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This story appears in the December 12, 2017 issue of Forbes. Subscribe

 Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg

 Fresh off a tour through Thailand, Laos and China, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Jr. picked up the phone on a Sunday afternoon in October to discuss something deeply personal: how much money he has. A year earlier, Forbes had listed his net worth at $2.9 billion on The Forbes 400, a number Ross claimed was far too low: He maintained he was closer to $3.7 billion. Now, after examining the financial-disclosure forms he filed after his nomination to President Donald Trump's Cabinet, which showed less than $700 million in assets, Forbes was intent on removing him entirely.

 Ross protested, citing trusts for his family that he said he did not have to disclose in federal filings. "You're apparently not counting those, which are more than $2 billion," he said. When asked for documentation, the 79-year-old demurred, citing "privacy issues." Told that Forbes nonetheless planned to remove him from the list for the first time in 13 years, he responded: "As long as you explain that the reason is that assets were put into trust, I'm fine with that." And when did he make the transfer that allowed him to not disclose over $2 billion? "Between the election and the nomination."

 So began the mystery of Wilbur Ross' missing $2 billion. And after one month of digging, Forbes is confident it has found the answer: That money never existed. It seems clear that Ross lied to us, the latest in an apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications and whoppers that have been going on with Forbes since 2004. In addition to just padding his ego, Ross' machinations helped bolster his standing in a way that translated into business opportunities. And based on our interviews with ten former employees at Ross' private equity firm, WL Ross & Co., who all confirmed parts of the same story line, his penchant for misleading extended to colleagues and investors, resulting in millions of dollars in fines, tens of millions refunded to backers and numerous lawsuits. Additionally, according to six U.S. senators, Ross failed to initially mention 19 suits in response to a questionnaire during his confirmation process.

 Nearly a week before this article went to press, both Ross and his team at the Commerce Department were sent a detailed list of questions. "Secretary Ross has filed all required disclosures in accordance with the law and in consultation with both legal counsel and ethics officials at the Department of Commerce and Office of Government Ethics. As we have said before, any misunderstanding from your previous conversation with Secretary Ross is unfortunate." They declined to provide further answers on the record.

 But Ross' questionable assertions to Forbes, combined with a recent controversy about a multimillion-dollar stake in a shipping company that does big business with close associates of Vladimir Putin, paint a clearer picture of the commerce secretary's tactics. His slippery statements during his confirmation hearings--"I intend to be quite scrupulous about recusal and any topic where there is the slightest scintilla of doubt"--came as no surprise to those who have known Ross for decades.

 "Wilbur doesn't have an issue with bending the truth," says David Wax, who worked alongside Ross for 25 years and served as the No. 3 person in his firm. Another former colleague, who requested anonymity, was less circumspect: "He's lied to a lot of people."

 Listen to Wilbur Ross apparently lie to Forbes:

 Twenty-six years before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, Wilbur Ross disappeared. It was 1990, corporate America was sick on junk bonds, and Ross was a top bankruptcy negotiator. But one November day, he failed to show up at an important meeting to brief bondholders in a furniture company's bankruptcy. They didn't know where he had gone.

 Until they went home and turned on the television. There was Ross, with Donald Trump, announcing a deal to recapitalize Trump's Taj Mahal casino, which was then careening toward bankruptcy. They were technically adversaries, with Ross representing one group of bondholders--at one point Trump asked them to fire Ross after he dismissed a Trump proposal to keep 100% of his equity, saying, "It's too early for Christmas." But Ross eventually brokered a deal among Trump, debt holder Carl Icahn and Ross' own clients that allowed Trump to keep a 50% stake. "I think [Ross] is very talented, a fantastic negotiator," Trump said at the time.

 The son of a judge, he always has been. He grew up in New Jersey, attended Yale and then Harvard Business School and eventually wound up as the bankruptcy work-out specialist at the investment bank Rothschild, where he was known for his ability to quickly distill complex situations. "He was very, very sharp," says someone who worked with him back then. "Very tough." By the early 1990s, his unit was bringing in around $18 million a year, with Ross personally pocketing more than a third of that.

 Ross was an extremely well-paid professional, but he yearned for the big money and big spotlight that come with having your own shop. "People knew of him," says another former colleague, "but not on his own." At first, he worked within Rothschild, raising $200 million for an internal private equity fund that would leverage his bankruptcy expertise to pick up companies on the cheap. Three years later, in 2000, he bought out the fund and slapped his name on the door. At 62, when most investment bankers start dabbling in golf and vineyards, Ross was poised to claim some glory for himself. Says Wax: "He viewed it as an opportunity to have a pulpit, to name something after himself and to potentially make a lot of money."

 Ross quickly accomplished all three of those things. In 2002, his firm invested in the bankrupt steelmaker LTV. According to a Harvard Business School case study, LTV had put $1.2 billion into new plants and equipment but laid off 7,500 union employees and faced a $3.4 billion pension burden. As a master of work-outs, Ross knew he could get the federal government to take over the pensions. According to people who worked at the firm then, Ross told the unions he'd buy the business if they let him hire back just 3,500 workers. Figuring 3,500 jobs were better than none, the union agreed, and WL Ross picked up most of LTV's assets, without the pension headaches, for $135 million and about $165 million in annual environmental liabilities.

 Ross' timing was impeccable. One week later, President George W. Bush issued a stiff tariff on steel imports, sending U.S. prices soaring and making Ross look like a genius. He rolled up several more steel companies, including Bethlehem Steel, into International Steel Group, which filed for an IPO in 2003.

 Ross was technically the beneficial owner of nearly $1 billion worth of the stock. But most of that belonged to his investors, not Ross personally. In 2005, Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal bought the business for around $4.5 billion in cash and stock.

 Ross personally invested only about $3 million in his firm's first two funds, according to former employees. Buoyed by International Steel Group, he roughly tripled that money, but the bigger payout came from carried interest--the manager's cut of overall profits, typically 20%. In all, Ross made an estimated $260 million.

 A huge score, yes, though not nearly enough to be one of the 400 richest people in America. But when a Forbes reporter reached out to Ross, apparently crediting him with his investors' money, the future commerce secretary did nothing to clarify the situation, according to notes at the time.

 "I just spoke to Ross," the reporter wrote. "He's one of the easiest new guys I've put on [The Forbes 400] in a while. Very low-key, said he didn't really want to be on, but at the same time wasn't going to fight success. He says he doesn't want to juice up his numbers at all."

 "I told him we're going to start him at $1 billion," added the reporter, who no longer works at Forbes . "And he said 'Yep, fine, thank you.' "

 Ross appeared on The Forbes 400 for the first time in 2004, with a net worth listed at $1 billion. It was nearly four times as much as he was likely worth. "Everyone that I knew that worked with Wilbur knew it wasn't true," says a former colleague of Ross. A legend was born, and like most legends, this one had its roots in a myth.

 Within days of that fateful issue of Forbes, Ross married for the third time at a beachside church in Southampton, New York. His bride, Hilary, 12 years younger, had spent much of her life in the Hamptons and Palm Beach, two of the East Coast's most famous billionaire playgrounds. "She brought him a certain kind of prominence, socially," says David Patrick Columbia, who publishes Hilary's musings on his website, New York Social Diary. "It was a perfect merger." Adds another contemporary: "She wants her husband to be on The Forbes 400."

 Life began to change for Ross. Once known for quirky suspenders, he now wore impeccable suits. A workaholic for most of his career, he began spending much of the year outside of New York. He started flying private, built up a collection of paintings by the Belgian artist René Magritte and bought a Palm Beach estate for $13 million.

 His fundraising kept pace with his spending. In 2005, he raised a $1.1 billion flagship fund, his largest yet. The next year, he sold WL Ross & Co. to the publicly traded investment-management company Invesco for $100 million up front and the ability to earn an additional $275 million, depending on how much money he was able to raise in later funds.

 With Invesco and a big incentive behind him, Ross raised a massive $4.1 billion fund in 2007, putting roughly $70 million of his own money into that one and the 2005 predecessor, according to three former employees. His net worth at this time was likely around $400 million, thanks to the sale of WL Ross & Co. But when contacted by Forbes that year, he gave valuations for his firm's investments as if the money belonged to him. The myth, with Forbes compounding it based on our original mistake and Ross' exhortations, got bigger. Now Forbes listed Ross with a net worth of $1.7 billion.

 That wasn't enough. "I would say the total now is a bit more than $2 billion," Ross wrote in a 2011 email, according to notes taken at the time. In 2013, a different Forbes reporter realized that prior estimates seemed to include not just Ross' money but that of the investors in his funds. Ross strung us along, leading us to believe he would provide evidence of his assets, but never did. Just months later, he was insisting that he was even richer, and Forbes continued to largely fall for it. "2.75 [billion] is a bit low but probably close enough," he wrote in an email around the start of 2014. In September, he was arguing for a valuation of $3.45 billion but begrudgingly accepted a smaller figure: "3.1 [billion] is low, but I understand why you wish to be conservative."

 Why wouldn't Ross be satisfied with $400 million? "You're talking about someone as egotistical as they come," Wax says. Five other former employees add a more tangible reason: The more money Ross appeared to be worth, the more money investors seemed willing to give him. "Really, for us, it was a bet on him, " says Sam Green, who helped put $300 million into Ross' funds on behalf of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, citing his personal wealth as one factor. "I don't know of any better indicator of future success than having been successful in the past." Ross had seemed to figure out how to make fake numbers generate real assets.

 In 2010, Ross set out to raise a new private equity fund, hoping to come up with another $4 billion. It was an audacious goal in the wake of the financial crisis, far more than many of his partners thought would be possible. After two years of fundraising, Ross closed it with just $640 million of investments. Still, he told the media he had raised $2.2 billion. Technically true but also misleading. Most of the other $1.6 billion or so came from other funds or accounts that paid little or no fee to Invesco. Given that shareholders might assume that the firm had an extra $2.2 billion of assets generating fees for its private equity arm, which was not true, Invesco later clarified the matter on an earnings call.

 There were also charges related to transparency inside the funds. In August 2016, the SEC announced a settlement with Invesco-owned WL Ross after investigating whether the firm had charged its investors improper fees from 2001 to 2011. WL Ross agreed to pay a $2.3 million fine, without admitting or denying the findings of the investigation. It also agreed to refund $11.8 million to investors. And that was small potatoes: Buried in its 2015 annual report, Invesco disclosed that it had paid an additional $43 million in reimbursements and regulatory expenses associated with its private equity business in the previous two years. The filings don't explicitly connect that money to WL Ross--and these payments have never before been reported--but four former employees said they were all tied to Wilbur Ross' firm. Invesco declined to comment for this story.

 In 2012, Ross' longtime No. 2, David Storper, left the firm but said he retained interests in many of the funds. Three years later, Storper alleged in a lawsuit that the firm sent him inaccurate financial information after his departure and that Wilbur Ross stole his interests outright. Ross denied the allegations, and the lawsuit remains ongoing. A few years earlier, a vice chairman of WL Ross sued Wilbur Ross for more than $20 million, alleging that Ross tried to cut him out of interest and fees he had been promised. The parties had reached a settlement by 2007, which former employees say cost about $10 million.

 The Storper case has other ex-employees looking back to be sure they were sent proper information. Joseph Mullin, a former member of WL Ross' 15-person investment team, filed his own suit against WL Ross & Co., also alleging that Ross took his interests after he left. The firm filed a motion to dismiss in February, but the case remains active. A third ex-colleague, who is not in litigation, argues that Ross' tactics went beyond hard-nosed negotiating: "Everybody does some cheating, everybody does some lying. Not everybody steals from their employees."

 On November 8, 2016, the night that upended American politics, Wilbur Ross was with Donald Trump, his family and top backers in New York City. The relationships inside this inner sanctum ran deep. Billionaire Phillip Ruffin, the president's Las Vegas partner who had Trump serve as best man at his wedding, was there. So was Icahn and apparently Richard LeFrak, the real estate tycoon who was part of the Palm Beach circle that included Trump and Ross.

 But Ross was the only one who left his day job to join Trump in government. "I'd rather hang myself," Ruffin told Forbes earlier this year. "I don't know why Wilbur took it."

 But viewed in the context of Ross' career arc, it makes perfect sense. The steel deal made him rich, but his returns have been mediocre since, so much so that WL Ross filed documents to raise a sixth flagship fund last year, but nothing seemed to come of it. Trump, the guy he kept afloat 26 years before, offered his fellow attention-seeking dealmaker a lifeline to relevance.

 Ross' appointment as secretary of commerce came with one catch: He had to disclose his assets, providing evidence that he was not as rich as he had long claimed. In 2015, he sent Forbes a detailed breakdown of his supposed holdings, listing $1.25 billion in partnership interests, $1.1 billion in municipal bonds, $500 million in equities, $200 million in art, $110 million in real estate and $200 million in cash, for a fanciful total of $3.4 billion, according to notes taken at the time. We eventually listed him at $2.9 billion. Last year, Ross' assistant claimed $3.7 billion; we stuck with $2.9 billion.

 His former colleagues saw the moment of reckoning coming as soon as he accepted a Cabinet role. "It was surprising because he would have to reveal to the world that he wasn't a billionaire," one ex-employee said. "I was surprised that he would take that risk."

 But Ross was ready to double down, even while he was a Cabinet member, telling Forbes about the putative $2 billion asset transfer to his family members after the election. That opened up a storm of questions from ethics and tax experts. If Ross had owned $2 billion of additional assets before the election, wouldn't they have produced income that he was required to disclose, even if he no longer owned the assets? And why would someone apparently transfer $2 billion to his family, thereby triggering more than $800 million in gift taxes, especially with a president in the White House who was prepared to eliminate the estate tax and therefore much of the cost of transferring fortunes to later generations?

 "I am aware of the ethics and tax rules and have complied with all of them," Ross wrote in an October email to Forbes . "Aren't you going a bit overboard on this? I have explained my situation to you and am surprised and disappointed by the seemingly accusatory tone of your email. For more than 50 years I have had a good relationship with your publication and with the Forbes family. And never have had a bad experience with either. In fact I was just the featured speaker at your magazine's hundredth anniversary CEO conference in Hong Kong."

 After Forbes published an online story on October 16 laying out those questions, six Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the top ethics official in the federal government, asking him to figure out what was going on with Ross' finances. "It is imperative that Congress and the Office of Government Ethics know the full extent of Mr. Ross's holdings to ensure he is not putting personal gain ahead of the interests of the American people."

 The Department of Commerce issued a statement saying the $2 billion gift never happened. "Contrary to the report in Forbes, there was no major asset transfer to a trust in the period between the election and Secretary Ross's confirmation."

 The only problem with that statement: The person who told Forbes that the transfer had taken place, that it had happened after the election and that it had meant more than $2 billion of family assets weren't on the disclosure was none other than the sitting secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross. ||||| Defending his appointment of a billionaire to promote the country’s economic growth, Donald Trump has said that he does not want poor people to hold economic roles in his administration.

 Speaking at a rally in Iowa, the President declared: “Somebody said why did you appoint a rich person to be in charge of the economy? No it’s true. And Wilbur’s [commerce secretary Wilbur Ross] a very rich person in charge of commerce. I said: ‘Because that’s the kind of thinking we want.’”

 Mr Ross, an investor, has a net worth of about $2.5bn.

 The president explained that Mr Ross and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn “had to give up a lot to take these jobs” and that Cohn in particular, a former president of investment bank Goldman Sachs, “went from massive pay days to peanuts”.

 Trump added: “And I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person. Does that make sense?”

 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes

 18 show all Donald Trump's most controversial quotes

 1/18 On Mexicans “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people.” AFP/Getty Images

 2/18 On Senator McCain “He’s not a war hero... He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Getty Images

 3/18 On Megyn Kelly “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.” AFP/Getty Images

 4/18 On Vladimir Putin “He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country.” Getty Images

 5/18 On his popularity “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” AFP/Getty Images

 6/18 On torture "I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." Getty Images

 7/18 On his body “Look at those hands, are they small hands? And, [Republican rival Marco Rubio] referred to my hands: ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.” AFP/Getty Images

 8/18 On president Obama “He is the founder of Isis.” Getty Images

 9/18 On the Second Amendment "Hillary wants to abolish — essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know." AFP/Getty Images

 10/18 On Hilary Clinton's emails “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” AFP/Getty Images

 11/18 On sexual assault In a statement regarding the release of a 2005 video in which he can be heard boasting about sexual assault: “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course.” Getty Images

 12/18 On tax loopholes "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett, and so did George Soros and so did many people who Hillary is getting money from." AFP/Getty Images

 13/18 On his accuser “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” Getty Images

 14/18 On Hillary Clinton “Such a nasty woman” Getty Images

 15/18 On his pro-life stance “Based on what she's saying ... you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, on the final day, and that's unacceptable” Getty Images

 16/18 On his accusers "Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.” Getty Images

 17/18 On the 'rigged' election system “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win.” Getty Images

 18/18 On Hillary Clinton “I hate to say it but if I win I'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” Getty Images

 “If you insist, I’ll do it. But I like it better this way, right?”

 Mr Trump has frequently touted himself as a champion of the “forgotten men and women” across the country.

 During his inauguration speech in January, he said, “For too long, a small group in our nation's Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.”

 Mr Trump proceeded to appoint millionaires and billionaires to fill cabinet positions, making his administration the wealthiest in US history.

 Ahead of the rally, the President touched down in rainy Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and headed to a local community college, where he got a look at agriculture technology innovations before leading a campaign-style rally.

 He revelled in Georgia Republican Karen Handel's congressional victory in an election viewed as an early referendum on his presidency.

 “We're 5-0 in special elections,” Mr Trump said in front of a boisterous crowd that packed a downtown arena. “The truth is, people love us ... they haven't figured it out yet.”

 He also applauded Republican Ralph Norman, who notched a slimmer-than-expected win in a special election to fill the South Carolina congressional seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, his budget director, and mocked Handel's challenger, Jon Ossoff, saying the Democrats “spent $30 million on this kid who forgot to live in the district.”

 Mr Trump, no stranger to victory laps, turned his visit to a battleground state he captured in November into a celebration of his resilience despite the cloud of investigations that has enveloped his administration and sent his poll numbers tumbling.

 With the appearance in Cedar Rapids, he has held five rallies in the first five months in office.

 Associated Press contributed to this report |||||
What is a summary?

– Earlier this year, President Trump noted "I just don't want a poor person" in charge of economic posts in his administration, then touted Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as "a very rich person" who was up to the task. But just how rich Ross really is is now up in the air, Forbes reports, noting it's yanked Ross off its billionaires list after a one-month probe revealed that $2 billion or so or Ross' alleged fortune "never existed," and that Ross had engaged in an "apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications, and whoppers" with the magazine going back 13 years. The discovery came when Ross, 79, contacted Forbes in October to refute his ranking: Last year he was listed with a net worth of $2.9 billion on the Forbes 400; he claimed he was worth closer to $3.7 billion. Then Forbes talked with 10 of Ross' ex-employees at his private equity firm, who noted a "penchant for misleading" that affected fellow workers and investors and spurred big fines, suits, and refunds to backers. "Wilbur doesn't have an issue with bending the truth," one longtime colleague says, while another is more blunt: "He's lied to a lot of people." The magazine delves into Ross' back story, including how, when he first made the Forbes billionaires list in 2004 with a net worth of $1 billion, "everyone that I knew that worked with Wilbur knew it wasn't true," per a former colleague. When Forbes told Ross he was being removed from its billionaires club, Ross retorted the magazine wasn't counting family trusts that he wasn't obligated to inform the feds about—in the amount of "more than $2 billion," assets Ross said he put into the trusts sometime "between the election and [my] nomination." When Forbes asked to see a paper trail proving that, Ross cited "privacy issues"—and the magazine lays out other problems with Ross' story on the supposed $2 billion transfer. Read the in-depth findings here.


Article:

On his show tonight, Lawrence O’Donnell brought up the GOP’s “Southern strategy” and wondered if part of this strategy was “an appeal to racism and racist voting.” And this led O’Donnell to ask if the Mitt Romney campaign deliberately wanted to get booed by an audience of African-Americans in order to appeal to racist voters. Guest Goldie Taylor told O’Donnell that his assessment was on the mark.

 RELATED: Bill O’Reilly And Marc Lamont-Hill Clash Over Fallout From Romney’s NAACP Speech

 Taylor said that Romney didn’t go to the NAACP because he wanted to engage with the black community, but he wanted to make a show for small factions of the GOP base. She argued that if Romney was really there to appeal to the NAACP, he would have repudiated voter ID laws, which Eric Holder likened to a “poll tax.”

 She said Romney can’t just appeal to the dissatisfactions of African-Americans to get them to vote for him, he needs to walk the walk.

 Watch the video below, courtesy of MSNBC:

 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is hinting that all those boos toward Mitt Romney on Wednesday at the NAACP convention may have been exactly what the former governor was counting on.

 “I think it was a calculated move on his part to get booed at the NAACP convention,” Pelosi said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. She did not elaborate further during the three-minute interview clip provided by Bloomberg.

 (Also on POLITICO: Mitt to NAACP: In my heart, I'm the candidate for you)

 Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, faced a chorus of boos as he vowed before the crowd in Houston to repeal the health care law, the signature domestic policy achievement of President Barack Obama. The law's constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court last month.

 Back in Washington, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus wasn’t all too pleased either with Romney’s comments on health care, either.

 “I felt terrible when the booing started, but I also believe that if he’s got any African-Americans in and around his campaign – which I don’t know; if he does, I don’t know any of them -- if he has staff members who vetted that speech or inserted some of the things that I heard, they should be fired," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told a handful of reporters. “I mean, how in the world would you stand up in front of the NAACP and say that you oppose Obamacare?”

 (Also on POLITICO: NAACP whacks Romney hours after speech)

 But Cleaver at least gave Romney an “A” for effort.

 “You know, they call the members of the NAACP African-Americans and the last word is Americans,” Cleaver said. “So they deserve to hear what the presidential candidates are going to say even if they are Republican. And so I give him an A for that.”

 Read more about: Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney, NAACP ||||| Romney Addresses the NAALCP

 RUSH: Romney showed up today at the NAALCP convention, and Snerdley came in here, “Oh, yeah, he did great. He was great.” And Karen Finney, this real locoweed commentator over at MSNBC, “Well, you gotta give Romney credit for showing up, for being willing to go.” Is that right? We’ve gotten to the point where he gets credit for going? I mean say what you want about the NAALCP, they’re still human beings, they’re Americans. Credit for going? Every presidential candidate goes to the NAALCP. McCain went, didn’t he? Bush went, didn’t he? Name for me one that didn’t. (interruption) Oh, Obama hasn’t gone? (laughing)

 At any rate, here’s what Karen Finney said, “It’s more about your actions than it is about what you say.” That’s a crock. Not with that group. It’s totally about what you say. Obama has devastated the black community in this country economically, literally devastated them. It’s totally what you say. Not your actions. But remind me again here, folks, ’cause before Romney showed up at the NAALCP, we had Fox on, and Alan Colmes was on there… I was gonna say something, but I’m gonna dial it back. Alan Colmes was saying that Romney doesn’t care about people. He doesn’t care about the poor. He doesn’t care about black people. He doesn’t care. He’s totally out of touch. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about people in poverty. He doesn’t care about people that are suffering and hurting. He doesn’t care.

 Now, remind me again, why is being successful as a direct result of your own hard work and education, a negative? Why is being successful tantamount to being out of touch? In this country, in the American media, the American left, being successful is out of touch. And that’s a problem. Being successful is out of touch? Being successful means you don’t know what people are going through. Being successful means you don’t know about suffering? Being successful means you don’t know about the unsuccessful? Look, FDR and the Kennedys were hereditary millionaires, lucky sperm club. They just had to grow up. John Kerry, the haughty John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, married into his fortune. It’s his wife that owns the houses. His wife even owns his windsurfing board. He doesn’t even have enough money to buy that. His wife probably owns the Spandex that he wears when he’s out on the windsurfing board.

 The Kennedys, FDR, grew into it, lucky sperm club. Romney, however, is out of touch and doesn’t care. Why? ‘Cause he worked in the private sector, because he played by the rules, because he’s got some bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. Well, so does Debbie “Blabbermouth” Schultz, as it turns out. In fact, even the US government has foreign investment in all of these places where Romney supposedly has money. Romney helped grow small businesses. Romney helped grow companies. He built ’em into powerhouses. They ended up hiring a lot of people. He risked his own money. Looks like he raised a pretty wonderful family. Found time to rescue the winter Olympics from financial ruin. And he doesn’t care about people and he doesn’t know about suffering, and if he ever learned about suffering, he wouldn’t care about it.

 How convoluted are these people? How is what Romney has done out of touch? And John Kerry and the Kennedys and FDR, why, they know everything. They’re the biggest hearts, big compassion. It seems to me that Romney has been a hands-on leader. I realize we’ve taken a lot of calls in the past on the program, when I talk about Romney in a positive way, a lot of you people get mad. I can’t help it. I mean, the facts are the facts. Romney has many and varied successes. They’ve been a direct result of being hands-on. He has worked and he’s worked very hard. And yet he’s out of touch.

 Now, Romney spoke at the NAALCP. Does anybody know if they required a photo ID to get in to Romney’s speech? ‘Cause Eric Holder went to the NAALCP yesterday. They required a photo ID. I am not kidding. (interruption) You didn’t know that? They required a photo ID at the NAALCP yesterday to get in to see Eric Holder, while he’s making a speech promising the members of the NAALCP that there will not be photo IDs to vote in Texas. It ain’t gonna happen. ‘Cause it’s a poll tax, ain’t gonna happen. But they required a photo ID to get in to see Eric Holder. I wonder if Holder brought the New Black Panther Party along with him, put ’em outside the venue and checked the photo IDs of the media as they were coming in.

 Let’s listen to a little bit of Romney at the NAALCP, because Snerdley came in, thought he did great. I’ll play the sound bites and you tell me what you think. He got booed, but Snerdley thinks he deserves a lot of credit because even after he got booed he kept coming back and he didn’t buckle. So we have four little quick bites here. Here’s number one. Mitt Romney, NAALCP in Houston.

 ROMNEY: I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real enduring best interests of American African-American families, you would vote for me for president. Now, of course you know the opposition charges that I and people in my party are running for office to help the rich. Nonsense. The rich will do just fine, whether I’m elected or not. The president wants to make this campaign about blaming the rich, and I want to make this a campaign about helping the middle class in America. (applause)

 RUSH: You can barely hear the applause. You can barely hear the applause. I watched a little bit of this and I felt like I was in a mortuary. I felt like I was in a funeral home watching this. Tepid applause talking about lifting the middle class. To heck with the rich. The rich are gonna be rich no matter who’s elected and the rich are gonna be fine no matter who’s here, which is true. You’ll hear later, Carville is out on Fox this morning, huge discussion on whether I was right in terms of the economy being a major factor in the campaign, as Romney’s using it. And after that discussion we’ve got some sound bites of Carville saying it’s no longer the economy. He’s not talking about me. He said class warfare is the new tactic that will work for Obama. That’s what he says.

 Carville and Greenberg, polling data, class warfare, that’s what’s gonna work. You know Carville and Greenberg want Obama to stay away from touting the economy. Stop talking about this economic recovery you got going, dude, there isn’t any. Nobody’s gonna buy it. Instead they want him now to start talking about class envy. (interruption) You snicker? Here is Romney talking about the rich are gonna be cool no matter what. That’s not what these people want to hear. These people want to hear, “I am gonna put the rich in jail.” He woulda gotten a standing O. “I’m gonna put the rich in jail, I’m gonna jail myself, and then I’m gonna give everything I take from myself and the rich to the middle class.” That woulda gotten a standing O with this group. Okay, here’s the next bite.

 ROMNEY: As you may have heard from my opponent, I’m also a believer in the free enterprise system. I believe it can bring change where so many well meaning government programs have failed. I’ve never heard anyone look around an impoverished neighborhood and say, “You know, there’s just too much free enterprise around here. Too many shops. Too many jobs. Too many people putting money in the bank.” What you hear, of course, is, “How do we bring in jobs? How do we make good, honest employers want to move in?”

 RUSH: No.

 ROMNEY: Stay in.

 RUSH: Not anymore.

 ROMNEY: And with the shape the economy’s in today, we’re asking that question more and more.

 RUSH: No, we’re not.

 ROMNEY: Free enterprise. Free enterprise is still the greatest force for upward mobility, economic security, and the expansion of the middle class.

 RUSH: Not to this group. That’s not what they want to hear. This group wants to hear about tax increases and bigger government to take care of people. They don’t want to hear about self-reliance; they don’t want to hear about free enterprise. Free enterprise means you’ve gotta do it yourself. Free enterprise means it’s up to you. Free enterprise means you’re on your own. This group doesn’t want to hear that. I don’t think Romney got a single vote in here today.

 I will tell you that he didn’t get a single vote. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if he gets a single vote outta here or not. Well, look, I’m not playing these sound bites to criticize Romney. That’s not my point here. The audience is gonna do that for me. The callers will criticize Romney for me. I am not trying to do that. (sigh) But, anyway, “I never heard anybody look around an impoverished neighborhood and say, ‘You know, there’s just too much free enterprise here.'”

 They do!

 The shop owners, the business owners are guilty to this group!

 It’s unfair they should own a business that charges a profit. (interruption) Well, you can smirk all you want. It’s where we are in our culture today. They do see too many businesses; they do see too many successful people. Those people have somehow cheated, lied, and stolen from other people to get what they’ve got — and then they’re earning a profit. Walmart’s an enemy, for crying out loud! They ought to be giving it all away, and then those people ought to be in jail after Romney puts the rich in jail. (interruption)

 Who do I think shops at Walmart?

 The NAALCP thinks it ought to be free at Walmart — or at cost, at least, at Walmart. Look, in Romney’s time at Bain Capital, he helped save or start over 150 companies. Staples. Burger King. You think any of those companies ever hired a black person? Do you think they did? I wonder what woulda happened if Romney woulda told ’em that? Boos? Accuse him of racism, tokenism? What woulda happened? How come Romney doesn’t pick up a black accent when he goes in there and talks to the NAALCP?

 That’s what Obama does. Obama brings out the Selma twang when he heads in there to the NAALCP. And Hillary. (impression) “I ain’t no ways tiiiired.” Then they stand up and they give Hillary a cheer, and Obama says things like (impression), “Well, my grandfather came down here with the po’.” They scream, “Right on, dude!” And they stand up for a standing ovation! Romney goes in there today, and he sounded like Snow White with Testicles. That’s not what this bunch wants to hear. Here’s the next bite.

 ROMNEY: I’m gonna eliminate every nonessential expensive program I can find. That includes Obamacare, and I’m gonna work to reform and save —

 AUDIENCE: (boos and grumbling)

 RUSH: We didn’t edit that. That was 15 seconds of boos. That’s a short bite. What did Romney say? He said, “I’m gonna eliminate every nonessential expensive program I can, and that includes Obamacare, and I’m gonna work to reform…” Booooo! So what are these people telling us? They want to pay taxes higher than ever. They want to pay penalties if they don’t have health insurance. They want the health care system to deteriorate into something that’s worse than it could possibly be.

 That’s what these people are telling us they want. (interruption) Look… Okay, give ’em the benefit of the doubt. They don’t know what’s in it. They don’t care what’s in it. All they know is it’s Obama’s plan, and here comes Snow White with Testicles in there ripping it to shreds, and so they’re booing him. Is that it? (interruption) Okay. Well, somebody needs to tell ’em after they boo, “Oh, so you want to pay a penalty for not having health insurance? Oh, so you want your taxes to be higher than they’ve ever been just to have health insurance? Is that what you want?”

 Here’s the last Romney bite before the NAALCP today in Houston.

 ROMNEY: My agenda is not to put in place a series of policies that get me a lot of attention and applause. My policy will be, number one: Create jobs for the American people. I do not have a hidden agenda.

 AUDIENCE: (smattering of applause)

 ROMNEY: And I submit to you this. If you want a president who will make things better in the African-American community, you are looking at him.

 AUDIENCE: (boos and applause)

 ROMNEY: You take a look.

 RUSH: Hey, Romney told ’em what they unemployment rate was in the black community. What is it, almost 14%? Yeah, it’s either 13.9% or 14%. It’s way high. He didn’t use a number, but he said black unemployment is higher than anybody else’s. It’s higher than Hispanic unemployment, higher than the general unemployment rate. Okay, it’s 14%. So he told ’em: Under Barack Obama, black unemployment is skyrocketing with no end in sight. He tells them that he’s gonna end it, and they boo! Now, by the way, this Snow White business, that’s not me. I’m projecting. I’m saying that’s how he’s viewed inside the NAALCP convention. Remember the context. Hillary goes in there (impression), “I ain’t no ways tiiiired. And Obama goes in and drops some Selma lingo on ’em. And Romney goes in there and sounds like white bread. That’s all I was saying.

 BREAK TRANSCRIPT

 RUSH: Okay, here you go. Here’s a tweet that went out from a Democrat operative on Twitter after Romney showed up at the NAALCP convention. Here’s the tweet: “Rich white man booed at NAACP for saying he wants to take away healthcare from 30M people and replace it with a $5M tax cut for himself.” To these people, that is what repealing Obamacare is. Repealing Obamacare, to the American left, is denying free health care to 30 million people while you give yourself a tax cut and hold onto your own health care.

 That’s what it is, and that’s what the Democrats are spreading.

 That’s what they say Romney wants to do: Take health care away from 30 million people. Now, I would love to see somebody poll the conventioneers at the NAALCP and find out how many of them realize that they’re not getting free health care under Obamacare. That, in fact, they’re gonna be fined for not buying health insurance. I wonder how many of them know. It’s anecdotal, and I have a lot of rich and powerful friends that owned and own businesses, and they told me.

 They have told me that many of their employees, after the Supreme Court decision, came up to them and said, “Is my health care free now?” I have no clue, I have no idea what the majority of Americans think, but I can tell you what the left thinks. The left thinks Obamacare is free health care for themselves and the 30 million who are uninsured. And they also believe that the people who want to repeal it don’t want people to have free health care. They don’t want people to have what they’ve got. That’s why they don’t like the poor. That’s why they don’t care about the poor.

 This is whole meme. It’s total BS, but this is what the Democrat Party is spreading. Now, what do I think Romney was really doing here in this speech today? I don’t think he was speaking to that audience. That’s why I kinda got a little short with Snerdley. I think Romney used the forum. He knew there’s media there. I think he used the forum to try to take the occasion here to spread his own message about the economy and everything else he’s trying to accomplish in his campaign. I think he used this event as an opportunity, rather than to speak to these people directly as his primary purpose.

 BREAK TRANSCRIPT

 RUSH: I kind of glossed over this in the early portion of the program. Do you find it interesting that, of the two presidential candidates, Romney is the one who went to the NAALCP? Obama’s not going. It’s not that he hasn’t been yet. I don’t think Obama’s going. Obama, he doesn’t want to go to the NAALCP precisely because the black unemployment rate’s 14%, precisely because, if the truth be known, they feel let down. If the truth be known, African-Americans, especially at the leadership levels like the NAALCP, think Obama has abandoned them. There hasn’t been one fulfillment of any dream they had.

 I want you to put yourself in their position, with what they think about life in this country since the founding, including slavery, all of that stuff, affirmative action, discrimination, left and right, you name it. First black president is elected. You know that they had dreams and aspirations. They thought a whole bunch of getting even with ’em out there was gonna be happening. They thought a whole bunch of wrongs were gonna be fixed. They thought — well, who knows specifically, but you know they had high expectations for Obama, and not one of them has been met. The people that wanted a new kitchen, don’t have it. The people that wanted a new car, don’t have it. The people that wanted jobs, don’t have it. And so Obama’s not showing up. Romney did.

 Romney knows, get 3% of the black vote and you throw this election into a tizzy. Get 5% of the black vote, and Obama loses. So he shows up today. Obama doesn’t show up anywhere, other than before an audience of college kids or union people. That’s it. You won’t see Obama at the NAALCP. He’s gonna send Biden, tell some sex jokes, or whatever else Biden’s gonna end up gaffing. But Obama’s getting nowhere near it. Now, Romney did and will. Romney will speak to venues like the NAALCP. He’ll go into enemy territory. Obama will not. And who’s the president of the United States and who’s the candidate? Obama’s the Preezy. Jimmy Fallon: “Obama’s the Preezy of the United States.” And he doesn’t dare show up.

 He’s confident they’ll boo Romney, simply ’cause Romney’s white. He’s confident of that. But he knows that he’s gonna have hell to pay in private meetings with these people. He’s not gonna get anywhere near it. So what an insult. Here’s Obama sending Biden, not going himself. On the campaign trail, talking about how great his economy is, how great the recovery is, how much better it’s gonna be, and how much he’s gonna be doing for people. So Romney takes advantage of the occasion. He goes there and makes a speech that is, really, I think over these people’s heads, in the sense that his audience was much larger than just inside the convention hall. He’s got the media there, and here’s an opportunity for Romney to be himself, tell everybody what he stands for, what he believes, what he wants to do, what his problems are. It doesn’t matter if he gets booed.

 By the way, he got a standing O at the end of it. After all of that he did get a standing ovation at the end of his speech at the NAALCP. I don’t know how many news media will report that. But I think it’s an insult to send Biden to the NAALCP, first black president, election year, can’t show up to your convention? Behind closed doors, I’m telling you, and this is Democrat cloakrooms all across the country, there’s panic, there’s fear, and they know that they are in trouble. |||||
What is a summary?

– Mitt Romney got booed during his speech to the NAACP yesterday, but many observers on the left are saying that's just what he wanted, reports Politico. "I think it was a calculated move on his part to get booed at the NAACP convention," said Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi would not elaborate, but Lawrence O'Donnell did, wondering if the speech was "an appeal to racism and racist voting," notes Mediaite. Rush Limbaugh, unsurprisingly, said the audience booed Romney simply because he's white. "Romney goes in there today, and he sounded like Snow White with Testicles," said Limbaugh, claiming people in the NAACP don't understand ObamaCare. But Rep. Emanuel Cleaver had a more measured interpretation of the booing, saying Romney just sold his message poorly. "I felt terrible when the booing started, but I also believe that if he's got any African-Americans in and around his campaign—which I don’t know; if he does, I don’t know any of them—if he has staff members who vetted that speech or inserted some of the things that I heard, they should be fired," said Cleaver.


Write an article based on this summary:

– What's better than being a famous actor? Being a famous actor and a semi-famous singer. Celebuzz rounds up 10 actors who've also been in a band: Abigail Breslin: She's just 16, but the Little Miss Sunshine actress is already a multi-hyphenate. Her first song is "Westfjords" with indie group Stargroves. Ryan Gosling: When he performs with his group, Dead Man's Bones, he goes by "Baby Goose." Get it? Hugh Laurie: The House star is the frontman for Band From TV, which is exactly what it sounds like: a charity cover band "supergroup" of sorts that also features Heroes star Greg Grunberg. Jada Pinkett Smith: Who says Scientologists can't be into heavy metal? Yep, Jada—as Jada Koren—fronts metal band Wicked Wisdom. Click for the complete list, which includes one overachiever who's in not one but two bands.

Published on Sep 14, 2012

 "Westfjords" feat. Abigail Breslin, by Stargroves

 Click To Tweet!: http://clicktotweet.com/ifB56

 LINKS:

 http://www.stargroves.com/

 http://www.facebook.com/stargrovesband

 https://twitter.com/stargrovesband

 http://www.youtube.com/stargrovesmusic

 http://noisetrade.com/stargroves

 http://stargroves.fanbridge.com/

 http://web.stagram.com/n/stargroves

 Words and Music by Teddy Watson

 Produced at Threshold Recording Studios by Jeremy Sklarsky

 Mastered by Fred Kevorkian

 Teddy Watson - Vocals, Banjo Guitar

 Abigail Breslin - Vocals

 Enrico de Trizio - Piano, Keyboard, Synth

 Charlie Rauh - Electric Guitar

 Bryan Percivall - Bass

 Andrea Belfiore - Drums

 copyright 2012

 LYRICS

 all the trolls in the highlands wake up

 singing out of time

 putting on their costume makeup

 in the pale moonlight

 and your painted grimaces all look so heavenly tonight

 it just seems obvious

 the carnival is calling us away

 but you don't know what the people say

 is it me or doesn't it all sound the same

 you don't look back again

 'cause the road is dark and

 this place is happening

 the paint is bright enough to fade it all away

 the townsfolk fall for us

 they take us in and we rob them every day

 we hide away all the coins we save

 and pretty soon we'll all go far far away

 you don't look back again

 'cause the road is dark and

 this place is happening

 the paint is bright enough to fade it all away

 all your sons are well and able

 dreaming on their bedtime fables

 lilac in your jacket pockets

 chase us off like bottle rockets

 I can hear the storm what's a little rain

 to someone born on the boundary lines

 I want to know what you're gonna say

 when the morning fades your hysterics away

 all the trolls in the highlands wake up

 singing out of time

 putting on their costume makeup

 in the pale moonlight

 all the westfjord paupers say don't

 ever make a sound

 picking up their horns as they go

 no you can't push me around

 banks are calling us away

 I can't stay, I can't stay

 sons are waving out to sea

 tears on me, tears on me

 banks are calling us away

 I can't stay, I can't stay

 sons are waving out to sea

 tears on me, tears on me

 hags are burning up inside

 serves you right, serves you right

 elves are hiding underground

 weirds me out, weirds me out

 hags are burning up inside

 serves you right, serves you right

 elves are hiding underground

 weirds me out, weirds me out ||||| wowed fans with her dance moves in Little Miss Sunshine, and now she’s exploring her musical roots.

 The 16-year-old Oscar nominee recently debuted the first music track with indie troup Stargroves. Titled “Westfjords,” the song is a catchy, twangy collaboration between the teenage actress and songwriter Teddy Watson.

 But the Hollywood starlet isn’t the first actor to dabble in music.

 Performing under the name “Baby Goose,” Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Gosling indulged his inner musician with his indie group, Dead Man’s Bones. The band’s self-titled album — a collaboration between with the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir started by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea — was released in 2009.

 Likewise, Superbad stars Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse have also branched out into music, playing in indie groups Mister Heavenly and The Young Rapscallions, respectively.

 Who else has been rocking out? Launch the gallery for more actors you didn’t know were in bands. |||||


Article:

Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more |||||

 Paul Goldschmidt and other batters won’t have to wait around for this anymore. (Norm Hall/Getty Images)

 Tuesday brought news of a relatively small but noteworthy change being implemented by MLB this season: Intentional walks will now be granted to hitters with a signal from the opposing dugout, rather than by having the pitcher throw four obvious balls. While the baseball powers that be, such as Commissioner Rob Manfred, see the move as helping speed games up, not everyone is thrilled to see the four-pitch intentional walk go the way of the dodo.

 [Analysis: Baseball kills off a part of history, and gains almost nothing]

 For one thing, while it seems like the simplest of acts to lob four pitches to a catcher standing well away from the batter’s box, things can and do occasionally go awry, which is always fun. Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis pointed out on Twitter that he has twice scored on errant pitches during intentional walks, one of which was featured in a video posted by another Twitter user.

 But I’ve scored twice on an overthrow during an intentional walk… https://t.co/cSHhsBQknY — Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) February 22, 2017

 •The MLB has approved to change the intentional walk rule. Which now will be granted following dugout signal. Take a look at these classics. pic.twitter.com/g3iyEW5kB3 — Dylan (@DylansFreshTake) February 22, 2017

 I'm kind of disappointed to see the intentional walk disappear if only because I loved to see it botched every now and then. — Baseball Joe Veyera (@JoeVeyera) February 22, 2017

 The flip side of that scenario comes when a pitcher actually gets his lob a little too close to the strike zone and an intrepid batter goes for it. That’s fun, too!

 As we say goodbye to the intentional walk(for now), I'd like to remind everyone of this absolute boss moment from Miggy. pic.twitter.com/KouH4Ixvew — Jason Ochart (@Jason_cOchart) February 22, 2017

 @Tony_Frye I saw Will Clark single on an attempted intentional walk. It was awesome. Make them throw the dang pitches. — Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) February 22, 2017

 Some online commenters made the case that the rule change will be so inconsequential, it’s hardly worth it.

 Intentional walks took an estimated 1410 minutes in 2016.

 That is 35 seconds per game. Is the automatic IBB really gonna fix pace of play? — MLB Statistics (@MLBRandomStats) February 22, 2017

 932 intentional walks in 2,428 games last season. A baseball game is now, on average, 1.5 pitches shorter. — Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) February 22, 2017

 Others, not surprisingly, took things in a less serious direction.

 I like the moment of the intentional walk especially late in the game. I want the guy on deck to have enough time to get properly offended. — Royals Nation (@RoyalsNation) February 22, 2017

 Instead of cutting the intentional walk, make it more exciting! All intentional walks to be thrown by the center fielder, minimum 300 feet. — Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) February 21, 2017

 But if the ol’ four-pitch IBB must go, can we at least have some fun with the dugout signal? Twitter certainly thought we should (note: there were lots of middle-finger suggestions that won’t be passed along here).

 Dugout signal: Manager must mimic Walk like an Egyptian dance. https://t.co/Rx8jjbxPiG — Matt Wurst (@mwurst) February 22, 2017

 This should be the new intentional walk signal. pic.twitter.com/xgLOrcL1lC — Greg Tepper (@Tepper) February 22, 2017 ||||| Major League Baseball is considering eliminating the four pitches it requires to intentionally walk a batter with the goal of making the game faster. If the proposed rule passes, games will indeed be faster. You just might not notice.

 Last season, teams issued just 932 free passes in 2,427 games. The Count randomly sampled 10 of them and calculated they took 37.25 seconds on average. So when you do all the math, the net result is... |||||
What is a summary?

– Those who complain baseball is too slow may be heartened to hear a quicker pace is on its way. Based on a Tuesday evening tweet from ESPN's Howard Bryant, Sports Illustrated reports that, starting with the 2017 season, MLB pitchers will no longer have to waste time lobbing four pitches at batters they plan to intentionally walk. Instead, teams can now simply signal the ump that a walk is in the works, and the runner can immediately saunter over to first. This change could shave 14.3 seconds off of each game, per estimates by the Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post notes "not everyone is thrilled" with the change, including those who enjoy watching what happens when intentional-walk pitches go wild or batters go for them anyway. Others wonder if the time savings is worth the effort, with one commenter noting: "Is the automatic IBB really gonna fix pace of play?" (Start reading about baseball's "most interesting pitcher" with all that time you just gained.)


Terry Wayne Ward's funeral service turned out to be the perfect sendoff for a guy who "couldn't give a damn about most material things," according to his now famous obituary.

 The atypical service was held Saturday at Geisen Funeral Home in Crown Point, where his daughter works and where she said her final goodbye to her one-of-a-kind father.

 Jean Lahm, of Lowell, did so with smiles, laughter and funny stories about her dad, who died Jan. 23. Ward was 71. His attitude, however, could be that of a 17-year-old, or a 37-year-old, or possibly a 7-year-old, depending on his mood.

 Not only did Ward's obit reflect his life. His life reflected his obit, which can't be said for most obits I've read.

 Most obits read like fill-in-the-blank form letters, written with all the character of a closed casket. It's as if they're compiled by TV police detective Joe Friday from "Dragnet" – "All we want are the facts, ma'am."

 Not Ward's obit, though, which went viral on social media and has since been shared by countless news outlets across the country.

 "He retired from AT&T after 39 years of begrudging service, where he accumulated roughly 3,000 rolls of black electrical tape during the course of his career (which he used for everything from open wounds to "Don't use this button" covers)," Lahm wrote in her father's obit.

 Ward's obit didn't only describe him, it defined him, in a wonderful and memorable way. Thanks entirely to Lahm, who didn't tell a soul she was planning on writing a humorous obit for her always-humorous father.

 "When I showed my family, they absolutely loved it. Right from the bat, they said it was perfect," she told me.

 Just as her obit reflected her father's life, so did his funeral service. With lots of laughs about his storied life. For instance, the story about Ward when he was employed by AT&T, working out of the Lake Village substation in Newton County.

 "It was pretty cool because I would be driving in that area and I would see him from time to time," Lahm recalled to guests Saturday. "One day I was driving down the road and sure enough I saw his AT&T truck pulled off to the side."

 "He was working on a large box there, and he had it opened up with what looked like hundreds of different-colored wires pulled out all over the place. I remember thinking how complex. I was pretty impressed. I pulled up next to him and rolled down the window."

 Provided by Jean Lahm A photo collage greets mourners at the Jan. 27, 2018 funeral for Terry Ward, 71, of DeMotte, at Geisen Funeral Home in Crown Point. A photo collage greets mourners at the Jan. 27, 2018 funeral for Terry Ward, 71, of DeMotte, at Geisen Funeral Home in Crown Point. (Provided by Jean Lahm) (Provided by Jean Lahm)

 "Hi, dad! How's it going?" Lahm asked her father.

 "Oh, pretty good!" Ward replied. "It's just times like these that I wish I wasn't colorblind."

 This was one of several personal stories Lahm shared with mourners. It reflected the lighthearted spirit of the obituary she wrote from her heart, not from her head.

 "I love that humor resonates with people in regards to an obituary," she told me after the funeral. "Being in the funeral industry, I've seen that when families can come together, celebrate a life and truly laugh, it's what helps them heal."

 Because of that obit, who knows how many people now know about Ward. Most of them agreed they wished they had met him when he was alive.

 "What really mattered to me most was that we were able to celebrate his life with a proper sendoff," Lahm said. "It was with all the people who knew and loved him, laughing and laughing."

 Many of those people gathered again at the funeral home's reception center after the funeral service.

 "You better believe a few of us tilted back a Heineken in his memory," Lahm said.

 Ward's family read many online comments from strangers who expressed an interest in attending the funeral for a man they never met. Yet, through his obit, they somehow did.

 "We had one floral arrangement sent from a complete stranger in Pennsylvania with the simple message, 'There Are More of Us Out There,'" Lahm said. "Wow."

 By Monday, more than 700 people signed the online guestbook that accompanied his obit.

 "This has made me think about of lot of things these past few days," Lahm told me.

 One year ago this week I wrote about Tom Shanahan, a Crown Point pastor who has officiated "eulogies of celebration" at more than 300 funeral services.

 "Today we didn't come here to mourn a death, but to celebrate a life," he cheerfully told mourners at a funeral service last January.

 There's nothing like attending a funeral, anyone's funeral, to serve as a sober reminder about what's important in life. Laughter is one of those things, Lahm reminded us.

 I asked her if anyone actually attended her father's funeral or visitation who didn't know him, as a direct result of his obit. She didn't think so at first, but then she double-checked his guestbook and condolences cards.

 One couple from Mundelein, Ill., showed up and left a card.

 "They wrote a note that they wish they had met my dad," Lahm said.

 All of us who read that obit also wished we had met Ward.

 In fact, one of the most unique aspects of Ward's obit was that I never once wondered how he died or what killed him, as I do with most obits and deaths. Truth is, I didn't care how he died because I was so intrigued about how he lived.

 This should be the legacy of every obit. We have Ward and his daughter to thank for this obviously needed reminder.

 jdavich@post-tribcom

 Twitter@jdavich ||||| × Indiana veteran leaves behind hilarious obituary

 DEMOTTE, Ind. – A northwest Indiana woman decided the style of traditional obituaries didn’t quite fit her dad’s personality, so she wrote up one that did.

 “He lived to make other people laugh…it was the only way to honor him properly,” said daughter, Jean Lahn, of Lowell.

 Terry Ward moved to Demotte from suburban Illinois in 1973 after serving in the Vietnam War. The Army veteran wanted a quiet place in the country after participating in active combat.

 During her work at Geisen Funeral Home, she has seen her fair share of stale obituaries, usually set up the the exact same way.

 “I wrote it myself and I didn’t tell anyone I was going to make it funny,” Jean said.

 After reading it, the rest of her family said it was perfect and shared many laughs.

 Ward “escaped his mortal realm” on Tuesday after suffering a stroke. His daughter wants to thank all of the hospital staff at Southlake Methodist Hospital for caring for him for five days before he passed.

 Highlights include, “He never owned a personal cell phone and he had zero working knowledge of the Kardashians.” and “Terry graduated from Thornridge High School in South Holland, IL, where only three of his teachers took an early retirement after having had him as a student.”

 In lieu of flowers, the family says donations can be made at your favorite watering hole.

 Read the full obituary below: ||||| My father passed almost 9 years ago and this past April 7th would have been his 70th birthday. It was a tough day and he is always on my mind in one way or another. I stumbled across Terry's obituary, and I want to say thank you. Even though I didn't know him, I know he was a great guy. This helped me remember my dad in this way as well. I am very sorry for your loss, but please know that this is making many people who read this laugh and cry(in a good way) about their own Terry. Thank you... |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– "He lived to make other people laugh," says an Indiana woman of her father, who died last Tuesday after suffering a stroke. Terry Ward is now generating plenty of chuckles thanks to the obituary daughter Jean Lahn wrote for the Army veteran. Fox59 reports she's a little more familiar with obits than most, as she works at a funeral home where she comes across plenty of routine and formulaic remembrances. The 71-year-old doesn't get that from the get-go. His obit kicks off by saying Ward "escaped this mortal realm ... leaving behind 32 jars of Miracle Whip, 17 boxes of Hamburger Helper and multitudes of other random items that would prove helpful in the event of a zombie apocalypse." She charts his progress from high school ("only three of his teachers took an early retirement after having had him as a student") to marriage ("in the fall of 1969, perfectly between the Summer of Love and the Winter of Regret") to his 39 years of work with telephone companies, during which "he accumulated roughly 3,000 rolls of black electrical tape." Lahn wrote that he "despised 'uppity foods' like hummus, which his family lovingly called 'bean dip' for his benefit, which he loved consequently." Speaking of loves, his included "shooting guns, Bed Bath & Beyond, starlight mints, cold beer, free beer, The History Channel, CCR ... and above all, his family." As for those who loved him, they're invited to make donations in his name to "your favorite watering hole, where you are instructed to tie a few on and tell a few stories of the great Terry Ward." Read the obit in full here, or read some more tales about him, courtesy of the Post-Tribune.


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– A company hawking a "gravity blanket," which went viral on Kickstarter after claiming to treat everything from insomnia to anxiety, has doubled back on those promises after a website questioned its science. The crowdfunding campaign has raised $3.5 million with 15 days to go, but now, a thorn: Health news site STAT started nosing around the $279 gray coverlet's bid to be something of a cure-all and found the science behind its assertions to be lacking. STAT calls out one word in particular: "treat." The original Kickstarter listing said the weighted blanket can "treat" a slew of issues including PTSD and ADHD. STAT reports that on Thursday the word "treat" was dropped in favor of "used for" those ailments; then the paragraph was wiped entirely. STAT reports the original language went against Kickstarter's own rules banning claims to "cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition." The pledge violated FDA recommendations, per STAT, though Fortune notes the agency doesn't regulate the industry and gives companies "broad leeway" to make medical claims. The Brooklyn-based makers say the blanket, which comes in three weights and should weigh about 10% of body weight, uses "deep pressure touch stimulation" to boost brain hormones that "improve your mood." All of this, they add, "without filling a prescription." The Kickstarter listing acknowledges weighted coverings are not a new idea, but says the idea of making them so accessible is. The Telegraph cites a 2015 study that credited the blankets with promoting a "beneficial calming effect." (This entrepreneur has made big bucks via Kickstarter knockoffs.)

Travellers can enjoy a deeper, more restful sleep with a new high-tech weighted blanket designed to reduce stress and anxiety by simulating the sensation of being hugged, its designer claims.

 Applying the principles of “deep pressure touch stimulation” therapy, the Gravity blanket is made with "high density plastic poly pellets" designed to relax your nervous system by targeting pressure points on the body linked to improved sleep, mood and relaxation, creating the feeling of being held, similar to how a parent might “swaddle an infant” to sleep.

 The process is said to increase serotonin and melatonin levels while decreasing cortisol levels, which reduces your heart rate and blood pressure, while the minimised body movement from increased relaxation promotes a deeper REM (rapid eye movement) sleep cycle, which is the period when your brain and body are being recharged.

 The duvet is meant to be between seven and 12 per cent of the user’s weight Credit: Kickstarter

 Offered in three weight sizes - 15 lbs (6.8kg), 20 lbs (9kg) and 25 lbs (11.3kg) - the duvet is meant to be between seven and 12 per cent of the user’s weight. With a soft fleece cover and a cotton inner shell, Gravity has been made with durable, washable and breathable materials that keep you from becoming too hot under it.

 “The science behind Gravity reveals that it can be used to treat a variety of ailments, including insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as circumstantial stress and prolonged anxiety,” its Brooklyn-based designer, John Fiorentino, claims on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding website where the design was recently launched.

 Previous research has suggested that weighted blankets could have positive effects on sleep. A study in 2015 published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine and Disorders reported that “weighted blankets and vets can provide a beneficial calming effect, especially in clinical disorders” and “may aid in reducing insomnia through altered tactile input”.

 Research from 2008 in Occupational Therapy in Mental Health also suggested that the use of weighted blankets was effective for those who suffer from anxiety.

 Back in 1992, a study by Temple Grandin PhD found that: “Deep pressure touch has been found to have beneficial effects in a variety of clinical settings. Occupational therapists have observed that a very light touch alerts the nervous system, but deep pressure is relaxing and calming.”

 Priced from $169, Gravity is expected to be available for delivery this autumn in September and October.

 Gravity isn’t the only bizarre blanket made available for travellers recently. Snuggling up under a duvet could be as easy as putting on a jacket or pair of trousers with "duvet suits" - extra-padded pyjamas - that come with a detachable hood and double up as a pillow squished inside its carry bag. They are three times warmer than a fleece blanket or a jumper, it is claimed.

 These "duvet suits" are said to be warmer than a fleece blanket or a jumper

 The Slanket, meanwhile, is a 60" x 95" fleece blanket with sleeves, lets you disappear under a warm cover without sacrificing the mobility of your arms, allowing you to eat, drink, read or use your hands for other tasks while keeping your body warm. It comes in a couple of styles including one with a built-in pocket for your feet to keep your toes toasty and the Double Slanket which has two pairs of sleeves, to keep both you and another person cosy under a shared blanket.

 The Slanket

  ||||| The ‘Gravity blanket’ raised $3 million online with a claim to treat anxiety. Then that promise was deleted

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 “Gravity blanket” on Kickstarter that claimed to use cozy pressure to treat anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions has been taking the internet by storm, raising more than $3 million. But on Thursday, the company quietly deleted the bold medical claims on its crowdfunding site — language that violated Kickstarter policy and went against FDA recommendations — after STAT inquired about its promotional statements.

 The creators of Gravity call their product a “premium-grade, therapeutic weighted blanket” intended to treat psychiatric illnesses. People quickly snuggled up to the idea: More than 15,000 donors contributed to the Kickstarter campaign to help get the blanket to the market, where it’s projected to sell for as much as $279.

 A slew of publications have touted the product with headlines such as, “I Want This Anti-Anxiety Blanket and You Will Too.” But the science behind the blanket’s claims is scarce— as STAT found by reviewing the studies the manufacturer cites as evidence for its claims.

 advertisement

 The Kickstarter campaign made big promises: “The science behind Gravity reveals that it can be used to treat a variety of ailments, including insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as circumstantial stress and prolonged anxiety.”

 But on Thursday afternoon, that language was swapped to say the blanket could be “used” for those conditions, rather than treat them. Then, the section disappeared entirely. The makers haven’t posted an update about the changes for their buyers.

 The blanket’s creators didn’t respond to a request for comment. After STAT inquired about the campaign with Kickstarter, the site said it asked the Gravity team to change the language because it wasn’t in line with their rules on health claims.

 A screen capture of the Gravity Kickstarter page before the language was changed.

 Gravity isn’t the type of product regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. However, FDA recommendations released in July 2016 laid out clear guidelines for promoting wellness products, which are low-risk items designed to support a healthy lifestyle.

 They can be marketed as supporting people who live with anxiety. They shouldn’t claim that a product can treat an anxiety disorder.

 The marketing language also appeared to violate Kickstarter’s rules. The crowdfunding site prohibits campaigns for “any item claiming to cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition.” Kickstarter has previously said that the rule was developed out of concern that medical claims could have “harmful consequences” for consumers.

 Regardless of how it’s promoted, the evidence behind the product is scarce.

 “It’s not a miracle therapy,” said Dr. Khalid Ismail, a sleep medicine researcher at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “I don’t think it’s ready for prime time yet.”

 Weighted blankets simulate the feeling of a big hug. The creators say it’s similar to swaddling a newborn baby, but with a much higher price tag. They claim that the increased weight — also known as deep touch pressure stimulation — can increase serotonin and melatonin levels while driving down cortisol, a stress hormone, “all without filling a prescription.”

 It’s not a novel concept: Weighted blankets have been used in children with autism and elderly individuals with dementia. You can even buy them with a lower price tag from home goods stores.

 “What’s new is that they’re trying to broaden the indication for its use,” said Ismail.

 But the research they cite falls short of the hype.

 One study looked at the use of weighted blankets, among other products, in a “sensory room” in an inpatient psychiatric unit. The researchers studied 75 people who used that room and concluded that those who tried the blanket reported a decrease in their anxiety and distress. But there was also a decrease in those symptoms among people who didn’t get under the blanket. And the study wasn’t blinded, so people might’ve reported positive effects because they were led to expect the blanket would have a positive effect.

 Another study touted by Gravity’s creators found that 63 percent of individuals who used a 30-pound weighted blanket had reduced symptoms of anxiety. But the research included only 32 adults and no control group.

 The creators of the blanket did not respond to a request for comment.

 Ismail said it isn’t clear who, exactly, the blanket would benefit. Many cases of sleeplessness result from poor sleep hygiene, like being glued to a phone before bed; others result from underlying psychiatric disorders that require treatment.

 “It might have a role, but in a very, very small subset of patients,” Ismail said, “and I don’t think we’ve identified that subset of patients with a really good randomized controlled trial.”

 The campaign says it expects to start shipping blankets in October.

 This post has been updated with information about new changes to the Kickstarter page. ||||| News moves fast, even in the world of quirky Kickstarter campaigns.

 Earlier this week, we wrote about a weighted blanket generating a lot of buzz (and money) on the crowdfunding platform. Called Gravity, the blanket’s selling point was that, by generating “the feeling of being held or hugged,�? it could be used to treat everything from insomnia to anxiety.

 It was a bold claim (as we noted, there’s not much research on weighted blankets’ impact on the body.) Too bold, it turns out, for Kickstarter’s own rules.

 After STAT, a health-focused news website, reached out to the crowdfunding company, asking for more information on the “science�? validating Gravity Blanket’s assertion that it can treat “insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as circumstantial stress and prolonged anxiety,�?the project’s messaging was changed to say the blanket can be “used�? for these conditions.

 As STAT notes, the previous language appears to violate Kickstarter’s rules, which bans campaigns that claim to “cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition.�?

 The Gravity blanket is still available on Kickstarter where, as of this writing, it’s raised more than $3.2 million. But it’s a good general reminder to be skeptical of wellness products peddling outsized health claims. Unlike medications, this category isn’t regulated by the FDA, which gives companies broad leeway to say their product can treat any number of conditions without supplying the necessary evidence to back it up. ||||| Gravity is a premium-grade, therapeutic weighted blanket that harnesses the power of deep touch stimulation to gently distribute deep pressure across your body.

 Engineered to be around 10% of your body weight, Gravity helps relax the nervous system by simulating the feeling of being held or hugged.

 This increases serotonin and melatonin levels and decreases cortisol levels—improving your mood and promoting restful sleep at the same time. All without ever filling a prescription.

 Dimensions: 48" by 72"

 Weighted blankets are well known within the medical community, where they’ve been used as a natural stress reliever for decades. However, society at large hasn’t had access to them. To that end, we are working to put it in a form that is accessible to everyone.

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 Though weighted blankets have been used in the medical community for many years now, the measurable health benefits have only recently begun to emerge in scientific studies. So far, the findings have been incredible.

 Gravity uses the power of proprioceptive input (more commonly known as “deep touch pressure stimulation”), a well regarded therapeutic method that stimulates pressure points on the body linked to improved sleep, mood, and relaxation.

 The result is a reduction in cortisol levels and an increase in serotonin production, which decreases heart rate and blood pressure.

 Even hospitals use weighted blankets to calm patients' anxiety and promote deep, restful sleep. In a similar way to swaddling an infant, the weight and pressure on an adult provides near-instant comfort and relief.

 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J004v24n01_05

 http://www.somna.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Pilot-study-of-a-sensory-room-in-an-acute-inpatient-psychiatric-unit.pdf

 Gravity is designed to hug you back at night, closely mimicking how a parent swaddles their child while they sleep. But Gravity isn’t just for sleep. It can be used while you’re reading in bed, as you relax on your couch, or while you meditate.

 Best of all? Gravity is engineered with breathable materials, so you’ll never be too hot underneath the covers.

 The world around you is a stressful place. The barrage of news headlines. The incessant push notifications. The demands of your job. It’s never been harder to turn your mind off, relax, and recharge.

 The average American now spends 30 percent of their leisure time browsing the web, and 61% of us admit to being addicted to our devices. At work, it’s even worse. The average employee checks 40 websites per day, and changes tasks every two minutes. As a result, we spend nearly two hours a day recovering from distractions.

 Sleep loss, prolonged anxiety, and stress take a real toll on our lives—they decrease productivity during the day and can lead to long-term health problems like diabetes, obesity, and even heart disease.

 We know your anatomy is unique, which is why we’ve engineered Gravity to meet your personal needs. This isn’t a weighted blanket for everyone. It’s a weighted blanket for you.

 Weighted blankets should be around 10% of your body weight, which is why we’re offering 15, 20, and 25 pound options. Choose your preference (suggested based off of weight).

 But Gravity is more than the science that engineers it. From beautiful design to thoughtful materials sourcing, we set out to craft a product that looks and feels as great as it performs.

 Taking design cues from renderings of gravity planes, we used the same grid-like pattern to evenly distribute the crafted poly pellets to specifically target pressure points throughout your body.

 The cover is made from a luxurious, ultra-soft micro plush fleece, and is easily removable for washing. The inner shell is made of 100% cotton.

 The Weighted Filling

 Gravity Blanket's weighted filling is a High Density Plastic Poly Pellet. The material is odorless, non-toxic, and food grade, making it perfectly suited for use in a blanket. They are dense to add weight, and soft to provide a nice texture to the Gravity Weighted Blanket. High Density Plastic Pellets are manufactured using High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), which is extremely durable, non-toxic, washer / dryer safe, and pet and kid friendly.

 April-May: Run Kickstarter

 May-June: Kickstarter complete-Production begins

 June-July: Production completed

 July-August: Product ships to our bi-coastal fulfillment houses

 Sept-Oct: All Kickstarter rewards delivered just in time for fall!

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 Gravity is a health technology company dedicated to naturally improving physical and mental wellbeing through research-driven science.

 Over the past 12 months, we pored over medical research and studies about the effects of weighted blankets on serious conditions like autism, PTSD, and insomnia.

 From there, we set out to take this science and make a product that could help everyone. After much trial and error, we’ve arrived at a prototype that people love.

 Our manufacturing partners are ready to go. All we need is your support so we can deliver stress relief to your door.

 My whole life, I've been an entrepreneur. I'm obsessed with brands, customer experience and making the people in my life smile.

 My career has been focused on bringing products to market; from pillows, to fragrances and handbags, and now, a blanket for sleep and relaxation.

 Before creating Gravity, I founded a media company called The Good Ones, a product review site and web series where I test and try any and every brand I can get my hands on, and give honest recommendations to consumers. Find us here: http://goodones.tv/ and follow us here: @goodonestv.

 My ventures have been backed by some of the biggest entrepreneurs in the media and product world today, including Troy Carter and Gary Vaynerchuk.

 With Gravity, I am also working with a team of people who have deep expertise in launching and building companies, including hitting the Inc. 500 list three separate times and successfully taking companies to IPO.

 Our trusted manufacturing partners need a minimum financial commitment from us to get started on a larger manufacturing run. This is why we have set our funding goal to $21,500. By hitting this funding goal, we are able to put in a larger order to our manufacturing partners enabling us to serve the exact customer demand. |||||


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(CNN) At least nine people are dead after a phone call from a Walmart employee led to the discovery of dozens of undocumented immigrants severely injured in the back of a tractor-trailer in Texas early Sunday, according to federal authorities.

 More than 100 undocumented immigrants may have been sandwiched in the back of the 18-wheeler during the journey, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Thomas Homan said, citing initial interviews with survivors.

 "Checking the video from the store, we found there were a number of vehicles that came in and picked up a lot of the folks that were in that trailer that survived the trip," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. "We are looking at a human trafficking crime here."

 The employee told authorities the trailer was parked at a Walmart lot in San Antonio. A man who was in it asked the employee for water.

 The employee brought water for the man, then called police and asked them to conduct a welfare check, McManus said.

 That's when authorities discovered eight bodies and 31 people suffering from various injuries, authorities said. A ninth victim later died at a hospital, ICE officials said.

 San Antonio officers investigate the scene where people were found dead in a tractor-trailer outside a Walmart.

 "We quickly called a 'mass casualty incident' and had about 29 units arrive out there and start transporting people," San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said.

 "With heat strokes or heat injuries, a lot of them are going to have some irreversible brain damage."

 A heatstroke can cause swelling of the brain and other vital organs, possibly causing permanent damage, if a person's body temperature isn't quickly lowered, according to the Mayo Clinic

 Officials said the air conditioner in the trailer was not working. And the high temperature in San Antonio on Saturday was 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

 "Unfortunately, some of them were severely overheated, and that was a refrigerated truck with no refrigeration," Hood said. "So the inside of the truck was just austere condition that nobody was going to survive in it. So we were very fortunate that they were found."

 Two of the people hospitalized are 15 years old, the fire spokesman said.

 Feds join the investigation

 Authorities don't know where the trailer is from or how long it was parked at Walmart, but they are reviewing surveillance video.

 Police also searched the area with helicopters after some people ran into the woods.

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 The US Attorney's Office said the driver, James Matthew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Florida, was being held in connection with the incident, authorities said. Prosecutors plan to file a criminal complaint against Bradley in federal court on Monday morning.

 "The driver and whoever else we find is involved in this will be facing state and federal charges," McManus said.

 "Fortunately, we came across this one and fortunately there are people who survived but this happens all the time," he said. "You can see that it happens late at night under darkness because they don't want to be discovered."

 Once the victims undergo treatment, the case will be turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the police chief said.

 Homan deplored the discovery as the latest major case of human smuggling in the United States.

 "By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished," Homan said in a statement.

 He said in fiscal year 2016, Homeland Security Investigations launched 2,110 human smuggling investigations, which resulted in 1,522 criminal convictions.

 During that same year, he said, HSI made 2,734 criminal arrests and 3,007 administrative arrests related to human smuggling operations.

 In Sunday's case, "These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters," said Richard L. Durbin Jr., US attorney for the Western District of Texas.

 "All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo."

 US Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat who represents parts of San Antonio, called for reform.

 "Horrific scene overnight in San Antonio where a human smuggling attempt turned deadly," Doggett tweeted . "Prosecute smugglers, pray for survivors and the victims' families, stop the hysteria, reform our broken immigration system."

 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the deaths were "a heartbreaking tragedy."

 "Human trafficking is an epidemic that Texas is working to eradicate," the governor said, highlighting a bill he signed in May that provides information to the trucking industry about how to spot and report signs of human trafficking.

 My heart goes out to the victim's families. Our human trafficking unit will provide any resources needed to help w/the investigation. — TX AG's Office (@TXAG) July 23, 2017

 Walmart: Some of the incident was on camera

 The store captured some of the incident on camera, but declined to describe or release any of the footage to CNN, Walmart corporate spokesman Nathan Barr said.

 Walmart has declined to publicize details of what happened, citing the investigation.

 "(T)his is an ongoing law enforcement investigation. We are cooperating fully with the authorities but will not be providing interviews or footage to media," Barr told CNN in an email.

 "We are in the process of reviewing that video with law enforcement but won't be commenting on it."

 Barr also declined to identify the employee who asked police to conduct a welfare check on the truck.

 "I wish I could be more helpful but we can't interfere with the investigation," he said. ||||| SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Eight people have been found dead in a tractor-trailer outside a Walmart in Texas in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case.

 Several other people, possibly dozens, were found in the truck, which didn't have a working air conditioning system, and they were taken to hospitals, firefighters said.

 A person from the truck approached a Walmart employee in a parking lot and asked for water late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, San Antonio police said. The employee gave the person the water and then called police, and when officers arrived they found the eight people dead in the back of the trailer, police Chief William McManus said.

 Investigators checked store surveillance video, which showed vehicles had arrived and picked up other people from the tractor-trailer, police said.

 "We're looking at a human trafficking crime this evening," McManus said.

 He called the case "a horrific tragedy."

 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was involved in the investigation into what happened, he said. |||||

– Eight people have been found dead in a tractor-trailer outside a Walmart in San Antonio, Texas, in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case. Some 30 other people were found in the truck, which didn't have a working air conditioning system, and they were taken to hospitals, reports CNN. Seventeen of them are in critical condition, while 13 are in serious condition. Authorities said the driver had been held, but they didn't release the driver's identity. A person from the truck approached a Walmart employee in a parking lot and asked for water late Saturday or early Sunday, San Antonio police said. The employee gave the person the water and then called police, reports the AP, and when officers arrived they found the eight people dead in the back of the trailer, police Chief William McManus said. Investigators checked store surveillance video, which showed vehicles had arrived and picked up other people from the tractor-trailer, police said. "We're looking at a human trafficking crime this evening," McManus said. He called the case "a horrific tragedy." The US Department of Homeland Security was involved in the investigation into what happened, he said.