Adding insult to horrific injury, California Baptist Pastor Roger Jimenez praised the Orlando nightclub shooting in a sermon Sunday morning, just hours after the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. He spewed that they deserved their fate because of their orientation, delivering a sermon that would have been more at home at a supremacist meeting than a church. He unapologetically preached extreme religious views saying things like, “The tragedy is that more of them didn’t die.”
Pastor Jimenez received a lot of flak for his insensitive comments, but he has no regrets.
“As far as the Bible is concerned, they crossed a line. The sin they performed is worthy of death,” said the Sacramento pastor, according to CBS. “I realize our society doesn’t take that, but that’s what the Bible says. If someone does something that’s worthy of death, and they end up dying, I’m not going to mourn them.” And we thought this was 2016.
“Absolutely, I think they are safer now because of these deaths, and the reason I think that is because I believe all of these homosexuals are pedophiles,” Hmmm…you’d think priests of all people would want to stay out of the “you’re all pedophiles” game.
Fortunately, Baptists and people from all faiths have come out against this sermon, understanding that hateful views are what got us into this mess in the first place. Overall there has been an outpouring of support from the Florida community.
After spending half of her life behind bars, Cyntoia Brown will be released from prison on August 7.
The 31-year-old was sentenced to life in prison in 2004, when she was 16 years old, for killing a 43-year-old man who solicited her for sex. At the time, she was a sex trafficking victim under a pimp named “Cut Throat.” While Brown was a minor, she was tried as an adult.
The case made national headlines last December when a Tennessee Supreme Court ruled she would have to serve 51 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
At the time, celebrities like Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West, Lebron James, and Cara Delevingne, among others, expressed their outrage on social media, with some advocating for her release and others funding legal support.
“Something his (sic) horribly wrong when the system enables these rapists and the victim is thrown away for life,” Rihanna captioned a post on Instagram in November 2017.
Kardashian West, who shared the singer’s post on Twitter, added: “The system has failed. Its heartbreaking to see young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what’s right.”
In January, former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) granted her clemency following the mounting pressure.
“She is light years today, as a woman, different from the traumatized 16-year-old that she was,” he said in January, according to CNN. “She’s mentoring … troubled youth, working on her college degree, she is planning a nonprofit so she can help other young people.”
Brown earned her associate degree from Lipscomb University in 2015 and, as reported by The Tennessean, obtained a bachelor’s degree in the Tennessee Prison for Women in May. She’s also been working with the state’s juvenile justice system to help counsel young people at risk.
For many, Brown has been a “model inmate” throughout her incarceration.
“I learned that my life was — and is — not over,” Brown said in a documentary, “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story.” “I can create opportunities where I can actually help people.”
In 2004, a then-16-year-old Brown was living with a 24-year-old pimp named “Cut Throat,” a man who she said physically and emotionally abused her as well as forced her into sex work. According to court documents, on August 7 of that year, Nashville real estate agent Johnny Allen brought Brown to his home and paid her $150 in exchange for sex. While at his residence, Brown said that Allen showed her multiple guns in a cabinet. At one point, she alleges that the man reached under his bed, seemingly grabbing a firearm. Believing he was going to kill her, Brown said she took a gun out of her purse and fatally shot Allen.
Brown long claimed the killing was self-defense. However, the prosecution argued that the motive was robbery since Brown took Allen’s wallet after she shot him. She was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder and aggravated robbery.
The convictions carried two concurrent life sentences and eight additional years.
According to Refinery29, during Brown’s original trial, she was not allowed to testify. As such, she was unable to present evidence of her traumatic childhood history, including her time under the care of the state Department of Children’s Services, and her neurodevelopmental disorder.
For her supporters, Brown, a survivor of sexual and physical violence, has been doubly wronged, first by men who assaulted her and again by a state who locked her up in an adult women’s prison for more than a decade instead of protecting her. Many have taken to social media to express their joy over Brown’s impending freedom.
“15 years too long for self-defense the whole world is waiting on your release August 7th you will be free,” wrote one Twitter user. “Freeing #CyntoiaBrown is the Greatest thing I’ve heard all Year!!! She never should’ve been Locked up in the first place,” added another.
Additionally, Brown’s representatives are raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to ensure an adequate start to her new life upon her release.
At the time of writing, the so-called second chance fund has raised nearly $16,000.
As part of the terms of her commuted sentence, Brown, who will be freed on Wednesday, will have to report to a parole officer regularly for the next decade. She is also required to stay employed, participate in counseling and perform community service with at-risk youth.
“With God’s help, I am committed to live the rest of my life helping others, especially young people,” Brown said in a statement shortly after her sentence was commuted. “My hope is to help other young girls avoid ending up where I have been.”
Angel Colón was shot 6 times during the Orlando attack.
Just two months after the tragic shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., one of the survivors has finally started walking on his own. In a video posted to Facebook, Angel Colón takes eight steps in his kitchen, to a loving and welcoming embrace. Despite not being able to walk for two months after the attack, Colón was seen a few weeks ago at the annual Zumba Fitness Conference.
Colón also posted this emotional status to mark the two-month anniversary of the shooting.
Today marks 2 months of the shooting at Pulse Orlando. It was the worst night of my life and will never forget. The past…
Colón is one of the 53 people injured in the Pulse Nightclub shooting in the early morning hours of June 12. He was hugging a friend and saying his goodbyes at the end of the night as the attack began. The Zumba instructor was shot several times in the leg and hip before being dragged to safety by a police officer.
