Tuesday Open Thread | White guy who claimed a Black man stabbed him for looking like a Nazi admits he LIED. He stabbed himself

Two weeks ago, a 26-year-old white man made headlines after claiming a Black man stabbed him because he had a haircut that made him look like a neo-Nazi. Now the man has admitted the entire story was made up.

Joshua Witt originally told Colorado police that he was getting out of his car at a Steak ‘n Shake in Sheridan when a man came over and attacked him with a knife.

“I was just getting out of my car to go get myself a milkshake and the next thing I hear is, ‘You one of them neo-Nazis’ as this man is swinging a knife at my head over my car door,” Witt told BuzzFeed News when the story was first reported. “I threw my hands up out of natural reflex and then I kind of dived back in my car as the suspect took off running.”

However, on Monday, the Sheridan Police Department told BuzzFeed News that Witt admitted to stabbing himself and the attack never took place.

Apparently, authorities began doubting the story when surveillance video did not show anyone running from the scene. This did not stop the story from being picked up by other sources, including Inside Edition.

Last Thursday, police reinterviewed Witt and discovered he had filed a false report after taking pictures and posting them to social media.

“He was confronted with all the information listed above. Mr. Witt subsequently admitted to accidentally cutting himself with the knife while parked in his car in front of the sporting goods store and admitted to making up the story about being attacked,” Sheridan police said in their statement.

Witt was charged with falsely reporting to authorities and released on a summons.

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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80 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | White guy who claimed a Black man stabbed him for looking like a Nazi admits he LIED. He stabbed himself

  1. Liza says:

    Dear God, this is sad. These people are just so severely stressed…

    Thanks Liza, I cleaned the link and reposted.

  2. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    ‘Get out now!’ Public warned as Harvey strains Houston’s dams and levees
    http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dams-levees-houston-20170829-story.html
    Excerpt:

    Swollen with days of record rainfall from Tropical Storm Harvey, a 70-year-old dam overflowed and a levee leaked Tuesday, sending water coursing into nearby neighborhoods in Houston and a southwestern suburb.

    Despite controlled releases by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the water level of Addicks Reservoir in northwest Houston rose past the dam’s gates Tuesday morning for the first time in its history, and the neighboring Barker Reservoir also was at risk of overflow.

    In Brazoria County, in the southwestern corner of greater Houston, rainwater began to ooze through a levee and into the Columbia Lakes subdivision, prompting county officials on Twitter to warn residents to “GET OUT NOW!!”

    The levee, which is operated by the subdivision, was “temporarily patched” several hours later, County Judge Matt Sebesta said in an interview.

  3. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    “Up to 30K More Guard Troops Ready to Respond to Hurricane Harvey”</strong
    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/08/29/up-30k-more-guard-troops-ready-respond-to-hurricane-harvey.html
    Excerpt:

    The National Guard has 20,000 to 30,000 more troops ready to go as soon as Texas asks for help in rescue and flood relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, a top Guard commander said Tuesday.

    The additional troops and their high-ride vehicles and helicopters, mostly from adjoining states, are on standby awaiting approval to join disaster-relief efforts from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to Maj. Gen. James Witham, the National Guard Bureau’s Director of Domestic Operations.

    Active-duty air, ground and naval assets are also on standby and awaiting Abbott’s request, Witham said at a Pentagon briefing.

  4. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    “As agencies respond to storm, some face cuts under Trump budget proposal”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-agencies-respond-to-storm-some-face-cuts-under-trump-budget-proposal/2017/08/29/0fbbd6ca-8cc8-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html?utm_term=.5b5891514420

    Excerpt:

    “As he toured rising floodwater in Texas on Tuesday, President Trump effusively praised his administration’s Hurricane Harvey response, an effort he began touting on Twitter last weekend even before the storm made landfall.

    But not too long ago, the president proposed a budget calling for cuts to some of the federal government’s most consequential efforts to prepare states and local communities and help them recover from catastrophic events such as Harvey.

    Congress is likely to approve a Harvey recovery bill, as it has after past disasters, to cover the huge cost of storm damages. The cuts proposed by the Trump administration would slice away funding for long-term preparedness efforts, many of them put in place to address the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

    The proposed cuts would include programs run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose new administrator was praised by Trump in a tweet last weekend for “doing a great job”; the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which helps rebuild homes, parks, hospitals and community centers; the National Weather Service, which forecasts extreme storms; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose research and community engagement help coastal residents prepare for disaster.

  5. Ametia says:

    It’s official HOUSTON is UNDERWATER

  6. Whew lawd! Thank God for the rescuers. I would die…I can’t swim. 😢

    https://twitter.com/CBPCentralTX/status/902581169375588352

  7. @GOP @SpeakerRyan Y’all need to end this. He’s UNFIT for Office. Ppl are suffering, some died & he’s talking crowds?

    https://twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/902591642976256000

  8. rikyrah says:

    URGENT: The levee at Columbia Lakes has been breached. Big area of Brazoria County is under mandatory evacuation https://t.co/7rkMmIEtaR pic.twitter.com/kBU8N8DmFr
    — William Axford (@Will_Axford) August 29, 2017

    • rikyrah says:

      Now, I just wanna understand.
      The levee has been breached – i.e., water is coming over it.
      But, it hasn’t broken, right?
      That is when all hell broke loose in New Orleans – when the levees broke.

  9. rikyrah says:

    Bass Pro Shops donate boats to Harvey rescue efforts in Texas https://t.co/A7jVonXtnh
    — Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) August 29, 2017

  10. rikyrah says:

    Trump’s Secretary of Interior is trying to sell off thousands of acres of our National Parks under our noses https://t.co/zD2z5qUcGi
    — Adrienne ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ (@ImagineWorldas1) August 29, 2017

    • rikyrah says:

      That’s obviously not better. The land that’s “adjusted” would be lost to private hands forever. Here is a list of the monuments threatened: pic.twitter.com/2QeOpLnYzf
      — Adrienne ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ (@ImagineWorldas1) August 29, 2017

  11. rikyrah says:

    House Republican eyes a deadline for Special Counsel Mueller
    08/29/17 10:03 AM
    By Steve Benen

    In June, when Donald Trump started making public suggestions that he’d try to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, derailing the investigation into the Russia scandal, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made clear he opposed such a move. “I think the best advice is to let Robert Mueller do his job,” Ryan said at the time.

    Politico reports that one of the Speaker’s members has a very different approach in mind.

    Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is pushing an amendment to severely curtail special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

    DeSantis has put forward a provision that would halt funding for Mueller’s probe six months after the amendment’s passage. It also would prohibit Mueller from investigating matters that occurred before June 2015, when Trump launched his presidential campaign.

    So, on the one hand, we see some senators taking steps to shield Mueller’s investigation from outside political interference, and on the other hand, we also see a House Republican pushing a measure to impose an arbitrary deadline that would end the probe.

    It’s probably best not to exaggerate the significance of DeSantis’ proposal: members will offer hundreds of amendments to the upcoming spending package, and most of them will be ignored. In this case, there’s no reason to believe DeSantis’ amendment will enjoy the support of House Republican leaders or even most of the House GOP conference.

    But part of me hopes this gets a floor vote anyway, not because I want to see the special counsel’s probe derailed by Congress, but because I’m curious just how many members of Congress would go along with something like this.

  12. Liza says:

    New photos of Harvey on weather.com. Heartbreaking…

    https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-storm-hurricane-harvey-images

  13. rikyrah says:

    If you went to @JoelOsteen’s church for shelter & found it closed, don’t worry, the Islamic Society of Greater Houston’s 21 mosques are open
    — Alternative NOAA (@altNOAA) August 29, 2017

  14. La Grange Texas….

  15. Liza says:

    Georgia Man Tied To Charlottesville Violence Arrested

    Police in Cobb County confirm that Alex Michael Ramos, 33, seen on video in Charlottesville, Va., has been arrested. He is in Monroe’s jail.

    By Craig Johnson (Patch Staff) – Updated August 29, 2017 10:13 am ET

    ACWORTH, GA — Police in Cobb County announced that Alex Michael Ramos has been arrested in connection with the violence that took plac in Charlottesville earlier this month. Ramos is being held in the Monroe County Jail, Cobb officials said Tuesday. Details surrounding his arrest have not been released.

    This past weekend, Cobb officials confirmed with the Charlottesville Police Department that an arrest warrant had been issued for Ramos, 33, of Jackson for “malicious wounding.” He was wanted in connection with an assault that occurred on August 12 in Charlottesville, Cobb police said Sunday.

    In a video purported to be of Ramos, the man says he “stomped some a**” during the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville. Video of a group of white men beating and stomping a black man, 20-year-old DeAndre Harris, went viral shortly after the melee.

    https://patch.com/georgia/marietta/georgia-man-tied-charlottesville-violence-arrested-police

  16. rikyrah says:

    $53 billion Finnish pension fund is cutting its exposure to U.S. stocks, due to concerns about Trump’s behavior. https://t.co/BPcHW5U5kO
    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 29, 2017

  17. Liza says:

    WTF? Are they serious?

    Harvey gives Trump a chance to reclaim power to unify https://t.co/76tUmpO9IK— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 29, 2017

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  18. rikyrah says:

    List of shelters currently open in Houston. Pease retweet for those who may be in need. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/RT44RcmR0O
    — Waltrip Cheerleading (@waltripcheer) August 28, 2017

  19. rikyrah says:

    Texans: be sure to file for #Harvey relief before Sept 1. #TXlege passed a bill making it harder to dispute weather-related property claims.
    — Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 28, 2017

    Filed my ins. claim & FEMA assistance from my phone while evacuating. Special Session is needed before Republicans hurt more Texans. #Harvey
    — Nerds on the Left (@NerdsOnTheLeft) August 28, 2017

  20. rikyrah says:

    If you’re a member of the disability community affected by Harvey, you can call 800-626-4959 for assistance with evacuations.
    — Tom Perez (@TomPerez) August 28, 2017

  21. rikyrah says:

    Houston prosperity gospel preacher Joel Osteen is under fire today for staying closed during Hurricane Harvey. https://t.co/ohuPLPiyEE
    — Ruth Graham (@publicroad) August 28, 2017

  22. rikyrah says:

    Congratulations, Internet — you helped @JoelOsteen learn the teachings of Jesus. https://t.co/EeeIKqcRgm
    — Bill Prady (@billprady) August 29, 2017

  23. rikyrah says:

    The Trump/Russia revelations just keep coming… https://t.co/2J1knjRCkO pic.twitter.com/wRyTehQT0x
    — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 29, 2017

  24. rikyrah says:

    NEW VIDEO: Arpaio Pardon and tweeting about The Wall during Harvey proves it. Trump meant “Make America WHITE Again” pic.twitter.com/fk6S3LtcR2
    — Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) August 29, 2017

  25. rikyrah says:

    The Republican Party’s Forty-Year Assault on Civil Rights
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    August 29, 2017

    ………………………………..

    The first real assault on the ability of the Civil Rights Division to enforce these laws came with the Reagan administration in the 1980’s. As has been the case with Republican presidents, he nominated someone who had no experience in this area, William Bradford Reynolds. Here is how the New York Times described him at the time:

    Mr. Reynolds, a lean, wiry man who seems eager to roll up his sleeves and get down to work, has spent most of his career in commercial litigation, matters ranging from simple breach-of-contract suits to complex antitrust cases.

    Asked what qualified him for his new post, he cited a general legal background that he said would permit him to take a ”hard, fresh look at the issue of remedies in the civil rights arena.”

    In writing about John Robert’s tenure at DOJ, Ari Berman said this about Reynolds’s tenure at the Civil Rights Division:

    The Reagan administration had already embarked on a radical makeover of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, which enforced the VRA. The assistant attorney general for civil rights, William Bradford Reynolds, believed that “government-imposed discrimination” had created “a kind of racial spoils system in America” favoring historically disadvantaged minorities over whites, an argument that no head of the Civil Rights Division had ever made before. During Reynolds’ tenure ending busing became more important than desegregating schools, dismantling quotas became more important than integrating the workforce or academia and preventing proportional representation became more important than achieving a multiracial government.

    In that description you can hear the groundwork that was laid during the Reagan administration for the kinds of attacks we hear on civil rights enforcement to this day. It was chronicled in a book by Raymond Walters titled, “Right Turn: William Bradford Reynolds, the Reagan Administration, and Black Civil Rights.”

    Once that had been accomplished, Republicans became emboldened to fight the expected return to enforcement via the smearing of Clinton’s nominee to run the division, Lani Guinier. It is worth noting that the strongest Republican opposition to presidential nominees, other than Obama’s naming of Merrick Garland to fill a position on the Supreme Court, has come in their response to potential leaders of the Civil Rights Division—both Guinier during the Clinton administration and Debo Adegbile during the Obama administration.

    Following strong leadership from both Deval Patrick and Bill Lan Lee during the Clinton administration, the Bush years brought us back to a decimation of the division that had begun under Reagan. It was under the leadership of Alexander Acosta (who is now the Sec. of Labor) that this happened:

    While leading the division, he allowed Bradley Schlozman to make decisions on hiring. A report by the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility later found that Schlozman illegally used his authority to give preferential treatment to conservatives and made false statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    Bradley Schlozman is the guy who once said that he wanted to “gerrymander all of those crazy libs right out of the [voting] section.” It was within the Civil Rights Division during the Bush years that the focus changed from promoting voting rights to voter suppression via allegations of fraud. Here is what Joseph Rich, former head of the voting rights section of the division wrote about that:

    It has notably shirked its legal responsibility to protect voting rights. From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African American or Native American voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout in minority and poor communities.

    In order to refocus the division back on its mission to enforce civil rights laws, Barack Obama and Eric Holder initially turned to Tom Perez and then Vanita Gupta (who served to the end of Obama’s term as acting director after Republicans blocked the nomination of Debo Adegbile).

  26. rikyrah says:

    Trump turns back the clock on police access to military equipment
    08/28/17 03:32 PM—UPDATED 08/28/17 04:05 PM
    By Steve Benen
    The 2014 crisis in Ferguson, Missouri, shook the nation in a variety of ways, but as regular readers may recall, one of the lasting debates focused on the militarization of local law enforcement. Many Americans weren’t just shocked by the unrest; they were also surprised to see police officers carrying weapons of war while confronting American civilians on domestic soil.

    In the wake of the violence, there was considerable interest on Capitol Hill about reforming the Pentagon’s “1033” program that makes military equipment available to police departments. Though most of the support for changes was spearheaded by Democrats, even some Republican lawmakers agreed it was time to take another look at the policy.

    Congressional action never materialized, but the Obama administration followed through, banning the transfer of at least some types of military weapons to local police.

    Donald Trump has turned back the clock.

    Reversing an Obama-era policy, President Donald Trump Monday removed restrictions on the kinds of surplus military gear the Defense Department can turn over to local police departments.

    The issue has been a sensitive one since the Justice Department concluded that tactics used by police during 2014’s violent street protest in Ferguson, Missouri inflamed tensions and created fear among demonstrators.

    Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the change, first reported by USA Today, in a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville on Monday.

    The new policy takes effect immediately.

  27. rikyrah says:

    Texas Republicans have a new perspective on federal disaster aid
    08/29/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 08/29/17 08:15 AM
    By Steve Benen
    It’s hard to blame New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) for blasting Texas Republican as “hypocrites.” The Republican governor, reflecting on Texas GOP lawmakers’ opposition to relief aid after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, hasn’t forgotten how his state was treated.

    “We were the disaster that was the longest, in waiting in terms of getting federal aid, and I hope that that’s not what happens to the folks in Texas with Harvey,” Christie said yesterday.

    On MSNBC yesterday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Katy Tur that his vote against disaster relief four years ago was justified.

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, defended his 2013 vote against a Superstorm Sandy relief bill for the New York-New Jersey area on Monday as Hurricane Harvey ravaged parts of his home state and officials turned to the federal government for support.

    Cruz stood by his controversial vote when pressed in an appearance on MSNBC, saying that the aid bill for Sandy rebuilding was bloated with “unrelated pork” and “two-thirds of that bill had nothing to do with Sandy.”

    The Washington Post ran a detailed fact-check piece on Cruz’s defense, and found that the senator’s argument is plainly untrue.

    Nevertheless, Cruz is not alone. When it came time to approve emergency aid for areas affected by Sandy, most Senate Republicans – including both of Texas’ GOP senators – voted against the bill. In the lower chamber, most House Republicans – including 20 Texas Republicans – also opposed the disaster relief.

  28. rikyrah says:

    What Trump doesn’t understand about his own border wall idea
    08/29/17 09:23 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Over the weekend, Donald Trump, who continues to insist that Americans pay for a giant wall along the U.S./Mexico border, said that the Mexican government will eventually “reimburse” us for the cost of the project. Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said soon after, “Our country will not pay, under any circumstances, for a wall.”

    Which, naturally, led the American president to again say yesterday, “One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the wall…. We may fund it through the United States, but ultimately, Mexico will pay for the wall.” I assume Mexican officials will respond in kind again soon.

    But while the back and forth is tiresome, especially about a project Congress is highly unlikely to approve, Trump also explained why, exactly, he thinks the wall is so necessary.

    “We need the wall very badly. As you know, Mexico has a tremendous crime problem – tremendous – one of the number two or three in the world. And that’s another reason we need it. And the – just to add on, tremendous drugs are pouring into the United States at levels that nobody has ever seen before. This happened over the last three to four years in particular. The wall will stop much of the drugs from pouring into this country and poisoning our youth.”

    No, it won’t. Perhaps the president hasn’t had time to read up on his signature issue, but there’s no reason to believe the wall would serve as some kind of anti-drug barrier. “A wall alone cannot stop the flow of drugs into the United States,” Christopher Wilson, the deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, recently told Vox.

    A Washington Post report added, “[E]xperts on the drug trade say a border wall, even one as big and beautiful as Trump promised, would be near-impotent in stemming the supply of illegal drugs.”

  29. rikyrah says:

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/28/17
    Hatch would vote yes on release of dossier testimony transcript
    Rachel Maddow reports breaking news that Senator Orrin Hatch has told TRMS that he would vote in favor of releasing the transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson on the Trump dossier.

  30. rikyrah says:

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/28/17
    Trump exposed to new obstruction charge over Arpaio queries
    Rachel Maddow looks at legal opinions on whether Donald Trump’s inquiries into dropping the case against Joe Arpaio would constitute yet another act of obstruction of justice for which Trump might be legally exposed.

  31. rikyrah says:

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/28/17
    Trump Moscow deal pushed as asset to campaign
    Carol Leonnig, staff writer for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about new revelations that Donald Trump was pursuing a business deal in Moscow while campaigning, and why his aides saw a Russian deal as an asset to the campaign.

  32. rikyrah says:

    a comment from BJ:

    Trump lies every day, several times a day. It became clear yesterday that he blatantly lied about Russian contacts during the election. That’s not a small lie!

    No. Not a small lie in the least. It goes to the heart of his campaign.
    This is why I do appreciate Maddow and her long azz opening segments of background. Yesterday’s was instructive, as always. With this Russia story, she always tries to connect as many dots as possible.
    Often, while I watch these segments, and my blood pressure rises at the disgust I feel….

    I say..

    ” What if 44 had done this?”

    I’ll say it again…
    “the curve for unqualified White Men is REAL!”

    Because, I listened to Maddow last night, as she linked story after story of banks and the Trump Crime Family…..
    and, I just sigh…thinking about what would have happened if JUST ONE of these stories had come up during the time of 44.
    JUST.ONE.

    THIS is why they have to go to jail. The entire lot of them. Not only will their vote for this clown be held against any Dolt45 voters…we must be able to snidely and with condescention, tell them, that they are bad judges of character. I have no interest in ‘moving on for the sake of the country’.

    Uh uh.

    These people must be beaten over the head with the Dolt45 club.

    The Maddow segment:

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/28/17
    Trump sought Moscow business deal while campaigning for president
    Rachel Maddow reports on the myriad ties between Donald Trump and Russia that have come to light in contradiction of Trump denials, with the latest being the pursuit of a real estate deal backed by a state-run Russian bank while Trump was campaigning for president.

    • Ametia says:

      Co-sign! My husband and I complain about Maddow’s long drawn out openings, but we have learned to suck it up, and expand our attention spans.

      That;s the issue with folks now. We can’t or won’t take the time to gather facts, read long articles, etc. It’s the micro wave society, and everything is doled out in soundbites.

      Who loses? WE DO

      Who wins? The powers that be.

      I will not and do not hesitate to tell anyone who crosses my path about #45 exactly what I think about him and his cohorts.

      DON’T START NONE, WON’T BE NONE

  33. rikyrah says:

    Prayers for everyone in the path of Harvey. Lord, please watch over them and keep them safe.🙏🙏

  34. rikyrah says:

    As far as this guy is concerned…lock him up…see what happens 😒😒😒

  35. rikyrah says:

    Good Morning,Everyone 😐😐😐

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