Report: Democratic Rep. Cori Bush's car struck by gunfire

The congresswoman was not injured in the incident

A vehicle belonging to Democratic Rep. Cori Bush (Mo.) was hit with gunfire in the St. Louis, Missouri area early Saturday morning, a source close to the representative told a local news outlet this week.

KSDK-TV reported that Bush was not inside the parked car at the time of the shooting and was not injured in the incident. Citing the anonymous source, the outlet added that the shooting was not thought to be a targeted attack on the congresswoman.

Rather, there was evidence that someone had tampered with the door handles of other vehicles in the general vicinity at around the same time Bush's car was hit with bullets.

If true, that information likely means that someone was attempting to break into the vehicles to steal items from inside or steal the vehicle itself. Carjackings and car break-ins have been on the rise across the country in recent months, and perhaps especially in St. Louis County.

Last year, police data in St. Louis showed there was an unprecedented 10% rise in car break-ins and car thefts in 2021, and a staggering 800% increase in catalytic converter thefts between 2020 and 2019.

Republican members of the county council have sought to address the ongoing problem by enacting new penalties for vehicle "tampering" or "prowling," punishing the criminal behavior with a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year of jail time. The county has also beefed up police presence in areas where the crimes were being committed.

But following the incident involving her vehicle, Bush didn't seem particularly interested in commenting on the need to police burglaries in the county. Instead, she pivoted off the issue to make a statement about gun violence.

“Like far too many of us in St. Louis, experiencing gun violence is all too familiar. Thankfully no one was harmed. But any act of gun violence shakes your soul," the progressive lawmaker said.

"No one should have to fear for their safety here in St. Louis and that is exactly why our movement is working every day to invest in our communities, eradicate the root causes of gun violence, and keep every neighborhood safe," she continued.

The remarks are particularly rich from Bush, who last year came under fire for spending $70,000 of her own campaign money on private security while at the same time calling for the defunding of police.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/cori-bush-car-struck-by-gunfire

LA film producer and party promoter, 39, arrested over drug deaths of model and her designer friend asks judge to lower his $3.4m bail while he fights separate rape charges: Accused of sexually assaulting four women between 2010 and 2020

David Pearce, 37, arrested in November 2021 overdose deaths of Christy Giles, 24, Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, but he has not been charged in that case

Giles' body was left outside one hospital, and Cabrales-Arzola was found outside another, where she died after two weeks in a coma

Pearce, a producer and event promoter, faces unrelated charges of rape and sexual assault of four women from 2010 to 2020

Pearce has been held in jail on $3.4million bail since his December arrest

Pearce's lawyer filed a motion seeking bail reduction and release from jail with GPS ankle monitor

A Los Angeles party promoter and producer suspected of playing a role in the deaths of a married model and her friend is asking a judge to lower his $3.4million bail stemming from unrelated rape charges spanning a decade.

David Pearce, 37, was arrested last month in connection with the drug overdose deaths of Christy Giles, 24, and her Mexican architect friend, Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, but he has yet to be charged with any offense in that case.

The women were last seen alive in the company of the film producer during a warehouse party in November.

Giles' lifeless body was left outside a hospital on November 13, while Cabrales-Arzola was found clinging to life at another hospital, where she died after two weeks in a coma.

Following Pearce's arrest in mid-December, he was separately charged with sexually assaulting four women from 2010 to 2020, and his bail was set at $3.4million.

Pearce currently faces two counts of forcible rape, one count of raping an unconscious or asleep person, and one count of sexual penetration with a foreign object related to incidents that allegedly took place in 2010, 2019, February 2020 and October 2020.

Earlier this week, Pearce's defense attorney, Jacob Gluckman, filed a motion seeking to reduce his bail amount and have him released from jail with a GPS ankle monitor, reported the New York Post.

The lawyer stressed that Pearce has not been charged with causing Giles and Cabrales-Arzola's deaths, and complained that prosecutors have 'dusted off old' sexual assault allegations as a pretext to keep him locked up while they gathered evidence in the deaths of the two women.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10448103/LA-film-producer-arrested-drug-deaths-two-women-asks-judge-lower-bail.html

Masa Son's "Right Hand Man" Marcelo Claure Quits SoftBank After $2 Billion Pay Dispute

After a bitter dispute over compensation that poisoned his relationship with Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son, SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure is reportedly preparing to resign from the Japanese telecoms giant.

Claure, whose previous duties have included running Sprint, WeWork, the SoftBank Vision Fund and other key businesses, reportedly has designs on running his own investment firm, CNBC reported Thursday. In its report, CNBC described Claure as Masa Son's longtime "right hand man".

The executive joined SoftBank in 2013 after selling a majority stake of wireless provider Brightstar to the company for $1.26 billion. He later became CEO of Softbank-majority owned Sprint, which successfully merged with T-Mobile in April 2020.

Late last year, it was reported that Claure was enmeshed in a dispute over $2 billion in pay. According to reporting from the NYT, Claure believes he is owed the $2 billion for "cleaning up" Masa Son's many messes, from WeWork to the Vision Fund and beyond.

Marcelo Claure, the firm’s chief operating officer and a close confidant of the SoftBank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son, is seeking roughly $2 billion in compensation over the next several years, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly on pay issues. Mr. Son and other senior SoftBank executives in Japan are seeking to pay Mr. Claure a much smaller sum - tens of millions of dollars at most.

The unusually large amount at stake reflects Mr. Claure’s singular role at SoftBank, where he has been part Mr. Fixit and part ambassador - untangling messy investments, scouting out lucrative opportunities and wooing start-up founders - since joining in 2017. He arrived after running the telecom company Sprint when asked to do so by Mr. Son.

Mr. Claure has insisted in private conversations with individuals inside and outside SoftBank that he was owed the $2 billion for various cleanup jobs, including straightening out SoftBank’s investment in WeWork, the office-space leasing giant that went public in October. The amount also reflects Mr. Claure’s estimate of the future value he could bring to SoftBank, one of the individuals said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/masa-sons-right-hand-man-marcelo-claure-quits-softbank-after-2-billion-pay-dispute

‘We’re Not Supposed to Show IDs’: Watch Bodycam Footage of Deboarding of Secret DHS Flight in NY

Nearly two million people trying to enter the US illegally were apprehended in 2021, data from the Customs and Border Protection released Monday has shown. Critics have spent months attacking the Biden administration over its border policy, claiming the White House cares more about the frontiers of other countries than those of the United States.

Conservatives have spent over three months accusing the federal government of secretly flying illegal immigrants from border states to other parts of the country under the cover of night, and have now obtained leaked bodycam footage appearing to confirm their concerns.

The police bodycam video, obtained under a freedom of information request by Rob Astorino, a former Westchester County executive and Republican candidate for New York governor, shows what is estimated to be about 100 migrants getting off a charter flight at the Westchester Airport and boarding busses whisking them off in an unknown direction.

“We don’t tell them where we’re going. Like I said, a lot of this is just, down low stuff that we don’t tell people, because what we don’t want to do is attract attention,” a voice off camera is heard telling Sergeant Michael Hamborsky, the officer wearing the bodycam. “We don’t want the media. Like we don’t even know where we’re going when they tell us,” the person says.

“I get the whole secrecy and all this s, but this is even above my fing paygrade, you know what I mean?” another individual tells the police officer. Asked why the flights are wrapped in such secrecy, the man quips, “Because like, look who’s in office. That’s why, come on.”

“Because if it gets out, the government is betraying the American people,” the man says.

Other excerpts of the footage, said to consist of 51 minutes total and to have been filmed on 13 August 2021, were obtained by the New York Post and Fox News. The flights to Westchester were said to have started in August and continued until October until their existence was reported by the media last fall.

https://sputniknews.com/20220127/were-not-supposed-to-show-ids-watch-bodycam-footage-of-deboarding-of-secret-dhs-flight-in-ny-1092562255.html