Americans Depressed By ‘Bidenflation’ Aren’t Buying Media’s Economic Lies
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I don't mind if you buy an overpriced box of trinkets for its own sake. But I wish manufacturers would quit calling them Advent calendars.Drug deal at a Los Angeles Trader Joe's led to shootout that killed 1, injured 3, police say
One person died and three others were injured after a drug deal in a Trader Joe's parking lot in the West Hills section of Los Angeles led to a shootout.
"Our preliminary investigation has revealed that the dispute centered around a narcotics transaction in the area," Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said Saturday in a press conference, as KCAL reported.
"During that dispute, multiple suspects produced firearms and fired at each other."
Authorities began investigating a reported "gun battle" in the parking lot of a Trader Joe's at Fallbrook Center in the San Fernando Valley Saturday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported.
As officers arrived at the scene, one suspect fled the scene in a car with its windows shot out. An LAPD airship followed the suspect vehicle.
"The suspect became involved in a hit-and-run traffic collision, where they injured someone else and continued fleeing the area," Hamilton also said during the press conference. Hamilton added that the injuries to that person are not believed to be life-threatening.
After the collision, the suspect switched to a different vehicle as the LAPD airship monitored from above. By that time, Hamilton said, one of the gunshot victims at the Trader Joe's parking lot scene had died, making the fleeing person a murder suspect.
It took ground units "two to three minutes" of pursuit before the suspect pulled over. The driver of the car was female. She and the male passenger were taken into custody without incident.
Hamilton says the male passenger is the person they believed fled the scene in the first car that had the windows shot out.
Two firearms were recovered, Hamilton said, adding that the investigation was ongoing and the crime scene was very large.
A total of four victims were struck by gunfire, authorities said. One died in the parking lot of the Trader Joe's in West Hills. The other three were transported to medical care, none of whom are believed to have life-threatening injuries.
"When they are released, we will continue our investigation with interviews of the people who were injured," Hamilton said, adding that there is a possibility some of the people who were injured may be taken into custody based on what the investigation reveals.
"Everyone that we know of from this incident either was taken into custody here, is at the hospital, or was taken into custody at the termination of the pursuit," Hamilton said.
Watch coverage of the deadly shooting outside a Los Angeles Trader Joe's from ABC News below.
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Trader Joe's ditches mask mandate; Walmart, Target, and others keep it for now
Trader Joe's on Friday became the first major U.S. retailer to drop its mask requirement for fully vaccinated customers after the CDC said it was safe for vaccinated Americans to ditch their masks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued new guidance that said fully vaccinated Americans are no longer recommended to wear masks indoors or outdoors, except where local regulations or businesses require them. In response, Trader Joe's updated its COVID-19 policies to comport with the CDC's new recommendations.
"We encourage customers to follow the guidance of health officials, including, as appropriate, CDC guidelines that advise customers who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear masks while shopping," the company said.
A spokesperson for Trader Joe's told USA Today that customers will not be required to show proof of vaccination to enter their stores without a mask. Employees are still required to wear masks for the time being.
Other major U.S. retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Home Depot, are still requiring customers to wear masks, even if they have been fully vaccinated.
Target said in a statement the company "will continue to require all of our coronavirus safety measures in all stores, including masks and social distancing" while they review the new CDC guidance.
Walmart credited mask-wearing requirements with mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in its stores in a statement saying the requirements will not be lifted.
"We serve millions of Americans every week and believe our policy of requiring associates and customers to wear masks in our stores has helped protect them during the pandemic, and we're not lifting those measures at this time," the company said.
Pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens have elected to keep their mask mandates in place because they provide COVID-19 vaccinations, reasoning that unvaccinated people who come to get the vaccine still have a chance of carrying the virus.
"As a destination for COVID vaccine and testing we have decided to keep our current face covering policy in place for the time being," said Walgreens spokeswoman Emily Hartwig-Mekstan in a statement. "The safety of our team members and customers is our top priority and will continue to guide our decision process."
Labor unions criticized the CDC's new guidance and demanded clarity on how store workers are supposed to enforce the new requirements.
The CDC "fails to consider how it will impact essential workers who face frequent exposure to individuals who are not vaccinated and refuse to wear masks," United Food and Commercial Workers' union President Marc Perrone told USA Today.
Perrone complained that store workers "are still forced to play mask police for shoppers who are unvaccinated and refuse to follow local COVID safety measures" and wondered how they are expected to be "vaccination police" as well.
"Vaccinations are helping us take control of this pandemic, but we must not let our guard down," Perrone said. "As one of America's largest unions for essential workers, UFCW is calling on the CDC and our nation's leaders to clarify how this new policy will be implemented, how essential workers will be protected, and how these workers will protect the communities they serve."
Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images
Trader Joe's employee goes viral after saying he was fired for asking his CEO to ban customers who refuse to wear masks. The store says not so fast.
A Trader Joe's employee says the company fired him after he reached out to the company's CEO calling for stricter COVID-19 safety protocols in his store, including banning customers who repeatedly refused to wear masks inside the company's store.
What are the details?
According to a CNN report, Ben Bonnema, who worked at a New York City Trader Joe's location, said that he wrote an email to company CEO Dan Bane on Feb. 26 urging him to improve the store's air filtration system, refuse entry to anyone without a mask, and implement a "three strikes" policy for customers who are repeat offenders of the mask rule.
A portion of Bonnema's email read, "I was recently shouted and sworn at by a customer who would not wear his mask above his nose, despite [Trader Joe's employees] already asking him to do so. He was allowed to finish his shopping and check out."
He added, "The ADA requires that we offer reasonable accommodation, which we do by offering to shop for them. If they refuse, we should not let them in."
Elsewhere in the email — which he shared on Twitter — Bonnema said, "We put our lives on the line every day by showing up to work. Please, show up for us by adopting these policies."
He also said that the company ought to be following health experts' advice — such as those at the Centers for Disease Control — on tamping down the risk of COVID-19 spread inside its stores.
"We should be following the guidelines of scientists who study respiratory transmission," Bonnema's message added.
He also shared what he said was his termination letter on social media.
A portion of the letter read, "In a recent email, you suggest adopting a '3 strike policy' against customers and a policy enforcing the same accommodations for every customer with a medical condition that precludes them from wearing a mask. These suggestions are not in line with our core Values. In addition, you state that Trader Joe's is not 'showing up for us' without adopting your policies."
The message added, "It is clear that you do not understand our values. As a result, we are no longer comfortable having you work for Trader Joe's."
trader joe's just fired me for sending this letter to the ceo, saying i don't share the company values. i guess adv… https://t.co/rPQ69EzhlE— Ben Bonnema (@Ben Bonnema)1614377118.0
@TraderJoesUnion here's the letter they gave me https://t.co/BeYmopbmJ3— Ben Bonnema (@Ben Bonnema)1614383291.0
What has the company said?
Kenya Friend-Daniel, a spokesperson for the company, told CNN that there was "misinformation" surrounding Bonnema's firing.
"Store leadership terminated this Crew Member's employment because of the disrespect he showed toward our customers," Friend-Daniel insisted. "We have never, and would never, terminate a Crew Member's employment for raising safety concerns. We encourage all Crew Members to take an active role in store safety, and share their suggestions with leadership."
Friend-Daniel also told BuzzFeed News that Bonnema worked at the store for just a short time.
"Nothing is more important at Trader Joe's than the safety of our crew members and customers," she said. "During his short tenure with Trader Joe's, this crew member's suggestions were listened to, and appropriately addressed. Store leadership terminated this Crew Member's employment because of the disrespect he showed toward our customers."
The outlet reported that Benjamin Dictor, a lawyer representing Bonnema, said that he and his client were looking to obtain an order from the National Labor Relations Board demanding Bonnema's "immediate reinstatement."
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Dictor said, "Mr. Bonnema's spotless employment record with the company is only further evidence that the company's decision to terminate him from his employment was an unlawful attempt to threaten, restrain and coerce Mr. Bonnema and his coworkers from engaging in protected concerted activity. Mr. Bonnema has a federally-protected right to advocate for the workplace safety of his colleagues. Terminating him for doing so is reprehensible."
Marxist BLM protesters occupy Trader Joe's to protest ‘lack of access to grocery stores’ and capitalistic exploitation
A group of Black Lives Matter protesters in Seattle allegedly stormed a Trader Joe's last week to protest "lack of access to grocery stores" and educate patrons on "how capitalism exploits the working class."
What are the details?
"If Ballard residents won't come to the protest, we'll bring the protest to them!" the group, Morning March Seattle, said in a post on Instagram showing protesters occupying the store and holding signs that say "Black Lives Matter All Day Every Day" and "Defund [Seattle Police]."
"We stopped by the local Trader Joe's this morning to share some education about lack of access to grocery stores in Black and Brown communities and the barriers that creates [sic], how capitalism exploits the working class, and of course gentrification," the post continued.
According to its Instagram profile, the group advocates for abolishing police — which it portrayed using a pig emoji — and the redirecting of funds into black communities (i.e. wealth redistribution).
The store manager evidently felt so threatened by the demonstration that he threatened to call the police and prevented patrons from entering the store while it was going on.
Why does it matter?
If this critique of Trader Joe's sounds a lot like something that would be advanced by Marxist philosophers, that's because it is.
The goal of Marxism, after all, is a society in which there is common ownership of the means of production and free access for all, in contrast to capitalistic society, which Marxists argue leads to the exploitation of the working class and restricts their access to goods and services.
The rhetoric is not surprising, however, because Black Lives Matter leaders have acknowledged in the past that they are "trained Marxists."
What is ironic about Morning March Seattle's protest is that "access" seemed to be quite obviously available for the protesters, who easily waltzed into the grocery store. Access was taken away from patrons, however, who were temporarily barred from entry by the protesters' presence.
Anything else?
Perhaps even more ironically, the only ones who have willfully restricted access to others in recent weeks are the Morning March protesters when they formed a blockade across Interstate 5 in Seattle earlier this month.
The group, which boasts organized marches every weekday, hit the streets Sept. 4, blocking all southbound lanes along the interstate.
The incident resulted in 9 arrests being made and 9 vehicles being impounded by Washington State Patrol troopers.
Morning March bragged about the incident on its Instagram:
(H/T: The Post Millennial)
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