Tag Archives: Minneapolis

Americans living in Hot and Smokey conditions

Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Important Takeaways:

  • Heat and smoke are smothering most of the U.S., putting lives at risk
  • Much of the United States felt like a blazing inferno on Wednesday, as record heat attacked the South like a blowtorch, thick smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the Great Lakes region, and triple-digit temperatures threatened to wallop California for the first time this year.
  • “Everybody’s saying, ‘We’re used to the heat, but not to this degree,’” said Mayor Victor Treviño of Laredo, Tex., which recorded temperatures of 115 degrees last week, tying its all-time high.
  • Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis were among the cities with the worst air quality in the world Wednesday, according to IQAir. Unhealthy Code Red and Purple conditions stretched from eastern Iowa across Chicago and the lower Great Lakes region and toward the Appalachian Mountains, according to AirNow.gov.

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Terry James points to Daniel as an example of how Christians should stand as the world around them becomes darker and more perverse

Luke 21:12 “But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake

Important Takeaways:

  • Minneapolis Is Becoming Increasingly Hostile To Christians And Biblical Truth…
  • The clouds of wickedness that plagued generations of antiquity as reported by God’s prophets now are a metastasizing sin-stain shadow of evil spreading across America.
  • [Take for example] Daniel was in the middle of a dilemma—an environment—that was more or less legislated by the powers of evil of that day. The prophet stood strong–rather, knelt faithfully—and continued to worship like he had every day of his time since he had been brought to Babylon as a captive at around age fourteen.
  • What is the connection, Daniel’s dilemma, to today in America? The comparison congealed in my thinking upon reading what is happening in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • The city, once humorously spotlighted in the Mary Tyler Moore show, has observably descended from being that more or less happy site of Americana. We have seen the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul–particularly Minneapolis—come increasingly under that dark shadow of spreading wickedness. Here are a couple of excerpts of news that report just how the metastasizing evil has invaded and wrapped the prophetic tentacles of the soon-to-come Antichrist regime around this American region.
    • Minneapolis Moves Closer to Becoming First U.S. City to Blast Islamic Call to Prayer Five Times a Day, Starting at Dawn
      • CAIR has always been clear about its intentions to make the United States Islamic. CAIR Founder/Chairman Emeritus Omar Ahmad stated, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant…The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”
    • Minneapolis Public Schools Will Host ‘Gender Resource Fair’ to Promote Drugging and Mutilating Children
      • Minnesota is on its way to becoming a sanctuary state for “gender-affirming care,” meaning children can be taken to the state to be drugged and mutilated without regulations, with a transgender state representative pushing these policies:
      • “Transgender Minnesota state representative Leigh Finke struggled to define the term “gender-affirming health care” while defending legislation that would allow kids to receive “gender-affirming health care” without any restrictions in their state…
  • Daniel, by serving God no matter the conditions surrounding him, turned his satanically-engendered dilemma into a prophetic ministry of destiny.
  • Ephesians 6:13 KJV – “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

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Minneapolis Judge sentences Mother for murder of six year old son

Mark 13:12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

Important Takeaways:

  • Killer mom snarls and flips bird to court as she’s jailed for life for blasting her son, 6, with shotgun NINE TIMES as he sat in back of car, after his dad filed for custody
  • Julissa Thaler, 29, launched into the vile diatribe as she was sentenced to life without parole by a Minneapolis judge Thursday for the May 2022 murder of her son Eli Hart.
  • The warped murderess was also seen giving the finger after being sentenced for obliterating Eli with the weapon while he sat in the back of her car.
  • Blasting him nine times with a shotgun.

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Minneapolis voters reject disbanding police in wake of George Floyd murder

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) – Minneapolis voters decided on Tuesday not to replace their police force with a new department that would have taken a holistic approach to crime, 18 months after the murder of George Floyd in the city sparked global protests for racial justice.

With all precincts reporting tallies, more than 56% of voters rejected a ballot asking residents if they wanted to create a new Department of Public Safety to take the place of the police department.

Leili Fatehi, campaign manager for All of Mpls, which campaigned against dissolving the police department, said voters gave a clear mandate for continuing to work on reforms within the structure of the agency.

She said neither side of the ballot measure is happy with the status quo of policing in the city, but they disagree on how best to make changes.

“What we want to see happen next is for the residents of Minneapolis to unite behind holding the next mayor and city council accountable for rolling up their sleeves and doing that hard work without delay,” Fatehi said.

Minneapolis was thrust to the center of the U.S. racial justice debate in May 2020 when officer Derek Chauvin pinned his knee against the neck of Floyd, a Black man, for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was sentenced in June to 22 1/2 years in prison. Three other officers charged in Floyd’s death face trial in March.

Floyd’s death ignited calls from activists to “defund the police” – which even most of those who supported scrapping the Minneapolis police department rejected. Instead, they called for rethinking how and when police are used, not the disbanding all armed officers.

JaNaé Bates, a leader of the Yes4Minneapolis campaign that supported creating the new safety department, told supporters at an election watch party that despite the loss, the conversation around policing had forever changed.

“The people of Minneapolis are deserving to have a law enforcement agency that is accountable and transparent, and that is not what we have today,” she said. “We’ll continue to push for our people.”

Democrats, normally allies in the largely progressive Midwestern city, split over the ballot question. Many feared dissolving the department would provide easy election fodder for Republicans nationwide ahead of November 2022 congressional elections.

Opposed to the measure were Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo; Mayor Jacob Frey, who is up for reelection on Tuesday; U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Governor Tim Walz.

Some of the state’s best-known progressives – such as U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who oversaw Chauvin’s prosecution – supported the change.

At the watch party for Yes4Minneapolis, supporter Sandra Williams said those seeking reforms would press on.

“The fight continues,” Williams said.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks; Additional reporting by Nicole Neri in Minneapolis; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Stephen Coates)

After George Floyd, Minneapolis voters weigh replacing police department

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) – Minneapolis voters may decide on Tuesday to scrap their police force for a reimagined department that takes a holistic approach to crime and its causes, 18 months after the murder of George Floyd sparked global protests for racial justice.

Supporters say what the ballot calls a Department of Public Safety is badly needed after decades of failed attempts at police reforms.

Opponents in the city of some 430,000 people say it is a mistake for Minneapolis with crime on the rise. Policing needs to be more equitable, they say, but reforms should take place within the existing structure.

The city was thrust to the center of the U.S. racial justice debate in May 2020 when officer Derek Chauvin pinned his knee against the neck of Floyd, a Black man, for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was sentenced in June to 22 1/2 years in prison.

Three other officers charged in Floyd’s death face trial in March.

Democrats, normally allies in the largely progressive Midwestern city, have split over the ballot question. Many fear dissolving the department will provide easy election fodder for Republicans nationwide ahead of November 2022 congressional elections.

Opposing the measure are Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo; Mayor Jacob Frey, up for reelection on Tuesday; U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Governor Tim Walz.

Some of the state’s best-known progressives – such as U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who oversaw Chauvin’s prosecution – support the change.

Nearly all of the dozens of Minneapolis residents interviewed last week said they were confused about how a new public safety department would operate, even those who support it.

If voters approve the creation of the new public safety department, the mayor and the city council would then analyze what type of support residents need – from armed officers responding to violent crimes to mental-health and addiction specialists to address situations where a traditional officer with a gun is not required.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)

U.S. probes Phoenix police use of force, treatment of protesters

By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether police in Phoenix unlawfully have used deadly force, retaliated against peaceful protesters and violated the rights of homeless people in the latest such inquiry involving a major American city, officials said on Thursday.

Since President Joe Biden took office in January, the department also has launched civil rights investigations into police conduct in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky. Those were among the U.S. cities where large 2020 protests were held after high-profile killings of Black people by police officers.

The inquiries mark a shift in the department’s focus under the Democrat Biden, who has made racial justice a priority in contrast with the administration of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

Phoenix, with a population of roughly 1.7 million, is Arizona’s capital and largest city – and the fifth most populous city in the United States.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, announced the investigation at a news conference. Garland said such probes are “aimed to promote transparency and accountability.”

Racial justice activists have accused Phoenix police of carrying out unlawful surveillance, arrests and malicious prosecutions of protesters. Last month, Phoenix police responding to a mental health call shot and killed a man who pointed an object at them that turned out to be a water gun, authorities said.

Clarke said the Phoenix investigation has the full support of the city’s mayor and police chief.

“We look forward to working together with the city and the Phoenix police department toward the shared goals of ensuring constitutional policing and fostering greater cooperation between law enforcement officers and the community that they serve,” Clarke said.

Justice Department lawyers have met with close to 1,000 community members in Minneapolis and Louisville, and received written messages from hundreds more, Clarke said. Justice Department lawyers have also met with command staff of police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis, Clarke added.

“We will take the same approach in Phoenix,” Clarke said.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego in a statement welcomed the Justice Department review, adding, “Comprehensive reform of policing in the city of Phoenix has been my priority since the first day I took office.”

U.S. police use of force has been in the spotlight in the aftermath of a series of deadly incidents in various cities in recent years, with protests around the country following the death of a Black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis in June 2020 – a crime in which a police officer as been convicted of murder. Louisville officers last year fatally shot Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman, in a botched raid.

Clarke said police officers must use their authority in a manner that does violate the constitutional rights of people, complies with federal civil rights laws and “respects human dignity.”

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone and Richard Chang)

Chauvin seeks probation for Floyd death, state wants 30 years

(Reuters) -Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin asked a judge on Wednesday for probation after being convicted for the murder of George Floyd, while the prosecution said his crime “shocked the Nation’s conscience” and he should be imprisoned for 30 years.

In a motion filed with Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, lawyer Eric Nelson said Chauvin’s actions in pinning Floyd to the pavement during an arrest was “best described as an error made in good faith” based on his training.

“Mr. Chauvin asks the Court to look beyond its findings, to his background, his lack of criminal history, his amenability to probation, to the unusual facts of this case, and to his being a product of a ‘broken’ system,” Nelson wrote.

The lawyer asked the judge for a so-called dispositional departure resulting in probation or a downward durational departure, which he said would lead to a sentence less strict than the 128 months to 180 months suggested by state guidelines.

In their own filing, prosecutors argued that Chauvin acted with cruelty, among other aggravating factors, and therefore deserved twice the upper limit of the sentencing range, or 30 years in prison.

“His actions traumatized the community, prompting an outpouring of grief and protest across Minneapolis and the State. And his actions shocked the conscience of the Nation,” prosecutors in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office wrote.

A Minneapolis jury in April found Chauvin, 45, guilty of second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter after hearing three weeks of testimony in a highly publicized trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25.

He is being held at a maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, while awaiting sentencing.

Last month, Cahill found that prosecutors had shown there were four aggravating factors in the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man.

The judge said Chauvin, who is white, abused his position of trust and authority and treated Floyd with particular cruelty. He committed the crime as part of a group with three other officers and did so with children present, Cahill ruled.

Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death – after he was handcuffed on a Minneapolis street with Chauvin’s knee on his neck for more than nine minutes – prompted massive protests against racism and police brutality in many U.S. cities and other countries.

In Wednesday’s motion, Nelson said the fact that the officers on the scene called for an ambulance “served to mitigate any cruelty” in the treatment of Floyd. Chauvin, he noted, remained on the scene until medical assistance arrived.

“Mr. Chauvin has established that he is particularly amenable to probation and is a prime candidate for a stringent probationary sentence plus time served,” Nelson wrote.

Chauvin has been in prison since his April 20 conviction.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)

Police kill Black man in Minneapolis suburb, sparking protests near Chauvin trial

By Nicholas Pfosi and Jonathan Allen

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (Reuters) – A police officer in a Minneapolis suburb fatally shot a young Black man during a traffic stop for what his mother said was air fresheners dangling from his rear-view mirror, sparking protests that spilled into Monday morning.

The shooting and subsequent unrest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, came hours before the resumption of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former white Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd. The trial began its 11th day on Monday in a courtroom less than 10 miles (16 km) away from the incident.

The Brooklyn Center Police Department said it would hold a briefing at 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT) on the shooting.

Relatives and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz identified the man killed by police as Daunte Wright, 20. Walz said in a statement on Sunday that he was monitoring the unrest as “our state mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement.”

Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told reporters she had received a call from her son on Sunday afternoon telling her that police had pulled him over for having air fresheners dangling from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota. She could hear police tell her son to get out the vehicle, she said.

“I heard scuffling, and I heard police officers say, ‘Daunte, don’t run,'” she said through tears. The call ended. When she dialed his number again, his girlfriend answered and said he was dead in the driver’s seat.

In a statement, Brooklyn Center police said officers pulled over a man for a traffic violation just before 2 p.m., and found he had an outstanding arrest warrant. As police tried to arrest him, he got back in the car. One officer shot the man, who was not identified in the statement. The man drove several blocks before striking another vehicle and dying at the scene.

Late Sunday, a group of about 100 to 200 protesters gathered around the Brooklyn Center police headquarters and threw projectiles at the building, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said in a livestreamed news briefing. The group was later dispersed.

Another group of protesters broke into about 20 businesses at a regional shopping center, with some businesses looted, according to the police and local media reports.

Brooklyn Center’s mayor ordered a curfew until 6 a.m. (1100 GMT) on Monday morning, and the local school superintendent said the district would move to remote learning on Monday “out of an abundance of caution.”

Anti-police protesters have already spent recent days rallying in Minneapolis as the trial of Chauvin enters its third week in a courthouse ringed with barriers and National Guard soldiers.

In response to the protests, Derek Chauvin’s lead attorney, Eric Nelson, renewed his request to have the jury sequestered by having members moved to a hotel. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill again denied the request, saying he would not sequester jurors until they begin deliberations in downtown Minneapolis, which is already heavily fortified against potential unrest.

(Reporting by Nicholas Pfosi in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Jonathan Allen in Minneapolis; additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Minneapolis judge says no to moving trial of ex-policeman in Floyd death

By Jonathan Allen

(Reuters) – The judge in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, denied Chauvin’s request to delay or move his trial out of the county on Friday morning.

Chauvin’s lead lawyer, Eric Nelson, has complained to the court that publicity around the trial has tainted the jury pool in and around Minneapolis, not least the city’s announcement last week it would pay Floyd’s relatives $27 million to settle their wrongful-death lawsuit.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill ruled against Chauvin from the bench on Friday, saying that delaying or moving the trial would make it no easier to seat an impartial jury.

“I don’t think there’s any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity in this case,” Cahill said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Judge in George Floyd police trial calls timing of $27 million settlement unfortunate

By Jonathan Allen

(Reuters) – The judge in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the arrest of George Floyd, said on Monday it was unfortunate the city had announced a $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family on Friday in the midst of jury selection.

Judge Peter Cahill of the Hennepin County District Court said he would soon recall the seven jurors seated last week to ask whether they had seen news of the settlement and whether it would affect their impartiality.

“I wish city officials would stop talking about this case so much,” the judge said before resuming jury selection on Monday morning. “At the same time, I don’t find any evil intent that they are trying to tamper with the criminal case.”

The trial in a heavily fortified tower in downtown Minneapolis is being closely watched as a bellwether of the way U.S. law enforcement agencies use force and violence in policing Black people.

Chauvin, who is white, was captured in a bystander’s video with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, cried out for his life and his mother, who had recently died. The death ignited global protests against racism and police brutality. Chauvin and three other police officers were fired the day after the arrest.

Floyd’s family filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against Chauvin and the city of Minneapolis last year. The city held a widely viewed news conference with family members on Friday to announce the $27 million settlement, described by Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Floyd’s family, as one of the largest-ever settlements of its kind.

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s lead lawyer, said the news was “profoundly disturbing” to the defense.

“By my count, this is the third highly prejudicial press leak or press release that has very suspicious timing, to say the least, and has an incredible propensity to taint a jury pool,” he told the court before jury selection resumed.

Besides asking to recall the seven jurors already seated, Nelson asked the judge to reconsider his request to move the trial to a different county, which Cahill said he would consider.

‘ALL OVER THE MEDIA’

Prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general’s office told the court they had no control over the city’s mayor, council or news media.

“You would agree that this is unfortunate, wouldn’t you?” the judge asked prosecutors. “That we have this reported all over the media when we’re in the midst of jury selection?”

A spokeswoman for the city said she would inquire whether Mayor Jacob Frey had any comment.

The first potential juror to appear in court on Monday, who appeared to be a white woman in her 50s, said the size of the settlement made an impression on her and that she was familiar with civil litigation from her work in human resources.

“My guess is that with that large of a settlement the city did not feel it would prevail in court,” she told the judge, who went on to dismiss her.

Jurors seated last week include four white men, one of them Hispanic; one white woman; a woman of mixed race; and a Black man who immigrated to the United States about 14 years ago. All but one are in their 20s and 30s, the court said. Judge Cahill has promised the jurors anonymity for the duration of the trial.

An eighth juror was picked later on Monday: a Black man in his 30s who has worked in the banking industry and said he likes writing poetry and coaching and watching sports.

He said he strongly supported the message of the Black Lives Matter movement, and that he was able to be impartial in weighing Chauvin’s conduct.

“I don’t think he had any intention of harming anyone,” he said of Chauvin, “but somebody did die.”

Chauvin, 44, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he followed his police training.

All potential jurors who have appeared so far said they know who Chauvin is and what the video shows him doing; most said they had formed a negative opinion of him, though some said they could remain open to the possibility his actions were not criminal.

The court is planning to have opening arguments commence on March 29. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)