President and Media Stage Conflict to Promote the Illusion of an Independent Press. In Reality Both Conceal War Crimes, Defeat in Iran, FBI Notes of Alleged Trump Child Rape and Serve the Same Masters

According to FUNKTIONARY:

Dependent Media – Establishment (dependent) media is both unwilling and incapable of reporting events truthfully, accurately, or without extreme bias. News coverage is just that—covering-up-(masking) and distorting the events and those wielding the power behind the events (those reported and deliberately unreported). News coverage has simply become “disinfotainment” with the sole purpose of perception and knowledge containment as well as reality concealment. You report in the interests of those who paying you to do so. (See: MEDIA, NBC & NEWS)

mass media – “Massa’ Media. Massa’s media plus (+) Mass Hypnosis = Mindless Masses. 2) The “Mess” Media. 3) wholesale retale— retelling the whole tale (propaganda) exactly as you’re told, consistently and relentlessly. How can you possibly relate when you are framed by the very debate wherein you are an unwilling spectator? Let’s be perfectly clear on this. There’s no counteroption or outlet to vent when you’re under the controlled thoughtform of mass-think manufactured consent. “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” ~A.J. Liebling. (See: Media, T.V., Mass, Alienation, Spectacle Society, NEWS, ABCTV, Propaganda, Legislation & The New God Economy)

Black Man Wrongfully Convicted of Murder and Locked Up for 26 years Files Lawsuit Against Baltimore Police. Cops Withheld Evidence that Showed that He was Not the Killer and Manipulated Photo Array

From [HERE] A Black man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent more than 26 years behind bars sued the Baltimore Police Department on Thursday for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.

Tarrone Barfield was convicted for the 1997 killing of Terrvon Davis, but police withheld evidence that showed Barfield was not the killer — and that his only connection to the shooting was that he had the same nickname as another suspect.

The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office agreed that the withheld evidence pointed to his actual innocence, and his conviction was vacated. He was released in October 2023. Earlier this year, the Maryland Board of Public Works voted to pay him more than $2.7 million, plus attorneys’ fees and expenses.

“Due to the illegal and shameful actions of officers of the Baltimore City Police Department in the late ’90s, Tarrone Barfield was wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime he did not commit,” said Stephen Mercer, a principal at Kramon & Graham in Baltimore who represents Barfield, stated in an email.

“The City has made great strides recently in honestly addressing and rectifying the harms done by bad actors within the police department in the past,” Mercer added. “We now call upon the City to quickly and fairly come to terms with Mr. Barfield, recognize the terrible injustice of his wrongful incarceration for so many years, and resolve his case in a way that is fair to him and reflects the magnitude of what he has lost.”

A spokesperson for the BPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

His complaint, filed Sept. 17 in Maryland U.S. District Court, brings 14 claims, including suppression and fabrication of evidence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, detention without probable cause and more. He named three detectives and a firearms examiner as defendants.

According to the complaint, one of the officers knew that Barfield went by the nickname “Monk” because he had encountered Barfield in an earlier nonviolent case. When someone said “Monk” had supplied the weapon, officers “shaped the investigation and fabricated evidence” to support the theory that Barfield was the suspect.

They allegedly coerced a witness to identify Barfield using a suggestive photo array that implied he was the shooter.

The complaint also alleges that police suppressed evidence from a woman involved in an argument that preceded the homicide. In a letter to a romantic partner, she wrote, “I know & remember that you are going to turn yourself in.”

BPD is further accused of withholding the murder weapon itself and a report finding a forensic match to the bullets from the shooting. The evidence suppression, Barfield argued, prevented the defense from finding the “Monk” who supplied the evidence.

Israel Wipes Criminal Record of Cowardly Soldier who Shot a Palestinian Man in the Head While he was Laying on the Ground Incapacitated, Murdering Him. Barbaric IsrAliens Believe He is a Hero

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has cleared the criminal record of former IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting a wounded and incapacitated Palestinian dead in Hebron in 2016.

The case dates back to 2016, when Azaria, then an IDF sergeant and medic, was filmed shooting alleged knife attacker Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood.

According to accounts of the incident, al-Sharif and another Palestinian man, Ramzi Aziz al-Tamimi al-Qasrawi, approached an Israeli military post and stabbed an Israeli soldier, lightly injuring him. Qasrawi was subsequently shot and killed by Israeli forces. Al-Sharif was shot, seriously wounded, and left lying on the ground. Several minutes later, Azaria approached him and shot him in the head.

The shooting was filmed by a human rights activist. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison, despite prosecutors seeking a three- to five-year term. His sentence was later commuted to 14 months, and he was released in May 2018 after serving nine months.

Footage of Azaria shooting an already incapacitated Palestinian sparked international outrage. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called it an “extrajudicial execution” and a war crime, saying the video “demolished all the slogans chanted by the occupation leaders about the ethics of the Israeli army.”

Israeli rights group B’Tselem described it as an “extrajudicial street killing.” The UN human rights office called Azaria’s sentence “excessively lenient,” warning that it will reinforce “the culture of impunity.” The case also divided Israeli public opinion and contributed to tensions between political leaders and the military, with then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon later resigning. [MORE]

Fed Prosecutors Locked Up a White Grandmother for six months due to a facial recognition mistake - $10 million lawsuit filed against Fargo and police

A white grandmother who spent six months in jail after facial recognition tech falsely linked her to a North Dakota bank fraud investigation now wants compensation for what happened. Angela Lipps is suing the City of Fargo and a Fargo Police Department detective for $10 million over the incident, which led to the loss of her home, car, and dog. 

In July 2025, a team of US Marshals arrested 50-year-old Lipps in Tennessee at gunpoint while she was babysitting four young children. She was booked into the county jail in Tennessee as a fugitive from justice wanted in North Dakota.

The arrest stemmed from an investigation into bank fraud cases in April and May 2025. Detectives reportedly reviewed video of a woman using a fake US army ID to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars.

By using facial recognition software, the investigators identified Lipps as a possible match. She was charged with eight felonies, the most serious of which carried a 10-year prison sentence.

But Lipps had never been to North Dakota in her life, and bank records later confirmed she was more than 1,200 miles away at the time of the alleged crime.

She was held in a Tennessee county jail for 108 days before being transported to North Dakota. Jail staff allegedly denied. [MORE]

Is the Government Framing an Autistic Black Man as the J6 Bomber? Feds Randomly Selected and Charged Brian Cole after a Capitol Hill Cop Failed a Lie Detecter Test When Asked 'if She Was the Bomber'

So-Called 'Black Jan 6th Bomber' Sounds Like Government Bullshit: Grok Says Photos Of The Jan 6th Pipe Bomber Don't Match Up With The Video!

Massa Media Jumps on the Factually Unsupportable Claim that the J6 Pipe Bomber was “Black” and the Baseless Narrative that he was a Trump Supporter

Hackers Reveal how Flock Cameras Really Track Cars and Law Abiding People (real criminals are Unidentifiable b/c they are Masked Up or Wear Hoodies)

Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with 404 Media and WIRED, revealing in new detail how exactly Flock Safety’s cameras track the movements of both vehicles and people. The hackers say they are also publishing details on how they managed to obtain the software, in the hopes that other people may copy them.

The breach provides an unprecedented look inside a system that Flock has described as protected by on-device encryption. The hackers were able to copy the camera’s storage and recover an encryption key stored on the device, which unlocked videos of thousands of vehicle detections. The hackers shared the material with 404 Media and the transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which shared the data with WIRED. 404 Media and WIRED then analyzed those files as part of a joint investigation.

While much of the automatic license plate reader’s most sensitive storage remained encrypted and inaccessible, the joint analysis of the recovered data shows that software running on the device explicitly detects people as well as vehicles, license plates, and bicycles. The camera can produce dozens of images of a single passing vehicle and, according to several weeks of recovered logs, generated more than a million images. Its computer-vision software also sometimes isolated bumper stickers and other graphics, including, in one case, an American flag patch on a motorcyclist’s saddlebag. [MORE]

‘The Attorney General Refused to Share Epstein Files With the Survivors, Even Though They Were Generated on Their Behalf. Who are You Protecting?' - Rep Thomas Massie

FBI Agents Interviewed a 14 Year Old Girl who Said Trump Raped and Assaulted Her. Senator Whitehouse Questioned Clown Patel About Why the Agents Notes Were Not Disclosed in the Epstein Files

NY to Pay $24M after Cameras Accidentally Recorded Modern Day Lynching of Robert Brooks, Exposing Prison Klanarchy: 14 White Cops Brutally Beat Shackled Black Man in Vulgar Display of Racism/Authority

ACCORDING TO FUNKTIONARY

Lynching – the juxtaposition of insensate self-hatred (inferiority complex) and sudden death within the horror-dome of Racism White Supremacy (the expression of the fear of genetic annihilation). For pictorial proof of the Caucasian’s inhumanity to Afrikans (the civilizers of hue-manity), see: “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America.”

Klanarchy – rule by the Klan. Klanarchy was practiced at its zenith in the southern states between 1910 and 1955; characterized by such vigilantism as murders, beatings, lynchings, tar-and-feathering, bombing and maiming almost exclusively people of Afrikan descent, and to much lesser extents Catholics and “Jews.” The TRUMP- Bush Klan currently rule.

From [HERE] and [MORE] The state of New York has agreed to pay $24 million to resolve several lawsuits filed by the family of Robert L. Brooks Sr., a Black man who was beaten to death by at least 14 white correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility nearly two years ago.

An attorney familiar with the matter said the settlement is the highest on record in New York for a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of an inmate killed in a state prison. It also would stand as one of the highest settlements nationally in a prison wrongful death case.

The settlement is expected to be finalized as part of a civil action filed on behalf of Brooks' family members in the state Court of Claims. It would also resolve a federal civil rights lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Albany, according to a court filing.

Brooks' family members are represented in the litigation by attorneys Stephen G. Schwarz of Rochester and Elizabeth Mazur of Chicago. The wrongful death lawsuit claimed state officials oversee a “dangerously broken” prison system that brutalizes inmates. According to the civil complaint:

According to the complaint:

“On December 9, 2024, prison staff at Marcy Correctional Facility (“Marcy”) repeatedly punched, kicked, and otherwise physically attacked Robert while he was at all times handcuffed, restrained, and completely defenseless. Robert’s fatal beating by the people charged with protecting him—a prolonged beating so severe and grotesque that it shocks the conscience— occurred because of the ongoing tolerance of staff violence against people incarcerated at Marcy and other prisons throughout the NYSDOCCS system. Robert’s attackers systematically and casually beat him to death. Other Defendants assisted in the fatal beating by further restraining Robert when he was already handcuffed and then also later shackled. Still other Defendants simply stood by and observed the fatal beating as if it were a normal and common occurrence at Marcy. On information and belief—it was exactly that.

Robert had done nothing to justify the use of any force against him, much less deadly force. Robert’s killers were unaware that some of their own body-worn cameras (“BWC”s) passively recorded much of the attack on video. As Marcy staff brutalized Robert, they believed that their actions would never see the light of day.

None of the Defendants reported the attack. Instead, after killing Robert, they concocted lies to attempt to cover up their actions and then went about their daily business as usual. 5. The video footage showing Robert’s fatal assault reveals a chilling scene. It depicts several large white law enforcement officers torturing a bloodied Black man who is restrained, helpless, and struggling to maintain consciousness. The perpetrators’ brutality goes on and over the course of roughly ten minutes. It continues past several initial rounds of beatings. It continues beyond one officer hammering Robert repeatedly with the heel of a shoe and another officer lifting Robert by the neck using a chokehold. The brutality continues even beyond Robert losing the ability to sit upright and well after Robert falls into a state of semiconsciousness.

Almost as disturbing as the video’s depiction of violence perpetrated on Robert by at least six Defendants is the demeanor of at least nine other Defendants who all stood by watching Robert’s killing. Rather than making any effort to end the inhumane brutality, every staff member who was present casually observed Robert’s prolonged attack as if it were a routine activity. All remained calm and utterly unfazed by what was happening. Some appear bored. Others appear amused, visibly smiling or laughing at what seems to have been a spectator sport to them. The brutal attack on Robert was very obviously business-as-usual for all involved.

The video is frightening and very difficult to watch, but it reflects the dark and dangerous reality that individuals incarcerated at Marcy face on a regular basis. It reveals precisely what Marcy staff do to those incarcerated in the prison when they believe no one is watching. It evidences the rampant abuses that New York prisoners as well as the Correctional Association of New York (“CANY”)1 have reported and warned about for years. As CANY recognized, “Mr. Brooks’s death cast a harsh light on the grim realities of life within our state prisons, realities that have been documented by [CANY] for decades.” For far too long, CANY’s warnings that the lives of people in NYSDOCCS are profoundly at risk and those individuals’ pleas for help and protection have been met with profound silence.”

LONG VERSION

EDITED VERSION

Specifically, video shows that sometime after his transport van arrived at Marcy, Robert was on the ground outside of a Marcy building with his hands handcuffed behind his back, while surrounded by Defendants Kieffer, Mashaw, Kessler and Kinglsey. According to the civil complaint:

“After Defendants Trombly and Farina approached the group, two of the Defendants lifted Robert off the ground and began moving him toward the Marcy Infirmary Building with his arms extended above his head and his upper torso parallel to the ground. The other four Defendants in the group followed.

Approximately one minute later, at 9:22 p.m., Robert entered the Infirmary Building carried by three Defendants. Defendants Kessler and Anzalone each held Robert by his arms and Defendant Kingsley held Robert by both of his feet, carrying him in a contorted face- down position

The Defendants proceeded to carry Robert into the open door of a medical examination room, in and around which other On-Scene Defendants were already gathered.

On information and belief, the On-Scene Defendants knew that there were no surveillance cameras in Marcy’s medical examination rooms and they deliberately took Robert to that location so there would be no recordings of what they intended to do to him.

Inside the room, with the door left open, Defendants placed Robert on an examination table face down on his stomach. One Defendant used his knee and hands to forcibly restrain Robert’s legs, while at least one other Defendant used his arms to forcibly restrain Robert’s upper body

Thereafter, over the course of approximately ten minutes, numerous On-Scene Defendants continued to viciously batter Robert in myriad ways without any provocation whatsoever on Robert’s part. Robert’s hands remained restrained behind his back the entire time, leaving him no means to defend himself against Defendants’ attacks or soften their blows.

The continued assault on Robert included, but was not limited to, the actions described in the following paragraphs, that were all recorded on video.

Defendant Anzalone repeatedly punched Robert while Robert was on his back on the examination table, leaving his face visibly bloodied and swollen when Defendants then raised his upper torso

Defendant Farina forcibly tried to shove a white cloth into Robert’s mouth while Defendant Kinglsey kept both of his hands grasped around Robert’s neck, impairing Robert’s ability to breathe

When Robert struggled to move his head for breath, Defendant Anzalone grabbed the front of Robert’s shirt and Defendant Kingsley pulled back on Robert’s neck as Defendant Farina rapidly punched Robert in the face and neck or shoulder area, with hard closed-fist blows, at least six times.

After Defendant Farina’s initial punches to Robert’s face made Robert fall back onto the examination table, Defendant Anzalone punched Robert in the groin or leg area at least twice as Defendant Farina simultaneously continued to punch Robert’s face or shoulder area.

Seconds later, Defendant Kinglsey lifted Robert’s upper torso back up off the table with one hand behind Robert’s head, and another hand around Robert’s neck, so that Robert was again in a sitting position on the edge of the table

Defendant Kingsley then proceeded to position both of his hands around Robert’s neck and lift Robert’s buttocks up off the table two consecutive times by pulling up on Robert’s neck

Defendant Kingsley next repositioned himself by placing his right arm further around Robert’s neck, in a chokehold, and once again forcefully raised Robert up off the examination table by his neck (see Figures 8 and 9 below).

At the same time, Defendant Farina threw away the white cloth that he previously tried to shove into Robert’s mouth, removed one of his gloves, and examined the hand he had just used to repeatedly strike Robert (see Figure 8 below). Defendant Farina then opened and closed his fingers and shook out his hand in an apparent effort to relieve the self-inflicted pain caused by his repeated blows to Robert’s face and head.

Defendant Kingsley then forcefully shoved Robert back down to a seated position on the examination table. Defendant Anzalone next proceeded to repeatedly beat Robert in the stomach with the back of one of Robert’s shoes.

Next, Defendant Anzalone and Defendant Kingsley pushed Robert’s head and shoulders back down onto the examination table once again. Defendant Anzalone, Defendant Kingsley, and Defendant Galliher then restrained Robert’s upper torso, while Defendant Farina kicked his foot into Robert’s groin.

Defendant Farina shifted his weight to push his foot deeper into Robert’s groin or lower stomach area for approximately 8 seconds while the three other Defendants surrounding Robert continued to restrain Robert’s upper body.

Defendant Walrath then joined the assault on Robert’s groin area by holding at least one of Robert’s legs to prevent him from closing them to protect himself.

Thereafter, Defendant Anzalone proceeded to punch Robert in the stomach. Defendants Walrath and Farina then forcibly restrained Robert’s legs and feet with their hands as Robert lay on his back on the examination table, while at the same time other Defendants, including Defendants Kingsley and Anzalone, applied pressure to Robert’s upper body area for an extended period, further restricting his ability to breathe.

When Robert’s body began writhing, Defendant Farina punched Robert three times in the area between Robert’s buttocks and upper thighs.

While Defendant Farina was delivering those punches to Robert’s right side, Defendant Walrath delivered multiple punches to Robert’s left side

While Robert remained on his back on the examination table, with his lower ribcage area visibly extended, Defendant Anzalone struck Robert’s stomach twice with his hands, provoking no visible response from Robert.

After being prompted by another Defendant, Defendant Anzalone then gave Robert a sternum rub.2 Robert’s stomach rose up, demonstrating that he was still responsive to pain.

Defendants, including Defendant Galliher, then placed Robert’s ankles in leg cuff restraints (also known as “leg irons”) while Robert remained on his back on the examination table with his hands restrained behind him.

For an extended time thereafter, Defendant Kingsley kept one of his hands on Robert’s neck and his other hand on Robert’s left arm, while Defendant Anzalone used one of his hands to restrain Robert’s right shoulder. During this period, Robert’s body writhed again with his ribcage visibly extended (see Figure 12 below), and Defendant Anzalone intermittently used his free hand to poke the side of Brooks’ stomach and strike the side of Brooks’ ribcage.

Defendant Anzalone then shifted his weight to push his other hand down harder on Robert’s right shoulder. Next, Defendants Kinglsey and Anzalone forcefully yanked Robert upright into a sitting position at the edge of the examination table by pulling up on his shoulders while Defendant Anzalone simultaneously dug his fist into Robert’s lower stomach area.

Defendant Kingsley and Defendant Anzalone held Robert by the back of his neck to allow Defendant Anzalone to deliver a hard, closed-fist punch to Robert’s stomach (see Figure 13 below). Defendant Anzalone stopped supporting the right side of Robert’s body as he stepped away to retrieve rubber gloves, leaving Robert to struggle to hold himself fully upright

Defendant Anzalone approached Robert once again and grabbed the front of the neck hole of Robert’s shirt with his now-gloved hand. Defendants Anzalone and Kingsley then forcefully yanked Robert into a standing position, lifted Robert’s feet and body up off the ground by Robert’s arms and shirt, shoved Robert into a closed window shade in the corner of the medical examination room, and pushed their knees into the back of his legs.

Robert remained in the corner for an extended period, during which time Defendants Kinglsey, Kessler, and Anzalone continued to push Robert into the wall, apparently committing other abuses that are not visible on camera.

Robert was eventually pushed down onto his knees, remaining in that position until Defendant Anzalone wrapped both of his arms around Robert’s torso and violently jolted Robert’s entire body up off the ground.

Thereafter, Defendants moved Robert back to the examination table, where two Defendants removed Robert’s pants as Defendant Anzalone gave Robert another sternum rub, which this time provoked no apparent response.

By approximately 9:32 p.m., Robert lay motionless and apparently unresponsive, with his pants removed and his socks hanging halfway off his feet, and Defendants finally ended their beating.

Robert was eventually transported to Wynn Hospital in Utica, New York, where he was pronounced dead in the early hours of December 10, 2024.

The On-Scene Defendants who were not actively beating Robert at any given time casually entered and exited the room where Robert’s assault was underway, posted up in the open doorway of the room, or milled about in the hallway immediately outside the room, while nonchalantly watching Robert’s beating, hearing Robert’s abuse, and engaging in conversation with one another.

In the video footage of Robert’s fatal beating, the On-Scene Defendants at times appeared to be smiling or laughing and at other times appeared to be bored. Notably, none of the On-Scene Defendants in the footage appeared to be at all concerned at any time about what was being done to Robert or about the fact that Robert was plainly deteriorating to a state of unconsciousness.

Despite seeing, hearing, and otherwise knowing that Robert was being beaten to death, all the On-Scene Defendants failed to intervene to stop Robert’s assault at any time, despite having ample opportunity to do so.

All the On-Scene Defendants were likewise deliberately indifferent to Robert’s obvious need for critical medical care that could have saved his life.”

Brooks had been held in the Mohawk Correctional Facility, records show, but was moved the day of the beating to the Marcy prison. He had been transferred for his “safety,” a state prison system investigator testified, since he had been involved in altercations with other inmates.

Legal Lynching as Jeffery Lee was Murdered Yesterday: Although a Jury’s Decision to Impose a Life Sentence Can't be Overruled, Alabama Authorities Did So Anyway per the ‘We Can Kill NGHRS’ Exception

From [HERE] An Alabama jury rejected the death penalty for Jeffery Lee and decided that life imprisonment without parole is the appropriate punishment in his case. The State nonetheless executed Mr. Lee by lethal injection today.

Mr. Lee’s Jury Chose Life Imprisonment

At Jeffery Lee’s capital trial in 2000, an Alabama jury voted 7-5 against the death penalty and chose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. The trial judge overrode the jury’s verdict and sentenced Mr. Lee to death in 2000, relying on a unique Alabama practice that allowed judges to overrule jury verdicts in death penalty cases.

Alabama is the only state where judges overrode jury verdicts of life to impose the death penalty routinely—in more than 100 cases since 1976. As a result, nearly 20% of the people currently on Alabama’s death row were sentenced to death by elected judges even after their juries chose life imprisonment without parole.

Florida and Delaware—the only other states that permitted judge override—ended it in 2016. Alabama became the last state to abolish judge override on April 11, 2017, but did not apply the change retroactively to cases like Mr. Lee’s.

Mr. Lee’s case demonstrates the arbitrariness of Alabama’s death penalty. If his trial happened today—or at any time after judge override was abolished in 2017—he would have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole as a jury of his peers decided. Instead, he was executed because his capital trial was held before 2017, when Alabama law still allowed a single official to override the judgment of the 12 people charged with deciding his fate.

The Alabama Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey abolished judge override because they recognized it was wrong, former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Drayton Nabers Jr. wrote in a recent op-ed. He called on the governor to commute Mr. Lee’s death sentence out of “fidelity to the conservative principles of limited government, respect for the jury system, and the rule of law.”

“A jury of Alabamians voted for life,” he wrote. “The state of Alabama later agreed that juries, not judges, should make that call. Governor Ivey can honor both of those judgments—the jury’s and the Legislature’s—by commuting Jeffery Lee’s sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.” [MORE]

Converse's Plan to Sell Shoes Using Klan and Lynching Imagery Backfires: New Ads Mock Black People's History of Dehumanization. Racists at Company Owned by Nike Apologize for Their Intentional Conduct

GENOCIDAL HUMOUR. Yes, Converse is owned by Nike. Since 2003, Converse has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike, Inc., following a $305 million acquisition. Nike holds 100% of Converse, meaning there are no public shareholders or external investors at the brand level.

The first ad raised ire after it was posted on Converse’s Threads account on Sept. 3 showcasing its recently-released Chuck 70 X sneaker

The second ad, previously released on Sept. 14, is for a collab with Danish lifestyle brand Palmes and features a man on a ladder holding a pair of sneakers overhead. [MORE]

The brand apologized in a statement first reported by Women’s Wear Daily, and sent to ADWEEK: “We’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened, and we will do better.”

Fuck Nike’s politics. FUNKTIONARY explains, to “apologize” is to “lay the foundation for a future offense.” An “apology” is “a plea bargain in disguise” or can be a device to avoid conflict. Apology is a trick - applied as anger solvent - you need not be authentic in your apology as it is merely a social device (gesture) to detonate anger. Apologies, like excuses, are not for the benefit of the one to whom they are made, but the one who makes them.” These Converse ads weren’t made by mistake - they went through a process that was purposeful and deliberate. If Black people were in their right minds Nike could be shut down or substantially harmed using the great power of withdrawal.

The racists at Converse and Nike knew outrage to its ads was reasonably foreseeable but released them anyway because they also knew there would probably be no organized pushback by Black people. Boycotts cannot be random or individual or disorganized. Personal boycotts or symbolic boycotts are not boycotts. They are simply a temporary, individual consumer choice and have only a minimal, symbolic effect.  Boycotts also require an African or pro-Black centered group consciousness which does not exist in enough people at this time - as Black people's individual and group consciousness has been falsified and other directed by racists in the interests of racism/white supremacy. [MORE] 

MORE HERE

Tesla Settles Lawsuit with 3 Black Workers after Allowing Scrawled Nooses, Other White Supremacy Symbols to Proliferate at Factory of Company Controlled by Neuropeon Elon Musk

Tesla has reached a settlement deal with the Black worker who launched a landmark racial-discrimination lawsuit against the automaker in 2017, resolving his claims even as hundreds of current and former Tesla workers spurred by his lawsuit to join legal action against the company continue pursuing allegations of rampant racism at the company’s Fremont factory.

Marcus Vaughn, who launched the lawsuit in 2017, and two other Black former Tesla workers who joined the legal action later, Titus McCaleb and Monica Chatman, came to an agreement with Tesla last month. An Alameda County Superior Court judge has ordered the parties to appear Sept. 11 for an update on finalizing the confidential settlement.

The agreement would end the litigation for the three workers but not the broader legal fight the case helped ignite. The case continues for two other plaintiffs in Vaughn’s lawsuit. Five related lawsuits involving 440 workers are moving forward, along with cases brought by California’s civil rights agency and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The lawsuit ballooned in 2024 into a class action potentially including thousands of Tesla workers allegedly victimized by racism, but Tesla successfully fought to remove class-action status from the case last year, and it has fractured into several separate lawsuits.

The judge who in 2024 certified the Vaughn case as a class action ruled that claims for damages against Tesla would have to be made in separate lawsuits. Although the court later decertified the class action, 440 workers filed five lawsuits, with 54 to 98 plaintiffs in each, seeking damages over the alleged racism at the Fremont plant. As of July 24, the number had grown to 854 workers in 10 lawsuits with 54 to 106 plaintiffs each.

Vaughn’s lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court described the Tesla factory floor in Fremont as a “hotbed for racist behavior” that Tesla had “done nothing to stop.” Vaughn claimed he was regularly called a racial slur, and heard it used against other Black workers in the plant.

Hundreds of current and former Black workers at the Fremont facility filed sworn declarations to the court in the Vaughn case, claiming Black workers at the plant were segregated into the hardest, most dangerous, lowest-paid jobs, and subjected to frequent racist treatment, language and graffiti. [MORE]

Medical Imaging and Forensic Analysis Demonstrates Israeli Authorities Use Sniper Drones to Target Children; Precision Shots to the head, neck, chest, or abdomen

This report illustrates that the manner in which the Israeli military uses small tactical drones in Gaza as instruments of “precision warfare” has not reduced civilian harm but has intensified it. Dr. Mimi Syed, (Emergency Medicine Physician with direct experience in Gaza), Wes J. Bryant (Former U.S. Air Force special operations targeting expert and Pentagon advisor on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation), Charles O. Blaha (retired former 32-year State Department official) and Stephanie Savell (Director of Costs of War) authored the report.

Medical imaging and forensic analysis of deaths and injuries treated by co-author Dr. Syed and her colleagues in Gaza between August and September 2024 suggest a pattern of highly precise and troubling applications of lethal force utilizing small tactical “sniper” drones against children. Ninety percent of the 18 cases of child death or injury by gunshots documented by Dr. Syed were reported to be fired by quadcopters, per witnesses who brought the injured or killed children into the hospital. Most of the wounds were caused by single small caliber rounds to the head, neck, chest, or abdomen. Given this pattern of single-shot precision, these types of wounds strongly suggest targeting that fails to discriminate civilians from combatants.

The report contains radiological images or forensic sketches of photographs for five specific cases that Dr. Syed documented between August to September 2024. These cases provide evidence of certain types of trauma patterns that suggest these children were shot by IDF quadcopters, noting that this casualty pattern likely extends beyond these five cases to many other cases of children killed and injured by Israeli military action.

Although there has been media coverage on the use of lethal force by small tactical drones in Gaza, no reports have yet been published with an interdisciplinary and methodologically rigorous approach. This report’s in-depth analysis of small tactical drone technology, employment and targeting methodologies, medical, ballistic, and forensic analysis, and legal implications of their use in Gaza sheds new light on this pressing international issue of civilian harm in armed conflict. It also includes recommendations to the U.S. as a global leader in drone technologies and the largest supplier of arms to Israel. [MORE]

UN Report Finds Reasonable Grounds to Believe US Committed War Crimes in Iran. Murdered Children and Adults in Intentional Missile Strikes on Elementary School, Trumpstein Claimed "Iran Did It"

From [ANTIWAR] UN inquiry finds grounds to believe U.S. committed war crimes in Iran strikes: The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said it found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes in two February 28 airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.

• The mission said a U.S. Tomahawk strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, killing more than 150 people, including around 120 children. A separate U.S. strike using Precision Strike Missiles dispersed tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilians.

• The report also found that Iran’s repression of the 2025–2026 protests involved gross human rights violations, many amounting to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, and torture. [MORE]

A UN fact-finding mission concluded that the US intentionally targeted a school building in Iran that was struck on the opening day of the war, rejecting the possibility that the school was accidentally hit during an attack on a neighboring Iranian military facility. The investigators found reasonable grounds to believe the attack constituted a war crime.

“Based on the available evidence,” a report from the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran said, adding, “The Mission finds reasonable grounds to believe that the US committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.”

The fact-finding mission was looking into human rights abuses in Iran, including the Minab school bombing. On the opening day of the war, the school was hit by multiple Tomahawk missiles, killing more than 150 people, most of them children. 

The report argues the Minab school bombing amounted to a war crime because the US intentionally targeted the building, and did not engage in thorough target verification to know it currently operated as a school. It described the failure to identify the school as “beyond mere negligence.”

“Credible civil society organizations concurred that the available evidence pointed to US responsibility and that failures in target verification, including reliance on outdated intelligence, were the most likely explanation for the strike on the school,” the report explains. Furthermore, “The Mission concluded that when targeting the school building, the US acted wilfully, that is with the requisite mental element of recklessness.”

President Donald Trump initially blamed Iran for the school bombing without providing evidence. He later suggested Iran possessed Tomahawk missiles, although Iran is not known to have the weapon. [MORE]

How US imperialism dehumanizes the 'other' to justify ghastly war crimes and escape accountability

Does the United States possess the most advanced military technology on Earth? By almost every measure, yes. Stealth aircraft, precision-guided munitions, satellite targeting, and now, by the Pentagon’s own admission, artificial intelligence woven into the targeting process itself. 

So the glaring question then is: if the targeting is this precise, why has the US war machine produced some of the highest civilian casualty tolls of any modern military? War after war, decade after decade, on every continent that has had the misfortune of US military presence.

On September 2, 2026, a wedding was underway in Kuhestak, a mountain village in Sirik County, in Iran’s Hormozgan Province. Families had gathered the way families gather everywhere, with music, food and joyful children wearing colorful clothes. 

Then an American airstrike hit the home hosting the wedding celebration. At least five people died. The youngest was a child who should have spent that night dancing at a family wedding and instead spent it in a cold morgue. And those who survived? Well, they must now learn how to live with the trauma and guilt of survival.

Sirik was not an aberration, though; it was the latest entry in a lengthy ledger. Since December 2001, the US has struck more than a dozen wedding parties across multiple countries, effectively turning weddings into funerals.

 In July 2002, the US attacked a wedding in Uruzgan, Afghanistan; only two women survived that attack. Iraq, May 2004: another wedding, another US attack. In July, Nangarhar, Afghanistan: an airstrike on a bridal convoy killed 47 people, including the bride herself, who survived two blasts before the third one found her. Months later, in November 2008, a wedding in Wech Baghtu, Kandahar, was hit — 37 dead, 23 of them children. In December 2013, a US drone fired on an 11-vehicle wedding procession in Rada’a, Yemen, killing at least 12 people; the bride was wounded by shrapnel. Weddings, of all things, keep ending up on American target lists. [MORE]

Committed to War: Republicrats Disregard Their Anti-War, Pro-Individual Freedom, Limited Government Slogans Whenever It Conflicts with Their Master's Real Agenda - Maintaining the Power of Elites

No matter how often Republicans recite the conservative mantra of the Constitution, limited government, individual freedom, private property, traditional values, free enterprise, and a strong national defense, the truth is that they only selectively believe it.

Republicans don’t follow the Constitution in a great many areas. The only limited government they desire is one limited to control by Republicans. They don’t accept the freedom of individuals to do anything that’s peaceful. They don’t believe in the inviolability of private property. They think traditional values should be legislated by government. They don’t yearn for free enterprise in everything. And they confound the idea of national defense with national offense.

It is on this last point that I want to focus on.

The newest edition of “The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution,” has just been published by The New American, where I am a contributing columnist. The index “rates members of Congress based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.”

This new edition of The Freedom Index is the third for the 118th Congress, and looks at ten key measures. Scores are derived by dividing a congressman’s constitutional votes by the total number of votes cast and multiplying by 100. So, the higher the score the better.

The average Republican House score was 64 percent. The average Republican Senate score was 52 percent. Only two (Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson) Republican members of the House and one (Rand Paul) of the Senate earned a perfect score of 100. Republican members of Congress can recite their conservative mantra and pass meaningless resolutions condemning socialism all they want, but it won’t give them extra credit to increase their horrible scores. In most college courses, one needs a C or better to receive credit for the course. Congressional Republicans are failures when it comes to constitutional principles.

This is no more evident than when it comes to the subject of war. According to Republican votes in Congress, as relayed by The Freedom Index, House and Senate Republicans—almost to a man—are committed to war. [MORE]

Susan Abulhawa: Iran is the Last Bastion of True Anti-imperial Resistance, Owes no one an explanation

From [HERE] Palestinian-American writer and activist Susan Abulhawa says the Islamic Republic of Iran is “the last bastion of true anti-imperial resistance,” rejecting the open letter published in The Guardian critical of Iran.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Abulhawa denounced the letter and its signatories for creating false equivalences and downplaying the scale of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.

The letter published in The Guardian on Thursday and signed by a group of noted intellectuals and activists has been widely criticized for placing Iran’s political prisoners, Israel’s detention of innocent Palestinians and the brutal US immigration detention system within a single framework of “carceral states,” while calling for opposition to both imperialism and what it describes as “hollow anti-imperialism.”

For Abulhawa, the letter’s framing fundamentally misrepresents the reality facing the Islamic Republic.

At the moment, she said, when the country is under sustained US-Israeli aggression, criticism of Iran’s domestic political system cannot be detached from the vastly unequal forces confronting the country or from decades of unilateral and illegal sanctions, “regime change” campaigns, covert operations, assassinations and other forms of Western and Israeli interventionist policies.

Abulhawa took particular issue with the letter’s description of Iranian political prisoners as being caught “between two blades of a scissors,” noting that the metaphor obscures a profound asymmetry between Iran and the powers waging war against it.

She also rejected a false equivalence between Iran’s prisons, Israel’s detention of Palestinians and the US immigration detention system, saying that the three involve fundamentally different political, legal and historical circumstances. [MORE]

Iran Downs 53rd US MQ-9 Drone Since Start of Unprovoked War

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force has downed the 53rd US MQ-9 drone since the beginning of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, the latest in a series of American unmanned aircraft destroyed by the country’s armed forces during the war.

The IRGC Aerospace Force intercepted and destroyed the unmanned aircraft at 10:12 a.m. local time on Thursday over Qeshm Island, using a new advanced air-defense system under the control of Iran’s integrated air-defense network.

The MQ-9 is the 53rd US drone to have been destroyed by Iranian forces. The total number of enemy drones destroyed by Iran’s armed forces since the beginning of the war has reached several hundred, according to the IRGC.

The latest downing comes two days after the IRGC announced the interception and destruction of three US MQ-1 Predator drones in a single day over the Strait of Hormuz. [MORE]