If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. With a verdict defending the rights of minors against premature judgment, two teenagers from California, formerly ousted from an illustrious Catholic high school for alleged “blackface” activities that went viral on social media, emerged victorious in court this week, receiving a $1 million reward and reimbursement for tuition fees. A jury from Santa Clara County backed the teenagers, known by their initials A.H. and H.H., about the issues of violated verbal agreements and denial of due process. Three years ago, the youngsters sued Saint Francis High School after photographs of them wearing acne treatment masks sparked a widespread controversy. Accusations of “blackface” performance led to their coerced withdrawal from the esteemed institution in Mountain View. “It was quite clear the jury believed these were innocent face masks,” affirmed Krista Baughman, the boys’ attorney, speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle in the aftermath of Monday’s judgment. Despite their landmark victory, the plaintiffs did not succeed on all fronts, losing out on three other allegations about contract breach, defamation, and impingement of free speech. When the lawsuit was initially filed at Santa Clara County Superior Court, the teenagers sought $20 million in damages, stemming from an incident three years prior when they and a friend – not involved in the legal case – posed for a selfie wearing acne treatment masks with a dark green hue. This photo, innocuously depicting a skincare routine, was later repurposed as racist evidence against the students years later. A fellow student, who had procured a copy of the photograph from a friend’s Spotify account, uploaded the image to a group chat in June 2020, amidst the global upsurge in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The photo surfaced coincidently with a meme posted by recent SFHS graduates commenting on the death of George Floyd, thereby creating its own share of backlash. Building on assumptions of “blackface,” the student went on to distribute the photo across the school community, portraying it as an example of the school’s racist culture. The parents of the accused teens maintained that the green masks had been used with no malicious intent or racial bias; they claim their sons were unaware of the implications of “blackface” at the time. As matters spiraled out of control, the school administration, instead of investigating, leaned towards the side of public sentiment. No assistance was offered by the SFHS administration in refuting these allegations or in containing the spread of the photograph. Instead, Principal Katie Teekell pressured H.H’s parents into having him “voluntarily” withdraw from the school, ostensibly to avoid public humiliation. Yet, regardless of her assurances, the school was compelled to reveal H.H.’s previous actions, leaving him prohibited from participating in athletics for a year according to regional rules. The court has decreed that SFHS must cover the teenager’s relocation costs after he relocated with his family to Utah so he could continue playing football for his senior high school year. SFHS and its leadership had refused the families’ multiple attempts to rectify the misunderstanding and flatly refused to entertain the truth, as alleged by the boys’ families. Ultimately, Judge Thang Barrett opted not to dismiss this significant lawsuit in January 2021, acknowledging the school administrators’ apparent lack of due process. The school maintains its dissent with the jury’s findings and is currently examining potential legal recourse, which may include an appeal. “We want to sincerely thank the jury and the court system for helping our boys and our families find justice, which now paves the way for their names to be cleared for things they never did,” said a statement from the family of one of the boys, as supplied to Reclaim The Net. “Because that’s why we filed this lawsuit, and endured four years while it worked its way through the court system. Twenty percent of our boys’ lives have been spent seeing this process come to fruition. But the sacrifice is worth it to clear our boys’ names, and to try and make sure that St. Francis can never again assume a child is guilty without giving a child the opportunity to show their innocence. To never again sacrifice any child to protect the school’s reputation like they did our boys.” This case creates new legal precedent by expanding the fair procedure rights established by the California Supreme Court in Boermeester v. Carry from private universities to private high schools, including religious ones. It ensures that students at these schools are given proper notice of charges and a fair chance to respond before disciplinary actions are enforced. Following the court’s decision, this incident throws a spotlight on the broader societal conundrum of cancel culture and the perils of policy overreach. The tale of two California high schoolers mistakenly tagged as racists for wearing green acne masks is a stark illustration of how swiftly and harshly the online world can judge, often without all the facts. The school’s rush to placate public outrage without diligent inquiry into the matter is a clear-cut example of policies stretched too thin, motivated more by the fear of public shaming than by justice. Such knee-jerk decisions not only skip due process but also trample on fairness. The post Green Masks, Red Faces appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Joe Biden Sets New Personal Best for Worst Foreign Policy Decision Ever

'Therapy With Hillary'

An update from Neuralink on its first in-human brain implant has revealed that the study hasn’t all been smooth sailing – part of the implant’s system of ultra-thin electrodes has experienced a problem.The N1 device was surgically implanted into 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh earlier this year, as part of the company’s goal to create a brain-computer interface capable of allowing humans to control devices with their minds alone.The implant itself consists of over 1,000 electrodes combined into 64 thinner-than-human-hair “threads” designed to channel signals from neurons. The flexible threads were surgically attached by a robot to the brain’s motor cortex, the region of the brain that’s involved in voluntary movement.It’s these threads that were the source of the problem.“In the weeks following the surgery, a number of threads retracted from the brain, resulting in a net decrease in the number of effective electrodes,” said Neuralink in a blog post. As a consequence, the study’s task involving controlling a computer’s cursor with only the mind took a hit to its speed and accuracy, measured in bits per second (BPS).Though the Wall Street Journal reported that Neuralink did consider removing the implant, it’s a problem that the company says has now been overcome by making changes to the algorithm involved in the recording of neural signals and how these signals are then translated into cursor movements.According to Neuralink, these alterations led to a “rapid and sustained improvement in BPS, that has now superseded Noland’s initial performance.”The implant’s capabilities were first shown off to the wider public back in March, when Arbaugh participated in a livestreamed demonstration on social media platform X. During the stream, Arbaugh, who is paralyzed from the shoulders down, was able to control a cursor in order to play a game of chess. "I love playing chess, so this is one of the things that you all have enabled me to do. I wasn't able to really do much the last few years, especially not like this," said Arbaugh at the time. "I had to use my mouth [device], but now it's all being done with my brain."Neuralink founder Elon Musk likened the action to “telepathy”.However, the research has not been without controversy. Shortly after it received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to carry out human trials, Neuralink’s animal research facility became the subject of a federal investigation that uncovered numerous problems.

The Yellowstone Caldera –  one of the world's largest active volcanic systems – is a sleeping giant that will raise havoc when it wakes from its slumber. The good news is that the supervolcano is not “overdue” for an eruption, despite what you may have read online. The bad news is that volcanic activity is infamously difficult to forecast and their outbursts do not follow predictable schedules.The Yellowstone Caldera is a 70- by 45-kilometer (43- by 28-mile) crater located in northwestern Wyoming, filled with hot springs, geyser basins, and other signs of hydrothermal activity. Beneath this vast caldera sit two enormous chambers of magma that threaten to burst open, spewing lava and ash across the surrounding region. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone has had three immense explosive volcanic eruptions over the past 2.1 million years: one 2.08 million years ago, another 1.3 8 million years ago, and the latest 631,000 years ago. Based on these three events, Yellowstone has a recurrence interval of about 600,000 to 800,000 years, with an average of about 725,000 years between eruptions. Since the last major eruption was 631,000 years ago, you could infer that the Yellowstone supervolcano is due for another flare-up. However, this is misleading – volcanoes don’t work on regular schedules like clockwork.A rough illustration of the Yellowstone caldera and what can be found beneath.Image credit: Agil Leonardo/Shutterstock.com Furthermore, many scientists think that Yellowstone’s supervolcano doesn’t have the oomph it needs to deliver another disastrous eruption. The rhyolite magma chamber beneath Yellowstone is only 5 to 15 percent molten (i.e. melted and viscous), so there might not even be enough magma beneath the caldera to feed an eruption.It’s also possible that Yellowstone might have a minor bout of activity without destroying North America and beyond. Around 70,000 years ago, rhyolitic lava flows erupted from the supervolcano. While it reshaped the geology of southwestern Yellowstone National Park, it wasn’t exactly catastrophic to life on the planet.That said, anything is possible. Its surrounding geological layers could collapse or its volcanic chambers could receive a fresh injection of magma, reinvigorating the beast from beneath. If a major eruption were to hypothetically occur today at Yellowstone, the impact would be felt across the world. Vast swathes of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming would become covered in pyroclastic flows of hot gas and volcanic matter. Estimates vary, but some suggest this could kill up to 90,000 people immediately.A map showing the approximate ash coverage across the US following a supereruption of Yellowstone.Image credit: USGS/Public DomainIn the three previous “big ones,” volcanic ash covered much of the western half of North America. Within several hundred kilometers from Yellowstone, this layer of ash was likely a foot deep. Recent models suggest that an area about 80 kilometers (50 miles) around the vent would be caked in 3 meters (about 10 feet) of ash within just a few days. Relatively nearby locations like Salt Lake City would be buried beneath 1 meter (3.3 feet) of ash. In fact, much of mainland US – from Florida to New England – would receive a light dusting of volcanic debris too.One of the biggest problems would be ash being swept across the planet and into the stratosphere where it would block out the Sun. Temperatures would drop and sunlight levels would be slashed, leading to ecosystem collapse, food shortages, and famine.This is probably what happened around 74,000 years ago when a major “supereruption” occurred at the volcano in present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. Some researchers believe that the eruption was so catastrophic it reduced the human population to less than 10,000, creating a genetic bottleneck in what’s known as the Toba catastrophe theory.Others contend the impact on the human population wasn’t this severe, but it’s clear the supereruption had a profound impact on the planet. In today’s world, home to over 8 billion living people, the scale of human suffering would be even more immense if a supervolcano threw a hissy fit.Fortunately, the chances of this grim fate occurring tomorrow are very slim – but not zero. 

Some incredible things take place in the human body after we die, especially if we happen to kick the bucket in the great outdoors. Research has revealed how corpses seem to share a universal community of microbes that guide us on the path to skeletonization, something known as the decomposition ecosystem, and it brings with it all sorts of hot, sludgy, and insect-driven activity.There remain, however, some myths about what happens to our bodies when we die. If you were expecting to go out with a cracking set of nails, or have heard one of a thousand second-hand stories about people sitting up in the morgue, we’re afraid it’s bad news – but it is really, really interesting.Bodies occasionally sit up in morguesRigor mortis, the phenomenon whereby our muscles stiffen after death, is real. This occurs because the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) needed to break down actin-myosin filaments in muscle fibers becomes depleted. It happens everywhere simultaneously, but some muscles are more noticeable to a living third party than others because of their placement or size.The face is typically first, becoming visibly stiff around two hours after death, then the hands and arms become more noticeable, followed by the lower limbs. It takes six to eight hours to be complete, and then endures for 12 until proteolysis starts to break all the actin-myosin bonds and we go floppy again – a phase, humiliatingly, known as “secondary flaccidity”.   As the Institute Of Human Anatomy explained, to sit up like that requires a fair few muscle groups – you’ve got your abs and your hip flexors, and those things aren’t going anywhere if your brain is too dead to be sending out the necessary messages from your frontal lobe, down your spine, and out to the relevant muscles. But what about rigor mortis? Could that contract us into a seated position?Our muscles are able to complete big movements by forming myosin-actin bonds that break, only for another bond to form further along in a sort of snagging mechanism. That can’t happen without ATP to break the initial bond, so though the muscles are contracting in rigor mortis, they’re not doing so in a way that could facilitate wild movements, like sitting up in a morgue.Rigor mortis is an interesting one, as it can be useful in criminal investigations. In 2011, a body was found with rigor mortis “in an unusual position,” reads a case study. “The dead body was lying on its back with limbs raised, defying gravity. Direction of the salivary stains on the face was also defying the gravity. We opined that the scene of occurrence of crime is unlikely to be the final place where the dead body was found. The clues were revealing a homicidal offence and an attempt to destroy the evidence."Busted.   Your hair and nails carry on growing after you dieWe can see why this one carried so far as it creates quite the mental image, but as anthropologist William Maples said, “It is a powerful, disturbing image, but it is pure moonshine. No such thing occurs.”The hair that we can hold in our hands is made of dead cells, a long chain that goes all the way back to a follicle in our skin. There, at what’s known as the hair root, tiny blood vessels keep the base alive so it can continue creating new hair cells, with each layer pushing those that came before it further out until they’re tumbling down our backs Rapunzel style.It's a neat trick, but one that stops when we die because blood no longer circulates around the body – blood that’s crucial to keep that hair root alive and productive, and the same is true of nails. As for why people might think they keep growing, it could be because of what happens to our skin.Dying doesn’t do wonders to our skin, as drying and desiccation cause it to retract, pulling back from the base of our hair and nails. This can make them look more prominent – nails especially, as we’re used to seeing them in the context of a living hand. But they haven’t grown, the skin has just shrunk.So no sweet mani on your way to the great beyond, I'm afraid, but if you are curious to know what happens when you die, Lecturer in Forensics at the University of Kent Dr Devin Finaughty told us all about it at CURIOUS Live 2023. You can also catch a fresh talk on how insects help us solve crimes at this year's CURIOUS Live virtual event, taking place on May 31. Sign up today for your free ticket to this festival of science!

Two major government agencies have reportedly rebooted their collusion with social media companies despite looming Supreme Court scrutiny for potential First Amendment violations. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) broke the news during a press briefing at the tech-tied RSA Conference, according to tech outlet Nextgov/FCW. At the event, the senator reportedly conceded that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are back to their old work of coordinating censorship of free speech ahead of the 2024 presidential election. An FBI representative admitted the resumed Big Tech communications to The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood. CISA would not confirm the report, however.  “The FBI remains committed to combating foreign malign influence operations, including in connection with our elections,” the bureau’s representative claimed, as reported by The Federalist. “That effort includes sharing specific foreign threat information with state and local election officials and private sector companies when appropriate and rigorously consistent with the law.” Further expanding on its response, the representative added, “In coordination with the Department of Justice, the FBI recently implemented procedures to facilitate sharing information about foreign malign influence with social media companies in a way that reinforces that private companies are free to decide on their own whether and how to take action on that information.” The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments for Murthy v. Missouri, a major free speech case that exposed an alleged massive network of government and Big Tech censorship collusion. Legal challenges reportedly limited government activity, but that is no longer the case, according to Warner and Nextgov/FCW. “There seemed to be a lot of sympathy that the government ought to have at least voluntary communications with [the companies],” Warner said, according to the tech outlet. The Democrat senator then urged the Biden administration to “call out” other nations for potential election meddling, asserting Russian interference in the 2016 election as a precedent. Yet Warner did not apparently address the issue of social media interfering in U.S. elections through censorship under U.S. government pressure. Warner announced an upcoming Senate hearing on election security, according to Nextgov/FCW. “If the bad guy started to launch AI-driven tools that would threaten election officials in key communities, that clearly falls into the foreign interference category,” Warner scare-mongered. The FBI and CISA are among the agencies accused of violating First Amendment rights. Notably, the FBI is tied to election interference, since Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that his company censored the Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election after FBI pressure. According to a poll conducted by the Media Research Center in November 2020, 17 percent of individuals who voted for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden admitted that they would not have done so if they had been aware of the scandals involving both Biden and his son, Hunter. These scandals were censored by Big Tech and the legacy media. Murthy v. Missouri is a historic case challenging alleged government collusion with major tech companies to censor Americans’ free speech. The complaint filed for the suit cited MRC Free Speech America’s unique and exclusive CensorTrack.org research. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

It’s not just the gaffes that keep coming, it’s also the lies! President Joe Biden can barely open his mouth without a blatant falsehood falling out.  He dropped multiple fibs in just one Howard Stern Show appearance late last month. Did ABC, CBS or NBC fact check any of them? Of course not! From falsely claiming he was arrested during a desegregation protest to pretending he used to drive an “18-wheeler,” the following are seven Biden lies that ABC, CBS and NBC have refused to cover:    1. Biden (Without Proof) Says He Was Arrested Standing on a Porch with Black Family During Desegregation Protest   On April 26, CNN.com reported:  President Joe Biden went on “The Howard Stern Show” on Friday and repeated his familiar story about the time he supposedly “got arrested” trying to defend the civil rights of Black Americans. As in the past, Biden told the story on Friday while recounting what his mother supposedly said while urging him to accept Barack Obama’s 2008 offer to be his running mate. His mom, he said, did not want him to turn down a man who was vying to become the first Black president. Biden told Stern: “She said, ‘Joey, let me — remember’ — true story, she said — ‘Remember when they were desegregating Lynnfield, the neighborhood…suburbia — and I told you — and there was a Black family moving in and there was — people were down there protesting; I told you not to go down there and you went down, remember that? And you got arrested standing on the porch with a Black family? And they brought you back, the police?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Mom, I remember that.’” Facts First: There is no evidence Biden ever got arrested during a civil rights protest, as The Washington Post and PolitiFact found when they looked into this claim in 2022 — and Biden has at least twice told the story of his supposed presence at this particular Delaware protest without mentioning any arrest, instead claiming that the police merely took him home that day. ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.   2. Biden (Falsely) Boasts That He Made a Most Eligible Bachelors List         On May 2, the Washington Post reported:  Three times in recent weeks — at an April 16 campaign event in Scranton, Pa., to supporters in New York on April 25, and to Stern — Biden said he was on a list of 10 most eligible bachelors after his first wife was killed in a car accident in 1972. Biden has made this claim at least twice before, saying last year that he was on the list for five years. He married Jill Biden in 1977. No such list can be found. The closest thing is a reference in a 1974 Washingtonian profile that quoted a press aide as saying that reporters kept seeking an interview with Biden after the tragedy: “A few weeks after Neilia’s death we got a call from Sally Quinn of The Post. She wanted to do a story on the Senator as Washington’s most eligible bachelor. Naturally we said no but it wasn’t easy because she kept calling all the time.” ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.   3. Biden Claims He Was Sent “Salacious” Pictures From Women, Forwarded to Secret Service  On April 24 the New York Post reported:  President Biden recalled Friday that “lovely women” mailed him “very salacious pictures” when he was a young and unmarried senator — and that he handed the images over to the Secret Service — in a bizarre interview with Howard Stern. “A lot of lovely women — but women would send very salacious pictures and I’d just give them to the Secret Service. I thought somebody would think I was…,” the 81-year-old president said before trailing off. It’s unclear why the Secret Service, whose role is to protect the president and investigate counterfeiting and fraud, would have any interest in amateur soft-core porn sent to Biden while he was an unmarried senator from 1973 to 1977. ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.   4. Biden Tells Wisconsin Crowd One of His Catholic School Teachers Was a Green Bay Packer – FALSE!      On May 8, the New York Post reported: President Biden blurted Wednesday that one of his childhood Catholic school teachers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers — an assertion disproven by a simple check of publicly available NFL records. The 81-year-old president shared the false claim as he boasted of his connection to Wisconsin sports fans during a trip to the swing state. “My theology professor at the Catholic school I went to was a guy named Reilly — last name — and he had been drafted by the Green Bay Packers,” Biden said in Racine, south of Milwaukee. “And he decided to become a priest before that, so he didn’t go. But every single solitary Monday that Green Bay won, we got the last period of the day off.” According to Pro Football Reference, the Packers have only drafted a single person with the last name “Riley,” “Reily,” or “Reilly” since the NFL began its annual college draft in 1936. University of Colorado quarterback Maurice “Tex” Reilly was selected with the 202nd overall pick in the 22nd round of the 1947 draft — after his education was interrupted by World Word II, during which he commanded bombing missions over the Pacific, according to a 2002 article in the Denver Post. Instead of playing professional football, the Bronze Star recipient rejoined the US Air Force in October 1947 as a civil engineer and was deployed to Japan and later Spain. Reilly also served as an instructor at bases in Ohio and Alabama before retiring as a major general, according to a military biography. ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.   5. Biden’s (Inaccurate) Memory of Him Being a Football Legend On May 2, the Washington Post reported:  Biden was a football player in high school, but he exaggerated his record when he appeared on [Howard] Stern’s show. “By the way, I don’t think a lot of people know that you were a star receiver in high school. Star receiver! You were like the first-string guy. You were the guy who caught the ball,” Stern said. “Runner-up in state scoring, you know,” Biden replied. “What the heck? But I was a runt.” Biden made the same boast during a campaign event in Michigan in February and twice on the same day in December. But Biden is exaggerating. The Wilmington News-Journal reported that in 1960, Biden placed fourth — with four touchdowns and 24 points — in a five-school conference for private schools in Delaware. His high school, Archmere Academy, did place first in the league and was the state’s only undefeated team, while Biden was the team’s leading scorer. A season preview in the News-Journal described Biden, who was nicknamed “Dash,” as “one of the best pass receivers on the team.” When nonconference games are included, Biden earned a total of 60 points. But that was good enough only for fifth place in the state, according to a season wrap-up in the News-Journal. The state’s top scorer earned 108 points. ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.   6. Biden Boasts About All the Lives He Saved as a Lifeguard  On April 26, The Daily Wire reported:  Speaking on Friday on “The Howard Stern Show,” Biden told the host he had “saved” a “half dozen” kids from drowning back when he was a lifeguard. When Stern followed up and asked him if he had saved any other lives and if he was still lifeguarding when he was “in law school,” the president said, “Yeah, people just need help sometime.” These are lies, as noted on X by one journalist, who included clips of Biden’s comments from the show. ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.   7. Biden Recalls the Time He “Used to Drive an 18-Wheeler,” It Never Happened On April 24, CNN.com reported:  President Joe Biden has revived a debunked tale about his past – his fictional claim that he used to drive an 18-wheeler truck. Biden has repeatedly embellished or invented biographical tidbits. In 2021, he claimed during a tour of a Mack Trucks facility: “I used to drive an 18-wheeler, man,” then added, “I got to.” At a separate 2021 event, he told college students studying truck technology, “I used to drive a tractor-trailer,” adding, “I only did it for part of a summer, but I got my license anyway.” Biden’s claims were fact-checked at the time as false. But on Tuesday, during a campaign event in Florida, Biden said it again. A supporter told him, “The only reason I have a pension is because of you.” (The supporter appeared to be referring to the Biden administration’s $36 billion in aid to prevent steep pension cuts for more than 350,000 union workers and retirees, including truck drivers.) Biden responded: “Well, we did get that done. Anyway. Besides, I used to drive an 18-wheeler.” Facts First: Biden’s claim remains untrue. There is no evidence he ever drove an 18-wheeler. When CNN inquired about the claim in 2021, the White House noted that Biden once had a part-time job driving a school bus (which is not an 18-wheeler or a tractor-trailer) and that, as a US senator in 1973, he spent a night riding in a cargo truck (not driving it). ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning show coverage: 0 seconds.

Case Western Reserve University ordered anti-Semitic messages on a pair of walls at the Cleveland college painted over this week — and video caught the moment when pro-Palestinian students standing in front of one wall got hit with spray paint themselves.What are the details?University President Eric Kaler on Monday said pro-Palestinian protesters painted an advocacy wall near Eldred Hall with threatening and anti-Semitic language and later painted the Spirit Wall near Thwing Center with intimidating language, WJW-TV reported."The lengths this university goes to defend Zionist Genocidal interests is insane."Kaler said in an email that the messaging on the walls was “threatening, intimidating, and anti-Semitic,” Cleveland.com reported, adding that the college hired contractors to paint over the walls early Tuesday morning.Well, some pro-Palestinian students weren't having it and stood in front of one of the walls, presumably believing the contractors would spray-paint around them. Uh, not so much.Here's how Case Western's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine described the scene: See on Instagram "The lengths this university goes to defend Zionist Genocidal interests is insane," the SJP post on Instagram reads.Cleveland.com reported that 18-year-old Ameer Alkayali is seen in the video being spray-painted. A Palestinian-American who just finished his freshman year at the University of Cincinnati, Alkayali has been protesting with Case Western students since the first day of their encampment last week, the outlet said.“I stood against the wall, and the painters asked, ‘Should we continue?’ The cops showed general confusion and didn’t tell them to stop,” Alkayali told Cleveland.com. “So, as seen in the video, they continue to just paint right over us. They told us to not put our hands in front of the machine because it’s dangerous. And we put our hands up, and they still continued to paint on our hands and sprayed us with it?”Alkayali told the outlet he's planning legal action against Case Western and its public safety department: “We were coughing, and it didn’t come out of my skin for hours. Like it’s still in my hair. I can see it under my nails, and there was no sort of medical or any assistance with the situation after from Case or local police.”'I am disturbed by what occurred'Kaler in a Wednesday morning statement said he was “deeply sorry” about the students’ treatment, WJW reported, adding that the school president's statement reads, in part:I have reviewed video footage, which depicts students blocking the wall as a third-party contractor spray painted directly onto protesters as he attempted to finish painting the wall, and I am disturbed by what occurred.Let me be clear: No students — or any individuals — should ever be treated this way, especially on a campus where our core values center on providing a safe, welcoming environment. This is not who we are as an institution, and I am deeply sorry this ever occurred.The university will continue to fully investigate these actions and hold individuals responsible for this behavior, including the failure of our own officers to intervene.Again, I want to reiterate my sincere regret for this incident. As with any violation of our codes of conduct, we will take action to hold them accountable.Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Police Chief Annie Todd issued a joint statement on Wednesday that suggests protesters faced “criminal interference” with their First Amendment rights, WJW also said, adding that their statement reads, in part:Cleveland is a city for everyone, and we must respect the thoughts, feelings, and voices of those who come from various backgrounds. These diverse perspectives are what makes us special, and ultimately stronger, as a city. Our community deserves venues where they have the ability to constitutionally express their opinions openly without fear of criminal interference.We support 1st Amendment rights and implore CWRU leadership to consider this and think about how the decisions they make and the actions they take — especially against those who are abiding by the law — will influence some of the progress we have collectively made as a city. At the same time, we urge individuals to demonstrate peacefully.Anything else?Cleveland.com reported that the Spirit Wall was painted again Tuesday night — but with a pro-Israel message: “They call for intifada so we call them terrorists.” Protesters spray painted by contractors at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland youtu.be Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A large group of illegal aliens recently sent a lengthy list of demands to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) after they refused to dismantle their encampment and move into taxpayer-funded shelters, KDVR reported.Denver Human Services has attempted to move the illegal immigrants into indoor shelter space, but the group has repeatedly rejected the offer. Instead, the individuals have set up tents underneath a bridge by train tracks. "We are not criminals & won't be treated as such," wrote the group of immigrants who illegally entered the country.Jon Ewing with Denver Human Services told KDVR, "We've been offering time and shelter, basically just trying to get families to leave that camp and come inside."Ewing explained that the taxpayer-funded shelters provide "three square meals a day" and allow the illegal immigrants to cook their own meals if they prefer. Additionally, individuals who opt to stay in the shelters are often provided assistance in applying for a work permit.V Reeves, an advocate for the group, told the news outlet that the illegal immigrants "as a collective came up with a list of demands."The document sent to the mayor listed 13 demands the city would need to agree to before the illegal immigrants would be willing to get off the street and move into a shelter. According to KDVR, the demands included:1. Migrants will cook their own food with fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients provided by the City instead of premade meals – rice, chicken, flour, oil, butter, tomatoes, onions, etc… Also people will not be punished for bringing in & eating outside food.2. Shower access will be available without time limits & can be accessed whenever – we are not in the military, we're civilians.3. Medical professional visits will happen regularly & referrals/connections for specialty care will be made as needed.4. All will receive the same housing support that has been offered to others. They cannot kick people out in 30 days without something stable established.5. There needs to be a clear, just process before exiting someone for any reason – including verbal, written & final warnings.6. All shelter residents will receive connection to employment support, including work permit applications for those who qualify.7. Consultations for each person/family with a free immigration lawyer must be arranged to discuss/progress their cases, & then the City will provide on-going legal support in the form of immigration document clinics & including transportation to relevant court dates.8. The City will provide privacy for families/individuals within the shelter.9. No more verbal or physical or mental abuse will be permitted from the staff, including no sheriff sleeping inside & monitoring 24/7 – we are not criminals & won't be treated as such.10. Transportation for all children to & from their schools will be provided until they finish in 3 weeks.11. No separating families, regardless of if family members have children or not. The camp will stay together.12. The City must schedule a meeting with the Mayor & those directly involved in running the Newcomer program ASAP to discuss further improvements & ways to support migrants.13. The City must provide all residents with a document signed by a City official in English & Spanish with all of these demands that includes a number to call to report mistreatment.Reeves explained that instead of complying with the group's list of demands, the city sent a bus to the camp to pick up the illegal aliens and move them to an indoor shelter. "This morning, they sent buses to take people over without presenting that document and without having any kind of signature for accountability," Reeves said. Reeves claimed that one of the illegal immigrants' most significant grievances has been about the food provided by the city and funded by taxpayers. "There have been so many complaints about the food being spoiled or not being enough and malnutrition amongst children," Reeves told KDVR. "They're not receiving any kind of official housing or immigration document support, which is incredibly necessary for them to be able to navigate the bureaucracy around these systems."Ewing explained that the city would provide many of the services the illegal immigrants seek if they left the encampment and moved into a shelter."What do you qualify for? What do you not qualify for? What might be something that is a feasible path for you to success that is not staying on the streets of Denver?" he told the news outlet. "We try to compromise. We try to figure something out. You know, at the end of the day, what we do not want is families on the streets of Denver." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!