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Tag: General News

  • Senior Pastor Killed By Assistant Over Woman In Osun

    A tragic incident occurred at the Celestial Church of Christ in Omitoto, Ile-Ife, Osun State, when an assistant priest, Lekan Ogundipe, murdered the presiding pastor, Morris Fadehan (64).

    According to reports, tensions had been building between Ogundipe and Fadehan over behavioral issues.

    The final straw was an altercation last week between Ogundipe and a prophetess known as Mummy Ewa, who accused him of spreading rumours about their relationship.

    Ogundipe had reportedly assaulted the prophetess, prompting Fadehan to reprimand him and announce plans to dismiss him from his role.

    On Monday evening, Ogundipe went to the home of the church’s owner, Pa Olafare, and reportedly claimed there was a fire burning Fadehan’s body at the church.

    They rushed to the scene to find Fadehan’s lifeless body burnt and bloodied inside the sanctuary.

    A source familiar with the incident narrated to THE WHISTLER: ”The presiding pastor, Fadehan was infuriated by the action of his assistant. He had several issues with Lekan (Ogundipe) before then because he has been reacting to issues with anger.

    “The key of the church used to be in the custody of the assistant, but after the incident, Fadehan took the key from him and then promised to report to the church committee who would ratify his expulsion from the church. Lekan stabbed his boss repeatedly with a knife and inserted nails into his ears which caused him to bleed to death. After that, he used prayer perfume on the altar to burn him.”

    The owner of the church, Pa Olafare while receiving delegates from the Celestial headquarters said, “The deceased had reported to me that he was to disengage Lekan (the suspect) as his assistant over many unlawful acts. Most recent of them include the assault on a prophetess in the church last Wednesday and I agreed with him, but he added that he will take the decision after consulting with the elders.

    “But while I was about eating on Monday evening, the said Lekan came to the house and told me fire is burning on the deceased body and that he was lifeless on the floor, hence, I drove back with him and my wife to the church where we found the deceased partly burnt inside the church.

    “We discovered blood stains on different parts of his body and cuts. When we asked Lekan about the blood stains, he attempted to run but we grabbed him and locked him in my car before calling in the police.

    “We unwrapped the deceased pastor’s body and discovered that there were nails in his ear and several cuts on the head and neck before we took the body to the morgue at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife.

    “Meanwhile, Lekan later confessed to the police that he perpetrated the crime because of a dispute with the deceased.”

    Police investigation revealed that Ogundipe indeed stabbed Fadehan multiple times with a knife, hammered nails into his ears, and set his corpse on fire with prayer perfume. Ogundipe was said to have later confessed to the horrific murder.

    Prophetess Ewa also confirmed she had warned Ogundipe about gossiping and Fadehan had also scolded him following the assault incident last week.

    Police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed Ogundipe’s arrest and said Fadehan’s body had been taken to the morgue for autopsy.

    Senior Pastor Killed By Assistant Over Woman In Osun is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

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  • Fact Check: Is the U.S. third in gun violence because of five cities? Data doesn’t support that claim

    After a May mass shooting at a shopping mall in Allen, Texas, a comedian raised a familiar claim about gun violence in the U.S. 

    Bryan Callen, a podcast host, said that the U.S. is No. 3 among 193 countries in gun violence, but if not including “the five cities with the most gun violence” — which he named as Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and St. Louis — it would significantly change the rank.

    “If you were to take them out of the equation, we would not be the third, we would be the 189th. That’s pretty significant,” Callen said.

    A Feb. 1 Instagram video reshared Callen’s comments, first made on a May 2023 podcast episode. 

    (Screenshot from Instagram)

    The Instagram video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The 193 countries that Callan mentions match the number of United Nations member states. We found no worldwide gun violence ranking with that number of countries.

    The claim is similar to a meme that has been circulating since at least 2015 that we rated Pants on Fire! 

    Subtracting the total number of firearm homicides across the five cities mentioned would reduce the 2022 U.S. gun homicide rate from 5.0 deaths per 100,000 people to 4.5 per 100,000. That means it wouldn’t reduce the rate enough for the U.S. to be on the lowest end of a global gun violence ranking.

    PolitiFact contacted Callen for comment but did not hear back.

    Where the U.S. ranks for firearm homicides 

    There are many ways to measure gun violence rates across countries, so the U.S. ranking varies. Most criminologists use the number of shootings-per-100,000-people metric to account for differences in population size.

    The 2019 Global Burden Disease study includes the most recent and complete worldwide data on gun violence rates, and the number of countries and territories it includes is most similar to the number in Callen’s claim. In the study of 204 countries and territories, the U.S. ranked third for overall number of deaths caused by physical violence by firearm, behind Brazil and Mexico. When filtering by the rate per 100,000 people, the U.S. ranked 32nd.

    In the 2019 study, the U.S. gun homicide rate was 3.96 deaths per 100,000 people. Three years later, in 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic had driven up violent crimes, including homicides, the FBI reported that the U.S. gun homicide rate was 5.0 deaths per 100,000. 

    If subtracting gun homicides in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and St. Louis from the 2022 data, the U.S. gun homicide rate would decrease to 4.5 deaths per 100,000 people. 

    Gun homicide data for 2022 for all countries is not yet available. But based on 2022 data about 43 countries collected by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime — which did not include the U.S. —  a U.S. gun homicide rate of 4.5 per 100,000 people would put the country in 13th place, higher than 31 other countries, if it were included. That means the U.S. would not rank at the very bottom of a global list, as the Instagram post claims. 

    Another dataset supports that conclusion. A 2021 report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations said the U.S. ranked seventh out of 65 high-income countries and territories for the rate of firearm homicides per 100,000 people.

    By comparison, other high-income countries have extremely low gun homicide rates per 100,000 people, including Singapore (0.01), Korea (0.02) and the United Kingdom (0.04). The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations report shows that all but 14 of the 65 high-income countries have firearm homicide rates lower than 1.0.

    “Plenty of researchers have parsed the data and concluded that the U.S. homicide rate is a gross outlier among high-income countries and even much poorer countries and this shows up overwhelmingly in firearm homicide rates,” Daniel Webster, distinguished research scholar for the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, wrote in an email to PolitiFact.

    Even among datasets from the same year, there are differences. The 2019 Global Burden of Disease study estimated 13,001 deaths in the U.S. from physical violence by firearm, and the FBI reported 10,258 firearm homicides the same year. The FBI figures come from crime data voluntarily reported by participating law enforcement agencies nationwide, and the Global Burden of Disease figures come from more than 280,000 data sources including hospitals, governments, surveys and other worldwide databases. 

    Subtracting the five cities from the data

    Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group, analyzed the FBI’s 2022 gun violence data and found that 20 cities, including the five mentioned in the Instagram post, accounted for 50% of U.S. gun homicides. 

    The FBI reported 16,800 fatal gun homicides in the U.S. in 2022, which translates to a national rate of 5.0 deaths per 100,000 people. 

    The number of firearm homicides in those five cities totaled 1,816 in 2022. Subtracting that total from the overall count would lower the national firearm homicide rate from 5.0 deaths per 100,000 people to 4.5 per 100,000 people.

    Each of the five cities listed in the Instagram video had firearm homicide rates higher than the national rate:

    • St. Louis: 66.7 per 100,000 people (highest rate among more than 500 U.S. cities)

    • Detroit: 44 per 100,000 (fourth highest rate)

    • Philadelphia: 30.8 per 100,000 (13th highest rate)

    • Chicago: 19.7 per 100,000 (27th highest rate)

    • Los Angeles: 7.7 per 100,000 (134th highest rate)

    Two of the cities cited are in states with looser gun restrictions

    In the Instagram video, Callan said the five cities he cites have “the strictest gun controls.” The best available data is state level rather than city level, and it shows that two of the five cities are in states with looser gun restrictions. 

    Everytown ranks states’ gun law strength by assigning points based on policies’ impact. States get more points for what Everytown considers to be foundational laws, including those requiring background checks and/or purchase permits; concealed carry permits; secure storage or child access prevention; “extreme risk” or laws limiting access to guns for people in crisis; and for having no “shoot first” laws, also called “stand your ground.” 

    Everytown ranked all states, with No. 1 having the toughest gun restrictions. Here’s how the states ranked where the five cities named in the Instagram video are located:

    • California (ranked first): Five of five foundational laws.

    • Illinois (ranked third): Five of five foundational laws.

    • Pennsylvania (ranked 17th): Two of five foundational laws.

    • Michigan (ranked 20th): Four of five foundational laws.

    • Missouri (ranked 38th out of 50): Zero foundational laws.

    Everytown’s analysis found that Illinois is bordered by states with much weaker gun laws, such as Indiana, and that many guns recovered in Illinois were purchased out of state.

    “We could also point to New York, which has even tighter gun (regulations) and a gun homicide rate less than the national average,” said Philip Cook, Duke University public policy studies professor.

    Our ruling

    An Instagram post claimed that if you removed gun-related homicides in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and St. Louis, the U.S. would rank 189th out of 193 countries in gun violence.

    Based on 2022 FBI data, removing the firearm homicides from those five cities would decrease the U.S. firearm homicide rate from 5.0 deaths per 100,000 people to 4.5 per 100,000. 

    There is no complete global gun homicide data for 2022 yet, but based on 2022 data from 43 countries — which did not include the U.S. — a U.S. rate of 4.5 deaths per 100,000 people would put the U.S. in 13th place, higher than 31 other countries, if it were included. That means the U.S. would not rank at the very bottom of a global list. 

    A 2021 report also showed the U.S. ranked seventh out of 65 high-income countries and territories for the rate of firearm homicides per 100,000 people. The countries at the bottom of the list have extremely low gun homicide rates, including Singapore (0.01), Korea (0.02) and the United Kingdom (0.04).

    The burden of proof is on the speaker, and the available evidence does not support this claim.

    We rate it False.

    RELATED: Is the United States third in murders and are outlier cities to blame? No.

    RELATED: Is 95% of gun violence occurring in ‘inner cities’? No



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  • Breaking Down the Immigration Figures

    Encounters on the southern border of those trying to enter the U.S. without authorization have gone up significantly under President Joe Biden. Government statistics show that in the initial processing of millions of encounters, 2.5 million people have been released into the U.S. and 2.8 million have been removed or expelled.

    Some Republicans, however, have misleadingly suggested the number released into the country since Biden took office is much higher.

    Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, claimed last month that 8 million “have come in illegally” and “we have to send them back.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made the same claim in a GOP debate in January.

    Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said on “Fox News Sunday” on Feb. 11 that Biden had “allowed an invasion to occur at our border, almost 10 million migrants have crossed into our country.”

    The same day on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said that, conservatively, “3.3 million people have been released into the country who arrived here illegally.” But he also claimed that Biden had a policy of releasing “virtually 85, 90% of any migrant that crossed the border,” a percentage that would translate to well more than 3.3 million.

    Other Republicans have said 85% of migrants crossing illegally are being released, a figure that reportedly, according to the Border Patrol Union, was used by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in early January. The 85% figure is close to accurate for apprehensions by Border Patrol for one month — December — but statistics for other months or Biden’s time in office are much lower, as we’ll explain later.

    DHS has released several spreadsheets of data on illegal immigration at the southern border. All of the figures in this story come from that data from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, unless otherwise noted.

    The statistics can be confusing, and a little messy. For one, the number of apprehensions at the border includes people who have tried to cross more than once. In fiscal year 2021, the recidivism rate was 27%, according to the most recent figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That’s up from just 7% in fiscal 2019, which was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    During the pandemic, the U.S. used Title 42, a public health law, to immediately expel border-crossers, but without any criminal consequences — a policy that likely incentivized repeated attempts to enter the country. Biden stopped the use of Title 42 in May, when the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 ended. And since then, the recidivism rate has dropped; it was 11% in August, according to CBP.

    Another issue with the DHS data is that immigration cases can take years to make their way through court backlogs. The figures on what happens when migrants have come to the border reflect the initial dispositions, as DHS calls them. In many cases, the final decision on whether a migrant will be allowed to stay or will be deported comes later. The information “does not necessarily reflect final dispositions or removals in all cases,” U.S. Border Patrol says on its website.

    “This idea of how many people have been released into the country, how many people have been removed – it’s hard to know for sure, because these are initial dispositions,” Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that researches immigration issues, told us. Many people haven’t had their day in immigration court, she said, so the ultimate results won’t be known until their cases are decided.

    Comprehensive figures are available through October. So to keep things as simple as possible, we’ll present numbers for February 2021, the month after Biden took office, through October, unless otherwise noted.

    The DHS data show 6.5 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in that time frame, a figure that includes both the 5.8 million apprehensions between legal ports of entry – the number typically used for illegal immigration – and a little more than 700,000 migrants who arrived at ports of entry without authorization to enter the U.S.

    Of those 6.5 million encounters by CBP, 2.5 million people have been released into the U.S. with notices to appear in immigration court or report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the future, or other classifications, such as parole.

    There are certainly others who have crossed the border by evading the authorities. DHS estimated there were 660,000 “gotaways,” or unlawful entries, in fiscal 2021. The agency would not provide an updated estimate. However, a DHS spokesperson told us: “Under this Administration, the estimated annual apprehension rate has averaged 78%, identical to the rate of the prior Administration.” That rate would support a gotaway figure of 1.6 million from February 2021 through October.

    The 1.6 million figure would bring the number of those entering or released into the country to about 4.2 million.

    The figures used by Haley, DeSantis and Cotton — 8 million or 10 million — are totals of all migrant encounters at the border plus gotaways, and, in Cotton’s case, encounters at the northern border, coastal borders and airports. Cotton’s press secretary, Patrick McCann, told us that those figures showed the senator was correct to say that number “crossed into the country.” But these claims ignore that DHS statistics show 2.8 million of the encounters at the southern border alone resulted in a removal or expulsion directly from CBP custody, and all of the rest of the migrants encountered are not simply released.

    Most of those removals – nearly 2.5 million — were immediate expulsions under Title 42.

    Total DHS repatriations through October amounted to 3.7 million, a figure that includes the 2.8 million removals directly from CBP, as well as removals by ICE. CBP operates at the border – at ports of entry and between them — while ICE “is responsible for interior enforcement and for detention and removal operations,” DHS explains.

    “The majority of all individuals encountered at the southwest border over the past three years have been removed, returned, or expelled,” a DHS official told us. The total DHS repatriations of 3.7 million would support that. The figure is 57% of the 6.5 million total encounters. The one caveat is that the total repatriations could include some migrants who were apprehended crossing the border some time ago and later were arrested and removed by ICE.

    We’ll explain what happens when migrants arrive at the border and provide more information on these statistics.

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    The Border Process

    We reached out to the Migration Policy Institute to ask what happens to migrants who arrive at the southern border without authorization to enter the U.S. “The short answer is, it depends,” Putzel-Kavanaugh told us.

    We’ll start with migrants apprehended while trying to cross between ports of entry.

    In the last several years, Putzel-Kavanaugh said, typically migrants will go into U.S. territory and then wait to be apprehended, with the intention of asking for asylum. They are taken to a processing center – “large, tent-like structures” – for 24 to 72 hours to answer questions and provide biometric information.

    “While in custody,” she said, “they’re processed, so to speak … the appropriate disposition will be given to them.” Migrants could be released with a notice to appear in immigration court, processed for expedited removal or asked if they want to be returned to Mexico.

    For expedited removal, the U.S. would have to have a relationship with the migrant’s country of origin and space on a repatriation flight. ICE would need capacity to hold migrants pending removal.

    In fiscal year 2023, 46% of encounters were migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, countries that regularly accept repatriation of their citizens. Venezuelans made up 10.7% of encounters. The U.S. announced in October that Venezuela agreed to accept repatriations of its citizens, but in January, the country halted those flights.

    For families, “Border Patrol doesn’t want to keep children in custody for very long,” Putzel-Kavanaugh said. Families are “likely to be released quickly with an NTA [notice to appear] to appear in immigration court.”

    What happens for border crossers “depends on the day, depends on how many people Border Patrol is processing” and depends on the type of people coming in, such as whether they are traveling as a family. Criminal record checks are conducted, including screenings for prior immigration charges and whether someone is on a terrorist watchlist.

    Glossary of Immigration Enforcement Terms

    These definitions are from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Border Patrol.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection – An agency of the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for securing the homeland by preventing the illegal entry of people and goods while facilitating legitimate travel and trade.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – The principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s primary mission is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.

    U.S. Border Patrol – The mobile, uniformed law enforcement arm of U.S. Customs and Border Protection within the Department of Homeland Security responsible for securing U.S. borders between ports of entry.

    Alternatives to Detention – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program using technology and other tools to manage unauthorized individual’s compliance with release conditions while they are on the non-detained docket.

    Apprehension – The arrest of a potentially removable noncitizen by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    Asylee – An alien in the United States or at a port of entry who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality, or to seek the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution. Persecution or the fear thereof must be based on religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

    Encounters – The sum of U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Title 8 apprehensions, Office of Field Operations (OFO) Title 8 inadmissibles, and noncitizens processed for expulsions under Title 42 authority by USBP or OFO.

    Notice to Appear (NTA) – Form I-862, a document that is the first step in starting removal proceedings under Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The form identifies the grounds for removal under which the noncitizen is being charged and instructs them to appear before an immigration judge.

    Notice to Report (NTR) – Form I-385, a document that directs an individual to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office within 60 days for further immigration processing.

    Parole – The discretionary decision that allows inadmissible aliens to leave an inspection facility freely so that, although they are not admitted to the United States, they are permitted to be physically present in the United States. Parole is granted on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

    Parole, humanitarian – Parole authorized for “urgent humanitarian reasons” as specified by law, regulation, or declaration by the U.S. government.

    Port of entry (POE) – Any location in the United States or its territories that is designated as a port of entry (POE) for noncitizens and U.S. citizens.

    Prosecutorial discretion – The legal authority to choose whether or not to take action against an individual for committing an offense.

    Title 42 – Title 42 of the United States Code, which includes provisions related to public health. Border encounters processed under a March 2020 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) order pursuant to Title 42 are expelled from the United States as expeditiously as possible in the interest of U.S. public health to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

    Title 8 – Title 8 of the United States Code, which includes most provisions for immigration enforcement. Encounters processed under Title 8 authority may be subject to removal from the United States.

    The process at legal ports of entry is different. Most migrants without authorization to enter the U.S. who are processed at ports of entry have appointments through CBP One — an app that in January 2023 began accepting appointments for a limited number of migrants who are in Mexico and want to request asylum or parole. DHS calls this “safer, humane, and more orderly” than processing between ports of entry, where migrants cross the border illegally and wait to be apprehended. Migrants with CBP One appointments get a similar screening and could be subject to expedited removal, but the majority are released into the U.S. with a notice to appear in immigration court, Putzel-Kavanaugh said.

    With CBP One, border officers already have a lot of information about the person, including contact information and a photo. But appointments are capped at 1,450 per day. For calendar year 2023, 413,300 people scheduled such appointments, CBP says.

    So, those who are released into the U.S. are generally saying they have a fear of returning to their home countries and want to apply for asylum, and releases are especially likely if it involves a family.

    The capacity of Border Patrol and ICE facilities is also an issue, with detention reserved “for people who are really presenting a national security threat,” Putzel-Kavanaugh said.

    There’s also a humanitarian parole program for people fleeing Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, who can potentially stay in the U.S. for two years if they have a sponsor who applies for the program. Through the end of last year, 327,000 people have been granted parole under the program, which launched in October 2022 for Venezuelans and expanded to the other nationalities in January 2023. There are 30,000 slots per month available.

    Unaccompanied children are transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for children who cross the border on their own.

    “It’s this giant puzzle of different agencies … that have to work together,” Putzel-Kavanaugh told us.

    For a visualization of the process, the American Immigration Council referred us to a New York Times infographic it helped the newspaper create on what happens to those coming to the border.

    Those seeking asylum must prove “that they meet the definition of a refugee,” the American Immigration Council explains in a fact sheet updated in January. “In order to be granted asylum, an individual is required to provide evidence demonstrating either that they have suffered persecution on account of a protected ground in the past, and/or that they have a ‘well-founded fear’ of future persecution in their home country.”

    Because of a backlog of cases, asylum seekers can spend years waiting for a court date. As we explained in a story last month, less than 15% of those seeking asylum were ultimately granted it in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to Justice Department statistics. But it is taking four to five years for asylum cases to get to court.

    The immigration court backlog was 3 million cases in November, a record, according to a December report from TRAC, a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University.

    Border Statistics

    As we said, there were 6.5 million encounters at the southern border from February 2021 through October, including a little more than 700,000 migrants who arrived without legal documentation at ports of entry. That’s according to DHS’ Office of Homeland Security Statistics.

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    About 2.5 million people through October have been released into the U.S. That figure includes 2 million released by Border Patrol, with a notice to appear in court or a notice to report to ICE, or released through prosecutorial discretion or granted parole, which allows people into the country for a temporary period. The 2.5 million number also includes nearly 534,000 paroles processed at legal ports of entry.

    In addition to those releases, nearly 367,000 migrants have been transferred to HHS, which is responsible for children who cross the border on their own, unaccompanied by adult family members or legal guardians.

    Another 771,000 were transferred to ICE, a figure that includes those subsequently booked into ICE custody, enrolled in “alternatives to detention” (which include technological monitoring and other case management options) or released by ICE.

    Of those arriving at the southern border during Biden’s presidency, 2.8 million were removed or returned directly from CBP custody through October, the vast majority of them under the Title 42 public health law during the pandemic. Total DHS repatriations were 3.7 million, which includes removals by ICE.

    Under Title 42, the U.S. immediately expelled people encountered at the border, except for unaccompanied children, without giving them an opportunity to apply for asylum — and without imposing criminal penalties. Now that Title 42 has ended, there are fewer expulsions overall, but the number removed from CBP custody under Title 8 has increased. Title 8 laws are the longstanding immigration laws that dictate what can happen to migrants entering illegally and who is inadmissible. Title 8 removals are subject to criminal penalties, including a five-year ban on entering the U.S. again.

    In addition to fewer expulsions since the end of Title 42, there is evidence of a decline in the rate and number of gotaways, according to David J. Bier, the associate director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. “Since Title 42 was terminated, successful evasions of Border Patrol have declined 79 percent to a daily average of about 500, or 15,500 per month, in January 2024,” Bier wrote, using monthly estimates reported by media outlets.

    The gotaway figures can be estimated through observation – such as electronic surveillance of the border – or statistical modeling. “Gotaway data have become more reliable over the past decade because border surveillance has increased dramatically from 2005 to 2023,” Bier wrote.

    As we said, some Republicans have claimed that 85% of migrants are being allowed into the country under Biden, citing remarks attributed to DHS Secretary Mayorkas by the Border Patrol Union. (Publicly, Mayorkas said at the time that “the majority of all southwest border migrant encounters throughout this administration have been removed, returned, or expelled.”) But overall under Biden, through October, 35% of those apprehended at the border have been released to await further immigration processing.

    Recent Customs and Border Protection figures of those trying to enter the country between ports of entry come close to that 85% number for December, when 77% of the nearly 250,000 apprehensions by Border Patrol were released with a notice to appear in court. But the monthly figures vary. In January, 57% were released with a notice to appear. From June, the first full month after Title 42 ended, through January, 64% of Border Patrol apprehensions were released.

    Again, these initial dispositions don’t indicate what ultimately happens.

    DHS also publishes lifecycle reports on what happens to migrants over time — since asylum cases and deportation proceedings can take years. The most recent report is for fiscal 2021, which covers less than a year of Biden’s time in office. The latest report shows that cases can be pending for quite some time. It says that 28% of all border encounters from fiscal 2013 to 2021 were still being processed.

    Bier calculated release and removal rates for the last two years of former President Donald Trump’s term and the first 26 months of Biden’s, using DHS data, including the lifecycle report, ICE detention statistics and other figures published by the Republican majority on the House Judiciary Committee. Bier wrote in November that his work showed the Biden administration “has removed a higher percentage of arrested border crossers in its first two years than the Trump DHS did over its last two years. Moreover, migrants were more likely to be released after a border arrest under President Trump than under President Biden.”

    While the raw numbers are much higher under Biden — 5 million encounters compared with 1.4 million under Trump in those time frames — the percentages for the two administrations were similar: 47% removed under Trump and 51% under Biden. Bier’s estimates are for illegal immigration between ports of entry. (As our bar graph above shows, both administrations had removal rates above 50% when Title 42 was being used to expel people.)

    “These numbers highlight how difficult it was even for the most determined administration in US history to expel everyone who enters illegally,” Bier wrote.

    Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. 



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  • Ex-San Jose Shark Timo Meier adjusts to smaller New Jersey Devils role

    SAN JOSE – It’s been a year – almost to the day – since Timo Meier had been traded from the San Jose Sharks to the New Jersey Devils. But the winger still had some items from his residence on Santana Row that he needed to pick up.

    “I still have a spot here and some stuff here, so it’s like the second packing I had to do,” a smiling Meier said Tuesday morning at SAP Center. “Mostly clothes. A lot of clothes. I had to throw some stuff out. Too many clothes.”

    Meier appears to be glad to be back on the West Coast, arriving in town to enjoy a bit of the mild California weather before the next rainstorm arrives.

    Perhaps it was also good for Meier, everyone on the Devils roster, and coach Lindy Ruff to get a brief respite from the mounting pressure the underachieving Devils are no doubt feeling back home with time running out to make a playoff push.

    Entering Tuesday’s game with the Sharks, which begins a three-game California swing, Meier and the Devils, who advanced to the second round of the playoffs last season, are seven points out of a wild card spot with 24 games left to play.

    The Devils (29-25-4) also came into the game with the second-worst team save percentage in the NHL at .883, and their power play, while ranked 14th in the NHL at 22.4 percent, is 4-for-39 this month, a 10.3 percent success rate that ranks next to last in the league.

    New Jersey lost 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lighting on Sunday and entered this week with just four points in its last six games. That prompted fans inside the Prudential Center to begin once again chanting, “Fire Lindy,” near the end of the third period, and one writer who covers the Devils to also call for Ruff’s dismissal.

    “I take full responsibility,” Ruff said after Sunday’s loss. “You want to win. We’ve dealt with a lot. The players want to win. I’m responsible for the wins and losses. Who gets on the ice, and who doesn’t get on the ice.

    “I’ve said this before: We’ve got a very passionate fanbase. They want to see wins. In a back-to-back and if you look at our home record, that part hurts. So I feel fully responsible.”

    Meier feels the weight of expectations, too.

    Meier is the Devils’ highest-paid forward, having signed an eight-year, $70.4 million contract extension with New Jersey last June. It would have made zero sense for the Sharks to offer him a similar deal, given that they were already missing the playoffs with him, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, and other veterans.

    But he got that from the Devils and now everyone wants to see if he can deliver. He scored 40 goals between his time in New Jersey and San Jose last season, or once every other game.

    He’s well back of that pace now, with just 11 goals and 24 points in 45 games before Tuesday.

    “I have high expectations for myself,” Meier said. “I want to grow as a player and I want to win. That’s the biggest thing. Just try to get better every day. There will be highs and lows, but just learning from them and staying positive. Keep coming in every day with a positive attitude.”

    Meier was the Sharks’ most-used winger by the time his tenure ended in San Jose, but that’s not the case in New Jersey. While he averaged 20 minutes of ice time in 57 games with the Sharks last season, he’s at 16:39 this season.

    “It’s maybe a little different role on this team that I had on the Sharks, so it’s definitely a little bit of an adjustment there,” Meier said. “Different teammates. I was playing with some of the same guys for such a long time and we kind of knew where they were at all times, and you had that chemistry.

    “So it’s just about building that and trying to find your game maybe in a different role, but it’s down to just trying to go out there and helping your team win in whatever way you can.”

    East Coast fans hit a bit differently too, especially when things are not going well.

    “The passion is there by both (Sharks and Devils) fan bases. Maybe some fans express it a little differently than others,” Meier said. “But that’s part of our business and you’ve got to handle those situations.”

    The Sharks got a haul for Meier when they sent the power forward to the Devils on Feb. 26, 2023.

    Sharks general manager Mike Grier received forward Fabian Zetterlund, defensemen Nikita Okhotiuk and Shakir Mukhamadullin, a 2023 first-round draft pick that turned into forward Quentin Musty, and a conditional second-round draft pick this year.

    Zetterlund, before Tuesday, was tied for the team lead with 15 goals and figures to be with the Sharks for years to come.

    Source

  • Another Downside Of Book Bans? They Stunt Reading Ability

    Diverse books are being stripped from schools, and that’s disproportionately affecting the fundamental reading skills of students of color. (Credit: Photo by Min An/PEXELS)

    by Joseph Williams

    For years, as test scores fell and teachers fretted, educators and analysts rang the alarm: the U.S. is facing a grade-school reading crisis. If left unaddressed, they say, Black children could fall even further behind. 

    Now, college professors are sounding an alarm of their own. They say college students are entering college unprepared to read anything more than a few pages, and struggle to understand and interpret what they’ve read. 

    “Professors are also discussing the issue in academic trade publications, from a variety of perspectives,” Adam Kotsko, a humanities and theology professor, wrote in an essay in Slate, an online magazine. “What we almost all seem to agree on is that we are facing new obstacles in structuring and delivering our courses, requiring us to ratchet down expectations in the face of a ratcheting down of preparation.”

    But along with COVID-19 learning loss, social media addiction, and attention-draining cell phone scrolling, researchers and educators have identified a new culprit: state and school officials who are stripping diverse books from library shelves and curbing the teaching of Black history.

    “This is actually a very preventable problem,” says Allison Rose Socol, vice president for P-12 policy, research and practice at Education Trust. Studies show that “if (students) are given access to texts in which they see themselves reflected, that they will not only want to read, but they will develop a love of reading.” 

    But “the access and availability of culturally relevant, rich texts are not happening in a lot of schools,” Socol says. “And that is disproportionately affecting the fundamental reading skills of many students of color.”

    Data tells part of the story. 

    According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in 2022, average scores decreased for both literary and informational texts at both the fourth- and eighth grade level, compared to 2019. 

    Eighteen states or jurisdictions scored lower on literary reading in 2022 than in 2019, according to NAEP, while 29 states scored lower on informational reading at grade 4. In eighth grade, 22 states scored lower in 2022 on literary reading, and 30 states scored lower for informational reading.

    “And when you look at the data for certain groups of students — particularly marginalized students — the numbers are so much more concerning,” Socol says. 

    The data shows “just 17% of Black students, 21% of Latino students, 11% of students with disabilities, and 10% of multilingual learners in fourth grade are found to be proficient” in reading, she says. “Those numbers are just unacceptable.”

    And yet, despite research that should encourage reading diverse texts, “there are states and districts that are putting in place legislation and regulation and policy that removes or penalizes teachers, for teaching honest, accurate history, for using books that represent the diversity of our country and for doing things that we know are important for opening up students,” Socol says. 

    Those books are key to “engaging hearts and minds and creating critical thinkers and engaged citizens,” Socol says. 

    Kotsco, the humanities professor, agrees the book bans are doing damage to the students he’ll eventually have to teach, depriving them of the ability to read long texts and think for themselves. 

    “Motivated by bigotry, it has already done demonstrable harm and promises to do more,” he wrote. “But at the same time, the appropriate response is, in principle, simple. Named individuals have advanced explicit policies with clear goals and outcomes, and we can replace those individuals with people who want to reverse those policies.”

    “That is already beginning to happen in many places,” he wrote, “and I hope those successes will continue until every banned book is restored.”

    Source

  • Parents Furious, Children in Tears After Deceiving AI Ads Lead to Lame Willy Wonka Warehouse Experience

    Visitors disappointed after $40 warehouse ‘Willy Wonka Experience’ spectacularly fails to live up to AI advertisements.

    Parents in Glasgow, Scotland, complained to police after they were fooled into taking their children to a disappointing Willy Wonka event held at a warehouse that was trumped up in fantastical in AI ads.

    The “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” event, which charged $40 for entry, was described as “immersive” and “whimsical” and billed as a “journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn!”

    The event’s website used wondrous AI-created images to advertise an “enchanted garden” filled with “giant sweets” and sculptures, an “imagination lab” displaying “optical marvels,” and a “twilight tunnel” adventure.

    However, upon arriving at the warehouse for the event, parents quickly realized the experience fell significantly short of the expectations set by the AI advertisements and reported the event to Scotland police.

    Organizers reportedly handed children “a couple of jellybeans and a quarter cup of lemonade,” according to an actor hired to perform at the event who said he couldn’t do his job because of the lack of props.

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    “I thought it was where dreams went to die,” the actor described, adding the whole event was “incredibly last minute” and that an “unmotivated” script he’d been given had been completely AI-generated.

    Photos shared on social media reveal the minimal effort put into decorations for the farcical event, which reportedly left children in tears and parents furious.

    One image of a worker at the event dressed as an Oompa Loompa was lampooned online, with some saying it looked like they were operating a meth lab.

    “Sold a dream and delivered a nightmare,” one parent wrote on Facebook, according to Sky News.

    The event organizers, called the “House of Illuminati,” apologized for the event and announced they would issue full refunds.

    “Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realize we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead,” the organizers said.

    The incident underscores one of the ways AI can be misused to deceive people, and it should serve as a cautionary tale not to take things seen online at face value.

    The globalists are increasing their attacks on Infowars and the stakes have never been higher!

    Please consider donating and visit InfowarsStore.com for merch, nutraceuticals and survival gear.

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  • REMITA Leakages: Reps Blow Hot, Threaten To Arrest CBN Governor If He Fails To Honour Summon

    Front view of the House of Representative | Nneoma Benson

    The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) has summoned the Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, to unfailingly appear before it on Tuesday March 5 over issues with leakages with the REMITA platform.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Bamidele Salam, made the summon via a letter to the CBN Governor titled RE: INVESTIGATION OF REVENUE LEAKAGES THROUGH REMITA PLATFORM AND NON-COMPLIANCE SUBSTANTIVELY WITH STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE AND OTHER ALLIED SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT 2023 (HR.373/11/2023).

    The PAC Chairman said the CBN Governor’s failure to cause appearance before the Committee and respond to the issues has greatly stalled the Committee’s investigative process on revenue leakages through the REMITA platform.

    According to him “You are strongly advised to take good advantage of this invitation and appear before the Committee unfailingly on Tuesday 5th March, 2024 at 10:00am in Meeting Room 446, House of Representatives’ New Building to respond to the issues that will arise during the hearing session.

    “You are also advised to come along with all relevant Officers who are familiar with the issues at stake and may assist you provide answers to any question that could arise during the Session.

    “Please refer to your representation before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday 27th February, 2024 by an Assistant Director without a written letter to that effect. Be advised, the Committee does not allow representation, all Chief Accounting Officers are to appear in person to defend their Office.

    “You will also recall that the Committee has sent several correspondences to your Office on the same subject with Ref. Nos: HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/1/2, dated 8th December, 2023; HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/1/31, dated 19th January, 2024; HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/1/60, dated 25th January, 2024 and HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/2/84, dated 19th February, 2024, and observed your absolute disregard for its Constitutional mandate. Please find copy of letters attached

    “Your failure to cause appearance before the Committee and respond to the issues has greatly stalled this Committee’s investigative process on Revenue leakages through the REMITA platform.

    “Consequently, the Committee also wishes to draw your attention to previous letters on various subject matters, of which you are yet to respond to, please find references below:

    “HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/QUE.2/29 dated 23rd January, 2024; HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/FA/1 dated 23rd January, 2024; HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/SE.3/34 dated 30th January, 2024 and HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/SE.3/35 dated 22nd February, 2024. Please also find copy of letters attached

    “The Committee frowns at this and wishes to remind you of the relevant constitutional provisions Sections 62 and 89(1) (a, b, c & d) & (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Public Accounts Committee has the power to summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence, produce any document in his possession and under his control.

    “It may also interest you to note that the Committee under Sections 89 (1) (d) the Committee has power to issue a warrant to compel the attendance of any person who, after having been summoned to attend, fails, refuses or neglects to do so.

    “Failure to comply with this civil invitation may leave the Committee no choice but to issue a warrant of arrest against you in line with Legislative Houses (Powers & Privileges Act 2017) (Sections 2 & 3) and the 1999 CFRN (as amended) in line with House Procedures.

    “Consequently, the Committee resolved to grant you one last opportunity to appear.”

    REMITA Leakages: Reps Blow Hot, Threaten To Arrest CBN Governor If He Fails To Honour Summon is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

    Source

  • 49ers’ John Lynch speaks on Brandon Aiyuk, Purdy at NFL combine

    The NFL’s ballooning salary cap, which will be set at $255.4 million this coming season, could help the 49ers extend wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s contract, and general manager John Lynch strongly endorsed that Tuesday from the NFL Scouting Combine.

    “That was a welcome sight the cap was going up,” Lynch said of the cap’s increase of $30 million per team. “It was going up for everyone, so it’s not unique to our team. We have some challenges. We have lot of good players. A lot of good players who we’ve rewarded. Brandon is one we think incredibly highly of.”

    Aiyuk is slated to finish out his rookie deal on a $14 million, fifth-year option, though an extension is a more likely route for 2024 than a potential offseason trade.

    “He’s one of my favorite guys around our building, the way he approaches the game,” Lynch told reporters in Indianapolis. “He’s a competitior. He’s a warrior. He plays with such a physicality, also with grace the way some of the oositions his body can get into. And he has a flare for making plays when it matters most. He’s served us very well as a franchise.”

    Aiyuk, after his second straight 1,000-yard season, had just three catches in each of the 49ers’ three playoff games, including their Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He is next in line for what’s been an annual reward of homegrown talent by the 49ers, with extensions previously awarded to Arik Armstead (2020), George Kittle (2020), Fred Warner (2021), Kyle Juszczyk (2021), Trent Williams (2021), Deebo Samuel (2022), and, Nick Bosa (2023).

    “We have a nice track record of extending players that are important to us, and Brandon is a guy we want to keep around for a long time,” Lynch added.

    Only two weeks ago, Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan gave a state-of-the-franchise address, two days after the 25-22 overtime loss in the Super Bowl.

    Shanahan, for the third straight season, is not attending the scouting combine, though he can follow through the team’s video meetings while he adjusts his coaching staff. Shanahan has yet to announce a replacement at defensive coordinator following Steve Wilks’ one-season tenure.

    Here are other topics Lynch covered in his 15-minute media session:

    Defensive coordinator impact

    Shanahan has yet to name a successor at defensive coordinator, two weeks after firing Steve Wilks.

    How might that impact Lynch’s plans to build the roster?

    “We have a great idea who we’re going to be and continue to be and the things we believe in,” Lynch said. “Is it important? Sure. We’re working toward that, Kyle is working toward that. It will come in due time. We want to be true to the process and learn a lot from it. Identify some of the changes and tweaks we want to make while still staying true to our core.”

    Settling in at quarterback

    Three years after moving up in the draft to select Trey Lance at No. 3, and over a year removed from Brock Purdy’s emergence, the 49ers are in a happy place, knowing that Purdy is fully recovered from last spring’s elbow repair and capable of leading them to title contention.

    “It’s a nice feeling, having stability at that position,” Lynch said. “People forget last year was Brock’s first full year as a starter. That leaves you feeling pretty good about his opportunity with what we’ve already seen in a couple of years. Last year, he was coming off the injury. We’re past that. It just gives you a lot of confidence going in.

    “Now it’s likely we’re kind of building around him. It gives you a foundation to build off, and that’s a really good feeling, a settling feeling.”

    As for why it’s so hard to find a quarterback, Lynch noted the variables between college and pro schematics. “What you do know is if you draft a good one or find a good one, you have a lot better chance to be successful,” Lynch added. “It could happen early, it could happen with the last pick of the draft. When you have one, your team is a lot better and your chance to win goes up substantially.”

    Restocked draft picks

    After a two-year absence from the first round (by virtue of trading away those picks to Miami as part of the move to get Lance), the 49ers are slated to pick No. 31 overall, in the first of 11 expected draft picks.

    “We’ve got a first-round pick for the first time in a long while. That’s nice. We focus on making them all count,” Lynch said. “They all have an opportunity to improve your organization. We put as much pride into the late rounds as the early ones.”

    Praising Ji’Ayir Brown

    Safety Ji’Ayir Brown went from being a third-round pick last year — and first in the 49ers’ draft class — to a Super Bowl starter who intercepted Patrick Mahomes just after halftime.

    “I was real proud of Ji’Ayir,” Lynch said. “… He didn’t pout when he wasn’t playing. He went and excelled at special teams. He sat back and never wasted a day lamenting a day he wasn’t starting. He picked their brain (of safeties Tashaun Gipson and Talanoa Hufanga) to learn, so when he got his opportunity, he could shine. … He got a pick in the Super Bowl. The guy’s a stud and we’re fortunate to have him.”

    Personnel department moves

    Tariq Ahmad will have a bigger role in the draft but share the title of Director of Pro Player Personnel with R.J. Gillen as Lynch reorganizes his personnel department, in the wake of former assistant GM Adam Peters leaving to become the Washington Commanders’ general manager, The Athletic’s Matt Barrows reported. Ahmad previously served as the Director of College Scouting; Gillen has been the Director of Pro Personnel.

    Peters eyes next Purdy

    Entrusted with the NFL Draft’s No. 2 pick as the Commanders’ general manager, Peters can lean on his past seven seasons in the 49ers’ personnel department, and, specifically, the pre-draft analysis two years of Brock Purdy, who was taken with the 262nd and final pick in 2022.



    Source

  • How A Father And Son Fought Segregation And Became The First Black Generals In The U.S. Military

    Davis Sr. was the first African American general in the United States Army. Davis Jr. later became the first African American general in the United States Air Force. He received his medal for a bomber-escort mission. (Archive Photos/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

    By Nicole Chavez, CNN

    (CNN) — Despite knowing they would likely be relegated to support roles due to the color of their skin, a father and son chose to make the military their lifelong career. Determined to succeed, they became America’s first Black generals.

    In 1940, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first Black person to achieve the rank of brigadier general in the US Army.

    His son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., followed in his footsteps by joining the military and later commanding the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Twenty years after his father made history, Davis Jr. became the first Black brigadier general in the Air Force in 1960.

    “Davis Sr. and Jr. were both extremely influential figures in the effort to increase opportunities for African Americans in the military,” said J. Todd Moye, a history professor at the University of North Texas who directed the National Park Service’s Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Project in the early 2000s.

    Black people have held roles in the US military since the Revolutionary War, even as they have endured racism and discrimination for centuries. During the Civil War, Black soldiers served in segregated units and were later shut out of leadership opportunities during World War I and in World War II, when less than 10% of veterans were non-White, CNN previously reported.

    Davis Sr. was born in Washington, DC, less than 20 years after the ratification of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery.

    After participating in his high school’s cadet program, Davis Sr. joined the military during the Spanish-American war, serving in the DC’s National Guard with the 8th US Volunteer Infantry regiment before enlisting in the Army in 1899, according to the Army’s Center of Military History.

    He was assigned to the all-Black 9th Cavalry, one of the four regiments that became known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and he served in the Philippines and at the US-Mexico border. Like many Black service members, Davis Sr. did not serve on the front lines during World War I and instead worked as a supply officer.

    A 1925 study by the Army War College falsely concluded that Black people lacked the intelligence, ambition and courage to serve in prominent positions within the US military and should not be placed over White officers or soldiers. This policy and the ideology behind it prevented many Black soldiers from advancing through the military’s ranks, including Davis Sr., who was continuously assigned to serve as professor of military science and tactics despite his strong preference for duty with troops.

    “He got bounced around from post to post, and to ROTC leadership roles on campuses around the country, mainly because the Army felt like an African American just could not lead White soldiers,” Moye said. “They thought that White soldiers and lower-level White officers just could not be expected to take orders from a Black man. So, there were very few opportunities for him.”

    He was collectively shunned for 4 years at West Point

    Davis Jr. grew up watching his father’s courage to fight for his ambitions in the face of discrimination. It became something that he himself would mirror time and time again through his adult life.

    Davis Jr. put his dream of becoming a pilot aside and chose to become a military officer by attending West Point. Securing a nomination was complicated. Rep. Oscar S. De Priest of Illinois, the first African American elected to Congress in the 20th century, was willing to nominate him but could only select a candidate from among his constituents. So, Davis Jr. moved alone to Chicago for nearly two years to secure the nomination and his spot at West Point.

    In 1932, he received orders to report to West Point and four years of shunning began. He roomed alone, ate by himself in the cadet mess hall and no one spoke to him except on official business. This treatment was usually a punishment that cadets carried out against those who violated the honor code but in his 1990 autobiography, Davis Jr. wrote that he was “silenced solely because cadets did not want Blacks at West Point.”

    “Their only purpose was to freeze me out. What they did not realize was that I was stubborn enough to put up with their treatment to reach the goal I had come to attain,” he added.

    When he graduated in the top 12% of his class in 1936, Davis Jr. was the fourth Black cadet to graduate from West Point and the first one to do so in nearly 47 years.

    But with no opportunities for Black officers to fly, Davis Jr. joined an infantry regiment. Like his father, he later became a professor of military science and tactics at what was then called the Tuskegee Institute.

    Doug Melville, Davis Jr.’s great-nephew who recounts the Davises journey and legacy in his book “Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America’s First Black Generals,” said the father and son spent four years traveling together to Black colleges and training young men looking to join the Army.

    “They were telling them: ‘One day your time will come, keep your chin up, look straight ahead and be ready,’” he said. “Ultimately those are the men that Ben Jr. recruited to become the Tuskegee Airmen.”

    WWII drove social change and a breakthrough for Black soldiers

    The opportunity they had been preparing for came in the early 1940s as it became clear that the US would be entering World War II and Black workers threatened to march on Washington, protesting job discrimination and segregation in the military.

    On October 25, 1940, Davis Sr. was temporarily promoted to brigadier general by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Months later, Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Committee on Fair Employment Practice to prevent discrimination in defense and government jobs.

    Moye said the overall changes in the military, including Davis Sr.’s promotion, were significant because until that point, the Army’s position had been to deny Black Americans opportunities to advance, much like the rest of society at the time.

    “American schools are segregated, American churches are segregated, all of these other institutions in America are segregated (and) the Army shouldn’t be expected to be out in front of all of those other institutions,” Moye said, referring to how the armed forces viewed their role in the nation’s desegregation movement.

    “So, (the Army) provided no opportunities for African Americans to lead troops, it provided no opportunities before 1940 for African Americans to fly airplanes, there were no African Americans in the Marine Corps,” Moye added.

    In 1942, Davis Jr. graduated in the first class of pilots in a newly-created unit of Black military aviators at Alabama’s Tuskegee Army Airfield – a unit now known as the Tuskegee Airmen.  That August, he assumed command of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the first unit of Tuskegee Airmen, which engaged in combat in North Africa and Sicily.

    Although the Tuskegee Airmen were aware they were breaking racial barriers and making history, Moye, who has met and interviewed many airmen over the years, said their motivations varied.

    “A lot of them say ‘I just wanted to be a pilot and, you know, the other stuff was sort of extracurricular to me,’ but a lot of them wanted to do it because they wanted to break barriers,” Moye said. “They wanted to prove that African Americans could do everything that White Americans could do.”

    Following the success of the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII, Davis Jr. joined the US Air Force upon its split from the Army.

    In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order creating the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, leading Davis Jr. to become directly involved with integration efforts in the US Air Force, Melville said.

    While his father retired from the military before the start of the Korean War, Davis Jr. served during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In 1960, he became the first Black brigadier general in the US Air Force.

    He retired a decade later.

    The fight for equality went on

    While the generals broke barriers and successfully fought for the advancement of Black Americans, change and increased opportunities have been slow to take hold in the military and beyond, scholars and historians told CNN.

    Black men are currently overrepresented in the US military when compared to the civilian labor force, but they remain underrepresented in officer ranks, CNN reported in 2020.

    Le’Trice Donaldson, an assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi whose research has focused on African Americans in the military, said the lack of combat experience remains a challenge for the advancement of Black service members.

    “In order to move up and become a general you need a certain level of combat experience and African Americans are almost always shuffled into transport or support staff divisions, and that is going to limit your ability to be promoted,” Donaldson said.

    After retiring from the military, Davis Jr., like other Tuskegee Airmen, sought to continue flying as a commercial pilot but the career he expected to have never materialized. Melville said he applied for jobs at multiple airlines but never received an offer, despite his accomplishments.

    Still, he found a way to stay involved in aviation. In the 1970s, Davis Jr. was named director of civil aviation security for the Department of Transportation, where he led the implementation of measures to counter aerial hijackings and oversaw the training of agents of what now is known as the Federal Air Marshal Service.

    In 1998, President Bill Clinton promoted Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., to the rank of four star general, describing him during the ceremony as “a hero in war, a leader in peace, a pioneer for freedom, opportunity and basic human dignity.”

    “Our armed forces today are a model for America and for the world of how people of different backgrounds working together for the common good can perform at a far more outstanding level than they ever could have divided,” Clinton said.  “Perhaps no one is more responsible for that achievement than the person we honor today.”

    Throughout their lives, the Davises were devoted to their families and never sought the spotlight. Melville recalled Davis Jr.’s kindness and how he never wanted to share his past or photos with him and that he didn’t have military regalia in his house.

    Years after Davis Jr.’s passing, Melville began researching his family’s history – details that had never been shared with him. He wrote in his book that, at his core, Davis Jr. had a deep desire to overcome discrimination and be known as a general in “an equal way to all others, without qualifiers.”

    “Our family went beyond what they needed to do in order to invest in a country that really wasn’t investing in them but they still believed it was the best country in the world, and still believed that positivity and sunlight will shine for our people and that we will earn our place as Americans,” Melville said.

    The-CNN-Wire
    & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

    Source

  • Dr. Phil On ‘The View’ – American Kids Suffered More From Covid Lockdowns Than Covid Virus


    Popular television personality also told harpies on ‘The View’ about sex trafficking at southern border

    Former television host Dr. Phil McGraw joined “The View” this week to discuss multiple topics, including the negative impact Covid lockdowns had on American children.

    Explaining how the U.S. saw a sharp increase in depression, anxiety and suicides among kids soon after the mass rollout of smartphones, Dr. Phil said “the same agencies” that knew smartphone technology was bad for children were behind Covid lockdowns.

    He said these federal agencies “shut down the schools for two years,” asking, “Who does that? Who takes away the support system for these kids?”

    “And by the way, when they shut it down, they stopped the mandated reporters from being able to see children that were being abused and sexually molested, and in fact they sent them home and abandoned them to their abusers with nobody to watch…” Dr. Phil added.

    The gossiping propagandists on the show immediately parroted “a lot of people died” during the Covid pandemic in an attempt at justifying the ridiculous Covid school lockdowns.

    “Not schoolchildren,” Dr. Phil told Whoopi Goldberg.

    She answered by claiming “we’re lucky” schoolchildren didn’t die in large numbers during the Covid pandemic and suggested that was only the case because they were kept out of schools.

    Anna Navarro chimed in, asking, “Are you saying no schoolchildren died of Covid?”

    Dr. Phil responded, “I’m saying it was the safest group. They were the less vulnerable group and they suffered and will suffer more from the mismanagement of Covid than they will from the exposure to Covid and that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.”

    The crowd erupted with applause after the comment and Goldberg appeared visibly upset.

    During another part of his appearance, Dr. Phil described his recent visit to the southern border and said a top Border Patrol official told him American tax dollars are being spent on sending many of the children coming into the country into sex slavery.

    Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. thanked the popular doctor on social media, writing, “Thank you @DrPhil. An entire generation was set back by COVID mismanagement. Our kids suffered and will continue to reap the consequences. I’ve yet to see any accountability for those in power.”

    Check out the full Dr. Phil segment below:



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