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Criminal musician Jay-Z’s “Roc Nation” now helping bailing out protesters arrested in Wisconsin

Criminal musician Jay-Z’s “Roc Nation” now helping bailing out protesters arrested in Wisconsin 1

WAUWATOSA, WI – Rapper Jay-Z is teaming up with social justice groups to help bail out protesters who were arrested while protesting a district attorney’s decision to not file charges against a police officer involved in a fatal shooting earlier this year.

On Thursday, people gathered to protest Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s decision on Wednesday to not pursue charges against Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah, who fatally shot Alvin Cole during an incident at the Mayfair Mall in February. Both the officer and shooting victim are black.

Chisholm said Mensah acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Cole in the mall’s parking lot, according to USA Today. The decision marked the third time Chisholm has cleared Mensah in an on-duty fatal shooting.

According to WTMJ-TV, Mensah remains suspended from the police department and confirmed he has been involved in a total of three fatal shootings. The Wauwatosa Police and Fire Commission will be deciding if Mensah will be able to stay on the force or not.

The protesters included Cole’s mother, Tracy Cole, and two of his sisters.

Wauwatosa Police arrested several protesters Thursday evening for violating the city’s curfew order. Tracy Cole and her daughters were among the arrested. Tracy was allegedly injured while being removed from a vehicle after the alleged violation of the local curfew.

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Jacob Blake Sr., whose son, Jacob, was shot and injured by Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey on Aug. 23, came to the protest as well.

While the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression claimed Blake Sr. was arrested with Alvin Cole’s mother and two sisters, Wauwatosa Police tweeted on Friday that Blake Sr. was not arrested Thursday night.

According to WTMJ-TV, Blake Sr. joined the Cole family to protest and say enough is enough:

“The verdict yesterday shows how racist Wisconsin is.

“How can you kill three people and it just goes away? You just kill people, that’s OK? I don’t care what color you are. That’s not alright. And then to be backed up by the DA?”

Jay-Z determined that the police officer was not justified in the fatal shooting of Cole, so he used his company, ROC Nation, to reach out to Instagram fans on Oct. 8 and encourage them to call Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and demand a special prosecutor be appointed on the case:

“In today’s disappointing ruling, DA Chisolm found Officer Mensah not guilty. Contrary to the decision, Officer Mensah was not justified in killing Alvin Cole. 17-year-old Alvin Cole was kneeling when Mensah shot him twice in his back and fired at him three more times while he was face down on the ground.

“Alvin Cole was not a threat. Officer Mensah killed Alvin Cole with impunity, his 3rd killing on the force in 5 years. Call Governor Evers at 608-266-1212/414-227-4344 to demand a special prosecutor be appointed on this case.

#justiceforalvincole#justiceforjayanderson#justiceforantoniogonzales”

The post shows Team Roc’s affiliation with the groups Until Freedom and Gathering for Justice. Breitbart reported that Gathering for Justice received sizable grants from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and that it was founded by leftist actor and singer Harry Belafonte.

In another Instagram post on Oct. 10, Team Roc announced the release of the album “Reprise” with proceeds benefiting five social justice groups:

“Today, we support the release of REPRISE, a collection of songs to bring awareness to social injustice happening across our communities.

“Please join us as we support and amplify the incredible work of these organizations fighting to end police brutality, hate crimes, and other civil rights violations.

“Net proceeds will go to @nyjusticeleague, @gather4justice, @NACDL, @eji_org, and @untilfreedom.”

This post’s image also shows a partnership with Equal Justice Initiative. According to Breitbart, Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of Equal Justice Initiative and additionally serves on the board of the U.S. Programs division of Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

Jay-Z and his wife, Beyoncé, allegedly donated tens of thousands of dollars to pay bail for protesters arrested in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore in the past, according to an author and collaborator who was close to the couple.

Dream Hampton, a writer and self-described social justice organizer who worked with Jay-Z on his 2010 autobiography Decoded, claimed in a series of now-deleted tweets in 2015 that the couple anonymously wired bail money to support the Black Lives Matter movement. The account @dreamhampton no longer exists, and the Complex article that took screenshots of Hampton’s tweets are no longer viewable.

According to Breitbart, Hampton’s tweets were meant to defend Jay-Z and Beyoncé from criticism that they had turned their backs on social responsibility. One critic was Belafonte, who allegedly slammed the couple in 2013:

“I think one of the great abuses of this modern time is that we should have had such high-profile artists, powerful celebrities. But they have turned their back on social responsibility.

“That goes for Jay-Z and Beyoncé, for example. Give me Bruce Springsteen, and now you’re talking. I really think he is black.”

Back in February, we reported that Jay-Z and Beyoncé stayed in their seats during the National Anthem. Here is that report.

The San Francisco 49’ers played in the Super Bowl last night. Noticeably absent from their roster was Colin Kaepernick, their former quarterback who is more known for leading the charge in kneeling for the National Anthem than he was for anything he ever accomplished on the field.

Come to think of it, his absence on the roster would have been true no matter who played in the game last night.

The NFL as a whole seems to have moved past the kneeling controversy. They have even partnered with Jay-Z to shed light on what they call an issue with police brutality, who said of the teaming effort:

“I think we’ve moved past kneeling and I think it’s time to go into actionable items,” he said.

Yet, when captured on video during last night’s performance of the National Anthem, there sat Jay-Z with his cap still on, along with his wife Beyonce and their daughter.

Yep, you read that correctly.

There they sat.

Some people are arguing that Jay-Z, Kaepernick and their ilk just do not like this country, and regardless of what they say their intent is, they absolutely disrespect the men and women who proudly serve this great nation in law enforcement and the military. 

Want to know who is funding the riots? Look at who is funding The Bail Project, which frees countless criminals. (Op-ed)

This editorial is brought to you by a staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.

Wondering who is helping contribute to violent riots across America?  A Fox News Channel show host just nailed it.

Tucker Carlson opened Saturday’s Tucker Carlson Tonight with a pointed critique of an organization known as The Bail Project.

The group’s objective, according to its website, is to put itself out of business by preventing “incarceration and combat(ing) racial and economic disparities in the bail system.” 

Tucker offered several examples of men who had been arrested for domestic abuse and robbery who were freed by The Bail Project. All reoffended, in some cases with severe violence.

Take these two, for example:

Domestic abuser Samuel Lee Scott of St. Louis, Missouri, murdered his wife after The Bail Project paid for his release and Christopher Stewart of Chicago, Illinois, who fired a gun at a child’s party, set his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on fire after The Bail Project arranged for his release.

Set free to terrorize loved ones.

According to their site, The Bail Project has paid bail for 12,096 people. Carlson noted that in the past two years, The Bail Project has paid more than $26 million to release suspected criminals. 

Considering how careless they were in choosing to help the two highlighted on Carlson’s show, one hopes that the other people freed by The Bail Project haven’t similarly reoffended.

Maybe it would make everyone’s lives easier if former victims paid protection money to The Bail Project, which could then distribute the money to criminals who would promise not to commit any new crimes.

On the other hand, they’ve already made – and broken – that promise when they were freed on bail. 

According to The Bail Project, bail is unfair because it causes people to be incarcerated. But bail actually secures release against the promise of return for trial. If bail didn’t exist, more people would be awaiting their trials in jail.

The Bail Project doesn’t think the system of bail is fair. But what is the alternative to bail if it is unfair?

The Bail Project’s answer: Decriminalize crimes and you won’t have to arrest people. It’s simple, apparently. Don’t arrest people for certain “activities,” let’s call them, and for everything else, let folks go after arrest if they promise to return for trial, with no surety as guarantee they will, in fact, return.

Apparently, to The Bail Project, the only reason criminals exist is that laws exist that define crimes. Get rid of the laws and crime vanishes. Never mind the effect on society. 

Some very high rollers are bankrolling The Bail Project and other organizations like it. Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, net worth $4.2 billion, is a contributor.

Former hedge fund manager and current cryptocurrency trader Michael Novogratz is another.

Apparently, bailing out wealth-deprived criminals so that they can commit new crimes against other people in poverty-stricken neighborhoods makes Novogratz and others feel as if they are doing good.

In his multimillion-dollar estate in Armagansett, Novogratz likely wasn’t there to witness Christopher Stewart’s former girlfriend dangle from a second-floor window of her burning apartment, or when Samuel Lee Scott murdered his wife, thanks in part to Novogratz’ money.

In his home on the southeast tip of Long Island, Novogratz could sit back and watch as the number of people bailed out by The Bail Project goes up, just like the value of a hedge fund, and he could imagine that it was a good thing.

However, the indiscriminate release of known criminals is not a good thing for the people who live near them, nor even the criminals themselves, because more crimes committed means more punishment, eventually.

What The Bail Project is effectively accomplishing is the victimization of people who encounter its criminal clientele. It also affords opportunities for those criminals to commit new crimes, thus multiplying their debt to society.

The Bail Project might think criminals are better off on the street, but that is no more true for the criminal than it is for the street.

MINNESOTA – Large cities from coast to coast have seen nightly violent protests during which buildings are destroyed, businesses looted and law enforcement officers assaulted. In response, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), Democrat vice president nominee, promoted a fund to bail out rioters.

Harris posted on her Twitter account:

“If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.”

The fund, called the Minnesota Freedom Fund not only “freed” rioters, but also helped free five convicted domestic abusers and one accused domestic abuser from jail, including two men who allegedly strangled women.

The Daily Caller obtained court records revealing the names of those freed and their charges:

Donavan Dexter Boone, 31, accused of strangling a woman in front of her minor children;

Davlin Devonte Gates, 28, accused of strangling a woman;

Matthew Owens Earl Thomson, 29, accused of breaking into a woman’s home;

Tyrone Thomas Shields, 53, accused of punching his wife in the head and threatening to “keep beating;”

Reece Omaur Bonneville, 29, accused of assaulting his partner; and

Marcus Marshun Butler, 40, accused of assaulting his girlfriend.

According to the statement of probable cause, Boone was arrested May 2 after he broke into his son’s mother’s apartment and proceeded to strangle her in front of her minor children.

Two of the men who were arrested face felony charges for allegedly strangling the women in their own homes and another stands accused of beating his girlfriend upwards of six times with a closed fist. All but one of the individuals had been convicted of prior domestic violence-related charges when the Minnesota Freedom Fund helped bail them out of jail.

Harris encouraged her supporters to donate to the MFF, sharing the fundraising link to her Twitter account. She told her followers that their contributions to the fund would “help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.”

However, the MFF recently revealed that only about six percent of the money it had spent had gone to help bail out people facing “protest-related” charges. A recent update on its website indicates that it has spent at least $3,475,000 bailing people out of jail in the recent months, with just $210,000 of that bailing out protesters and rioters.

Reports also indicated that in the months since Harris promoted the MFF, the fund has helped post bail for people accused of violent crimes, including Timothy Wayne Columbus, who faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl.

Fox9 News reported that one of the non-protesters bailed out by MFF was Darkina Floyd, who was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing a friend to death. Another individual who has benefited from the MFF fund was Christopher Boswell, who is facing charges of sexual assault and kidnapping.

MFF put up $100,00o on behalf of Floyd and $350,000 on behalf of Boswell. Reports also show that Boswell had previously been convicted twice on sexual assault charges. Allegedly, MFF has an “official policy” that states:

“It does not make determinations of bail support based on the crimes that individuals are alleged to have committed.”

MFF states on its website:

“MFF believes that every individual who has been arrested by the police is innocent until proven guilty and if a judge deems them eligible for bail, they should not have to wait in jail simply because they don’t have the same income or resources as others with more privilege.”

The Biden campaign has voiced that it is in favor of ending cash bail based on the argument that it is discriminatory against those who don’t have the financial means to pay their bail. In addition to Harris, numerous Biden staffers promoted the MFF during the violent riots.

Biden organizer Patrick McCarthy tweeted:

“While massive criminal justice and immigration reform is needed immediately we have to do what we can now. Let’s continue to support @MNFreedomFund. #GeorgeFloyd Who’s Next?”

Another Biden organizer, Sal DeFrancesco tweeted:

“Cash bail is discrimination against the poor and must be abolished. Let’s keep up this effort for the @MNFreedomFund. Who’s next?”

Republicans and the Trump campaign have slammed the Biden campaign over the donations to the group that helped bail out not only rioters, but also people accused of serious, violent crimes. Republican National Committee Rapid Response Director Steve Guest said in a statement:

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have to answer for why they supported a group that helped a man accused of sexually penetrating a child.”

Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today?  With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.  

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