Missouri sec state candidate Valentina Gomez's brother fired from Jersey City job over LGBTQ+ positions

Aug 6, 2024

Valentina Gomez, a Republican candidate for Missouri's secretary of state, has accused Democratic Jersey City Mayor Stephen Fulop of firing her brother, Jonathan Gomez because she is running for the GOP as a strong opponent of LGBTQ+ agenda and she has a recording to back up her claim.

Gomez took to social media to tell Fulop in a post, that it’s illegal “to threaten your employees. A huge lawsuit incoming. God & the truth are with us.”

Gomez said in the video post, “Today, the mayor of Jersey City, Stephen Fulop, who is trying to be the next governor of New Jersey, just threatened my brother with firing him, and I caught him on video.”

“Fulop is making him choose between his family or his job, Steven, you should have chosen your words more carefully with my brother, because you do not sound like a Democratic mayor. You sound like a dictator. You cannot be governor. This is not the way to treat your employees or any human being. But I will let the people decide,” Gomez continued, then adding the recording that she says is the mayor talking to her brother.

Fulop was recorded as telling Gomez's brother, “Hey John, You think that is boldness. I'm gonna fire you. I’m going to look in five minutes if it's not clear where you stand, then you're not with me, you're with her and you can't work with me. Period. Okay? Like that's it."

Fulop responded to Gomez in a post of his own, "Valentina - first your brother WAS an ‘at-will’ employee for the city - as of tomorrow he no longer works there bc he doesn’t reflect the values of the city."

"Second, You can see how strongly I feel about the LGBTQ community and I’ll share the text messages we exchanged so ppl know ill fight for them when people are watching and the same when they can’t see what I’m doing," he added. Text messages reveal that Fulop was threatening to fire Gomez's brother over issue. Gomez’s primary is Tuesday Aug. 6.

https://thepostmillennial.com/congressional-candidate-valentina-gomezs-brother-fired-from-jersey-city-job-over-lgbtq-positions

LAST RIDE Iconic motorcycle dealership closes abruptly after 110 years as mechanic of two decades reveals ‘chaos’ of final day

17:20 ET, Aug 6 2024

More than a dozen workers at San Francisco’s historic Harley-Davidson dealership were let go in June after the business shuttered its doors.

The firm, which survived two world wars and a pandemic, had allegedly been "run into the ground” after being taken over by new management five years ago.

The San Francisco Harley-Davidson was founded in 1914 by Dudley Perkins before being passed along to three generations of the family.

Up until 2018, the location had been the world’s longest-running family-owned Harley-Davidson dealership, Mission Local reported.

But problems started once new management took over, according to former employees.

Cliff Chester, who already owned two other Harley-Davidson dealerships in Idaho and Nevada, is one of the two people who purchased the dealership from the Perkins family.

But staff claim it was only a year before they were suffering issues.

"Everything was just kind of chaos," said Carlos Martinez, who had worked at the dealership for 22 years until he was dismissed.

Though the brand's dealerships are independent businesses licensed to sell Harley-Davidson products, they are supposed to comply with corporate standards.

Despite the expectation of its franchises to follow certain protocols, the new management allegedly failed to enforce a number of the rules, numerous ex-employees claimed.

A lot of auto parts sat in a room unlabelled and merchandise was coming up missing regularly.

There was reportedly no system for employees to organize invoices or packing lists so orders were left unfilled and there was much less focus on building good rapport with customers, according to former workers. Other felt the firm had lost its soul.

"It became just a dealership," Martinez admitted.

"That’s not the way Dudley Perkins was … you were part of a family, the motorcycle community."

Mechanic Christopher Weber added that the San Francisco location he worked at was “like a museum” for Harley-Davidson enthusiasts.

He confessed that, in its last days of operation, the site seemed like it had been "run into the ground."

Former employees were told Harley-Davidson HQ would take over the location, but corporate did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

After the site shut its doors, the employees were directed to an independent accounting company to voice their concerns.

https://www.the-sun.com/motors/12116485/motorcycle-dealership-closes-mechanic-decades-chaos-final/

Red Cross Announces Emergency Blood Shortage, Nat’l Inventory Decreased By 25% In July

1:19 PM – Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Officials in the humanitarian organization say that severe heat may be partially to blame for the announced emergency blood shortage that the American Red Cross brought to light on Monday.

The organization claimed in a news release that since July 1st, its national blood inventory has decreased by at least 25%.

Over 100 drives in every U.S. state where the Red Cross collects blood have been impacted in the past month by rolling heat waves and record temperatures, the organization theorized. Based on estimated hospital demand, this has resulted in drives ending early or being canceled, which has decreased the number of donors and led to a shortage of over 19,000 donations in July, according to the Red Cross.

The Red Cross also noted that travel and seasonal activities are additional factors that usually restrict blood donations throughout the summer.

Since August marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season, which is occasionally accompanied by flooding and power outages that can postpone blood drives and otherwise result in low donor turnout, the Red Cross believes that the month of August will also pose a threat to the replenishment of the available blood supply.

According to the Red Cross, it provides over 40% of all blood donations in the country.

“When we start to have a shortfall in donations that has a really significant impact,” said Dr. Baia Lasky, the division chief medical officer for the Red Cross. “This time of year is challenging for us. The demand for blood is constant throughout the year whether its trauma patients, cancer patients.”

The Red Cross said that at this time, they are primarily in need of Type O blood donors for two reasons. Since type O positive blood is the most prevalent blood type, most recipients of blood will require type O blood.

Secondly, people who have the rare O negative blood type are considered “universal donors,” which means that any patient, regardless of blood type, can get transfusions from them. Additionally, people with O negative blood can only receive other O negative blood. Only 7% of the population have O negative blood, according to the Red Cross.

The Red Cross stated that it had to scale back on O blood distributions to hospitals due to the extremely low supply of the blood type at the moment.

“We will welcome anyone of any blood type, but O negative is considered universal and O positive is nearly universal,” Lasky said. “It’s the most transfused blood type and for patients with unknown blood type for emergency transfusion.”

Additionally, she mentioned that platelets, which have a five-day shelf life and are frequently essential for trauma and cancer patients, are in demand as well.

The American Red Cross has already issued previous warnings regarding the possibility of a shortage of blood. Earlier this year, the organization said that it has been dealing with the lowest number of blood donors it has seen in 20 years.

Only 3% of those who are old enough, roughly 6.8 million Americans, give blood annually, according to the Red Cross.

The Red Cross is also providing a $20 Amazon gift card via email to everyone who donates blood by August 31st in an effort to increase donations.

“As you go about your summer plans, remember there are those who are in hospitals,” Lasky continued. “We really need people to come out and donate.”

https://www.oann.com/newsroom/red-cross-announces-emergency-blood-shortage-natl-inventory-decreased-by-25-in-july/

>>21363204