ET Williams

The Doctor of Common Sense

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Actual WTF? NY Pays $13 Million to BLM for Being Arrested During George Floyd Protests

NYC Awards Record $13M to BLM Rioters in Settlement for Being Arrested During George Floyd Protests

In an unprecedented move that has left many shaking their heads in disbelief, New York City has opted to hand over a staggering $13 million to more than 1,000 individuals.

Who are these fortunate recipients, you might ask?

They are protesters who, in the tumultuous aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020, found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

This monumental payout, resulting from a civil rights lawsuit settlement that is poised to make history, has sparked an outcry, with critics condemning the prioritization of compensating individuals who took part in mass unrest over addressing the myriad other issues the city faces.

But how has this situation come to pass?

And what does this say about New York City’s stance on the civil disobedience that shook the nation?

More details below:

 

 

 

 

For those who followed the wave of Black Lives Matter protests, you’ll recall that they were not without their share of violence and destruction.

Fires were started, objects thrown, windows smashed, buildings damaged – the repercussions of this civil unrest echoed across the nation, causing billions of dollars in damages and leading to mass arrests.

In this landmark case, are we setting a precedent for financially rewarding individuals involved in such protests?

What about those protesters whose actions crossed the line into violence and destruction – will they, too, receive a piece of this multi-million dollar settlement?

The lawsuit’s stipulations draw a somewhat murky line on this.

Fox News was one of the first to break the story:

New York City will give more than $13 million to more than 1,000 protesters arrested or interacting with police during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests following a civil rights lawsuit settlement filed in Manhattan federal court Wednesday.

Experts said the settlement, which allows the city to avoid a trial, would be among the most expensive payouts ever for mass arrests. It still needs to be approved by a judge before it is finalized.

The lawsuit focused on 18 protests that erupted in New York City in the week following George Floyd’s death in May. According to attorneys for the plaintiffs, eligible persons can receive $9,950 in compensation.

Protests and riots following the 2020 killing of Floyd resulted in at least 18 deaths, $350 million worth of property damage in the Minneapolis area, and nearly $2 billion nationwide. About 10,000 people were arrested in the span of a few days.

Several other cities across the U.S. are negotiating their own settlements concerning officers’ handling of protesters who spilled into the streets, with some causing fires, throwing objects, breaking windows and damaging buildings.

Protesters arrested in connection with violence — those arrested on charges including trespassing, property destruction, assaulting an officer, arson or weapons possession — will be excluded from the settlement. Those seen on video blocking police from making arrests may also be ineligible.

The lawsuit named former Mayor Bill de Blasio and retired NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, as well as other police leaders, as defendants. Under the settlement agreement, neither the city nor the NYPD is required to admit any wrongdoing.

New York City, long celebrated as the epitome of urban dynamism and diversity, appears to have taken an unnerving turn into a realm where the traditional roles of law enforcement and lawbreakers are being dramatically flipped.

At the helm of this seemingly bizarre twist is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who seems intent on bringing the hammer down not on the city’s notorious law-breakers but on its public protectors.

Concurrently, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has approved a multi-million dollar payout to Black Lives Matter protesters who were in physical confrontations with the police.

It’s a strange turn of events where those who break the law appear to be shielded and even rewarded, while the ones tasked with upholding it are punished.

But what does this mean for the ordinary New Yorker?

Can they feel safe in a city that appears to be operating in an alternate universe?

The details of recent incidents involving law enforcement in New York City make for alarming reading.

One case involves an NYPD officer who was charged for an incident at an Apple store where he threw a single punch that led to no injuries.

On what basis was this considered a criminal act worthy of prosecution by Bragg?

Fortunately, the editorial board at the New York Post still has some common sense and is calling out NYC for having its priorities backwards:

What a topsy-turvy world Gotham has become.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is now prosecuting a cop who tried to stop a serial shoplifter — while Mayor Eric Adams’ team has agreed to pay Black Lives Matter protesters $13 million for fighting police.

It’s just the latest turn in a series of madcap moves where officials rush to defend — and even reward — law-breakers, while punishing victims and those who seek to protect the public.

Can any New Yorker feel safe in a world like that?

On Wednesday, Bragg indicted Manhattan NYPD officer Salvatore Provenzano for punching an unruly man he was escorting out of an Upper West Side Apple Store two years ago.

The incident involved just one punch, which resulted in absolutely no injuries, yet DA Bragg somehow saw fit to press charges against the officer.

This follows on the heels of Bragg’s indictments of other New Yorkers who were forced to defend themselves against street madmen:

* Last year, Bragg sought to bring a murder charge against bodega worker Jose Alba, even though surveillance video showed Alba was attacked first and sought to defend himself. Bragg later backed down under pressure.

* In May, Daniel Penny was arraigned on manslaughter charges involving the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was threatening subway riders.

* Last month, straphanger Jordan Williams was charged with stabbing an unhinged ex-con who harassed passengers and punched his girlfriend aboard a J train, though a grand jury found that he acted in self-defense.

* And just this month, Bragg charged Scotty Enoe, a CVS worker, with stabbing a serial shoplifter to death during a fight inside a Midtown Manhattan store.

If you live in NYC and have to pay the BLM rioters with your hard-earned tax money, we feel sorry for you.

NYC Awards Record $13M to BLM Rioters in Settlement for Being Arrested During George Floyd Protests

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FBI Demanded Republicans Keep Burisma-Bribery Scheme Confidential

FBI Demanded Republicans Keep Unclassified FD-1023 Form ‘Confidential’ Before Release

The FBI demanded the House Oversight Committee keep the bureau’s unclassified FD-1023 form confidential before its release by Republicans on Thursday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he released the form upon acquiring it by legally protected disclosures from Justice Department whistleblowers.

The form contains FBI informant allegations of wrongdoing by then-Vice President Joe Biden. Specifically, it alleges that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden each received $5 million from Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder of Burisma Holdings, after Joe Biden threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine until then-President Petro Poroshenko fired a prosecutor investigating Burisma.

It also confirms Breitbart News’s reporting that the FBI’s informant conveyed that Hunter and Joe Biden allegedly “coerced” the Burisma executive into paying them $10 million in bribes, along with Grassley’s claim the FBI informant said Zlochevsky kept 17 audio recordings of his conversations with Hunter and Joe Biden as an “insurance policy.”

The FBI says the form was not corroborated by the bureau before its public release and “expressly” did “not consent to the materials’ public disclosure or further dissemination,” and that “the contents of the materials should not be discussed or shared in any form with anyone beyond Members and staff,” according to a disclaimer obtained by the Hill.

“Throughout the FBI’s engagements with Congress, we have been guided by our obligation to protect the physical safety of confidential human sources and the integrity of sensitive investigations,” the FBI said in a statement. “We have repeatedly explained to Congress, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this source information confidential,” the FBI said in a Thursday statement.

“The safeguards the FBI placed on the production of this information are necessary to protect the safety of confidential sources and the integrity of sensitive investigations,” the statement continued. “Today’s release of the 1023 — at a minimum — unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source.”

Despite the FBI’s claims, lawmakers disclosed the form with redactions, such as who the FBI informant is and additional sensitive information.

The FBI previously allowed lawmakers to review the unclassified document in June after much arm-twisting by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY). Though a select number of lawmakers reviewed the form, it remained hidden from the public, raising concerns that Joe Biden could be compromised.

Joe Biden claims he did not accept the $5 million bribe from Burisma. When a reporter questioned Joe Biden about the alleged $5 million payment, he jokingly responded, “Where’s the money?”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/07/21/fbi-demanded-republicans-keep-unclassified-fd-1023-form-confidential-before-release/

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Christians Arrested for Holding Service During Covid Win $300,000 Judgment

The town of Moscow, Idaho, will pay a $300,000 settlement to three Christians arrested during a maskless outdoor church service during the pandemic.

Gabriel Rench, Sean Bohnet, and Rachel Bohnet sued the city in March 2021 over their arrests at the “Psalm sing” event held outside the Moscow City Hall by Christ Church in September 2020. At the time, the city was still under a mask mandate.

The plaintiffs alleged that officials violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights by taking them into custody.

In a video of the arrest, other members of the church continued to sing as the three were handcuffed.

Rev. Ben Zornes had said that the event was a protest against the mask mandates, which he referred to as “largely groundless laws,” according to a report from Fox News at the time.

A magistrate judge dismissed the city’s case against them, and U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. wrote that the “plaintiffs should never have been arrested in the first place, and the constitutionality of what the City thought [its] code said is irrelevant.”

“Somehow, every single City official involved overlooked the exclusionary language [of constitutionally protected behavior] in the Ordinance,” the judge continued.

Rench told Fox that the incident made him a pariah in the small college town.

“I think it’s no secret that portions of our government and political groups are now starting to target Christians in a way that has never really happened in America or Canada,” he said.

“I’m in a conservative state, but I live in a liberal town, and the liberals had no problem arresting me for practicing my religious rights and my Constitutional rights,” Rench continued. “But my [Republican] governor also didn’t defend me either. If you look at what’s going on in Canada, I think America’s 10 years, at most 20 years, behind Canada if we don’t make significant changes.”

Idaho Town Will Pay $300,000 to Christians Arrested for Maskless Outdoor Service During Pandemic

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Trans Politician Arrested For Child Porn- SICK TWISTED BASTARD

Laughton
Groves

Unsettling Text Messages Surface After Transgender Ex-Lawmaker Is Arrested – The Way He Discusses Toddlers Is Sickening

The case surrounding New Hampshire’s first transgender state representative has taken a horrifying turn shortly after he was charged with a disturbing set of crimes.

The disgraced ex-lawmaker, 39-year-old Stacie Laughton, was arrested last month on a slew of child pornography charges. The state alleges that Laughton, born Barry Charles Laughton, was sent explicit photos of young children mid-diaper change by his former intimate partner, daycare worker Lindsay Groves.

If you think the heinous machinations against defenseless kids couldn’t get any sicker, buckle up.

A criminal complaint filed against the former legislator Monday contains text messages allegedly exchanged between Laughton and Groves. The depravity of these messages becomes instantly clear once seen.

The complaint states that on June 7, Laughton asked Groves “So you would let me f*** the little girls that you work with,” which Groves then confirmed.

An even more disturbing conversation seems to have taken place nearly a week later, as explicit pictures of two 3-year-old victims, a male and a female, were reportedly sent to Laughton from the daycare.

GROVES: I took these for you today so I’m horny.
LAUGHTON: Oh you said sexting
LAUGHTON: Is that a little girl
GROVES: I wasn’t being serious
GROVES: Yes that’s a little girl
LAUGHTON: i like that I would like to see more of the p**** but I like that it
f***ing hot
LAUGHTON: Is that one of the girls we get to play with
LAUGHTON: That little boy pulling up his shirt looks like
GROVES: The boy was getting a diaper on that’s why his shirt is up
LAUGHTON: Oh
LAUGHTON: Did the girl give you an issue
GROVES: No
GROVES: The boy didn’t either

Other conversations too vulgar and explicit to republish can be seen through a link to the original criminal complaint.

If you don’t believe in the death penalty for non-violent crimes, you just might change your mind after reading the details of these two depraved individuals.

A total of three minor victims have been identified so far, all of which have been exploited and the abuse recorded and allegedly received with enthusiasm by Laughton.

This isn’t Laughton’s only brush with the law.

In 2022, just days after his November re-election, the transgender lawmaker was arrested after repeatedly violating a stalking order. The order was originally taken out in July of that year before Laughton violated it for the first time in September.

A decade before the stalking incidents, Laughton was elected to office in New Hampshire, but withdrew entirely after prior prison terms were revealed. The crimes then were fairly innocuous compared to later accusations — just a bit of identity and credit-card fraud.

In 2015, Laughton was arrested again for calling in a bomb threat against a New Hampshire medical center.

Six years after that, in 2021, Laughton found himself behind bars for allegedly sending text messages to a local 911 system with no real emergency to report.

Where does the Democratic Party find these people?

Even a cursory glance at Laughton’s criminal history would have seemingly disqualified him from being hoisted to an elected office by any political party. Instead, the transgender lawmaker found support and praise from his colleagues.

Unfortunately, it seems the act with which Laughton finally did himself in left multiple innocent victims in its wake. These young children must now go their entire life with the trauma allegedly dealt by one of the left’s progressive darlings.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/07/unsettling-text-messages-surface-transgender-ex-lawmaker-arrested/

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TRUMP: “If You Do Something Bad To Us, We Are Going To Do Things To You That Have Never Been Done Before!”

TRUMP: “If You Do Something Bad To Us, We Are Going To Do Things To You That Have Never Been Done Before!”

Oh baby, buckle up!

This is only 10 seconds, but I think this signals what the next 5 years are going to look like.

As I’ve said before, the most epic counter-punch in the history of the world is about to happen.

President Trump talks tough…

He IS tough….

But he also likes decorum and following proper procedure.

He also understands that the good of the country is more important than his own wishes and desires.

And that’s exactly why, I believe, that he didn’t start the mass arrests and mass firings in his first term.

He (wrongly) believed he could work with these people.

He (wrongly) believed they truly loved America like he did, even if they differed on policies.

He’s now come to find out that’s not true.

Most of Washington HATES America.

They want to see it crippled.

Trump knows that now.

And the gloves are off.

Oh, it’s going to be epic my friends!

EPIC!

Watch this short 10 second video and I think you’ll get what I mean:

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Fox News whistleblowers expose its support for far-left charities including satanists!

Fox News’ viewership has historically leaned right and favored Republican causes. While the company wears a conservative face on air, it appears that behind closed doors, Fox is willing to lean left or in whatever other direction the wind is blowing.

Insiders have revealed to Blaze Media that Fox will subsidize some of the very activist groups that despise and seek the ruin of the network’s viewers, evidencing a “complete disregard and hatred” for its core audience.

“Fox Giving” is an app in the company portal that facilitates charitable donations via the Canadian-based donation management platform Benevity. Fox will apparently match donations up to $1,000 to various organizations that satisfy the company’s criteria.

The Satanic Temple is an atheistic leftist organization that has distributed satanic literature to children; publicly performed “unbaptisms”; sought to ensure that women can legally have their unborn children killed by way of their “religious abortion ritual“; and erected statues of Baphomet on government property.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a leftist grievance organization that tends to characterize conservatives, parental rights groups, constitutionalists, and those critical of big government as extremists and bigots. For instance, last month, the SPLC deemed Moms for Liberty an “anti-government extremist group.” Fox, which the SPLC previously called a “megaphone” for far-right extremist groups, has even written up some of the SPLC’s various scandals in the past, including the 2012 incident when a gunman attacked the Family Research Council, which he noted he had seen on the SPLC’s “hate map.”

The Trevor Project is an activist group that purportedly seeks to “end suicide among LGBTQ young people,” but actively promotes gender ideology and woke propaganda. The group claims that “gender is a social construct” and holds fast to the notion that sex-change mutilations and cross-sex hormone therapies can be meaningful remedies for at-risk teens.

Planned Parenthood is not just in the business of exterminating the unborn, having executed nearly 9 million babies in its abattoirs since 1970, but is among the second-largest provider of cross-sex hormone therapy in the nation. The organization has battled Republicans’ pro-life legislation around the country and has long supported Democratic candidates.

At one time or another, Fox News has appeared critical of these groups and/or the agendas they help advance — those that revile Christianity, characterize conservative mothers as extremists, kill the unborn, and promote child sex-change mutilations.

However, according to two current Fox News employees and one former Fox News producer, all three of whom spoke to TheBlaze on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the company, these same groups have ostensibly been eligible for a charitable top-up from Fox.

One source provided screenshots confirming the allegations, and two sources provided corroborating testimony.

A Fox employee personally took Rikki Ratliff-Fellman, director of programming at Blaze Media, through the company portal and showed her some of the donation matches seen in the screenshots.

Ratliff-Fellman said, “I watched this source physically log in to their company portal at Myfox.okta.com to confirm the giving app and to see some of the questionable charities and the donation match option for myself to verify nothing was photoshopped.”

These insiders detailed how donations to the Satanic Temple, the SPLC, Planned Parenthood, and the Trevor Project would all receive 100% matching donations by Fox (i.e., $1,000 matching $1,000).

Planned Parenthood similarly gets a 100% donation match with funds ostensibly raised, in part, with the help of Fox News cable subscriptions.

One current employee stressed, “Fox pretends to care about Christians, but some of the stuff they push internally suggests otherwise. Glory holes, trans surgeries for kids, and potential donations to Satan are a huge slap in the face to every Christian at the company, and we resent it,” adding, “It offends me personally that this company acts like they support Christians and yet they’re literally willing to match $1,000 donation to the Satanic Temple.”

Fox’s internal donation policy states: “FOX will not match or provide volunteering rewards to : -Donations to organizations that discriminate on the basis of a personal characteristic or attribute, including, but not limited to, age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity characteristics or expression, marital status, … pregnancy or medical condition either in its selection of recipients of the organization’s services, funds, or other support; in delivery of services; or in its employment practices.”

While Fox will apparently match donations to the Satanic Temple, the company further states it will not match or provide volunteering rewards to “donations made to organizations that are private and non-operating, or political, religious, or fraternal in nature.”

TheBlaze has reached out to Fox News for comment, but had yet to receive a response by the time of publication.

The former Fox producer who spoke to Blaze Media indicated the liberal musculature behind the network’s conservative face has been growing stronger in recent months.

“It became clear certain things weren’t going to be tolerated on air any more after Tucker was gone. We were told: Lay off Dylan Mulvaney,” said the former producer. “Once I realized we couldn’t say certain things on air any more, I started to dig more into the reality of the corporate views.”

That Fox might simultaneously ape conservative talking points while bankrolling leftist initiatives struck the former producer as an affront to the network’s audience.

“It shows complete disregard and hatred for Fox’s core audience, which is a huge part of the country. They watch believing Fox is speaking for them, when in reality it’s a company participating in certain things that don’t match their audience’s values. [The disdain] is driven more by executives, lawyers, and HR than people realize, especially post-Dominion,” said the former producer, referencing the company’s $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Services earlier this year.

Although the second current Fox employee who spoke to Blaze Media doesn’t “want to blow up the company” over this revelation, they nevertheless found it “disappointing.”

“Goes to show there’s definitely a mismatch in values,” said the second Fox employee. “Our business model has turned into ‘just tell the audience what they want to hear.’ It’s about appeasing and assuaging the audience even though most people in the C-Suite disagree with their audience’s values. It’s manipulative.”

The insider intimated that this and other capitulations at Fox to the woke left were a means of “signaling to whatever ESG police are out there … ‘don’t come for us.'”

Just as Fox executives are allegedly pursuing the path of least resistance, the employee indicated that in the aftermath of the recent spate of firings, people at the company are similarly less interested in the “pursuit of the truth” and more in saving their jobs.

This seems to be a company-wide problem: “After Tucker was fired, I don’t think anybody is safe, to be honest.”

When asked about whether she reckons this to be mere capitulation to the “ESG police” or an indication that Fox News’ conservative face was merely a mask, now lifted, Ratliff-Fellman told TheBlaze, “I never personally witnessed woke corporate policies when I worked at Fox News, and I was proud of my time there. However, this revelation is a sobering reminder for me to remain beholden to the values of our audience and subscribers.”

https://www.theblaze.com/news/fox-news-whistleblowers-expose-companys-support-for-far-left-charities