Tag: protests

Minnesota Governor and National Guard Begin Preparing for Riots Over Possible Derek Chauvin Pardon

Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota National Guard, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt have reportedly all been briefed on preparations for potential riots if former police officer Derek Chauvin is granted a presidential pardon.

Chauvin, of course, was the officer filmed kneeling on drug addict George Floyd during his fatal interaction with police. His death caused nationwide deadly Black Lives Matter riots throughout the summer of 2020.

According to a report from local station KSTP, “Multiple sources told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota National Guard, Mayor Jacob Frey and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt have all been briefed on preparations for possible civil unrest if President Donald Trump pardons former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for his federal conviction of killing George Floyd.”

“Sources also told KSTP the Minnesota Department of Corrections is ready to pick up Chauvin at a federal penitentiary in Arizona, and bring him back to Oak Park Heights Prison in Minnesota to serve the remainder of his 22-and-a-half-year sentence,” the report added.

However, antifa-supporting Attorney General Keith Ellison told MSNBC over the weekend that Chauvin will not be released.

“He still owes Minnesota 22-and-a-half years. And, he’s going to do it either in Minnesota or somewhere, but he’s not getting out,” Ellison asserted.

On Monday, Gov. Walz told the media, “No indication whether they’re going to do it, but I think it behooves us to be prepared for it. With this presidency, it seems like something they would do.”

The former officer is currently serving two state and federal 21-year sentences for violating Floyd’s civil rights and second-degree murder.

Chauvin was stabbed 22 times by fellow inmate John Turscak at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Tucson, Arizona, in 2023.

President Donald Trump has not publicly indicated if he is considering pardoning Chauvin.

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Dem Leader Warns Any Arrests Of Colleagues For ICE Breach Would Cross His ‘Red Line’

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) warned against repercussions for his fellow Democrat lawmakers who clashed with federal agents at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, last week.

During an exchange with Fox News reporter Chad Pergram, Jeffries repeatedly said “they’ll find out” when pressed what might happen if the House Democrats involved in the incident were to be arrested by federal authorities or get sanctioned.

Jeffries ultimately asserted that it would be a “red line” as the questions persisted. He also took a swipe at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, who told CNN that arresting the Democrats in question was “definitely on the table,” pending an investigation.

“It’s a red line. It’s very clear,” Jeffries said. “First of all, I think that the so-called Homeland Security spokesperson is a joke. It’s a joke. They know better than to go down that road. And it’s been made loudly and abundantly clear to the Trump administration. We’re not going to be intimidated by their tactics.”

The Daily Wire reported that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who is running for New Jersey governor and is protesting the Delaney Hall facility, was arrested following the security breach last Friday. Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, said he “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center.”

DHS said two House Democrats who joined Baraka that day — New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson-Coleman and Rob Menendez — “stormed the gate and broke into” the facility.

While the New Jersey Democrats insisted they were at Delaney Hall to conduct legitimate supervision, McLaughlin said in a post on X, “Members of Congress cannot break the law in the name of ‘oversight.’ All members & staff need to comply with facility rules, procedures, and instructions from ICE personnel on site. INCLUDING 24 hour notice.”

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Eccentric Polish Presidential Candidate Sets EU Flag Alight; Says “Down With Eurocommunism”

Eurocrats were thrown into an uproar last week after Polish presidential candidate and European Parliament member Grzegorz Braun—known for his provocative theatrical stunts—set fire to the European Union flag, condemning what he called the EU’s ‘ideological occupation’ of Poland by a globalist elite.

Braun, a Polish ultranationalist known for his bombastic style and unapologetic, unfiltered rhetoric, carried out the act at the historic Wujek coal mine in Katowice—a symbolic site tied to Poland’s anti-communist resistance.

First, he stormed into the Ministry of Industry, tore down the EU flag, wiped his shoes on it, and then burned it outside the building. “This is Poland—down with Euro-Communism,” he proclaimed in the video posted to his social media accounts.

“This organization has led to Poland’s liquidation,” Braun declared, referring to the European Union. “We will not tolerate symbols from hostile structures. In Poland, we do not show the signs of enemy organizations. These emblems carry no legal protection here.”

The action was part of Braun’s EU critical, to put it lightly, campaign ahead of Poland’s upcoming presidential election. He’s positioning himself as the uncompromising defender of Polish sovereignty against what he sees as the EU’s overreach, particularly in energy and environmental policy, which he claims threatens the heart of Polish industry.

“This is Poland, not Brussels!” Braun shouted during the protest, as coal miners cheered him on in solidarity.

Braun’s presidential campaign has centered around opposing EU mandates, defending traditional Polish values, and fighting what he calls “globalist totalitarianism.”

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Durbin calls on DOJ to investigate anonymous pizza deliveries to judges’ homes

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has called on the Department of Justice and the FBI to “immediately investigate” a string of anonymous pizza deliveries sent to judges’ homes.

In the event that the DOJ and the FBI have already initiated investigations, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also asked Attorney General Pam Bondi and Kash Patel for an update on those efforts. 

“In recent months, federal judges and their relatives have received anonymous deliveries to their homes,” Durbin wrote in a letter to Bondi and Patel on Tuesday. “These deliveries are threats intended to show that those seeking to intimidate the targeted judge know the judge’s address or their family members’ addresses. The targeted individuals reportedly include Supreme Court justices, judges handling legal cases involving the Administration, and the children of judges. Some of these deliveries were made using the name of Judge Esther Salas’s son, Daniel Anderl, who was murdered at the family’s home by a former litigant who posed as a deliveryman.”

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Police Are Now Using AI To Create Fake Undercover Profiles Online

American police departments near the United States-Mexico border are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unproven and secretive technology that uses AI-generated online personas designed to interact with and collect intelligence on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists, and suspected drug and human traffickers, according to internal documents, contracts, and communications 404 Media obtained via public records requests.

Massive Blue, the New York-based company that is selling police departments this technology, calls its product Overwatch, which it markets as an “AI-powered force multiplier for public safety” that “deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels.” According to a presentation obtained by 404 Media, Massive Blue is offering cops these virtual personas that can be deployed across the internet with the express purpose of interacting with suspects over text messages and social media.

Massive Blue lists “border security,” “school safety,” and stopping “human trafficking” among Overwatch’s use cases. The technology—which as of last summer had not led to any known arrests—demonstrates the types of social media monitoring and undercover tools private companies are pitching to police and border agents. Concerns about tools like Massive Blue have taken on new urgency considering that the Trump administration has revoked the visas of hundreds of students, many of whom have protested against Israel’s war in Gaza.

404 Media obtained a presentation showing some of these AI characters. These include a “radicalized AI” “protest persona,” which poses as a 36-year-old divorced woman who is lonely, has no children, is interested in baking, activism, and “body positivity.” Another AI persona in the presentation is described as a “‘Honeypot’ AI Persona.” Her backstory says she’s a 25-year-old from Dearborn, Michigan whose parents emigrated from Yemen, and who speaks the Sanaani dialect of Arabic. The presentation also says she uses various social media apps, that she’s on Telegram and Signal, and that she has US and international SMS capabilities. Other personas are a 14 year-old boy “child trafficking AI persona,” an “AI pimp persona,” “college protestor” [sic], “external recruiter for protests,” “escorts,” and “juveniles.

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‘Reminiscent of the KKK’: Columbia Janitors Sue Protesters Who Took Over Hamilton Hall

The Columbia University janitors who were held hostage during the violent takeover of a campus building last spring are suing their alleged captors for battery, assault, and conspiracy to violate their civil rights, according to a copy of the suit reviewed exclusively by The Free Press.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court on Friday evening by Torridon Law and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law on behalf of Columbia janitors Mario Torres and Lester Wilson. It alleges that over 40 Columbia students and “outside agitators,” some but not all of whom were arrested by police following the takeover of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April 29, “terrorized” both Torres and Wilson “into the early morning of April 30th, assaulted and battered them, held them against their will, and derided them as ‘Jew-lovers’ and ‘Zionists.’ ”

The occupation of Hamilton Hall occurred almost exactly a year ago, and both Torres and Lester say they have been struggling to cope ever since. The lawsuit states both men suffered physical injuries the night of the occupation, and that they have also been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder that has required ongoing medical care. Neither has been able to return to work, and are instead “subsisting on interim Workers Compensation payments” which are “inadequate” to pay for their basic needs and medical bills, according to the suit.

“Mario and Lester are decent, honest, hardworking men who have been through hell. None of this ever should have happened,” said Tara Helfman, one of the Torridon lawyers on the case.

The lawsuit describes the protesters, the majority of whom “donned masks and hoods to conceal their identities,” as “reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.” It claims they “are part of a broad pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic network of organizations, groups, and cells that are connected through a largely untraceable underground communications system. They promote and resort to violent and illegal tactics, and are motivated by invidious discrimination against Jews and supporters of Jews.”

The Brandeis Center also filed a federal lawsuit late Friday on behalf of two students, a professor, and a rabbi at the University of California, Los Angeles, alleging that several groups, including National Students for Justice in Palestine, Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network, American Muslims for Palestine, and Westchester People’s Action Coalition, engaged in “a coordinated campaign of egregious acts of racial exclusion, intimidation, and assault” to “intimidate Jewish students, faculty, and staff.”

The “occupiers” named in Torres and Wilson’s lawsuit include leaders of Columbia’s most vocal anti-Israel groups like the Columbia University Apartheid Divest Coalition, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace. Other defendants are people not associated with the university who were allegedly involved in the building takeover, including James Carlson, described in a New York Post story as a “longtime anarchist” and as the son of millionaires, and Lisa Fithian, a professional protest trainer and “lifelong agitator.” Also named in the suit is The People’s Forum, a far-left activist group responsible for organizing many of the anti-Israel protests at Columbia and across New York City.

Over 40 protesters, including Carlson, were arrested and charged with trespassing in the days after the Hamilton Hall occupation. But Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office dropped the charges, claiming the charges would have been “extremely difficult” to prove because the protesters wore masks and covered security cameras.

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Previously Unreleased Document Exposes Government’s False Insurrection Narrative: Only 56 Officers Reported Minor Injuries on January 6

In a new development in the ongoing battle for transparency surrounding the Government’s unprecedented lawfare against January 6 defendants, J6er Ryan Zink and his attorney, Roger Roots, have filed an opposition (Document 155, filed April 21, 2025) to the government’s attempt to conceal critical evidence from the public.

This filing, submitted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, follows Zink’s recent victory in lifting a protective order on January 6 discovery materials and the government’s subsequent push to reverse that decision. The latest filing reveals a previously unreleased document, marked “highly sensitive” by the government, which lists the injuries reported by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers on January 6.

The document shatters the government’s narrative of a violent “insurrection,” exposing it as a deliberate lie designed to smear President Donald Trump and interfere in the 2024 election.

The “highly sensitive” document, included as part of Zink and Roots’ filing, details that only 56 MPD officers reported injuries related to the January 6 protest.

Far from the catastrophic “attack” on law enforcement peddled by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the injuries listed are often trivial, with many described simply as “pain” in various parts of the body. Examples include a “laceration to the pinky finger,” and nebulous, nondescriptive reports of “back pain” and “head pain.”

Only 18 officers were treated at a hospital, with just one—Officer Michael Fanone—remaining admitted for what the government has exaggerated as “serious injuries.” Notably, the filing highlights that Fanone’s own bodycam footage contradicts his claims of suffering a heart attack or traumatic brain injury, showing him stating he was “O.K.” and engaging in lighthearted conversations with colleagues.

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Liberal Anti-Trump Group Planning to Protest Nationwide Over Easter Weekend — Claims to Be Mobilizing Three Million People

The 50501 Movement, an anti-Trump protest organization, plans to hold a series of protests across the United States over Easter weekend.

The group claims to have 400 events scheduled nationwide on Saturday, in all 50 states. It also claims to be mobilizing over three million people.

“We are trying to protect our democracy against the rise of authoritarianism under the Trump administration,” Hunter Dunn, a spokesperson for the group, told the Washington Post.

The 50501 Movement’s name stands for “50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.” It is self-described as being led by people who “have been on the front lines of justice, marching in support of Black Lives Matter, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and disability rights.”

The group first gained prominence with its initial protests on February 5, 2025, which saw over 80 protests nationwide.

In a post about the protests on their website, 50501 says, “April 19 will be a Day of Action: a nationwide grassroots response to authoritarian threats, political overreach, and the erosion of democracy.”

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Former Marijuana Prisoners Who Got Clemency From Trump Hold Event Outside White House To Request Relief For Those Still Behind Bars

Former marijuana prisoners who received clemency from President Donald Trump during his first term staged an event outside the White House on Thursday, expressing gratitude for the relief they were given and calling on the new administration to grant the same kind of help to others who are still behind bars for cannabis.

Flanked by cardboard cutouts of individuals pardoned or granted commutations by Trump, activists impacted by criminalization stood outside the White House with a message to “free all cannabis prisoners.”

The grassroots “Cannabis Prisoners Unity Day” called attention to the opportunity to build upon the executive-level relief. In addition to Trump’s clemency actions in his first term, former President Joe Biden also pardoned and commuted sentences for hundreds of people while he was in office. But numerous people remain behind bars over non-violent federal cannabis convictions.

“President Trump, we are your example of a victory,” Craig Cesal—who received a commutation for a life sentence he was handed down in 2002 for a marijuana distribution conviction—said during a panel discussion ahead of the White House meetup.

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Senators Demand Obama-Era Inspector General’s Cooperation In Probe Of J6 Undercover Agents

Two prominent senators sent a letter this week to Inspector General Michael Horowitz, pressing him to fully cooperate with their investigation of undercover “confidential human sources” in the crowd at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Horowitz, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2012, has failed to respond to requests for information about confidential human sources on Jan. 6, according to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

They sent Horowitz a letter on Dec. 16, seeking more information about his Dec. 12 report on how the FBI handled its confidential human sources in advance of J6.

That report showed the FBI sent 26 confidential human sources to Washington, D.C. that day, and of those, four entered the Capitol and 13 went into a restricted area. Three sources were “tasked by their respective FBI handlers to report on individuals traveling to Washington, D.C. for the J6 event,” the senators wrote in their most recent letter. “While the report stated that ‘[n]one of these three [confidential human sources] were authorized by the FBI to engage in illegal activity, including to enter the Capitol or a restricted area, or to otherwise break the law on January 6’ two of the FBI sources entered the restricted area around the Capitol and one entered the Capitol.”

None of the FBI sources were prosecuted for their activities on J6.

It is worth noting that the Office of Inspector General and the FBI are part of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The senators have had questions about what other DOJ arms were involved in J6.

In his April 7 letter, Horowitz said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS); and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP); did not have any “undercover employees” in connection with the J6.

The senators bristled at the new language.

“Although this part of your response seems conclusive, it does not completely satisfy our inquiry. On February 28, 2025, our staff noted in an email to your Counselor that because the term ‘undercover agent’ can mean many things, our offices requested that the DOJ OIG address whether any federal law enforcement components, including FBI, ATF, DEA, USMS, or BOP, had employees or contractors wearing civilian clothing in the Washington D.C. area; at the Capitol Building; and in restricted areas on J6 in an official or unofficial capacity. We reiterate this specific request.”

The senators also want more detail on confidential human sources who were “tasked” (had an assignment)  and “untasked” (traveled to Capitol on their own initiative).

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