Connect with us

CRIME

Vandals Cite Kanye West’s Remarks in Antisemitic Graffiti Attack on Century-Old Jewish Cemetery

Published

on

An attack on a Jewish cemetery in Waukegan, Illinois includes the painting of swastikas on headstones and the words “Kanye was rite,” presumably referring to rapper, artist, and designer Kanye West who recently was exposed and disgraced for his antisemitic remarks.

“The horrific discovery was made early Monday morning at Am Echod Cemetery on Grand Avenue,” FOX 32 reports. “Waukegan police said red swastikas were spray-painted on at least 16 tombstones. Police said 23 other headstones were defaced.”

Last month VICE reported on leaked footage edited from an interview Fox News‘ Tucker Carlson had with Kanye West, also known as “Ye,” revealing the artist had made antisemitic and racist remarks, and noting he had threatened in a tweet he was going to go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE.”

READ MORE: Kanye West Had Hitler ‘Obsession’ – Praised Genocidal Fascist for His Achievements and Power: Report

The antisemitic attack in Illinois echoes an anti-Semitic group’s display last month of banners on a highway overpass that read: “Honk if you know Kanye is right about the Jews.”

Larry Yellen, whose parents are buried in the century-old Waukegan cemetery, said, “My immediate thought is with my parents and how angry they would be.”

“My father lost at least four aunts in the Holocaust, his family was from Poland. They know more than anyone what a swastika means,” Yellen added.

He explained the human toll of the attack.

“They have defaced the gravestone of somebody who fought bravely in World War II through 50 missions in a B17 as a bombardier. They have defaced the gravestone of his wife who raised five children and all went through the Waukegan school system,” Yellen told FOX 32. “I think they need to know a little bit about the people that they have attacked in such degrading form.”

On November 3, Illinois Democratic State Rep. Bob Morgan responded to a CNN report of an FBI warning of “credible information of a broad threat to synagogues” in New Jersey.

READ MORE: Raphael Warnock Blasts Herschel Walker Over Kanye West Endorsement: ‘My Mama Told Me Birds of a Feather Flock Together’

The Anti-S[e]mitism spewed by @kanyewest, the former President, and others is not just ‘words’ – it inspires violence,” he wrote.

On Monday he added: “Kanye West spewed disgusting anti-Semitism, not worried about the damage he would cause. Today we learned Jewish gravestones were vandalized with ‘Kanye Was Rite’ graffiti in Waukegan.”

David Goldenberg, regional director of ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Midwest, told FOX 32, “The desecration of graves is as low as it gets, and by the way, it’s also as cowardly as it gets.”

“Let’s be clear, they should illicit a visceral reaction. It is hateful, anti-Semitic and they’re dangerous because they can cause these types of real life acts,” Goldenberg added.

“What it really represents is this normalization of antisemitism, and that is what we find to be incredibly concerning,” Goldenberg told ABC7 Chicago.

Waukegan Mayor Ann B. Taylor, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, and other local officials also have condemned the attack.

Watch ABC 7’s report below or at this link.

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

CRIME

Trump Loses E. Jean Carroll Appeal Two Days After Sharing Meme Saying She Should Be Jailed

Published

on

A three-judge panel has upheld the ruling that awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million from President-elect Donald Trump. Two days prior, Trump shared a meme saying she should go to jail.

The ruling came from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Manhattan-based court upheld all of the original ruling. Trump’s lawyers had “not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial,” the judges wrote.

Carroll said that Trump raped her at a Bergdorf Goodman store dressing room. Trump denied the claim, and accused Carroll of perpetrating a hoax to promote her book. He repeatedly said that not only did he not know her, she wasn’t his “type.”

READ MORE: E. Jean Carroll Talks About ‘Zero’ Trump in Court and Reveals How She Will Use Jury Award

The original ruling found that though the standard of “rape” was not reached, Trump was liable for sexual assault. The court awarded Carroll $2.02 million for sexual assault, plus an additional $2.98 million for defamation, according to Reuters.

In the appeal, Trump’s lawyers objected to allowing testimony from other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them. His lawyers also objected to allowing jurors to hear the infamous Access Hollywood tape that went public in 2016 where Trump bragged about being able to grab women by their genitalia. On the tape, Trump says, “When you’re a star, they let you do it.”

The appellate court ruled that this evidence was indeed legal for the jury to hear.

“This Court has long taken an ‘inclusionary’ approach… under which other act evidence is admissible unless it is introduced for the sole purpose of showing a defendant’s bad character,” the court wrote.

Two days before the ruling, Trump shared a meme on his Truth Social account, which suggested Carroll should go for jail for making false accusations.

e. jean carroll

The meme reshared by Trump on Saturday. (Screenshot/Truth Social)

The meme reads “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man of rape? Retruth if you want justice for Trump.”

This meme could prove problematic for Trump. Trump’s been hit by additional lawsuits from Carroll for defamation, when he continued to say she made up her assault story. This January, a court ruled that Trump had to pay her an additional $83.3 million for defamation; the appeal in that case is still pending.

The case was at the center of another scandal. This December, ABC News was criticized for deciding to settle with Trump for $16 million when he sued for defamation. That case hinged on a March 2024 report from George Stephanopoulos that said Trump had been found liable for rape.

Some legal experts criticized ABC News for settling, saying that it could have won the case. However, some reporting suggests that ABC News was worried about what could be uncovered during the discovery phase of the trial.

Image via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

CRIME

Alabama Teen Randall Adjessom Was Shot In Home By Cops Looking For Brother’s Marijuana

Published

on

Randall Adjessom, 16, was shot to death last year by the Mobile, Alabama Police Department’s S.W.A.T. team. The police were looking for marijuana allegedly owned by Adjessom’s older brother—who not only wasn’t there, but didn’t live at that home.

The Adjessom family filed suit last week against the Mobile Police Department. The officers shot Adjessom four times during a no-knock raid, according to the Associated Press. The no-knock warrant was issued as part of a investigation against his older brother for marijuana possession and distribution, despite not living at the address raided. No one at the address, which included Adjessom’s mother, aunt, grandmother and sisters, was a suspect.

Police say that Adjessom was armed with a laser-sighted pistol, according to WALA-TV. His family doesn’t dispute that he had a gun, but said it was “to protect his mother, grandmother, aunt, and sisters from the unknown intruders breaching his childhood home,” according to the Miami Herald. As soon as he saw the intruders were police officers, he put his hands up, the lawsuit said. An officer then shot him four times in the torso. Police body camera footage confirms that Adjessom had his hands up, the Herald reported.

READ MORE: ‘Reefer Madness’: Fox News Freakout as Biden Announces Pardons for Thousands in Move Toward Decriminalizing Marijuana

“Although Police Officer Defendants were holding Randall’s mother, grandmother, aunt, and sisters in a room just feet from where 16-year-old Randall lay—without any cause to do so—Police Officer Defendants never told his family that they had shot the child or that he was bleeding out in the hallway outside his bedroom door. As a result, Randall’s family, including Plaintiff, had no opportunity to render Randall aid, take him to a hospital, or call an ambulance; they also had no opportunity to say goodbye to their son, grandson, nephew, and brother,” the lawsuit read.

After shooting him, officers allegedly offered no aid, instead stepping over him to clear the rest of the home. The police didn’t try to disarm him, and instead just dressed his wounds for 40 minutes after the home had been cleared, the suit says. The family lived just eight minutes away from a hospital, but officers didn’t call for medical services for at least 40 minutes.

Attorneys for the Adjessom family, Grant & Eisenhofer, say the teen’s shooting is part of a “systemic pattern of [the Mobile Police Department] using excessive force against citizens of color; in particular, young Black boys and men.”

The attorneys cite the MPD Police Chief Paul Prine of telling officers “I’m not concerned with what the media and public thinks about the police. F**k the public,” upon being named chief in 2021. Prine was fired earlier this year following complaints from the city, according to WPMI-TV. Prine is suing Mobile, alleging he was fired in retaliation for complaining about the Mobile chief of staff.

Image by Shutterstock

Continue Reading

CRIME

Linda Sun Arrested By FBI, Accused of Working for China and Blocking Taiwan Access to NY Gov

Published

on

Linda Sun, New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s former deputy chief of staff, was arrested Tuesday morning on charges that she was acting as an unregistered agent on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, had their home raided in July by the FBI, though any information about why was kept sealed until Tuesday. Sun is accused of being an unregistered Chinese agent, and using her position to promote Chinese interests, as well as alien smuggling and visa fraud, according to CNN.

She allegedly blocked Taiwanese delegations from being able to access New York officials, while setting up meetings with Chinese delegations and the state government. Sun also worked on certain public statements from politicians in order to make them more in line with the CCP’s views, according to the Associated Press.

Hu faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and bank fraud, as well as a misuse of identification, the AP reported. Hu is a businessman who owns and operates several businesses, including a Queens liquor store, Golden Capital Group LLC, Medical Supplies USA LLC and a seafood import/export business called Foodie Fisherman LLC, according to the New York Times and Gothamist.

READ MORE: Trump Took Millions From China, Saudi Arabia, Other Foreign Governments While President: Report

Sun and Hu received business opportunities in China, along with other perks including luxury goods, event tickets, a job for one of Sun’s relatives and Nanjing-style salted ducks for Sun’s parents, according to ABC News.

“The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

Sun was fired by Hochul’s office in March 2023 after her office found “evidence of misconduct,” Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, told CNN.

Sun had been working in the New York state government since 2012, when she was hired by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration as a liaison to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, according to Politico.

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.