MacArthur Foundation Report: Native Americans Significantly Overrepresented In US Prisons

From [HERE] A recent report released by the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge reveals a significant overrepresentation of Native American people in the U.S. prison system, which worsens in states with larger native populations. 

According to the report, Native American people are incarcerated 38 percent over the national average and are overrepresented in the prison populations of 19 states compared to other races and ethnicities.

In North Dakota, where Native American people constitute just under 6 percent of the population according to most recent Census data, Native incarceration rates jump to seven times higher than the incarceration rates of white people. 

In Montana, which has a more significant native population at 7 percent, Natives represent 20 to 34 percent of the state’s state prison population.

According to the study, the discrepancies in incarceration rates among natives and other racial groups are tied to the complexity of criminal jurisdiction and historical traumas. 

“Like many modern challenges in Indian Country, over-incarceration of Indigenous people is intimately tied to colonial violence and upheld by policies throughout the years,” said Ciara Hansen, one of the study’s authors who works as a clinical psychologist at Northern Navajo Medical Center. 

“Paternalistic solutions applied to Native communities often miss the important step of seeking to understand the issue from the community’s perspective. This report offers a starting point for discussion and knowledge sharing.”

The report also found that Native Americans die by police brutality at triple the rate of white Americans and well over double Black Americans. In addition, Native American young men were sentenced more harshly than any other racial group.

In one example cited in the report, 2008 sentencing data showed that in South Dakota, which has a high percentage of Native Americans relative to most states, Natives prosecuted for aggravated assault in federal court were sentenced to 62 percent longer prison terms than those charged in state court. 

“The report not only highlights the painful and unacceptable treatment of Native people in the criminal justice system, but also underscores the overreliance on incarceration to solve community issues,” said Bria Gillum, a senior program officer at MacArthur, in the press release announcing the report. 

“It is our hope that the report contributes to the growing conversation about racial disparities in this broken system, sparks deeper collaboration between state and tribal agencies, and leads to investments in diversion services that can end this devastating cycle.”

There has been a 25 percent jump in the number of jails on Native American land since 2000, which the report authors said has led to more natives arrested for more minor crimes and longer sentences. 

The report’s recommendations to curb the trend of over-incarcerating Native Americans include strengthening the tribal justice systems and working in a better context with the community. 

Judge Blocks Illinois New Gun Law that Violates Pre-Existing Rights to Bear and Carry Arms for 1) Self-Defense Against Criminals in Public and 2) to Prevent Tyranny, when All Other Rights Have Failed

TYRANNY PREVENTION: A “CORE” PURPOSE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT.

WITH NO GUN "RIGHTS" FREEDOMS CAN BE SHUT OFF LIKE A LIGHT (SEE CANADA/IRELAND/UK/NEW ZEALAND) HISTORICAL ANALYSIS SHOWS DISARMED FORMERLY FREE PEOPLE HAVE NO DEFENSE AGAINST SLAVERY OR GOVT VIOLENCE

From [HERE] An Illinois judge on Friday temporarily blocked Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker from enforcing a newly enacted ban on certain semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison slapped the gun control law with a temporary restraining order after former Republican candidate for attorney general Tom DeVore sued to block the law. DeVore said in a press release that he's representing citizens from 87 Illinois counties who are challenging the law, which he called, "an outright attack on the constitutional rights of lawful gun owners across the state." 

Morrison's ruling only applies to 850 plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit in Effingham County and four licensed gun dealers.

Pritzker said he was not surprised by the decision and accused the plaintiffs of advancing "ideology over public safety" in seeking to have the law struck down.

"We are well aware that this is only the first step in defending this important legislation," Pritzker said. "I remain confident that the courts will uphold the constitutionality of Illinois' law, which aligns with the eight other states with similar laws and was written in collaboration with lawmakers, advocates, and legal experts."

In an 11-page ruling, Morrison affirmed that the plaintiffs have a constitutional right to bear arms that is protected by both the Illinois state Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. 

"Plaintiffs are being immediately and irreparably harmed each day in which their fundamental right to bear arms is being denied," Morrison wrote. 

The judge cited a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision from last year that struck down New York state’s concealed carry law. That 6-3 ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen found that the "plain text" of the Second Amendment protected the right of the plaintiffs in that case to carry firearms for self-defense.

"Due to the speed with which this bill was passed, the effect to protected classes could not have been considered, nor could the Legislature have studied if this was the least restrictive way to meet their goal," Morrison also wrote.

Pritzker signed the law on Jan. 10 in response to the mass shooting that killed seven and injured 30 at the Highland Park July Fourth parade. The law bans dozens of specific types of rapid-fire handguns and rifles, .50-caliber guns, attachments and limits cartridges to 10 rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for pistols.

The Illinois State Rifle Association, a gun rights group that filed a separate federal challenge to the law control law, applauded Morrison's ruling. 

"This is a clear indication from the court that the General Assembly and Governor Pritzker rammed this law through improperly. The ISRA firmly believes the law is an infringement on all law-abiding residents’ 2nd Amendment rights," the group said. 

Florida Court Upholds Law Banning Local Governments from Making Restrictions on the Right to Bear and Carry Arms for Self-Defense in Public [the 2nd Amendment Makes No Distinction btw Home and Public]

From [HERE] The Florida Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a state law on Thursday that prevents local officials from implementing restrictions on gun and ammunition sales. 

Florida passed a law in 1987 that preempts cities and counties from creating restrictions on guns that go beyond state law, then added civil penalties and fines for local officials who violate that law in 2011. 

Several local governments challenged the penalty provision of the law after 17 people were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Former Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who left office earlier this month, joined multiple municipalities in suing the state. 

The penalty provision calls for a fine of up to $5,000 against any local official for "knowing and willful" violations of the statute. 

In a 4-1 ruling, the Florida Supreme Court ruled against those local officials, with the majority writing that "local governments have no lawful discretion or authority to enact ordinances that violate state preemption."

Catherine Austin Fitts: The Coming "Central Bank Digital Currency" is Not Money. It's a System of Control

Follow the Money to Understand “Single Source Propaganda:” Two Investment Firms, Vanguard and BlackRock, Own Nearly the Entire Mainstream Media and Most of Big Pharma

From [HERE] If you’ve been wondering how the world economy has been hijacked and humanity has been kidnapped by a completely bogus Covid narrative, look no further than this video by a Dutch creator.

​What she uncovers is that the stock of the world’s largest corporations are owned by the same institutional investors. They all own each other. This means that “competing” brands, like Coke and Pepsi aren’t really competitors, at all, since their stock is owned by exactly the same investment companies, investment funds, insurance companies, banks and in some cases, governments. This is the case, across all industries. As she says:

“The smaller investors are owned by larger investors. Those are owned by even bigger investors. The visible top of this pyramid shows only two companies whose names we have often seen…They are Vanguard and BlackRock. The power of these two companies is beyond your imagination. Not only do they own a large part of the stocks of nearly all big companies but also the stocks of the investors in those companies. This gives them a complete monopoly".

​Laurence Douglas Fink is an American Jewish billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation. BlackRock is the largest money-management firm in the world with more than $6.5 trillion in assets under management, giving the firm enormous power over the global financial system.

​Vanguard Group, coincidentally, is a shareholder of Black Rock, which controls and manages 1/3 of the world’s capital.  Vanguard Group, coincidentally, is owned by the Jewish trillionaire Rothschilds, as seen in the link below.

https://www.holdingschannel.com/all/stocks-held-by-rothschild-investment-corp-il/

​A Bloomberg report states that both these companies in the year 2028, together will have investments in the amount of 20 trillion dollars. That means that they will own almost everything.

​Watch the video for facts and evidence about the global control of Black Rock and Vanguard.  The video above was created by Dutch researchers and their website is:

https://linktr.ee/vrouwenvoorvrijheid [MORE]

Uncle Brother Seeks More Restrictions in the Free Range Prison: Vaccine Passports, Digital ID, a Social Credit System, Surveillance and Digital Currency Will Enable Total Control of Sheeple

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• An international vaccine passport, digital identity, a social credit system and a central bank digital currency (CBDC) form a digital control system that will lock down the population in perpetuity

• Facial recognition is an essential part of the control structure, as it’s the “password” to your digital identity

• By the end of 2022, there will be 1 billion data collecting surveillance cameras in the world, all connected to the internet and artificial intelligence (AI). Cameras and audio recording devices in cell phones, automobiles and smart appliances also collect and share data

• All these data are then used to give each person an individual score, based on their behavior, expression and interaction with the world. Ultimately, your social credit score, will dictate what you can and cannot do, what you can buy and where you can go

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is an absolutely crucial component, without which the control system cannot work. The easiest way to push against this system is to starve AI of data by refusing to use technologies that collect and share your personal data

From [HERE] In the video above, Maria Zeee with ZeeeMedia interviews computer scientist Aman Jabbi about the coming international vaccine passport, digital identity, the social credit system being built in the West, and central bank digital currency (CBDC).

All these factors are now coming together to control the global population. As noted by Zeee, this digital prison, which is already mostly built, will be the final lockdown of mankind.

Your Digital Identity Will Be Your Digital Prison

In the video, Jabbi goes through a presentation that explains the digital prison that is your digital identity — in other words, how your digital identity ties in with the coming social credit system and will control what you can and cannot do in your everyday life.

As noted by Jabbi, surveillance cameras with facial recognition software have already been erected around the world. They are an essential part of the control structure, and this surveillance will be linked together with digital identity, the social credit score system, carbon footprint tracking, CBDCs and more.

Facial recognition has been sold as a great convenience and security feature. With facial recognition, you don’t need to remember pins or passwords, and since no one has your exact face, it’s supposed to keep your personal accounts more secure.

But, as with most other technologies sold under the guise of convenience and security, facial recognition is ultimately a tool for mass control and an essential part of your individual digital prison. As explained by Jabbi, the Chinese control system is based on facial recognition in combination with a social credit system.

He describes the Chinese social credit system as a feedback system that responds based on your behavior. Unbeknownst to most Westerners, an identical system has already been set in motion behind the scenes in Western countries — they just haven’t told you yet.

Weaponized Surveillance

By the end of 2022, there will be 1 billion data collecting surveillance cameras in the world, all connected to the internet and artificial intelligence (AI). The United States actually has the most surveillance cameras per capita. China is second place and the U.K. in third.

In addition to all of that data collection, cameras and audio recording devices in cell phones, automobiles and smart appliances also collect and share data, even when you’re at home.

All these data are then used to give each person an individual score based on their behavior, expression and interaction with the world. Ultimately, that score —  your social credit score — will dictate what you can and cannot do, what you can buy and where you can go.

As noted by Jabbi, there are also additional control mechanisms already built into the hardware being erected. For example, many smart light poles have built-in charging stations for drones, which in the future will be used for law and behavioral enforcement purposes. We will largely be policed by AI and machines.

These smart light poles can also be weaponized. Built-in are LED incapacitators. Sometimes referred to as “puke rays” for their ability to induce severe nausea, LED incapacitators are weapons designed like a flashlight that emit an extremely bright, rapid and well-focused series of "differently-colored random pulses." According to Jabbi, these lights can also induce brain damage, spinal damage, sickness and likely even death.

LED combined with radar on some smart poles can also be used to identify people carrying guns, and could theoretically be used as a weapon to selectively take out people carrying weapons.

ACCORDING TO FUNKTIONARY:

totalitarianism – a neologism coined by Mussolini—best understood by the phrase “The Nightmare State,” whose agents (neocrats) seek totality of control over its subject-victims (“citizens”), including their erotic emotions and minds. 2) Big Brother’s Fantasy State. 3) total impersonalized terror. 4) fascism disguised as democracy. (See: Fascism & Demockcracy)

A New Chapter in the ‘Social Contract’

Digital identity has been described by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a new chapter in the social contract. The problem, as noted by Jabbi, is that the WEF’s new social contract is one that none of us has agreed to. It’s being revised by the WEF and its allies and thrust upon the rest of us, without our consent.

The vast majority of people don’t even know what this new social contract actually entails, or how it will affect their personal day-to-day lives and individual decision-making ability. That, for obvious reasons, has never been fully delineated because, if fully understood by everyone, virtually no one on earth would accept it. After all, few people with normal intelligence relishes having their lives dictated by someone else.

Source: World Economic Forum

As shown in the graphic above, your digital identity will be required to unlock all aspects of life, from logging onto the Internet to accessing social services, travel, food, shopping and financial services. If your social credit score is too low, one or more of these aspects can be turned off and made unavailable to you. “So, by default, you’re always a prisoner,” Jabbi says.

Your digital identity is confirmed through facial recognition, and is tied to your social score, carbon footprint score and CBDCs. As your social and carbon footprint scores go down, so does your purchasing ability.

As noted by Zeee, the international vaccine passport proposed at the 2022 G20 meeting is, at least right now, THE key to the entire effort to get everyone into the digital ID system. So, preventing the adoption of vaccine passports is a central component of resistance to the digital prison system in its entirety.

“Once we accept digital identity, it’s Game Over for humanity.” ~ Aman Jabbi

You must also reject the vaccine passport unless you’re willing to be a medical lab rat for the rest of your life. Zeee cites documents stating 500 new vaccines will be ready by 2030 that are targeting most common diseases. It is likely that having an up-to-date vaccination status will be one of the requirements to maintain a valid passport, which will also serve as your digital identity.

In other words, vaccine refusal can be used to nullify or “lock” your digital ID, leaving you unable to do, go or buy anything. The question is, what will those vaccines be? Basically, you’ll have no choice but to comply, even if you believe or know that a vaccine can injure or kill you, as is the case with the COVID jabs.

Zero Trust System

As explained by Jabbi, the new social contract created by the WEF and its allies is a zero-trust system. In a physical prison, prisoners are under a zero-trust policy. In other words, the guards don’t trust the prisoners and there are security measures in place to make sure they behave. The new open-air prison system envisioned by the WEF is based on the same premise.

Everywhere you go, you must prove who you are and that your compliance metrics are in alignment with the prevailing rules. So, to buy food, you have to not only identify yourself so that your purchase can be permanently logged as one of your purchases, but you also have to meet certain compliance standards, or else your CBDC won’t work.

The default in this system is denial, so everything you want to do — absolutely everything — must be unlocked by your digital ID. As noted by Jabbi, “Once we accept digital identity, it’s Game Over for humanity.”

Geofencing and Smart Cities Form the Walls of Your Prison

To enforce your conditional access to life, geofencing will be used. Smart light poles equipped with LED incapacitators can be used to prevent you from going beyond your designated geofence, but there are also other geofencing mechanisms. For example, your CBDC can be programmed to not work outside your district, and your smart car can be programmed to shut down past a certain perimeter. Jabbi also reviews the inexorable push toward smart cities, which will:

• Limit your mobility and eliminate car ownership

• Control you through weaponized surveillance

• Ration water, electricity and gas consumption

• Surveil your speech

• Track your actions and whereabouts 24/7

Starve the Beast

Jabbi cites a formula created by the WEF’s philosophical guru Yuval Noah Harrari, to describe technocrats’ ever-growing ability to hack humans: B x C x D = AHH

B stands for biological knowledge, C is computing power, D is data and AHH is the level of ability to hack a human being. As noted by Jabbi, the ability to hack humans is dependent on AI being fed a constant stream of data.

It’s a “beast system” in the sense that AI is the beast, and it needs to be fed. Its food is data, gathered through a vast array of data conduits such as cameras, recording devices, facial recognition, GPS and sensors of all kinds that make up the Internet of Bodies. You can learn more about this in “Manufactured Dystopia — Globalists Won’t Stop Hacking Humans.”

AI is an absolutely crucial component for success of the digital prison. Without it, it cannot work. The answer then, is to starve the beast, and we do this by withholding our data. “No amount of legislation can stop this,” he says, “it has to be done by the people.” In short, we must refuse to use the technologies that gather our data.

We won’t be able to avoid them all. Smart light poles and traffic cameras, for example, cannot be avoided unless you avoid certain areas, which could include your own street. But there are many we can avoid, such as smart watches, fitness trackers, smart thermostats, smart TVs, AI assistants and Ring surveillance cameras just to name a few.

We can also fight, on a local level, to prevent the expansion of facial recognition cameras and 5G, and we can refuse the coming vaccine passport, and the push toward virtual reality. As noted by Jabbi, one way in which people are surreptitiously led into the digital prison is by relying on apps that offer convenience, such as apps that allow you to order food or transportation.

Eventually, they’ll phase out apps on your phone and transfer them to virtual reality googles, so that you have to be in the virtual world in order to use them. It’s important to understand why this is done. It’s to force you deeper into the digital prison system, which includes digital clones and living much of your life in a virtual reality.

China Demonstrates Coming Prison State

At present, China is being rocked by massive protests against the Zero-COVID policy that is used to imprison tens of millions of people in their homes for weeks on end. You’d think an American company like Apple would stand for American values like freedom but, no, it does not. It’s working with the Chinese government to quell dissent.

As reported by Bloomberg 1 November 9, 2022, Apple is limiting its iPhone file-sharing tool, restricting AirDrops from non-contacts to 10 minutes. The wireless file-sharing feature was used to share pictures and videos from the protests, thereby encouraging more people to join.

According to Bloomberg, while the change was only made to phones sold in China, Apple says it plans to roll out the same limitation globally. Why? Are they predicting anti-government protests elsewhere?

According to a Twitter user named Songpinganq, 2 the video above shows iPhone workers clashing with police over the country’s Zero-COVID policy. In response, the Chinese government is alleged to have remotely switched all of the protesters’ COVID passports to “red,” which prevents them from entering public spaces.

If they try to enter a building, for example — including residential complexes — an alarm will go off and they’ll be detained and escorted to a quarantine camp which, by the way, they have to pay for. That’s how easy it is for the government to eliminate undesirables from society once this kind of control system is in place.

(For the record, I cannot confirm that the featured video is indeed iPhone workers, or that they’re specifically protesting the COVID measures. Regardless, the basic premise remains true, which is that government would be able to control large masses of people remotely, through their digital identity/vaccine passport.)

The video 3 below is said to be from a Chinese quarantine camp. A health worker walks through the complex measuring the detainees’ body temperature. The second video 4 shows the inside of a quarantine cubicle. [MORE]

Suit Seeking $50M Filed for Keenan Anderson. LAPD Murdered Black School Teacher by Tasing and Smothering Him as He Begged for His Life. Unlawfully Stopped for Drunk Driving While He Walked in Street

From [HERE] On behalf of Keenan Anderson lawyers have filed a $50-million wrongful death claim against the city of Los Angeles. The Black man was murdered in the street by LAPD cops earlier this month on January 3, 2023.

The suit claims the 31-year-old teacher died as a result of “serious injuries” from an LAPD officer who repeatedly used a taser on Anderson after a traffic accident. The claim is requesting $35 million due to damages against Anderson’s son and, according to CNN,  $15 million for Anderson’s estate, citing the city “failed to properly train the involved officers” who used “unreasonable deadly force.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that attorneys Ben Crump and Carl Douglas claim the force used by officers amounted to a “serious injury and damages to his mind and body, and four and one-half hours later [he] dies as a result of the injuries and damages he sustained at the hands of the LAPD police officers.”

The Jan. 3 interaction with the Los Angeles Police Department began after Anderson was allegedly involved in a traffic collision.

The first officer on the scene called him a “possible DUI driver” and asked for backup, but things escalated quickly.

The video shows Anderson appearing to run from police. He was then ordered to the ground and a struggle ensued as additional officers arrived on the scene. That is, Keenan was on foot not operating a vehicle. There can be no probable cause to arrest for DUI/DWI when there was no vehicle present and if officers didn’t observe any driving. At any rate, the legal standard (at least in regard to white citizens) for arrest is “probable cause” not any “possible cause.” At the time of his arrest, Anderson apparently had not committed any crime.

At one point, Anderson can be heard saying, “They’re trying to George Floyd me.”

He was taken to the hospital, but the Los Angeles Police Department said Anderson suffered a medical emergency and died about four hours later.

The beloved teacher was the cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors.

Since the incident, the LAPD says all but one of the unidentified six officers involved have returned to work and claim the focus of the incident has been the application taser and is “being looked at closely.” The estate’s legal team is planning to ask the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the case, as this is third officer-involved death in Los Angeles this year.

Attorneys say Video Shows Memphis Cops Savagely Beat Defenseless Black Man Tyre Nichols to Death After Traffic Stop. Authorities Refuse to Release Public Video to Public in City Dominated by Liberals

From [HERE] Tyre Nichols was "defenseless" during the "savage" beating by Memphis police officers that preceded his death earlier this month, attorneys for his family said at a Monday press conference.

Earlier in the day, law enforcement officials privately met with Nichols' family members and their attorneys to show them video footage of the police stop, which has not yet been released to the public.

Attorney Antonio Romanucci described a violent scene. "He was a human piñata for those police officers," Romanucci said. "It was an unadulterated, unabashed nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes."

Attorney Ben Crump said the video reminded him of the infamous video of Los Angeles police beating Rodney King in 1991.

Nichols, who was Black, died on Jan. 10, three days after he was stopped by Memphis police for reckless driving. He fled the scene of the traffic stop but was ultimately taken into custody after what police said were two "confrontations" with officers.

Authorities said the 29-year-old Nichols complained of "shortness of breath" after his arrest and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Nichols' family said the police beat him so badly that he became unrecognizable.

Crump, one of the family's attorneys, said Nichols was tased, pepper sprayed and restrained during the incident, part of which occurred about 80 yards from where Nichols lived with his mother and stepfather. Crump said Nichols could be heard calling out for his mother just before the video ended.

"Yet again, we're seeing evidence of what happens to Black and brown people from simple traffic stops," he said. "You should not be killed because of a simple traffic stop."

Officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith were fired, MPD announced Friday.

FUCK ALL POLICE. Although do-gooders often claim diverse police forces are a cure for reform and police brutality, Black cops brutalize and harm Black people at a rate nearly equal to white cops. Yale legal historian James Foreman explains that Black people have been calling for the hiring of Black police officers since the 1860’s. Scholar Alex Vitale states, “Reformers often call for recruiting more officers of color in the hopes that they will treat communities with greater dignity, respect, and fairness. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to back up this hope. Even the most diverse forces have major problems with racial profiling and bias, and individual black and Latino officers appear to perform very much like their white counterparts.” He states, “there is now a large body of evidence measuring whether the race of the individual officers affects their use of force. Most studies show no effect. More distressingly, a few indicate that black officers are more likely to use force or make arrests, especially of Black civilians.” [MORE]

Authorities promised Nichols' family that they would release video of the incident to the public in one to two weeks, Crump said.

Nichols mother, RowVaughn Wells, said her son didn't do drugs or carry guns, and questioned why police felt they had to violently arrest him.

Wells remembered her son as a "beautiful soul" who loved to take photographs of the sunset. "He had my name tattooed on his arm, and that made me proud, because most kids don't put their mom's name, but he did," she said.

A photo that has circulated in news reports and on social media shows a badly bruised Nichols lying in a hospital bed after his arrest.

Multiple investigations are underway

Last week the Memphis Police Department said it had concluded its administrative investigation into Nichols' death and announced it had fired five officers: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. Like Nichols, all of the officers are Black.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn 'CJ' Davis said the officers had violated multiple police department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid.

"The Memphis Police Department is committed to protecting and defending the rights of every citizen in our city," Davis said in a statement. "The egregious nature of this incident is not a reflection of the good work that our officers perform, with integrity, every day."

The Shelby County District Attorney's Office said it understood the "reasonable request from the public" to view the video of Nichols death and that it was working to determine how quickly it could release the footage and would do so as soon as possible.

"However, we must ensure we abide by applicable laws and ethical rules so that we do not jeopardize an ongoing investigation or prosecution," the office said.

The Justice Department and the FBI are investigating Nichol's death, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has also launched its own inquiry.

Released Twitter Files Reveal Increased Government Control of the Platform

From [HERE] During his examination of the Twitter Files, investigative reporter Matt Taibbi discovered a pattern of increasing government control over the social media platform, he told RT’s John Kiriakou on Saturday’s episode of ‘The Whistleblowers’.

Since purchasing Twitter for $44 billion in October, Elon Musk has released batches of documents shedding light on the platform’s previously opaque censorship policies, enlisting independent journalists to break each document dump. Independent journalist Matt Taibbi was the first chosen, publishing communications that revealed a company-wide effort to suppress reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop – the contents of which implicated the Biden family in numerous foreign corruption schemes.

“I wasn’t very interested in that story per se,” Taibbi told Kiriakou. “The question I was really interested in answering was what level of communication and coordination exists between…Twitter and federal law enforcement, and perhaps agencies beyond the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, or the White House.”

While researching Twitter’s decision to ban then-President Donald Trump’s account in early 2021, Taibbi said that he began noticing instant messages between Twitter executives “where you would see little indentations at the top of the messages that said ‘this is flagged by DHS, this is flagged by the FBI.’”

“And that right away told us something very significant, that Twitter was in the business of processing requests that came from federal law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Taibbi discovered that in the runup to the 2020 election, Twitter would receive lists of thousands of accounts to suspend. These lists were handed to the company by the FBI, CIA, NSA, Pentagon, State Department, Treasury and others, and sometimes came in the form of excel spreadsheets, which employees were expected to ban without question.

“There were so many requests, they got one batch one day and when they completed it there was a round of applause in the chat,” Taibbi told Kiriakou.

At one point, when Twitter employees received a list of accounts from the State Department to ban for spreading so-called Russian “disinformation,” they argued that they should take no action, as the department had provided no evidence. However, a Twitter executive who previously worked for the CIA told them to flag the accounts anyway, as the site’s “government partners are becoming more aggressive” with their censorship demands.

“That decision was significant, because it was one of the moments when Twitter basically realized ‘We can’t say no any more,’” Taibbi explained.

In the time since Taibbi released his first story on the Hunter Biden laptop, further reporting has revealed that Twitter assisted the US military’s online influence campaigns, censored “anti-Ukraine narratives” on behalf of multiple US intelligence agencies, suppressed “legitimate content” on Covid-19 on behalf of the White House, and participated in the “Russiagate” hoax. [MORE]

Dr McCullough: People Have Been Tricked Into Taking Unsafe COVID Shots. There is Overwhelming Evidence that They Cause Heart Damage. Where are the Criminal Charges for Inducing and Defrauding People?

Calls Mount to Stop COVID Injections in South Africa Over Numerous Adverse Side Effects and Deaths from Experimental Shots that Don't Stop Transmission or Prevent COVID, a mild Virus

[MORE]

DeSantis Moves to Permanently Ban COVID Shot Passports, Mask Mandates in Schools and Mandated COVID Shots as a Condition of Employment

From [HERE] Once again, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is breaking rank from the global health cabal and declaring that his state will carve its own path to health and health freedom. 

In this instance, he’s proposing a new policy that would permanently ban COVID vaccine passports, mask mandates in schools and mandated COVID shots as a condition of employment. It would also prohibit businesses from mandating masks. 

In a news release, DeSantis said, “When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedom’s linchpin. These measures will ensure Florida remains this way and will provide landmark protections for free speech for medical practitioners.”

Fired Workers Sue NYC Authorities, Seek $250 Million and End to Irrational COVID Shot Mandate

From [HERE] New York City public-sector workers who lost their jobs for refusing to comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Thursday filed a $250 million lawsuit against the city and Mayor Eric Adams seeking to end the mandate.

The 72 fired workers are demanding the city overturn the mandate, reinstate their jobs and compensate them with punitive damages.

The workers argue the mandate should be found “arbitrary and capricious” given that “President Joe Biden, Governor Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer have all declared that the pandemic is over,” and that it was already rescinded for private sector employees and students, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in the Bronx County Supreme Court of the State of New York, also alleges the plaintiffs were discriminated against with “willful or wanton negligence, or recklessness” and were mocked and ridiculed by their colleagues.

Many of the plaintiffs — formerly with the New York Police Department (NYPD), the New York Fire Department, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and other agencies — worked for the city for more than 20 years but now are unemployed, have lost their homes and their ability to support their families, the lawsuit states.

Attorney James Mermigis, who represents the plaintiffs, told The Defender:

“Anybody that goes into the city does not have to be vaccinated except for NYC public sector workers, including firemen, policemen, teachers.

“I just think it is absurd, especially once Mayor Adams lifted the mandate for private employees, that these people, who were heroes during COVID-19, still have the mandate.”

According to the lawsuit, Adams admitted, “I don’t think anything dealing with COVID is makes sense [sic], and there’s no logical pathway of what one can do[sic].”

The lawsuit also alleges the COVID-19 vaccines don’t prevent disease transmission and that it is well-established that the risks of vaccination outweigh the benefits.

It also argues the plaintiffs have immunity from prior infection that should exempt them from any mandate, because “the scientific community has conclusively established that natural immunity provides strong and durable protection.”

According to the lawsuit, the city used, “a discriminatory practice to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with Petitioners in their exercise or enjoyment of their closely held religious beliefs,” by failing to engage in “cooperative dialogue” with them regarding their petitions for religious exemption, which were denied.

The plaintiffs seek $250 million in punitive damages.

“[Punitive damages] punish the city for its behavior towards its employees in the hopes that they will establish policies in the future that will prevent this from happening again,” Mermigis said. [MORE]

Hundreds of ‘Tylenol Lawsuits’ Allege Retailers, Manufacturers Knew Acetaminophen During Pregnancy Could Cause Autism, ADHD

From [HERE] Hundreds of “Tylenol lawsuits” already have been filed against retailers and manufacturers alleging they sold products containing acetaminophen to pregnant women, knowing the medications could harm the developing fetus.

The number of lawsuits could soon reach into the thousands, according to an attorney who spoke to The Defender.

Attorney W. Mark Lanier described the lawsuits — which allege acetaminophen use during pregnancy can cause children to be born with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — as “some of the most important health litigation pending in the United States right now.”

Lanier, founder and CEO of the Houston-based Lanier Law Firm involved in several high-profile product litigation lawsuits, told The Defender:

“Autism and mental health development or mental development issues touch a huge number of Americans. We believe the science indicates that taking Tylenol can cause many of these problems, period. We think the science backs this up, we think the biology backs it up, and we are eager to prove that in a court.

“The goal here is not to take Tylenol off the market. The goal here is to put a warning on it so that doctors and expectant mothers are able to make an intelligent decision of what risks they will expose their child to during pregnancy.”

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) late last year appointed Senior U.S. District Judge Denise Cote to oversee the growing number of lawsuits brought by families, resulting in all of the claims being transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judge Cote last month appointed a special master to preside over all federal Tylenol autism and ADHD lawsuits.

The lawsuits allege retailers, including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and others, falsely advertised products that contain acetaminophen as being safe for pregnant women and did not warn them about the risks posed to fetal development.

Lawsuits also are expected against Johnson & Johnson for its alleged role in encouraging widespread acetaminophen use during pregnancy, which could send the number into the thousands.

Products that contain the drug include Tylenol, Alka-Seltzer Plus, DayQuil, Excedrin, Goody’s, Mucinex, NyQuil, Robitussin and some generic and store-brand equivalents.

The lawsuits allege the products have been marketed as safe for pregnant women since the 1950s, despite the existence of dozens of peer-reviewed studies showing acetaminophen poses serious risks to pregnant women and unborn children.

Lawsuits are being pursued on behalf of children under age 15 who were diagnosed with ASD between the ages of 1 and 10, and children under age 15 who were diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of 8 and 14.

The Defender examined some of the currently pending lawsuits making such allegations and the scientific literature regarding the risks of acetaminophen during pregnancy and spoke with one of the attorneys involved with the Tylenol lawsuits. [MORE]

"Ever-escalating levels of pain and torture:" Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama Authorities' Cruel, Unusual and Unsuccessful Attempt to Murder Him with Lethal Injection

From [DPIC] Alabama death-row prisoner Kenneth Smith spent four hours on November 17, 2022 strapped to an execution gurney while state prosecutors attempted to lift a stay of execution issued by a federal appeals court and his execution team repeatedly failed in attempts to set the intravenous execution line intended to kill him. He was left strapped to the gurney after prison officials called off the botched execution, unaware that he was not to be put to death that night. 

These revelations, and more, came to light in pleadings filed by Smith’s lawyers in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on November 25, 2022 and reported by The Guardian December 28, 2022. In his Second Amended Complaint, which challenged his execution by lethal injection based on Alabama’s history of failed and botched execution attempts, Smith tells the story of what happened on the night Alabama tried and failed to execute him. 

The complaint alleges that, “as the night progressed, as Mr. Smith was subjected to ever-escalating levels of pain and torture, no one responded to his pleas to stop the pain, told him of the Eleventh Circuit’s stay, or answered his questions about what they were doing to him. They were — and he thought they were — executing him.”

Maya Foa, joint director of Reprieve, told The Guardian that “The recent spate of disastrous lethal injection executions have shown that whatever the drug, whatever the protocol, condemned prisoners often spend their final hours in agonising pain and distress. With each gruesome scene in the death chamber, we are witnessing the consequences of persisting with a broken method of execution, in real time.”

The Attempt to Execute Kenneth Smith

Smith’s complaint sets forth a detailed timeline of events surrounding the botched attempt to execute him. 

At 7:45 pm, it says, as a motion to stay his execution was pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, counsel for the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) emailed Smith’s lawyers advising defense counsel that ADOC had notified the courts that “we are preparing Mr. Smith for execution.” Guards ended Smith’s phone call with his wife at 7:57 p.m. and immediately placed him in handcuffs and leg irons, took him to the execution chamber, and strapped him to the gurney.

Two minutes later, the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay, which Smith’s lawyers provided to ADOC at 8:02 p.m. ADOC replied, “Noted,” but left Smith strapped to the gurney until midnight — a total of about four hours. During that time, ADOC never informed Smith of the stay or the status of any other legal proceedings and did not permit him to speak with his counsel. Smith, the complaint alleges, believed his execution was imminent.

At 10 p.m., ADOC’s IV team entered the execution chamber and began to attempt to set an IV line. Around the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit’s stay. It is unclear from the complaint whether the IV team began jabbing Smith’s arms and hands with needles before or after the stay was lifted. At one point in the process, Smith informed an execution team member that executioners were painfully inserting the needle in his muscle. According to the complaint, the team member responded, “No I’m not.” 

The execution team then adjusted the gurney to place Smith into an inverted crucifixion position, then left the room for several minutes. Upon their return, they injected Smith with an unknown substance, which Smith’s counsel believe to be “some sort of sedative and/or anesthetic.” Smith “specifically objected to this injection,” the complaint says, as the State “had been ordered not to use ‘intramuscular sedation’ during his execution.”

Subsequently, an individual of “unknown medical credentials … started repeatedly stabbing [Smith’s] collarbone area with a large needle” in an attempt to begin placing a central line IV, and a prison official “grabbed and held [Smith’s] head away from the area where the needle was being inserted.” Smith describes sharp and intense pain, “as though he were being ‘stabbed’ in the chest” as the individual “repeatedly jabbed him … underneath his collarbone.” Unbeknownst to Smith, around 11:20 pm, “unverified reports that the execution may have been called off started circulating.” 

Smith’s lawyers emailed state officials for confirmation that the execution had been called off, but did not receive a response. Sometime before midnight, the execution team told Smith “it’s over with.” When guards came to remove him from the execution chamber, Smith was trembling, sweating, hyperventilating, dizzy, and could not lift his own arms to be handcuffed or walk unassisted.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed Smith’s stay of execution around 10:20 pm. ADOC initiated Smith’s execution hours earlier, contravening a court-ordered stay and their own protocol. The attempt to execute Smith was the third consecutive botched execution in Alabama. Following the incident, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey called for a review of the state’s execution process. She also asked the Alabama Supreme Court to amend state court rules governing death warrants to provide ADOC personnel more time to carry out executions, which the court approved January 12, 2023.

Black Man Charged with Murder Moves to Bar Death Penalty, Invoking Kansas Constitution’s ‘Strict Scrutiny’ For Life and Liberty Issues

From [HERE] A Kansas capital defendant is challenging the prosecution’s decision to pursue the death penalty in his case, invoking a heightened standard of review the Kansas constitution applies to infringements of fundamental rights. 

The pretrial challenge, which will be the subject of a hearing in the Sedgwick County District Court beginning February 6, 2023, was filed by the ACLU in the case of Kyle Young, an African-American defendant who faces capital charges in a 2020 double murder at a Wichita hotel. The motion alleges that the Kansas death penalty violates state and federal prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment because it denies capital defendants a fair and impartial jury, is arbitrarily and discriminatorily applied, and serves no legitimate penological purpose. 

The Kansas Bill of Rights declares that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are “inalienable natural rights.” Young’s lawyers argue that a landmark 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights that applied a “strict scrutiny” standard of state constitutional review for laws that infringe on fundamental rights should apply to capital punishment. “For the very same reasons liberty applies to reproductive rights, life should apply to the death penalty,” said ACLU Capital Punishment Project senior counsel Henderson Hill. 

In 2022, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a different case that the death penalty, as written, did not violate the state constitution’s “inalienable” right to life. It held, “when a person is convicted of capital murder beyond reasonable doubt, he or she forfeits the inalienable right to life … and the state may impose lawful punishment for that crime.” Young, who has not been convicted and is presumed innocent, argues that he is entitled to the benefit of strict scrutiny review and that the death penalty is unconstitutional as it is applied in the state of Kansas.