Eric Adams Grossly Defends NYPD Violence on Pro-Palestine Protests

New York City’s former cop mayor, Eric Adams, spent Monday morning doing media spots defending the brutality unleashed by the NYPD on an annual Nakba Day march held in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday.

Speaking on 1010Wins, Adams falsely claimed one clip of police repeatedly punching an arrested protester was an “isolated incident” that he “will review.”

“But those police officers did a commendable job under very difficult circumstances,” he added, all but greenlighting police brutality at future protests.

Adams’s statement comes amid fresh scrutiny by local officials of NYPD’s conduct toward pro-Palestine demonstrations in New York City.

In response to the NYPD’s actions on Saturday, New York City Councilmember Justin Brannan posted to X (formerly Twitter), “I saw no evidence of actions by protestors today that warranted such an aggressive response from NYPD.”

“Videos + reports of the NYPD response to yesterday’s Nakba Day protest in Bay Ridge are incredibly concerning,” state senator Andrew Gounardes posted on X. “Everyone has a right to peaceful protest.”

NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams went a step further and linked the NYPD’s conduct against pro-Palestine demonstrations directly to the mayor, writing on X, “Yes, NYPD and individual officers should be held accountable, however the truth is this Mayor holds the ultimate responsibility for not just allowing but encouraging; almost insisting that the response for anything Palestinian be escalation and disproportionate force.”

In response to the blowback, the NYPD released a highly edited video of the protest to justify its heavy-handed response. “This was not a peaceful protest by some,” they claimed, attempting to defend their own violently disruptive actions.

Nakba Day, also known as The Catastrophe, is an annual commemoration by Palestinians around the world of the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that marks the beginning of permanent displacement from Palestine. In New York City, Nakba Day is traditionally commemorated in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn—also known as “Little Palestine” for its dense Palestinian-American population.  The Bay Ridge Nakba Day demonstration historically features thousands of attendees who march and rally, many of whom are residents of Bay Ridge, led by Palestinian liberation organization Within Our Lifetime.

This reporter documented the police response to Saturday’s protest, which featured numerous instances of NYPD spontaneously arresting protesters, punching arrested protesters, violently arresting credentialed press, macing people on the sidewalk, and incoherently corralling the march. Adams, in his media rounds, focused only on one of the most viral moments, and skirted away from even a whiff of condemnation.

Adams has long defended the NYPD and peddled outside agitator myths to justify NYPD’s response to protests he personally opposes—which include pro-Palestine demonstrations—as if cops magically know the people they’re mass arresting carry out-of-state IDs. For months, the NYPD has violently cracked down on pro-Palestine demonstrations, arresting people for nonviolent activity such as attempting to march in the street or using megaphones—both staples of protest which the NYPD argues are unlawful without a permit. Organizers argue requiring permits for protest negates the point of protest.

“A protest with a permit is a parade,” says Fatima Mohammed, an organizer with Within Our Lifetime. Nerdeen Kiswani, another organizer with Within Our Lifetime, has noted New York City’s permit procedures don’t include a “protest” option, requires parades to register months in advance, and that sound permits have to be acquired through an NYPD precinct—a tall ask for organizers prone to being arrested by the police.

A 2023 lawsuit settlement brought by the New York Attorney General regarding police brutality on protests prohibits excessive use of force, kettling, unjustified arrests, and arresting press.

Elise Stefanik doesn’t want anyone to remember her time criticizing Donald Trump back. In fact, she’ll lose her mind if you try to bring it up.

The Republican representative lashed out at Fox News’s Shannon Bream on Sunday, when the TV host brought up a New York Times article from 2022 noting that the Republican representative once called Trump “a whack job.” The article also noted that Stefanik told a New York radio station in 2015 that Trump was “insulting to women” and that his presidential candidacy would hurt the GOP’s efforts to attract female voters.

“Well Shannon, it’s a disgrace that you would quote The New York Times with nameless, faceless—” Stefanik fired back, before Bream interjected.

“But they’re quoting your friends, so I’m giving you a chance to respond to that,” Bream said.

“No, Shannon, they’re not quoting my friends. Those names are not included because they are false smears,” said Stefanik.

“Just to be fair, there are a number of names of people who are quoted in the article,” Bream replied, as Stefanik tried to speak over her. “People can read for themselves.”

Stefanik ignored Bream’s reminders about her early stance on Trump and tried to reframe the interview into how much she supports Trump, claiming that she was the only Republican from the Northeast who voted for Trump in 2016. But, as Bream noted, the article is online for everyone to see, and it clearly shows a Republican who transformed herself from a moderate into one of Trump’s most fervent defenders.

Stefanik has called the January 6 rioters “hostages,” alluded to saying she would enact a coup for Trump, defended Trump’s sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll, and even claimed that Americans were better off in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic than they are now. More recently, she’s filed an ethics complaint against special counsel Jack Smith for “illegal election interference” despite the fact Smith is investigating Trump for interference in the 2020 election.

Like many Republicans, Stefanik went from trying to distance herself from Trump in 2015 to fervently defending him after he won the 2016 election. Just like those other Republicans, she refuses to acknowledge that sudden pivot. The question is whether that loyalty to Trump will pay off for her in her political career, as she’s on a short list to be his vice presidential running mate.

Newly published financial disclosure reports revealed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito dumped stock in Anheuser-Busch last summer during the height of a manufactured anti-trans hate campaign targeting the brewer.

The disclosure reports, as first reported by Chris Geidner at Law Dork, reveal Samuel Alito sold between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in Anheuser-Busch in mid-August 2023. Per Geidner, this stock dump in the midst of the right-wing boycott against Bud Light suggests Alito may have sold his stock as a form of participation in the boycott. This reveal comes on the heels of reporting by The New York Times that Alito flew an inverted flag associated with anti-government extremism outside his home in January 2021, an exposé that Alito poorly handled by blaming his wife.

In April 2023, anti-trans and far-right influencers targeted Bud Light for its use of influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a sponsored Instagram post. Mulvaney is a trans woman who gained prominence documenting her transition journey in bubbly, joyful fashion. Bud Light has long partnered with influencers, including comedians Seth Rogan and Amy Schumer and musician Post Malone. The brand has historically crafted ads specifically geared toward the LGBTQ+ community. The hate campaign called for people to boycott Bud Light, resulting in the brewer’s stock plummeting.

At the same time Alito sold stock in Anheuser-Busch, he purchased stock in Coors, a rival brewer led by an ultraconservative family known to shower money on conservative politicians. It was recently revealed that the charity for the Coors brewing family reportedly donated $15,000 to Accuracy in Media, a right-wing group best known for sending doxxing trucks to harass students at college campuses across the country.

David DePape, who broke into Representative Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and attacked her husband, Paul, with a hammer in 2022, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday. And the far right thinks it’s a travesty.

Several far-right influencers seem to think that the arrest is a conspiracy, much like they thought about the initial attack.

Chaya Raichik, who runs the anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok, took a break from banning books and instigating threats against teachers and children’s hospitals to post about how many more dangerous people than DePape won’t see a jail cell.

Likewise, pundit and radio host Charlie Kirk thought that San Francisco cared more about the Pelosi case than other violent crimes in the city.

Conservative influencer Johnny Maga also echoed the “violent crimes in San Francisco” trope, wondering why criminals can roam the streets in San Francisco, “left unprosecuted.”

Conservatives largely laughed or promoted conspiracy theories when news of the attack on Paul Pelosi broke nearly two years ago. Even today, they either dismiss or even justify such political violence, either explicitly or through implication. Meanwhile, Paul Pelosi says he’s still suffering dizziness, headaches, balance problems, nerve pain, and walking challenges as a result of the attack.

After a New York Times story revealed an inverted flag was flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021—for which Alito blamed his wife, Martha-Ann—a Fox News host stepped up to help the Alitos further embarrass themselves.

“I spoke directly with Justice Alito about the flag story in the New York Times,” Shannon Bream posted on X (formerly Twitter) Friday morning. “He told me a neighbor on their street had a ‘F— Trump’ sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in January 21.”

Twitter user Aaron Fritschner—deploying basic fact-checking that would make a Fox News host’s head spin—looked into the claim and found it doubtful. Multiple news articles from 2021 show schools in Alexandria, Virginia, where the Alitos reside, were operating remotely from winter 2020 well into February 2021—a month after the Alito’s inverted flag was first documented. As the Alitos may recall, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down school bus operations.

Bream ran even more cover for the Alitos, claiming they told her a neighbor put up a sign “personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the January 6th attacks,” a questionable claim that smacks more of a hilariously passive-aggressive troll than a serious accusation. Bream also claimed the Alitos told her of an incident where the conservative couple were walking through the neighborhood when Martha-Ann Alito engaged in a dispute with “a male at the home with the sign” who “engaged in vulgar language, ‘including the c-word.’” In response to that dispute, Bream says, Martha-Ann opted to raise a symbol popular with anti-government extremists, a reaction that makes little to no sense.

According to Bream, the Alitos claim the inverted flag was only up “for a short time.” According to messages sent from a neighbor at the time reviewed by The New York Times, the flag was up for “several days.”

The inverted American flag is a symbol popular with far-right and anti-government protests, and it was raised at the Alito household at some point between the January 6 Capitol riot and Biden’s 2021 inauguration. Regardless of why, its presence outside the home of a Supreme Court justice raises concerns of bias with judicial experts.

In May 2022, this reporter covered a pro-abortion demonstration outside the Alitos’ Alexandria home. At the time, their flagpole bore a correctly oriented American flag, and no neighbors reported any flag or sign-related conflicts. In lieu of any volatile outbursts or expletive-laden signs, their neighbors set up a charming fire pit and offered this reporter wine, cheese, and key lime pie.