14 years old. A horrendous death. Prevention and education is why Scottie works so hard on this blog. I will add that drag queens did not do this, nor did trans men or trans women.

===============

In a heart-wrenching and tragic incident, prosecutors are committed to seeking justice for Pauly Likens, a 14-year-old trans girl from Sharon, PA, who was brutally murdered last month. Her remains were found scattered around a park lake an hour north of Pittsburgh.

Mercer County District Attorney Peter C. Acker expressed his determination to bring justice for Pauly and her family. “The bottom line is that we have a 14-year-old, brutally murdered and dismembered,” Acker stated in an email. “Pauly Likens deserves justice, her family deserves justice, and we seek to deliver that justice.”

The tragic events unfolded on June 23, when DaShawn Watkins allegedly encountered Pauly near Budd Street Public Park and Canoe Launch in Sharon, PA. Authorities allege that Watkins killed Pauly and then dismembered her body, scattering her remains in and around Shenango River Lake in Clark Borough.

Watkins was apprehended on July 2 and has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. He is currently being held without bail in Mercer County jail. The coroner’s office reported that Pauly’s cause of death was sharp force trauma to the head and ruled it a homicide.

Investigators have linked Watkins to the crime through cell phone records, social media, and surveillance footage. Additionally, traces of Pauly’s blood were discovered in and around Watkins’ apartment in Sharon, PA.

In honor of Pauly’s memory, a candlelight vigil is scheduled for Saturday, July 13. Hosted by the LGBTQIA+ Alliance Shenango Valley, the vigil will take place at 7 p.m. at 87 Stambaugh Ave. in Sharon, PA. Pamela Ladner, president of the Alliance, shared her condolences and memories of Pauly. “Pauly’s aunt described her as a sweet soul, inside and out,” Ladner wrote in an email. “She was a selfless child who loved nature and aspired to be a park ranger like her aunt.”

District Attorney Acker emphasized the severity of the crime, calling it one of the worst he has seen in his 46-year career. However, he noted that it is not being classified as a hate crime. “PSP [Pennsylvania State Police] does not believe it is a hate crime because the defendant admitted to being homosexual and the victim was reportedly a trans girl,” Acker explained.

Acker commended the efforts of various criminal justice agencies involved in the case, including the Pennsylvania State Police, Hermitage Police Department, Sharon Police Department, park rangers from the Shenango Reservoir, Mercer County Coroner John Libonati, and cadaver dog search units. “The amount of hours dedicated to identifying the victim and filing charges against the defendant is immense,” Acker noted. “We take the murder of any individual very seriously, especially when they are young and brutally killed and dismembered.”

This is an ongoing story, and we will provide updates as they become available.

14-Year-Old Trans Girl Killed in Sharon, PA

We need this-great info, and positivity to boot. Enjoy a snippet, then read the rest, too. Or just listen, if you prefer. Putting it in the Friday night news dump; there’ll be more Hopium tomorrow!

Why I Am Optimistic We Can Win – My Latest Take On The 2024 Election (Video)

The Election Remains Close And Competitive – No Red Waving 2024 Please

SIMON ROSENBERG

JUL 12, 2024

Happy Friday all. Last night the President had a good night. He demonstrated remarkable mastery of complex global events, and celebrated the Anniversary of the most powerful military alliance in human history, one that has keep us safe and free for 75 years. I wake up this morning deeply proud of my President who has worked tirelessly for us these past 4 years and has made things far, far better here for all of us, navigating us successfully through challenging times (this post has been updated with newly released data since it was first published this morning).

Above is a recording of a talk I gave to Hopium paid subscribers right after the President’s press conference last night. I kick it off with 25 minutes or so of an overview of the current and more challenging national political landscape, and then answered questions for another 40 minutes or so. Do watch, and hope it is useful to you. If you think others would like to see please share it through your networks.

Adding to my look at recent polling and data yesterday that found the election still close and competitive, we got a new NPR/Marist poll this morning which had Biden up 2, 50-48. So here’s some of the polling released this week, Biden-Trump:

• 50%-48% NPR/Marist
• 44%-42% GW/YouGov
• 47%-46% Split Ticket/Data For Progress
• 47%-46% Clarity
• 50%-50% Emerson College
• 46%-46% Washington Post (Harris leads Trump 49-47)
• 42%-43% Redfield & Wilton
• 42%-43% Bendixen and Amandi (Harris leads Trump)
• 41%-42% Big Village
• 42%-44% Morning Consult
• 40%-43% Economist/YouGov

(snip)

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/why-i-am-optimistic-we-can-win-my?r=1pk2l&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The last line stopped me dead cold. America first is…. America Alone. –randy

This is well-written, with all the information.

Beware of the Poison

by Imma Perfetto

A swim away, a swim away. With apologies to Solomon Linda, and The Tokens from 1961, but amazingly a pair of lions – one with 3 legs – has been documented swimming 1.5 kilometres across the predator-infested waters of Kazinga Channel in Uganda in the pitch-dark night. (snip-video on the page)

“I’d bet all my belongings that we are looking at Africa’s most resilient lion,” says Alexander Braczkowski, from Griffith University in New South Wales, who witnessed the feat. “He’s been gored by a buffalo; his family was poisoned for lion body part trade; he was caught in a poacher’s snare; and finally lost his leg in another attempted poaching incident where he was caught in a steel trap.“

Previous reported swims by African lions have ranged from 10 to a couple of hundred metres, some of which resulted in deaths by crocodile attacks. 

The lion brothers’ daring feat was captured by drones using high-definition heat detection cameras, which were operated by researchers co-led by Australia’s Griffith University and Northern Arizona University in the US.

(snip-more on the page)

https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/animals/extraordinary-tale-of-two-lions-who-swam-across-croc-infested-waters-in-search-of-love/

Here’s a teaser-go read it, it’s fun:

Surprise! The IRS Found $1 Billion In Missing Tax Money Hidden In The Couch Cushions Of The Rich!

Who would have thought?

ROBYN PENNACCHIA

The IRS has long been at the top of the list of government agencies Republicans have hoped to abolish or at least defund — both because they believe it discriminates against churches and other Christian nonprofits by refusing to exempt them from the rules about nonpartisanship that all 501(c)(3)s are required to follow in order to maintain their tax-exempt status, and because they believe it discriminates against rich people by expecting them to pay taxes, as if they are peasants or some such.

To be fair, they may be entirely right about the latter!

The IRS — bolstered by funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — reported this week that it collected $1 billion in taxes and penalties from “hundreds of” wealthy households that until now simply didn’t feel like paying their taxes. Hooray!

Now, you may be asking yourself, “Okay … that’s great, but why didn’t they do that before?” Well, that would be because they were criminally underfunded and simply didn’t have the staff and resources available to bother rich people about their taxes. And again, we’ll note that the billion collected so far is just from “hundreds of households.” Even if that were 999 households, they would have owed one million each! (snip-more on the page)

https://open.substack.com/pub/wonkette/p/surprise-the-irs-found-1-billion?r=1pk2l&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Important cardiac health info. There is such a disparity between what’s known of men’s cardiac health, and what’s known of women’s, and especially how to apply what’s known to any human in need of health care. (I’m not getting started on women’s rights right now, no worries!)

Cardiac concerns as a transgender woman

Keep the faith, and keep up the GOTV!

July 12, 1974

John Ehrlichman, former top aide to President Richard Nixon, and three others were convicted of conspiring to violate a citizen’s civil rights. Ehrlichman had approved a recommendation for a covert investigation of Daniel Ellsberg in 1971 by writing on a memo: “If done under your assurance that it is not traceable.” Looking for information to discredit Ellsberg, agents of President Nixon’s re-election campaign broke into the office of his psychiatrist.

John Ehrlichman

Ellsberg, a former Defense Department analyst, had been responsible for public release of The Pentagon Papers, a collection of documents outlining the U.S. history and strategy in Vietnam, that had been classified as secret to avoid public scrutiny.

The world’s most famous filing cabinet