnessed by Akane (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

- Owada threatened Akane to stop Zenkichi's investigations (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

- An anime that served as part of Ango Natsume's "inspiration" began airing (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

BEFORE 2016

? ??

- Futaba was adopted by Sojiro by paying her uncle the better part of Futaba's inheritance to leave her alone (Game: Persona 5).

- Yukiko became the proprietess of the Amagi Inn (Game: Persona 5).

- Kamoshida goaded Ryuji into attacking him and broke his leg, all to disband the track team (Game: Persona 5).

[post-leffert]

Iran Human Rights Confirms State Killing of 16-year-old Protester Sarina Esmailzadeh

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 7, 2022: Sarina Esmailzadeh, a 16-year-old girl from Mehrshahr in Karaj, was killed due to multiple baton blows by security forces in the September 22 protests. Authorities have aired so-called confessions by alleged family members announcing her cause of death as suicide.

After reviewing the evidence and speaking to eyewitnesses and close sources, Iran Human Rights confirms Sarina’s state killing, and strongly condemns the pressure on her family by security agencies to force them into repeating the false suicide narrative. The organisation demands the international legal prosecution and sanctioning of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s (IRIB) directors.

Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The authorities are using institutions like IRIB as propaganda tools to absolve Ali Khamenei and the forces under his command of killings like that of Sarina Esmailzadeh; just as they used this method for other state killings like Mahsa (Jina) Amini and Nika Shakarami.” He added: “IRIB and all institutions that contribute to covering up these crimes by airing and publishing forced confessions and false accounts, are complicit in the crimes and should be held accountable. Human rights violators, including IRIB and its directors and journalist-interrogators should be prosecuted and sanctioned by the international community.”

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, “after her English class ended at noon on September 22, Sarina Esmailzadeh and several of her friends went to join the people’s protests near her language school. At the protest, security forces repeatedly beat Sarina on the head with a baton until she was severely bleeding from the head.”

As it was impossible to transfer Sarina to a hospital, a source said, people took her to a house nearby to treat her wounds but Sarina had already passed away.

A source added: “Sarina’s family didn’t know what had happened to her until her friends who were with her at the protest, contacted them at 10:30 pm, informing them that Sarina had been killed by the security forces.”

According to the source, when her family went to the location of the protest, people told them that Sarina’s body had been taken to the hospital by an ambulance. But her family’s search for her at hospitals and morgues proved fruitless and none of the relevant authorities would give them a clear answer about where Sarina’s body was.

Sarina Esmailzadeh was born on 2 July 2006 and lived with her mother and older brother. She had lost her father in childhood.

Sarina's burial under strict security measures

Security agents contacted Sarina’s family at noon on September 23 and asked her to immediately go to the cemetery to pick up her prepared (washed according to Islamic tradition) body. When her family reached the cemetery, Sarina’s body was surrounded with security forces and they were not even allowed to inform other close relatives. Sarina’s family were forced to bury her under strict security measures.

According to Iran Human Rights sources, security forces only showed the family Sarina’s face for identification and according to her family, multiple injuries were clearly visible on her face and the right side of her forehead was completely crushed due to the severity of the blows.

State efforts to push fake scenario by pressuring Sarina’s family

16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh’s family have been under pressure by security and judiciary agents to prevent them from disclosing the details and circumstances of her death, and force them to repeat the suicide state narrative since that day.

“Since noon on September 23, all her family including her mother, brother and maternal uncle and aunt, have been under intense pressure and threats to force televised interviews,” a close source told Iran Human Rights.

According to the source, Sarina’s family have been summoned to the police station and prosecutor’s office several times, where they have been interrogated.

The source added: “Representatives from IRIB were also present at the prosecutor’s office and police station. Security agents told the family to repeat a series of dictated words in front of the camera, but the family refused. At the prosecutor’s office, Sarina’s mother was told to announce her daughter’s cause of death as falling from a building, which she refused each time.”

Sarina’s family have been under such intense pressure, threats and interrogations that they cannot even hold a funeral for her. In one visit to their home, security agents pulled down every death announcement posters and banner which they confiscated.

Simultaneously, Mehr newsagency which is affiliated to the Islamic Development (advertisement) Organisation, aired a short video with a woman they claimed to be Sarina Esmailzadeh’s mother, denying any state involvement in her daughter’s death. In the video, the presenter also tried to insinuate that Sarina had a history of suicide and was not mentally well.

On October 7, the Alborz province prosecutor, Hossein Fazeli Harikandi announced that 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh had died after falling from her grandmother’s roof in the Azimieh neighbourhood of Karaj. He declared the cause of death to have been suicide, which he claimed she had a history of. He also called the news that Sarina had been killed by security forces  as “claims made by hostile media” and said her location of death had been one of the “disturbance-free areas in Karaj.”

The Islamic Republic used the same scenario for Nika Shakarami, a 17-year-old protester killed by security forces who they also claimed had died after falling from a building.

Nika Shakarami went missing after taking part in a protest on Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran on September 20. In her last phone call, she said she was being chased by security forces. Her injured body was identified by her family ten days later. Security forces secretly buried Nika in a remote location after stealing her body from the morgue. NIKA'S PHOTO:

Declaring Nika’s cause of death as falling from a building at the Amir Akram intersection, Mohammad Shahriari, the head of the Criminal Prosecutor’s Office for Tehran said: “The building where this lady’s backpack was discovered, was in the final stages of construction, and there are two clothing factories already in production with workers and security. No bullet or pellet wounds were discovered in her autopsy and investigations show that this incident had nothing to do with the street riots.”

On October 5, IRIB aired the forced confessions of Nika Shakarami’s aunt, Atash Shakarami and uncle, . Before her uncle speaks, a shadow can be seen to his left and the words “say it you filth!” can be heard being whispered. Nika’s aunt and uncle were arrested days after her killing and their forced confession were obtained under duress.

In response to the televised forced confessions, Iran Human Rights rejected the Islamic Republic’s contradictory claims of her death based on grainy edited videos and forced televised confessions based on duress and ill-treatment.

Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: "The evidence points to the government’s role in Nika Shakarami's murder; Unless the opposite is proven by an independent fact-finding mission under the supervision of the United Nations. Until such a committee is formed, the responsibility for Nika's murder, like the other victims of the current protests, rests with Ali Khamenei and the forces under his command.”

Lawyers denied access to Sarina Esmailzadeh’s case by security agencies

Sources close to Sarina’s family told Iran Human Rights that while the prosecutor has opened investigations into Sarina’s death and her mother, brother and uncle are being summoned by security agencies every day, their lawyer has so far been denied access to their case by judicial authorities.

The death certificate was also taken from her family on the day of her burial and has not been returned since.

“At the prosecutor’s office, Sarina’s family were told not to do media interviews about their daughter’s death, especially foreign media, so that her case wouldn’t become well known like others killed in the current protests. Her family’s phones are also being tapped by the authorities and her mother has told relatives that she can hear voices on calls from her mobile phone.”

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

SOUTH AMERICA: ‘Archives of Terror’ Yield New Horrors by Darío Montero The so-called "archives of terror" discovered by a human rights lawyer in Paraguay over a decade ago continue to yield new information on the cooperation between the de facto regimes that ruled much of South America in the 1970s and 1980s. MONTEVIDEO, Sep 16, 2005 (IPS) - Paraguayan activist and lawyer Martín Almada visited Uruguay this week to hand over documents recently found in the archives of terror, which indicate that the number of Uruguayans who were detained in Paraguay during the dictatorial regimes was much greater than human rights groups had previously realised. In December 1992, Almada, who was held as a political prisoner and tortured in his country in the 1970s, came across a room full of official records in a police station near the Paraguayan capital. The hundreds of thousands of documents that he basically discovered by accident pertain to the torture and forced disappearances carried out by the dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989) in Paraguay. But the archives of terror are especially important because they contain secret documents shedding light on Operation Condor, a coordinated plan among the military governments that ruled Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in the 1970s and 1980s, aimed at tracking down, capturing and eliminating left-wing opponents. Thanks to legal action by Almada, the archives of terror are open to public scrutiny. They are stored on the premises of Paraguay's Supreme Court, in the Centre of Documentation and Archives for the Defence of Human Rights.

...

"These documents also indicate that Korean Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church had links" to Operation Condor as well, he added.

...

After September 1977, "ties began to appear between Moon's sect and the local and Latin American Anti-Communist League. A finance company, Urundel, was even set up in Paraguay to serve as a bank for the repressive operations in that country," said Almada.

_________________________________

Jorge Guldenzoph, deeply involved with CAUSA and Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, given 10 years in jail for torturing

Jorge Guldenzoph, a young Interior Ministry official who is secretary of Causa Uruguay. Ten years ago Guldenzoph was still a student leader of the . . . Communist Youth movement when, he says, he “forswore Marxism”. LINK

_________________________________

BNN Breaking

Decades of Silence Broken: Former Uruguayan Intelligence Agent Sentenced for Dictatorship Crimes

February 22, 2024

Former Uruguayan intelligence agent Jorge Carlos Guldenzoph Nunez sentenced for dictatorship crimes.

The courtroom was charged with a palpable mix of apprehension and hope as survivors, now decades older, stood to recount their harrowing tales. They spoke of electric shocks, beatings, and other forms of torture that left indelible scars on both body and psyche. Approximately 50 survivors shared their testimonies, painting a vivid picture of the horrors inflicted upon them. The indictment against Jorge Carlos Guldenzoph Nunez highlighted his active role in the arrest, interrogation, and forced confessions of dissidents, laying bare the systemic cruelty that characterized the regime's approach to dissent. Guldenzoph Nunez's trial, which began in July 2020, was a culmination of years of tireless advocacy by victims and human rights organizations.

...

The dictatorship in Uruguay, spanning from 1973 to 1985, left a deep and lasting impact on the nation's collective memory. It's estimated that 20% of the population was imprisoned at some point, with around 200 citizens murdered and an additional 191 disappearing without a trace. These numbers, while stark, barely scratch the surface of the pain and trauma experienced by those who lived through the regime's darkest days.

LINK

_________________________________

CIA, Moonies Cooperate in Sandinista War

“The UC is truly anti-Christian” and produces “a species of material and spiritual slavery.” Catholic Bishops in Honduras

The Unification Church and the KCIA – ‘Privatizing’ covert action: the case of the UC

Sun Myung Moon organization activities in Central & South America

Introduction

‘Illegal Aliens Joining Moonies’ – The Pittsburg Press

Moon’s ‘Cause’ Takes Aim At Communism in the Americas – Washington Post

Moon in Latin America: Building the Bases of a World Organisation – Guardian

Guatemala

Nicaragua

Honduras

Costa Rica

Bolivia

Uruguay

Paraguay

Brazil

_________________________________

Uruguay condena a 10 años de prisión a Jorge Guldenzoph

[thecrimecrypt]

Crimes That Shook Britain (South East England)

Murder of Lin and Megan Russell On 9 July 1996, Lin Russell, 45, was walking home from school in Chillenden, Kent, with her two young daughters, Josie, 9, and Megan, 6. 

On a country lane, drug addict Michael Stone suddenly attacked, demanding money. The three victims were tied up, blindfolded, then savagely beaten with a hammer.  Josie was the sole survivor, despite suffering catastrophic head injuries. And, as she recovered, the brave little girl helped officers create an e-fit of the attacker. 

A year later, psychopath Stone, 37, was charged. A cellmate testified Stone confessed while on remand in Canterbury Prison.  Michael Stone was convicted and jailed for life for the murders of Lin and Megan. 

Josie and her father Shaun moved to Wales to rebuild their lives. Stone continues to protest his innocence from prison and has pointed blame at killer Levi Bellfield, who he says resembles the e-fit picture. 

Daniel Gonzalez Daniel Gonzalez, from Woking, had fantasies of being horror-film slasher Freddy Krueger and wanted to be a ‘famous serial killer’.  On 15 September 2004, wearing a hockey mask, Gonzalez stabbed Marie Harding, 73, to death on a Worthing footpath. Two days later, he killed Kevin Molloy, 46, in north London, then Derek and Jean Robinson, 75, and 68, in their home.  Two other men, aged 61 and 59, survived attacks. 

Gonzalez was arrested at a tube station on 17 September after buying a ticket with a bloodstained £20 note.  Daniel Gonzalez, 26, was jailed for life and took his own life in Broadmoor psychiatric hospital in August 2007. 

Killing of Billie-Jo Jenkins  Billie-Jo Jenkins, 13, was killed by a blow to her head at her home in Hastings, on 15 February 1997.  Billie-Jo had been placed in foster care with Sion and Lois Jenkins when she was 9, and foster father Sion said he’d got home that day to find Billie-Jo in a pool of blood. 

Sion soon became prime suspect - forensics found microscopic spots of blood on his clothes and, in July 1998, he was convicted of murder.  But experts said blood on his clothing could’ve come from Billie-Jo’s airway as she lay dying.  After two appeals, Sion’s conviction was quashed. After two re-trials failed to reach a verdict, he was acquitted in 2006. The case is still unsolved. 

Levi Bellfield  Levi Bellfield hated all women. The 6ft 1in, 20st wheel clamper stalked and attacked them after they got off night buses.  In February 2003, Bellfield bludgeoned student Marsha McDonnell, 19, with a hammer in Hampton, southwest London. 

In May 2004, he drove into Kate Sheedy, 18, before reversing over her. Amazingly, she survived.  Bellfield beat French student Amelie Delagrange, 22, to death in August 2004 on Twickenham Green. He was arrested when his van was caught on CCTV near the scene. 

Bellfield was sentenced to a whole-life term for killing Marsha and Amelie. Afterwards, police linked Bellfield to the unsolved murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 13, who’d vanished while walking home in Walton-on-Thames in March 2002.  Her remains were found six months later.

Despite being convicted of Milly’s murder in 2011 and handed another whole-life term, Bellfield refused to admit his guilt.  But, 14 years on, he admitted abducting, raping and strangling the schoolgirl. 

Hungerford Massacre A sunny August afternoon in 1987 in Hungerford, Berkshire - and loner Michael Ryan, 27, armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a pistol, went on a rampage.  Ryan shot dead a mother picnicking with her kids in Savernake Forest and, by 1pm, he was shooting people at random in the town center. 

By the day’s end, 16 people were dead, including Ryan’s mother and a police officer.  A further 15 were injured.

Armed police swarmed the area, and, after evading capture all afternoon, Ryan shot and killed himself. 

Murder of Sarah Payne Sarah Payne, 8, vanished while playing with her siblings near her grandparents’ home in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex on 1 July 2000. 

A huge police hunt was launched and, on 17 July, Sarah’s body was found beside a field, 15 miles from where she’d disappeared. Roy Whiting, a local paedophile and convicted sex offender, was the prime suspect.  A strand of hair matching Sarah’s DNA was found on a T-shirt in Whiting’s white van and fibers  from the van were also on Sarah’s shoe. 

Whiting was jailed for life. Sarah’s mother Sara successfully campaigned for Sarah’s Law - which allows anyone to formally ask the police if someone with access to a child has a record for child sexual offenses. 

[sa7abnews]

NYC migrant accused in vicious beating of Times Square cops arrested again after he’s bailed out

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/13/nyc-migrant-accused-in-vicious-beating-of-times-square-cops-arrested-again-after-hes-bailed-out/

NYC migrant accused in vicious beating of Times Square cops arrested again after he’s bailed out

A migrant accused of leading an assault on a pair of New York City police officers in Times Square earlier this year before being quickly released was arrested again for serial theft, according to media reports. Yohenry Brito, 24, of Venezuela, was arrested Tuesday for a pair of thefts at Sephora makeup stores in Manhattan, law enforcement sources told the New York Post. VIOLENT VENEZUELAN PRISON GANG INFILTRATING US, BECOMING MORE ORGANIZED AND BRAZEN: ‘MS-13 ON STEROIDS’One theft occurred in July in which Brito allegedly cut through security wires on display cases to steal fragrances. The other happened on Aug. 6, when he stole $1,358 worth of merchandise from store shelves before fleeing with an accomplice, police sources told The Post.The accomplice was not caught. “As we said from the beginning, the individuals who attacked our Times Square Unit brothers have zero respect for the law and can’t be trusted to remain on the street without causing more mayhem. We are glad that he is back behind bars,” Patrick Hendry, president of the NYC Police Benevolent Association, told the newspaper. Brito was previously arrested and released for at least three other thefts that occurred both before and after Times Square police gang assault. MIGRANT ACCUSED OF RAPING WOMAN AT KNIFEPOINT NEAR BEACH BOARDWALKHe was one of seven migrants seen kicking and punching the two officers on Jan. 27, prosecutors said. The migrants were told by the cops to move along a street when the violence began. Five of the accused migrants – Yorman Reveron, 24, Jhoan Boada, 22, Wilson Juarez, 21, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, and Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19 – were charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental investigation and were released without bail.Boada was later exonerated after prosecutors determined he was not one of the men seen in the video.Brito was initially released with the other asylum seekers, but he was taken back into custody after a public outcry and ordered held on $15,000 cash or a $50,000 bond. At the time, he had two pending misdemeanor theft cases.MIGRANTS IN NYPD TIMES SQUARE ATTACK OFFERED PLEA DEALS, INCLUDING 1 JUST RE-ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALINGHowever, he was released back onto the street in February when Rev. Juan Ruiz, a minister at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, put up the $15,000 bond. “Our church is basically a sanctuary,” Ruiz told The Post at the time. “We assume that people are innocent until they are proven otherwise.”After his release, Brito was arrested for allegedly trying to steal children’s clothing and fragrances from Macy’s. “I am very tempted right now to put you in jail,” Judge Laura Ward said in Manhattan Criminal Court told Brito in court. “I am telling you right now, if I learn you are rearrested for anything at all between now and this case being finished, I will order a warrant, and I will place bail so high, you will not get out.””If you jaywalk, if you jump a turnstile, if you do anything at all and I have to issue a warrant, you will not see the light of day until this case is over,” she continued.Brito is now being held on $50,000 cash bond on the Times Square police assault because of the latest arrests.

[oskarlevant]

Voices From The Garage: The Zonks At The Dairy Queen

Blast from the past May 22, 2011 at 11:02 p.m. | Updated July 7, 2015 at 5:37 p.m.

by Eric Nicholson

On a Saturday night during the summer of 1967, five teenagers scaled the Dairy Queen in Hope, Ark.

As people began to gather below, the sound of drums and an electric guitar cut through the air, and the Zonks began to play.

"We just said, 'Let's play on top of that sucker. Let's play on the roof.' And we did," said lead guitarist Buzz Andrews. "Did it before U2 and the Beatles."

The Dairy Queen was on U.S. Highway 67, the town's main thoroughfare. As word spread and curious passersby stopped to watch, the crowd overflowed the parking lot and began to spill into the street.

"We didn't really know how much of a following we had until that," said drummer Gary Thrasher. "It was kind of our own little Woodstock."

Arkansas State Police soon arrived. The band, and most of the audience, assumed they would disperse the crowd and shut down the performance. Instead, they began diverting traffic down other roads.

The Zonks weren't the first band to play atop Dairy Queen-that honor belonged to Rick Durham and the Dynamics-but that show "wasn't much," Thrasher said.

"It was a big deal for Hope, Ark.," Andrews said about The Zonks.

Satisfaction

According to Andrews, the Zonks were formed about 1965 as the Offbeats, a name they kept until a band member pointed out that they were on beat and shouldn't advertise otherwise.

They settled on The Zonks, which, all agreed, was "very original, very cool," Andrews said.

The band shifted over time, growing from a trio to a quintet, and adding new members as others lost interest or moved away. For a brief period before its dissolution, the band added a horn section.

The longest incarnation was the group that played atop Dairy Queen.

Alongside Andrews and Thrasher were bassist Alan Phillips-whose elder brother Ronnie was the band's manager and promoter; keyboardist Mike Westbrook; and vocalist Mike Tolleson, a charismatic Florida transplant with strong stage presence, on vocals.

The Zonks wasn't quite what Thrasher had in mind when he moved to Hope from Prescott. He had hoped to form a jazz trio, but it was the time of the British Invasion, and rock 'n' roll was in the air.

The band practiced at first in Alan Phillips' bedroom, until they played the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" within earshot of his mother.

"She's Church of Christ," Andrews said. "We were no longer allowed in her home."

They moved to Andrews' garage to get out of reach of prying ears. They rechristened it the Zonk Room.

The Zonks made something of a name for themselves in southwestern Arkansas during the late 1960s. They began playing carports and pool parties in Hope. Eventually, there were regular gigs at Hope Youth Center alongside bands with names like the Uniques, Mouse in the Traps, the Morticians and Squirrel Fever.

"It seems like we won second place in the poultry festival battle of the bands," Andrews said. "That sort of launched our musical careers."

When friends and siblings went off to college, The Zonks started to get gigs at parties at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and Southern State (now Southern Arkansas) University in Magnolia.

They played at the grand opening of the Dairy Queen on East Street in Texarkana, Ark., and at an Arkansas High School homecoming. But the rooftop concert was the highlight.

The quintet reveled in their relative fame. Andrews, who was also starting quarterback and Mr. Hope High School, remembers the band being greeted by shouts of recognition as members walked through downtown Hope.

But fame was not quite enough to hold the band together. The Zonks, though they mostly wound up in Arkadelphia for college, dissolved after high school. They played at a couple of Hope High School reunions, but otherwise have pursued their own paths.

"I guess we weren't really dedicated to the band, because we didn't drop out of school and become rock stars," Andrews said.

Renaissance

The rooftop show at Dairy Queen would have marked the peak of The Zonks' fame had someone in the company's corporate office not happened upon a promotional photo for the show.

In the photo, the five band members are posed casually with their instruments on a vintage white truck covered with the DQ logo and parked in front of the restaurant. They look confidently at the camera.

Something about the photo seems to capture the spirit of the era, said Dairy Queen spokesman Dean Peters.

The company obtained the rights for the photo and used it in promotional materials for its 50th anniversary in 1990. More recently, it began hanging the photo in Dairy Queen restaurants across the country.

"Nostalgia plays an awful large part of who Dairy Queen was and is," Peters said. "We thought our customers would enjoy it."

Unbeknownst to band members, the photo, 40 years after it was taken, was sparking a renewed interest in The Zonks.

"I got an email from my brother saying, 'Hey, I saw The Zonks on TV last night,'" Thrasher said, referring to the photo's appearance on a Food Network program.

The reappearance of the photo and the interest it generated was news to Thrasher, as it was to Andrews.

"We had let it go," Andrews said. "We had moved on."

Andrews, a high school track coach and blues guitarist in Dallas, now receives regular emails from curious Dairy Queen patrons who see the photo, Google Zonks and find Andrews' Facebook page.

"I now have two sets of followers. I have my Zonks followers, and I have my blues followers," he said.

The photo even inspired a self-published novel, available on Amazon, about a fictional Zonks reunion.

A real-life reunion, however, is unlikely. Alan Phillips died several years ago. Though Andrews is returning to his hometown to headline this weekend's balloon festival, the rest of the band are firmly entrenched in their own lives, he said.

Hope no longer boasts a Dairy Queen, but the flat-roofed building on which The Zonks played 44 years ago still stands on Highway 67, just in case they change their minds on the reunion.

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Daily Devotionals for July 12, 2024 

Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living

Devotional Scripture:

Proverbs 20:18 (KJV): 18 Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war. Proverbs 20:18 (AMP): 18 Purposes and plans are established by counsel, and only with good advice make or carry on war.

Thought for the Day

This verse tells us that we should engage counsel to establish our plans and purposes, especially in the matter of war. The Bible is not against war when it is for a righteous cause; however, it should never be entered into lightly or without ample counsel from those who would be allies. When called to face any kind of battle it is essential to have the counsel of fellow Christians. "Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counselors, they are established" (Proverbs 15:22).

Team work is vital for any large vision to be accomplished. A good counselor is one who weighs out the pros and cons of a situation and suggests the best way to accomplish or correct something. With a multitude of counselors, the goals and purposes will not be frustrated, but will be completed. Each department will have good suggestions to get the thing established. This is especially important in any kind of warfare.

Some Christians struggle to reconcile Christ's command to love their enemies with their government's decision to go to war. Capital punishment also raises similar questions, especially if the criminal is reformed. How do we reconcile these questions? We must understand that the Bible defines different responsibilities for individuals and governments. While individuals are commanded to love their enemies and forgive those who do them wrong, the main role of a government is to protect its people from invaders and maintain law and order within its borders. Governments fulfill these responsibilities by maintaining military and police forces. Those who would dispute their country's military position, must also ask themselves what their nation would be like without laws, policemen, or prisons.

Before sin, Adam lived in fellowship with God with no need of laws. When he rejected the authority of his Father, sin entered the world. We are Adam's seed, and sin has been passed down to all of us. Jesus laid down His life that we might be forgiven and restored to God. He will one day reign on earth as King of Kings. Until then, God has established governments to restrain the wickedness of man. Unregenerate society, without any restraints, would destroy the righteous along with itself. God's laws rule men's hearts, and governments enforce laws (Romans 13:1-5).

As individuals, we must forgive those who sin against us; and as citizens of earthly governments, to support our government's law enforcement. Although war is a terrible course to take, the alternative is far worse: allowing evil to overtake one's country. Sometimes wars must be fought to bring justice to bear. Wars will remain until Christ returns and sets up His kingdom of peace in the earth. At that time, war shall be no more. "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4).

Prayer Devotional for the Day

Dear heavenly Father, we know that You hate war, but You also hate what evil men do to innocent men, women, and children; therefore, wars come when good men stand against the evil of wicked men. May You grant all that fight in righteous causes Your grace, wisdom, strength, and ability to overcome evil. Lord, give all righteous rulers and leaders Your wisdom as they direct the course of war. Protect those who are on the battlefields fighting in these conflicts. Bless their families and give them comfort and faith in Your ability to protect and keep those who call upon You! Lord, may we prevail in every righteous cause and stand united behind all who must pursue the course of war to overcome evil. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Your Son. Amen.

[meanstreetspodcasts]

BONUS - Five Favorites: Night Beat

In this bonus episode, we're walking the Night Beat with reporter Randy Stone in my five favorite episodes of this fantastic radio drama series. Frank Lovejoy stars as Stone, always looking for stories for his newspaper column and always ready to help people in need. We'll hear the show's first episode ("Zero," originally aired on NBC on February 6, 1950), where he helps a woman track down a man before he takes his own life, and a meeting with an unusual man who claims to have a sinister super power ("I Wish You Were Dead," originally aired on May 22, 1950). Randy meets a faded college football star in trouble with the mob ("The Football Player and the Syndicate," originally aired on NBC on June 12, 1950), and he dials a random phone number to find a woman in danger ("The City at Your Fingertips," originally aired on NBC on July 31, 1950). Finally, Randy and the police hunt for a contaminated case of butter that could unleash typhoid on the Windy City ("A Case of Butter," originally aired on NBC on September 25, 1950).

Check out this episode!

[beardedmrbean]

A 28-year-old woman is facing prison time after being convicted of kidnapping her roommate in the District of Columbia, federal officials said.

In October 2023, Antoinette Gilmore, of Washington, D.C., got into an argument with her roommate on the phone, according to a May 21 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Gilmore told the man that she and her cousin would pick him up from downtown and take him back to their apartment so he could get his stuff, prosecutors said.

Once the man got into the car, Gilmore told her cousin to punch and beat the man as she drove, officials said.

The victim tried getting out of the car, but the pair had locked the doors, officials said.

The man was able to escape, but Gilmore told her cousin to chase him down, officials said.

After eventually catching him, Gilmore’s cousin dragged “him by the collar of his shirt” back to the car, prosecutors said.

Once they reached the destination, the victim was pulled out of the car but was able to break free, officials said.

Then he ran to the nearest police substation to report the assault, officials said.

McClatchy News reached out to Gilmore’s lawyer on May 22 and was awaiting a response.

Gilmore is scheduled to be sentenced in July, prosecutors said.

[drmaqazi]

JEWISH TERRORISM & GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS IN OCCUPIED HOLY LAND SINCE 1948, AND CONTINUING BY KILLING OF HELPLESS & INNOCENT CHILDREN, WOMEN, AND OLD PEOPLE UNDER THE EYES OF IMPOTENT WORLD LEADERS, GOD FORBID AMEN.

January 11, 2016, Israeli Author to Le Monde: ‘We Live Under an Apartheid Regime’

by Shlomo Papirblat, Haartez, 1/11/2016

January 17, 2016, Israeli settlers scrawl hate graffiti on Jerusalem church,  Ma’an News Agency, 1/17/2016

“…the doors of the Dormition Abbey church were vandalized with threats scrawled in Hebrew that read: ‘Kill the Christians, the enemy of Israel’ and ‘The revenge is coming very soon,’ as well as ‘Send Christians to hell.’…In 2014, a suspected Israeli extremist lit a prayer book on fire in the abbey, in what police at the time said was a suspected arson attack just hours after Pope Francis held mass at a nearby Christian holy spot during a visit to the area.

“A year before that, Israeli extremists spray-painted ‘Jesus is a monkey’ in Hebrew outside the church, and ‘Havat Maon,’ the name of an illegal Israeli settler outpost that had been dismantled by the Israeli government just days before the attack, Israeli daily Haaretz reported at the time.

“In 2012, suspected extremists spray-painted ‘Jesus, son of a bitch,’ in Hebrew, with the words ‘price tag,’ a term used by Israeli extremists to mark nationalist-motivated hate crimes.

“Abu Nassar said in the past that the extremists responsible for the attacks were not prosecuted by the Israeli government in a ‘serious way.’

Dormition Abbey dates back to the 5th century, and is thought to be the place where the Virgin Mary died.

February 17, 2016, IDF soldiers electrocute blindfolded Palestinian for fun, laugh while filming (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

February 24, 2016, ‘Cruel, inhuman and degrading:’ Israel’s systematic abuse of Palestinian detainees exposed by NGOs

March 24, 2016, B'Tselem volunteer Imad Abu Shamsiyeh documented Elor Azaria, a soldier, murdering Abd al-Fatah a-Sharif, a Palestinian who had carried out a knife attack and was lying wounded on the road after soldiers had shot him.

see also: https://twitter.com/Robert_Martin72/status/977853085757276160

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com,

March 28, 2016, Israeli Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef preaches that Gentiles have no place in “Israel” except as servants who observe the rabbis’ Noachide Laws.

“According to Jewish law, it’s forbidden for a non-Jew to live in the Land of Israel – unless he has accepted the seven Noachide laws.”

“Who will be the servers? Who will be our assistants? Therefore, we leave them here in the land.”

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Says non-Jews Forbidden From Living in the Land of Israel, Haaretz, March 28, 2016

Chief rabbi: Non-Jews shouldn’t be allowed to live in Israel, Times of Israel, March 28, 2016

April 11, 2016, Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) destroyed 523 Palestinian homes and civilian structures in the West Bank since the start of 2016

May 22, 2016, New Israeli death penalty would apply to non-Jews only: Likud sourc

but is actually consistent with an old law from the Torah, Sanhedrin 57a:

July 12, 2016, IDF's chief rabbi-to-be Eyal Karim permits raping women in wartime

The rabbi gave a more shocking answer on the same site when asked if soldiers were permitted to rape women during war. Karim replied that, as part of maintaining fitness for the army and the soldiers' morale during fighting, it is permitted to “breach” the walls of modesty and “satisfy the evil inclination by lying with attractive Gentile women against their will, out of consideration for the difficulties faced by the soldiers and for overall success.

August 4, 2016, Israeli Border Police Bully 8-year old Palestinian Girl and “Confiscate” (steal) Her Bicycl

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com,

December 12, 2016, Lawyer of Israelis who beat to death black non-Jew for talking to white Jewesses claims they were trying to help him (use Google Translate) http://bit.ly/2hbrPDu

December 22, 2016, Israeli soldiers sentenced to three months

 community service for killing unarmed Palestinian teen

“Two IDF soldiers shot Palestinian teenage Samir Awad from behind eight times in January 2013, killing him. Nearly four years and a string of investigative failures later, it looks unlikely that either of the accused will go to jail.”

December 27, 2016, Israeli forces killed 31 Palestinian youths in the occupied West Bank in 2016

“2016 has been deadliest year of the past decade for West Bank children, according to Defense for Children International–Palestine. In the past year Israeli forces have killed 31 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program director at DCIP, says, ‘Intentional lethal force now appears to be routinely used by Israeli forces, even in unjustified situations, with no accountability, putting more and more children at risk.’”

[worldofwardcraft]

The wheels they are a-grinding.

September 28, 2023

Little noticed by a national news media obsessed with President Biden's age and Senator John Fetterman's shorts are the amazing courtroom successes Merrick Garland's Justice Department has been racking up against the January 6 insurrectionists. In the first year alone following the deadly attack on our Capitol, 716 people were prosecuted, with the US government winning all but 12 of those cases. And of those in which the DOJ prosecutors were not successful, five were because the defendants died and four because the accused fled. Only one was acquitted and two were dismissed.

To date more than 1,100 individuals from nearly all 50 states have been charged for crimes related to the breach of the US Capitol building, including more than 396 individuals charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 650 defendants have pleaded guilty.

For example, Samuel Lazar of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was arrested in July 2021 on charges that he came to the Capitol, dressed in tactical gear with protective goggles, and used a chemical spray on officers who were desperately trying to beat back the angry Donald Trump supporters. Lazar, who was sentenced in March of this year to 30 months in prison, had been in jail since his arrest and was released only last week.

The first of the J6 insurrectionists to be prosecuted was Texas native Guy Reffitt, who was convicted in March 2022 of obstructing Congress and interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol. Following the attack, he also threatened his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement. It took jurors less than four hours to convict him on all counts, and in August 2022 he was sentenced to 7 1/4 years in prison.

Of course, the biggest cases were against the Oath Keepers, 29 of whose members were charged and found guilty. The organization's founder, Elmer Rhodes, and Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs were each convicted of seditious conspiracy in November of 2022 and sentenced this past March. Rhodes received 18 years in prison, while Meggs got 12 years.

In May, five members of the Proud Boys were found guilty of multiple felonies, including four for seditious conspiracy, for their actions on January 6. Earlier this month, their leader, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to 22 years.

The quote about the wheels of justice turning slowly, but grinding exceedingly fine has been attributed to everyone from 3rd century Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus to Ecclesiastes to Sun Tzu. But the DOJ's J6 prosecutions amply demonstrate that whoever said it was right on the money.