Monday, November 18, 2013

George Zimmerman charged with felony after allegedly pointing gun at girlfriend

(CNN) -- George Zimmerman was charged Monday with felony aggravated assault after allegedly pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend, according to Dennis Lemma, chief deputy with the Seminole County, Florida, Sheriff's Office.
Zimmerman, who was acquitted earlier this year of murdering teenager Trayvon Martin, was arrested after the incident at the home of Samantha Scheibe, Lemma said. He also was charged with two misdemeanors -- domestic violence battery and criminal mischief -- in connection with the same incident, Lemma said.
Zimmerman is being held in jail without bail and will make his first appearance in front of a judge Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Differing 911 calls
According to a police report on the incident, Scheibe said that after an argument Zimmerman broke a table with a shotgun then pointed it at her "for a minute."
Scheibe called 911 at 12:30 E.T., Lemma said.
On a 911 call recording released by police, a woman can be heard telling authorities: "He's inside my house breaking all my (things) because I asked him to leave."
The woman then says to someone at the house, "I'm doing this again? You just broke my glass table. You just broke my sunglasses and you put your gun in my freaking face and told me to get the (expletive) out."
A man is heard telling her to calm down, but then she tells the dispatcher that the man just pushed her out of the house and locked the door.
On a separate 911 call, a man calls to report that his girlfriend was "for lack of a better term, going crazy on me" and throwing his things out. The caller says the woman is outside with police.
When asked why he is calling, the man says, "I just want everyone to know the truth."
He says he never pulled a firearm and that it is in a bag, locked. He claims she was the one who broke the table.
When deputies arrived at the house, Scheibe gave them a key. When they pushed open the door -- which was blocked by several small pieces of furniture -- they found Zimmerman, who was sitting and unarmed, Lemma said. He was passive and cooperative, Lemma said.
The sheriff's office was seeking a search warrant to look for two guns deputies believed were inside the home, he said. According to the police report, Zimmerman had locked up the guns before police arrived.
Recent contact with authorities
This is one of several brushes that Zimmerman has had with law enforcement since he was acquitted this year of murder and manslaughter in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin.
Earlier this month, police in Lake Mary, Florida, said no charges would result from an alleged domestic dispute in September between George Zimmerman and his estranged wife, Shellie Zimmerman.
Shellie Zimmerman said in September that she has doubts about his innocence in the Trayvon Martin case.
Since his acquittal in the Martin case, Zimmerman also has been stopped for speeding twice. He was pulled over the first time in Forney, Texas, in July and told the police officer he had a concealed weapon permit and a gun in his glove compartment. The officer wrote on his incident report that he gave Zimmerman a verbal warning.
Zimmerman was pulled over in early September going 60 mph in a 45-mph zone in Lake Mary and received a $256 ticket. He was not carrying a weapon at the time.
National headlines
Zimmerman fatally shot Martin in the Sanford neighborhood where Zimmerman and Martin's father lived in February 2012. Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, had a confrontation with the unarmed African-American teen after calling police to report a suspicious person, and he said he shot Martin, 17, in self-defense.
Zimmerman was acquitted by a six-person jury in July on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
The high-profile case sparked a heated nationwide discussion of race as well as debate over Florida's "stand your ground" law.
His attorney in the murder trial, Mark O'Mara, no longer represents him.

Zimmerman's wife has doubts about his innocence

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Venezuelan Crowned Miss Universe 2013

As she was crowned Miss Universe 2013, TV host of Venezuela to commemorate the victory of the seventh race of the South American countries, smiled on Saturday.

Gabriela Isla over with the full name Maria Gabriela de Jesus Morales Isla over defeated participants of 86 to win the crown of the diamond. Presenter who is at Venevision of Venezuela, wine was born in the United States, topped at the age of 25 Last year's winner, Olivia.

“I have a lot of emotions. I can’t describe all the things that I feel at this moment because I’m shaking,” she said.

Isler was announced in the Sunday $ 1 million worth special swimsuit.

Friday, November 8, 2013

CMA Awards 2013: Miranda Lambert shows off slimmed-down frame

The 29-year-old singer stunned on the red carpet at Wednesday's Country Music Awards and took home the trophy for Female Vocalist of the Year.


Miranda Lambert shows off her stunning weight loss from last year's CMAs. 

Miranda Lambert is slimmer and sexier than ever!
The 29-year-old country crooner wowed on the red carpet at the Country Music Awards in Nashville on Wednesday.
PHOTOS: CMA AWARDS 2013: TOP RED CARPET LOOKS AND SHOW MOMENTS
Lambert, who is married to fellow country singer Blake Shelton, showed off her slimmed-down frame in a Roberto Cavalli brilliant blue beaded gown.
"I have been working a lot!" the blond starlet told E! News about how she shed some pounds. "Working out and drinking juice and just running, running around."
Miranda Lambert accepts the award for Female Vocalist of the Year, her fourth, at the CMAs on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.

WADE PAYNE/WADE PAYNE/INVISION/AP

Miranda Lambert accepts the award for Female Vocalist of the Year, her fourth, at the CMAs on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.

PHOTOS: HOLLYWOOD'S WEIGHT BATTLES
"You know what, I fluctuate all the time in my weight  -it's really annoying-but I'm going to be 30 in like four days, so I'm like, 'I need to get ahead of this thing!' Because they say when you hit 30 it doesn't get easier," she continued.
"So I thought, 'Well, you know, if I get a little healthier before I turn 30, maybe I can get ahead of the game.'"
"My wife is so hot it's ridiculous," Shelton, 37, tweeted from the award show.
Lambert later took home the award for Female Vocalist of the Year for the fourth time in a row, while her husband won for male vocalist, also for the fourth time.


Largest Civil Disobedience In Walmart History Leads To More Than 50 Arrests


Surrounded by about 100 police officers in riot gear and a helicopter circling above, more than 50 Walmart workers and supporters were arrested in downtown Los Angeles Thursday night as they sat in the street protesting what they called the retailer's "poverty wages."
Organizers said it was the largest single act of civil disobedience in Walmart's 50-year history. The 54 arrestees, with about 500 protesting Walmart workers, clergy and supporters, demonstrated outside LA's Chinatown Walmart. Those who refused police orders to clear the street after their permit expired were arrested without incident. Those who fail to post $5,000 bail would be jailed overnight, Detective Gus Villanueva, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, told The Huffington Post.
Their primary demand to Walmart: pay every full-time worker at least $25,000 a year.
One of the protesting Walmart workers, Anthony Goytia, a 31-year-old father of two, said he believes he will make about $12,000 this year. It's a daily struggle, he said, "to make sure my family doesn't go hungry."
"The power went out at my house yesterday because I couldn't afford the bill," Goytia told HuffPost. "I had to run around and get two payday loans to pay for my rent from the first" of the month. "Yesterday we went to a food bank."
To make ends meet, Goytia said he sometimes participates in clinical trials and sells his blood plasma. He has been asking his managers for full-time employment for a year and a half. Instead, he said, they hire temporary workers, who can be fired at any time.
Goytia was one of several dozen Walmart workers in Southern California who went on strike Wednesday and Thursday, calling for an end to low wages, unpredictable part-time hours and retaliation for speaking out. They were joined by other employees on their days off and dozens more who rode buses from Northern California.
The strike, protest and arrests are the latest in a series of worker actions across the country coordinated by OUR Walmart, an advocacy organization with ties to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The strike and protest in Los Angeles this week are the first in what organizers said would be a series of protests leading into the holiday shopping season.
The protesters said Walmart can afford to pay every worker at least $25,000 a year -- pointing to Walmart's $17 billion profit from the latest year and the founding Walton family's fortune, which equals the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of American families.
Walmart CEO Bill Simon disclosed in a presentation recently that 475,000 Walmart workers are paid more than $25,000 a year. That leaves 525,000 to 825,000 Walmart workers earning less than $25,000. House Democrats seeking to boost the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour have criticized Walmart for its low wages.
Walmart invited HuffPost to speak to a couple associates working in the Chinatown store during the protest Thursday. In the presence of a consultant working for Walmart, two employees -- Do Nguyen, 29, and Aldo Hernandez, 55 -- said that they are treated well at Walmart. Nguyen, who has worked for Walmart for almost a year, said that asking for a minimum of $25,000 is "a national issue, not a Walmart issue."
Hernandez, who has worked for Walmart for almost five years, said he gets good health benefits through Walmart and doesn't struggle to support himself and his son. Both Nguyen and Hernandez declined to say how much they make.
Kory Lundberg, a spokesman for Walmart, said that the company has hundreds of thousands of associates who earn $25,000 or more and that others have the opportunity to do so.
"There are unparalleled opportunities at Walmart," Lundberg said. "We're going to be promoting 160,000 associates this year. That’s larger than the total workforce of most companies out there."
"Folks can come in as entry level or whatever level they're at and can work up as far as they're willing to go," Lundberg said. "That's one of the things we're proudest of."
After working full time at Walmart in Paramount, Calif., for 10 years, Martha Sellers, 55, makes $25,400 a year. In the last few years, she said, her managers have been cutting her weekly hours, sometimes to as few as 12 hours a week.
With that income, she said, she has to pay her rent in pieces. "If I pay all my rent at one time, then I have $12 to live on and put gas in my car until I get paid again," Sellers, who attended Thursday's protest, said.
"I have a very nice neighbor who lends me money. But then the next month, I'm short again," Sellers said. "I never get caught up."
LA's Chinatown Walmart, about one-fifth the size of the company's regular stores,opened in September despite thousands of Angelenos protesting it during the summer. It is the retailer's first store in central LA.
In October 2012, for the first time in Walmart's history, some workers went on a one-day strike, even though Walmart jobs have never been protected by a labor union. More than 70 LA Walmart workers from nine stores walked off the job, followed by over 80 Walmart workers walking off the job in a dozen other U.S. cities.
Last year, through online organizing, OUR Walmart coordinated strikes on Thanksgiving and Black Friday in 46 states and 100 stores. The actions put a spotlight on the world's largest retailer during one of the biggest shopping periods of the year. Walmart had its best Black Friday ever, according to the company.
Regarding associates being required to work earlier on Thanksgiving, Lundberg said, "Folks understand that when they come to work for Walmart, that we're a 24-hour store, and Thanksgiving is one of those days that we serve our customers."
Sellers went on strike on Black Friday last year and said she plans to do so again this year. "Walmart claims to be a family-oriented company," she said. "But where's the family time? They took away Easter too.
"Where is the American economy going if we're all working poverty wages?," Sellers said. "There will be no working class. We'll all be in a poverty class."

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