Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle

Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle: Seattle's masked superhero crime fighter "Phoenix Jones" is now fighting an assault charge for allegedly spraying pepper spray on folks who he claims were fighting. Seattle police force claim the folks were dancing. Phoenix Jones, who has been unmasked by police force as Benjamin Francis, was caught about 2:30 a.m. Sunday while still wearing his black and gold superhero costume, a bullet-proof vest and carrying 2 cans of pepper spray. Jones is a member of Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of self-proclaimed superheroes who say they patrol the streets to fight crime. He was charged with assaulting 2 folks who police force said were "dancing and having a good time" as they walked to their car. In this particular case, he perceived that this group was fighting and when we contacted them, they said they were not fighting," said Det. Mark Jamieson, a Seattle police force section public information officer. "Unluckily, he used force. He committed a crime, an assault versus these individuals. That's versus the law. The police force report by Officer Hosea Crumpton said cited a woman who was sprayed saying the four victims "began dancing and frolicking with each other. Suddenly she observed a human running full sprint towards her group. The human sprayed all 4 victims with pepper spray, the report stated. Francis, who was being filmed by a journalist at the time, told police he "ran into the crowd to break up the fight. Seattle Superhero Phoenix Jones Now Fighting Assault Charges He saw 2 white males fighting, but could not explain why 4 folks, including women, had been sprayed," the police force report said. In a video taken by a journalist who was with Jones when he was arrested and posted on Jones' Facebook page shows Jones rushing towards commotion and a crowd in a road beneath an underpass in downtown Seattle. It's unclear from the video whether the group is fighting or just messing around, as police force said. The police report said that Francis "has had a history of injecting himself in these incidents. Recently there has been increased reports of citizens being pepper sprayed by [Francis] and his group." Earlier that night several other nightclub patrons told police they had also been pepper sprayed by Phoenix Jones, but left the area before police arrived. Peter Tangen, a photographer and spokesman for Phoenix Jones, questioned how police can say the group was dancing and joking around when Jones was on-scene as an eyewitness and police were not when the situation occurred. The first thing Phoenix did was to scream out to call 911," Tangen said. "He's been doing this four or five nights a week this entire year and he has never been charged with a crime. To assert that he ran into a bunch of people dancing and pepper sprayed them is entirely inconsistent with what he has done consistently this entire year." Jones, the husband and father of two, is a self-proclaimed superhero who roams the streets of Seattle late at night allegedly protecting his fellow citizens. "I'm definitely not going to let my fellow citizens be assaulted and not do anything," Jones told "Good Morning America" in January. "It's a pretty simple message. Citizens need to be more accountable. Calling 911 is a great start, but it's not the end all to end all," Jones said. "Criminals feel free to just run wild in my city, and I'm not going to stand for it." Jones isn't the only one who feels this way. He is just one of many citizen superheroes around the country with similar groups in Orlando, New York and Salt Lake City among other places. Over the years, the citizen superheroes have grown more organized, with websites popping up to help them organize themselves such as Superheroes Anonymous and Real Life Superheroes. On these websites, participants can do everything from share their crime-fighting stories to learn about patenting their looks and names. The Salt Lake City group, called the Black Monday Society, is made up of 9 members that go out to patrol downtown Salt Lake City some times a month. They meet up at the Salt Lake City Library and fan out from there, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. While the group does break up fights, they also deliver meals to the homeless and balance their superhero lives with families and day jobs.Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle

Obama press conference: The American people are very frustrated

Obama held a not-very-interesting press conference today.

CLEAR! “Our economy really needs a jolt right now.”

BUT YOU’LL TELL US WHEN IT IS THE TIME FOR THE USUAL POLITICAL GRIDLOCK, RIGHT? “This is not a game; this is not the time for the usual political gridlock.”

RICH PEOPLE AREN’T ASKING FOR TAX CUTS? RICH PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS ASKING FOR TAX CUTS. “We can fight to protect tax cuts for folks who don’t need them and weren’t asking for them, or we can cut taxes for virtually every worker and small business in America.”

THAT’S A RHETORICAL QUESTION, RIGHT? “historically, Republicans haven’t been opposed to rebuilding roads and bridges. Why would you be opposed now?”

WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FOR A LONG TIME: “The American people are very frustrated. They’ve been frustrated for a long time.”

Have you heard about this Occupy Wall Street thing? “Obviously I’ve heard of it. I’ve seen it on television.” No word on whether he’s keeping up on the economic plight of ordinary Americans by watching “Two Broke Girls.” “So, yes, I think people are frustrated”. And evidently they’re mostly frustrated by Republicans who want to roll back Dodd-Frank. And bankers and the financial system and whatnot. If they’re frustrated by Obama and the Democrats in any way at all, Obama must not have seen evidence of it on television.

Jake Tapper asks if they aren’t frustrated that no one on Wall Street has been prosecuted. Obama says that’s because all those corrupt practices were actually legal and shouldn’t be. Way to undercut future prosecutions.

Re “Fast and Furious” (selling guns that went to Mexico so we could track them, without the actual tracking them part), he has “complete confidence” in Attorney General Eric Holder, who has “indicated that he was not aware of what was happening in Fast and Furious,” which you’d think would undercut that complete confidence just a little bit, but evidently not. “And I think both he and I would have been very unhappy if somebody had suggested that guns were allowed to pass through that could have been prevented by the United States of America.” So that’s okay then.

IRONY! “The irony is the same folks that the Republicans claim to be protecting, the well off -- the millionaires and the billionaires -- they’d be doing better, they’d be making more money if ordinary Americans had some money in their pockets and were out there feeling more confident about the economy. That’s been the lesson of our history -- when folks in the middle and at the bottom are doing well, the folks at the top do even better.” Heads, the rich win, tails the rich still win.

Oh, and that is not at all the lesson of our history.

GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, OR I’LL GO MAKE SOME MORE SPEECHES: “I would love nothing more than to not have to be out there campaigning because we were seeing constructive action here in Congress. ... And I would love nothing more than to see Congress act so aggressively that I can’t campaign against them as a do-nothing Congress.” The R’s must really be trembling in fear right now.

Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers: Some things to keep an eye on the Rangers and Tigers set for things ALCS: Who playgrounds of two for the Rangers? We know that CJ Wilson and Justin Verlander are expected to become entangled in what should be fun. But what about Game 2! The Rangers could keep their same rotation and go with Derek Holland in Game 2 at home and send Colby Lewis, whose road splits were much better than his home ones, in Game 3 at Comerica Park. Lewis is coming off a solid outing in Tampa in a pivotal Game 3. Holland was able to grind out a solid start as well in Game 2, so the Rangers may elect to just leave things the way they had it. That would include Matt Harrison in Game 4, also on the road. Wilson and Verlander would likely go at it again in Game 5 in Detroit, if both stay on normal rest. Jim Leyland decision Verlander threw a side session of more than 50 pitches before Game 5 at Yankee Stadium a few people raise their eyebrows. But he sent a clear message to Doug Fister this game was the party of 5. And the Tigers got the win without having to use their ace. Game 2 starting for the Tigers, Max Scherzer, who started 1 1 / 3 innings in Game 5 probably could. That would leave Doug Fister, which began in Game 5 for Game 3 on Tuesday in Detroit rest. Look at the large gardens in the area of ​​Comerica. Craig Gentry said Thursday that he's ready for that area to cover a lot of ground and Josh Hamilton said he'd be fine, but noted there was plenty of room in center out there. The Rangers must decide whether to carry an extra pitcher. It seems likely they'll do that, but which one? Darren O'Day and Yoshinori Tateyama threw side sessions on Thursday and they seem to be the leading candidates. Michael Kirkman could also be considered. Both Texas and Detroit benefited from great bullpens in the ALDS. Joaquin Benoit pitched in and out of a jam in the seventh on Thursday and Jose Valverde didn't blow a save all season. The Rangers have Alexi Ogando, Mike Adams and Neftali Feliz for the final three innings. Watching these two bullpens work should be fun -- and you better score some runs early. Ogando started in all three of the Rangers' wins vs. Detroit and posted a 1.29 ERA and the Tigers batted just .205 against him. He allowed three runs on 18 hits in 21 innings 18 strikeouts, three walks. Regular season results aren't necessarily a great gauge of how a postseason series will go. That's especially true for the Rangers against the Tigers. Why? For starters, they weren't particularly healthy when playing Detroit (after all, Hamilton got hurt in the first series up there) and many of the players that found their way into games aren't even on the roster anymore. Dave Bush started one game against the Tigers with bullpen pieces coming in that won't be on the postseason roster. Plus, the bullpen let some games get away early in the season vs. Detroit and it's not the same bullpen in Texas now. The last time the two teams played was Aug. 4. A lot has happened for both teams since then. Is Verlander to the Tigers like Cliff Lee was to the Rangers in last year's ALCS? Lee pitched only once in the ALCS in 2010.
But he hung over the series. The Yankees knew they had the pressure on them to win the first two on the road knowing Lee was waiting. Verlander will pitch at least twice in this series. If he wins those games, it gives the Tigers a big edge. But if Wilson gets the better of Verlander, it's a huge boost for Texas. So those games should be fun and big for momentum. Of course, the Tigers could decide to go with Verlander on short rest and he's said he's willing and pitches him in Game 4 and Game 7. Remains to be seen Rangers hit .275 as a team against the Tigers, but the part that was a very good game. They need to Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus hit them better than they did in the regular season.