Almost one week after an SUV carrying Devonte Hart‘s family plunged off a cliff in California’s Mendocino County, authorities said Sunday night that the vehicle came to a full stop before accelerating off the cliff.
The California Highway Patrol, or CHP, and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office are continuing to investigate the crash, which killed Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, and their children Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, 14.
Authorities said that based on the absence of skid marks, data from air bag controllers and other information, which they wouldn’t immediately disclose, they believed for now that the crash may have been intentional. But they said Sunday night that no suicide note had been found.
Devonte, 15, and his sisters Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12, who are also believed to have been in the car, remain missing. Acting Assistant CHP Chief Greg Baarts said investigators couldn’t determine which woman was driving.
Devonte, a young black boy, was photographed in 2014 crying in the arms of a white police officer during a protest in Oregon over police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Three children are still missing and could be in the ocean,” Baarts said. “We are trying to determine a timeline, path of travel, and if there were any stops.”
He told NBC News that California authorities were “tirelessly searching for the missing children along the coastline,” while authorities in California and Washington were “conducting interviews and attempting to establish a timeline and routes of travel in an effort to rule out any other possibilities.”
According to neighbors and court records, the family has had troubles in the past, carrying over to a recent investigation into abuse or neglect with the Washington Department of Social and Health Services.
Sarah Hart was charged with a misdemeanor offense of domestic assault against her daughter Abigail in 2011, and neighbors claimed that Devonte would often ask them for food. He said his parents would withhold food as punishment.
The household had previously been visited by Child Protective Services, and neighbors claimed to have called the agency again to report on the family on March 23, before the Harts left on the trip that resulted in the fatal incident.
The state’s Department of Social and Health Services said in a statement that the children who were killed would be identified “as potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect.”
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office obtained a searched warrant Thursday to retrieve items like computers, credit cards and bank statements to help determine a probable cause. Baarts said a felony may have been committed.
Cal Robertson, a spokesman for the CHP, confirmed reports that thespeedometer was showing 90 mph at the time of the crash, but he said it could have moved during impact or could accidentally have been manipulated during the investigation.
“Certainly, that does not mean the vehicle was going that fast,” Robertson said Sunday night.
Baarts said a full vehicle inspection had yet to be completed, but he told reporters that the “complete lack of … physical evidence” of an accident, like skid marks, was striking.
David Hogg on LarryO tonight
https://twitter.com/adamcbest/status/980945290525118469?s=20
https://twitter.com/TomthunkitsMind/status/980948605505765376?s=20
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/980954401945866240?s=20
On the positive..
Black Lightning got renewed 🙌🙌😄
“DACA recipients head to the Arizona Supreme Court in tuition battle”
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2018/04/02/daca-recipients-arizona-supreme-court-tuition-dreamers/475173002/
Excerpt:
Daca sign: #Tuition Equity” —>
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/16/a16cbac1-26f9-540d-8298-365bd94e6b97/5a8394a4a841a.image.jpg
WSJ has an email from Roger Stone to Sam Nunberg, dated August 4, 2016 in which Stone says, “I dined with Julian Assange last night,”https://t.co/ipI2oYeN3G
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) April 2, 2018
Ok, let’s play it again, Boys and Girls…
WHAT IF….
44 had told people to shut up to listen to Roland Martin on White House conference calls?
Yeah…I know….I know…
Donald Trump ‘Cherishes’ Lou Dobbs So Much He Puts Him on Speakerphone for Oval Office Meetings
The Fox Business star was an O.G. Trumpist—long before Trumpism ever came along. Now he has direct influence over this presidency.
MAXWELL TANI
ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
04.02.18 4:44 AM ET
It is difficult to fully understand the Trump presidency without first understanding Lou Dobbs, the Fox Business powerhouse host and one of the main precursors to Trumpism.
It’s not just that President Donald Trump loves Dobbs’ show and his on-air style. It’s not just that the president asks West Wing aides and confidants if they’ve seen specific, recent segments of Dobbs’ program, or that Trump calls the cable-news personality semi-regularly to gossip or solicit counsel, or that he’s boosted Dobbs on his Twitter account. It’s not just that the president has sat for a friendly interview with Dobbs or that he is on a first-name basis with “Lou.”
https://twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/980873317317038080
My oldest boy was in the store and as he was walking down the aisle to get some beer, he saw this black guy on the aisle and my son gave a Wakanda salute to him. The black guy pointed to him, laughing, and said “already” “already” “yeah”!
LOL!
Dow down 705
https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/980841183554383872
https://twitter.com/longlivekcx/status/980804811913355264
Who paid for this?
Dow down 670
Falling
↓
Falling
↓
Falling
↓
Why don’t the journalists leave, instead of work for Sinclair?
Read on:
Matt Pearce 🦅
Verified account
@mattdpearce
3h3 hours ago
More
A former Sinclair journalist sent me a screenshot of their contract. “I couldn’t leave because of this part of my contract.”
………..
Sinclair gets money damages from the employee if the employee quits rather than read propaganda. 40% of annual salary plus a multiplier in certain situations.
OMG
SMGDH
Down down 608
Steven Bochco, RIP.
Man, he was a part of my TV Viewing days.
Scalia’s Goal Of Unwinding Voter Protections Is Becoming A Reality
By Richard L. Hasen | April 2, 2018 11:07 am
With $538k And Counting, McCabe To Stop Accepting Legal Defense Fund Money
By Matt Shuham | April 2, 2018 11:45 am
Andrew McCabe, the recently fired former FBI deputy director, announced Monday that he would cease accepting donations for his legal defense fund at 7:00 p.m. ET after raising more than three times his original goal.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe last month, days before McCabe would have been eligible for his pension, for making “an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lack[ing] candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.”
At press time, the legal defense fund, hosted on a GoFundMe page, had raised $538,246, with donations flowing in every couple minutes.
“The outpouring of support on GoFundMe has been simply overwhelming and has led to contributions that have left us stunned and extraordinarily grateful,” McCabe said in a statement Monday (read the full statement below). “The GoFundMe campaign began organically, with generous people spontaneously giving to accounts that others had set up.”
Dow down 527
TEE HEE HEE
https://twitter.com/EW/status/980680351168192512
https://twitter.com/ArtAndResponse/status/980841777325363200
Ladies check your email
THIS IS YOUR MEDIA AT WORK FOLKS, only capturing #45 long enough to say what he wants to say, without asking him FOLLOWUP questions
STAGED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOd8nx8Je4
Right down to them filming crowd to make it appear like it’s massive, even though you and I know that any sane parents would keep their kids as far away from this toxic sewer
Dow down 510
We must pay homage. For decades, she lead the struggle against apartheid. She challenged the world to fight &made us aware of this cruelty. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela dies at 81. She was a prominent anti-apartheid activist and former wife of Nelson Mandel… https://t.co/zQ2QnRcyiC
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) April 2, 2018
Winnie, the WARRIOR. Thank you and RIP.
UH UH UH
Dow down 478
I believe that the kids have hit the RW hard because it’s the gun issue.
I have long said that the RW is mad, despite controlling Congress and the White House..
Because, so many of us on this side, said, OH HELL NO.
PHUCK YOU.
We have NOT gotten over the election.
We have NOT forgiven anyone who made this possible.
And, we have been pulling receipts about 44 and his entire family, when they pull that, ‘ but, you should respect the Office of the Presidency’ bullshyt.
They are mad.
The MSM, despite the numerous articles about the deplorables, are shook too.
We tolerate them, at first. Now, we’re telling them, stop with this bullshyt. We don’t give two shyts about these people, and we understand them quite fine.
They are so used to our side turning the other cheek. Not only have we not shown any cheeks, but we’re standing here with a 2 by 4, ready to ‘talk’ to anyone asking us to do it.
It’s not 2000.
It’s not 2004, after Shrub lied us into TWO wars.
This is on a whole other level, and the MSM, along with the RW, doesn’t grasp it.
But now, one of their solid pilars – this gun bullshyt, is finally under attack.
The kids are who we’ve been waiting for – and, we have their backs, and it scares them to no end.
ON POINT.
Hit REPEAT on this comment EVERYDAY.
Each & everyday someone runs up on me about those kids, I ask one question.
WHAT IF THESE WERE YOUR KIDS, DON’T THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES?
There is no debate on this question. EITHER YES OR NO.
One of their big worries is that the “resistance” coalesces into a unified movement.
And that is the trend. A lot of the people who showed up for “March for our Lives” were the women who marched right after Trump’s inauguration.
So there is, potentially, a new democratic coalition developing.
Dow down 314
DAMN! & you got that jackass POS spewing this at an Easter event at the WH
THIS CLOWN RIGHT HERE, NOT THE BUNNY THO
DOW JONES DOWN 244 POINTS
Dow plunging more than 500 points now!
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/980821122139729921
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/980819456195784704
https://twitter.com/wesley_jordan/status/980499996196847616
Open season on black people. It’s a national crisis. When you hear cops utter the words “stop resisting” “stop reaching” the person’s life is pretty much over regardless if it’s true or not. It’s always their excuse to murder.
https://twitter.com/Blavity/status/980815772195966976
“If either Congress or a court holds that Trump must give up certain parts of his operations (or segregate any monies… from foreign governments), he may finally need to decide whether the presidency is worth giving up parts of his financial empire.” https://t.co/6vgRIA97rX
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 2, 2018
Reminder: Jared Kushner has said that Trump’s campaign struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure better media coverage. https://t.co/rPjP8etwwn pic.twitter.com/wehV6ZR8BZ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 2, 2018
Winnie Mandela has passed away at the age of 81.
RIP.
New report helps explain Trump World’s many vetting failures
04/02/18 10:00 AM
By Steve Benen
There are 652 key positions in the executive branch that require Senate confirmation, and as of this morning, Donald Trump’s White House hasn’t nominated anyone for one-third of those posts. Making matters slightly worse, when the president does choose people for vacancies, it often seems as if the White House hasn’t made any serious attempt at vetting these nominees before they reach Capitol Hill for consideration.
And why is Team Trump failing so spectacularly in this area? The Washington Post answered that question in amazing detail over the weekend, taking a closer look at Trump’s White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) and its role “hobbling the Trump administration’s efforts to place qualified people in key posts across government.”
Good Morning! 😃
http://www.lovethispic.com/uploaded_images/243396-Good-Morning-Happy-Monday-Have-A-Great-Week-God-Bless.jpg
Good morning!
Why the White House is pretending a fired cabinet secretary ‘resigned’
04/02/18 08:40 AM—UPDATED 04/02/18 09:24 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump last week fired his VA secretary, David Shulkin, in the latest major shake-up of the administration’s team. According to the ousted cabinet secretary, the move was part of a push within the administration to privatize veterans’ care.
According to the White House, however, Shulkin wasn’t fired at all – because he “resigned.”
……………………………………………………..
Even for Team Trump this is an odd thing to lie about. Indeed, it’s an entirely knowable thing: either Shulkin was fired or he wasn’t. Why make up a story that’s so easily discredited? Why pretend a cabinet secretary resigned when he clearly did not?
As it happens, we know the answer. Politico reported over the weekend that the fired-vs-resigned distinction “could have far-reaching implications that could throw the Department of Veterans Affairs, the second-largest federal agency, into further disarray.”
In other words, if Shulkin didn’t resign, the president’s personnel authority is far more limited. What’s more, if Shulkin was fired – and literally every piece of evidence makes clear that he was – then he should be replaced by Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman until the Senate confirms a permanent successor.
But the White House doesn’t like Bowman, an opponent of the far-right privatization push.
And so we’re left with an administration that feels it has no choice but to play make-believe, while Shulkin tries to explain reality.
Fired VA Secretary Says White House Muzzled Him
March 29, 20188:17 AM ET
Fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin tells NPR’s Morning Edition that political forces in the Trump administration want to privatize the VA — and that he was standing in the way.
“There are many political appointees in the VA that believe that we are moving in the wrong direction or weren’t moving fast enough toward privatizing the VA,” he said. “I think that it’s essential for national security and for the country that we honor our commitment by having a strong VA. I was not against reforming VA, but I was against privatization.”
LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW HERE:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/29/597866101/fired-va-secretary-says-white-house-muzzled-him
With Easter declaration, Trump’s confusion upends immigration debate
04/02/18 08:01 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump wished the public a “HAPPY EASTER!” yesterday, shortly before he apparently called off negotiations intended to protect the Dreamers he put at risk when he rescinded the DACA policy.
Given the timing and context, it appears the president was worked up about something he saw on Fox News – a familiar dynamic that explains his outbursts.
Speaking briefly to reporters before entering a church for Easter services, Trump added, “A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA and we are going to have to really see. They had a great chance. The Democrats blew it.”
There are two core problems to this. The first is that the president appears to have no idea what he’s talking about. The second is that Trump, by declaring his latest position, may not have been declaring his latest position at all.
Health Department removes breast cancer and Obamacare info from womens health website
Think Progress
Amanda Gomez
April 2, 2018
The Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Office on Women’s Health removed a webpage dedicated to breast cancer and other helpful reproductive health information, including important insurance information for low-income people, according to a new report.
The Sunlight Foundation’s Web Integrity Project first reported the missing webpage. The group has been documenting page or link removals from the OWH website and shared its most recent report with ThinkProgress.
This breast cancer page did serve as a repository of links dedicated to this disease, like “Breast cancer symptoms”, “Screening and diagnosis”, “Breast cancer risk factors and prevention”, and “Government in action.” Informational pages and factsheets about the disease can’t be found elsewhere on the OWH website, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s comprehensive review.
https://twitter.com/Sarahchadwickk/status/980806395816824833
I find it so sad that local news stations are spouting a party line. Not cable but LOCAL. I will not watch @abc7news YOU are extremely dangerous to our democracy. Be the media that reports news, not puppet a company’s edicts. 😡 https://t.co/gf2pK2Muxy
— Ann Tee (@Ann_Tee) April 2, 2018
O ne SINCLAIR
I’m outta breath…. flatlined… the WORK!!! Do you hear me?!? @BrandonVDixon got your award speeches ready right Boo? 👊🏼#hardwork #JesusChristSuperstarLive #JesusChristSuperstar @nbc pic.twitter.com/yN1kAf9mik
— Kim Fields (@KimVFields) April 2, 2018
RT if you just screamed “YES @normlewis777” in your living room #JesusChristSuperstar pic.twitter.com/nWWRCkyy7X
— broadway.com (@broadwaycom) April 2, 2018
Got home last night just in time to see JCS. It was electrifying!
Legend, Sara , Brandon they were FIYAH!
!! @BrandonVDixon just did #WakandaForever at curtain!! I die. I’m dead. 🤣😍 #JesusChristSuperstarLive
— Emily Rouse (@emily_rouse) April 2, 2018
LOL He did THAT
This story is so sad.Those poor kids.
Good Morning,Everyone 😄😄😄