Dr Ana Mihalcea Discusses the NanoTechnology Found in the Blood of the Vaxxed and Unvaxxed and How To Detox and Remove It from Your Body

Black Boston City Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson Indicted and Arrested by Federal Authorities on Corruption Charges

From [HERE] FBI agents arrested a Democratic Boston official Friday morning on federal corruption charges, citing an alleged “kickback scheme” to steal thousands of taxpayer dollars from her own constituents.

Tania Fernandes Anderson, who is serving in her second term as city councilor for Boston’s Seventh District, was indicted on one count of theft regarding programs receiving federal dollars and five counts of wire fraud, according to the Department of Justice’s indictment unsealed Friday.

Prosecutors allege that Fernandes Anderson, facing financial challenges last year following a state ethics commission’s decision to fine her $5,000 for violating a conflict of interest law, conspired with an unnamed relative on her staff in an alleged bonus kickback scheme to defraud the city of Boston. Fernandes Anderson allegedly paid her relative a $13,000 bonus — more than twice as large as the bonuses given to all of her other staff combined — who then slipped $7,000 in cash of that bonus to Fernandes Anderson during a secret exchange in a city hall bathroom on June 9, 2023, according to the DOJ’s indictment.

“Using public office for personal gain is a crime. Her behavior, as alleged in today’s indictment, is a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers in the city of Boston who have every right to expect that the city’s funds are in good and honest hands,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, said in a press release following Fernandes Anderson’s arrest. “This case illustrates how the FBI, and our partners are working hard every day to battle public corruption and the corrosive damage it does to people’s faith in government.”

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum 20 year prison sentence and the count for “theft concerning programs receiving federal funds” provides for a maximum sentence of 10 years, according to the press release. [MORE]

Jackson Mayor, Other Black Mississippi Officials to Stay in Office Amid Corruption Charges

From [HERE] Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II walked briskly toward a crowd of TV cameras and reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse in Jackson last week to denounce what he called a “horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and an “assassination attempt on my character.”

Owens, the top elected law enforcement official for Mississippi’s largest county that encompasses its capital city, pleaded not guilty to multiple federal felony charges stemming from an alleged FBI bribery sting. He vowed to remain in office.

And indicted Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who faces similar charges in the same case, pledged to remain mayor and continue his 2025 reelection campaign.

“We plan on fighting these charges. But right now, I’m going to get back to protecting Hinds County and being your district attorney that you elected us to be,” Owens told reporters last week after his arraignment in federal court in Jackson.

“I am not guilty, so I will not proceed as a guilty man,” Lumumba said.

For at least the last 50 years, it has not been unusual for top-ranking elected officials across the U.S. to keep their offices as they fight the charges, even after major felony indictments for corruption, according to legal experts interviewed by The Marshall Project - Jackson. Indictments are allegations, and the accused are innocent until proven guilty. [MORE]

'Never Expect Justice in White Liberal's Court:' Jury Acquits in Herman Whitefield Case. 4 Indy Cops Piled On Top of Black Man who Hadn't Committed a Crime, Killed While Being Forced to Do Mental Eval

From [HERE] A jury has found two IMPD officers charged in the death of Herman Whitfield III not guilty on all charges. The jury deliberated for two hours. 

Mr. Whitfield was a 39-year-old African American accomplished concert pianist who never had a criminal record and did not have any weapons.

The two officers, Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez, were indicted on charges of reckless homicide, involuntary manslaughter and battery by a grand jury in Whitfield's death in April 2022. The defense claimed Herman Whitfield III’s death was not caused by the IMPD’s use of tasers, prone restraint, or delayed and uninvited “medical” response. Instead, the defense blamed traces of THC in his system and pre-existing health conditions. One witness, Dr. Bill Smock, starkly referred to Whitfield as a “ticking time bomb” destined to die at “any moment.”

Smock, a police surgeon for the Louisville Police Department, took the stand to challenge the coroner’s findings. The coroner’s autopsy report, published shortly after Whitfield’s death, concluded that “as his death occurred during a physical prone restraint, and this restraint played a role in his death, the manner of death is listed as homicide.” Smock dismissed this expert opinion, aligning instead with the defense’s narrative that external factors, not police actions, were responsible for Whitfield’s death.

Smock referenced case studies of THC-related cardiac arrests involving individuals with other substances in their systems despite these cases differing significantly from Whitfield’s circumstances. He and the defense argued that THC, coupled with Whitfield’s physical health and undiagnosed early heart disease, accelerated his death. The defense further attempted to deflect responsibility, suggesting that Whitfield’s mental state stemmed from his parents and reiterating claims that he did not die from positional asphyxiation but from his struggle with the officers. At one point, the defense astonishingly questioned police accountability, with their attorney asking, “With the thousands of folks cuffed and left in prone positions on the floor in routine arrests, we’re supposed to check every one constantly to see if they’re alive and responsive?”

The defense argued that Whitfield is the guilty one responsible for his own death instead of the cop’s brutal assault and negligence. Whitfield’s parents called 911, clearly requesting an ambulance to their home on April 25, 2022; instead, the cops appeared, escalated the situation, and then caused his death.

The indictment by a grand jury in Marion County, Ind., came nearly a year after Mr. Whitfield’s death on April 25, 2022, and after months of calls from his family for the police to release complete, unedited body camera footage, which they eventually did. Mr. Whitfield’s death followed a series of episodes in which Black men were killed in police custody — encounters that have prompted national protests. Several cops were involved but only two were charged.

The officers arrived at the Whitfield home early on April 25, 2022, after his mother, Gladys Whitfield, called 911 and requested urgent medical care, saying that he was having a mental health crisis.

When officers arrived at their home, police body camera footage showed, Mr. Whitfield’s parents met them at the door. For most of the 22 minutes captured on video, Mr. Whitfield did not engage with police officers as he walked around the home. The officers and his mother asked Mr. Whitfield, who was naked, to put some clothes on because an ambulance was coming for him.

Indianapolis police officers Steven Sanchez, Adam Ahmad, Matthew Virt, Dominique Clark, Jordan Bull, and Nicholas Mathew responded to the call. When the Officers arrived Mrs. Whitfield answered the door. One of the officers asked Mrs. Whitfield “everybody alright?” to which Mrs. Whitfield responded “yeah.” Mr. Whitfield’s father asked the officers “where’s the ambulance?” to which there was no reply. The officers came into the house and spoke to Mr. Whitfield, but he was undergoing a mental health crisis and could not cogently respond to their questions.

At one point Mr. Whitfield was sitting naked on his bed. Officers asked him to put clothes on so he could go outside and be transported to the hospital. Mr. Whitfield did not appear to understand the officers’ instructions. After about ten minutes, Mr. Whitfield got up from sitting on his bed and walked into the adjoining hallway, then into the adjoining kitchen, then turned the corner and entered the adjoining dining room. Mr. Whitfield was unarmed, which the officers could plainly see. He does not respond to the police and his mother as they speak to him. A few minutes later, Mr. Whitfield is seen running, causing a commotion and calling for water.

“Keep that Taser out,” an officer is heard saying in the video.Several officers followed Mr. Whitfield into the kitchen and into the dining room.

Officer Sanchez was waiting in the dining room with his taser pointed at the doorway and when Mr. Whitfield came into that room Officer Sanchez shot him with his taser, deploying it at least twice. Mr. Whitfield collapsed to the dining room floor yelling “fire,” fire,” responding to the 50,000 volts of electricity pulsing through his body.

Mr. Whitfield had done nothing justifying Officer Sanchez shooting him with a taser in his own home. He had not threatened the officers verbally or physically, and because of his mental health crisis, was simply not responding to their demands that he get dressed and leave.

When Mr. Whitfield fell to the floor, he writhed in pain from the taser. Four or five of the officers got on top of Mr. Whitfield. At no time did Mr. Whitfield hit or kick or threaten any of the officers. The officers quickly handcuffed Mr. Whitfield who was lying on his stomach with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The officers’ body cam videos clearly reveal Mr. Whitfield gasping for breath and telling the officers at least three times: “I can’t breathe.” The officers ignored Mr. Whitfield’s desperate pleas for help.

“Oh my God,” Mr. Whitfield is heard yelling. “I’m dying. I’m dying.” The police then handcuff Mr. Whitfield, face down.

“Can’t breathe,” Mr. Whitfield is heard yelling, moving his body as officers try to restrain him.

“Tres, be calm,” Mr. Whitfield’s father is heard saying in the background, calling Mr. Whitfield by a nickname. “Calm down, Tres. It’s Daddy.”

The officers’ body cam videos show that shortly after Mr. Whitfield cried, “I can’t breathe,” the third time, he did not move or breath at all, yet the officers continued to put weight on him for three to four minutes before medics arrived.

For over 25 years, the policing community has agreed that officers should not keep a restrained individual in the prone position because of the significant risk of positional asphyxia, i.e., suffocation because of body position. [MORE]

After a few moments, Mr. Whitfield gradually stops moving, and his yells fade to whimpers.

“Those are going to be way too tight,” an officer is heard saying about the handcuffs on Mr. Whitfield. “We’ll deal with that in a minute.”

As the police continue to restrain Mr. Whitfield, face down in handcuffs, he eventually stops moving or speaking.

Will Judges Elevate Cop Mantra, "I Feared for My Life," Over a Black Woman's Plea for Mercy, "Im Pregnant" ? A Baytown Cop Fatally Shot Pamela Turner from Several Ft Away but Court May Dismiss Suit

‘I FEAR FOR MY LIFE’ IS A PRECURSOR TO DEATH FROM LIAR COPS AND VALID JUSTIFICATION FOR MURDER TO RACIST SUSPECT JURORS AND PROSECUTORS OR TO AUTHORITIES AND SHEEPLE PREDISPOSED TO UPHOLDING AUTHORITY OVER HUMANITY.

From [HERE] A panel of Fifth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Friday of a civil suit brought by the family of a Black woman who in 2019 was fatally shot by a Baytown, Texas, police officer.

The incident occurred at a parking lot of an apartment complex where both Turner and Officer Juan Delacruz (of the Baytown Police Department), were living at the time during an attempt to arrest her for outstanding warrants.

Video footage of the shooting was captured by a bystander[4] and also by the officer's bodycam. Police stated the officer was attempting to arrest her for outstanding warrants when she used his Taser on him; at trial, Texas Ranger Lt. Eric Lopez testified more specifically that she used it on Delacruz’s genitals in the course of resisting arrest. The bodycam showed the struggle between the two prior to the shooting.

Turner's family said that the woman had suffered from schizophrenia and that Delacruz was aware of it; a neighbor also said that Turner was mentally unstable, that Delacruz was aware of it, and that he "had arrested her many times" and had used his Taser on her on the most recent occasion.

During the encounter, Turner said to the officer “You’re actually harassing me” and “I’m actually walking to my house”. Just prior to the shooting, she yelled out, “I’m pregnant.” 

Although Police explained that she was not in fact pregnant and racist suspect media parrot the cops statement - both miss the point. When she yelled out she was pregnant she was asking for mercy, trying to get the white cop to not shoot her. It is another way of saying ‘please don’t shoot.’ It is also a more plausible explanation than the media’s inference that ‘she said she was pregnant because she’s crazy.’

In 2020, a Harris County grand jury charged De La Cruz with aggravated assault by a public servant, but he was ultimately found not guilty.

In December 2023, a Texas federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Turner's family against De La Cruz, the city of Baytown and the owners of the apartment complex, finding that De La Cruz could have reasonably believed Turner posed a threat to his life.

Lawyers for De La Cruz and the family argued Friday before a three-judge Fifth Circuit panel over whether the judge was correct in dismissing the claims against the officer.

De La Cruz's attorney William Helfand said Turner had grabbed De La Cruz's Taser and shocked him with it, but Shelby White, an attorney representing the family, said the evidence does not conclusively show this. Even if that was the case, White argued that at the time of the shooting Turner was on the ground several feet from De La Cruz and therefore no longer posed a reasonable threat to him.

"The two fighters are on different sides of the ring, and then he pulls his gun and shoots her. And you can't do that," White said.

White said that even if, as De La Cruz had testified, Turner had been holding the Taser when he shot her, the Taser prongs had already been deployed, so the device could only have been used in drive-stun mode, meaning the only way Turner could have used the Taser against De La Cruz at that point would be by physically touching him with it. White argued this meant Turner could not have posed a threat to De La Cruz from several feet away.

But U.S. Circuit Judge Stuart Duncan seemed skeptical of this argument.

"You want us to write an opinion that would say, if someone an officer is trying to arrest takes control of his taser, the officer cannot use deadly force unless she's close enough to him to tase him in drive-stun mode?" Duncan, a Donald Trump appointee, asked, adding, "I just want to understand what rule of law we would have in this circuit that guides police officers in their interaction with people who take their Tasers away."

Helfand argued De La Cruz had a reasonable belief that Turner posed a danger to him when he shot her.

"An officer is trained, but an officer is also a human being, and sometimes folks disregard the normal human traits of pain and fear which exist when somebody is in a fight and being shocked and feeling threatened as if they're going to be killed," Helfand said. "And Officer De La Cruz had every not only right but reason to believe that that's what was going to happen to him."

Illinois Supreme Court Upholds Cop Mantra Routinely Used to Destroy Our Imaginary Rights: Says If Police Claim They Smell Marijuana they Can Search Car

From [HERE] Even though marijuana is legal in Illinois, the state’s highest court has ruled that the smell of raw cannabis is enough for police to search a vehicle.

The case stems from a 2020 traffic stop in Whiteside County when a trooper said he smelled fresh cannabis, conducted a search of the vehicle and found several joints of marijuana in a cardboard box. Victor Molina of Moline was a passenger in the car and was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana by a passenger.

Molina’s attorney James Mertes argued to the Illinois Supreme Court that the case has nothing to do with the right to use marijuana.

“Ultimately this comes down to our Fourth Amendment rights, it is an issue of privacy,” said Mertes. “A lot of people have viewed this case as being about cannabis rights. I’ve never viewed it as that, it is more important than that. It’s a case about our constitutional rights."

The 4-2 majority opinion, written by Justice P. Scott Neville Jr., highlighted a 2019 law that stipulates that marijuana in a car must be transported in a sealed, odor-proof container.

If a police officer can smell raw cannabis, it is “almost certain” that the cannabis is not in an odor-proof container, which is a violation of state law, Neville reasoned.

The ruling follows another decision in September by the high court that the smell of burnt cannabis is not enough probable cause to search a vehicle.

The disparity, that the smell of unsmoked marijuana is justification for a warrantless search, while the smell of smoked pot is not, “defies logic,” Justice Mary O’Brien wrote in her dissent.

Mertes said he will appeal the decision.

Recreational marijuana has been legal since 2020 in Illinois, but it is illegal to smoke or consume cannabis in a moving car.

House Judiciary Committee Says Feds are Using Banks to Surveil Americans' Financial Data Without Warrants

From [HERE] Federal law enforcement has been manipulating the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system to gain access to Americans’ financial information without warrants or probable cause, the House Judiciary Committee said Friday.

The panel and its Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released its interim report, first obtained by Fox News Digital, which details its findings.

The committee said in the report that the FBI "has manipulated" the SAR's filing process to treat financial institutions "as de facto arms of law enforcement, issuing ‘requests’ without legal process, that amount to demands for information related to certain persons or activities it considers ‘suspicious.'"

"With narrow exception, federal law does not permit law enforcement to inquire into financial institutions’ customer information without some form of legal process," the report states. "The FBI circumvents this process by tipping off financial institutions to ‘suspicious’ individuals and encouraging these institutions to file a SAR — which does not require any legal process — and thereby provide federal law enforcement with access to confidential and highly sensitive information." [MORE]

Tax Invasion: Chicago Mayor Under Fire as Black Residents Express Anger Over $575M Spent on Migrant Shelters while City has a $1B Shortfall

From [HERE] Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) is facing a firestorm of criticism from outraged residents over his administration’s staggering $574.5 million expenditure on migrant shelters, as the city grapples with a $1 billion budget shortfall.

The controversy centers around Chicago’s “New Arrivals Mission,” an initiative that has drained city resources since its inception in August 2022.

During a heated City Council meeting, outraged citizens voiced their anger, accusing Johnson of mismanagement and misplaced priorities while floating a $60 million property tax hike to close the gap.

One fiery resident delivered a scathing rebuke to Johnson, labeling him the “worst mayor in America” and accusing him of prioritizing political agendas over the needs of Chicagoans.

“I have a great idea for how we can handle this budget. First, let’s start with cutting off illegals from getting free everything—free housing, free schooling, free food. Yeah, let’s start with that. That’ll save us a lot of money—what, 600 million? Let’s start there. Then, let’s talk about you and your salary. You are going down in history as the worst mayor in America. Let’s start by cutting yours. You’re making too much money. Let’s start there.”

The resident continued her tirade, challenging the mayor’s salary and the extensive police detail he maintains amid calls from his party to defund law enforcement.

“And now, let’s address the police detail you have—the 200-police detail you had. Let’s start with that. Because you Democrats—remember you told us to defund the police? Remember you ran on that? Remember you were all about defunding the police? Let’s start with defunding the police detail that you have. Let’s put the police back in our neighborhoods because we’re not for defunding the police. We need the police.

So let’s start with all the Democrats because your policies—which you all push in our neighborhoods—defund the police. So all of you who have police details and police presence around your homes, let’s start by cutting that. That’ll save a lot of money.

So why don’t you just practice what you preach? Remove all the details. We saw you coming in today—you had all that police presence. Let’s take some of that away.”

The proposed property tax increase, which Johnson has floated as a solution to the budget crisis, was met with fierce resistance during the meeting. The woman’s warning was clear:

“I’m letting you all know—seriously—if you vote on anything to raise taxes, because we’re already suffering as homeowners, you will not be in those seats.”

Foreign-Born Population on Track to Exceed 82 Million by 2040

From [HERE] The nation’s foreign-born population is on pace to reach more than 82 million by the year 2040 should legal immigration and illegal immigration levels, that have soared under President Joe Biden, continue.

The research, published by Steven Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies, suggests the impact of Biden’s mass migration legacy could be far-reaching.

On Biden’s watch, the foreign-born population has hit a record nearly 52 million or roughly 15.5 percent of the United States population.

Should immigration levels remain the same as they have been under this administration, the foreign-born population will hit 82.2 million by the year 2040, Camarota finds.

he nation’s foreign-born population under Biden has grown by nearly seven million in less than four years. For comparison, the foreign-born population grew by about 6.4 million over eight years under former President Barack Obama, which was considered historically high at the time.

A major factor, Camarota notes, is the explosion of illegal immigration under Biden.

Since January 2021, there have been nearly 10.5 million border encounters, at least six million migrants released into the U.S. interior, 1.8 million illegal alien got-aways, an unknown number of unseen border crossings, and about 500,000 to 800,000 foreign nationals overstaying their visas every year.

The “scale of immigration is unprecedented” as a result, Camarota writes.

Alabama Tied An Execution Record In 2024

From [HERE] Alabama ended 2024 with six executions conducted for the year, with half of them using the controversial method of nitrogen gas hypoxia [ here]

That tied a state record, matching the totals for 2009 and 2010 for most executions during a one-year period, figures from the Alabama Department of Corrections and data compiled by anti-death penalty groups show. It was also the highest total for any state so far in 2024.

It began Jan. 25 with the first nitrogen gas hypoxia execution in the nation. Alabama is still the only state that has used the method. It ended with a string of back-to-back-to-back executions during September, October and November.

Use of nitrogen gas as an execution method has led to national and international media attention and scorn from anti-death penalty groups which say it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The Vatican has protested the method.

Brown University Donates Land to Native American Tribe

Brown University gave a portion of its Rhode Island property to a Native American Tribe in November after years of negotiations.

The Ivy League university transferred approximately 255 acres of “traditional cultural property” to the Pokanoket Indian Tribe who claimed ownership of the land after the school commissioned a “cultural sensitivity assessment” of the site, according to a Nov. 15 announcement. The land was transferred at no cost to the Native American group as part of an agreement reached in 2017 by Brown and the tribe after several Pokanoket people set up a month-long encampment on the university’s property.

“Brown University has transferred ownership of a portion of its land in Bristol, Rhode Island, to a preservation trust established by the Pokanoket Indian Tribe, ensuring that access to the land and waters extends to tribes and Native peoples of the region for whom the land has significance,” Brown wrote in a statement announcing the transfer. “As the ancestral home of Metacom, known also as King Philip — the leader of the Pokanoket people — and the site of his 1676 death during King Philip’s War, the land holds great historical and cultural significance to members of many Native and Indigenous communities.”[MORE]

Federal Judge Upholds Race-Based Admissions at Naval Academy, Concluding Diversity ‘Remains Critical’ for National Security

From [HERE] A federal judge has upheld the U.S. Naval Academy’s use of race in admissions practices, ruling that the school has “established a compelling national security interest” in championing diversity and inclusion within the military.

Friday’s decision deals a blow to Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the same group that challenged affirmative action at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. That case resulted in the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision, which banned race-based admissions at civilian universities. The question remained whether that ruling applied to military academies as well.

U.S. Senior District judge Richard Bennett of Maryland found that it did not, concluding that the “U.S. Naval Academy is distinct from a civilian university.”

“At bottom, the Court, considering all evidence before it, finds that the military’s interest in growing and maintaining a highly qualified and diverse officer corps is informed by history and learned experience, and that a highly qualified and diverse officer corps remains critical for military effectiveness and thus for national security,” Bennett wrote in the 179-page ruling.

“Plaintiff’s suggestion to the contrary contradicts decades of broad historical and military consensus,” Bennett added, rejecting SFFA’s legal challenge.

In its landmark ruling on affirmative action last year, the Supreme Court exempted the nation’s military academies — including West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy — from its purview. The Court left open the possibility that there are “potentially distinct interests that military academies may present” in the future, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a footnote of the majority opinion. [MORE]

OH High Court (a nearly All-White Jury) Says the Unaccountable White Akron Cops who Murdered Jayland Walker Can Remain Unidentified; Shot Unarmed, Fleeing Black Man 47X after Suspect Traffic Violation

Bi-Partisan System of Racism [injustice]: Unarmed Black Man Fleeing on Foot Shot 47X by a Gang of Barbaric White Cops in a City Run by White Liberals. White Ohio Republican AG Says No Crime Occurred

Settlement Reached for Akron Police Massacre of Jayland Walker. White Cops Shot Black Man 47X as He Ran for His Life, Handcuffed His Corpse after Stop for Unknown Traffic Violation. No Cops Charged

After Shooting a Defenseless Black Man 60 Times, Fragile Akron Cops Play the Victim Role: Police Chief Instructs Cops to Stop Wearing Name Tags Due to Threats (of Accountability)

From [HERE] In a 5-2 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Friday that unidentified Akron police do not have to release the names of eight officers who participated in the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker. Said court is composed of 7 judges, 6 are white and 1 is black. Akron is a city run by elite, white liberals as Democrats control all branches of government.

Mr. Walker was murdered on June 27, 2022 Eight officers fired dozens of rounds at Walker following a car and foot chase. Autopsy records show that eight officers fired more than 90 rounds at Walker, with more than 60 striking his body. Seven of the cops were white. Police said it began when they tried to pull him over for unknown, minor equipment violations and he failed to stop, cops then claim he fired a shot from his car 40 seconds into the pursuit.

Police body camera video showed Walker eventually bailed from his slowly moving car while wearing a ski mask and ran into a parking lot, where pursuing officers opened fire. On video police chased Walker for about 10 seconds before officers fired from multiple directions in a burst of shots that lasted 6 or 7 seconds. A handgun, loaded magazine and wedding ring were found on the driver’s seat of the car. As such, the officers couldn’t have seen a gun in his hand as he ran away from them on foot.

According to the autopsy report, his body arrived handcuffed at the coroner's office.

Walker had no criminal record.

Unnamed Officer(s) claim that they thought Mr. Walker had fired a weapon from his car during the high speed chase and that they feared he would fire again, prompting them to shoot him. How police could hear one gun shot during such a high speed chase is a white supremacy mystery. Nevertheless, whether a gun was fired is simply police misdirection and distraction from the only material issue which is whether the black man posed a threat when he fled on foot from police. He had no object in his hand and the cops never saw a gun, because it was on the car seat.

Insofar as it applies to white citizens, the Supreme Court has explained, ‘a police officer can use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon ONLY where he has probable cause to believe the suspect poses a threat of death or serious physical harm to the officer or to others.’ Tenn v Garner, 475 US 1 (1985). The Court stated,

The use of deadly force to prevent the escape of all felony suspects, whatever the circumstances, is constitutionally unreasonable. It is not better that all felony suspects die than that they escape. Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so. It is no doubt unfortunate when a suspect who is in sight escapes, but the fact that the police arrive a little late or are a little slower afoot does not always justify killing the suspect. A police officer may not seize an unarmed, nondangerous suspect by shooting him dead. [MORE]

Walker was not a fleeing felon, he had no criminal record and police manically chased over an unknown traffic violation. He posed no reasonable threat to police as no officers even claimed to have seen him brandish a weapon and he was running away from police when he was shot over 90 times. As such, it is not rational that police reasonably believe they faced an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.

Akron is a city run by white liberals as Democrats control all branches of government. Attorney General Yost of Ohio, who is a white Republican, took over the investigation last summer at the request of Akron police. Yost claimed on Monday that Mr. Walker had fired at least one shot at the police from his car. Yost did not explain when exactly the gun was fired or how he knew it was fired at police or whether he shot through his windows. Previously it had been reported that there was no forensic evidence that a gun was fired. Few other details have presented from the disinterested white media.

Yost seems to have unzealously sought to prosecute the police officers, who apparently were all white. Generally speaking, prosecutors direct their grand juries to do as they please - if they don’t get an indictment its because they don’t really want an indictment - similar to the Michael Brown or Eric Garner grand juries for white cops. As the saying goes a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor wants them to. The Dependent Media, which is run by elite whites did not bother to report on the racial makeup of the grand jury. Eric Garner’s jury in white liberal, NYC was all-white.

Jayland was murdered for failing to comply with an order to pull over and an order to remain in his vehicle or to stop. In other words, he was murdered for failing to comply with authority. All laws or commands by authorities are threats backed by the ability and willingness to use violence/force against those who disobey. The reality is simply obey authority or go to jail or be murdered. Fool yourself if you want to, but there is nothing consensual or voluntary in our legal system. The legal system is entirely based on and anchored in physical coercion, violence.

However, authority is not real, it is simply a belief. Authority is the belief in the government’s implied right to rule over people in the first place. Authority is the belief that some people have the legal and moral right to forcibly control others, and that, consequently, those others have a legal and moral obligation to obey.’ Michael Huemer defines political authority as “the hypothesized moral property in virtue of which governments may coerce people in certain ways not permitted to anyone else and in virtue of which citizens must obey governments in situations in which they would not be obligated to obey anyone else.”

In real life authority is a granfalloon, an unreality. FUNKTIONARY explains Authority “has no meaning in reality,” it “is the means by which society uses to control its population.” Authority is a “cartoon” or an “image of law” because among other things the social contract is a lie told to you by your masters. Consequently, there is no rational justification for anyone or entity to rule over other human beings. Authority is rule through coercion.” Coercion here means physical force. “Laws” are threats backed by the ability and willingness to use violence/force against those who disobey. Huemer explains ‘the legal system is anchored by a non-voluntary intervention, a harm that the state can impose regardless of the individual’s choices.’ The only actual choice authority presents to citizens is to obey commands and laws or go to jail. Locke states, “The lie of tyranny is that you will maintain the freedom of life by obeying authority. The choices it offers you are a lifetime of obedience or death.”

Liberal Memphis Authorities Deprive Blacks' Rights, Impose 2nd Class Citizenship w/Violence in Segregated City: DOJ says Predatory Cops "Flood" Neighborhoods to Stop, Search, Degrade and Arrest Blacks

From [HERE] The Memphis Police Department routinely and pervasively deprives Black people of their Constitutional rights and follows policies that grossly discriminate against black people in its highly segregated city, the US justice department has said.

The justice department began investigating the police force for the Tennessee city in 2023, after the death of Tyre Nichols, who was brutally tortured and murdered by police during a traffic stop.

In its report from the investigation, released on Wednesday, the department said Memphis police "must correct these issues" that it said were part of a "pattern" of civil rights violations.

The report states, “We have reasonable cause to believe that MPD and the City engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal law. First, MPD uses excessive force. Second, MPD makes unlawful stops, searches, and arrests. Third, MPD unlawfully discriminates against Black people when enforcing the law. Fourth, the City and MPD unlawfully discriminate when responding to people with behavioral health disabilities.”

Memphis has relied on traffic stops to address violent crime. The police department has encouraged officers in specialized units, task forces, and patrol to prioritize street enforcement. Officers and community members have described this approach as “saturation,” or flooding neighborhoods with traffic stops…

Memphis police officers regularly violate the rights of the people they are sworn to serve. Our investigation found that officers use force to punish and retaliate against people who do not immediately do as they say. They rapidly escalate encounters, including traffic stops, and use excessive force even when people are already handcuffed or restrained. They resort to intimidation and threats. They have put themselves and others in harm’s way—officers have unlawfully fired at moving cars and accidentally pepper sprayed and fired Tasers at each other. ..

The report explains that “police officers [are] stopping and detaining large numbers of drivers for minor infractions without legal justification. In a city of about 630,000 people, MPD officers reported making 866,164 traffic stops between January 2018 and August 2023. The number of stops may be even greater. They cited or arrested drivers in at least 296,685 cases, predominantly for minor infractions. ..

Memphis is a majority-Black city, but Black people in Memphis disproportionately experience these violations. MPD has never assessed its practices for evidence of discrimination. We found that officers treat Black people more harshly than white people who engage in similar conduct… 

Memphis is a racially segregated city. Both north and south Memphis are predominantly Black, while a string of majority-white neighborhoods leads from downtown towards east Memphis and wealthier suburbs…

Below are a few excerpts from the report

A. The Memphis Police Department Uses Excessive Force in Violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Our review of a random sample of force incidents showed that MPD officers regularly escalate encounters involving nonviolent offenses and use unreasonable force against unarmed people who pose no threat. Officers punch, kick, and tackle people just moments into an encounter without justification. Officers use disproportionate force against people who have committed, at most, minor offenses such as traffic infractions, and use force even after people are restrained. Officers use force to retaliate and punish, especially when people talk back to them. MPD has used unreasonable deadly force, such as shooting at moving cars and using unjustified neck restraints. Officers also use excessive force against people with behavioral health disabilities. Officers face little accountability when they use excessive force, and commanders in the police department have ignored clear warning signs about its prevalence…

1. MPD Escalates Encounters Involving Low-Level and Traffic Offenses, Leading to Unreasonable Uses of Force. Memphis police officers regularly escalate situations and use severe, excessive force against people suspected of nonviolent offenses, including traffic violations or shoplifting. A significant share of the unreasonable force we found resulted from these types of encounters. Police officers are required to consider the totality of the circumstances when deciding whether and how to use force, including the severity of the alleged offense and if the person resisted the officer’s control. But MPD officers resort to force likely to cause pain or injury almost immediately in response to low-level, nonviolent offenses, even when people are not aggressive

2. MPD Uses Unjustified Neck Restraints. Neck restraints include chokeholds, strangleholds, or other maneuvers that apply pressure to a person’s neck or throat in a way that limits air or blood flow. These restraints can cause permanent brain injury, stroke, cognitive impairment, and death. Since 2019, Tennessee law has banned officers from using certain neck restraints unless deadly force is justified. For such tactics to be permissible under MPD policy, officers must believe there is an “imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or a third person.” MPD policy makes no exception for “the use of hands, knees, feet, or one’s body weight to restrict a subject’s ability to breathe.” Despite these prohibitions, MPD officers regularly use unlawful restraints, sometimes repeatedly in a single incident.

In over 90 percent of the incidents we reviewed involving neck restraints, neither the officers nor supervisors reported the neck restraints. If mentioned in reports at all, officers described neck restraints simply as “physical force.” In one incident, the reviewing lieutenant colonel sent a use-of-force report to a front-line supervisor to “research” officers’ “omissions.” The supervisor instructed the officers to add that there had been “impact” to the face—the body-worn camera video shows they punched the person. But the supervisor failed to identify or mention the two obvious neck restraints that the video showed during the same incident and were also omitted from the officers’ reports. At the time of our review, no officer who used an unjustified neck restraint in the incidents from our sample had received discipline…

3. The Memphis Police Department Uses Unreasonable Force on People Who Are Restrained or Under Control. MPD officers punch, kick, and use other force against people who are already handcuffed or restrained. The gratuitous use of force against a person who has surrendered is unconstitutional. We found many incidents in which officers used unreasonable force against people who were restrained. In nearly all of them, supervisors approved the use of force. One officer hit a handcuffed man in the face and torso with a baton eight times. In a different incident, officers kicked a woman in the chest three times while she was handcuffed in the back of a squad car. In another case, officers punched a man in the throat while he was handcuffed to a chair. Officers repeatedly permitted police dogs to bite or continue to bite people, including children, who were nonresistant and attempting to surrender.

MPD’s Dangerous and Punitive Use of Police Dogs MPD’s Canine Unit trains dogs to bite suspects immediately after they locate them and to hold the bite until a handler directs them to release. In practice, this results in unnecessary and unreasonably long bites that hurt people who are not a threat. MPD officers have allowed c anines to bite people, including teenagers, who were trying to surrender. One MPD officer commanded his dog to bite a person who was sleeping. Another dog bit a 17-year-old’s arm for at least 30 seconds as he begged officers to release the dog; the teenager was later taken to a children’s hospital for treatment. These bites were unnecessary and unreasonable because the people posed no threat to the dogs or their handlers.

One training officer told us that officers often need to insert a device into a dog’s mouth to get the dog to release the bite, indicating that they do not reliably release on command. And even though MPD policy limits use of dogs to cases with felony suspects, we reviewed an incident in which an officer released his dog to apprehend a man suspected of shoplifting household items. The dog bit the man multiple times, causing injuries that required hospitalization. Supervisors found no policy violations.

4. MPD’s Use of Less-Lethal Weapons Violates the Law. Memphis police officers unreasonably use less-lethal weapons, such as Tasers and pepper spray, often without first attempting to resolve situations peacefully. Of the 2,669 reported less-lethal force incidents between January 2020 and September 2023, MPD officers used a Taser or pepper spray in at least 454 of them. Officers have used Tasers and pepper spray recklessly, and they have accidentally discharged these weapons at other officers, or even themselves.

5. MPD Officers Unreasonably Shoot at People and Cars After Placing Themselves in Dangerous Situations. We reviewed all 18 Memphis police shootings from 2018 through 2022. A significant number of them involved officers firing into cars or at moving vehicles, without justification. Shooting at a moving car is deadly force and therefore permissible only when an officer has probable cause to believe a suspect poses an immediate threat of serious physical harm to the officer or another person. It is also highly dangerous because it presents risks of an uncontrolled vehicle. MPD officers have fired at moving cars without justification. An officer may be justified to use deadly force against “a driver who objectively appears ready to drive into an officer or bystander with his car.” But that justification ends “once the car moves away, leaving the officer and bystanders in a position of safety.” 13 MPD officers have disregarded tactical basics and placed themselves in dangerous and avoidable situations when approaching cars. “Where a police officer unreasonably places himself in harm’s way, his use of deadly force may be deemed excessive.” 14

In one shooting, an officer fired at a car at least eight times at a fast-food drive-thru in the middle of the day, jeopardizing other officers and bystanders. The officers had been alerted to a stolen car, and two police cars approached from different directions, trying to box the car in. One officer got out of his car and ran towards the suspect’s car but tripped and fell to the ground as the suspect’s car moved slowly in his direction. As he regained his footing and jumped out of the car’s path, another officer fired twice at the car. The officer fired another six shots after his partner had retreated to safety, including the final two as the suspect’s car slowly came to rest against a brick wall. When he continued to fire after the car no longer presented a threat, the officer used unreasonable force and unnecessarily placed bystanders and officers in harm’s way. MPD’s investigation improperly found that this use of deadly force was justified.

6. MPD’s Deficient Policies and Training Contribute to Excessive Force. MPD’s deficient policies and training fail to advise officers on the constitutional requirements for using force. MPD’s use of force policies are missing critical elements, like the basic legal requirement that force must be proportionate in light of the severity of the offense and the threat that officers face. Instead, MPD policy suggests that force may be necessary if a person’s non-compliance prevents an officer from accomplishing their duties in a “timely manner.” The desire to resolve an interaction quickly does not justify the use of force. As described above, we reviewed multiple incidents in which MPD officers used force unnecessarily just because a person did not immediately follow their commands.

B. MPD Conducts Unlawful Stops, Searches, and Arrests. We have reasonable cause to believe MPD engages in a pattern or practice of making stops, searches, and arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment. During minor traffic and pedestrian stops, MPD officers conduct unjustified frisks and more intrusive searches, or handcuff and hold people in patrol vehicles just to write a simple citation. At times, officers unnecessarily prolong these stops, or search and seize the drivers’ vehicles. MPD officers also make unlawful arrests for low-level offenses, such as arresting people for disorderly conduct even as they are following officers’ instructions and commands.

Our findings are based on a variety of evidence. We interviewed MPD officers and supervisors and observed their activities during ride-alongs. We reviewed MPD policies and training materials concerning stops, searches, and arrests. We analyzed a random sample of traffic stops from 2021 through 2023, as well as a random sample of arrests for minor offenses, such as disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, loitering, and curfew violations from 2022 through 2023. For each incident in our sample, we examined officers’ body-worn camera footage and all available documentation for evidence of constitutional violations. We also reviewed dozens of complaints and internal affairs investigations, use of force incidents, and court cases involving stops, searches, and arrests by MPD officers, including numerous cases in which federal courts suppressed evidence because of MPD’s unconstitutional conduct. And we interviewed judges, judicial commissioners, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, as well as community members who have been impacted by MPD’s practices.

DOJ STATES: MPD promotes “saturation” policing to flood certain neighborhoods with traffic stops. For example, the police department’s Gang Response Team, a specialized unit of officers who work in plainclothes, will “saturate” an area with “zero tolerance” enforcement and traffic stops. But officers target a particular neighborhood rather than trying to locate and apprehend specific suspects in gang-related crimes. 

1. MPD Makes Unconstitutional Stops. Under the Fourth Amendment, police can stop and briefly detain people if they have reasonable suspicion the person is engaged in criminal activity. Reasonable suspicion must be “articulable,” not just an “unparticularized suspicion or hunch.” 15 MPD officers violate these standards while enforcing traffic laws and during other interactions with people they encounter on Memphis streets. The pattern of Fourth Amendment violations stems from MPD’s decision to prioritize traffic enforcement as a central method to address crime in Memphis, while at the same time failing to ensure that officers understand and follow constitutional requirements when they stop and detain people. MPD officers face pressure to make stops. Many of these traffic stops involve documentation or equipment violations, like broken taillights and expired tags. MPD’s data show that from 2018 to 2023, more than half of MPD’s citations involved documentation or equipment violations. The chart below shows MPD’s traffic citations in more detail. This data does not include hundreds of thousands of traffic stops that did not result in citations, because MPD officers do not document the reason for those stops.

Supervisors rarely review traffic stops to ensure they meet constitutional standards. But they do measure officers’ “productivity” based in part on how many stops and citations they generate. Supervisors look at officers’ totals at the end of each month to ensure that they are making enough stops. Officers can face discipline if they fail to meet productivity averages for their shifts, and supervisors have even cited officers’ productivity as grounds for leniency in disciplinary hearings. Reflecting the pressure to make stops as an overall enforcement strategy, one officer said to a colleague after a traffic stop, “You guys wanted to find something . . . Traffic stop. Traffic stop. Traffic stop. Check. Check. Check . . . You guys asked, I just delivered.” MPD stopped and cited one Black man 30 times in three years. At the same time, MPD’s failure to properly supervise its officers results in unconstitutional stops, searches, and arrests.

2. MPD Searches People Unlawfully. Memphis police officers conduct unreasonable frisks or searches following pedestrian or traffic stops. The Fourth Amendment permits police to “frisk” or “pat down” people for weapons if there is reasonable articulable suspicion that the person is armed and dangerous. The scope of a lawful frisk is limited to a person’s outer clothing, and once an officer determines a person is unarmed, there is no longer justification to continue to search. To conduct a more intrusive search of a person, officers must have probable cause to believe they will find evidence of a crime.

A stop or a frisk is far more than a “petty indignity”—it is, rather, “a serious intrusion upon the sanctity of the person, which may inflict great indignity and arouse strong resentment.”18 But MPD officers order drivers out of their cars and frisk them for weapons without justification to believe they are armed and dangerous. Courts have recognized that nervousness is an “unreliable indicator” of dangerousness, “especially in the context of a traffic stop.” 19 This may be particularly true for individuals who, due to fear that police may treat them unfairly because of their race, may display symptoms of stress during encounters with the police. Still, MPD policy lists “[t]he appearance and demeanor of the suspect, i.e. person appears to be unusually scared, jittery, or acting in a strange manner” as a factor that may serve as the basis for a frisk. In our review of a random sample of traffic stops, officers often frisked individuals with no explanation at all.

MPD does not require officers to record when they frisk or search people, which means police leaders cannot assess how common the practices are. Even when officers do record their actions, they often do not cite specific facts that support their conduct. For example, in one incident in which an officer stopped a driver for improper tags, handcuffed the driver, searched the car, and searched the driver’s purse inside the vehicle, the officer’s report did not mention any of these activities. In another incident in which officers were responding to a call about a car at an abandoned home, the officers similarly failed to document that they had handcuffed, frisked, and searched the occupant of the car and searched the car. Supervisors therefore are not easily able to review and assess whether officers are engaging in unlawful conduct during these frisks and searches. This lack of documentation also prevents MPD leadership from assessing whether MPD’s search practices are legal and effective.

Officers also frisk and search people after stopping them on the street. After stopping a Black man for “walking into traffic,” officers immediately bent the man over the hood of their patrol car, patted him down, manipulated the outside of the man’s pocket, and reached inside. The officers noted in their report that the man was a “known panhandler,” but did not mention or seek to justify the frisk and search. They released him twenty minutes later with a citation. In another incident, when an officer stopped three Black teenage boys for a curfew violation in downtown Memphis, the officer frisked all the boys even though he had no reason to believe they were armed and dangerous. The boys, who were suspected of nothing more than a curfew violation, were compliant and had not tried to reach or conceal anything in their pockets before he began frisking them, and the officer’s report did not mention or justify the frisk. Body cavity searches implicate greater constitutional concerns than searches of a person’s clothing and generally require a warrant. MPD policy requires a warrant to conduct “an inspection, probing, or examination of the inside of a person’s anus, vagina, or genitals.” 20 But MPD officers ignore these requirements and conduct invasive searches in public view. In one incident, MPD officers seemed to believe a more intrusive search was warranted “to catch bigger fish.” During a “zero-tolerance” operation in a “high-crime and known-drug area,” officers saw two men who had been standing on a corner walk away when the patrol car approached. Finding these actions “suspicious,” the officers detained, handcuffed, frisked, and searched the men. During the search, one officer asked, “Did you check his ass crack yet?” and another officer responded, “Yes.” Both men complained that an officer searched their rectums. The officers were not disciplined for the searches.

3. MPD Unlawfully Searches and Seizes Cars. To search a car, officers must have probable cause to believe they will find evidence of a crime. Police can also search vehicles when they make an arrest, when there is reason to believe a person is armed and dangerous, when evidence is in “plain view” of the officers, and if they take lawful possession of the car. Although officers may ask a person to waive these requirements and consent to a search, the consent must be voluntary and not the product of police coercion. During traffic stops for minor violations, MPD officers violate people’s rights by illegally searching their vehicles. For example, officers stopped a man for driving without tags on his car, told him to get out of his car, then, without explanation or warning, frisked the man and held him in the backseat of a locked patrol vehicle. Officers then searched the man’s car, including opening the glove compartment and looking under the seat. Finding nothing, the officer issued the man a citation and released him more than 30 minutes later. The officer’s report did not mention the search.

4. MPD Makes Unlawful Arrests. Under the Fourth Amendment, arrests must be supported by probable cause, which requires “a probability or substantial chance of criminal activity.” 22 Each year, MPD makes thousands of arrests for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, such as trespassing, disorderly conduct, panhandling, curfew violations, drug possession, drug paraphernalia possession, public intoxication, and vandalism. Unlike arrests for more serious, violent crimes, officers have significant discretion on how to handle such low-level violations, such as whether to make an arrest, issue a citation, or let people off with a warning. MPD officers abuse that discretion and arrest people for minor offenses without probable cause, at times in apparent retaliation or to justify the officer’s own conduct. Adults who are arrested are transported to jail where County magistrates review their charges, while children who are arrested for low-level offenses often receive a summons to appear in juvenile court.

MPD’s intrusive and unconstitutional stops, searches, and arrests violate the rights of people throughout Memphis. The impact of being unlawfully stopped, frisked, detained, handcuffed, searched, or arrested is hard to quantify. The damage to one’s dignity, reputation, and self-image can be lasting and traumatic. One man told us, “Getting pulled over in our community is a frightening experience.” He said officers “spark fear in order to control.” A man who experienced a cavity search said that he now spends more time in his house, “can’t eat,” and gets jumpy whenever he sees a police car. One woman told us that her family’s experiences meant she would only call MPD in a life-threatening situation: “They are not the first resort. They are the last resort.” Many of these improper stops result in nothing more than traffic citations or other charges that are ultimately dropped. Some people are taken into custody and may sit in jail away from their families and jobs for charges that, as a result of MPD’s unlawful conduct, are likely to be dismissed. These interactions can be degrading and humiliating and result in other negative impacts, such as loss of employment or transportation or separation from families. Although their actions have serious consequences, one judicial commissioner said, “[MPD officers] don’t get sometimes this is not a game.”

MEMPHIS IS A CITY CONTROLLED BY ELITE WHITE LIBERALS. Memphis is home to Memphis International Airport, the world's busiest cargo airport, surpassing Hong Kong International Airport in 2021. Memphis serves as a primary hub for FedEx Express shipping.

As of 2014, Memphis was the home of three Fortune 500 companies: FedEx (no. 63), International Paper (no. 107), and AutoZone (no. 306). Other major corporations based in Memphis include Allenberg Cotton, American Residential Services (also known as ARS/Rescue Rooter); Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz; Cargill Cotton, City Gear, First Horizon National Corporation, Fred's, GTx, Lenny's Sub Shop, Mid-America Apartments, Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, ServiceMaster, True Temper Sports, Varsity Brands, and Verso Paper. Corporations with major operations based in Memphis include Gibson guitars (based in Nashville), and Smith & Nephew.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis also has a branch in Memphis. [MORE]

C. MPD Unlawfully Discriminates Against Black People in its Enforcement. We have reasonable cause to believe that MPD engages in racial discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Safe Streets Act. These laws prohibit police practices that discriminate on the basis of race. 25 We examined MPD’s enforcement of low-level, minor offenses, where officers have more discretion over whether to stop, cite, and arrest people. MPD’s own data show that across a range of different law enforcement actions, MPD treats Black people more harshly than white people when they engage in similar conduct. These disparities are driven by MPD’s saturation-style enforcement of low-level offenses, including traffic violations, with limited supervision and safeguards. MPD’s stops and citations impose a heavy burden on Memphians, especially on those who have been stopped repeatedly. But MPD has never meaningfully assessed whether these practices are effective or necessary to address violent crime, or whether they result in discriminatory treatment. 26

1.MPD Engages in Racially Disparate Enforcement.We examined records from MPD’s 911 system and data recording stops and arrests to determine whether MPD officers treat similarly-situated people differently, without a reasonable basis to do so. We based our analyses on officers’ own descriptions of people’s conduct. We then measured officers’ actions against reliable benchmarks to understand how officers treat people of different races who engage in the same conduct. These analyses allow us to rule out alternative explanations for racial disparities and assess the role of race in how MPD enforces the law. We found that MPD treats Black people more harshly than white people who engage in similar conduct.

MPD enforces traffic laws more aggressively against Black drivers and in Black neighborhoods. Each year, MPD officers cite thousands of drivers for moving violations, such as speeding or running a red light. But officers treat people engaged in similar driving behavior differently, due, in part, to race. We designed this analysis to find similarly-situated drivers—those engaged in dangerous driving behavior at similar locations and times of day. We first identified a pool of drivers engaged in dangerous driving behavior that led to crashes. 27 We then compared this dataset to citations MPD officers issued to drivers for moving violations along the same stretch of road at around the same time of day. If MPD enforced traffic laws without regard to race, we would expect officers to treat drivers whose dangerous driving led to crashes similarly to drivers whose dangerous driving led to traffic stops. Instead, we found that MPD is 21 percent more likely to cite Black drivers for moving violations, as compared to white drivers who engaged in dangerous driving that led to at-fault crashes in the same place and time.

MPD is more likely to cite or arrest Black people for drug-related offenses than white people. MPD officers are more likely to arrest or cite Black people for drug offenses than white people who they describe as engaging in similar conduct. We analyzed MPD’s data regarding incidents in which officers encountered people using drugs, and then compared how officers treated people of different races in those encounters. We identified these “similarly situated” people based on officers’ own reports. We designed this analysis to rule out factors other than race: the analysis only compared people who were accused by officers of engaging in similar types of conduct, as described by the officers themselves. If race did not factor into officers’ decision making, then we would expect the outcomes of those encounters to be closely the same. Instead, we found that officers are 17 percent more likely to cite or arrest Black people for drug-related offenses, as compared to white people who were described by officers as engaging in the same conduct.

MPD arrests Black people for marijuana possession at more than 5 times the rate of white people. We also found significant disparities in MPD’s enforcement of laws prohibiting the possession of marijuana. Data on drug arrests can be compared to relevant benchmarks on drug use to evaluate whether MPD enforces drug laws disproportionately. Public health data show that Black people and white people use marijuana at similar rates. If MPD enforced marijuana possession laws without regard to race, we would expect that Black people and white people in Memphis would be charged with marijuana possession violations at roughly equal rates. But that is not what the data shows. Instead, we found that MPD cites or arrests Black adults for marijuana possession at 5.2 times the rate of white adults, based on MPD’s data from 2018 to 2023. Disparate drug enforcement is not new in Memphis. A 2016 report found that MPD arrested Black people at more than 3.5 times the rate of others, when adjusted for the city’s racial demographics. The disparity was larger for marijuana possession: MPD arrested Black people for marijuana possession at more than 4 times the rate of others.

MPD disproportionately cites Black drivers for minor traffic offenses. MPD’s traffic stops often involve equipment or documentation violations, rather than dangerous driving behavior. MPD disproportionately cites Black drivers for minor traffic offenses such as improper tags, tinted windows, faulty taillights, and other equipment violations, as compared to their share of the residential population. Overall, MPD cites Black drivers for equipment violations at 4.5 times the rate of white drivers, based on their share of the residential population. Black drivers receive citations for improperly tinted windows at 9.8 times the rate of white drivers, and for defective lights at 6.1 times the rate of white drivers. Nearly 90 percent of MPD’s equipment violation citations were of Black drivers.

MPD disproportionately cites or arrests Black people for highly discretionary misdemeanor offenses. These stark disparities extend to other discretionary misdemeanor offenses. For example, MPD cites or arrests Black people for loitering or curfew violations at 13 times the rate of white people. And MPD cites or arrests Black people for disorderly conduct at 3.6 times the rate of white people.

MPD’s enforcement of low-level, discretionary offenses also impacts Black youth in Memphis. Data confirm that officers disproportionately arrest Black youth for a variety of highly discretionary offenses. From January 2018 through August 2023, MPD arrested 180 Black children for loitering or curfew violations, as compared to just 4 white children. MPD arrested 120 Black children for disorderly conduct, as compared to just 1 white child.

D. The City and MPD Unlawfully Discriminate in Their Response to People with Behavioral Health Disabilities. The City of Memphis and MPD violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against people with behavioral health disabilities 30 when providing emergency response services. 31 Each year, MPD officers respond to tens of thousands of 911 calls involving behavioral health. Some of these calls are from people with behavioral health disabilities, calling because they are experiencing a crisis. Other calls are from family members or bystanders who call when they see someone who may need behavioral health support. The City’s own 911 call-takers code the majority of these calls as “nonviolent.” But the City requires MPD officers to respond to all of these calls, which leads to unnecessary police interactions. In a significant number of these incidents, MPD officers—including specially trained Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers—use unnecessary force or mock and belittle people with behavioral health disabilities. [MORE]

Contrary to Massa Media, Black Unemployment is Soaring. According to the BLS Survey, Job Creation Stands at Negative 723,000 Since October

From [HERE] The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of its twin labor market surveys for November. From the establishment survey, non-farm payroll job creation printed at (salted, peppered, and heavily seasoned) growth of 227,000, while revising the months of September and October up a combined 56,000. That's a net creation of 283,000 jobs, if one can trust the numbers, which is asking a lot.

Why the skepticism? Aside from the poor past performance of this series, one only has to go as far as the BLS household survey to find stark contrast in just how many jobs were created in November. This is astonishing. For November, the household survey shows a decrease of 355,000 employed people on top of an October decrease of 368,000. In other words, over the past two months, according to the BLS survey that the financial media loves to ignore, job creation stands at negative 723,000. Things that make you go hmmm? One more thing on this topic. It looks like there were job losses across both full and part time labor forces, so a mass reduction of hours does not seem to be part of this story. 

Digging into that household survey, we see a decrease in the civilian labor force of 193,000 individuals and an increase of 161,000 officially unemployed persons. This takes the participation rate down to 62.5% from 62.6% and the employment to population ratio to 59.8% from 60%. Two months ago, this metric stood at 60.2%. Finally, the official unemployment rate that does not count those folks who simply dropped out of the labor force, increased to 4.2% from 4.1%, while the underemployment rate increased to 7.8% from 7.7%.

In a troubling sign that one prominent economist called a “serious cause for concern,” the Black unemployment rate in November surged to its highest level in eight months.

Additionally, according to the establishment survey, the average full-time workweek improved to a historically low 34.3 hours from a ghastly 34.2 hours in October. Average Hourly Earnings remained precisely on pace with October at year over year growth of 4%. 

Unemployment Rate by Gender / Age

Adult men: stable at 3.9%.

Adult women: increased from 3.6% to 3.9%.

Teenagers: improved from 13.8% to 13.2%.

Unemployment Rate by Race

White: stable at 3.8%.

Black or African American: soared from 5.7% to 6.4%.

Asian: decreased from 3.9% to 3.8%.

Hispanic or Latino: increased from 5.1% to 5.3%. [MORE]

GLOAT Lebron James also Losing Money - Media Company Lost Nearly $30 Million Last Year

From [HERE] The media company founded by NBA all-star LeBron James reportedly lost nearly $30 million last year and will likely lose millions more.

SpringHill, the production company LeBron James cofounded with Maverick Carter in 2020, has lost $28 million despite producing films like Space Jam and Shooting Stars along with the talk show The Shop. Though the company pulled in $104 million in revenue in 2023, it will be finishing in the red this year, according to Bloomberg.

“The entertainment market shift in 2022/2023 toward profitability brought rising costs, slower buyer decisions, and impacts from industry strikes, prompting us to recalibrate, including writing off underperforming projects to position ourselves for future growth,” Maverick Carter, CEO of SpringHill, told Bloomberg.

Carter did say the company will exceed projections this year. Per Bloomberg:

The company lost $28 million on sales of $104 million last year, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News. SpringHill lost $17 million in 2022 and is on pace to lose millions more in 2024.

SpringHill recently agreed to a merger with Fulwell 73, the British production outfit behind The Kardashians and the Grammy Awards, a deal that will give the combined company more scale during a challenging business environment. The company, which will have 250 employees, is aiming to be profitable by the end of next year, following a round of staff cuts. [MORE]

White Akron Cop Uses Assault Rifle to Execute Black Teen Apparently Posing No Threat. Police Never Saw a Gun b/c it Was Inside a Zipped Pocket- as Murders of Blacks by Cops Continue in Liberal Cities

Akron has been dominated by Democrats over the past 25 years. Democrat mayors have held office, including Don Plusquellic, who served from 1987 to 2015, followed by Democrat Dan Horrigan. The City Council also has a Democrat majority, reflecting the city's liberal-leaning in local politics. [MORE]

From [HERE] Police in Akron, Ohio, have released body-camera footage of the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy, in an incident the city’s mayor called “deeply troubling”.

Video of the Thanksgiving night killing of Jazmir Tucker does not clearly show what led up to the shooting, but suggests that an officer quickly fired at the teenager upon encountering him, and that a group of officers waited seven minutes to approach the boy after he had been shot. The family’s attorneys have said officers did not start rendering aid for 10 minutes.

“In hindsight, the amount of time that expired between the shooting and the initiation of physical aid to Jazmir is deeply troubling to me,” Akron’s mayor, Shammas Malik, said in a statement on Thursday, alongside the release of the footage. “I want to be clear that any unreasonable delay in the rendering of aid by police officers is unacceptable and has no place in Akron.”

Police have said that two patrol officers heard nearby gunshots just after 11pm on 28 November and got out of their parked car to investigate. The officers then encountered Jazmir and ran after him, officials said. One officer fired his assault rifle at the teen, fatally striking him. The boy was later pronounced dead at a hospital and no officers were injured.

The boy was found with a gun in a zipped-up pocket, raising concerns about why lethal force had been used, Malik said: “Why did the officer decide to use his weapon?”

The roughly eight-minute video released by police is difficult to decipher. The sound is off for the first 30 seconds, which is standard when a body camera first turns on. The shooting happens within that timeframe. The footage suggests the officer was chasing Jazmir, raised his rifle and fired at him for about three seconds, potentially shooting about seven times.

The shooting officer’s arms and long gun, however, block the camera’s view, and Jazmir is not visible in the moments before and during the shooting.

Once the sound on the footage begins, that officer and others are heard yelling at Jazmir, who is on the ground, repeatedly telling the unresponsive teen to raise his hands. Between eight and 10 officers ultimately converge on Jazmir about seven minutes after he is shot. At that point, officers handcuff him and search his pockets. Police have not released details about what any of the officers did to try to save his life.

The mayor said the footage left him with “serious questions”, including why officers did not activate their cameras upon arrival. He said their cameras eventually started automatically recording due to the presence of a nearby cruiser with activated lights.

“I also believe that many will ask why the officers used rifles instead of handguns in responding to this incident,” Malik said. “This will be something that we discuss more going forward, including in the internal investigation, and as part of our comprehensive review of use of force, including when and how different weapons are used.”

The family’s attorneys said in a statement that the fact that Jazmir had a weapon was “irrelevant because officers didn’t know he had it until they unzipped his pocket after he was shot”.

“The police department did a number of things tactically wrong in this case, starting with the aggressiveness that they initiated this pursuit … These officers came out with the intent to do one thing: shoot and kill,” the attorney Robert Gresham said in a statement. “What I perceive to be the biggest issue here is there’s a culture of violence in this particular police department.”

Stanley Jackson, another family attorney, added: “The mayor and the police department weaponized the police by allowing them to carry assault rifles, right? And then, the police department weaponizes Jaz’s skin and his youth. That’s the problem.”

At a news conference, Jazmir’s relatives said they are devastated by his death. Ashley Greene said her son was a “great kid”, adding she was “extremely hurt that I couldn’t help my baby”.

“It hurt me to see that no one helped my baby,” Greene said, according to Fox 8 News. “The police never addressed us. I had to find out that was my son through social media.”

Jazmir’s great-aunt, Connie Sutton, described him as a child who was always laughing: “Everybody loved Jaz, and Jaz loved everybody else.”

The officer who fired the shots has been on the force for nearly five years. He and his partner were placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy, and their names have not been released.

The Ohio bureau of criminal investigation is leading the inquiry, and Akron police are conducting a separate internal investigation.

In October, the city of Akron paid the family of Jayland Walker a $4.8m settlement, after eight police officers fired 94 bullets at the 25-year-old in a 2022 incident that sparked widespread protests. A grand jury declined to indict the officers last year over the killing, which began with a traffic stop over a broken taillight.

On Friday, the Ohio supreme court ruled that the city could continue to conceal the names of the officers who shot Walker.

A White OKC Cop Assumed an Unarmed Black 8th Grader Had a Gun, Ordered Him to Drop It and Fired 4 Shots All in Less than 1 Second. Appeals Ct Denied Immunity, Allows Lorenzo Clerkley’s Suit to Proceed

From [HERE] The U.S. Court of Appeals has denied qualified immunity to a white Oklahoma City police officer who shot a Black 14-year-old in 2019, allowing the family to proceed with a lawsuit.

The court affirmed a lower court's denial of qualified immunity — which protects government officials from accountability for their actions, including police officers, when they are sued — for Officer Kyle Holcomb.

According to court documents, someone (probably a racist suspect) called 911, saying four men were breaking into a home and that they saw a gun. Police later discovered they were all teens playing with BB guns in the backyard.

Upon arrival the officer states “I think its a cap gun.” Police officers know what guns sound like. He approached the wooden fence that rings the house’s yard, moving toward one of the many holes in it, the video shows. He waited for a moment, his gun pointed through the gap in the fence. Someone materialized from the house.

“Show me your hands! Drop it!” Holcomb said, firing four shots in rapid succession. According to the video footage, no more than six hundredths of a second had passed since he had finished the command.

“Drop the gun!” he then said, before radioing in the incident. “Shots fired, shots fired. Black male with a gray hoodie had the gun."

Holcomb claimed Lorenzo Clerkley Jr. was holding what he thought was a black handgun. When he ordered him to drop it, he said Clerkley pointed it at Holcomb, who then shot him.

Lorenzo told the police, however, that his hands were empty and that he was holding them up when he was shot. The then-14-year-old was shot in the hip and leg.

Lorenzo told The Washington Post that he and some friends had planned to play basketball that day, but rain meant they had to find an indoor activity. They went to an abandoned house and brought with them some airsoft guns, which resemble firearms and shoot small projectiles, typically made from plastic. His lawyer says some of the four or five guns the kids had were BB guns, which are similar. Both are different from cap guns, toys that don’t shoot projectiles but make firing sounds and emit smoke.

Lorenzo said he had climbed out a window because the house’s back door was locked while his friend was showing him around. Holcomb was standing at the fence outside, according to the video.

“I jumped, and he just started firing his gun,” he said, referring to Holcomb.

Lorenzo had been shot twice, once in the leg and once near his hip, he and Smolen said, and he had entry and exit wounds. Smolen is in the process of doing an investigation to determine where the bullets entered and exited.

Lorenzo shows the entry and exit wounds where one bullet struck him Sunday at his home in Del City, Okla. (Nick Oxford for The Washington Post)

A police officer dragged Lorenzo over broken glass from the front of the house to the side, he and Smolen said.

The district court found low resolution and obstructing vegetation made it difficult to see much detail and said the footage and the still-framed photographs do not show that Clerkley was holding something black in his hand.

The Court of Appeals concluded, "Considering the totality of the facts and circumstances credited by the district court, Holcomb's use of deadly force against an unarmed, nonthreatening person violated clearly established Fourth Amendment law."

Police released a photo of the gun they said Lorenzo had carried in his hand, saying it was a BB gun that mimicked a real handgun. Capt. Robert Mathews, the department’s spokesman, said the gun was found in the backyard, where he said Lorenzo had dropped it. In an interview with The Post, Lorenzo said he did not have a gun on or near him at the time of the shooting.

Maki Haberfeld, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an expert in police use of force said she thought the officer did not give Lorenzo any time to comply. “Watching this, I don’t see how the officer could have arrived at the conclusion that his life or someone else’s life was in danger,” she said. “He asks the teenager to drop his hands and show the gun. And then immediately he shoots. There’s no time lapse between ‘Show me the gun; drop your hands,’ and then he fires. . . . He’s already pushing the trigger.”

She also said she found it disturbing that Lorenzo was handcuffed as officers awaited emergency medical personnel to arrive. The video, which ends about 10½ minutes after the shooting, does not show any medical personnel arriving on the scene.

White liberal prosecutor David W. Prater failed to charge Holcomb with any crime for this shooting, and he is still employed by the Oklahoma City Police Department.