Hello, thee, kids, welcome to the Phle for a Wednesday. How are you? “I’m not a cat,” is probably not what you would expect to hear from a lawyer during a court case, especially in virtual court. But that’s exactly what was said by lawyer Rod Ponton in virtual court in the 394th judicial district court of West Texas, who couldn’t figure out how to take the Zoom call kitten filter off of his own face. And the entire video of the mishap is HILARIOUS. The video starts with Hon. Judge Roy Ferguson pointing out, “Mr. Ponton I believe you have a filter turned on in your video settings,” to which Ponton, cat filter covering everything but his mere eyeballs and mouth, with a slight, frantic panic in his voice replies with, “Can you hear me judge?” Judge Ferguson, probably trying to stay professional and keep the giggles out of the way, calmly explains, “I can hear you. I think it’s a filter.” “It is and I don’t know how to remove it,” Ponton explained. “I’ve got my assistant here and she’s trying to remove it but uh… I’m prepared to go forward with it. I’m here live. I’m not a cat.” Check this shit out...
Ponton told Vice’s Motherboard that he was actually unaware that the court had posted the video of the Zoom hearing and shared concerns of having his name on the live stream, blaming it on using his secretary’s computer. He said, “Oh, that was just a mistake by my secretary,” he said. “I was using her computer and for some reason, she had that filter on. I took it off and replaced it with my face. It was a case involving a man trying to exit the United States with contraband and contraband cash. All it was was a mistake. It was taken off and we had the hearing as normal.” Attorney Gibbs Bauer, who was also on the call, told Motherboard that he thought the Zoom filter was just a glitch, saying, Have no idea what caused that. Probably just a computer glitch.” Judge Ferguson took to social media to tweet about what happened, saying, “IMPORTANT ZOOM TIP: If a child used your computer, before you join a virtual hearing check the Zoom Video Options to be sure filters are off,” he said. “This kitten just made a formal announcement on a case in the 394th (sound on).” “These fun moments are a by-product of the legal profession’s dedication to ensuring that the justice system continues to function in these tough times,” Ferguson said. “Everyone involved handled it with dignity, and the filtered lawyer showed incredible grace. True professionalism all around!” No offense, but I would take seeing stuff like this over celebrity gossip concerning Paris Hilton or Britney Spears any day. This is what we should be seeing more of in headlines! Kids are streaming and consuming stuff on social platforms now like TikTok, so no wonder old hears have a harder time keeping up with technology. And no, it’s not because this is in the south either, as I’m sure some up north in New York can relate to struggling with new technology. I know, even in my 50s, that yeah, I’m even struggling to keep up. And it’s so refreshing to see some light-hearted humor in some form of politics. You know, with the coronavirus pandemic still around, the storming of the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris getting inaugurated, Robinhood’s stock issues, Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial happening, Tom Brady winning yet another Super Bowl, videos like these are what keeps us afloat despite the craziness. I love to see it.
A 34-year-old woman who was already on parole for the death of her infant son is now charged with a state felony for doing almost the exact same thing. Denette Williams, a woman from Conroe, Texas, is now being charged with endangering a child, after birthing and leaving her newborn girl in a water-filled toilet. Denette Williams via Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office According to Montgomery County court records, Williams was convicted back in August 2012 for a first-degree felony for the death of her 5-week-old baby boy, Braylan Hood, in March 2011. The little boy had suffered a broken neck, and his father, 32-year-old Jimmie Hood, was also convicted on the case. Braylon was not only five weeks premature, but he also had broken ribs, neck and arm ligature marks, and brain bleeding, as told by the courier. However, the pair failed to take him to the emergency room, keeping him strapped to a car seat without feeding him or changing his diaper. After being left in the car for 11 hours, Braylan had also suffered a partially severed spinal cord from all the blunt force injuries, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. The jury deliberated for barely an hour before finding Williams guilty. She was originally given a 15-year prison sentence but then got it reduced to 10 years in December 2014 on appeal. Hood had received probation in a separate trial, but had it revoked for violations less than a year later. He was then handed a seven-year sentence. Well, according to a probable cause affidavit, the newborn girl’s father, Christopher Hardmon, woke up to Williams’ screams and called 911 when he discovered a baby head down in a toilet. Williams claimed that she thought she was having severe menstrual cramps when she went to use the bathroom at 3:00 a.m. After one alleged big “cramp,” she said she heard a “plop,” began bleeding and then went to go shower. Williams also claimed that she had no idea she was pregnant, despite the medical care staff at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital putting the baby at 35 weeks in gestation. They also noticed, “a six-inch part of the umbilical cord with a ‘flayed’ end still attached to the otherwise healthy child,” according to the documents. Investigators also received a copy of an online state welfare benefits application that Williams signed back in May. She had identified herself as pregnant, putting her due date in September. Montgomery County criminal defense attorney Judith Shields, who is representing Williams, thinks that the charges would’ve been different if not for her prior convictions. She says, “I think that when everything is looked at and brought forward that we may find that Denette is not the hideous monster that the state is trying to portray her as, so we’re just gonna keep working to find the truth.” Alright, look... I’m not even going to justify my ability to be blunt, but this woman knew what she was doing. Was the welfare application last year not enough to indicate that she knew she was pregnant? And how did this woman think she was going to get away with this story? No, this isn’t the pandemic making people crazy, there’s absolutely no excuse for these kinds of actions. And I really hope no one threw her a baby shower or looked to see if she had a registry on Amazon or something.
A California man has contracted COVID-19 after being fully immunized with the Pfizer vaccine. Health experts are now warning this could become more common with the variants that have now emerged in the pandemic. According to Gary Michael, he got a phone call from the Orange County Health Department where a healthcare worker revealed his diagnosis. He stated, “They told me that yes, I’m positive with coronavirus and they went through my symptoms and the precautions of what I should do as far as quarantine.” Michael previously received both of his COVID-19-vaccines. His first dose was on December 28th, followed by a second vaccine on January 18th. Three weeks have officially passed since those vaccinations, yet Michael still tested positive for COVID at Mission Hospital. He had initially gone to the hospital for an unrelated health issue. According to Dr. Tirso del Junco, Chief Medical Officer for 7 southern California hospitals, there have been at least 7 cases of people who have tested positive for COVID after getting the vaccine. He noted, “You might be surprised by this man’s story, this patient’s story. I’m not. It’s not the first one I’ve heard of. I think I’ve heard of 6 or 7 independent cases in the last three weeks of people vaccinated with different timelines who have been vaccinated, who have tested positive. I think we’re going to continue to see that more and more.” Doctors and the CDC are now urging people to keep wearing their face masks whether they have been vaccinated or not. Apparently, new mutant COVID strains are spreading in the country. Del Junco noted, “And we’re going to truly understand the effectiveness and how long these vaccines are effective, number 1. Number 2, as soon as we started the vaccine program is when we started hearing about these mutant strains. We have three aggressive mutant strains now that people keep talking about and that’s long after we started this vaccination process.” Michaels live-in girlfriend also tested positive for coronavirus, 5 days after he received his second Pfizer dose. Luckily, he is said to recover since the case is relatively minor.
“What can you say except, I’m sorry? I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want it done to me, I’m sorry. Going through it when I look back where I was back then, I know it’s wrong, I am really sorry for that. I know it’s the wrong thing to do,” said Karen McDougal with teary eyes to Anderson Cooper in a CNN interview. The 49-year-old former Playboy model was apologizing to former First Lady Melania Trump for her alleged affair with former President Donald Trump, feeling incredibly remorseful. McDougal had first met Trump during his "Celebrity Apprentice" days, when he filmed at the Playboy Mansion back in 1998. She claimed that this is where they started their relationship, talking about “anything and everything” during their “dates” together. The former Playboy Playmate explained her “real relationship” with Trump, saying, “There were real feelings between the two of us, not just myself, not just him... Deep inside, I did have a lot of guilt but I still continued.” She wasn’t shy sharing details of having unprotected sex with the former Republican president, saying “When you’re in a relationship, do you count how many times you have sex? I can tell you we saw each other a minimum five times a month up to bigger numbers per month. Over the course of 2006 through, I think I ended it April 2007,” also saying that the alleged relationship began June 2006, three months before he and his wife Melania’s son Barron was born. McDougal, a former preschool teacher who also was Playmate of the Month for December 1997 and Playmate of the Year of 1998, was also the runner-up nominee of The Sexiest Playmate of the 1990s. She explained that she truly believed that her affair with Trump would end in marriage, explaining how she believe he had real feelings for her. “Of course, he did. I know he did. I was in love. He always told he loved me,” she said. The former Playboy bunny ended up suing the company that owns the National Enquirer in order to come forward in 2018 about the alleged 2006 affair. According to the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, she was paid $150,000 for her story and then withheld it from publication. She is reportedly the second woman paid to keep the affair quiet, besides porn star Stormy Daniels, and also stated in her suit that her attorney was working closely with Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney at the time, to keep her quiet. The pair’s alleged affair was actually first made public by the New Yorker, but reps from the White House claims that, “This is an old story that is just more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal.” Nevertheless, tabloids and social media took a hold of the news, as many can remember hearing about this whole debacle. In the wake of losing the presidential election to Biden and now facing another impeachment trial, I wonder if Ivanka’s father is trying to find and enjoy some peaceful time in his Mar-A-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, or has he maybe escaped to the Trump Tower in New York City, New York.
A mural was unveiled in front of a Houston High School in memory of George Floyd, who is one of its former students. The mural was dedicated to Floyd reading, "Black Lives Matter” in bright gold and red paint and spans two blocks in front of Jack Yates High School. Artist Jonah Elijah created the mural along with several volunteers who attended the unveiling in the company of Floyd’s family members. Floyd’s niece Bianca Williams spoke about the mural, stating, “This means so much to my family and I know it would mean a lot to my uncle. Continue to stand with us. This is the beginning of a long fight, united together, stronger than ever.” The mural also features the red and gold No.88 football jersey Floyd wore as a player on the High School football team. The street mural was commissioned by Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, along with the Houston Society for Change and the nonprofit minority advocacy group 88 C.H.U.M.P. The ceremony also featured a special appearance by congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who then presented the Floyd family with the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The legislation is set to focus on Justice training police officers and aims to provide money to communities to reimagine polishing. 46-year-old Floyd, who was African American, was killed back on May 25th, 2020, during an arrest in Minneapolis. Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes. The tragic event was captured on video by witnesses and quickly went viral on social media causing chaos worldwide. The video showed Floyd repeatedly crying out “I can’t breathe” until he went unconscious. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. This led to sweeping calls for social justice throughout the rest of the year. Chauvin and three other law enforcement officers were fired from the police department and are all facing charges related to second-degree murder and manslaughter. Their trial is now scheduled for March 2021. Around the United States, several murals have been coming up memorizing Floyd, including one in Houston and in Minneapolis. A mural featuring Floyd’s face, alongside Breonna Taylor, over a burning city, was painted by artist Chris Rogers in Austin, Texas, which he stated is meant to symbolize not only Justice with police violence but problems with the way the United States is operating and has been operating. Several other murals in honor of George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement have been created around the world in cities such as Berlin, Belfast, Manchester, Gaza City, Syria, and Idlib.
The Super Bowl LV streaker who was wearing a neon pink bikini and ran onto the field during the 4th quarter of Sunday’s big game has now been identified. Thirty-one-year-old Yuri Andrade was charged on Sunday night with trespassing after he streaked across the field in Raymond James Stadium. His mugshot was released...
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