Politics and Current
Mississippi deputy facing 27 years for torturing black men seeks leniency, says he was only in the truck but admits he never stopped abusing them

A former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy convicted in 2023 of torturing two black men asked a federal judge to commute his 27-year sentence, arguing that he simply waited in his truck while his fellow officers committed the crime.
Brett McAlpin is one in all six white former law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty in 2023 in reference to breaking right into a Jackson home with no warrant and participating in a brutal attack that lasted several hours.
The officers were convicted in March and received sentences starting from 10 to 40 years in prison.

McAlpin, 53, was the lead investigator for the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the crime.
He is serving a 27-year sentence, the second longest amongst the defendants, at a federal prison in West Virginia.
Just months into his sentence, McAlpin claims in legal papers that his sentence was “unjustified” because he remained in his truck and did indirectly participate in the torture of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.
McAlpin’s attorney, Theodore Cooperstein, filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the fifth Circuit on Aug. 23, arguing that McAlpin was merely present when other officers committed heinous acts, hoping it might mitigate his punishment.
“Brett was drawn into the scene as events spiraled out of control but maintained his distance as the other officers operated,” Cooperstein wrote. According to Associated Press Press Agency
The other former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies are Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, in addition to former Richland Police K-9 officer Joshua Hartfield.
The lawsuit asked for a lenient sentence despite McAlpin doing nothing to assist victims during the tragedy and playing a job in transporting the crew to and from the scene.
“While Brett did not stop what he saw and knew was wrong, he did not order, initiate, or participate in the brutal abuse of the two victims,” the motion stated.
The lawsuit asks the appeals court to overturn McAlpin’s conviction and order the district judge to impose a lesser sentence.
Cooperstein argued that the cumulative impact of those atrocities overshadowed McAlpin’s individual role, causing him to bear the brunt of collective condemnation, and that court and public perception of the events unfairly exacerbated his punishment.
McAlpin’s appeal doesn’t specify the exact variety of years he is searching for to have his sentence reduced.
The motion significantly downplays McAlpin’s involvement, but his appeal for relief stands in stark contrast to Mississippi’s strict sentencing guidelines for violent crimes, including torture.
Mississippi law places an emphasis on the liability of those that aid in the commission of great crimes, and McAlpin’s argument doesn’t change the undeniable fact that his actions played a major role in the crimes against Jenkins and Parker.
The January 24, 2023 attack included beatings, the use of stun guns, multiple assaults with a sex toy and ended with one victim being shot in the mouth in a botched mock execution when the gun misfired.
The crime was so heinous that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned it.
“The vileness of the crimes committed by these defendants cannot be overstated,” Garland said after a gaggle of former officers received federal sentences.
Before he was sent to jail on March 21, McAlpin apologized in open court, but did so without making eye contact along with his victims.
“This was all wrong, very wrong. This is not how people should treat each other, and more importantly, this is not how law enforcement should treat people,” McAlpin said. “I’m truly sorry that I was a part of something that made law enforcement look so bad.”
Earlier, federal prosecutor Christopher Perras had sought the maximum sentence, arguing that while McAlpin was not a direct member of the Goon Squad, he played a key role in shaping the group into brutal law enforcers.
One of the victims also described McAlpin as a “mafioso chieftain” who was in charge of the officers throughout the attack.
Prosecutors noted that junior officers often tried to impress McAlpin, and Daniel Opdyke’s lawyer revealed that his client treated McAlpin like a father figure.
Perras said a few of the officers involved initially “wanted to be good law enforcement officers” but ultimately “turned into monsters.”
“How did these deputies learn to treat another human being this way? Your Majesty, the answer is right there,” Perras argued during the hearing, pointing to McAlpin.
Prosecutors said the nightmare story began when a neighbor contacted McAlpine to complain about two black men living with a white woman in the small town of Braxton.
Although no crime had been committed, McAlpin passed the information on to Deputy Sheriff Christian Dedmon, who then contacted an alleged group of white officers often called “The Goon Squad” — known for their brutality and excessive use of force.
On the night of the attacks on Jenkins and Parker, police broke into the home with no warrant, turned off the body cameras on the victims and started brutally beating them, hurling racial slurs at them.
They handcuffed them, shocked Parker and Jenkins dozens of times with stun guns, after which poured milk, alcohol, and chocolate syrup over their heads.
They then forced the victims to undress and shower together in an try and wash away the evidence.
Jenkins survived the gunshot wound to the mouth, but the gunshot wound damaged his tongue and broke his jaw.
The police tried to cover up the crime, but when the attack was discovered, it backfired on everyone.
During the investigation, it was discovered that members of the group had been exchanging disturbing text messages on WhatsApp in which they described shocking individuals with stun guns in the face and personal parts, joked about having sex with individuals who had committed suicide, been murdered or died in automotive accidents while showing photos of their bodies, and planned a simulated murder of a person involved in a road accident in which the perpetrator fled the scene.
The gruesome details of the case are a painful reminder of Mississippi’s history of racist abuse by law enforcement. But this time, the perpetrators faced serious consequences for their actions, attorneys for the victims said.
District Judge Tom Lee condemned the former officers’ actions as (*27*) and imposed sentences near the maximum allowed under federal guidelines for five of the six men involved in the attack.
Six former officers also pleaded guilty to the charges against them and were convicted in April.
Hartfield, a former Richland police officer who was not a part of the sheriff’s department or the “Goon Squad,” was the only defendant to receive a sentence below the maximum advisable by federal guidelines. Judge Lee sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Dedmon was sentenced to 40 years, Opdyke and Middleton to 17.5 years, and Elward received a 20-year sentence.
Politics and Current
Donald Trump under fire after he was caught on Hot Mic

In some ways, the White House tried to manage the narrative on Wednesday.
After taking on the rotation of reporters allocated to cover the day by day schedule of the president – work previously carried out by Association of White House Corresponders -President Donald Trump went a step further, asking one in every of the reporters of the brand new within the press pool, together “Fox and Friends” by Lawrence Jones to say to the viewers: “We did a great job, please. Ok? “
“Say it was unbelievable,” said the president after casting the primary meeting of the office of the second term on February 26. The White House was already cut off, however the Audio Associated Press channel remained and captured the moment of a hot microphone.

Jones, who has already lobbyed a number of inquiries to Softball for the president (including “Who is your favorite member of the office?”) I didn’t disappoint.
“The president chose members of the office who can really present their ideas and their ideas. He does not have to worry that they will leave and blow up everything-they are on the same side, “said the co-host Steve Doocy.
“I also think it’s great,” Jones replied. “They are guys who normally – and girls – are used to communicate their ideas. They divide the president’s vision and communicate it in such a concise way. I don’t think we’ve ever seen it in administration. “
“It is people who show how uncertain this president is,” said one in every of the critics who responded to a viral report on the moment of Caugh-on-Camera. “He knows that most of them we watched, right?” Someone said.
In fact, the meeting was dominated by Elon Muskwho opened with a weak joke, saying: “Well, I should simply call myself modest technical support,” and from there he initiated. Photos showed that the president was napping through the presentation of Musk.
Referring to his work as “necessary”, Musk presented one other federal agency within the Doge chopping block. “We spend lots within the defense department, but we spend that over a trillion dollars for interest. If this happens, the country goes, it is going to turn into de facto bankrupt – he said.
Jones was not the one Trump friendly correspondent who joined the press pool on Thursday.
The correspondent of Brian Glenn’s chief house from Real America, perhaps essentially the most absorbing the Networks Pro-Trump network, and the correspondent of the White House Newsmax, James Rosen, were a part of Gaggle, replacing older media, including the Associated Press, which was blocked within the events of the White House for refusing to call the Mexican bay with Mexico with Mexico with Mexico with Mexico with Mexican America after the president announced a change performed by the manager.
Meanwhile, the Association of White House correspondents announced that it might now not coordinate the common range of the White House until the dispute over unlimited access to the media is sustained. Also on Wednesday, the president announced He will sue reporters who use the common practice of anonymous quotes in unfavorable stories or books about it. Such quotes are sometimes used to cause greater honesty from the source, which otherwise might be afraid to talk.
What does all this mean for residents? Less difficult questions and a more favorable relationship for the president, whose crossing of the management has now not checked by Congress.
This explains why this clip He was on the web on Thursday with “The Simpsons”. When the owner of the nuclear plant, Montgomery Burns, decides to use for the governor, his campaign suggests dinner with the Simpsons family to assist the energy director involved with voters from the working class. Lisa Simpson is forced to ask This is an issue From a guest dinner of a guest:
“Mr. Burns, your campaign seems to have a fugitive momentum. Why are you so popular?”
Get used to it.
(Tagstotransate) Donald Trump
Featured
USAID cuts are already hitting countries around the world. Here are 20 projects that have been closed

Countries around the world already feel the influence of Trump’s administration decision to eliminate over 90% of foreign assistance contracts and reduce the financing of around $ 60 billion. A number of hours after the announcement at the starting of this week, The programs have been closed, Leaving tens of millions of individuals without access to life -saving care.
About 10,000 contracts with the American International Development Agency were accomplished on Wednesday, in letters sent to non -governmental organizations around the world.
Letters said that the programs were rejected “for the convenience and interests of the US government”, based on an individual with knowledge of the content that they spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly on this subject.
Many programs are present in the fragile countries that are highly depending on American help with a purpose to support healthcare systems, nutrition programs and stop hunger.
Here, several key projects around the world, which AP confirmed, have been closed:
1: In Congo, the motion of a bunch of help against hunger will stop to treat tens of hundreds of malnourished children from May, which, based on a charity, will make children put children in “deadly danger”.
2: According to the Committee on Cadastral Risk Management in Ethiopia in Ethiopia, help stopped for over 1 million people. The Ministry of Health was also forced to terminate the contract of 5,000 employees throughout the country, focused on stopping HIV and malaria, vaccination and assist in a difficult situation in coping with the trauma of war.
3: In Senegal, the largest malaria project was closed. According to a USAID worker, who was not authorized to talk over with the media. Mother and youngsters’s health and nutrition services were also closed. They provided look after tens of hundreds of pregnant women and treatment that would prevent acute malnutrition.
4: In South Sudan, the International Emergency Committee closed a project that provides access to prime quality health and nutrition services over 115,000 people.
5: The program closed by the Norwegian refugee council in Colombia left 50,000 people without saving their lives, including in the northeast, where the growing violence caused a humanitarian crisis once a generation. This included food, shelter, clean water and other basic items for people displaced in the region.
6: According to the International Rescue Committee, 90 community cuisines closed in the capital in the torn war of Sudan, leaving greater than half 1,000,000 people without consistent access to food.
7: According to Bangladesh, 600,000 women and youngsters will lose access to mother’s critical health care, protection against violence, reproductive health services and other life -saving care, in accordance with the United Nations Fund.
8. In small critical assistance, equivalent to access to water, food and health services for over 270,000 people, based on a help group, which didn’t wish to be listed for fear of repression.
9. Over 400,000 people in North Burkina Faso lost access to services equivalent to water. According to the help group, which didn’t want to get replaced for fear of a repressiveist.
10. In Somalia, 50 health centers serving over 19,000 people were closed per thirty days because health care employees are not paid, based on the American help group.
11. In Ukraine, based on money, humanitarian programs, which last yr reached 1 million people, were suspended, based on the spokesman for the Secretary General of the UN.
12. Hundreds of mobile health teams and other services were suspended in Afghanistan, they concerned 9 million people, based on the UN spokesperson.
13. According to the UN Secretary General in Syria in Syria, for about 2.5 million people in the northeast of the country ceased to supply services. Also in the north, a dozen or so health clinics, including the primary hospital recommending this area, closed, said doctors without borderlines.
14. In Kenya, over 600,000 people living in drought -harassed areas and chronic sharp malnutrition will lose their access to the rescue lifetime of food and nutrition, based on Mercy Corps.

15. At Haiti, 13,000 people lost access to dietary support, in accordance with actions against hunger.
16. In Thailand, hospitals help around 100,000 Refugees from Myanmar According to the Border Consortium of the Help Group, closed.
17. According to the International Emergency Committee in Nigeria, 25,000 extremely malnourished children will stop to receive food assistance until April.
18. A program to enhance access to warning systems for disabled people for disabled people was detained in the Philippines.
19. In Vietnam, a program helping disabled people through training carers and providing medical care at home stopped, in accordance with humanity and integration.
20. In Yemen, 220,000 resettled people will lose access to mother’s critical health care, protection against violence, treatment of rape and other life -saving care, in accordance with the United Nations Fund.
———————–
The Associated Press Writers Sylvie Corbet got here in Paris, France, Robert Badendieck in Istanbul, Turkey, Evelyn Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya, Thalia Beata in New York and Edith Lederer in the United births contributed to this report.

(tagstransate) @AP
Politics and Current
Speaker of the New York Council Adrienne Adams is considering Burmoral Run

The speaker of the City Council in New York Adrienne Adams submitted documents to the financial council of the New York campaign to be able to create a campaign committee in the upcoming mayor’s race.
“We currently have chaos and we have reduced confidence in the other side of the town hall,” Adams said in an interview with Gothamist. “That is why I am seriously considering the campaign to become the first woman of the mayor of New York.”
In addition to becoming the first woman chosen as the mayor, Adams could be the first black woman and the first speaker of the city council who took the highest elected place in New York.
confirmed that Adams would do it Wait until the next week to make the final decision to launch. It is expected to offer the address of the “city state” on March 4.
“I wasn’t looking for it; It was not in my plans – she said, adding, “I believe someone have to be the soul of the city.”
A possible Adams offer for the mayor comes amongst the precipitation with the current mayor, Eric Adams. Adams, who is not related to the mayor, recently joined other city leaders, asking him to subside because of the corruption scandal.
If he joins the race, Adams will join the crowded, qualified field. Comptroller City Brad Lander and his predecessor Scott Stringer, Queens Assemblymber Zohran Mamdani, senator of the state Queens Jessica Ramos and senator of State Brooklyn Zellor Myrie.
There were also rumors that the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was considering returning to politics and applying for the mayor.
A recent survey with the Honan Strategy Group showed that Cuomo has a most important role in a democratic basic race of 38%. Mamdani is second at 12%, and the mayor of Adams is in third place with 10%. The Adams speaker received only 2% support from survey respondents.
(Tagstranslate) Mayoral Race (T) Adrienne Adams (T) New York City (T) Eric Adams
-
Press Release11 months ago
CEO of 360WiSE Launches Mentorship Program in Overtown Miami FL
-
Press Release11 months ago
U.S.-Africa Chamber of Commerce Appoints Robert Alexander of 360WiseMedia as Board Director
-
Business and Finance9 months ago
The Importance of Owning Your Distribution Media Platform
-
Business and Finance11 months ago
360Wise Media and McDonald’s NY Tri-State Owner Operators Celebrate Success of “Faces of Black History” Campaign with Over 2 Million Event Visits
-
Ben Crump11 months ago
Another lawsuit accuses Google of bias against Black minority employees
-
Theater11 months ago
Telling the story of the Apollo Theater
-
Ben Crump12 months ago
Henrietta Lacks’ family members reach an agreement after her cells undergo advanced medical tests
-
Ben Crump12 months ago
The families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright hold an emotional press conference in Minneapolis
-
Theater11 months ago
Applications open for the 2020-2021 Soul Producing National Black Theater residency – Black Theater Matters
-
Theater9 months ago
Cultural icon Apollo Theater sets new goals on the occasion of its 85th anniversary