Republican Party’s 2020 platform is whatever President Trump says it is. “In a statement released Sunday, the Republican National Committee announced that instead of unveiling a range of new policy goals should its candidate win in November’s presidential election, the party would instead ‘continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda’.” https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-platform-at-rnc-pledge-trump-support-2020-8 Four more years of chaos, lies and culture war.
President accuses Democrats of plotting to steal the election. “What they’re doing is using Covid to steal an election. They’re using Covid to defraud the American people, all of our people, of a fair and free election.” https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/24/politics/trump-nomination-rnc/index.html
Kenosha, Wisconsin burns after police shoot unarmed black man in front of his three children. “The man who claimed to have made the video, 22-year-old Raysean White, said that he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, ‘Drop the knife! Drop the knife!’ before the gunfire erupted. He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.” https://www.startribune.com/protest-erupts-after-wisconsin-police-shoot-man-from-behind/572203292/ “There’s got to be another way to resolve these issues. I mean, this is an epidemic.” https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/08/24/kenosha-protests-escalate-after-police-shoot-black-man-jacob-blake/3427941001/ Misleading headline of the day: ‘Wisconsin police shoot a Black man as his children watch from a vehicle, attorney says’ (CNN). “Though police did not provide details on the witnesses, (attorney Ben) Crump told CNN that Blake’s three young sons were inside the vehicle when their dad was shot and tweeted that the kids ‘will be traumatized forever’.” https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/24/us/kenosha-police-shooting-jacob-blake/index.html The headline clearly implies the children were in a separate vehicle. Why? I’ve been unable to view the video of the shooting on YouTube or Facebook, but I can view it on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/nolimitchrizi/status/1297684746370252806
Detroit funeral home discovers ‘dead’, 20 year-old woman is actually alive. “… a local emergency department physician pronounced the woman dead based upon medical information provided by the Southfield Fire Department paramedics.” https://abcnews.go.com/US/declared-dead-paramedics-young-woman-found-alive-detroit/story?id=72567299 Let me guess – this person was black? Are we really declaring people dead by phone now? Yes, we apparently are. “(After paramedics attempted to revive the woman) — based on real-time medical data such as heartbeat and breathing — the woman was declared dead via phone by an emergency room doctor at a nearby hospital…” https://people.com/human-interest/20-year-old-woman-declared-dead-found-alive-funeral-home/
Republicans and Democrats still unable to agree on additional pandemic stimulus measures. “Statements from both parties on Sunday make it clear: They’re still world’s apart on the next stimulus package, and it’s unclear when—or if—they will come to an agreement.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/08/24/stimulus-update-congress-made-no-progress-over-the-weekend-future-remains-uncertain/
Mail-in ballots and absentee ballots are not exactly the same thing. “The voter has to apply for an absentee ballot and if their application is approved they receive a ballot,” (Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution) explains. “In what is known as ‘Universal Mail-in Ballot states’ all registered voters receive a ballot automatically.” https://www.newsweek.com/what-difference-between-absentee-voting-mail-voting-1526219
More than 50% of states have applied for additional federal unemployment money. “States have been applying for the funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over the past few weeks. So far, only Arizona has paid out any of the claims.” https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/24/majority-of-states-approved-for-extra-300-dollars-in-unemployment-insurance.html
57% of Republicans polled say U.S. coronavirus death toll is ‘acceptable’. “According to (a CBS News/YouGov poll), 86% of Republicans think President Trump is doing a good job with the pandemic while 92% of Democrats disagreed. A majority (56%) of independent voters also said President Trump was not handling the pandemic well and 50% of all voters characterized President Trump’s handling of the pandemic ‘very bad’.” https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-coronavirus-death-toll-176k-republicans-acceptable-20200823-f2kbkjneajg3vetvpz6ldvpasa-story.html 75% of Republicans polled also said the country is doing better after Trump’s first term in office. “Overall, just 35 percent of registered voters say the country is better off, while 65 percent said it wasn’t.” https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/513303-3-in-4-republicans-say-us-is-in-better-shape-than-four-years-ago-poll
Anti-fascist movement in Portland began in response to the 1988 murder of an Ethiopian foreign student. “In 1988, after three (neo-nazi) skinheads beat an Ethiopian student — Mulegata Seraw — outside his apartment, activists began to fight back.” https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-08-24/antifa-trump-portland-protests-far-right-extremism
German hospital confirms that Alexei Navalny was poisoned, but says he is likely to survive. “The (still unidentified) drug is a cholinesterase inhibitor, meaning it disrupts the body’s ability to break down acetylcholine — an important neurotransmitter in the brain and body…. ‘While his condition is serious, it is not currently life-threatening’… the Charité Universitätsmedizin (hospital) in Berlin, says.” https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/905423648/navalny-was-poisoned-but-his-life-isnt-in-danger-german-hospital-says
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko is a dictator – but the country’s popular pro-democracy movement will likely result in yet another neoliberal ‘color revolution’ that will hurt the country’s workers. “What (Lukashenko) achieved was economic stability, safety and order, with a per capita income much higher than that in the ‘free’ Ukraine, and distributed in a much more egalitarian way…. The ongoing protests in Belarus are catch-up protests, the aim of which is to align the country with Western liberal-capitalist values.” https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/belarus-election-lukashenko-minsk-protests-democracy-freedom-coronavirus-a9685816.html “Part of the (Belorussian) Left is ready to directly support the liberal protest, mostly at the level of grassroots activist involvement and statements. Another part believes that the people have the right to protest, that the police violence is unacceptable and outrageous, and that the elections were rigged, but cannot take the side of the liberal opposition. For its goals are to continue the privatization of enterprises, to curtail free medicine, and introduce even more labor flexibility than we have now.” https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/08/belarus-protests-lukashenko-minsk
Organized crime boss reportedly deposited large sum of money into bank account of Brazil’s ‘first lady’. “Jair Bolsonaro issued the threat (to punch a reporter in the face) on Sunday, after a reporter from one of Brazil’s leading newspapers asked him to explain why a former policeman with alleged links to Rio’s mafia had paid (89,000 Brazilian reais) into the bank account of his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/jair-bolsonaro-threat-journalist-backfires-social-media
13 die during stampede at Lima, Peru nightclub during police raid. “According to Peru’s interior ministry, 120 people attended a party at Thomas Restobar Club in Lima’s Los Olivos district on Saturday night, despite prohibitions on social gatherings under the country’s (coronavirus) state of emergency.” https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/23/905268300/13-killed-in-stampede-at-peru-nightclub-operating-against-health-orders
Head of Denmark’s military intelligence agency suspended. “The Danish Defence Intelligence Service is said to have been spying on Danish citizens over the past six years. The investigation into the agency was launched after whistleblowers handed over information.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53889612
Facebook takes down group with 1 million members at request of the Thai government. “The Royalist Marketplace group was created in April by Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a self-exiled academic and critic of the monarchy.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-facebook/facebook-blocks-group-of-one-million-critical-of-thai-monarchy-amid-government-pressure-idUSKBN25K25C
After the Rio Tinto mining company blew up two 46,000 year-old, sacred aboriginal caves in Australia, potentially saving the company up to $135 million in mining expenses, the company docks its chief executive’s bonus by $3.5 million for allowing it to happen: thus, the company may come out ahead $138.5 million. “The Australian government may tighten laws to protect Aboriginal cultural sites.” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/rio-tinto-blew-up-ancient-caves-heres-why-its-chief-executive-is-being-docked-millions-11598272427 May? Implying there were no penalties for this?
Israel bombs Gaza for an 11th day, but many U.S. news outlets don’t consider the conflict newsworthy. “Searching for ‘Gaza’ on the websites of NBC News, CNN, MSNBC and PBS elicits no relevant results. Nor has Fox News addressed the bombings, although it did find time (8/18/20) to cover the archaeological discovery of an old soap factory in Israel’s Negev Desert.” https://fair.org/home/media-show-little-interest-in-israeli-bombing-of-gaza/
120,000 Californians driven from their homes by wildfires. “Two of the wildfires rank as the second- and third-largest fires in California’s history. The fires were triggered by an estimated 12,000 dry lightning strikes amid a record-shattering heat wave driven by the climate crisis.” https://www.democracynow.org/2020/8/24/headlines/raging_california_wildfires_displace_120_000_burn_12_million_acres
20 QAnon aligned candidates on the ballot in 2020. “… now you have a fairly widespread belief, amongst largely conservatives, that Democrats, the media and parts of the government are operating together, in cahoots, to take down Donald Trump, and that the reason they want to take down Donald Trump is because he is the only person that is trying to stop their child sex trafficking ring. And the reason why they run this child sex trafficking ring, according to these believers, is that they’re either sadists, psychic vampires or inter-dimensional demons.” https://www.democracynow.org/2020/8/24/qanon_trump
New York parole officer Sandy Guardiola was fatally shot by a police officer who entered her apartment for a ‘wellness check’ using a master key. “The police shooting of a Latina woman in a small upstate New York town, with a population that is 96 percent white, did not make national news. Even local coverage was scant.” https://theintercept.com/2020/08/22/police-shooting-wellness-check-sandy-guardiola/
St. Louis lawyers who waived guns at BLM marchers address Republican National Convention, claim they were the victims. “‘Not a single person in the out-of-control mob you saw at our house was charged with a crime. But you know who was? We were.’ There is no evidence to support the claim the marchers were an ‘out-of-control mob’. Protesters filmed passing the (couple’s home) were peaceful.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/24/st-louis-couple-rnc-mark-patricia-mccloskey Although it is true that when you point guns at people they do often react unfavorably.
Chinese authorities tell Uighur population that yelling from their homes to protest their coronavirus lockdown could have consequences. “… residents were warned that everything from social credit rating to their children’s school admissions could be affected.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/25/xinjiang-residents-handcuffed-to-their-homes-in-covid-lockdown
Federal appeals court orders changes to ‘Anti-riot Act’. “‘In our view, the Anti-Riot Act sweeps up a substantial amount of speech that retains the status of protected advocacy… insofar as it encompasses speech tending to ‘encourage’ or ‘promote’ a riot… as well as speech ‘urging’ others to riot or ‘involving’ mere advocacy of violence,’ wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Albert Diaz, a Barack Obama appointee, in a unanimous 46-page opinion…. Last year, a federal judge in California held that the entire Anti-Riot Act is unconstitutional, finding it ‘regulates a substantial amount of protected speech and assembly’.” https://www.courthousenews.com/fourth-circuit-strikes-down-parts-of-anti-riot-law/
Burkina Faso’s military accused of human rights violations. “… accusations of extrajudicial killings, torture and unlawful detention by Burkina Faso’s military are mounting, as the ill-equipped and under-trained army scrambles to stem the spread of jihadist violence that’s ravaging the country.” https://www.courthousenews.com/burkina-faso-army-blamed-for-extrajudicial-torture-deaths/
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