Target Store Closings Show Limits of Pledge to Black Communities

2359 Druid Hill Ave in Baltimore MD. Do you think Black people own these houses?

From [HERE] When Target announced that it was opening a store in Mondawmin, a predominantly Black neighborhood in this city struggling with crime and poverty, it seemed like a ticket to a turnaround.

And from the start, it was a practical success and a point of community pride. The store, which opened in 2008, carried groceries, operated a pharmacy and had a Starbucks cafe, the only one in this part of Baltimore’s west side.

People came from across the city to shop there, helping to soften the Mondawmin area’s reputation for crime and the looting that followed protests over the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured while in city police custody. As an employer, Target seemed to cater to the community’s needs, making a point of hiring Black men and providing an office in the store for a social worker to support the staff. Elijah Cummings, the congressman from Baltimore, was known to shop there.

But in February 2018, with almost no warning or explanation, Target closed the store.

Residents, especially those without cars, lost a convenient place to shop for quality goods. And a marker of the community’s self-worth was suddenly taken away.

“To open a store like Target in an African American neighborhood gave this area legitimacy,” said the Rev. Frank Lance, pastor of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in Mondawmin. “When the store closed, it was like saying, ‘You are not worthy after all.’”

Three years later, the store remains empty, and its closing still stings Mondawmin residents and Baltimore officials, who had expected the store to help their revitalization efforts in the area.

Many national retailers have faced criticism in the past for failing to open in Black and poor communities, creating food deserts or a lack of access to quality goods. In Mondawmin, Target invested in a struggling area, but the outcome was almost more disheartening: The company ultimately decided that, despite its social goals, the store wasn’t financially successful enough to keep open.

The closing is a sobering reminder of the realities of capitalism in a moment when corporations are making promises to support Black Americans, saying their commitment to racial equity is stronger than ever.

This year, Target made a highly public pledge to help Black communities nationally in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in the retailer’s home city of Minneapolis, vowing to spend $2 billion with Black-owned vendors and other businesses.

In a statement in response to questions about the Mondawmin location, a Target spokeswoman said closing a store was a “last resort” and happened only after “it’s had a consistent history of underperformance, following several years of investments to help it succeed.”

The company pointed out that it has rebuilt and revamped stores in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Oakland, Calif., that were damaged during protests last summer, and that it was opening stores in other diverse communities across the country.

In many of these new and refurbished stores, “we’ve seen early progress” in their performance, the spokeswoman said. She said this was part of the company’s “long-term strategy,” which involved “listening to local guests and offering experiences that are welcoming and better represent their needs.”

Like other big-box retailers, Target has closed numerous stores over the past few years, in both white and Black areas, as it has built out a wildly successful e-commerce business and cut other expenses.

But as in Mondawmin, closings in some of those Black neighborhoods have hit their communities particularly hard.

In 2019, Target shut two stores in predominantly Black neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side as the company made plans to build a new store on the wealthier and mostly white North Side.

“They were like a thief in the night,” said Carrie Austin, who has represented parts of the South Side on the City Council for 27 years. “They were here one day and then, boom, gone the next.”

Justice Still Random, Police Still Uncontrollable as New Do-Gooder DA Does Nothing After LA CTY Cops Barbaric Assault on a Defenseless Black Man who Begged for His Life; Face Disfigured, Blinded

ACCORDING TO FUNKTIONARY: THE DO-GOODERS - THAT MOST DANGEROUS TRIBE OF PSEUDO-MORALISTS ARMED WITH IGNORANCE AND GOLDEN RULERS. THE DO-GOODERS ABSENCE OF THE TRUE NATURE OF SELF (THE T AM,') STRENGTHEN ALL THE FORCES OF ILLUSION AND COLLUSION AND ENSURE THE CONTINUITY TO THE REALM OF UNREALITY FOR THE SLEEP-WALKING MASSES. "THE WORLD SUFFERS MOST FROM THE DISINTERESTED TYRANNY OF ITS WELL-WISHER." -RABINATH TAGORE. (SEE: STATUS-QUOTICIANS & THE GOLDEN RULE).

reformers - naive politicians. They came to do good and stayed to do well. Reformers themselves get reformed into the structure, consciousness and content of the dominant exploitative system--and thus become the system. (See: Revolution) [MORE]

From [HERE] At a press conference this week Pastor Nathaniel Martin Los Angeles chapter president of NAN called for the arrest and prosecution of the eight deputies who brutally beat Christopher Bailey. He was joined by long time civil rights activist and NAN member Najee Ali who is serving as a spokesman for Bailey.

Recently-surfaced cellphone video of the aftermath of the incident shows Bailey being lifted into an ambulance, with someone heard saying "He doesn't even look human."

"He sustained 64 to 86 total body and face hits. He was pummeled in the face approximately 35 to 44 times," civil rights attorney Toni Jaramilla said during the news conference.

Attorneys for Christopher Bailey last Monday announced a civil rights lawsuit against the department and the seven deputies involved in the alleged May 2020 unprovoked beating by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

One of Bailey’s attorneys, Brian Dunn, said that after the incident, the L.A. County district attorney’s office, then under Jackie Lacey, charged Bailey with three felony counts of resisting arrest, as well as two marijuana-related misdemeanors. The felony charges, as well as one of the misdemeanors, were dropped last week. Bailey pleaded no contest to and was found guilty of the other misdemeanor and a vehicle code violation.

Toni Jaramilla, another lawyer for Bailey, dismissed an allegation — which she said is included in a Sheriff’s Department report about the incident — that Bailey moved his elbow backward when he was out of the car and struck one of the deputies in the head.

Bailey “complied with all directives,” Jaramilla said. The lawsuit says Bailey never attempted to strike a deputy with any part of his body.

DEPUTY KEVIN WALKER

According to the complaint LA County Sheriff’s Deputies Kevin Walker, Shawn Groves, Luis Cano, Jackson Hill, Joshua Parga, and Matthew Seno brutally assaulted him.

Jaramilla said Bailey’s defense team is also calling for the district attorney’s office to file criminal charges against the deputies. However, none of the cops involved have been charged.

“We are aware of the case and are reviewing the allegations,” said Alex Bastian, a special advisor to Dist. Atty. George Gascón.

Sounds like Bullshit. Along with a chorus of played out Showcase Blacks like John Legend [see video below] this puppetician begged Blacks and Latinos to vote for him so he can ‘hold cops accountable.’ SO, it would seem axiomatic that the senseless beating of a law abiding Black citizen by cops after a de minimis traffic stop in the middle of the night during COVID shelter in place orders in 5/20 would be some Day one type of shit to do. Persons who are truly woke overstand that authority, the so-called right of certain persons to forcibly control others, the right to rule over other people is not reformable and the belief in such nonsense, [the statist belief in having masters] is a curse upon mankind. But we are free to indulge in illusions and go on endless searches to find better masters.

CAMPAIGN IN THE ASS AD CALLED ‘WAKE UP” DESIGNED TO KEEP THE SLEEP WALKING VOTARY ASLEEP! IF “the progressive reformer” can‘t defend the rights of Black people to go back and forth to work on an empty public street without getting brutally assaulted by cops then who is this so-called “public servant” serving? At least with Black Strawboss Jackie Lacey, the former DA Gascon defeated, citizens had no reasonable expectation that cops would be held accountable for crimes committed against them. As explained by DOC Blynd, “Reform is always in the service of the status quo and the politician: it serves the privilege of the past not the promise of the future. Reform creates hypocrisy as a matter of course.“ Hopefully, people will “wake up” to this reality.

In a statement, the Sheriff’s Department declined to answer questions about the alleged incident and internal investigations into the allegations. LASD is not commenting on the incident, saying they can’t under "legal counsel". As of this writing, the LASD has not said whether they are investigating, if the deputies are on leave, or if there is a video from their own cameras. The fact that a body camera of the incident has not been released or even discussed is unusual, considering the changes that have been touted, after a year of protests and demands for transparency from the department. [It is not far-fetched or conspiratorial to assume that public video [body cam] must exist because usually under similar circumstances the police flatly state no such video exists.]

“All use-of-force incidents which result in injury are unfortunate,” the statement said. “Due to this pending litigation and under advice of counsel, we are unable to offer further details at this time.”

The LA Times was unable to reach attorneys for the deputies accused of being involved in the beating. The Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a question about the current employment status of the deputies.

During the pandemic lockdown on May 4, 2020, Bailey was stopped by Los Angeles County deputies on Prairie Avenue, right off East Hardy Street in Inglewood, just off a few blocks from his home at about 2 a.m for “straddling the lane.” Apparently there was no other traffic or pedestrians on the street or affected by his alleged driving. He was on his way home for work from his job at a private company that sorts mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Bailey was wearing a uniform and had a letter on his dashboard from his employer explaining he was an essential worker. [MORE]

The complaint states:

Shortly after pulling Mr. Bailey over, and without warning, Deputies Walker and Groves proceeded to violently drag Mr. Bailey, who was completely unarmed, out of his vehicle, and, without warning, proceeded to assault and batter Plaintiff by acts which included, but were not limited to, repeatedly and severely punching Plaintiff multiple times in his face, and thereafter employing unreasonable neck restraint procedures against Mr. Bailey, which included, but were not limited to, Deputy Groves' application of a choke hold against Plaintiff while Deputy Walker was in the process of punching him.

While Deputies Walker and Groves were in the process of beating Mr. Bailey they were soon joined by Deputies Luis Cano, Jackson Hill, Joshua Parga, and Matthew Seno, who, alongside Deputies Walker and Groves, proceeded to assault and batter Mr. Bailey continuously and in a protracted fashion over a period of several minutes, by acts which included, but were not limited to, repeatedly and continuously punching Mr. Bailey's face, abdomen, and upper back with closed fists, repeatedly kicking and inflicting knee strikes against Mr. Bailey while he lay defenseless on the ground, and repeatedly tasing Mr. Bailey, and repeatedly employing unreasonable restraint maneuvers against Mr. Bailey. Despite the fact that Mr. Bailey was immediately knocked to the ground, completely unarmed, and not striking, kicking, or assaulting any deputy in any manner, this protracted assault and battery inflicted by the simultaneous efforts of Deputies Kevin Walker, Shawn Groves, Luis Cano, Jackson Hill, Josua Parga, and Matthew Seno against Mr. Bailey lasted for a period of several minutes, during which time Mr. Bailey lay defenseless and on the ground, at times pleading for his life.

Throughout the entire course of the protracted beating described herein, Mr. Bailey remained completely unarmed, with nothing in hands, and nothing in his pockets. At no time during the course of these events did Mr. Bailey strike or attempt to inflict any injury against any deputy with any part of his body, or in any manner whatsoever. Almost immediately after being dragged out of his vehicle, Mr. Bailey lay defenseless on the ground, and remained passive and defenseless during the protracted and continuous beating described herein.

As a result of the severe and sustained beating inflicted by Defendant Deputies Kevin Walker, Shawn Groves, Luis Cano, Jackson Hill, Josua Parga, and Matthew Seno (hereinafter "Defendant Deputies"), Plaintiff Christopher Bailey (hereinafter "Plaintiff') suffered many serious physical injuries, including permanent and irreparable facial and eye injuries, permanent vision loss, and has been forced to undergo multiple facial reconstruction surgeries.

In an interview, Bailey said the assault has forced him to take a leave from his job at a private company that sorts mail for the U.S. Postal Service.

Bailey’s attorneys provided to The LA Times video recorded by a bystander, which they said shows Bailey, his face bleeding and eyes swollen, being lifted into an ambulance in the aftermath of the incident.

“He doesn’t even look human,” someone can be heard saying on the video. Later, a deputy is seen walking to his patrol car with what appear to be large patches of blood on his shirt and bystanders shouting at him.

The lawsuit seeks damages for battery, negligence and deprivations of civil rights based on excessive and unreasonable force. Jaramilla said Bailey’s defense team is calling for the district attorney’s office to file criminal charges against the deputies.

Under its New Policy the Portland Police Will "Cut Back" on Minor Traffic Stops b/c Cops are Unable to Control Their Limitless Authority to Stop and Seize the Small Number of Blacks Living There (9%)

From [HERE] Police in Portland, Oregon, are cutting back on pursuing minor traffic offenses in an effort to make “safety safer and more equitable,” according to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a move that also is the result of the police bureau’s limited staffing and resources.

On Tuesday June 22, Wheeler, who is also the city’s police commissioner, announced that low-level traffic violations, such as expired tags, are now at the bottom of the list of infractions for the police department of Oregon’s largest city. He noted that officers still reserved the right to act if the minor offense presents immediate danger, like if a driver is on the road with broken headlights at night.

The new orders also include requiring recorded consent of a driver before performing any searches and a clear indication of their right to refuse said search.

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell has instructed his officers to not pull citizens over for “less serious, non-moving violations” and instead focus on those who are making the road unsafe for others, including anyone driving under the influence and reckless drivers.

The mayor stated that the changes are the city’s response to their findings of disproportionate statistics, which showed Black drivers accounted for 18 percent of traffic stops in the city, while Black people only make up six percent of the city’s population. In 2019, Portland’s Black citizens made up nearly 23 percent of stops for non-moving violations compared to 62 percent of white people.

“I don’t want to over promise the results on the disparities because I’m not sure what those will be,” said Lovell. “What I think what’s important here is that we’re willing to try this. We’re willing to ask officers to do it and look at the data and see if it’s having an impact on safety, if it’s having an impact on disparities and then making appropriate judgements from there.”

General says Trump Told Military/Police to “Beat the Fuck Out of" BLM Protesters [contrary to Statist Belief He Won't Be Held Accountable b/c Masters Don't Serve Subjects in a System of Authority]

IDIOT TRUMP NEVER WON ANY ELECTION. HE IS A FUCKING FRAUD AND LIVING PROOF THAT WHITE SUPREMACY IS FANTASY FOR CLOWNS. THE 2016 ELECTION WAS STOLEN, MEANING HE ALSO LOST THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE BUT RIGGED THE RESULTS WITH VOTER PURGES OF NON-WHITE VOTERS.

Greg Palast’s previous research demonstrated that Trump stole the 2016 using the Interstate Crosscheck program. The program is a voter erasing system in which millions of Black, Latino & Asian voters were removed from voter rolls in swing states by a so-called "voter fraud" program created by the GOP. Thirty (30) states participated in Interstate Crosscheck. Palast calls Crosscheck the "Great White Hope Machine."  PALAST’S work on the 2016 election theft was corroborated by a study by professors from Yale, Harvard, Stanford and U Penn. Dependent media and stoopid, GULLIBLE dems looked the other way. [MORE] AT ANY RATE MAKING THE BLACK VOTE SO ILLUSORY MAKES IT SEEM MORE VALUABLE TO BLACKS THAN IT IS. VOTING IS A TRICK BAG ITSELF. Larkin Rose States:

“Among those who vote Democrat or Republican – or for any other party – no one recognizes the underlying problem, and as a result, no one ever gets any closer to a solution. They remain slaves, because their thoughts and discussions are limited to the pointless question of who should be their master. They never consider – and dare not allow themselves to consider – the possibility that they should have no master at all. As a result, they focus entirely on political action of one kind or another, But the foundation of all political action is the belief in “authority,” which is the problem itself So the efforts of statists are, and always will be, doomed to fail.

FUNKTIONARY EXPLAINS

Statism - the belief "citizens"' and "states" exist and the memetic thought patterns supporting such beliefs. 2) the religion of oppression and domination coupled with the science of exploitation and sociopathic control. 3) the opiate of the so-called Elites. 4) a philosophy that idealizes majority rule gang force (authority) over individual authenticity (autonomy). 5) servitude over liberty and statutes over humanity. So long as "states"' are viewed and accepted as natural, normal, reality-based and inevitable, they will continue to violently abstract humans into extinction. Statism is mind control; people both unwillingly and willingly surrender their property (labor being one's most inviolable property) to men and women pretending to be "governors,"" "commissioners," and "presidents" etc. because they believe they are "citizens" of a so-called "state" and must pay their proverbial "fair share" to support such abstractions or fictions of law. [MORE]

From [HERE] Gen Mark Milley, the top US military leader, resisted Donald Trump’s demands that his forces “crack skulls” and “beat the fuck out” of protesters marching against police brutality and structural racism, according to a much-trailed new book.

“Just shoot them,” the president reportedly said.

CNN reported the latest excerpts from Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost by Michael Bender, a Wall Street Journal reporter. The book will be published in August.

This week, Milley made headlines with remarks before a congressional committee about critical race theory, an academic discipline that explores racism in American law and institutions that has been targeted by Republicans, in relation to the US army and its academy at West Point.

“I want to understand white rage,” the general said, “and I’m white, and I want to understand it.”

When Trump was in power, Milley had to deal repeatedly with presidential rage.

According to CNN, Trump highlighted footage of confrontations between law enforcement officers and protesters and said: “That’s how you’re supposed to handle these people. Crack their skulls!”

Trump also reportedly told law enforcement and military leaders he wanted the military to “beat the fuck out” of protesters and said: “Just shoot them.”

Bender reports that in the face of opposition from Milley and the then attorney general, William Barr, Trump said: “Well, shoot them in the leg – or maybe the foot. But be hard on them!”

Milley is also reported to have told Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser, to “shut the fuck up”, after Miller said “cities are burning” amid protests prompted by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis last May.

Throughout a tense summer, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a historic piece of legislation regarding domestic unrest, but ultimately did not do so.

Bender reports that at one stage Milley pointed at a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president who led the Union to victory in the civil war, and told Trump: “That guy had an insurrection. What we have, Mr President, is a protest.”

One such protest, in Lafayette Square outside the White House last June, was forcibly and controversially cleared before Trump posed for pictures outside a historic church.

Milley apologised for accompanying Trump on his own march.

“As many of you saw the results of the photograph of me in Lafayette Square last week, that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society,” he told students at National Defense University.

“I should not have been there. My presence in that moment, and in that environment, created the perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

On Capitol Hill this week, Milley discussed the deadly 6 January attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn his election defeat, which Congress deemed an insurrection when it impeached Trump for inciting it.

“What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the constitution of the United States of America?” Milley asked. “What caused that? I want to find that out. I want to maintain an open mind here.”

COVID "Socialist Distancing" Has Lowered the Life Expectancy of Black People to 71.5 Yrs, Increasing the Gap w/Whites [77.6 yrs]. Still, the "White Race," Unable to Produce Color, Continues to Decline

As stated by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, white people are vulnerable to their sense of numerical inadequacy. Most white people consciously or subconsciously understand the following;

White plus Black equals Colored.

White plus Brown equals Colored.

White plus Yellow equals Colored.

The declining white population is not a new or reversible trend - the decline has only quickened. Although rarely discussed, white people are genetic recessive. It is scientific fact that Black is a genetically dominant trait. Whenever Black mixes with White, which is a recessive genetic trait, Black will dominate. In general, this means "whites" cannot reproduce a white child when they have sexual relations with non-whites. The so-called white "race" can and eventually will be replaced or "genetically annihilated" through such assimilation or social intermixing with non-whites. As white populations have been consistently declining, Black and Brown populations are surging. And this scares some racists to death, CAUSING THEM TO ACT OUT GENOCIDALLY AND genthanasiastically [MORE]

The LA Times states Americans were in trouble, with an average life expectancy that had sunk below that of any other affluent country.

Now, new research finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has delivered another crushing blow to longevity in the United States. In just two years, the pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 Americans has slashed close to two years off the average life expectancy.

An American born in 2018 could expect to live 78.7 years, on average. At the end of 2020, that number had fallen to 76.9 years, according to research published this week in the medical journal BMJ.

That precipitous drop — more than eight times steeper than in any other country in the U.S.’ economic league — now puts American life spans on par with those seen in Peru, Colombia, Chile and Thailand. Not since World War II have Americans experienced such a steep dive in longevity.

But those averages hide an even more shocking reality in communities of color. The pandemic’s power to shorten the lives of Black and brown people in the U.S. has been even more striking.

In fact, in just one year, the pandemic has wiped out two decades of progress made by Black Americans in narrowing a longevity gap with white Americans. 

In 2018, a Black American had an average life span of 74.7 years. But by the end of 2020, the life expectancy of a Black American had dropped by more than three years, to 71.5 years. Meanwhile, the average life span for white Americans dropped from 78.6 years to 77.3 years.

In other words, the gap between Black and white Americans grew from 3.9 years to 5.8 years.

For Latino Americans, the pandemic’s damage has cut even more deeply. Despite their higher rates of poverty and hardship, U.S. residents who identify as Latino have historically lived close to three years longer, on average, than non-Hispanic whites.

But the pandemic’s outsized toll in Latino communities, especially among working-age adults, has all but wiped out that advantage.

In 2018, a Latino resident of the United States could expect to live 81.8 years. By 2020, that had sunk to 78 years.

“Look at the massive disproportionality and the profundity of the insult shown here,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, a Northwestern University cardiologist who has called on colleagues to address racial and ethnic inequities in medicine. “We have to reengineer our societies and healthcare for better opportunity, and for greater health equity. If we had to roll up our sleeves before, now we have to fundamentally start over.”

In an editorial published alongside the new research, UC Berkeley demographer Magali Barbieri wrote that the pandemic has “operated as a magnifier of already existing vulnerabilities within the U.S. population.”

The United States spends by far the most on healthcare of any high-income country — a whopping 17% of its gross domestic product, Barbieri wrote. But even that won’t fix the inequities made plain by the new life expectancy numbers if leaders fail to acknowledge and address the needs of vulnerable Americans, she wrote.

Computing figures for average life expectancy at birth may seem like a sterile statistical exercise. But they are an important measure of a nation’s health. In addition to revealing health inequities within a given country, they offer a standard yardstick by which to compare the health of people in different countries.

Childhood vaccination, better pregnancy care and wider use of disease-preventing treatments will nudge a country’s life expectancies upward. War, famine, disease and inefficient use of medical resources will drive them downward. Life span inequities within a country will drag down a country’s average and expose systemic discrimination and societal fissures.

The paper’s senior author, Dr. Steven Woolf, said he is often challenged to understand why the world’s wealthiest country — a country that quickly produced a trio of COVID-19 vaccines that are among the world’s most powerful — has fared so poorly in limiting the pandemic’s toll.

“It’s a vivid paradox,” Woolf said. “We really do a fantastic job in developing cutting-edge medications and technologies in healthcare, but a pretty lousy job of distributing them fairly. The same thing happens with diabetes, hypertension, and even maternal and child health. ... We have a fundamental problem with providing healthcare and getting it out to the people who need it most.”

UNDECEIVER DR. AMOS WILSON EXPLAINED, “THE BANE OF THE AFRICAN COMMUNITY IS THE EXPLOITATIVE WHITE AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHICH PROJECTS A SO-CALLED CIVILIZED, FRATERNAL, EGALITARIAN, LIBERAL FACE WHILE CONCURRENTLY SEEKING TO MAINTAIN WHITE SUPREMACY. THIS MEANS THAT THE WHITE AMERICAN COMMUNITY MUST MAINTAIN AFRICAN SUBORDINATION WHILE NOT APPEARING TO DO SO. IT MUST CANNIBALISTICALLY SACRIFICE THE VITALITY, AUTONOMY, AND IF NEED BE, THE LIFE OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHILE POSING AS ITS BENEFACTOR AND SAVIOR. IT PLEADS INNOCENCE WHILE WASHING ITS HANDS OF THE BLOOD OF AFRICAN PEOPLE. THIS DUPLICITOUS TASK CAN ONLY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY MAKING IT APPEAR THAT THE AFRICAN COMMUNITY IS DYING OF NATURAL CAUSES, NOT OF AN INGENIOUS ATTEMPT ON THE PART OF THE WHITE AMERICAN COMMUNITY TO STRANGLE IT TO DEATH.” [MORE]

PHFREEDOM FIGHTER DR. BLYND DEFINES: SOCIALIST DISTANCING – THE EVER-EXPANDING AND INCREASING DISPARITY BETWEEN THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS UNTIL THE SOCIALIST (I.E., MONOPOLY CAPITALIST) WELFARE STATE BECOMES THE FAREWELL STATE—FAREWELL TO YOUR RIGHTS, YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND EVEN YOUR LIFE THROUGH PLANDEMICS (CORONAVIRUS), $CAMDEMICS (CORPORATE STATE TURNED SURVEILLANCE AND NANNY STATE), 5G BIO-WEAPONIZED EUGENICS, STARVATION, VACCINATIONS, CIVIL UNREST, GENOCIDE AND OTHER NEFARIOUS LWO (LAST WORLD ORDER) ACTIVITIES THAT WILL GREATLY REDUCE THE WORLD’S POPULATION BY 2030. (SEE: PLANDEMIC, $CAMDEMIC, VACCINES, CORONAVIRUS, THE FAREWELL STATE & COVERT-19) [MORE]

ACCORDING TO UNDECEIVER ISHMAEL REED: GENTHANASIA - THE NON-VIOLENT WEEDING OUT OF UNDESIRABLES OR THE SLOW MOTION EXTERMINATION OF NON-WHITE PEOPLE.[MORE]

COVID "Socialist Distancing" Has Lowered the Life Expectancy of Black People to 71.5 Yrs, Increasing the Gap w/Whites [77.6 yrs]. Still, the "White Race," Unable to Produce Color, Continues to Decline

As stated by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, white people are vulnerable to their sense of numerical inadequacy. Most white people consciously or subconsciously understand the following;

White plus Black equals Colored.

White plus Brown equals Colored.

White plus Yellow equals Colored.

The declining white population is not a new or reversible trend - the decline has only quickened. Although rarely discussed, white people are genetic recessive. It is scientific fact that Black is a genetically dominant trait. Whenever Black mixes with White, which is a recessive genetic trait, Black will dominate. In general, this means "whites" cannot reproduce a white child when they have sexual relations with non-whites. The so-called white "race" can and eventually will be replaced or "genetically annihilated" through such assimilation or social intermixing with non-whites. As white populations have been consistently declining, Black and Brown populations are surging. And this scares some racists to death, CAUSING THEM TO ACT OUT GENOCIDALLY AND genthanasiastically [MORE]

The LA Times states Americans were in trouble, with an average life expectancy that had sunk below that of any other affluent country.

Now, new research finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has delivered another crushing blow to longevity in the United States. In just two years, the pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 Americans has slashed close to two years off the average life expectancy.

An American born in 2018 could expect to live 78.7 years, on average. At the end of 2020, that number had fallen to 76.9 years, according to research published this week in the medical journal BMJ.

That precipitous drop — more than eight times steeper than in any other country in the U.S.’ economic league — now puts American life spans on par with those seen in Peru, Colombia, Chile and Thailand. Not since World War II have Americans experienced such a steep dive in longevity.

But those averages hide an even more shocking reality in communities of color. The pandemic’s power to shorten the lives of Black and brown people in the U.S. has been even more striking.

In fact, in just one year, the pandemic has wiped out two decades of progress made by Black Americans in narrowing a longevity gap with white Americans. 

In 2018, a Black American had an average life span of 74.7 years. But by the end of 2020, the life expectancy of a Black American had dropped by more than three years, to 71.5 years. Meanwhile, the average life span for white Americans dropped from 78.6 years to 77.3 years.

In other words, the gap between Black and white Americans grew from 3.9 years to 5.8 years.

For Latino Americans, the pandemic’s damage has cut even more deeply. Despite their higher rates of poverty and hardship, U.S. residents who identify as Latino have historically lived close to three years longer, on average, than non-Hispanic whites.

But the pandemic’s outsized toll in Latino communities, especially among working-age adults, has all but wiped out that advantage.

In 2018, a Latino resident of the United States could expect to live 81.8 years. By 2020, that had sunk to 78 years.

“Look at the massive disproportionality and the profundity of the insult shown here,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, a Northwestern University cardiologist who has called on colleagues to address racial and ethnic inequities in medicine. “We have to reengineer our societies and healthcare for better opportunity, and for greater health equity. If we had to roll up our sleeves before, now we have to fundamentally start over.”

In an editorial published alongside the new research, UC Berkeley demographer Magali Barbieri wrote that the pandemic has “operated as a magnifier of already existing vulnerabilities within the U.S. population.”

The United States spends by far the most on healthcare of any high-income country — a whopping 17% of its gross domestic product, Barbieri wrote. But even that won’t fix the inequities made plain by the new life expectancy numbers if leaders fail to acknowledge and address the needs of vulnerable Americans, she wrote.

Computing figures for average life expectancy at birth may seem like a sterile statistical exercise. But they are an important measure of a nation’s health. In addition to revealing health inequities within a given country, they offer a standard yardstick by which to compare the health of people in different countries.

Childhood vaccination, better pregnancy care and wider use of disease-preventing treatments will nudge a country’s life expectancies upward. War, famine, disease and inefficient use of medical resources will drive them downward. Life span inequities within a country will drag down a country’s average and expose systemic discrimination and societal fissures.

The paper’s senior author, Dr. Steven Woolf, said he is often challenged to understand why the world’s wealthiest country — a country that quickly produced a trio of COVID-19 vaccines that are among the world’s most powerful — has fared so poorly in limiting the pandemic’s toll.

“It’s a vivid paradox,” Woolf said. “We really do a fantastic job in developing cutting-edge medications and technologies in healthcare, but a pretty lousy job of distributing them fairly. The same thing happens with diabetes, hypertension, and even maternal and child health. ... We have a fundamental problem with providing healthcare and getting it out to the people who need it most.”

UNDECEIVER DR. AMOS WILSON EXPLAINED, “THE BANE OF THE AFRICAN COMMUNITY IS THE EXPLOITATIVE WHITE AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHICH PROJECTS A SO-CALLED CIVILIZED, FRATERNAL, EGALITARIAN, LIBERAL FACE WHILE CONCURRENTLY SEEKING TO MAINTAIN WHITE SUPREMACY. THIS MEANS THAT THE WHITE AMERICAN COMMUNITY MUST MAINTAIN AFRICAN SUBORDINATION WHILE NOT APPEARING TO DO SO. IT MUST CANNIBALISTICALLY SACRIFICE THE VITALITY, AUTONOMY, AND IF NEED BE, THE LIFE OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHILE POSING AS ITS BENEFACTOR AND SAVIOR. IT PLEADS INNOCENCE WHILE WASHING ITS HANDS OF THE BLOOD OF AFRICAN PEOPLE. THIS DUPLICITOUS TASK CAN ONLY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY MAKING IT APPEAR THAT THE AFRICAN COMMUNITY IS DYING OF NATURAL CAUSES, NOT OF AN INGENIOUS ATTEMPT ON THE PART OF THE WHITE AMERICAN COMMUNITY TO STRANGLE IT TO DEATH.” [MORE]

PHFREEDOM FIGHTER DR. BLYND DEFINES: SOCIALIST DISTANCING – THE EVER-EXPANDING AND INCREASING DISPARITY BETWEEN THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS UNTIL THE SOCIALIST (I.E., MONOPOLY CAPITALIST) WELFARE STATE BECOMES THE FAREWELL STATE—FAREWELL TO YOUR RIGHTS, YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND EVEN YOUR LIFE THROUGH PLANDEMICS (CORONAVIRUS), $CAMDEMICS (CORPORATE STATE TURNED SURVEILLANCE AND NANNY STATE), 5G BIO-WEAPONIZED EUGENICS, STARVATION, VACCINATIONS, CIVIL UNREST, GENOCIDE AND OTHER NEFARIOUS LWO (LAST WORLD ORDER) ACTIVITIES THAT WILL GREATLY REDUCE THE WORLD’S POPULATION BY 2030. (SEE: PLANDEMIC, $CAMDEMIC, VACCINES, CORONAVIRUS, THE FAREWELL STATE & COVERT-19) [MORE]

ACCORDING TO UNDECEIVER ISHMAEL REED: GENTHANASIA - THE NON-VIOLENT WEEDING OUT OF UNDESIRABLES OR THE SLOW MOTION EXTERMINATION OF NON-WHITE PEOPLE.[MORE]

So Called "Delta Variant" of Covid-19 Surges Across Africa

From [HERE] The more-transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging across Africa, the continent with the least vaccines and weakest healthcare systems, feeding fears among epidemiologists and political leaders of a public-health disaster that could echo the tragedy that unfolded in India in the spring.

The speed of the takeover of the variant, which was first identified in India and is forcing governments around the globe to tighten restrictions on social and economic activities, has shocked health experts in Africa, a continent that—in part thanks to its younger population—has recorded fewer Covid-19 deaths than other regions. Some are warning that previous infection from another strain of the virus may not protect against Delta, leaving swaths of the population that were believed to be immune once again vulnerable.

In South Africa, families have been driving ailing relatives across state lines to try to secure one of the country’s few remaining intensive-care beds. On a recent June night, every one of the 30 Covid-19 patients in the intensive-care unit of Uganda’s largest hospital died as the oxygen supplies ran out. In Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, doctors say the mortuaries have run out of space.

“We are in the grip of a devastating wave that by all indications seems like it will be worse than those that preceded it,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday in a televised address in which he imposed new lockdown measures. “The rapid spread is extremely serious,” he said.

Africa’s third wave of infection comes at a perilous moment for the continent: Just 1.1% of its 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated, medical supplies have been depleted, doctors are physically and mentally exhausted and, in some cases, unpaid and hospitals are turning patients away for lack of beds and oxygen.

Governments, struggling to rebound from the region’s worst recession on record, had been reluctant to impose new lockdowns until they saw the speed of the Delta’s expansion.

The reason—and the cause of rising panic—is the spread of the Delta variant that ripped through India in April and May, killing nearly 400,000 people according to the government and more than 1 million according to some epidemiologists. The Delta strain, also known as B.1.617.2, will probably make up 50% of Covid-19 infections in the U.S. by early to mid-July, according to researchers. It has been cited by Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, as the greatest threat to U.S. efforts to defeat the virus.

Across Africa, at least 20 countries are experiencing sharp increases in infections that have already surpassed or are projected to top earlier peaks, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past week, Covid-19 infections on the continent jumped by 31%, while the number of deaths rose by 19%, the agency said.

The NOI says COVID-19 Vaccines are the Drug Pushers’ Dream of Profit and Depopulation

From [HERE] Why are Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates pushing vaccines so hard and completely dismissing known therapies or treatments for COVID-19? Minister Farrakhan directly addressed them both in “The Criterion”:

“They’re making money now plotting to give seven billion five hundred million people a vaccination. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates and Melinda, you want to depopulate the earth? What the hell gives you that right? Who are you to sit down with your billions and talk about who can live and who should die?”

Let’s go back a bit to understand the background leading up to the “Warp Speed” production of “vaccines”, when there are dietary regimens, therapies and treatments to prevent and/or dramatically reduce the impact of COVID-19 and viruses like it.

In December of 2017 America dropped the ban on genetic modifications of viruses, which allowed non-military labs to genetically modify viruses, like in China’s Wuhan province laboratory.

• On January 11, 2017, at a Georgetown University forum on pandemic preparedness, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted the Trump Administration would face a surprise disease outbreak, noting that “risks have never been higher.”

• Also, in January 2017 the Pentagon (US Dept. of Defense) predicted a coronavirus epidemic while America would be unprepared.

• On August 12, 2019, the world was warned to be ready for ethnic specific bioweapons.

• In October of 2019, China surpassed America and became the greatest economy in the world.

• On October 18, 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum (an international think tank of bankers) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201 which “modeled a fictional coronavirus pandemic…”

They said that this strangely prophetic event was “not a prediction,” but a lot of people dropped their stock portfolios, including the head of the Senate intelligence committee, Richard Burr. The “scenario” predicted that the pandemic would produce a worldwide recession. And though it was claimed to be a fantasy, CEOs of major corporations started quitting their jobs like never before; they appeared to be anticipating the stock market crash in February of 2020.

Among the seven major recommendations coming out of Event 201 was that governments would take control of social media to “combat mis- and disinformation,” and to “flood media with fast, accurate, and consistent information.” And that is exactly what happened. There has been a TOTAL CENSORING from broadcast, print and social media of anyone speaking or writing against the reckless and unlawful imposition of the experimental vaccines. 

The people are constantly bombarded about the “severity” of the “pandemic”, new variants of the virus and “the need” to take the so-called vaccines. They advised health authorities to employ “trusted community leaders such as faith leaders” to herd the masses to the vaccines.

As far back as 2015 Bill Gates suggested that in an epidemic governments should indemnify drug companies against lawsuits, if officials expect them to test new treatments very quickly.

(https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/The-Next-Epidemic-Berlin-and-DC-Trip)

He got his wish in February of 2020. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked a 2005 law that empowers him to provide legal protection to companies making or distributing critical medical supplies, such as vaccines. That protection lasts until 2024. For the next four years, these vaccine manufacturers have no liability for injuries stemming from their product.

In January 2016, Moderna “…entered a global health project framework agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance mRNA-based development projects for various infectious diseases. 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed up to $20.0 million in grant funding to support our initial project related to the evaluation of antibody combinations in a preclinical setting as well as the conduct of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial of a potential mRNA medicine to help prevent … HIV infections. 

Follow-on projects which could bring total potential funding under the framework agreement up to $100 million (including the HIV antibody project) to support the development of additional mRNA-based projects for various infectious diseases.”

(https://www.modernatx.com/ecosystem/strategic-collaborators/foundations-advancing-mrna-science-and-research)

Moderna’s company shares began trading on Nasdaq in December of 2018, though it never produced an HIV vaccine or any other product that had been approved by the FDA or offered on the open market. 

The value of Moderna’s stock was stagnant throughout 2019. After the government provided protection against lawsuits, their stock value skyrocketed by 400% by the end of 2020.

• Moderna Historical Annual Stock Price Data

• Year Year Close Annual % Change

• 2020 104.47 434.10%

• 2019 19.56 28.09%

• 2018 15.27 0.00%

Another company that produced an early “vaccine”, Pfizer, also took advantage of indemnity. They needed it because they had been sued a number of times for faulty drugs. Pfizer, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, recently reported revenue of $52 billion. operates in over 180 countries with over one-hundred thousand employees. [MORE]

Federal Prison Officials Granted Only 36 of 31,000 Compassionate Release Requests During Pandemic

From [HERE] New Bureau of Prisons data shows federal officials approved dramatically fewer applications for compassionate release during the Covid-19 pandemic than the year before, The Marshall Project reported.

In 2019, the BOP director approved 55 out of 1,735 compassionate release requests.

But in the 13 months after the pandemic hit in March 2020, the new director approved only 36 requests—out of nearly 31,000.

More than 49,000 people incarcerated in federal prisons have gotten sick and 256 have died since last spring.

Thirty-five died while waiting for a decision on their requests for compassionate release.

People who are incarcerated are at great risk of sickness and death as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The inability to quarantine or practice social distancing, together with overcrowding, imperils the lives of many people incarcerated in state and federal prisons.

BOP’s failure to release people facing elevated risks of serious illness or death from Covid-19 forced federal judges to act.

Of the 3,221 people who have been granted compassionate release since the pandemic started, 99% were granted by federal judges over BOP’s objections.

Federal prosecutors fought most compassionate release requests in court, The Marshall Project reports. Despite opposition from Justice Department lawyers, federal judges approved 21% of the requests they considered in 2020.

The Marshall Project reported last fall that the BOP rejected or ignored more than 98% of requests during the first three months of the pandemic. Updated data shows that BOP wardens gave first-level approval to fewer requests as the pandemic continued, with their approval rate falling from 1.4% in the first three months to 1.2% by the end of April 2021.

Even as more than 200 people in federal custody died of Covid-19, BOP Director Michael Carvajal granted just 0.1% of the applications his wardens approved during the pandemic.

Connecticut Becomes First State to Provide Free Calls from Prison [as opposed to cell phone usage in the Bigger (free range) Prison]

From [HERE] Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill on Wednesday that makes phone calls from prisons free for incarcerated people and their loved ones. Connecticut is the first state to do so.

Senate Bill 972 makes all communication in state prisons and youth detention facilities free, prohibits the state from collecting revenue from communication services, and ensures that in-person visits will not be replaced with video calls.

The bill passed the Connecticut legislature with bipartisan support on June 3.

“Connecticut has now set an example for the rest of the country, and we’re on the right side of history,” said State Rep. Josh Elliott, who sponsored the legislation. “Corporations can no longer be allowed to exploit the love between incarcerated people and their families—not in our state, not on our watch.”

For years, private phone companies have charged exorbitant rates to families of incarcerated people for talking to their loved ones in prison. Rates are set by contracts between these companies and state and local governments, who often receive “commissions” or kickbacks for each jail or prison. As a result, family members in some states are paying exorbitant rates for in-state calls.

Connecticut families were paying nearly $5 for a 15-minute phone call through a prepaid account—among the highest rates in the country, NPR reports.

And the state was making a 68% commission on in-state calls—more than $7 million in 2019—through its contract with Securus Technologies, one of the nation’s largest prison phone providers.

Researchers have outlined long-term benefits to maintaining contact with family during incarceration. Staying connected reduces the likelihood that those released will reoffend and is correlated with lower drug use and higher rates of employment after release.

Contrary to Racist Propaganda, Study Shows that Only a Small Number of Persons Receiving COVID Unemployment Would Turn Down Work at Their Previous McWage

From [HERE] To provide economic relief following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. CARES Act granted an extra $600 per week in unemployment insurance (UI) benefit payments from late March through July 2020. This unprecedented increase in UI generosity caused weekly benefit payments to exceed prior earnings for most recipients, raising concern that many would be unwilling to accept job offers, slowing the labor market recovery. To assess the impact of the UI supplement, we analyze the job acceptance decision in a dynamic framework in which job seekers weigh the value of a job against remaining unemployed, accounting for the perceived state of the labor market and expected weeks of UI benefits. We derive a reservation level of benefit payments at which an individual is indifferent between accepting and refusing a job offer at their prior wage. Calculating the reservation benefit and comparing it to imputed benefit payments for a wide range of U.S. workers suggests that only a small fraction would turn down an offer to return to work at their previous wage under the CARES Act expanded UI payments. We supplement this quantitative assessment of reservation benefits with direct empirical analysis of labor force transitions using matched Current Population Survey (CPS) data, linked to annual earning records from the CPS income supplement to form UI replacement rates. The results show moderate disincentive effects of the $600 supplemental payments on job finding rates and by extension small effects of the $300 weekly supplement available during 2021.

Biden Extends the Foreclosure Mortgage Moratorium For Now but Millions of Unemployed and underemployed Non-White homeowners at Risk of Losing Homes, Exacerbating the Racial Wealth Gap

The Joe Biden administration on Thursday announced that a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, set to expire at the end of this month, will be extended another 30 days and will now take place on July 31, 2021. This is according to a series of announcements issued by federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in concert with the White House.

While much of the new effort at combating homelessness through the extension of these moratoriums is focused on renters, homeowners are also designed to benefit from these actions if they have mortgages that are backed by the relevant federal agencies, according to the White House. [MORE]

According to Brookings, Many low-income borrowers could remain in distress when the federal forbearance program actually expires. This development has serious implications for the roughly 2.1 million borrowers still under the protective ambit of COVID forbearance programs. On the surface, steady increases in forbearance exits suggest that borrowers’ financial circumstances have improved. These national trends, however, mask significant financial weaknesses plaguing financially stressed households, and financial stress tends to be geographically and demographically concentrated among communities of color. The looming forbearance cliff threatens to expose millions of unemployed and underemployed homeowners to foreclosure, bankruptcy, or pressure to sell prematurely. These escape routes will undoubtedly exacerbate the racial wealth gap; each option represents a retreat from homeownership that communities of color are ill-prepared to absorb. Homeownership is integral to generational wealth creation, home equity is the largest component of asset-driven wealth for Black and Hispanic accounting for nearly 40% of their balance sheet on average

Policies aimed at stabilizing distressed communities should be informed by the well-being of COVID-impacted homeowners, not artificial deadlines. We partnered with SaverLife, a fintech non-profit, to explore the financial well-being of low- and moderate-income homeowners. Like Tenesha, who lives in Washington with two daughters. She has never missed a mortgage payment but worries about losing her home when her unemployment benefits end. This blog highlights the financial constraints and foreclosure fears among distressed borrowers and offers pointed recommendations to preserve their homes. 

Upended households struggle to regain their footing

Homeowners hit hard by the pandemic are falling behind, with many struggling to find quality jobs that pay a living wage. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said their post-pandemic income declined. Of those who reported being employed, about 4 in 10 (39%) earned less income because they worked fewer hours. Another 18% reported working more hours but not earning enough to replace their pre-pandemic income. Notably, men were far more likely (23%) than women (11%) to report working more hours; this result is consistent with widespread reports on structural hurdles, such as disproportionate parental and elder care responsibilities, that continue to delay women’s return to the job market.

Tenesha lost her job as a server in March 2020 because her restaurant closed permanently. She’s still searching for work. The enormous financial burden facing this demographic is severe and possibly deeper than the barriers facing 37.5% of US adults, who, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, experienced income declines.

The over-representation of minorities and women in SaverLife’s sample provides an important snapshot of the pronounced adversity facing homeowners of color. This real-time pulse check suggests that premature withdrawal of critical federal and state subsidies would exacerbate the hardships faced by communities of color and undermine recovery for other economically disadvantaged groups, including women and younger Americans. 

Many homeowners were unaware of and missed the forbearance window

The CARES Act circumvented an epic housing instability crisis for both renters and homeowners. Since last spring, more than 6 million borrowers have sought payment relief through forbearance. Although forbearance provided millions of distressed borrowers with vital breathing room, a substantial share of COVID-impacted homeowners missed the chance to participate in a forbearance program.

Participation in forbearance plans was remarkably low—just 8% of respondents reported having received a forbearance plan. This rate is unexpectedly low given respondents’ reportedly high rate of income disruption and the trend of working longer hours to keep up. Michelle, a Wisconsin resident, heard that forbearance could have negative consequences down the road, and opted not to apply even though she struggles to pay her mortgage. Unlike Michelle, borrowers who opted into forbearance plans did so out of necessity; the majority of those who froze their mortgages (55%) experienced some form of income disruption. This finding is consistent with studies from JP Morgan and others showing that most borrowers did not engage in opportunistic moral hazard behaviors such as opting into forbearance plans even though there was no change in their financial circumstances.

Early on, Fannie Mae raised concerns that familiarity with forbearance relief was alarmingly low among homeowners with incomes below $50,000: 56% were unaware of payment deferrals. A confluence of factors, including widespread misinformation about eligibility, fees, credit score penalties, and lump sum repayment obligations, could explain this frustrating pattern. Unfortunately, these racial disparities transcend the survey sample: a corroborating study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia foundthat non-whites and Hispanics were more likely than whites to cite these concerns as reasons for forgoing forbearance protections. Together, the evidence suggests that critical information asymmetries suppressed participation rates in many corners of hard-hit communities of color. [MORE]

Georgia’s New Voting Law Aims to Restrict Black Vote, Justice Department Says in Court Filing

From [HERE] The Biden administration sued the state of Georgia on Friday, alleging its new voting law aims to restrict the rights of Black voters, marking the administration’s first such challenge to Republican-backed efforts in multiple states to tighten voting laws.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Atlanta, alleges that Georgia violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act when it earlier this year enacted changes to the state’s election requirements, including altering how people cast absentee ballots and where people can drop off their ballots.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the new law in March after it was passed by the GOP-dominated legislature. Republicans said the changes amounted to common-sense efforts to restore confidence among voters in the integrity of Georgia elections following the 2020 presidential vote, in which some absentee-voting provisions were loosened. 

After the vote, then-President Donald Trump made unfounded claims of election fraud and pressured a top Georgia election official and a staff member to reverse his loss in the state.

“Many of that law’s provisions make it harder for people to vote,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the new lawsuit, adding: “The rights of all eligible citizens to vote are the central pillars of our democracy.”

Georgia Republicans were quick to criticize the federal lawsuit. 

“This lawsuit is born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from the start,” Gov. Kemp said on Twitter. 

House Speaker David Ralston said: “Georgia’s Election Integrity Act makes voting more accessible and secure. We will vigorously defend our system of free and fair elections.”

The Justice Department’s suit takes particular aim at the changes that the state law, known as SB 202, makes to absentee voting, including those that prohibit election officials from distributing unsolicited absentee ballots, and those that limit the number of drop boxes for those ballots. Georgia Republicans have defended those provisions as a course correction after absentee-voting rules were loosened during the pandemic, leading to an increase in absentee voters in 2020. 

In its 46-page lawsuit, the Justice Department noted that more than 29% of Black voters cast an absentee ballot, compared with less than 24% of white voters in Nov. 2020.

“Like all of the provisions in SB 202, the changes to absentee voting were not made in a vacuum. These changes come immediately after successful absentee voting in the 2020 election cycle, especially among Black voters,” Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for the civil-rights division, said. 

A Supreme Court ruling expected next week could have a broad impact on voting-rights law and potentially on the Justice Department’s new case. The justices have been considering whether certain voting rules from Arizona violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which says states can’t impose any rule “which results in a denial or abridgment” of the right to vote on the basis of race. It is the first Supreme Court case to specifically address how that provision applies to voting regulations. 

Voting-rights plaintiffs have turned to Section 2 in the years since the high court in 2013 effectively invalidated another provision of the act that had been a key tool for targeting voting rules in states with a history of discrimination. 

The lawsuit against Georgia comes two days after Senate Republicans blocked Democratsfrom moving ahead with elections legislation, forcing the party to try to devise a new way forward after weeks of intraparty wrangling and fruitless calls from progressives to advance the bill without GOP support. 

It also comes weeks after Mr. Garland said his agency would scrutinize a raft of new state election laws, promising to double the number of staff devoted to enforcement of federal voting-rights law. On Friday, he said the department was evaluating other states’ recent changes to election rules and could bring other similar lawsuits.

Also Friday, Mr. Garland said the Justice Department was setting up a new task force to address an increase in violent threats directed at state election officials.

The Georgia law requires absentee voters to request ballots by providing their driver’s license number, the last four digits of their Social Security number or a copy of some other accepted form of identification. They also have to provide this information when they mail in their ballots. Before the law, voters would sign an absentee-ballot application and sign the ballot when they mailed it in.

The law also placed new limits on how parties and voting groups mail out absentee-ballot request forms and limits the number of ballot drop boxes to one per county except for large counties, which can set up one box for every 100,000 registered voters. Under the new law, the drop boxes must be kept in secure voting locations and emptied and processed by election officials every night. 

All of those provisions “make, and are intended to make, absentee voting incrementally more burdensome and less accessible,” the lawsuit says.

Racist who Practiced Racism by Intentionally Murdering 2 Black Shoppers at Krogers Gets a 2nd Life Sentence plus 10 yrs for hate crimes. Neuropeon w/ Virus in His Mind said "Whites Don't Shoot Whites"

From [HERE] In an emotional hearing in federal court Thursday, Gregory Bush received confirmation that he will never leave prison for murdering two Black shoppers at the Jeffersontown Kroger simply because of the color of their skin.

But not before he heard from the family of his victims, Vickie Lee Jones and Maurice Stallard.

Both were Black. Bush is white.

"You are a rabid dog,” Kevin Gunn, Jones' nephew, told the 53-year-old. “And you deserve everything you got coming to you.”

"I hope your soul burns in hell," said a sister of Stallard's.

Bush had already been sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty but mentally ill to state charges related to the Oct. 24, 2018, murders. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom added a federal sentence of life in prison along with 10 years of additional confinement for gun and hate crimes.

The judge also ordered Bush to pay more than $23,000 in restitution to cover the two families' funeral costs.

Boom told Bush she hopes he learns to "reject" the "hate and bigotry" that led to the murders.

Stallard and Jones "were targeted specifically because of the color of their skin," Boom said.

Given the chance to speak, Bush said he was "so sorry that this happened. I'm so sorry" 

Bush, who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, said he was off his medication and "hearing voices" and "demons" that told him to kill his biracial son.

He noted his ex-wife is Black and added his son has been "having a hard time" since the 2018 shooting. 

But Stallard and Jones' relatives said they have been, too.

Stallard's widow, Charlotte, said "it is difficult to put into words" how the loss of her husband of 50 years has affected her family. She added she struggles to sleep and that she and other family members continue to receive counseling.

Bush was facing a minimum punishment of 30 years in prison but not the death penalty after pleading guilty this year to two counts of a hate crime resulting in death, three counts of using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and one count of a hate crime with attempt to murder. 

The hate crime charges revolved around the fact that Bush, who is white, shot two Black shoppers whom he had never met.

Police and prosecutors had previously confirmed that Bush also told an armed person outside the store to not "shoot me (and) I won’t shoot you. Whites don’t shoot whites."

And minutes before driving to the Kroger to shoot Stallard and Jones, Bush tried to enter the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, a predominantly Black congregation, by yanking on its locked doors while several members were inside, police previously said. 

This month federal prosecutors revealed in a sentencing memorandum that Bush mentioned the name, "Dylann Roof," the man who shot and killed nine African American church members in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 after he was arrested. He also shouted Roof’s name while in a police station interview room, according to the document. 

After driving to the grocery store, Bush walked inside and used a pistol to shoot Stallard while Stallard's 12-year-old grandson stood next to him. They were shopping for poster board for a school project.

Bush then reholstered his weapon and calmly walked back through the store as panicked shoppers fled, not firing at anyone until he encountered Jones in the parking lot and fatally shot her.

He also exchanged gunfire with an armed Black shopper in the lot before getting in his car, driving a short distance and then having police stop and arrest him on Hurstbourne Parkway.

Stallard was a 1967 Male High School graduate, Air Force veteran and retired GE employee remembered as a generous family man who moved his family to suburban Jeffersontown for a middle-class life.

He was also a member of the Newburg Tennis Association and St. Bartholomew Catholic Church on Buechel Bank Road.

Jones was the widow of a military veteran and herself retired from the VA Hospital, where she worked as an office administrator. Her family said she loved to travel and was a faithful member of the Church of the Living God on West Madison Street.

Jones was also the caretaker for her elderly mother and had gone to the Kroger that day to buy food for her loved one, according to family.

Bush's state and federal cases had previously been held up over questions regarding his mental state and diagnosis, but a Jefferson Circuit Court judge ruled last summer that he was competent to stand trial after taking medication while incarcerated for several months.

He will receive mental health treatment in prison and likely serve the state and federal sentences at the state prison in La Grange, where Bush has been held as his criminal cases were pending, the judge and attorneys said.

Though the criminal cases may have now concluded, the families of Stallard and Jones along with a customer inside the store at the time of the 2018 shooting have also sued Kroger and Bush in civil cases that remain ongoing in Jefferson Circuit Court.

The lawsuits each claim Kroger had no policy in place to prevent Bush from carrying and using a loaded firearm in its store.

In September 2019, the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain asked its customers to stop openly carrying guns in its stores following a string of mass shootings around the country.

Chauvin Sentenced to 22.5 Years in Prison. Convicted of "Unintentional 2nd-degree murder while committing a felony [assault]" 3rd Degree (unintentional) murder and 2nd Degree Manslaughter (negligence)

From [HERE] Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for last year’s purposeful murder of George Floyd. 

Specifically, he was convicted today after a “jury returned guilty verdicts on April 20, 2021 on Count I, unintentional second-degree murder while committing a felony, Count II, third-degree murder, perpetrating an eminently dangerous act evincing a depraved mind, and Count III, second-degree manslaughter, culpable negligence creating an unreasonable risk.” [MORE]

At a Friday afternoon sentencing hearing, members of Floyd’s family and Chauvin’s mother gave statements. Chauvin, who was shown on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck during his fatal May 2020 arrest, made only a brief statement, saying that other ongoing legal proceedings prevented him from speaking much. Chauvin is also facing federal civil rights charges related to Floyd’s death and a similar detention of a teenager in 2017, along with tax fraud charges in his home county east of the Twin Cities. 

He expressed his condolences to the Floyd family and said “there’s going to be information coming out in the future that will be of interest” and that he hoped it would “bring them peace of mind.” 

Chauvin’s statement came after a series of victim impact statements from Floyd’s family members. His brothers Philonise and Terrence were joined by nephew Brandon Williams in court. Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna appeared via video. 

“I have had to sit through each day of Officer Derek Chauvin’s trial and watch the video of George dying… over and over again. For an entire year, I had to relive George’s torture and death every hour of the day,” Philonise Floyd said. “George’s life mattered. So my family and I, most of all my niece Gianna… she needs closure.” 

Terrence Floyd addressed Chauvin directly. “I wanted to know from the man himself, why? What were you thinking? What was going through your head when you had your knee on my brother’s neck?” he asked. 

He asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill to consider what would have happened had a Black man killed someone in the way Chauvin did. “If it’d been us, there would have been no case. It would have been open-and-shut,” he said. “We’d have been under the jail. For murder…. We don’t want to see smacks on the wrist. We’ve seen that already.” 

Cahill took a 15-minute break after victim impact statements were completed, then issued Chauvin’s sentence. 

“As opposed to trying to be profound here on the record, I’m going to ask that you read the legal analysis,” the judge said, citing a memorandum he said would be filed with his order. 

“I acknowledge and hear the pain that you are feeling. I acknowledge the pain of not only those who are in this courtroom, but the Floyd family outside this courtroom and in the community,” he said, addressing the family. “It has been painful throughout Hennepin County, and in the state of Minnesota, and in this country.” 

Cahill said his sentence was not based on public opinion or meant to send a message.

The sentence, 10 years more than the recommended 12 years and 6 months under sentencing guidelines, is meant to comply with the law while acknowledging aggravating factors, the judge said.

The sentencing hearing began just hours after the judge issued a brief order denying the former officer’s motions for a new trial and for a hearing to investigate alleged juror misconduct. Cahill found in that order that Chauvin had not shown prosecutorial misconduct on the part of the state, that he was deprived of a fair trial, or that any jurors gave false testimony during the selection process. 

The statutory maximum sentence for second-degree murder in Minnesota is 40 years, but sentencing guidelines topped Chauvin’s possible sentences out at 30 years after accounting for aggravating factors. Prosecutors requested that top-level sentence, arguing that Chauvin “shocked the nation’s conscience” when he “brutally murdered Mr. Floyd, abusing the authority conferred by his badge.” 

Nelson, meanwhile, sought a probationary sentence with time served. He pointed to his client’s lack of criminal history and 19-year career with the department as evidence that “Mr. Chauvin still has the ability to positively impact his family and his community.” 

Cahill found in May that four of prosecutors’ five proposed aggravating sentencing factors applied in Chauvin’s case. He found that Floyd’s intoxication and restraint did not make him “particularly vulnerable,” but agreed with the state’s position that Chauvin treated Floyd with particular cruelty, killed him in front of several minors and did so with the active participation of three other people, namely fellow officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao.

Speaking after the hearing, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office led the prosecution, said he hoped that Chauvin’s conviction and sentence would be a first step to broader change.

"Final Extension" of COVID Eviction Ban Ordered by CDC. It Applies to Mostly Non-White Tenants and their Mostly White Landlords b/c Study shows that Only 10% of White Renters are Behind on Rent

[What is SOCIALIST DISTANCING?] According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities An estimated 10.5 million adults living in rental housing — 14 percent of adult renters — were not caught up on rent, according to data collected May 26–June 7.[6] Here, too, renters of color were more likely to report that their household was not caught up on rent: 24 percent of Black renters, 16 percent of Latino renters, and 15 percent of Asian renters said they were not caught up on rent, compared to 10 percent of white renters. The rate was 19 percent for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and multiracial adults taken together.

From [HERE] Less than a week before the nationwide eviction ban was set to expire, top health officials extended it for another 30 days to help tenants who are unable to pay rent during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Previously scheduled to end on the last day of June, the moratorium will remain in place until July 31, as ordered by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The break for struggling tenants is “intended to be the final extension of the moratorium,” Walensky said Thursday. 

“The Covid-19 pandemic has presented a historic threat to the nation’s public health,” the CDC wrote in its announcement. “Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of Covid-19.”

Ahead of the CDC’s decision to extend the ban, 41 of members of Congress wrote to President Joe Biden and Walensky asking to extend, and strengthen, the measure. 

The letter, which got signatures from Democrats including Representatives Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri and Jimmy Gomez of California, called for more time to distribute the $46 billion in rental assistance promised by the American Rescue Plan.

“State and local governments need time, resources, and new guidance to deliver the rescue aid Congress provided,” the letter states, noting that millions of renters are still struggling to access aid and dig themselves out of debt. 

“Evictions take lives and push households deeper into poverty, impacting everything from health outcomes to educational attainment,” the representatives wrote. 

Racial justice issues presented by evictions undergird the fight. Data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show that an estimated 14% of adult renters, or 10.5 million adults, are not caught up. 

People of color who rent their homes are disproportionately affected by the inability to keep up with payments: 24% of Black renters, 16% of Latino renters and 15% of Asian renters said they were not caught up on rent, compared with 10% of white renters, according to the data. 

Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, called an extension of the eviction ban “the right thing to do — morally, fiscally, politically, and as a continued public health measure.”

Landlords have opposed the national eviction ban in court, so far with little success. The 11th Circuit is hearing one fight after a federal judge in Georgia denied a preliminary injunction of the moratorium in a lawsuit brought by the New Civil Liberties Alliance.

Caleb Kruckenberg, litigation counsel for the alliance, suggested the CDC’s latest eviction ban extension may not in fact be the last. 

“CDC is using its own mess as justification for its continued power grab,” Kruckenberg said in a statement. “Even though CDC agrees that Covid is no longer the threat it once was, the agency extended its order because once the moratorium ends the courts will face a glut of cases that have been delayed for nearly a year. Meanwhile, innocent housing providers have gone without their income all along.”

Another fight against the nationwide ban, in Washington, D.C., saw a win for landlords in early May, when a federal judge struck down the moratorium, saying the CDC had overstepped its authority. 

The same judge later issued stayed her decision, however, allowing the eviction ban to remain in place while the Justice Department appeals. The D.C. Circuit declined to lift the stay earlier this month, finding government would likely succeed on the merits of its appeal, and saying that the CDC was within its powers. 

The landlord challengers cannot lift the stay now without an order from the U.S. Supreme Court. 

That’s unlikely to succeed, said Eric Dunn, director of litigation at the National Housing Law Project, due to an “extremely high” legal standard. Chief Justice John Roberts, who is fielding the emergency application, would have to both disagree with the three-judge appellate panel and also find that the stay order was an abuse of discretion by the trial judge is not in the public interest. 

“I’d be very surprised if he reached those particular findings,” Dunn said during a phone interview, meaning the eviction order will likely remaining in effect until its expiration. 

Once the ban has expired, Dunn said there are two key steps state and local governments can take to ensure that those who faced pandemic-related evictions don’t get the short end of the stick in the long term.  

For one, states can prohibit evicting tenants over unpaid money during the pandemic, as long as they are paying their current rent. 

“If you evict a tenant and bring someone else in, that new tenant’s not paying the old tenant’s arrearages either,” Dunn said. “So it doesn’t really make the landlord any better off to kick out a tenant who’s paying their current rent.” 

Second, Dunn said there need to be protections in place for people who were displaced or ended up in unsustainable rental situations during the pandemic — for instance, those who lost their job and had to take work that pays less, or were living with roommates who stopped being able to chip in. 

Those circumstances could cause rent debts, or put people in a position where they “need a chance to start over,” Dunn said. But traditionally, having an eviction record of any kind can lead to automatic rejection of future renter applications, limiting future housing options. 

It’s important for states to adopt laws making it illegal for landlords to deny new tenancies based on adverse rental history from the pandemic, Dunn said. 

“Otherwise it’s going to put a lot of people in these situations where the only housing they can qualify for is going to be lower-quality housing, maybe unsafe housing,” he said. 

That could lead to rippling housing effects, given the substantial impact of evictions and job losses on people of color. 

Every Command is Backed by the Threat of Violence in a Legal System Based on Physical Coercion: FLA Cops Attempt to Murder Black Man to Make Arrest, One Sat on Him while Another Used Front Chokehold

From [HERE] and [HERE] Several Sarasota community members, including the mother of a jailed Black man, are accusing two white Sarasota Police officers of using excessive force during an arrest on Sunday.

ABC7 first learned about the incident after a viewer shared a Facebook Video with the station. That video was posted to a public Facebook Page and appears to capture the arrest.

Signatures on the Probable Cause Affidavit show the arresting officers as Sarasota Police Officer Paul Gagnon and Officer John Clancy, Jr.

According to the report, the officers were executing a Manatee County warrant on Malcolm Jamal Johnson, 32, of Sarasota.

The report says officers came across Johnson at Fred Atkins Park, at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Martin Luther King Way in Sarasota.

ABC7 obtained body camera video from the arrest. It shows officers asking Johnson who he is. Once he confirmed his identity, officers told him to put his stuff down.

Officers claim Johnson admitted to concealing MDMA in his sock. [was that before, during or after being sat on by a large white cop while another choked on his neck?] Johnson was charged with resisting arrest and possession.

FUNKTIONARY STATES: "Lawless Society - a socio-juristic human relation confliguration where law is upheld, codified, and deified over humanity. If you fear or worry about its advent, you'll certainly never recognize its presence. 2) a Police State of the Overruling Class" - from FUNKTIONARY. Dr. Blynd states, "the difference between an outlaw and a lawman is mainly on paper - not on principle."

Michael Huemer explains;

Government is a coercive institution. Generally speaking, when the state makes a law, the law carries with it a punishment to be imposed upon violators. It is possible to have a law with no specified punishment for violation, but all actual governments attach punishments to nearly all laws.  Not everyone who breaks the law will in fact be punished, but the state will generally make a reasonable effort at punishing violators and will generally punish a fair number of them, typically with fines or imprisonment. These punishments are intended to harm lawbreakers, and they generally succeed in doing so.

     Direct physical violence is rarely used as a punishment. Nevertheless, violence plays a crucial role in the system, because without the threat of violence, lawbreakers could simply choose not to suffer punishment. For example, the government commands that drivers stop before all red lights. If you violate this rule, you might be punished with a $200 fine. But this is simply another command. If you didn’t obey the command to stop before all red lights, why would you obey the command to pay $200 to the government? Perhaps the second command will be enforced by a third command: the government may threaten to revoke your driver’s license if you do not pay the fine. In other words, they may command you to stop driving. But if you violated the first two commands, why would you follow the third? Well, the command to stop driving may be enforced by a threat of imprisonment if you continue to drive without a license. As these examples illustrate, commands are often enforced with threats to issue further commands, yet that cannot be all there is to it. At the end of the chain must come a threat that the violator literally cannot defy. The system as a whole must be anchored by a non-voluntary intervention, a harm that the state can impose regardless of the individual’s choices.

     That anchor is provided by physical force. Even the threat of imprisonment requires enforcement: how can the state ensure that the criminal goes to the prison? The answer lies in coercion, involving actual or threatened bodily injury, or at a minimum, physical pushing or pulling of the individual’s body to the location of imprisonment. This is the final intervention that the individual cannot choose to defy. One can choose not to pay a fine, one can choose to drive without a license, and one can even choose not to walk to a police car to be taken away. But one cannot choose not to be subjected to physical force if the agents of the state decide to impose it.

     Thus, the legal system is founded on intentional, harmful coercion. To justify a law, one must justify imposition of that law on the population through a threat of harm, including the coercive imposition of actual harm on those who are caught violating the law. In common sense morality, the threat or actual coercive imposition of harm is normally wrong. This is not to say that it cannot be justified; it is only to say that coercion requires a justification. This may be because of the way in which coercion disrespects persons, seeking to bypass their reason and manipulate them through fear, or the way in which it seems to deny the autonomy and equality of other persons.

     I shall not attempt any comprehensive account of when coercion is justified. I rely on the intuitive judgment that harmful coercion requires a justification, as well as some intuitions about particular conditions that do or do not constitute satisfactory justifications. For instance, one legitimate justification is self-defense or defense of innocent third parties: one may harmfully coerce another person, if doing so is necessary to prevent that person from wrongfully harming someone else. Another justification for harmful coercion is consent. Thus, if you are in a boxing match, to which both participants have agreed, then you may punch your opponent in the face. [MORE]

Rock Hill Cops Offer A lot of Words but No Legitimate Explanation for Searching Ricky Price's Car or Reason 4 White Cops Assaulted Him and Tried to Get a K-9 to Bite His Face to Make an Arrest

From [HERE]  and [HERE] The attorney and family of two brothers are calling out the Rock Hill Police Department after the Black siblings were arrested Wednesday during a struggle with police officers at a gas station -- sparking protests.

In the video posted to social media, a group of white officers is seen attacking two Black men they are attempting to arrest. One Black man is on the ground with officers on top of him hitting him. An officer also appears to be trying to get his K-9 police dog to bite the black man’s face or upper body.

Police say Price was pulled over after making an illegal turn and changing lanes unlawfully.

Price then pulled his Mustang into a gas station on Willowbrook Avenue and began moving around the vehicle out of officer’s view, according to a news release.

Officers say they called for a K-9 to conduct a vehicle sniff, based on prior interactions with Price. After a K-9 alerted officers to the presence of illegal narcotics inside the car, Price was asked to step out of the vehicle.

At a news conference Thursday morning, Attorney Justin Bamberg spoke on behalf of the family of Ricky and Travis Price saying the the force used by the arresting officers was excessive.

“There’s no reason for the level of force we saw used in that video,” he said.

Authorities released information Wednesday about what they said happened.

The Rock Hill Police Department Violent Crimes Unit and agents with the Department of Homeland Security were conducting a surveillance operation on June 23rd, when at 1:56 p.m. they saw Ricky Price, a known offender, driving a black 2017 Mustang on Dave Lyle Boulevard. Ricky Price made an illegal turn and unlawfully changed lanes, which led to a traffic stop at the gas station on Willowbrook Avenue, police stated in a news release.

Price was talking with his brother on a cellphone in the car at the time of the stop, police said.

A K-9 unit was called to the scene to investigate the car for narcotics because of past encounters police have had with Ricky Price, Rock Hill police said. [No, not so fast Dependent Media: what about the so-called 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches? Does that apply to citizens in their actions with cops? Did the police conduct here meet the Constitutional standard? According to the Supreme Court:

“The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings, and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” [MORE]

In order to justify a search it must be based on “probable cause.” 'Probable cause' exists when the facts and circumstances within an officer's personal knowledge, and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to warrant a person of reasonable caution in the belief that ... in the case of a search, a specifically described item subject to seizure will be found in the place to be searched."

Courts have explained, an allegation that a person is “known” to the police or one based solely on “past encounters” is ‘but a bald an unilluminating assertion of suspicion that is entitled to no weight in appraising a decision to search without more. . . Just as a simple assertion of police suspicion is not itself a sufficient basis for a finding of probable cause, we do not believe it may be used to give additional weight to allegations that would otherwise be insufficient.’ [MORE] And we know the Constitution binds all of us because we all signed it right?

Officers found a 9 mm pistol and two bags of pot in the Mustang. Police later found a Crown Royal bag containing crack cocaine where he sat, police said. [hup Dependent Media, is probable cause a results oriented analysis? The Supremes have stated, "It is axiomatic that hindsight may not be employed in determining whether a prior arrest or search was made upon probable cause." If the action was taken without a warrant, the information to be considered is “the totality of facts” available to the officer at the time of the arrest or search.”

Here because the white cops have based their search solely on “previous encounters with Ricky Price” or that he “was known” they have failed to establish any actual facts that existed at the time of the search to support their search and therefore it unlawfully violated the 4th Amendment [in so far as such rights have any meaningful existence to Black people in the US]].

Officers started to search Ricky Price when his brother, Travis Price, got there and walked up to the scene, police said. [any specific, articulable reasons for the search Dependent media? just search a NHGR because].

Travis Price tried to interfere and get Ricky Price’s things but was told to stay back by police, according to the news release.

Travis Price bumped officers back with his body to get closer to his brother while yelling at them, police said. Officers pushed Travis Price against a large tank and told him to put his hands behind his back. Travis Price continued to not be in compliance, police said.

Officers and Travis Price started to struggle when he was taken to the ground.

At that time, the other officers collected [stole] jewelry from Ricky Price since he asked that his things be passed along to someone else on the scene.

Officers agreed, but when they took off Ricky Price’s cuffs, he tried to run and threw a few punches, police said. One struck an officer in the face, the news release stated.

The police K-9 was used as a display of force to gain compliance, while the handler maintained control of the dog. [lol, totally reasonable to put the dog near his face, watch the video]

Ricky Price continued to struggle with officers. He and several officers fell to the ground in the parking lot.

“One officer delivered several punches to Ricky’s upper thigh on the common peroneal nerve to gain compliance. The strikes had no effect and Ricky continued to resist. The officer then punched again, striking Ricky in the nose which caused him to bleed,” police said in the news release.

Officers took Ricky Price into custody while other officers handcuffed his brother.

About 100 people took to the streets Wednesday night in protest blocking the intersection of Dave Lyle Blvd and Black Street for several hours. They walked to the police department and at about 11 p.m. lit a fire surrounding a tree in front of the station. A police officer and the fire department arrived after the fire was lit.

Attorney Bamberg said the men shouldn’t be punished in the process of being arrested and it blows his mind that this keeps happening “to people who look like us.”

“It’s about the underlying principal of why time and time again we have to see this level of force used on people that look like us,” he said.

According to Bamberg, Ricky Price is in a wheelchair and has a broken nose.

Bamberg was joined by South Carolina Representative John King and members of the Rock Hill NAACP who called on the city to a thorough investigation into the officers’ actions.

The NAACP said it will make sure the incident is investigated and officers are held accountable. King said he believes the officers involved should be taken off the streets immediately or fired.

Bamberg condemned whoever set the fire at the police station during the protests Wednesday night and asked that all demonstrations remain peaceful.

Ricky Price was charged with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, carrying a pistol unlawfully, unlawful possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent offense, and resisting arrest.

Travis Price was put into a patrol vehicle and taken to the Rock Hill City Jail and was charged with hindering police. Ricky Price was denied bond Thursday while bond for Travis Price was granted.