Private Security for Cop-Bashing Minneapolis Dems Costs $4,500 a Day

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Private Security for Cop-Bashing Minneapolis Dems Costs $4,500 a Day

Three radical Minneapolis city officials voted to defund their own police department after riots erupted over the police-involved death of George Floyd, then they promptly hired private security details at taxpayers’ expense.

Now, the bills are coming to light — and so is a suspicious financial arrangement with a sanctioned security company.

According to a Minneapolis city council spokesman, private security for council members Andrea Jenkins, Phillipe Cunningham and Alondra Cano cost $4,500 a day on average.

The taxpayer-funded protection for the anti-police officials was kept secret until FOX 9 investigative reporters exposed payment records on June 26.

At that point, the city reported the cost to be around $63,000.

But the costs ballooned to $152,400.

The security payments were quietly authorized by City Coordinator Mark Ruff who said on Tuesday that they ended on June 29.

The payments were directed to two private security companies: Aegis and Belcom.

But as FOX 9 points out, the contract for Aegis is problematic. It was signed by Erik Bergling, who was caught running afoul of state private security laws last year.

Bergling is the former CEO of the Entertainment Protection Group, a security company that failed to perform background checks on 147 employees working at Super Bowl LIVE events at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

The state licensing board said it was “distressed to see convicted felons providing private security,” and that much of the company’s security personnel hadn’t been properly trained.

As part of the penalty, the Aegis’s license was forced to lapse and Bergling was barred from holding a managerial position in a security company for 10 years.

So how did he land a lucrative contract with three left-wing city council members? By changing his job title.

By statute, the state licensing board can only regulate executive management personnel, specifically defined as “CEO, CFO, Manager, Qualified Representative” or similar title.

But Bergling’s title on the contract is “Special Projects.”

“Nothing we can do about that,” said Rick Hodsdon, president of the state licensing board.

Vindman Promoted to Col. as Reward for Helping Dems’ Impeachment Hoax

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Vindman Promoted to Col. as Reward for Helping Dems’ Impeachment Hoax

Former deep-state operative Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman has been promoted, despite playing a major role in the Democrats’ impeachment hoax.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper reportedly confirmed to Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., that Vindman had been promoted, according to The Hill.

Duckworth, one of seven members on the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, had blocked all military confirmations pending Vindman’s promotion.

“Donald Trump’s unprecedented efforts to further politicize our military by retaliating against Lt. Col. Vindman—for doing his patriotic duty of telling the truth under oath—are unconscionable,” Duckworth said in a statement.

“I’m glad the Department of Defense was finally able to set the record straight that Vindman had earned and was set to receive a promotion to Colonel,” she added.

Vindman had signaled that he would be retiring after 21 years of service, citing “bullying, intimidation, and retaliation” from the Trump administration because of his role in Congress’s impeachment inquiry.

Trump had publicly criticized Vindman, but denied reports that he was forcing Vindman to step down.

Trump did, however, make it clear to his advisers that he did not want Vindman to be promoted, according to the New York Times.

Even so, there was no indication found by the Times that Trump was personally involved in Vindman’s case at the time.

But Trump did defend removing Vindman and his twin brother, Yevgeny, from the National Security Council.

“Well, I’m not happy with him,” Trump said. “You think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not. They’ll make that decision. You’ll be hearing. They’ll make a decision.”

Vindman testified against Trump during the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry and claimed that he had been on Trump’s July 25 phone call to Ukraine’s president.

Vindman testified that the president had tried to coerce a foreign country to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden, and that it was “improper” for him to have done so.

WATCH: NYPD Chief, Officers Hurt in Clash w/ Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge

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WATCH: NYPD Chief, Officers Hurt in Clash w/ Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge

(Headline USA) Several New York City police officers were attacked and injured Wednesday as pro-police and anti-police protesters clashed on the Brooklyn Bridge, police said.

The confrontation happened hours before Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a series of police accountability measures.

At least four officers were hurt, including Chief of Department Terence Monahan, and 37 people were arrested, police said. Information on charges was not immediately available.

Surveillance video posted on social media by the police department showed a man on the bridge’s pedestrian walkway rushing toward a group of officers and reaching over a fence to smack one of them in the head with a cane.

“This is not peaceful protest, this will not be tolerated,” said the tweet that accompanied the video.

Police photos of the aftermath showed a lieutenant with a bloodied face, a detective holding a bandage to his head, and a bicycle officer helping a fellow officer dress a head wound.

Monahan, who last month knelt in a show of solidarity with protesters, sustained injuries to his hand.

He and the other injured officers were marching with a pro-police group led by local clergy when they were met on the bridge by activists, some of whom have been camping outside City Hall in recent weeks to demand severe cuts to police funding.

Some people in the pro-police group marched with a banner that said, “We Support the NYPD.”

The leader of that group said they were calling for an end to a recent spate of violence, including the shooting death of a 1-year-old boy in Brooklyn.

De Blasio helped paint a Black Lives Matter mural on a Bronx street before signing the police reform measures.

They include a ban on chokeholds and other restraints that could restrict a person’s breathing.

Other reforms include requirements for officers to have their shield numbers visible — and not obscured by things like black mourning bands; for the NYPD to create and publish to its website a schedule of officer disciplinary violations and penalties, and for the department to disclose information about its secret surveillance technology.

Another makes clear that the public has a right to record police activity.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Minneapolis Police’s Body-Cam Footage Shows George Floyd Pleading for Life

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Minneapolis Police’s Body-Cam Footage Shows George Floyd Pleading for Life

(Headline USA) Body-camera footage made public Wednesday from two Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest captured a panicked and fearful Floyd pleading with the officers in the minutes before his death, saying “I’m not a bad guy!” as they tried to wrestle him into a squad car.

“I’m not that kind of guy,” Floyd says as he struggles against the officers.

“I just had COVID, man, I don’t want to go back to that.” An onlooker pleads with Floyd to stop struggling, saying, “You can’t win!” Floyd replies, “I don’t want to win!”

A few minutes later, with Floyd now facedown on the street, the cameras record his fading voice, still occasionally saying, “I can’t breathe” before he goes still.

Though transcripts of the footage were released earlier, the video itself is the fullest public view yet of Floyd’s interaction with the officers who were later charged in his death.

It also captures an apparent lack of urgency to render aid to Floyd for long minutes after he stopped moving.

The recordings from Officers Thomas Lane and J. Kueng are part of the criminal case against them and two other officers in Floyd’s May 25 death.

Derek Chauvin, who held his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes, is charged with second-degree murder. Lane, Kueng and another officer, Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting.

All four officers were fired the day after Floyd died.

Journalists and members of the public were allowed to view the footage Wednesday by appointment.

Judge Peter Cahill, without explanation, has declined to allow publication of the video.

The footage shows the officers’ view of a death already widely seen on a bystander’s cellphone video, which set off tumultuous protests in Minneapolis that quickly spread around the world and sparked a national reckoning on race and policing.

Floyd appears distraught from the moment officers ask him to step out of his vehicle near a south Minneapolis corner grocery, where he was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.

When Floyd did not immediately display his hands, Lane pulled his gun, leading Floyd to say he had been shot before.

Floyd’s hands are soon handcuffed behind his back, and he grows more anxious, telling the officers that he’s claustrophobic and pleading with them not to put him in the back of a squad car.

In the struggle, Floyd loses a shoe. What appears to be Chauvin’s chest-mounted body camera winds up underneath the squad car, and Floyd eventually winds up on the pavement with the officers holding him down.

Chauvin and Kueng each grip one of Floyd’s handcuffed hands to hold them in position behind his back, with Kueng’s knee appearing to press on Floyd’s bottom or just below. Lane is at Floyd’s feet.

The officers sound clinical as the minutes tick by. “I think he’s passing out,” one officer says. “You guys all right, though?” someone asks.

“Yeah — good so far,” says one. Another — apparently Lane — says: “My knee might be a little scratched, but I’ll survive.”

Kueng reaches out with a free hand to pull a pebble from the police SUV’s tire tread and toss it to the street.

Lane did not sound particularly worried the first time he asked Chauvin whether they should roll Floyd on his side and suggested that Floyd might be in delirium.

People in the crowd can be heard expressing fear for Floyd’s condition, asking whether he had a pulse and was breathing.

A couple of minutes later, Lane sounds a bit more concerned when he asks again about rolling Floyd onto his side.

The officers go quiet but show no apparent urgency as Kueng checks for a pulse and says he cannot find one.

Lane’s camera shows him following an unresponsive Floyd on a stretcher into an ambulance, where EMTs instructed him to perform CPR.

The video shows Lane performing constant chest compressions by hand with no visible results.

The ambulance parks a few blocks away from the store for several minutes while Lane and the EMTs work on Floyd, rather than heading straight to the hospital, even though they all know that Floyd is in full cardiac arrest, as indicated by dispatcher audio.

Christine Hill, a spokeswoman for Hennepin County Medical Center, the hospital that provided the ambulance, said she could not talk specifically about Floyd’s treatment because of medical privacy restrictions.

But she said it is not unusual for paramedics to load a patient into an ambulance and move to a more secure location as they provide life-saving care.

A coalition of news organizations and attorneys for Lane and Kueng have said the court should allow the body-camera footage to be copied and published to provide a more complete picture of what happened when Floyd was taken into custody.

The viewing of the video took place place on the same day Floyd family attorney Ben Crump was announcing a lawsuit against the city and the police officers involved in his death.

The body camera videos and transcripts were filed in court last week by Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, as part of a request to have Lane’s case dismissed.

Gray said at the time that he wanted the videos to be made public, telling the Star Tribune that they would show the “whole picture.”

Gray said the bystander video shows just the last piece of what happened and “is not fair.”

Gray’s request highlighted portions of the body camera video that show Floyd “actively resisting and acting erratic” with officers.

It also noted Floyd’s “request” to be put on the ground. Gray also argued that Lane did not have a clear view of what Chauvin was doing.

Kueng’s attorney, Tom Plunkett, has also asked that the video be made public.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Hackers Send Fake Bitcoin Tweets from Obama, Biden, Tech Billionaires

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Hackers Send Fake Bitcoin Tweets from Obama, Biden, Tech Billionaires

(Headline USA) Unidentified hackers broke into the Twitter accounts of technology moguls, politicians, celebrities and major companies Wednesday in an apparent Bitcoin scam.

The ruse included bogus tweets from former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Celebrities Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian West, were also hacked. The fake tweets tweets offered to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address.

There is no evidence that the owners of these accounts were targeted themselves.

Instead, the hacks appeared designed to lure their Twitter followers into sending money to an anonymous Bitcoin account.

The Biden campaign, for instance, said that Twitter’s integrity team “locked down the account within a few minutes of the breach and removed the related tweet.”

Obama’s office had no immediate comment.

In a tweet, Twitter noted only that it was aware of a “security incident impacting accounts on Twitter.”

The San Francisco company said it is investigating and promised an update shortly. It did not reply immediately to requests for comment.

The apparently fake tweets were all quickly deleted, although The Associated Press was able to capture screenshots of several before they disappeared.

Bezos, Gates and Musk are among the 10 richest people in the world, with tens of millions of followers on Twitter. The three men are worth a combined $362 billion, according to the latest calculations by Forbes magazine.

The same bogus offer cropped up a second on Musk’s account, which has a history of sometimes befuddling tweets from the eccentric billionaire.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gates, who has become one of the world’s leading philanthropists since stepping down as Microsoft CEO, confirmed the tweet wasn’t from him.

“This appears to be part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing,” a spokesperson for the billionaire said in a statement.

Among the political figures targeted, the hack mostly appeared to target Democrats or other figures on the left, drawing comparisons to the 2016 campaign.

U.S. intelligence agencies established that Russia engaged in coordinated attempts to interfere in those U.S. elections through social media tampering and various hacks, including targeting the various campaigns and major party organizations.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Berkeley Votes to Replace Cops w/ Unarmed Civilians at Traffic Stops

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Berkeley Votes to Replace Cops w/ Unarmed Civilians at Traffic Stops

(Headline USA) After hours of emotional public testimony and a middle-of-the-night vote by Berkeley leaders, the far-left California city is moving forward with a novel proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in a bid to curtail racial profiling.

The City Council early Wednesday approved a police reform proposal that calls for a public committee to hash out details of a new Berkeley Police Department that would not respond to calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental illness.

The committee also would pursue creating a separate department to handle transportation planning and enforcing parking and traffic laws.

The council voted for the committee to find ways to eventually cut the Police Department’s budget by half and approved an analysis of police calls and spending.

A tired but excited Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin said he doesn’t expect a new transportation department overnight because conversations will be hard and detailed with complicated logistics to figure out.

But he said communities of color in his city feel targeted by police and that needs to change.

“There may be situations where police do need to intervene, and so we need to look at all that,” he said.

“We need to look at if we do move traffic enforcement out of the Police Department, what does that relationship look like and how will police officers work in coordination with unarmed traffic enforcement personnel?”

It’s believed the plan to separate traffic enforcement from police is the first of its kind in the U.S. and comes as many cities seek broad public safety reforms, including reducing law enforcement budgets.

It could take months, even years, to create a new department, but police and other law enforcement experts rebuked the idea as dangerous, not only for traffic safety but for the people tasked with pulling over drivers, who they say can be dangerous.

“I think what Berkeley is doing is nuts,” said Mark Cronin, a director with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a union for officers.

“I think it’s a big social experiment. I think it’s going to fail and it’s not going to take long for, unfortunately, traffic collisions, fatalities to increase exponentially.”

Cronin, a former traffic officer, said cities can’t rely on unattended traffic signals or camera lights to catch bad drivers and that people are needed to educate motorists on safe driving.

But those people also need backup and the authority to arrest should they encounter a driver who is intoxicated, armed and fleeing a crime, or wanted on other charges.

“Traffic stops are one of the most unpredictable and therefore dangerous duties of law enforcement. There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop and to perform them effectively and safely takes months of police training in and outside of an academy,” said Frank Merenda, a former New York City Police Department captain who is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Marist College.

Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University, called the idea an “overly simplistic plan that could have deadly consequences for unarmed traffic enforcement officers.”

Nine U.S. police officers were killed during traffic stops so far this year, according to data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. Six were shot, and three were struck by vehicles.

Berkeley police said they don’t comment on council legislation. But police unions for Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose issued a statement opposing the proposal.

Arreguin, the mayor, said creating a new department is a phase-two development that’s at least a year away and would likely involve making changes to state law.

Traffic stops can be dangerous and require extensive training, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a research organization that promotes best practices in policing. He also recognizes fairness and profiling are issues for law enforcement.

“At the end of the day, policymakers would have to ask themselves if this change accomplished their intended goals,” he said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Dozens of SJWs Arrested Outside Home of Kentucky’s Black, Republican AG

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Dozens of SJWs Arrested Outside Home of Kentucky’s Black, Republican AG

(Headline USA) Eighty-seven demonstrators who gathered at the home of Kentucky’s attorney general to demand justice for Breonna Taylor have been arrested and charged with a felony for trying to “intimidate” the prosecutor, police said.

Protesters with the social justice organization Until Freedom gathered for a sit-in on the front yard of a Louisville home owned by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron on Tuesday afternoon, news outlets reported.

They were arrested after refusing to leave and — having been instructed beforehand by protest organizers not to resist — could be seen lining up to await their transfer to jail.

Among those arrested were NFL player Kenny Stills, a wide receiver for the Houston Texans, and Porsha Williams of “Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Several of the protesters were released from jail on Wednesday afternoon.

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville apartment using a no-knock warrant in the early morning hours of March 13 during a narcotics investigation.

The warrant to search her home was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found inside.

The shooting set off weeks of protests, policy changes and a call for the officers who shot Taylor to be criminally charged. One officer has been fired, but no charges have been filed. Investigations into the shooting are continuing.

Stills posted on social media Wednesday afternoon that he was “arrested for peacefully protesting.

While Breonna Taylor’s murderers are still out on the street.” None of the Louisville officers involved in delivering the warrant at Taylor’s home have been criminally charged.

Cameron, a Republican and Kentucky’s first African American state attorney general, said on Monday that he still has no timeline for when his office will conclude its investigation of the case.

“We are here to hold Daniel Cameron accountable and make sure that he does his job, because he is not doing his job,” said Until Freedom co-founder Linda Sarsour.

Protesters were charged with “intimidating a participant in a legal process,” a class D felony in Kentucky that is punishable from one to five years in prison upon conviction. That charge is related to Cameron’s role as prosecutor of the Taylor investigation.

The protesters were charged with a felony because officers heard them “chanting that if they didn’t get what they want, they would burn it down,” Louisville police said Wednesday afternoon in an emailed statement, referring to Cameron’s house.

“That was deemed an attempt to intimidate, persuade or influence the attorney general’s decision,” the statement said.

The Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office was not consulted about the filing of the felony charges, spokesman Jeff Cooke said Wednesday.

Cooke said a judge at the county’s District Court level will decide if there is probable cause to move the felony charge to a grand jury. If the grand jury indicts on the charge, the commonwealth’s attorney will then assume responsibility for the prosecution, he said.

The protesters were also each charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, both misdemeanors, said Louisville Metro Police spokesman Lamont Washington.

Cameron said the protest won’t bring justice and “only serves to further division and tension within our community.”

“From the beginning, our office has set out to do its job, to fully investigate the events surrounding the death of Ms. Breonna Taylor,” the attorney general said. “We continue with a thorough and fair investigation, and today’s events will not alter our pursuit of the truth.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

NC City Unanimously Approves Reparations for Black Residents

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NC City Unanimously Approves Reparations for Black Residents

The Asheville, North Carolina, city council made history on Tuesday night when all seven members voted to provide reparations to black residents and their future descendants.

The council also unanimously voted to apologize for slavery and discrimination.

“Hundreds of years of black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today,” said Keith Young, who is one of two black council members.

“It is simply not enough to remove statues. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature,” Young said.

Councilwoman Sheneika Smith, who is black, said the council had been contacted by Asheville residents prior to the meeting and asked why white Americans who have nothing to do with slavery, racism or discrimination have to pay reparations, as if they’re guilty simply because of the way they look.

“[Slavery] is this institution that serves as the starting point for the building of the strong economic floor for white America, while attempting to keep blacks subordinate forever to its progress,” Smith said on the record in response.

Councilman Vijay Kapoor, who has disagreed with Young and Smith on anti-police and budgetary issues in the past, said he supported Tuesday’s reparations measure for moral reasons.

“We don’t want to be held back by these gaps,” Kapoor said. “We want everyone to be successful.”

The council passed a resolution creating a Community Reparations Commission.

The commission will partner government officials with community organizing groups to develop concrete recommendations for reparations programs and future funding resources.

“The resulting budgetary and programmatic priorities may include but not be limited to increasing minority home ownership and access to other affordable housing, increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities, strategies to grow equity and generational wealth, closing the gaps in health care, education, employment and pay, neighborhood safety and fairness within criminal justice,” the resolution reads.

Dems, Republicans Blast AOC For Linking Violent Crime to Poor Economy

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Dems, Republicans Blast AOC For Linking Violent Crime to Poor Economy

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., is facing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats after claiming that the uptick in crime following the death of George Floyd is the direct result of poverty.

Ocasio-Cortez claimed during a virtual town hall this week that New Yorkers are committing more crime because “people aren’t paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent,” she claimed.

“So they go out and they need to feed their child, but they don’t have money,” she continued. “So they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.”

As many online users pointed out, the looting, violence, and destruction taking place in New York City had nothing to do with “poverty” or starvation.

Even Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo disputed Ocasio-Cortez’s theory, calling it “factually impossible.”

“It is factually impossible that somebody committed a crime so they could pay their rent,” Cuomo said on Tuesday, noting that the recent crime uptick is dominated by shootings and other violent offenses. “If you can’t pay your rent, you cannot be evicted right now.”

The conservative New York Post also blasted Ocasio-Cortez and her “dishonest, callous, and naive” comments in an editorial this week.

“AOC imagines that we’ll magically erase crime with an army of social workers and more money for schools, even though we spend more for education and welfare than almost anywhere in the nation,” the Post wrote.

“She lives in a ‘Les Misérables’ fantasy, where a department of Inspector Javerts hound men for stealing bread,” said the article. “We don’t know what world this is, but it certainly isn’t New York City.”

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany similarly denounced Ocasio–Cortez for trying to make economic conditions the culprit for violent crime instead of holding criminals accountable.

“And this weekend, when faced with 28 shootings in New York, a 600% increase from this time last year, you have Rep. Ocasio-Cortez saying this is just because people are trying to get food with their families,” McEnany said. “That is preposterous.”

Ocasio-Cortez, however, defended her comments and doubled down.

Crime-Plagued Black Neighborhoods Beg de Blasio: ‘Take Your Handcuffs Off the Police’

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Crime-Plagued Black Neighborhoods Beg de Blasio: ‘Take Your Handcuffs Off the Police’

A group of black community activists called on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council to “take your handcuffs off of the police,” decrying the spike in violence that has plagued the city ever since city leaders forced police officers to back off.

“The African American community is saying we don’t want crime here,” Bishop Gerald Seabrooks said on Tuesday after five shootings occurred in one neighborhood on Monday night.

“Ninety-five percent of the people here are decent, law-abiding citizens, and the law is for the lawless,” he continued. “So, please, mayor … Let them police with professionalism, respect, and courtesy.”

De Blasio has been taking orders from radical Black Lives Matter activists, slashing the New York Police Department’s funding by $1 billion.

On top of the $1 billion cut to operating expenses, de Blasio slashed more than $500 million from the NYPD’s capital budget in order to reallocate that money to youth recreation centers and public housing developments.

With de Blasio’s approval, the NYPD also cut its anti-crime unit.

As a result of these changes, crime has skyrocketed and officers have been applying for retirement in record numbers.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who is a former NYPD officer, said that de Blasio has abdicated his responsibility to the city and its citizens.

“You are sworn to serve to protect the city,” Adams said. 

Other black activists disavowed the Black Lives Matter movement and argued that they don’t truly understand what activism means.

“There’s two types of community activists. There’s the community activists that are real community activists. They’re the people that live in those communities,” said former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik.

“They want anti-crime, because they have to live there,” he added. “Now you have community activists that are from outside — the outsiders. Those are usually the guys jacking up the crowds against the cops.”

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