Bongbong Marcos toppled Leni Robredo on the latest Pulse Asia survey

Despite of the overwhelming negative publicity  , BBM still takes on the lead

By Edward Era Barbacena

Manila - Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. topped anew Pulse Asia's latest survey on preferred presidential candidate in the May 9 elections, the pollster said Sunday.

According to the survey conducted last Jan. 19 to 24, Marcos is the first choice from among presidential aspirants, with 60 percent of respondents saying they would vote for the son and namesake of the late dictator "if the May 2022 elections were held today."

Vice President Leni Robredo came in second with 16 percent

Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso each had 8 percent of respondents' support, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson had 4 percent.

Marcos Jr. was also the most prefered presidential candidate in the Pulse Asia survey last December.

The nationwide survey had 2,400 respondents aged 18 and above, with a ± 2% error margin at the 95% confidence level, Pulse Asia said.

 

FACT CHECK: Leni, Kiko Proclamation Rally Attendees Did Not Reach 300,000

By Edward Era Barbacena

The proclamation rally of presidential bet Vice President Leni Robredo in Naga City on Feb. 8 was not attended by 300,000 to 600,000 people, contrary to online posts claiming that it was the “biggest" campaign rally in the Philippines.

Claim: An infographic shared on various social media accounts claimed that the proclamation rally of presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo and her slate was attended by 200,000 to 600,000 people.

Rating: False

Facts:

The estimated number of attendees during the proclamation rally of Robredo in Naga City on Tuesday, Feb. 8, did not reach 300,000 to 600,000, contrary to online posts claiming that it was the “biggest campaign rally in the history of Philippine politics.”

Information from the Naga City Events Protocol and Public Information Office showed that crowd attendance during the event in Plaza Quezon was between 15,000 and 20,000 people.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, said it was between 7,000 and 18,000.

The false infographic used drone shots of the proclamation rally and claimed that the information on crowd estimates came from PNP R9 and the Associated Press (AP).

R9, or Region 9, covers Zamboanga peninsula in Mindanao. Naga City is under the jurisdiction of Police Regional Office 5.

AP also said it neither took nor released the photo. AP Manila correspondent Jim Gomez added that they “did not make or publish any crowd estimates” of the proclamation rally in its stories.

Robredo, her running mate Sen. Francis Pangilinan and their senatorial slate spent the first two days of the official campaign period in the Vice President’s bailiwick.

No one from the their campaign team has claimed that the proclamation rally in Naga City was biggest in Philippine history.

There are also restrictions in holding rallies and campaigning for the May elections in general due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PNP Regional Office 5 director Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo said thousands joined the motorcade and sorties held across Bicol region, including at least 15,000 in Albay, 8,000 in Camarines Norte, 12,000 in Camarines Sur and 30,000 in Sorsogon.

Prior to the proclamation rally in Naga City, Robredo and her slate held a motorcade in Camarines Sur, beginning in Lupi town and with campaign stops in Libmanan, Tigaon and Iriga City.

The following day, they had two sorties in Camarines Norte (Daet and Labo), two in Sorsogon (Gubat and Sorsogon City) and four in Albay (Legaspi City, Tabaco, Libon and Guinobatan).

Why it matters:

Crowd estimates are being used by supporters to drumbeat the campaigns of their respective candidates. One post that shared the false infographic about crowd estimates during Robredo’s campaign rally has generated over 4,000 reactions and has been shared more than 1,400 times as of writing.

OneNews.PH is part of #FactsFirstPH, which brings together various sectors that are committed to promoting truth in the public space, and exacting accountability on those who harm it with lies. For those interested to join the initiative, email info@factsfirst.ph.

 

Dashcam footage shows disgraced Texas trooper vaping confiscated marijuana

By Edward Era Barbacena

What a dope.

A disgraced Texas trooper was caught on his police cruiser’s own dashcam vaping confiscated marijuana, according to newly released footage.

The video is from 2019 but only just came to light — after the lawyer repping several drivers who were stopped by the same state trooper near Wichita Falls sought evidence against the officer, the dogged attorney told The Post.

“The public should find it abhorrent any time there’s a breach of public trust,” said Fort Worth lawyer David Sloane. “We place people in a position of trust when they enforce the law.’’

Chad Harden, the now-former trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety, was caught on camera inhaling pot from a vaping pen he’d just taken from a suspect, according to the video.

“I accidentally inhaled THC, as stupidly as that sounds,’’ Harden later admitted to an investigating officer, according to audio of the footage that Sloane posted on YouTube.

“I felt it fill up my lungs. I pushed it out as fast as I could,’’ Harden claimed. “I did not mean to inhale it.’’

 Harden was suspended in June 2019 when he came under investigation by the Texas Rangers and resigned from his job three months later, the local Times Record News reported. It wasn’t immediately clear if the vaping video was part of that probe.

But the ex-cop was ultimately charged with tampering with evidence and copped to a plea deal this past August that landed him two years’ probation, the outlet said.

Meanwhile, Sloane said the marijuana-possession charges against his clients were dismissed. None of them were involved in the vaping video, he said.

Several additional criminal cases involving Harden’s testimony have been tossed, too.

 

Woman who posted antisemitic conspiracies about Grenfell fire jailed

Tahra Ahmed who falsely claimed online that victims were ‘burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice’ given 11 month sentence 

By Edward Era Barbacena

A woman who spread false antisemitic conspiracy theories on Facebook about the Grenfell Tower tragedy has been jailed for 11 months.

Tahra Ahmed, 51, said the 72 victims were “burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice” in a video posted to social media just four days after the tragedy on 14 June 2017.

She was sentenced on Friday after an Old Bailey trial. She was previously found guilty of two counts of stirring up racial hatred by publishing written material.

Ahmed, who reportedly worked as a volunteer with victims of the fire, posted her false conspiracy theories “virulently” on Facebook, the court heard. On 18 June 2017, she posted a video on Facebook of the fire and described it as a “Jewish sacrifice”, the court heard.

She said: “I’ve been at the scene, at the protest and at the community meetings and have met many of the victims … some who were still in the same clothes they escaped in.

“They are very real and genuine, their pain and suffering is raw and deep and their disgusting neglect by authorities continues. Watch the footage of people trapped in the inferno with flames behind them. They were burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice.”

The post linked the fire to an antisemitic conspiracy related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Prosecutor Hugh French had previously told jurors that an examination of her account unearthed two posts in January and June 2017 that “crossed the line as to what is acceptable in a liberal society”. The earlier post, made on 26 January 2017, also promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theory, jurors heard.

A police investigation into Ahmed’s activities was launched following a story in the Times on 11 December 2017, which focused on some of the people who attended public meetings after the tragedy. An examination of Ahmed’s Facebook account revealed a history of antisemitic comments.

French also said that, while Ahmed’s Facebook account demonstrated “strongly held beliefs”, the two posts identified were “clear demonstrations of racial hatred”, the Daily Mail reported.

“Looking at the language of the posts, the crude racial stereotyping and the insulting tone, the Crown say that you can infer that she posted them either intending to stir up racial hatred [or] that racial hatred was likely to be stirred up”, he was reported to have told jurors.

Ahmed, from Tottenham, north London, denied wrongdoing, claiming that her posts were “political”.

 

Kate Dixon

Miss Teen USA competitor Kate Dixon slammed after old N-word video resurfaces

This proves that beauty is futile if you have no brain

By Edward Era barbacena

This beauty pageant scandal sure is getting ugly. It seems like some contenders come with peripheral beauties but with no brains at all.  

A Miss Teen USA competitor is under fire after an alleged video of her uttering the N-word went viral on TikTok.

Kate Dixon, 17, is set to represent the state of Washington at the upcoming pageant, but there are now calls on social media for her to be booted from the competition over her use of the racial slur.

The footage of Dixon using the epithet was reportedly filmed back in 2018, when she was 14 years old, but resurfaced on social media last week.

TikTok user @juliuspleazerfanaccount shared the old footage, which has garnered more than 8.4 million views.

The TikTok video begins with recent footage of Dixon being crowned Miss Teen Washington before it suddenly cuts to the 2018 clip of the teen saying the N-word.

“Gangster n—-r!” Dixon can be seen stating before she erupts with laughter.

The TikTok clip also featured an old video of Dixon lip-synching to vulgar audio, which states: “I only love men when they have money and big c—s.”

The Post has reached out to Miss Teen USA for comment.

Dixon appeared on FOX13 Seattle, apologizing for her use of the slur, saying she was forced into saying it by upperclassmen at her school

“They coerced me into saying a racial slur,” the beauty queen insisted. “I told them, ‘No, I don’t want to say that. I know that it’s not appropriate.’ And they told me, ‘You have a free pass just this one time. It would be funny.’ So I decided, after much persuasion, I said the word that they wanted me to say and without my knowledge I was recorded.”

Dixon stated the video quickly spread around her school just days after it was recorded. She was bullied and received death threats, ultimately forcing her to leave the educational institution.

The pageant queen claimed the video has resurfaced intermittently in the past three years, and she isn’t surprised it made its way to TikTok in light of her being crowned Miss Teen Washington.

“I have learned my lesson, and I have not used that word to this day,” she declared.

For the time being, Pageants Northwest — the agency that oversees four states in the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA organizations — is standing by Dixon.

“What she did was absolutely unacceptable,” the company’s executive producer, Maureen Francisco, told FOX 13. “[But] our organization is designed to [encourage you to] be the best version of yourself and if somebody admits fault, has apologized, and says, ‘Hey, I want to work on being the best version of myself’ … how do you turn your back away?”

However, others aren’t so forgiving. The damage had been done and it can never be undone

Many on TikTok called for the teen queen to be disqualified from the Miss Teen USA competition.

Meanwhile, Hannah Merritt, an African American model who placed third runner-up in Miss Teen Washington, said she was “distraught” by the situation.

“As an African American woman who’s walked that stage four times and has the weight of so many little girls on my shoulders, to know that Kate … won, it’s just really tiring,” she told KIRO 7.

Indictment Unsealed Charging Two Oklahoma Men with Committing Hate Crimes

 

Indictment Unsealed Charging Two Oklahoma White Men with Committing Hate Crimes

By Edward Era Barbacena

Earlier today, a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed in the Western District of Oklahoma charging two men with two-counts of committing hate crimes, announced Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney Robert Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The indictment alleges that on June 22, 2019, Brandon Killian and Devan Johnson, aiding and abetting each other, willfully caused bodily injury to two victims because of the perceived or actual race of one of the victims, who is a Black man.  The victims are identified in the indictment only as J.C. and M.W.  The assaults occurred in the parking lot of the Brickhouse Saloon, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

If convicted, Killian and Johnson each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case is being investigated by the Oklahoma City FBI Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Barry of the Western District of Oklahoma and Trial Attorney Avner Shapiro of the Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

The public is reminded that these charges are merely allegations and that the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  Reference is made to public records for more information.

 

Chicago woman charged with felony for allegedly vandalizing memorial for slain cop

Anna Kochakian was arrested for defacing a memorial for slain Chicago Police Officer Ella French.

By Edward Era Barbacena

Illinois police have arrested a 26-year-old woman accused of defacing a memorial for Chicago Police Officer Ella French – who died in a shootout with suspects last year.

Anna Kochakian allegedly tore down a photo of French placed at the memorial just days after her murder, crumpled it up and threw it in a trash can on a Chicago “L” platform, state police said Wednesday.

It wasn’t until this week that police obtained a warrant for her arrest on a felony charge of defacement of a police memorial. They arrested her at her home around 10 a.m., according to authorities.

“The offender was arrested using the handcuffs of Officer Carlos Yanez Jr., her partner,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown tweeted. “This was a moment of justice for Ella, her family, the Chicago Police Department and all those who knew and loved Ella.”

Officer Carlos Yanez, 40, survived two gunshot wounds to the head during the shootout that claimed French’s life. His injuries may leave him permanently disabled.

Two brothers, Monty and Eric Morgan, have been charged in connection with the violence.

Monty Morgan allegedly opened fire on officers during a traffic stop on Aug. 7, 2021, fatally striking French, 29, and wounding Yanez. Eric Morgan was driving the car.

A third officer returned fire and struck Monty Morgan in the stomach. He was charged with first-degree murder of a peace officer and attempted murder. His brother faces firearms and obstruction charges.

Kochakian is due back in court Thursday for a bond hearing. She is charged with defacement of a police memorial, a Class 4 felony.