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Jay-Z pays bail, citation fees for Black Lives Matter protesters arrested in Wisconsin​

Well-known rapper Jay-Z has paid the bail and citation fees for protesters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who were arrested while demonstrating for justice in death of Alvin Cole, a 17-year-old black teenager shot and killed by police in February.

What are the details?

Jay-Z and Team ROC, the social justice arm of his organization ROC Nation, announced in a press release Friday that they posted bond and covered additional fees for the arrested individuals, who included Cole’s mother and his three sisters, according to CBS News.

Violent riots broke out in the city last week after Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced that no charges would be brought against Joseph Mensah, the black Wisconsin police officer involved in the Feb. 2 shooting.

On Thursday, the Wauwatosa Police Department announced that several protesters were arrested for being in violation of the city’s curfew.

In the press release Friday, Team ROC blasted the arrests and called on Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to appoint a special prosecutor.

"Our hearts break for the family of Alvin Cole and the Wauwatosa community," Team ROC director Dania Diaz said, according to WISN-TV. "Not only did the District Attorney’s Office fail to hold Officer Joseph Mensah accountable for killing Alvin, but the local police also arrested and injured Alvin’s mother Tracy and his sisters as they peacefully protested alongside Jacob Blake’s father. We will continue to stand with these families and support the peaceful protestors as we collectively fight for the legacies of Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson and Anthony Gonzales, who all died at the hands of Mensah."

Team ROC had been reportedly following the case for months and even paid for a full-page ad in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in July, which called for Mensah’s immediate prosecution and termination.

What else?

In a 14-page letter explaining his reasoning for not bringing charges, Chisolm said that evidence showed Cole fled from police carrying a stolen handgun, which he refused to turn over and at one point fired.

"He did not surrender the weapon and was fired upon by Officer Mensah causing his death," Chisholm wrote, according to the Associated Press. "[There] is sufficient evidence that Officer Mensah had an actual subjective belief that deadly force was necessary and that belief was objectively reasonable."

Mensah was reportedly the subject of an attack by Black Lives Matter protesters in August when a group of at least 50 individuals vandalized his girlfriend’s home and physically assaulted him.

In a post on Facebook following the incident, Mensah claimed that he and his girlfriend were "assaulted, punched, and ultimately shot at several times."

"A shotgun round missed me by inches," he added.

via Conservative Review

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HS teacher orders student to take down flag supporting President Trump seen in his room — or leave online class

A New Jersey public school teacher ordered a student to take down a flag supporting President Donald Trump that was hanging in his room — and was visible during an online class — or leave the virtual session, Jersey Shore Online reported.

What are the details?

Anthony Ribeiro, a Toms River High School North junior, got the Trump flag from his aunt last week as a birthday present, and the 17-year-old promptly hung the flag in his room, the outlet said.

Nothing was said about the flag during his first six classes Thursday, the outlet said — but there was still his final class of the day to get through: chemistry.

"I was the first in because I make sure I am on time, but he looked up at the screen, didn’t say anything, and as people came in, he took attendance, and then said, ‘Anthony take the flag down right now,’" Ribeiro recalled to the outlet. "My mic was muted because that is one of the requirements for meets this year and shook my head no, and he said [his] room wasn’t a place for politics and that was not acceptable and ‘if you aren’t going to take it down, you will have to get out of this class.’"

Double standard much?

Ribeiro added to Jersey Shore Online that his teacher brought up politics during the first week of school last month.

"The school set up a system with a period of 15 minutes between every other class where you would talk about mental health and talk about what was going on in the world, and [the teacher] decided to talk about global warming for most of the days, and he would bring politics into it," he recalled to the outlet. "In learning, you need to have politics in social studies or history, but teachers have to be down the middle when it comes to being a Democrat or Republican."

Ribeiro also told the outlet his teacher "said Republicans don’t believe in climate change or global warming, and Joe Biden and the Democrats are the people that will put light on what the science is to global warming. In one of his class periods [the teacher] said ‘that is why they have my vote this year in the election and hopefully in the future they will have yours.’ He said Republicans deny global warming is even a thing, which made it political."

He added to Jersey Shore Online that some of his fellow students found his teacher’s reaction hypocritical: "A couple people texted me … afterward and said it was crazy for him to say there was no politics in his room when he makes political remarks."

What did the student’s mother have to say?

Tara Jost, Ribeiro’s mother, told the outlet she didn’t take kindly to her son’s treatment and contacted the district superintendent and high school principal.

"This is in my own house," Jost noted to Jersey Shore Online, adding that there are no rules she’s aware of regarding room decorations.

She added to the outlet that Assistant Superintendent Cara DiMeo noted the teacher’s actions were improper and that the matter had been discussed with him.

"I said, ‘How dare he tell my son to leave his classroom because of something I have in my home?’ He’s a science teacher number one; number two, we’re Americans, and we all have the right in what we believe in, and he was talking politics the first week of class, which he has no right to do in telling them who to vote for," Jost told the outlet.

She also noted to Jersey Shore Online that if students wore Trump shirts to school during in-person education, they wouldn’t be asked to leave.

Then it happened again

The day after Ribeiro’s chemistry teacher told him to remove his Trump flag or leave his class, Ribeiro’s English teacher told him the same thing, the outlet said.

He agreed to abide by the order, but Jost told Jersey Shore Online she wishes he hadn’t.

More from the outlet:

Ribeiro said he was a year away from being able to vote and during the pandemic has become very active in following the news and learning more about the political world. He noted being well aware of how divided people are at the current time including division within families and friends who have differing viewpoints.

A district representative told Jersey Shore Online that officials can’t comment because it’s an internal matter.

via Conservative Review

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Gov’t Agency Denies Religious Couple Right To Foster-Raise Their Great-Grandaughter Because Of Views On Sexuality. Judge Rules In Great-Grandparents’ Favor.

After an Idaho state government agency denied the great-grandparents of a 1-year-old girl the right to apply be her foster parents and eventually adopt her because of their religious views vis-a-vis sexuality, a United States District Judge reversed the decision, holding that the state regulations likely violated the Free Exercise Clause and thus ruling in […]

via Conservative Review

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Nursing home residents stage heartbreaking protest outside facility: ‘Rather die from COVID than loneliness’

Residents of a long-term nursing and rehabilitation facility in Colorado organized a protest against the state’s COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday.

What are the details?

According to KCNC-TV, the protest took place at Fairacres Manor in Greeley.

The station reported that many of the facility’s residents — many of them in wheelchairs — stood outside of the facility and held signs that read "Rather die from COVID than loneliness," "Give us freedom," "Prisoners in our own home," and more.

In a statement, Ben Gonzales — assistant administrator at the facility — said that Fairacres’ residents are not happy.

"They want to be able to hug their grandchildren, they want to be able to hold the hands of their loved ones," he said.

Nursing Home Residents In Greeley Protest COVID-19 Restrictions https://t.co/DMCjlzmMxL https://t.co/0Gzk2dxSsU

— CBSDenver (@CBSDenver)1602266944.0

Resident Council President Sharon Peterson — a 75-year-old woman — told the outlet that she and other residents are desperate for a change.

"We used to be lucky here at Fairacres to show each other what we mean to one another and we cannot do that anymore," Peterson said. "Fairacres follows the rules and, with that, we think they would keep us safe while being able to be with our families again."

Peterson, who helped to organize the demonstration, said that the protest was necessary because "one thing we have to look forward to is a simple hug."

"It gives us meaning," she said. "Fairacres needs to be commended on how well they have cared for all of us, but it’s time for our voices to be heard."

Gonzales said that several staff members joined those at the protest, and pledged that the staff wants residents to know "that their voice does matter."

Gonzales also said that Fairacres staff and residents sent letters to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment as well as Gov. Jared Polis’s office in August, begging for rules to be relaxed to permit physical contact. Gonzales said that no one received a response to the inquiries.

In response to the protest, Polis issued a statement.

“We absolutely understand how difficult it has been for residents of residential care facilities and their families," Polis’s office said on Friday. "Social interaction is essential to physical and mental health, and so we have provided guidance to residential care facilities that allows for that interaction while also keeping residents safe from COVID-19."

The statement continued, "Restrictions have been in place previously, but residents are now able to visit loved ones both indoors and outdoors. In addition, we are doing everything possible to help long-term care facilities mitigate and prevent the spread of COVID-19 by working directly with facilities on proper infection control practices that have been proven to slow the spread of COVID-19."

According to the Greeley Tribune, the nursing facility was the site of a COVID-19 outbreak in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

"The outbreak was discovered in late March," the outlet reported. "From then until mid-May, 16 residents were lab-confirmed positive for COVID-19 with another two dozen residents determined to be probable cases, according to CDPHE data."

via Conservative Review

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