The Bulwark’s managing editor, Sam Stein, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday to claim that it is possible that the incoming Trump Administration will arrest people “simply because they disagree with” it. However, a closer look at Stein's main example would suggest that he was simply being hysterical. Stein began by raising the idea that Trump could arrest members of Congress, “I mean, this is a larger pattern of potential appointees who want to take their institutions and agencies and effectively weaponize them against their opponents. I was talking to Chris Murphy, the senator, last week about what he was preparing for, and he very soberly was like, ‘I'm preparing for them to try to arrest lawmakers.’ And, look, it may not happen. It may happen.     Pam Bondi is a serious and experienced state attorney general. It is hard to believe she is going to bring a frivolous case against a Trump critic that she would lose just to check some retribution box. Still, Stein tried to reach for an example outside of Congress, “I think the fact that they are considering the possibility certainly is frightening. In recent days the mayor of Denver, I believe, has said, ‘I'm not going to cooperate with mass deportation efforts,’ and the response from Trump officials has been, ‘Great, we'll arrest you.’” Stein continued, “And I think that's really chilling, honestly, to see that people will cavalierly throw around the idea that elected officials, members of the fourth estate, could end up in the crosshairs and end up incarcerated simply because they disagree with the administration, but that is, Willie, essentially the through line for a lot of these picks, which is that they are there for vengeance and to carry out the political will of Donald Trump.” That is fake news. Mayor Mike Johnston threatened to deploy the Denver Police Department to prevent federal officials from entering the city and said if the feds insist on deportation operations in Denver, they could expect a Tiananmen Square scenario. He has since backtracked, but he was promising to resist, not simply to refuse to cooperate. It is a difference incoming border czar Tom Homan acknowledged, “It is also a felony to impede a federal law enforcement officer. So, if you don’t want to help, that’s fine, he can get the hell out of the way." Here is a transcript for the November 26 show: MSNBC Morning Joe 11/26/2024 6:21 AM ET SAM STEIN: Yeah, and let me just add, I mean, this is a larger pattern of potential appointees who want to take their institutions and agencies and effectively weaponize them against their opponents. I was talking to Chris Murphy, the senator, last week about what he was preparing for, and he very soberly was like, “I'm preparing for them to try to arrest lawmakers.” And, look, it may not happen. It may happen.  I think the fact that they are considering the possibility certainly is frightening. In recent days the mayor of Denver, I believe, has said, "I'm not going to cooperate with mass deportation efforts," and the response from Trump officials has been, “great, we'll arrest you.” And I think that's really chilling, honestly, to see that people will cavalierly throw around the idea that elected officials, members of the fourth estate, could end up in the crosshairs and end up incarcerated simply because they disagree with the administration, but that is, Willie, essentially the through line for a lot of these picks, which is that they are there for vengeance and to carry out the political will of Donald Trump.

CNN continues to melt down over the prospect of Elon Musk potentially purchasing liberal stalwart MSNBC, after its spinoff from Comcast. Such is the Musk derangement that CNN contributors are left disavowing CNN polls. Watch this fascinating exchange, as the Musk derangement manifests in real time (click "expand" to view transcript): https://www.mrctv.org/node/591068 CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP 11/25/24 10:34 PM CARI CHAMPION: It's not even realistic in real life, but I do believe that media, everyone sitting here at this table: if you don't agree, we are in for some tough- we're in for some tough years ahead. I do believe that we are not going to be able to be as safe or say what we want to. I don't think free speech is going to be as free. AUDIE CORNISH: Now, Scott, I want to bring you in here because this kind of link to Orbán, we don't pull it from nowhere. There was a former member of the Hungarian parliament who was writing in Politico who kind of talked about this effort by that government, and how specific it was in terms of purchasing media specifically for propaganda. Do you hear why they're making that connection? SCOTT JENNINGS: I mean, is the concern that certain media outlets would become propaganda arms of political ideologies? I mean, don't we already have that in this country at a large scale? I mean also, I hear what you're saying about X. I saw a survey this week. It's now the most ideologically balanced user platform of any platform. CARI CHAMPION: Oh, come on, Scott. Stop. Stop. It's too early. I just sat down. I've only been here for two minutes. You cannot continue to say… JENNINGS: You’re gonna be embarrassed when I tweet that after the show… CHAMPION: You can not say that. ASHLEY ALLISON: Who’s the source? CHAMPION: Who’s the source? AUDIE CORNISH: Who’s the source of that? JENNINGS: What I find- we- we've reported it on this network. And so-  CHAMPION: It's not accurate. And you know it. JENNINGS: Okay, I'll let you make your statement. CORNISH: Scott, can I… JENNINGS: But my point is…  CORNISH: Can I reframe it a different way? Because the web- the site changed radically, right? So whether you think the voices that are- it is somehow more balanced now, that's fine. But no doubt Musk's influence is profound and that you open it up and now you're there with his opinion, and he is now part of this administration.  JENNINGS: Here- here… CORNISH: So does anyone else think- think that there should be this greater concern about billionaires purchasing media companies?  JIM GERAGHTY: Okay. Would you be worried if Bill Gates controlled MSNBC? CHAMPION: No, because he's sane. (CROSSTALK) GERAGHTY: Because MS in MSNBC, comes from Microsoft. It was a partnership between Microsoft and NBC way back in the 1990s, back when Microsoft was under investigation by Bill Clinton's DoJ for monopoly. I don't remember anybody panicking over MSNBC back then. CORNISH: No, they definitely did but yeah. Continue. Well, like Fox was launching, MSNBC was launching.  JENNINGS: And it’s still here. CORNISH: Cable news network was- was shifting. The landscape was shifting. JENNINGS: But isn't the issue that the left has gotten so used to controlling almost all institutional information distribution arms in this country that when one little piece of it, whether it's X or MSNBC or anything else gets taken away, the panic is so outrageous? I mean, that’s how used to the left is of having control over all of it. Recall that the idea of a Musk purchase of MSNBC as ideological media capture was first floated at CNN by Brian Stelter.  BRIAN STELTER: Well, some are taking it- some inside MSNBC are taking Musk's comments seriously, whether he's trolling or not. There is a serious undercurrent to this, and it is the following: in some countries where we've seen democratic backsliding, where some oppositional media outlets have been captured by the government- a process known as media capture. This is exactly what happens. A ally of the leader, like Musk, comes in and buys a media outlet that is viewed as oppositional and then he turns the content and makes it more friendly to the person in power. That has happened before in other countries. Audie Cornish, filling in for Abby Phillip, cites a Politico article written by a single-term Green Party former member, as the basis of this segment made viral by Cari Champion’s assertion that Bill Gates is more acceptable as a steward of MSNBC because he is “sane”. I’m not familiar with any definition of “sane” that encompasses poop water-drinking Malthusianism, which suggests that Champion is defining “sane” as simply “not Elon.”  In so doing, they confirm what we’ve suspected all along: ideological capture is indeed acceptable to the Regime Media so long as the Regime is doing the capturing. Jim Geraghty of National Review further exposes that hypocrisy by pointing out the origins of MSNBC. The segment ends with Jennings laying out what is really at the heart of the media’s objections to a theoretical Musk purchase of MSNBC, even beyond their obvious Musk Derangement Syndrome: a sense of mourning over the loss of power and control over The Narrative. Think Jim VandeHei shouting “You’re not the media!!!” a thousand times over, and you begin to scratch the surface.  

On Sunday's Inside Politics on CNN, host Manu Raju tried to undermine Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) taking a stand against men using women's restrooms in the Capitol by wrongly claiming that her district has become substantially more Republican, thus suggesting that she has flip-flopped on transgender issues to pander to a more conservative district. While Raju suggested that the district had gotten double digits more Republican in its voting patterns, the Almanac of American Politics reports that, after the district was redrawn in 2022, it voted a mere 1.4 percentage points more for Donald Trump in 2020 than it did under the old lines. DailyKos similarly found that Trump received 52.1 percent in 2020 under the old lines, but 53.5 percent the same year under the new lines. Host Manu Raju began the segment by relating that transgender issues hurt Democrats in the 2024 elections, and that now Congresswoman Mace is pushing the issue in Congress as part of what Raju referred to as the Republican party's "right flank." Here's Raju: The culture wars have recently put Republicans on the defensive when it comes to the issue of abortion, but, this cycle, it was Democrats who were in an awkward spot as the GOP focused on turning transgender rights into a wedge issue. Kamala Harris largely ignored tens of millions of dollars in attacks from Donald Trump and his allies over transgender issues. And now the culture wars have reached Capitol Hill with Speaker Mike Johnson bowing to pressure from his right flank to ban transgender women from using women's restrooms in the Capitol. Notably, no ideological labels were applied to Democrats who have far-left views on transgender issues. After the panel discussed how Democrats should have responded to Republicans during the campaign rather than ignore the issue, Raju got to Mace recently pushing for a ban on biological men in women's restrooms at the Capitol in anticipation of Sarah McBride, the first transgender to be elected to Congress, who will represent Delaware as a Democrat. The Washington Post's Leigh Ann Caldwell recalled that Mace has a history of speaking out in favor of LGBTQ rights since she was elected to Congress in 2020. Here's Caldwell: "When you look further down in her Twitter feed, she was very pro-LGBTQ rights earlier on when she came to Congress over the past couple of years and said -- wanted to expand the tent for the Republican party. And so this is a complete about-face for her." Complete about-face? The Left says no, Mace has "always been a transphobic extremist." Channeling a recurring talking point by liberals that Republicans do not actually care about transgender issues and just have ulterior motives in discussing them, Raju claimed that Mace's district has become substantially more conservative, and then showed on screen misleading numbers that refer to the South Carolina Republican's winning margins for each of her three elections since 2020 which shows her numbers getting higher: "You know, her district has got more conservative, too. I mean, this is -- from 2020, she had a -- she was up -- it was the GOP had about a 1.2 percent advantage there. Now, it's gotten much more conservative -- 16.6 percent -- sort of tracks the evolution on this issue." But it is fairly commonplace for incumbents to get reelected by greater margins the longer they stay in Congress as they run against weaker candidates such that an incumbent may substantially outperform the partisan lean of the district. In fact, her first election in 2020 was especially close because her Democrat opponent Joe Cunningham was the incumbent. The CNN host went on to suggest that the transgender ads used by the Trump campaign might be remembered similarly to the Willie Horton ads that were used against Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988, in that there was "a tactical decision by the Democrats not to respond." Caldwell dismissively emphasized that transgender issues only effect a small percentage of people -- as if a man coming into a restroom with 12 women in it only matters to the man, and not the women.  Transcript follows: CNN's Inside Politics November 24, 2024 8:42 a.m. Eastern MANU RAJU, HOST: The culture wars have recently put Republicans on the defensive when it comes to the issue of abortion, but, this cycle, it was Democrats who were in an awkward spot as the GOP focused on turning transgender rights into a wedge issue. Kamala Harris largely ignored tens of millions of dollars in attacks from Donald Trump and his allies over transgender issues. And now the culture wars have reached Capitol Hill with Speaker Mike Johnson bowing to pressure from his right flank to ban transgender women from using women's restrooms in the Capitol. That includes incoming freshman Democrat Sarah McBride -- the first openly trans member. Democrats now are trying to find the right way to respond. CONGRESSWOMAN ALEXANDRIA OCASIO CORTEZ (D-NY): Everybody, no matter how you feel on this issue, should reject it completely. What are they doing? They're doing this so Nancy Mace can make a buck and send a text and fundraise off an email. They're not doing this to protect people. CONGRESSMAN MARK POCAN (D-WI): I think we're doing what we need to, but you notice we don't bring these issues up. It's the Republicans do. They're always looking for diversions because they can't govern. Look, pass a farm bill -- pass the appropriation bills -- do your job and let people use the bathroom they're going to use.  CONGRESSMAN SEAN CASTEN (D-IL): If your goal is to spread hatred and fear in the world, okay, fine. But it is beneath the dignity of this institution -- it's beneath the dignity of a decent, moral human being. RAJU: Of course Republicans look at the numbers of money that was spent on this issue between July and November in this election cycle -- $59.4 million on issues involving transgender rights -- in particular, 11.6 percent on those ads. Zolan, what do Democrats have to do to respond here gong forward? ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, one, you start by responding, right? I mean -- RAJU: Harris didn't do that at all. KANNO-YOUNGS: -- (audio gap) ... throughout the presidential campaign. I mean, it was very easy. If you were tuning in on Sunday and watching football -- if you were watching TV just any day, you'd be inundated with anti-trans ads, you know, from Republicans and from the Trump campaign. And, you know, I think the response really -- I mean, it reminds me of that old adage -- if you have, if you create a void of information, somebody's going to fill it. And Republicans, through the money that they invested, were able to dictate the argument on this issue. You know, I don't exactly know what the right response would be here, but I know that there was a void that was created. And, look, you know, often we talk about this in political terms as a political debate. There is a community that's caught in the middle -- RAJU: Yeah. KANNO-YOUNGS: --- here as well that is probably really scared right now. RAJU: And speaking of -- and speaking of the Trevor Project -- which is a nonprofit that focuses on suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ young people -- they said that crisis service contacts are up nearly 700 percent on November 6. I mean, this all comes, of course, as Sarah McBride -- who is the first openly trans member to join Congress next year as a member from Delaware, responded to all of this saying that, "I'm not here to fight about bathrooms. I'm here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families." She's in a complicated position because people want her to be the person fighting back on these positions, but she does not want to be. LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, WASHINGTON POST: Yeah, and that's where Democrats -- it's interesting they had -- some Democrats had a press conference earlier this week, and they said, you know, I pushed him to say, "Where are you going to work with the President-elect?" And they said, "On issues that matter to people." When it comes to cultural issues, they're going to fight back because that's what they're waging right now is a culture war. We'll see how they do that, but with Representative Nancy Mace who kind of led this charge -- a Republican of South Carolina. She used to be from a swing district -- it's a little more red now. But she, you know, tweeted hundreds of times about this issue -- RAJU: More than 300 times about this issue. CALDWELL: Thank you. RAJU: And if I just show it on your screen there and finish your thought. Just look at the amount of tweets just over the past week on this from Nancy Mace. But continue. CALDWELL: Yeah, she is someone -- she got a lot of attention this week about it. When you look further down in her Twitter feed, she was very pro-LGBTQ rights earlier on when she came to Congress over the past couple of years and said -- wanted to expand the tent for the Republican party. And so this is a complete about face for her. RAJU: Speaking of which, this is what she said in 2021. She said, "I strongly support LGBTQ rights. No one should be discriminated against. Religious liberty, gay rights and transgender equality can all coexist." That was from that. You know, her district has got more conservative, too. I mean, this is -- from 2020, she had a -- she was up -- it was the GOP had about a 1.2 percent advantage there. Now, it's gotten much more conservative -- 16.6 percent -- sort of tracks the evolution on this issue. CARL HULSE, NEW YORK TIMES: Standards are evolving, right? John Cornyn said. I do think that Democrats really have to figure out a way to answer this, though, because Republicans repeatedly told me as I was covering Senate race that this was a difference maker for them. You heard Sherrod Brown say it, too. And so they need to figure this out. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I was told by the Trump campaign at the time that they tested out this ad, and, when they saw that there was no response from Democrats, that's when they poured millions of dollars behind it because they realized that they had stepped into something which fills a complete void on the other side, and that the silence was actually giving them more fuel when it came to this argument. RAJU: I mean, that's a tactical decision by the Democrats not to respond. Ultimately, when this campaign is written, perhaps that will be one thing we'll look back kind of like the Willie Horton ad back in Michael Dukakis. CALDWELL: Yeah, but it's also -- we're going to remember -- we're going to remember that this impacts such a very small percentage of people. And the fact that it has been blown up as if this is a major, major cultural issue. I mean, it's just, you know, putting it in context is important.

Normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck and other conservatives keen to depoliticize corporate America have gone online to celebrate a massive victory in the war on woke this week: Walmart, which employs roughly 1.6 million workers nationwide, is scrapping its divisive DEI initiatives and curbing both its customer-facing and worker-facing LGBT activism. "This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America," said Starbuck, who has successfully pressured a number of other American companies, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply, Jack Daniel's, and John Deere, to abandon their race-obsessive policies, embrace of gender ideology, and other alienating leftist commitments. "This won't just have a massive effect for their employees who will have a neutral workplace without feeling that divisive issues are being injected but it will also extend to their many suppliers," continued Starbuck. "Companies like Amazon and Target should be very nervous that their top competitor dropped woke policies first. I think Target specifically will suffer serious sales problems as a result and Walmart will benefit." Following "productive conversations" with Walmart executives, Starbuck announced Monday that Walmart committed to ending its participation in the LGBT activist group Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a "national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees" used strategically to crush dissent and maximize conformity. Walmart once again secured a perfect score on the index last year by engaging in LGBT activism and outreach and by providing sex-change guidelines; at least one additional transvestite "inclusive policy or practice for its employees"; and LGBT training elements and an "intersectionality" training session. 'The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality.' Starbuck noted that Walmart has also committed to: identifying and removing "inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products marketed to children"; reviewing all funding for LGBT events to ensure that kids are not targeted with inappropriate sexualized content; letting its Center for Racial Equity initiative expire; ensuring that supplier diversity programs are not discriminating on the basis of race; eliminating the term "LatinX" from official communications; discontinuing "racial equity training"; and ditching the use of the term DEI. The company has confirmed its change of course, telling the Guardian in a statement: Our purpose, to help people save money and live better, has been at our core since our founding 62 years ago and continues to guide us today. We can deliver on it because we are willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America. We've been on a journey and know we aren't perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers, and to be a Walmart for everyone. Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman told CNBC that the company will no longer permit third-party sellers to sell various LGBT-themed items on the Walmart website, especially products, such as harmful chest binders, that target confused children. Chest binders are pieces of compression clothing that flatten a woman's chest to make her more "male-presenting." They reportedly can cause breathing difficulties, chronic back pain, headaches, skin infections, broken ribs, and malformations of the spine. According to a 2021 study in the journal Pediatrics, 97% of those who use them suffer health problems as a result. While Walmart is taking steps to shield children from LGBT propaganda and deformative apparel, it will continue to award grants and funding to LGBT events such as Pride parades. Blakeman also confirmed that the company will no longer share data with the HRC and will wind down its Center for Racial Equity. "Our campaigns are now so effective that we're getting the biggest companies on earth to change their policies without me even posting a story outlining their woke policies," wrote Starbuck. "Companies can clearly see that America wants normalcy back. The era of wokeness is dying right in front of our eyes. The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are now the trend, not the anomaly." 'Keep up the pressure.' Starbuck was deluged with congratulatory messages and thanks for helping Walmart find its way back to common sense. "Great!" wrote Elon Musk. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as American ambassador to Israel, tweeted, "Standing ovation for @robbystarbuck who is perhaps the most influential person in America restoring our culture & country to sanity! He is [fire emoji]! And thanks to @Walmart for focusing on the core business of retail. It's a gift to the customers & shareholders." Andy Puzder, the former CEO of Hardee's, similarly thanked Starbuck and noted, "The list of actions Walmart is taking to walk away from DEI is impressive! The #1 US employer’s labor policies will once again be based on qualifications, merit and character not sex or skin color. A true win for US workers of every race & both sexes!" "Wokeness is on its deathbed," tweeted All-American swim star Riley Gaines. Starbuck appeared to agree with the sentiment, noting elsewhere, "Wokeness is on life support. We just have to keep up the pressure." The Bud Light boycott demonstrated the vulnerability of corporate giants to conservative boycotts. While the threat of a repeat performance may be enough to prompt companies to act, some organizations may also be responding to the U.S. Supreme Court's June 29, 2023, decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard/UNC banning race-based college admission. The high court held that it is unconstitutional under the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for colleges and universities to factor race into the admissions process. While some legal experts have indicated that the decision has no direct legal impact on private employers, it has nevertheless paved the way for numerous lawsuits and federal civil rights complaints targeting companies' DEI initiatives, such as the complaint America First Legal filed in September with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the kitchenware retailer Williams Sonoma. Just weeks after the Supreme Court ruling, the attorneys general of 13 states wrote a letter reminding Fortune 100 CEOs of their obligations as employers under federal and sate law to "refrain from discriminating on the basis of race, whether under the label of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' or otherwise." It appears that companies that depoliticize their offerings will not only maximize their market reach but possibly also minimize their legal liability in the face of increasing effective backlash. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes was fined over $14,000 by the NFL for allegedly making a "violent gesture" in Buffalo, New York.During a 31-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on November 17, Mahomes celebrated a touchdown pass by making a finger guns gesture, likely trying to communicate that he is a gunslinger, a popular label for a quarterback who passes a lot.The moment was even featured in a CBS Sports highlight package before going to a commercial break. It was with that attached highlight that NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero noted Mahomes had been issued a fine by the league for making the apparently obscene gesture."The NFL fined Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes $14,069 for unsportsmanlike conduct (violent gesture) as he celebrated a touchdown pass last week in Buffalo," Pelissero wrote on X.To make matters worse, the news didn't break until six days after the incident, meaning Mahomes was likely informed while he was already in North Carolina for his next game against the Carolina Panthers.'We can have guns legally but cannot make simple gestures.'Fans were unanimously outraged with the league's decision, calling the fine everything from "woke" to "pathetic."Of course, there was also the quintessential labeling of the NFL as the "No Fun League" by some fans.One fan suggested a future crowd should show solidarity with Mahomes and simultaneously perform the same gesture en masse:"All fans should rally together and start doing this gesture whenever possible to be seen on camera," the fan wrote.@NFL is making a huge mistake All fans should rally together and start doing this gesture whenever possible to be seen on camera. This nonsense has to stop. The fans need to make a statement.— Jordache Perozzo (@jordachep) November 23, 2024 "So in the US, we can have guns legally but cannot make simple gestures. What a joke," another fan remarked.So in the US, we can have guns legally but cannot make simple gestures. What a joke.— Aaron H. ☣️ (@aaronhuynh77) November 23, 2024 Other fans decided to make gun-related puns while simultaneously mocking the NFL's hypocrisy on the subject."The NFL is robbing players in broad daylight," wrote a popular YouTuber."So when people line up from shotgun formation, are they going to change the name of the play?" another viewer asked.So when people line up from shotgun formation, are they going to change the name of the play?BS.— gosuprime (@gosuprime022) November 23, 2024 A different fan pointed out that Mahomes previously played at Texas Tech University, whose motto is "Guns Up." "This is bulls*** from the NFL," the same fan decried.Considering that Mahomes played at Texas Tech, where “Guns Up” is a major part of their lineage…..this is bullshit from the NFL.— Scott Campbell (@ScottOllieman) November 23, 2024 Mahomes has only been fined one other time, according to CBS Sports. In December 2023, he was docked $50,000 for "verbally abusing" officials, also during a loss to the Buffalo Bills.In September 2023, the NFL also fined two Cleveland Browns players — Deshaun Watson and David Njoku — for making gun gestures after a touchdown.Watson ended up being fined three times that game for a total of more than $35,000. The gun gesture alone took $13,659 from both players, $410 less than its current charge.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A nonprofit adjacent to the "Defund the Police" movement and its founder are in hot water after the attorney general of Washington, D.C., accused them of blowing tens of thousands of dollars on luxury trips and services while failing to pay an employee her due.On Monday, the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia announced a lawsuit against Raheem AI, a nonprofit dedicated to so-called police reform and accountability, and founder and executive director Brandon Anderson.'My office will not allow people to masquerade behind noble causes while violating the law, cheating taxpayers, or stealing from their workers.'Since 2021, Anderson has allegedly spent $75,000 in Raheem AI donations "for his own personal use," the AG press release claimed. His lavish expenditures allegedly included $40,000 in high-end vacation rentals, $10,000 for a trip to Cancun and other "personal travel," $10,000 on designer clothing, and even $5,000 in emergency veterinary bills.Meanwhile, the Raheem AI board of directors apparently did little to stop these questionable alleged splurges. For one thing, since 2020, the nonprofit has not had a separate treasurer to manage finances and oversee spending as required by law, the press release claimed. The board also allegedly "failed to implement any measures to oversee the organization’s finances, including Anderson’s corruption."Finally, Raheem AI apparently had only one D.C.-based employee — a deputy director whom the New York Post identified as Jasmine Banks — but failed to pay her "tens of thousands of dollars in earned wages," the press release said. The organization also allegedly compelled Banks to sign a noncompete clause, even though such clauses are illegal in D.C. for employees like Banks who made less than $150,000.In filing the lawsuit, the D.C. attorney general hopes to dissolve Raheem AI, recover the misspent funds and Banks' alleged lost wages, and prevent Anderson from leading any D.C. nonprofit ever again."Brandon Anderson misused charitable donations to fund lavish vacations and shopping sprees, and the Raheem AI Board of Directors let him get away with it," Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement. Schwalb's statement also indicated that the police reform demanded by Raheem AI was a "noble cause" but that the organization had used it to shield itself from proper oversight."My office will not allow people to masquerade behind noble causes while violating the law, cheating taxpayers, or stealing from their workers," he said.Anderson did not respond to the Post's request for comment regarding the lawsuit.'Individual expenditures are easy to mischaracterize without the burden of context.'Banks, who no longer works for Raheem AI, told the New York Times back in August that she now believes that Anderson and his organization may have been a "con" job all along.Anderson, who supports abolishing the police, founded Raheem AI in 2017, initially to create an app where victims could report police misconduct and later to provide an app alternative to calling 911. The organization is also obsessed with race, promising to "equip black, brown, and indigenous community crisis responders with the tools, training, connections, and funding they need to provide care," according to the press release.Anderson claimed he named the organization after a boyfriend who died in Oklahoma in 2007 during a "routine traffic stop." Anderson alleged that the cop involved in the incident had a history of violence. However, the Times was unable to identify any homicide victim in Oklahoma with the name Raheem or any case of alleged police brutality in the state that matched Anderson's description.Banks claimed she came to suspect that Anderson had never actually experienced police-related violence after he declined to join a group of survivors. "He wouldn’t engage with other impacted family members. I would invite him all the time, and he just wouldn’t do it," she said.Anderson told the Times that the accusations lobbed by Banks and others were "rife with untruths" but did not provide any specific examples. He also acknowledged that his plans for Raheem AI have been a "failure.""It’s easy to assign failure to one cause or another in hindsight, and individual expenditures are easy to mischaracterize without the burden of context," he said in a statement. "The bottom line is simply that it didn’t work, and as the leader of that effort I share most of the blame."The Raheem AI board has recently "ceased operations" and placed Anderson on leave, the press release claimed.As of Tuesday morning, the organization's website, Raheem.org, currently purports to be "under construction." An archived version asserted that "getting killed by police is the sixth leading cause of death for young Black men in America."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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