Barbaric Israelis Post a Photo of a Soldier in Gaza Urinating on the Quran

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From [HERE] An Israeli soldier in Gaza has reportedly posed a photo of himself urinating on a copy of the Quran, the Muslim Holy Book, in the latest offensive gesture toward the local Palestinian population in the enclave.

According to local news sites, the photograph was taken in Jabalia, north Gaza, where Israel imposed a month-long siege on the city with residents trapped under heavy bombardment and faced a ground offensive.

The alleged image was published on a private Instagram account of a soldier from the Givati Brigade 435 Rotem Battalion and time-stamped with the date 22 October 2024 at 17:41.

The song 'Violent Crimes' by controversial US artist Kanye West played over the image.

Online, many slammed the Israeli army's actions as "depraved" and "disrespectful", which follow other videos of soldiers ransacking mosques or burning Qurans.

"If someone posted a photo urinating on a Torah scroll, there would rightfully be widespread condemnation.  But when Israeli soldiers post photos urinating on a Quran and desecrating mosques, there’s no condemnation, just more praise for them as the most moral army in the world," one social media user wrote.

"How has this not made any news headline, if this was a Muslim doing this to another holy book (which would never happen) it would be broadcast everywhere, but of course Zionists get their free pass," another wrote.

The New Arab reached out to the Israeli army and ministry of defence for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Pro-Palestine activists documented multiple examples of Israeli soldiers throwing pages of the Quran onto fires or other offensive acts. [MORE]

Israeli Forces Murder 76 Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours

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From [HERE] Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli attacks killed at least 76 Palestinians and wounded 158 more in the previous 24-hour period as Israeli strikes continued to pound targets across the Strip.

Strikes on Monday included an attack on a house in Beit Lahia, a city in northern Gaza that’s been under a complete siege since early October as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the Israeli strike in Beit Lahia killed at least 17 civilians. The strike was near the Kamal Adwan hospital, which also came under attack. According to Al Jazeera, people inside the hospital were injured by shrapnel when Israeli forces shelled the entrance.

In Gaza City, an Israeli strike hit a house, killing at least five Palestinians and injuring others. Israeli forces also targeted a house in Jabalia, killing one woman and injuring her family members.

Israeli attacks were also reported in central and southern Gaza. Near the southern city of Rafah, an Israeli drone targeted a group of Palestinians, killing at least one. The Israeli military also bombed the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least four.

The Health Ministry said the latest violence brought its death toll up to 43,922 and the number of wounded to 103,898. The figures don’t account for Palestinians missing and presumed dead under the rubble, which has previously been estimated to be over 10,000.

A group of American healthcare workers who volunteered in Gaza estimated in an open letter to President Biden in October that the US-backed Israeli bombing campaign and siege have killed at least 118,908 Palestinians, including over 60,000 who have starved to death. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who led the letter, told Antiwar.com in a recent interview that the estimate was the bare minimum they came up with by looking at the available data.

5 Cops Plead Guilty in Murder of Quantez Burks in WVA Jail. Cops Brutally Beat Handcuffed Black Man Until He Collapsed, Then Dropped Him Face Down Onto the Concrete where they Continued to Beat Him

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From [HERE] and [HERE] Five former Southern Regional Jail corrections officers have admitted to federal prosecutors that 37-year-old Quantez Burks died during a brutal beating by officers on March 1, 2022, while Burks was incarcerated at the jail, and they admit correctional officers conspired to keep the truth from the public and from the victim’s family.

As of Friday, November 15, 2024, eight officers have been charged in U.S. District Court in relation to Burks’ death.

Burks had been arrested Feb. 28, 2022, and charged with wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer, allegations related to discharging a firearm at his home during an argument. Burks had been at the jail less than 24 hours when he died after a series of alleged beatings, all while he was handcuffed.

Plea agreements state that correctional officers beat Burks until he collapsed and then carried him to another “blind spot,” or room without a camera, threw him face down on a concrete floor and continued the alleged beating. 

According to evidence presented in federal court, multiple officers responded to a call March 1, 2022, after Burks tried to push past officers in order to leave C-pod, a housing unit for inmates. They then took him to an interview room, a blind spot, because there were no surveillance cameras. Walters arrived at the room a minute after Burks and the other officers did. Attorneys said Burks was restrained, handcuffed and did not pose a threat to anyone.

After Burks was taken to A-pod, another blind spot, he went limp, and multiple officers had to carry him to the next interview room. Walters carried him with one arm and told Judge Goodwin that after arriving to A-pod, he swung Burks forward, hitting his head against the metal door frame and when the officers got him inside the room, they dropped him face down on the concrete floor, where they continued to beat him. He became unresponsive while in A-pod.

A number of inmates have died at SRJ since 2018, including Steven Robinson, Alvis Shrewsbury and Cameron Dunbrack, and their families have told 59News that West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials and West Virginia State Police investigators have failed to provide satisfactory answers regarding their deaths.

Latasha Williams, who was engaged to Quantez Burks, said in past interviews that she learned her fiancée had died when she called the office of a Raleigh County magistrate to inquire about setting bond for him and the clerk casually mentioned that he had died.

Kimberly Burks said neither officials from WVDCR, nor the agency which oversees it (West Virginia Department of Homeland Security) have yet informed the family of Quantez Burks’ death.

The family said they were not immediately provided an autopsy report by the State Medical Examiner’s Office, but the Burks family banded together to pay the $5,000 required for a private autopsy and to secure an attorney.

When the private autopsy showed Quantez Burks was beaten and likely died of a heart attack due to the beatings, Burks and Williams began a campaign to force officials to provide answers, they said.

The women showed up at public meetings and confronted elected officials, including Gov. Jim Justice, and asked for help.

Within days of Quantez Burks’ death, the West Virginia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had joined the family’s attorneys in calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation, and famed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump showed an interest, working with Georgia attorney Matthew Harman and Beckley attorney Stephen New.

The attorneys filed civil lawsuits and called on state officials to release video.

If Liberals are Allies of Black People Then Why Are They Filling Jails w/Blacks? Illinois Authorities Lock Up Blacks 7.5X More than Whites; Prison is 53% Black- yet Blacks are 14% of State Population

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From [HERE] Often referred to as the most segregated city in the U.S. by media outlets like WBEZ Chicago and 14East, Chicago, Illinois, is riddled with redlining and racial profiling. A May 2024 report by a team of United Nations experts outlined a history of racist police brutality in the Chicago area, while a New York University School of Medicine study found that Chicagoans in the predominantly white neighborhood of Streeterville live an average of 30 years longer than the residents of the largely Black neighborhood of Englewood. The Chicago Sun-Times and journalist Linda Villarosa have attributed this disparity to segregation, disinvestment, and exploitative government-sanctioned policies.

The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) notes that "With an incarceration rate of 433 per 100,000 residents [as of July 2024], Illinois locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country on earth." Most of the state's prisoners are Chicago residents. Meanwhile, Black Illinois residents "are incarcerated at a rate 7.5 times higher than white people." Although, Illinois is only 14.6% Black, Blacks make up the majority of all those locked up at 53%. According to PPI, 77% of people in Illinois jails have not been convicted of a crime, meaning they're legally innocent. Additionally, people on probation in Illinois are saddled with onerous rules and conditions they must follow every day or risk incarceration.“ [MORE]

“Racist” republicans aren’t responsible.

Illinois is a Democratic stronghold and one of the "Big Three" Democratic strongholds alongside California and New York. Politics and economic life in Illinois is dominated by elite liberals. That is, elite whites, particularly those in the Chicago metro area, control and own all major resources (such as banks, local mainstream media, major real estate, ports, utilities, large corporations and businesses, all major industry, major non-profits, unions, hospitals, etc) and own most major real estate and anything else of substantial material value. If elite white liberals really wanted to do something about decarceration and the unjust and vastly disproportionate numbers of Black people incarcerated during the past 30 years, wouldn’t they have done so by now? In fact, in every metro area where large Black populations live amongst elite white liberals, Black people are incarcerated in grossly disproportionately numbers. In such places Blacks are also stopped, searched, injured and killed by police in grossly disproportionately numbers. Yet, Blacks rarely question this phenomena and enthusiastically support elite white liberals as their great allies - supporting them and their causes automatically without critical examination in every election.

The Civic Federation reported a nearly $2 billion budget for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) for the 2024 fiscal year. It further noted that the CPD budget "has grown steadily over the years to keep up with increases in personnel costs. CPD appropriations within the Corporate Fund have increased by nearly 40 percent since 2018."

Report: Corporate America Would Rather Help Women Kill Their Babies Than Start a Family

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From [HERE] Nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies offer paid out-of-state travel for abortions, and many encourage options like egg freezing and in vitro fertilization in order to financially optimize their female employees.

A report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) shows that while some pro-family policies have been adopted at top corporations, the balance weighs heavily in favor of delaying or destroying families.

“In addition to offering praiseworthy parental-leave policies and assistance with the costs of adoption or child care, a significant number of these corporations have simultaneously begun promoting and incentivizing options such as surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, egg freezing, and travel for abortions — options that encourage female employees in particular to postpone or even forego motherhood in order to advance in their careers,” Alexandra DeSanctis, co-author of the study, told The Federalist. “Real support for women in the workplace would prioritize reincorporating female employees who have left the workforce for a time to care for children, offering greater flexibility to working fathers so they can be more present to their families, and making as much room as possible for mothers to take on flexible part-time or remote work.”

According to the report, at least 42 Fortune 100 companies have publicly touted their offer to pay for out-of-state abortion travel; two others “strongly suggest” they have the coverage. The report noted that not all companies are transparent with their offerings, and that the total number is “probably an undercount as coverage for abortion travel expenses is likely to become standard in many health-care plans” under general provisions.

The report notes that while companies might offer full coverage for abortion and travel, it will only offer a percentage of the cost for things like adoption. [MORE]

Gallup Polls Shows Overall Support for the Death Penalty Remains at Five-Decade Low as Opposition to the Death Penalty Grows

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From [HERE] According to October 2024 polling produced by Gallup, support for capital punishment remains at a five-decade low in the United States. Overall, Gallup found 53% of Americans in favor of the death penalty, but that number masks considerable differences between older and younger Americans. More than half of young adults aged 18 to 43 now oppose the death penalty. Among those expressing a political affiliation, support for the death penalty fell markedly in all groups and in all generations, with the exception of Republicans sixty and older, where support for the death penalty rose by 2%. Public support of the death penalty peaked in 1994, with 80% of Americans in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder, which roughly correlates with the peak in the number of executions in the United States. [MORE]

Can She Stand Her Ground After She Made an Unlawful Entry Into His Apartment? Civil Trial Begins for White Dallas Cop Convicted of Murdering Botham Jean

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From [HERE] A Dallas County jury will decide this week whether former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger is liable for using excessive force in a civil wrongful death trial over her killing of Botham Jean in 2018.

Guyger was convicted of murder in 2019 for shooting and killing her unarmed neighbor in his apartment, believing it was her own after she returned home from a shift. Guyger is currently serving a 10-year sentence at a state prison in Gatesville.

Botham Jean’s parents Alison and Bertrum Jean and sister Allissa Findley accused Guyger in a federal lawsuit filed the year of his death of using excessive force that resulted in the 26-year-old’s wrongful death and violated his constitutional rights.

“There existed no justification whatsoever for Defendant Guyger’s use of deadly force,” the suit reads. “[Botham] Jean was in his own apartment and was not committing a penal offense. [Botham] Jean was totally unaware of what was transpiring when Officer Guyger fired the deadly shots. [Botham] Jean was not attempting to harm anyone, nor did he appear menacing, threatening, or dangerous in any manner.”

The Jean family is suing for an undisclosed amount of money in damages for the pain and mental anguish Botham Jean suffered before his death as well as his parents’ mental anguish and loss of companionship after the death of their son. Botham Jean’s parents are also asking the jury to conclude Guyger should pay punitive and exemplary damages for their son’s death.

The lawsuit initially included the city of Dallas as a defendant, with Botham Jean’s family accusing the Dallas Police Department of showing a pattern of excessive force among its police force, failing to adequately train Guyger on the use of force and failing to discipline Guyger for a previous shooting incident while she was on the job.

The city was dismissed from the lawsuit last year after U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn ruled the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently prove their claims against the city and DPD. [MORE]

Attorney says Liberal Fed Prosecutors in NYC Raided Puff Daddy's Prison Cell and Took His Handwritten Notes to Lawyers, in Violation of his So-Called 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment Rights

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From [HERE] Now, the latest development in the lead up to the May 2025 trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is that his jail cell was reportedly raided by the feds, who are said to have seized his handwritten notes to his legal team.

Daily Mail reported:

“Prosecutors are in possession of attorney-client privileged material that was seized from the disgraced rapper’s jail cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.”

Combs attorney Marc Agnifilo says it’s privileged material that includes the rapper’s handwritten notes to his legal team concerning both defense witnesses and also defense strategies for his upcoming trial.

Agnifilo says the feds admit to possessing the material, and that ‘the seizure violates Diddy’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights’.

“’This search and seizure are in violation of Mr. Combs’ [constitutional] rights,’ Agnifilo said in documents viewed by Billboard.

‘The targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged materials – created in preparation for trial – is outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation.

This is a matter of grave concern that, most respectfully, must be addressed immediately, because the U.S. Attorney, and it seems the trial prosecutors, are currently in possession of privileged materials we request a full evidentiary hearing as soon as the Court can accommodate us’.”

Combs has been charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

He has pleaded not guilty to coercing and abusing women aided by associates and employees, and to silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

“The prosecution has accused Diddy of obstructing his sex trafficking case from behind bars by paying off witnesses and enlisting his own children in a ‘public relations campaign’.” [MORE]

A Newly Republished, Previously Censored Autopsy Study on COVID Shots Shows a ‘High Likelihood’ that COVID “Vaccines” Cause Death. Peer Reviewed Paper Finds 73% of Deaths Linked to COVID Injections

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CHD states: The largest COVID-19 vaccine autopsy study to date has been republished in a peer-reviewed journal after twice being censored. The study’s lead author said it provides “robust evidence” that the vaccines can cause death, meeting the FDA’s criteria for “an immediate market withdrawal.”

From [HERE] The largest COVID-19 vaccine autopsy study to date has been republished in a peer-reviewed journal — after twice being censored, according to Nicolas Hulscher, the paper’s lead author and an epidemiologist at the McCullough Foundation.

Science, Public Health Policy and the Law on Nov. 17 published the study, which had been previously withdrawn from Preprints with The Lancet and Forensic Science International.

Hulscher told The Defender the study’s republication signals a “pivotal victory for transparency and accountability in science.” It also marks “a significant setback” for actors in the biopharmaceutical complex and “their Academic Publishing Cartel,” Hulscher said.

Hulscher’s co-authors include Dr. Harvey Risch, Dr. Peter A. McCullough and Dr. William Makis.

Hulscher told The Defender the study provides “robust evidence that COVID-19 vaccines can cause death. This means that the FDA’s [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] criteria for a Class I recall have been fulfilled, warranting an immediate market withdrawal.”

The FDA defines a Class I product recall as “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Defender that the COVID-19 vaccine spike protein “can stay around in some people and continue to do inflammatory damage in any site where it gets to through the bloodstream.”

In ‘striking act of censorship’ publishers withdraw study, shut down debate

The study’s publication in Science, Public Health Policy and the Law is the latest twist in an ongoing saga as the authors have tried to get their research out to the public and scientific community, Hulscher wrote on Substack.

The study results were first made public on July 5, 2023, as a preprint with The Lancet on SSRN, an open-access research platform.

However, Preprints with The Lancet removed the study from the server within 24 hours, posting a statement that the study’s conclusions were “not supported by the study methodology,” The Daily Sceptic reported.

McCullough told The Epoch Times that the study was experiencing “hundreds of reviews per minute” before its removal.

73.9% of deaths reviewed by authors linked to COVID vaccines

As The Defender previously reported, the study authors did a systematic review of studies on autopsy findings following COVID-19 vaccination.

They first searched PubMed and ScienceDirect for all published autopsy and necropsy — another word for autopsy — reports related to COVID-19 vaccination in which the death occurred after vaccination.

They screened out 562 duplicate studies among the 678 studies initially identified in their search. Other papers were removed because they lacked information about vaccination status.

Ultimately, they evaluated 44 papers containing 325 autopsies and one necropsy case. Three physicians independently reviewed each case and adjudicated whether or not the COVID-19 shot was the direct cause or contributed significantly to the death reported.

They found 240 of the deaths (73.9%) were found to be “directly due to or significantly contributed to by COVID-19 vaccination.” The mean age for death was 70.4 years old.

Primary causes of death included sudden cardiac death, which happened in 35% of cases, pulmonary embolism and myocardial infarction, which occurred in 12.5% and 12% of the cases respectively.

Other causes included vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, myocarditis,multisystem inflammatory syndrome and cerebral hemorrhage.

Most deaths occurred within a week of the last shot.

The authors concluded that because the deaths were highly consistent with the known mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccine injury, it was highly likely the deaths were causally linked to the vaccine.

They said the findings “amplify” existing concerns about the vaccines, including those related to vaccine-induced myocarditis and myocardial infarction and the effects of the spike protein more broadly.

They also said the studies have implications for unanticipated deaths among vaccinated people with no previous illness. “We can infer that in such cases, death may have been caused by COVID-19 vaccination,” they wrote. [MORE]

Going Out With A Bang? While Dumbocrats Whine About Trump Appointments, Whoever is in Charge of the Blight House Has Approved Long-Range Attacks Inside Russia for Corpse Biden, May Trigger War

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ANTI-WAR states, If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, President Biden (or whoever is running his foreign policy) has, in the waning moments of his presidency, agreed finally to allow Ukraine to strike deep in Russian territory with US ATACMS missiles. Putin has warned that such a move could spark WWIII. Is Biden trying to “Trump-proof” his proxy war? Also today, the Pentagon fails its audit… again. [MORE]

President Joe Biden's administration has allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, two U.S. officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday, in a significant reversal of Washington's policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that it is an escalation Moscow has made clear risks nuclear war.

Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.

The move comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and follows months of pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow Ukraine's military to use U.S. weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border.

US officials told the paper that Ukraine can now use Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 190 miles, to strike Russian territory. The ATACMS are fired by US-made multiple rocket launch systems, including the HIMARS. Ukraine can only fire the HIMARS with coordinates provided by or confirmed by the US and its allies, meaning the US will now directly support strikes deep inside Russia.

The US officials said the ATACMS will likely initially be used to hit Russian troops fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Ukraine and the US have also said North Korean troops are deployed in Kursk. The US has said the North Korean troops are engaged in combat, but that hasn’t been confirmed by Moscow.

Earlier this year, President Biden gave Ukraine the greenlight to strike Russian border regions with US-provided weapons, including shorter-range rockets fired by the HIMARS. A few months later, Ukraine launched its invasion of Kursk, and Ukrainian officials began pushing hard for the US to support longer-range strikes inside Russia.

In response to those calls and comments from Western officials supporting the idea, Russian President Vladimir Putin said if NATO supported long-range strikes in Russia, it would put the Western military alliance “at war with Russia.”

Putin then ordered changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine that lowered the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. Under the new doctrine, an attack on Russia by a non-nuclear armed state that was supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack.

The Kremlin said the changes to the nuclear doctrine were meant as a message to the West. “This is a message that warns these countries of the consequences should they participate in an attack on our country by various means, not necessarily nuclear,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The US appeared to back down on supporting long-range strikes in Russia, but now the Biden administration is looking to escalate the proxy war as much as possible for its last few months in power. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on ending the proxy war, and the Biden team and officials in Ukraine fear he will just do that. However, some of Trump’s cabinet picks favor escalation in Ukraine, including his National Security Advisor, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL).

To Retrieve Allegedly Stolen Cosmetics, a Brentwood Race Soldier Told His K9 to Attack a Black Woman who Had Surrendered. Dog Ripped Open Her Skull for Over 1 Minute, Caused Brain Injury- Suit Settled

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From [HERE] A Black woman who was mauled by a police dog while being arrested more than four years ago in Brentwood will receive a nearly $1 million settlement from the city, according to her attorneys.

The agreement is a settlement for an excessive force lawsuit filed in connection with the gruesome episode.

At the time, Talmika Bates was wanted in connection with a shoplifting incident at a cosmetics store. Her attorneys said she was surrendering when then-Brentwood police Officer Ryan Rezentes allowed his German shepherd to bite and pull off her scalp.

Police body camera footage of the incident captures Bates screaming that she will surrender, but Rezentes does not release the dog and instead tells her to first come out of the bushes she is hiding in, according to her attorneys.

“By the time Rezentes pulls the dog off, Bates’ scalp is torn from her skull, big pieces of flesh are missing and she is bleeding profusely from the gaping wound,” the attorneys said.

Bates needed more than 200 stitches to repair the damage to her scalp, according to her attorneys. In addition, she has been diagnosed with “mild diffuse traumatic brain injury, mild post-traumatic brain syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

“We need to recognize that K-9s are dangerous, sometimes lethal, weapons that can cause life-altering damage or kill someone even when an officer is trying to get them to release and relent,” the woman’s attorney, Adanté Pointer, said in a statement.

“Here we saw a trained K-9 handler stand by while his dog mauled an unarmed young lady who was surrendering,” he said. “Using a dog to exact street justice doesn’t make the abuse of someone’s civil rights any better — and we want our police to do better.”

According to the complaint:

On February 10, 2020, at approximately 12:40 p.m., off-duty Brentwood Police Officer Ryan Rezentes and his Czech Republic trained German Sheppard “Marco” responded to a call for service to help locate three suspected shoplifters. Officer Rezentes deployed his police canine, “Marco,” and searched a field near Empire Way in Brentwood, CA.

Officer Rezentes’ was directed to take Marco and search a clump of bushes in the field. Without providing any warning or a reasonable opportunity to come out the bushes, Officer Rezentes commanded Marco to go into the bushes where the German Sheppard located Ms. Bates and immediately sunk its teeth into the unarmed woman’s head. Officer Rezentes ignored Ms. Bates’ chilling screams as he stood by and watched his canine viciously maul the young victim. Finally, the Officer began commanding the canine to “heel” in German. The dog ignored the commands while Ms. Bates continued to scream and beg for her life as the dog continued its attack. Nearly one minute later, Officer Rezentes once again command his dog to heel —yet again, the dog ignored his handler’s commands. Ms. Bates continued to cry out for her mother while pleading with the Officers to make the dog stop.

Officer Rezentes eventually came to the obvious conclusion that he had lost control of his attack animal and inexplicably yelled at Ms. Bates to “do something!” The Officer finally went into the bushes and physically removed the dog’s bite from Ms. Bates’ scalp. After over a minute of being attacked by the rogue animal, Ms. Bates was left laying on the ground mangled and paralyzed with fear.

Officers Rezentes and Lou yelled at Ms. Bates to stand up, an impossible task, as leaves and twigs scraped against her open head wounds. Eventually, Officer Lou helped Ms. Bates to her feet and placed her in handcuffs. The Officers berated Ms. Bates for running from police as if getting her head bit and mauled by a vicious canine was a lawful and appropriate punishment for her crimes.

As she emerged from the bushes, the assembled Officers could see large chunks of Ms. Bates’ scalp were ripped from her head, exposing bone and tissue. 15. In an apparent effort to cover-up this shocking display of police brutality, Officer Rezentes failed to include significant facts from his official police report detailing the encounter. In his report, Officer Rezentes claims that he did not have the benefit of a cover officer which prevented him from physically removing the dog from gnawing on Ms. Bates’ head. However, Brentwood Police Officer Lou’s body worn camera (BWC) proves this is patently false. In fact, the BWC clearly showed that he was standing next to Officer Rezentes with his gun drawn while reassuring Officer Rezentes, “Don't worry, I won’t shoot your dog.” Indeed, Officer Rezentes knowingly omitted the multiple failed attempts to get his canine to release its potentially deadly grip. Officer Rezentes failed to mention that Marco was out of control. 16. Following this tragic event, Ms. Bates was transported to John Muir Medical Center Walnut Creek for emergency medical care. Fortunately, surgeons were able to reattach her scalp however, Ms. Bates continues to suffer from headaches, memory loss and depression as a result of the horrific experience.[MORE]

In a statement, Brentwood police Chief Timothy Herbert (in photo) said the city agreed to settle the lawsuit to avoid further litigation and appeal costs. The settlement, he added, was “obtained while the matter was on appeal in the Ninth Circuit on the issue of qualified immunity for the involved officer,” who is now retired from the force.

Herbert said Bates was one of several suspects who allegedly committed felony retail theft at Ulta Beauty on Feb. 10, 2020, and then fled in a vehicle. After crashing into a police car, the suspects abandoned their vehicle in a field, according to the police chief.

Rezentes’ police dog found Bates hiding in dense shrubbery in a nearby wooded area.

“She did not obey officers’ instructions to come out, and the officers had no way of knowing whether she was armed,” Herbert said in the statement. “The canine made contact with Ms. Bates, who could not be seen through the thick bushes, and eventually the canine was removed and Ms. Bates was placed in handcuffs and arrested.”

Justice Department Opens Investigation into White Police Officer's Murder of Sonya Massey in Sangamon County - Shot Unarmed Black Woman in the Face as She Knelt Down with Her Hands Up w/o Provocation

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From [HERE] The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy of Sonya Massey, a woman who had called the police because she thought a prowler was outside her home and was killed after an exchange with responding officers over a pot of hot water.

In a letter to officials in Sangamon County, the Justice Department said that it had reviewed reports about the shooting of Ms. Massey, who was Black, and that they raised “serious concerns” about the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office’s interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities.

The Justice Department is also investigating the county and its central emergency dispatch system for possible violations of federal nondiscrimination policies, according to the letter, which a Sangamon County spokesman shared with The New York Times on Sunday.

The deputy, Sean Grayson, who is white, shot Ms. Massey, 36, inside her home in Springfield, Ill., on July 6.

The day before the shooting, Donna Massey, Ms. Massey’s mother, had called 911 and asked for help, saying that her daughter was having a mental breakdown and was vulnerable, according to call recordings that Sangamon County released in August.

The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office said that evidence showed that Mr. Grayson, who has been charged with murder and fired from the sheriff’s office, had not been “justified in his use of deadly force.”

Mr. Grayson was also charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. [MORE]

Black Man Killed in Faith Unit at Elmore is the 5th Alabama Prison Homicide Victim in 3 Months

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From [HERE] Jamal Wilson, 38, died on November 1 after he was assaulted at Elmore Correctional Facility in Elmore County, Alabama.

Mr. Wilson had served nearly 15 years of a 20-year sentence and would have become eligible for parole in April. At Elmore, he was designated as minimum custody and was living in a faith-based honor dormitory designatedfor individuals who have maintained a clear disciplinary record and are committed to participating in programs that develop “life skills, personal growth, and accountability with outcomes of positive personal, family, institutional, and community relationships.”

Witnesses reported to EJI that Mr. Wilson was assaulted near his bunk in the honor dorm on October 29. He was taken to the hospital but the Alabama Department of Corrections refused to allow his family to see him until after he died on November 1. 

Mr. Wilson is at least the fifth person killed in an Alabama prison in the past three months, and at least the fifth person killed at Elmore in the past two years.

Marquis Hatcher, 31, was killed in an assault in an Elmore dormitory on November 4, 2022. Stephone Marshall, 38, was stabbed to death in a dormitory at Elmore on May 16, 2023.  Rubyn Murray, 38, was beaten to death in a holding cell at Elmore on July 26, 2023, after correctional sergeant D’Marcus Sanders allowed other incarcerated people into the cell to assault him. Derrek Martin, also 38, was killed in his dormitory at Elmore on December 12, 2023, when witnesses told EJI the officer assigned to the dormitory was asleep and no staff responded to Mr. Martin’s cries for help.

The number of homicides in Alabama’s prisons is likely higher. A lack of supervision by officers and the absence of video monitoring means that many assaults and deaths are unobserved, and family members frequently report they are unable to get any information from the Department of Corrections about what happened to their loved ones. [MORE]

New DPI Report Connects Modern Use of Federal Death Penalty to its Racially Biased History

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From [HERE] On Thursday, the Death Penalty Information Center (“DPI”) released a new report detailing the troubling racial history of the federal death penalty. Fool’s Gold: How the Federal Death Penalty Has Perpetuated Racially Discriminatory Practices Throughout History documents how racial discrimination has been a throughline in the application of the federal death penalty since the 1800s. The report explains that, despite often being mischaracterized as the “gold standard” of the death penalty, the same systemic problems of racial bias, ineffective counsel, and arbitrariness that exist in state level death penalty systems are also found in   the federal death penalty system.  

DPI’s review of modern statistics reveals the continuing legacy of racial disparities in federal death prosecutions and sentencing. 73% of all cases selected for death penalty prosecution between 1989 and June 2024 have been authorized for non-white defendants. Furthermore, a study of these modern statistics found a correlation between cases with white female victims and the likelihood of a defendant receiving a death sentence. This is consistent with many state-level reports detailing the profound effect of the race of victim bias, which is one of the most persistent forms of racial bias found in the death penalty. 

Black and Native American people were disproportionately subject to federal executions for over a century. Between the start of the Civil War and the turn of the century, the majority of people federally executed were Native Americans, many of whom were punished for resisting colonization. Black Americans were also disproportionately subject to the federal death penalty during the Reconstruction era; there was a 488% increase in the number of Black people executed after the Civil War. Both groups were often subject to mass executions (defined as three or more executions at once) after being tried based on circumstantial evidence with poor legal representation. [MORE]

Hypocritical, Lawless Elite Liberals Ignore PA Supreme Court, Count Ballots Missing Signatures

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From [HERE] and [HERE] Before the Nov. 5 election, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that provisional ballots must be signed in two required places and that mail-in votes must be dated. Yet elected Democratic officials in Philadelphia and three other counties — Bucks, Centre and Montgomery — voted this week to defy these and other court decisions at the request of lawyers for Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who trails GOP challenger Dave McCormick by about 24,000 votes, with almost all of the roughly 7 million ballots cast having been counted. These Democrats’ decisions will almost certainly be overturned on appeal, but the mere attempt to defy judicial rulings is corrosive to democracy and invites similar behavior in future elections.

Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, offered this breathtaking rationalization on Thursday: “I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” she said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”

Democrats would surely protest if a Republican commissioner made the same statement to justify tipping the scales for their party’s Senate nominee — and they would be right. Elections need rules, established in advance of the voting, and those rules must be applied equally and consistently. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, by the way, includes five justices elected in partisan elections as Democrats and just two elected as Republicans. Even if that partisan balance were reversed, however, the court’s authority would be equally legitimate.

Counting mail and provisional ballots has been a contentious issue in Pennsylvania since the pandemic-year election of 2020. Though multiple lower courts have ruled that it’s unconstitutional or illegal not to count ballots lacking formally required signatures or dates, the state Supreme Court blocked those decisions from going into effect before Nov. 5 — most recently on Nov. 1. Democrats argue that they’re refusing to let constituents be deprived of their constitutional right to vote over an “immaterial” issue, as Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija put it during a public meeting. His frustration is understandable, to a point. Votes are being discarded over seemingly mundane clerical errors. The Casey campaign notes that, two years ago, Mr. McCormick sued for an order to count undated or misdated mail ballots during his hard-fought GOP primary battle with Mehmet Oz (who eventually won the nomination), but now he’s arguing they should be invalid. Back then, it says, the McCormick campaign attacked the requirements it now defends as “games of ‘gotcha.’”

There’s hypocrisy on both sides of this dispute — this is politics, after all — but it is irrelevant to the legal merits. Mr. Makhija and other county officials do not get to decide whether a legal requirement is “material” and must be followed. Courts do. And they have spoken clearly.

Mr. Casey has almost certainly lost this race. The Associated Press called it for Mr. McCormick on Nov. 7. Mr. Casey’s deficit still appears insurmountable. The three-term incumbent sees it differently and has every right to plead his case in court. State law also entitles Mr. Casey to a statewide recount because Mr. McCormick’s margin of victory is smaller than half a percentage point, though not by much. A recount is unlikely to change the outcome.