Latest news with #IMemeThereforeIAm
American Military News
03-06-2025
- General
- American Military News
Video: Violent stabbing attack rocks Oregon homeless shelter
Law enforcement officials arrested a male suspect on Sunday after 12 people were injured and 11 were hospitalized in a stabbing spree at a homeless shelter in Salem, Oregon. In a Monday press release, the Salem Police Department said police officers responded to a stabbing incident at the Union Gospel Mission at roughly 7:15 p.m. on Sunday and found 'several individuals who had been stabbed inside the facility by a man with a knife approximately eight inches in size.' 'Witnesses reported the suspect was speaking to individuals in the lobby when he produced a knife and stabbed several people,' the Salem Police Department stated. 'Others present who attempted to intervene in the melee were also injured.' The Salem Police Department identified the suspect in Sunday's stabbing attack as 42-year-old Tony Latrell Williams. Officials said the suspect left the Union Gospel Mission and stabbed other individuals who were sitting outside near the homeless shelter prior to law enforcement officials arresting him near the shelter and seizing the knife used in the attack. According to Monday's press release, 11 of the 12 victims injured by the suspect were transported to Salem Health for medical treatment following the stabbing attack. As of Monday, police officials said five male victims who sustained 'serious injuries' remained at the hospital. According to the Salem Police Department, Williams was booked at the Marion County Jail on preliminary charges of second-degree assault and the unlawful use of a weapon. READ MORE: 2 killed, 2 wounded in Denver stabbing spree 'The remaining victims, all men, received non‑life‑threatening injuries of varying degrees,' the Salem Police Department said. 'The victims included two Union Gospel Mission staff members and ten individuals who were guests at the shelter or were encountered outside the building, all ranging in age from 26 to 57.' According to The Associated Press, Salem Police Violent Crimes Unit detectives said Williams arrived in Salem on Saturday while traveling by bus from Portland to Deschutes County. Officials confirmed that he visited the Union Gospel Mission on Saturday but did not remain overnight at the homeless shelter. The Associated Press reported that Williams arrived at the Union Gospel Mission again on Sunday shortly before the stabbing incident. In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, Salem Mayor Julie Hoy said, 'I'm in disbelief that something like this could happen. We are most concerned with those who are still in hospital and for those who were just there. It's a difficult thing to process.' A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, shows the 42-year-old suspect being arrested following the stabbing incident on Sunday. 🚨BREAKING: Mass stabbing incident at the Union Gospel Mission men's shelter in Salem, least 11 people stabbed. All victims are currently being treated at local hospitals. Footage of the suspect being arrested. — I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) June 2, 2025
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Musk amplifies fake report claiming USAID paid celebrities to support Zelensky
"Did you know that USAID spent your tax dollars to fund celebrity trips to Ukraine, all to boost Zelensky's popularity among Americans?" says a February 5, 2025 post on X from "I Meme Therefore I Am," a popular conservative account that has previously spread misinformation, including about the Ukrainian leader. Billionaire Musk, tasked by US President Donald Trump with overhauling the federal government, reposted the clip to his more than 216 million followers on the platform he owns. Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, and Sidney Powell, a former Trump attorney who played an outsized role in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, also amplified the video. The 36-second clip is mocked up in the form of a video report from E! News, with the entertainment news site's logo featured throughout. It claims the US Agency for International Development (USAID) "sponsored American celebrity visits to Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion began" in order "to increase Zelensky's popularity among foreign audiences, particularly in the United States." Specifically, it alleges that the agency paid $20 million to Angelina Jolie, $5 million to Sean Penn, $8 million to Orlando Bloom, $4 million dollars to Ben Stiller and $1.5 million to Jean-Claude Van Damme -- whose name it misspells. The posts sharing it racked up millions of engagements across X and other platforms. They spread as Musk announced the new administration's decision to shutter USAID, a mammoth agency that has for decades funded health and emergency programs as well as democracy promotion initiatives in around 120 countries, including the world's poorest regions. The agency's website had previously been taken offline, and its staff placed on leave, prompting concerns about the legality of Musk's actions and the impact on people around the globe who benefit from programs linked to USAID. Russia has applauded the assault on the agency, which it has long criticized. But the video and the story within "is not authentic and did not originate from E! News," a spokesperson for the outlet told AFP in a February 5 email. While each of the actors named in the clip has been to Ukraine, there is no evidence of USAID funneling them money. Jolie, a major donor to humanitarian efforts worldwide, visited Ukraine in 2022 (archived here and here). She was serving as a special envoy for the UN refugee agency at the time but made the trip in a personal capacity, reports citing a UN spokesperson said (archived here and here). Penn traveled to the country in 2022 as he filmed a documentary about the war and Zelensky (archived here and here). Stiller met the Ukrainian leader the same year while visiting as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency, and Bloom met him in 2023 as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador (archived here, here, here, here and here). Van Damme went to the country in 2022 "to deliver a message of hope and peace," according to his YouTube channel (archived here and here) Stiller responded to the viral video February 5 on X, saying that he paid for his visit to Ukraine in 2022, with no money kicked in from USAID and "certainly no personal payments" (archived here and here). "These are lies coming from Russian media," Stiller said in the first of two posts. "I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind. 100 percent false." The UN refugee agency said in a February 6 statement that Stiller "is not compensated for his work with UNHCR and self-funds his travel" (archived here). The UN Guidelines for the Designation of Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors say: "Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors shall not be paid a salary, although a symbolic payment of $1 per year or equivalent may be granted to them" (archived here and here). AFP found no evidence of USAID payments to any of the celebrities named on an official open data source compiling federal spending information. Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub, said on X February 5 that the supposed E! News report "has every indication of being a Russian fabricated video planted and spread using familiar methods" (archived here and here). Linvill said some of the earliest accounts to share the clip on X have frequently circulated disinformation originating with a Russian propaganda group researchers have dubbed Storm-1516. The video also spread in Russian Telegram channels and on Pravda, a Russia state media site, AFP found. Other fake videos deceptively watermarked with the logo of the British broadcaster BBC News have previously spread amid the war. Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, posted on X that the latest clip about USAID paying celebrities is "complete nonsense" (archived here). AFP reached out to representatives for Jolie, Penn, Bloom and Van Damme, but no responses were forthcoming. AFP has debunked other misinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine here.
