Anne Landman

Corporations, Red Rock dealerships, Red Rock GMC Grand Junction

Red Rock Auto asks for more than $210K in attorney fees in case of former employee who sued company for wage theft

by Anne Landman • January 7, 2025 • 11 Comments

Excerpt from Page 13 of the motion Red Rock’s attorneys filed on January 2, 2024 seeking reimbursement of attorneys fees from Derek Paiz, who filed a wage theft case against the company that he filed pro se (without an attorney) in 2023.

Attorneys for Red Rock Auto filed a 15 page motion on January 2, 2025 asking the court to award the company $210,746.50 in attorney fees in the wage theft lawsuit brought by former vehicle detailer Derek Paíz, who worked for Red Rock GMC for about 4 months in 2022 and served as his own attorney in the case.

Red Rock said in its the motion that “Plaintiff’s claims were…frivolous, objectively unreasonable, and groundless” and also that part of the purpose of asking Paíz for attorneys’ fees was to deter other employees from bringing similar cases:

CO House Rep. Matt Soper (R-District 54) posts & then deletes controversial comment on Jimmy Carter’s death

by Anne Landman • January 3, 2025 • 15 Comments

Colorado House Rep. Matt Soper posted this comment about the death of former President Jimmy Carter on Twitter/X at 11:51 p.m. on 12/29/2024, the day Carter died. Soper deleted the comment shortly after, but not before a lot of people noticed and got screen shots of it.

Arrest affidavit: Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric motivated strangulation attack on local TV reporter

by Anne Landman • December 28, 2024 • 22 Comments

Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, who attacked and attempted to strangle KKCO TV reporter Ja’Ronn Alex

KKCO TV News reporter Ja’Ronn Alex was followed and physically attacked December 18 by a Trump supporter who yelled “Are you even a U.S. citizen! This is Trump’s America now! I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”

Trump’s tax policies will raise taxes on less wealthy Americans & cut taxes for those making over $360k/year

by Anne Landman • December 26, 2024 • 5 Comments

Chart from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

The tax policies that convicted felon and President-elect Donald Trump wants to enact will raise taxes on working-class Americans, like those in Mesa County, while cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

Policies that raise taxes on poorer people while disproportionately benefitting wealthier people are called “regressive taxes.” A regressive tax essentially takes the most from people who can least afford it.

House Ethics report finds “substantial evidence” that Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first pick for Attorney General, paid women for sex, had sex with an underage girl, used & possessed illegal drugs, accepted impermissible gifts and more

by Anne Landman • December 23, 2024 • 14 Comments

Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first pick to be United States Attorney General (AG). The AG serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States and principal legal advisor to the U.S. President

On December 23, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ethics Committee, whose “singular mission is to protect the integrity of the House,” released a long-awaited report on the behavior of former House Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) (pdf), who was president-elect Donald J. Trump’s first choice to be Attorney General of the United States.

Gaetz resigned from his Congressional seat after his nomination to be AG, and prior to the release of the report.

Trump’s nominee to head DHHS working with man who petitioned FDA to revoke approval of the Polio vaccine

by Anne Landman • December 16, 2024 • 25 Comments

Anti-vaccine activists RFK, Jr. (L) with his friend Aaron Siri, who in 2022 asked the FDA to revoke approval of the Polio vaccine (Source: Facebook)

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.), Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, is working with Aaron Siri to select candidates for top public health positions in Trump’s administration.

Aaron Siri petitioned the FDA in 2022 asking it to REVOKE approval of the POLIO VACCINE.

Red Rock wins wage theft case

by Anne Landman • December 13, 2024 • 9 Comments

Courtroom drawing of Red Rock GMC minority owner Bryan Knight sitting at the Defendant’s table. (Anne Landman)

In a “David vs. Goliath” case, Derek Paiz, a former detailer for Red Rock GMC, lost his pro se wage theft lawsuit against Red Rock Auto Group II, Inc. on December 11, 2024 after a six person jury returned a verdict (pdf) in favor of Red Rock.

Trump publicly states he intends to erode the Constitution rather than preserve, protect & defend it as his oath requires, thus should not be sworn in

by Anne Landman • December 10, 2024 • 14 Comments

Swearing in Trump after he promised on national television to degrade the U.S. Constitution would be assisting him in undermining the Constitution

In a recent interview with Kristin Welker broadcast on national television on December 8, convicted felon and president-elect Trump promised to “absolutely” end birthright citizenship “on day one” of his presidency:

KRISTEN WELKER: You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one.

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Correct.

KRISTEN WELKER: Is that still your plan?

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Absolutely.

KRISTEN WELKER: The 14th Amendment, though, says that, quote, “All persons born in the United States are citizens.”

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

KRISTEN WELKER: Can you get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action?

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’re going to have to get it changed. We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.

The threat posed by the Christian nationalist bent of Trump’s nominees

by Anne Landman • December 7, 2024 • 15 Comments

Republished with permission from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. AnneLandmanblog included some additional information, references and videos:

Trump

President-elect Trump’s nominees for cabinet and other powerful positions read like a “Who’s Who” of Christian nationalists (pdf) and Project 2025 creators. His choices for key federal positions in federal government constitute a direct threat to the secular foundations of the U.S. government and signal the implementation of Project 2025, the extremist blueprint aimed at reshaping the federal government to align with a narrow sectarian ideology. Project 2025’s agenda includes dismantling the wall between state and church, curbing religious freedoms for non-Christians, and pushing policies that marginalize religious minorities and LGBTQ-plus individuals. By nominating individuals deeply entrenched in Christian nationalist movements to key positions, Trump can fast-track the implementation of this radical agenda.

Here’s a rundown of cabinet and high-level picks that are prominently connected to Christian nationalism, Project 2025 or the America First Policy Institute, founded to advance Trump’s Christian nationalist-influenced agenda:

What’s wrong with “Medicare Advantage” plans?

by Anne Landman • December 6, 2024 • 29 Comments

Frame from a TV ad by a local agency that sells Medicare Advantage plans

Re-publishing this article in the wake of the murder of the UnitedHealth Care CEO in New York this week. Authorities found the words “delay” and “deny” written on the bullets that killed the CEO — words that describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims. UnitedHealthCare has the biggest share of so-called “Medicare Advantage” enrollment at 29% in 2024, up from 20% in 2010, according the Kaiser Family Foundation, which focuses on major health care issues in the U.S.

At this time of year, ads hawking “Medicare Advantage” plans flood every possible media outlet, imploring seniors to call 1-800 numbers for “free Medicare evaluations” where brokers can sign them up for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. MA plans are also called Part C plans, which offer premiums for private insurance plans that cost less than traditional Medicare plans while also offering freebies like vision screenings, dental cleanings, gym memberships and a monthly allowance to spend on drugstore merchandise.

These plans definitely sound alluring, but beware.

Get ready for a big increase in the cost of living after Trump takes office

by Anne Landman • December 2, 2024 • 14 Comments

Torch-bearing white supremacists in Charlottesville, Aug. 11, 2017, cited President Trump as the inspiration for their “Unite the Right” rally (Photo: Edu Bayer/The New York Times)

On November 25, Trump said that as soon as he’s inaugurated on January 20, 2025 he will institute a new 25% tariff on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, plus an additional 10% tariff on goods from China.

So look out. Your cost of living is about to get a huge increase.

Trump is either willfully ignorant about how tariffs work, or is lying to Americans about it by repeatedly asserting that other countries will pay the tariffs, and not Americans.

Economists and tax experts all say that’s completely wrong.

CO Ethics Commission to resume investigating 3 ethics complaints against Tina Peters

by Anne Landman • November 26, 2024 • 48 Comments

“I don’t belong here. I haven’t broken any laws,” says Tina, who continues to do internet shows from Mesa County Jail. (Screenshot: Rumble.com)

If you need some good news at a time when Americans have embraced racism, misogyny, vindictiveness, sexual abuse, large-scale fraud, corruption and grift as acceptable behaviors in their incoming commander-in-chief, here’s it is:

On November 25, 2024, the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) voted to resume investigating Tina Peters (pdf) for multiple ethics charges filed against her while she was County Clerk, and not let her off the hook as a result of committing even worse crimes that landed her in prison.

Red Rock Auto wage theft lawsuit headed for trial Dec. 9-11

by Anne Landman • November 20, 2024 • 6 Comments

Red Rock GMC on First Street in Grand Junction, where Derek Paíz was employed as a detailer

A civil wage theft lawsuit, 23CV52 (pdf), filed by a tenacious former vehicle detailer against Red Rock Auto Group II, Inc. and Red Rock’s local minority owner Bryan Knight, is headed for a fast-approaching jury trial December 9-11, 2024 at the Mesa County Justice Center.

At a virtual pre-trial conference this morning, November 20, Judge Matthew Barrett confirmed that the trial is set for those dates and will be heard by a 6-person jury.

Bryan Knight, now listed as a minority (10%) owner of Red Rock GMC

Derek Paíz worked as a detailer for Red Rock GMC at 741 N. First Street in Grand Junction from April-September, 2022. He filed the case pro se (on his own, without an attorney) on October 26, 2023 seeking wages he alleges Red Rock failed to pay him for work he did while employed at the GMC dealership in 2022.

A “weird” watch party for Jeff Hurd and the media

by Anne Landman • November 17, 2024 • 11 Comments

Charles Ashby

The following opinion column by longtime political reporter for the Daily Sentinel, Charles Ashby, is reprinted here in full with permission from the Sentinel’s publisher. The original article is here, on the Sentinel’s website. It is a rare opinion column by Ashby, who has been a news reporter for 45 years, and who has covered politics for about half that time. It describes the unprecedented way District 3 Republican U.S. House Representative-elect Jeff Hurd treated journalists attending his watch party on election night, Nov. 5, 2024.

—————————–

In all my nearly 50 years in journalism, about half of which was in covering politics in Colorado, I’ve never heard of what happened during U.S. Rep.-elect Jeff Hurd’s election night watch party occurring anywhere else.

While it’s not uncommon to corral the media at political events, or even bar them from entry, what Hurd’s campaign did to the print, radio and television press at The Warehouse 25Sixty-five Kitchen & Bar on Tuesday night was unprecedented.

Community vigil planned for Amanda Overstreet

by Anne Landman • November 10, 2024 • 1 Comment

A community vigil will be held Saturday, November 16 at 2:00 p.m. at Long’s Park, 3117 Patterson Road, to honor Amanda Overstreet, whose remains were discovered in a freezer in the garage of a house on Pinyon Ave. in January of this year. The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office finally identified the remains on October 11, 2024 as those of the teenage daughter of the previous owner of the home. She was identified as Amanda Leariel Overstreet and was estimated to have been 16 years old at the time of her disappearance in 2005. Her disappearance was never reported. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.

MAGA customer spews racist insults at employees of 5 Guys hamburger restaurant in G.J.; restaurant fires employees

by Anne Landman • November 9, 2024 • 14 Comments

A customer wearing a Trump “Never Surrender” T-shirt was emboldened to hurl racist insults at employees at 5 Guys hamburger restaurant at 2480 U.S. Highway 6 in Grand Junction on the evening of Election Day, Nov. 5, calling them “beaners” and “f*cking invaders” as they filled his order.

Elect a criminal, expect crimes

by Anne Landman • November 8, 2024 • 28 Comments

There will be no one to blame but American voters for what is going to happen next.

After a decade in politics, we all knew Donald Trump was a criminal.

He was found guilty last May of 34 felony counts of fraud and was slapped with a $355 million fine after he and his company were found guilty of engaging in a decade-long scheme to defraud banks and lenders by falsifying the values of his properties. In writing the verdict in the case, Judge Arthur Engoron wrote “The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.” In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

Trump mimes giving a blow job to his microphone at rally in Milwaukee, WI

by Anne Landman • November 4, 2024 • 19 Comments

[Warning: This post about the Republican nominee for U.S. President is unsuitable for children.]

Upset about a problematic microphone at his Friday, Nov. 1 rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump went on an extended rant about microphones that included his miming of giving oral sex to another male while standing behind a podium that bore a sign saying “Trump will fix it.” [The BJ part starts at 3:00 into the 4:05 video]

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