May 31, 2021

Texas Democrats block state voting restriction bill by preventing House from reaching a quorum. “The bill came up in the state House Sunday evening for final approval. But after hours of debate and delaying tactics, the chamber adjourned after Democratic lawmakers left in protest, breaking quorum and ending debate. At least 100 lawmakers must be present to conduct business.”   https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/texas-democrats-stage-walkout-stop-debate-restrictive-voting-bill-delaying-n1269079

Diverse coalition of Israeli parties unite to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Netanyahu, 71, has struggled to hold on to power after four inconclusive elections in the past two years while facing an ongoing corruption trial. Bennett is one of several former loyalists who have flirted with joining the so-called change coalition, a collection of parties that span the political spectrum but share a desire to end Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-netanyahu-bennett-lapid/2021/05/30/af2df7b4-c11d-11eb-922a-c40c9774bc48_story.html   Even members of his own party have turned on him.

Black gun owners march through Tulsa on 100th anniversary of massacre. “Hundreds of black gun owners from around the country are here in Tulsa, marching to remember those lost in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. People from different walks of life as well as different parts of the country met in unity in North Tulsa to march for those victimized….”   https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/2nd-amendment-march-attracts-hundreds-throughout-downtown-tulsa

Texas man accused of plotting mass shooting. “On May 27th, (Kerr County Sheriff’s Office) Special Operations Division intercepted a message indicating that (Coleman) Blevins was preparing to proceed with a mass shooting. In the message, Mr. Blevins made a specific threat that included WalMart. Working with the FBI, KCSO Investigators confirmed Mr. Blevins’ capability of following through with the threat and moved immediately to arrest him.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/30/us/texas-arrest-alleged-mass-shooting-plan/index.html   Cops apparently found neo-Nazi, Confederate, Francoist and…. Saudi flags when searching his home.

Former Trump administration national security advisor Michael Flynn tells QAnon crowd that a Myanmar-style military coup ‘should happen here’. “In a video shared on Twitter, an attendee asks Flynn: ‘I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here.’ The crowd immediately cheers, followed by Flynn’s response: ‘No reason. I mean, it should happen here.'”   https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-said-us-should-have-a-coup-like-myanmar-2021-5

Denmark helped U.S. spy on European allies. “Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) said the US National Security Agency (NSA) had eavesdropped on Danish internet cables to spy on top politicians and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway and France…. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then-foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then-opposition leader Peer Steinbruck were among those the NSA had spied on, DR said. The NSA was able to access SMS text messages, telephone calls, and internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services, DR said.”   https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210531-denmark-helped-us-spy-on-merkel-and-european-allies-says-report   “The findings are the result of a 2015 internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service into NSA’s role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation.”    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-security-agency-spied-merkel-other-top-european-officials-through-danish-2021-05-30/

Most of the groups pushing for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are funded by the U.S. government. “The United States’ regime change arm, the National Endowment for Democracy, has funded at least half of the groups involved in the media offensive. Other groups involved are otherwise tied to the national security state…. The NED gave the World Uyghur Congress $1,284,000 for the years 2016 through 2019; $330,810 to Students for a Free Tibet in the same timeframe; the Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center says it has received funding from the NED, however the grant is not recoverable via the NED’s website…. Campaign for Uyghurs Founder and Executive Director Rushan Abbas previously worked for Radio Free Asia…. The website… highlights her 11-year stint working as a translator at the US prison camp Guantanamo Bay. We the HongKongers is, ironically, also based in the United States, as is the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center.”   https://www.mintpressnews.com/coalition-pushing-china-olympics-boycott-us-funded-ngos/277239/

775,000 American military personnel have served in Afghanistan. “Veteran after veteran interviewed since the withdrawal announcement has expressed some level of skepticism that the war was ever ‘turning a corner’, or that the Taliban could be curbed or defeated if U.S. troops were given one more year in the field. Sadly, military and civilian leaders have known this dirty secret for some time, as detailed in Craig Whitlock’s Afghanistan Papers. Yet they kept feeding it, and our men and women kept getting chewed up, physically and mentally.”   https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/05/30/generation-of-veterans-left-with-emptiness-after-slow-end-to-failed-war/   Not to mention all the Afghans who got chewed up.

88 Mexican politicians murdered since last September. “‘Enough with the drugs that steal our kids and destroy our families. I’m a man of the law. I’ll lay down the law. My hand isn’t shaking. I am not afraid,’ Murrieta said in his final campaign ad — recorded only one day before his murder.”   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/at-least-88-politicians-have-been-killed-in-mexico-since-september/ar-AAKxEIG

San Francisco man spends $200,000 and 2  years trying to get approval for small business, then gives up. “The problem facing small business owners like Yu is that, in San Francisco, existing businesses and residents are allowed to contest the establishment of new businesses or construction projects in their neighborhoods. Many – not surprisingly – have pushed these rights to their extreme because there’s little downside to filing even frivolous claims. So, as Mike Chen reports in The Frisc, an existing falafel shop can tie up a would-be competitor for months or neighbors can reject each other’s remodeling plans for the smallest of reasons.”   https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/30/ice-cream-shop-san-francisco-small-business

Flaw in Apple M1 chip allows malicious apps to secretly exchange information. “Under normal conditions, a malicious keyboard app has no means to leak key presses because such apps have no access to the internet. The covert channel could circumvent this protection by passing the key presses to another malicious app, which in turn would send it over the internet.”   https://www.wired.com/story/apples-m1-chip-has-fascinating-flaw/

Australian newspaper unearths 2012 paper by Dr. Fauci on ‘gain-of-function’ research. “Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. Nat­ional Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wrote in an academic paper nine years ago that he supported “gain-of-function” research on viruses despite admitting a ‘remote’ possibility that such ‘important work’ could lead to a global pandemic if such a fortified virus escaped from a lab, The Australian newspaper reported on Friday…. Fauci has denied allegations that his NIH helped fund gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan lab.”   https://consortiumnews.com/2021/05/28/fauci-backed-strengthening-of-viruses-despite-admitting-risk-of-pandemic-australian-newspaper-reports/

May 30, 2021

Google accused of intentionally making it difficult for Android users to keep their location data private. “When Google tested versions of its Android operating system that made privacy settings easier to find, users took advantage of them, which Google viewed as a ‘problem’, according to the documents. To solve that problem, Google then sought to bury those settings deeper within the settings menu.”   https://www.businessinsider.com/unredacted-google-lawsuit-docs-detail-efforts-to-collect-user-location-2021-5

Man arrested after plane diversion in Belarus is connected with dissident group that made video about President Lukashenko’s luxurious lifestyle. “The investigative film, called Lukashenko. Goldmine and produced by the Polish-based Belarusian opposition news outlet NEXTA, says that the president has lavished hundreds of million dollars on gilded residences, planes and cars. NEXTA founder Stsiapan Putsila said that Lukashenko’s Independence Palace in Minsk cost $250 million and that he has 17 other properties around the country. Maybach and Rolls Royce vehicles worth more than $4.75 million allegedly belonging to the president, but officially registered in other names, were also on show.”   https://www.newsweek.com/viral-video-belarus-dictator-alexander-lukashenkos-life-luxury-sparks-outrage-1575454   Very similar to the video Putin’s Palace made by Alexei Navalny. I’d provide a link, but for some reason I’m being blocked from reaching YouTube. “An error occurred during a connection to http://www.youtube.com. PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified. Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.”

Libyan government accused of using autonomous drones to attack opposition forces. “… the report details how Haftar’s (soldiers) were ‘hunted down’ as they retreated by (Turkish) Kargu-2 drones that were operating in a ‘highly effective’ autonomous mode that required no human controller…. It suggests that the drones were attacking human beings on their own initiative. There is no record of how many casualties, if any, the AI war machines inflicted.”   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/killer-ai-drones-hunted-down-24203431

Man charged in shooting of London Black Lives Matter activist. “Cameron Deriggs, 18, is charged with conspiracy to murder Sasha Johnson, who was shot in the head Sunday at a house party in southeast London. Johnson, a 27-year-old mother of two, remains hospitalized in critical condition…. Deriggs is one of five people arrested in connection with the shooting earlier this week.”   https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/london-teenager-charged-shooting-blm-activist-77977390

Qatar migrant worker activist has been held in pre-trial detention for three weeks. “Earlier this month, Malcolm Bidali was arrested from his home in Qatar and held in an undisclosed location. Writing under the pen-name Noah, Bidali would write for Migrantrights.org (MR) and shed light on the restrictions and realities faced by workers in Qatar as it prepares for the 2022 World Cup…. Before his arrest, Bidali appeared at a video conference with other civil society and trade union groups describing the reality faced by many workers in Qatar.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/qatar-bidali-kenyan-activist-charges-spreading-disinformation

UK’s Conservative Party prime minister Boris Johnson marries his live-in girlfriend, his third marriage. “On April 29, 2020, (Carrie) Symonds gave birth to the couple’s first child, Wilfred.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/29/world/boris-johnson-marries-carrie-symonds-intl/index.html   I assume he’s a fiscal conservative.

Preview of a fake UFO disclosure plan? “That (Navy pilot) video helped prompt (Prof. Daniel) Drezner to join an increasingly mainstream group of academics, journalists, intelligence officials and politicians who say acknowledging UFOs exist doesn’t mean embracing conspiracy theories or even believing in extraterrestrial life. While UFOs are often synonymous with aliens in pop culture, those who study the phenomenon say UFOs should be understood by their literal name: unidentified flying objects. Once identified, they may have a mundane explanation — weather balloons, drones or the planet Venus.”   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/30/ufo-sightings-spark-concern-more-than-just-conspiracy-theorists/7479065002/   Sorry, we’ve been hearing that crap for decades and we know you’re lying. These are clearly technological devices, not natural phenomenon. How do you explain the thousands of abduction accounts? Mass delusion? Do thousands of people claim they’ve been kidnapped by angels or vampires or Bigfoot?

Meanwhile, in the French media…. “What (American) officials and scientists aren’t saying is that these are aliens coming from another planet to visit us…. The discussion is still largely couched in distinctly concrete terms and centers around the concern that these craft may represent a threat from enemies here on earth…. In December 2020, Haim Eshed, the former head of the space directorate of the Israeli Defence Ministry, told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper that humans have been in contact with extraterrestrials and have signed a co-operation accord with them…. A NASA spokesperson told NBC that the agency was searching for life in the universe, but had not yet found it.”   https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210527-no-longer-confined-to-the-fringe-ufo-theories-move-into-the-mainstream

U.S. denying student visas to children of Chinese police officers. “(Lucy Xu’s) visa application was suspended because her father is a police officer in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Xu, who applied for the visa at the US embassy in Beijing, said the application was suspended even after she stressed that her father was only a low-level police officer. Since May, the United States has stopped issuing visas for senior Chinese officials employed by four intelligence and law enforcement departments, including the Ministry of Public Security, as well as their spouses and children.”   https://archive.vn/q7KiN

Dept. of Defense inspector general finds buzzing of D.C. anti-brutality protesters with a military helicopter was ‘reasonable’. “The use of helicopters was deemed ‘reasonable’ based on direction from Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, relayed through Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, instructing the military to ‘flood the zone’ and ‘use everything available’ to protect ‘federal property and symbols’, the review reads.”   https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/05/28/guard-helos-over-dc-protest-reasonable-but-confused-by-presidents-orders-dod-review-says/

 

 

 

 

May 29, 2021

Harris County, Texas sheriff fires 11 jail employees, suspends 6 after investigation into death of prisoner. “When he was served dinner later that day, a detention officer said (Jaquaree) Simmons threw his food tray and lunged towards him. The officer struck Simmons and closed the door to the cell, (Major Thomas) Diaz said. Simmons was then removed from the cell, handcuffed and escorted out of the cell, suffering multiple blows to his head as he was moved to medical, Diaz said…. Simmons was found unresponsive the next day…”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/28/us/harris-county-texas-jaquaree-simmons-death-sheriff-fires-employees/index.html

Biden administration asks federal judge to dismiss police brutality lawsuit filed against Trump administration over Lafayette Park attack on protesters. “Trump and other U.S. officials should be considered immune from civil lawsuits over police actions taken to protect a president and to secure his movements, the Justice Department lawyers said, according to the (Washington) Post. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over the treatment of protesters at a demonstration against racism and police brutality on June 1, 2020, in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd…. The sweep allowed Trump to stage a photo opportunity at a nearby church in which he held up a copy of the Bible.”   https://news.yahoo.com/u-government-seeks-dismiss-suit-002225432.html   This is pretty troubling. The President has a bubble around him that nullifies the constitutional rights of mere mortals? When the king moves about Paris, the peasants had best scurry out of the way! I hope the judge tells them to F.O.

Pennsylvania releases man after 29 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. “(Philadelphia district attorney Larry) Krasner’s office turned over more than 1,000 pages from the prosecutor’s file — including reports suggesting that (Eric) Riddick was not one of the suspected shooters and evidence exculpating Riddick that had not been disclosed. The Conviction Integrity Unit ultimately worked out a deal to release Riddick from prison, although he is not being formally exonerated in the murder case.”   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/eric-riddick-imprisoned-murder-he-says-he-didn-t-commit-n1269019

13 Palestinian journalists reportedly being held by Israeli police. “A video showing yesterday’s arrest of the two Alkofiya TV journalists has angered local organisations. It shows police leading reporter Zaina Halawani and cameraman Wahbi Mikeh out of the East Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah where they were covering tension among residents about the threat of evictions. Today a court ordered them detained administratively for five days…. Israel is ranked 86th out of 180 countries in (Reporters Without Borders) 2021 World Press Freedom Index.”   https://rsf.org/en/news/israel-now-holding-13-palestinian-journalists

10 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists sentenced to 14 to 18 months in prison over unauthorized protest. “All of them pleaded guilty this month to organizing the protest, which had been banned by the police and took place on Oct. 1, China’s National Day.”   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/asia/hong-kong-arrests-court.html

Hong Kong election reforms reduce number of legislators elected by public, increase number appointed by government. “The bill will allow pro-Beijing lawmakers to make decisions for the city and lets the city’s security department run background checks on possible candidates. The bill also gives the pro-Beijing election committee 40 new seats in the house, cutting down seats voted by Hong Kong voters to 20, according to the AP.”   https://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/555706-hong-kong-amends-electoral-law-limits-public-vote

Life in a developed market economy: Italian cable car operator intentionally disabled emergency brake to avoid shutdown, claim prosecutors. “Three men arrested over a cable car crash that killed 14 people in northern Italy knew there were technical problems with the cabins, but kept them running for financial reasons, prosecutors said in a legal filing…. The owner of the cable-car company and two employees were aware the system was not working properly and deliberately placed fork-shaped clamps on the emergency brakes to prevent them from constantly kicking in, prosecutors said.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/profit-put-before-safety-italy-cable-car-disaster-prosecutors-say-2021-05-27/

May 28, 2021

Baton Rouge, Louisiana settles case involving public strip searches and warrantless search of suspect’s home. “A civil suit filed by the family of Clarence Green was formally dismissed last week after the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council agreed to the payout in lieu of a jury trial…. According to the police report, (Sgt. Ken) Camallo claimed he ‘smelled marijuana’, so the officers placed Clarence and his brother in handcuffs. The officers then pulled down their underwear while they stood on the public street, exposing their genitals, and searched for drugs…. The officers then paid a visit to the Greens’ home…. The cops entered the residence with guns brandished and without a warrant.”   https://reason.com/2021/05/25/baton-rouge-cops-strip-searched-minor-traffic-stop-ken-camallo-clarence-green/

Phoenix police designated anti-brutality protesters as ‘gang members’. “Amy Kaper, who is 29, was one of the people that local authorities deemed members of the fictional ACAB gang after she attended a small October 17, 2020, protest against police abuse. Reportedly all of those in attendance—15 adults and three minors—were arrested…. After being arrested, the protesters were entered into Arizona’s statewide ‘GangNet’ database and charged with rioting, obstructing a public thoroughfare, unlawful assembly, conspiracy to commit assault, and assisting a criminal street gang.”   https://reason.com/2021/05/26/phoenix-authorities-used-acab-slogan-to-designate-protesters-as-a-gang/

San Jose mass shooter used legally owned pistols, was able to carry out attack despite some of the country’s toughest gun laws. “Law enforcement authorities said that the gunman, Samuel Cassidy, used three semi-automatic pistols, all legally obtained, but he was equipped with 32 ammunition magazines holding 12 to 15 rounds, which are (currently) illegal in California. The state limits magazines for civilian use to 10 rounds…. California requires universal background checks on all firearm transfers, including gun shows and private sales, background checks to buy ammunition, a 10-day waiting period after purchase, and bans military-style ‘assault weapons’ often used in mass shootings…. authorities said the gunman Wednesday used all three guns to fire off dozens of rounds, freely reloading as he mowed down his coworkers…. California also has a recently enhanced “red flag” law that allows worried family members, coworkers, employers and law enforcement officers to petition a judge to temporarily disarm a gun owner found to be acting menacingly. There appeared to be plenty of red flags around Cassidy.”   https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/27/san-jose-mass-shooting-killer-evaded-californias-tough-gun-laws/

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell reportedly urging colleagues to vote against investigation into Capitol riot coup attempt. “No one can understand why Mitch is going to this extreme of asking for a ‘personal favor’ to kill the commission.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/27/politics/mcconnell-personal-favor-block-january-6-commission/index.html   What did Mitch know about the plot, and when did he know it?

Three Tacoma, Washington police officers charged in death of Manuel Ellis. “(Ellis) was hit with a taser multiple times, hog-tied, and at least one officer’s knee was put on his neck or back. (Officer) Collins also reportedly applied a ‘lateral vascular neck restraint’, or chokehold (on) him. In a series of Ring videos previously released, Ellis can be heard screaming: ‘I can’t breathe, sir! I can’t breathe!’ followed by an officer saying: ‘Shut the fuck up.’ ‘The narrative was that those officers were in a struggle for their life. It wasn’t until videos started to come forward that showed a different story. It wasn’t until witnesses started to come forward that showed a different story.'”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/27/manuel-ellis-tacoma-three-officers-charged-death   Ellis had apparently approached the police officers to discuss possible outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Family of Ronald Greene demands legal action against Louisiana state troopers. “It has been 700 days since Greene’s death, and (attorney Lee) Merrit said that the family is frustrated at the major delay, and they demand immediate, specific and legal actions against the officers involved…. Recently released video shows that troopers stunned, beat and choked Greene following a chase in May 2019.”   https://www.wdsu.com/article/louisiana-man-who-died-in-state-police-custody-center-of-rally-at-capitol/36555735   Protesters rally at state capitol to demand troopers be immediately arrested. “‘We want every trooper involved in this incident to be terminated immediately. And then after the termination, we want every single trooper involved in this incident to be arrested. And then we want them to be charged,’ Judy Reese Morse, president and CEO of the Urban League of Louisiana, said outside the Louisiana state capitol building.”   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/27/ronald-greene-activists-family-rally-louisiana-state-capitol/7464230002/

U.S. military declassifies another UFO video. “The new unclassified clip shows sailors aboard the (USS) Omaha observing as many as nine UFOs swarming the ship at speeds approaching 160mph…. (Filmmaker Jeremy Corbell) said that at one point 14 UFOs could be seen on the Navy radar, but that footage was not provided.”   https://nypost.com/2021/05/27/radar-footage-shows-ufos-swarming-navy-ship-filmmaker-claims/

Chicago gun violence protesters arrested after blocking expressway. “The small but dedicated group of protesters headed outbound on the Dan Ryan, then stepped out of their cars and stopped traffic near 53rd Street. The protest closed the outbound lanes briefly from 3:45 p.m. to 3:57 p.m., Illinois State Police said.”   https://abc7chicago.com/traffic/dreadhead-cowboy-protests-again-on-the-dan-ryan-/10705011/

Man lost hand after Alabama deputies refused to loosen handcuffs, claims federal lawsuit. “(Giovanni) Loyola was taken to jail (in Jefferson County, Alabama) on charges of disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace and resisting arrest…. The day of his release, he sought medical care for his hand, which was still causing him extreme pain after he’d been locked in a constricted handcuff for several hours, his suit states…. He continued to return to the hospital in the months afterward for treatment, but due to his injuries, his left hand ultimately had to be amputated, his suit states.”   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alabama-man-hand-amputated-from-handcuff-suit-claims_n_60afa45ce4b0d56a83f3dedf

Germany to pay reparations to Namibia for colonial era genocide. “German troops killed up to 80,000 of (the) Herero and Nama people in what is now Namibia between 1904 and 1908 in response to an anti-colonial uprising.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/28/africa/germany-recognizes-colonial-genocide-namibia-intl/index.html

Dutch court orders oil producer Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. “The lawsuit was filed in April 2019 by seven activist groups — including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace — on behalf of 17,200 Dutch citizens. Court summons claimed Shell’s business model ‘is endangering human rights and lives’ by posing a threat to the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement.”   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/26/dutch-court-rules-oil-giant-shell-must-cut-carbon-emissions-by-45percent-by-2030-in-landmark-case.html

Canada’s prime minister apologizes for jailing Italian-Canadians during WWII. “’When, on June 10th 1940, this House of Commons declared war on Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy, Canada did not also have to declare war on Italian-Canadians,’ (Justin) Trudeau said. ‘To stand up to the Italian regime that had sided with Nazi Germany — that was right. But to scapegoat law-abiding Italian-Canadians — that was wrong.’ ….Canada’s government had apologised in 1988 for also interning more 22,000 Japanese-Canadians.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/27/canada-prime-minister-trudeau-apologizes-for-wwii-internments

UK man claims he was imprisoned, beaten and tortured for wearing a Qatar soccer jersey in UAE. “During his time in prison, (Ali) Ahmad was subjected to racial and psychological abuse and torture, including being beaten, electrocuted, cut and burned. At one point he was sent to a doctor and forced to sign a form saying that the injuries he suffered – including having one of his teeth knocked out – were self-inflicted…. Ahmad said the decision to pursue the legal claim came after years of inaction from the British government…. Rights campaigners have long highlighted the risks that foreign citizens, including British citizens, have faced while traveling to the UAE.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-uk-british-citizen-torture-files-civil-case-against-officials

Anti-fascist prisoner sues Bureau of Prisons over harassment and violence inflicted by guards. “Eric King has faced chronic, targeted harassment, as well as severe emotional and physical torture, from BOP officers and known white supremacists working together, for over two years while held in solitary confinement,” Lauren Regan, one of King’s attorneys with the Civil Liberties Defense Center, said in a statement. “We reasonably believe this treatment has been in retaliation for his political views and First Amendment-protected activity.”   https://theintercept.com/2021/05/28/bop-prison-white-supremacist-anti-fascist/

156 House Democrats back push to include Medicare expansion in infrastructure bill. “Signed by nearly 70% of the House Democratic caucus—including conservative Reps. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania and Jared Golden of Maine—the letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris expresses support for lowering the Medicare eligibility age and expanding the popular program’s benefits to include dental, hearing, and vision (coverage).”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/27/led-jayapal-broad-coalition-156-house-dems-demands-medicare-expansion-infrastructure

Biden administration sides with oil company on Alaska oil project. “Approved by the Trump administration in October of last year, fossil fuel giant ConocoPhillips’ multi-billion-dollar Willow Master Development Plan aims to establish several new oil drilling sites in part of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and construct hundreds of miles of pipeline. Environmental groups promptly sued the Trump Bureau of Land Management and Interior Department over the move…. But in a briefing submitted in the U.S. District Court for Alaska on Wednesday, Biden administration lawyers defended the Trump agencies’ decision to green-light Willow against the environmental coalition’s legal challenge.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/27/climate-denial-biden-goes-bat-massive-alaska-drilling-project-approved-under-trump

 

 

May 27, 2021

After leak of intelligence report alleging three Wuhan virus lab workers were hospitalized before start of pandemic, Facebook decides it will no longer remove posts speculating that the virus originated in a lab. “Facebook’s policy tweak arrives as support surges in Washington for a fuller investigation into the origins of Covid-19 after the Wall Street Journal reported that three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in late 2019 with symptoms consistent with the virus…. Other platforms including Twitter have said that misleading claims about the virus’ roots may also violate its policies. But Facebook’s move marks the first major sign prominent social media companies are revisiting those rules as the Wuhan lab-leak theory gains attention.”   https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/26/facebook-ban-covid-man-made-491053   “The Copernican theory that the earth revolves around the sun will no longer be treated as a heresy, said a spokesperson for the Inquisition on Wednesday, and those speculating that the earth is not the center of the universe will no longer be locked away until they recant their mistaken beliefs.”

Facebook and Instagram accused of removing pro-Palestinian material. “In recent weeks, users globally reported the deletion of hundreds of posts condemning the eviction of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, in many cases without warning or explanation…. In other cases, Palestinian artists and activists saw their posts removed and accounts suspended without explanation.”   https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/26/pro-palestine-censorship-facebook-instagram

Biden nominee to head Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives testifies that ‘assault rifles’ are whatever Congress says they are, but when pressed gives the official ATF definition. “Citing firearm sale reports on the southwestern border, (David) Chipman claimed the ATF defines an assault rifle as ‘any semi-automatic rifle capable of accepting a detachable magazine above the caliber of .22, which would include a .223, which is, you know largely the AR-15 round.’ …. The National Rifle Association (NRA) uses the military definition of assault rifle, describing it as ‘a selective-fire rifle (i.e., it can fire in semi-auto, burst or full-auto mode) chambered for a cartridge of intermediate power. If applied to any semi-automatic firearm regardless of its cosmetic similarity to a true assault rifle, the term is incorrect,’ the definition on the NRA website continues.”   https://nypost.com/2021/05/26/biden-atf-pick-david-chipman-botches-assault-rifle-definition-at-hearing/

Los Angeles reopens Echo Park two months after forcibly removing homeless campers. “New security cameras now cover every inch of the park and will be monitored by the city, according to City Council member Mitch O’Farrell’s office…. a private security company is being contracted to partner with the Los Angeles Police Department to watch over the property. The park will also retain the fence that was erected during the renovation, adding four gates that can be closed at night to make enforcing anti-camping laws easier.”   https://laist.com/news/politics/fencing-and-private-security-echo-park-lake-is-reopening-with-some-big-changes

Some Pentagon officials apparently unhappy about disclosure of information about UFOs. “(Lue Elizondo) claims he has… endured a coordinated effort to malign his reputation, including Pentagon press statements asserting he had no official role in UFO research, even after his role was officially confirmed. He also alleges a personal vendetta from a Pentagon rival he claims has sought repeatedly to damage his career, including trying to have him investigated for releasing the video after he had been cleared of any wrongdoing. Elizondo charges ‘malicious activities, coordinated disinformation, professional misconduct, whistleblower reprisal and explicit threats perpetrated by certain senior-level Pentagon officials,’ according to the complaint, which includes dozens of supporting documents.”   https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/26/ufo-whistleblower-ig-complaint-pentagon-491098   Interesting. I assumed this drama was staged as a premise for UFO disclosure, as a way to break the story without being upfront about it, which might scare the public. But maybe it’s just the government being dysfunctional, as usual. Or maybe this attack on Elizondo and his response is all part of the staged drama? In the American ‘house of mirrors’, you never know what is real, what is an illusion and what has been fabricated, misrepresented or hidden in order to deceive the public.

CNN calls San Jose shooting the 232nd mass shooting of 2021, other sources say the total so far is 15. “Wednesday’s incident was the 232nd shooting in which at least four people were shot in the US so far this year, according to a tally by the Gun Violence Archive…”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/27/us/san-jose-shooting-thursday/index.html   “A database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks every mass killing over the last 15 years shows that San Jose is the 15th mass killing so far in 2021, all of them shootings…. The database defines mass killings as four or more people dead, not including the shooter…”   https://ktla.com/news/california/with-8-people-killed-san-jose-becomes-15th-u-s-mass-shooting-so-far-in-2021/

Protesters in Iraq want death squads held accountable for murders. “Thousands of Iraqis gathered in the capital Baghdad on Tuesday to demand accountability over a spike in targeted killings of prominent activists and journalists…. The semi-official Independent High Commission for Human Rights has reported that nearly 35 activists have been killed in Iraq since October 2019. There have been nearly 81 attempted killings since then.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-baghdad-protesters-accountability-killing-activists-journalists

Ireland’s foreign minister calls Israeli West Bank settlements ‘de facto annexation’. “The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. … It is de facto annexation,’ (Simon) Coveney told parliament.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/ireland-urges-israel-end-de-facto-annexation-palestinian-land-2021-05-25/

34th political candidate assassinated in Mexico in run-up to election. “Yet another mayoral candidate in north-central Mexico has been killed, bringing to 34 the number of candidates murdered nationwide ahead of the June 6 elections…. Experts say drug gangs want to place sympathetic candidates in town halls and city governments, so they can operate without interference from police and extort money from local businesses and government budgets.”   https://news.yahoo.com/mayoral-candidate-killed-mexico-34-142424643.html

Edward Snowden applauds European Court of Justice ruling that UK warrantless mass surveillance program violated the rights of the country’s citizens. “Writing that the ruling did not go far enough, (Judge) Pinto de Albuquerque argued in the court’s judgment that a number of European governing bodies have demonstrated that ‘indiscriminate mass communications surveillance has proven to be ineffective for the prevention of terrorism and therefore is not only dangerous for the protection of human rights but also a waste of resources.'”   https://www.newsweek.com/edward-snowden-hails-eu-court-ruling-progress-acknowledging-devastation-mass-surveillance-1594811

May 26, 2021

One person in critical condition after shots are fired into George Floyd Square on the one year anniversary of his death. “‘Information received from callers was that a suspect vehicle was last seen leaving the area at a high rate of speed,’ Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) spokesperson John Elder told Fox News. Shortly thereafter, one person took him or herself to a local hospital for treatment. Elder said authorities believe he was injured in the shooting at George Floyd Square. He was in critical condition but was expected to survive.”   https://www.foxnews.com/us/minneapolis-george-floyd-square-shots-fired

New Florida law imposes steep fines on social media sites that ban people for spreading disinformation, if they happen to be politicians or claim to be news outlets. “The new law carves out an exception for tech companies that happen to also own (large) theme parks. That would exempt both Disney and Comcast, the latter of which owns NBCUniversal including Universal Theme Parks.”   https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/05/florida-regulates-facebook-and-twitter-compares-big-tech-to-communist-rule/

Turkish gangster claims he killed journalists on behalf of government. “According to Sedat Peker, the hit on (Kutlu) Adali had been ordered by ex-interior minister Mehmet Agar. He also alleged that Mr Agar was linked to the murder in 1993 of Ugur Mumcu, another prominent journalist…. The gang boss linked Mr Agar to a shadowy ‘deep state’ – a term often used to describe alleged secret connections between politicians, security forces and organized crime in Turkey.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57242840

Hundreds of Tigray refugees reportedly robbed and arrested. “Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers forcibly detained more than 500 young men and women from four camps for displaced people in the town of Shire in the northern region of Tigray on Monday night, three aid workers and a doctor told Reuters…. Several men were beaten, their phones and money confiscated, one of the aid workers said.”   https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-05-25/eritrean-and-ethiopian-soldiers-detain-hundreds-in-tigray

U.S. State Dept. reportedly approves sale of Boeing precision bombs to Israel while also pledging to help rebuild Gaza. “The Biden administration has reportedly granted Boeing an export license for the sale of $735 million in advanced weaponry to the Israeli government, news that came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday pledged $5.5 million in emergency aid to help Gaza recover from the latest Israeli bombing campaign.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/26/appalling-biden-state-department-quietly-grants-boeing-export-license-735-million   Kind of a strange business model, but I guess it works for the defense contractors.

Israeli police reportedly rounding up Palestinian protesters. “According to Israeli police, 1,550 Palestinians have been arrested since May 9 during “Operation Law and Order,” a campaign targeting majority Arab cities and towns in Israel…. The Nation reports Israeli police say the arrests are meant to ‘settle the score’ with Israel’s Arab citizens by punishing those who have protested against ongoing state and state-sanctioned oppression.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/25/there-needs-be-global-outcry-palestinians-and-allies-decry-israeli-mass-arrests

May 25, 2021

Shreveport, Louisiana police officers who brutally beat motorist during traffic stop granted qualified immunity by federal appeals court. “The district court concluded that the approach violated ‘clearly established’ case law on the matter. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit disagreed, pointing to granular distinctions in the fact patterns among those previous rulings…. ‘… the plaintiff in this case was able to cite a number of excessive force cases that seemed quite analogous, but none of them was directly on point.'”   https://reason.com/2021/05/19/qualified-immunity-cops-shreveport-louisiana-assaulted-gregory-tucker-5th-circuit-court-of-appeals/

Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal of veteran injured by federal officers after showing ‘attitude’ while passing through VA hospital security screening. “(Jose) Oliva’s lawsuit alleged that the unprovoked attack violated his Fourth Amendment rights. But the 5th Circuit (Court of Appeals) waved those constitutional concerns away, holding that U.S. Supreme Court case law effectively shielded the federal cops from facing any such civil accountability. Today, Oliva received another undeserved injury, this time at the hands of the Supreme Court itself. In an unsigned order issued this morning, the Court declined to hear Oliva’s appeal. The 5th Circuit’s ruling in Oliva v. Nivar will remain in place.”   https://reason.com/2021/05/24/federal-cops-attacked-a-70-year-old-vietnam-veteran-and-then-avoided-accountability-in-court/

Supreme Court refuses to intervene in lower court ruling that granted qualified immunity to police officers who fatally shot fleeing man who had been sleeping in his car. “In 2017, Euclid Police Department (EPD) Officer Matthew Rhodes shot and killed Luke Stewart, 23, shortly after waking him up in his car around 7 a.m. in Euclid, Ohio…. Neither officer announced they were law enforcement, nor was Stewart ever informed he was under arrest, as he had not committed any known crime.”   https://reason.com/2021/05/24/a-city-got-protections-from-qualified-immunity-after-a-cop-killed-a-man-scotus-wont-hear-the-case/

Seven bills in Congress seeking to tamper with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. “… known to its fans as ‘the 26 words that created the internet’, (it) shields social media and other digital platforms from legal liability for user-generated content. Although that protection has enabled myriad forms of online expression, it has become a bête noire (bogey man) for critics on the left and right who are unhappy with the results.”   https://reason.com/2021/05/24/section-230-haters-arent-going-away/

As Covid-19 vaccine developers become billionaires, the vaccine remains out of reach for billions of the world’s poor. “The new billionaires’ combined net wealth of $19.3 billion would cover the cost of vaccinating everyone in low-income countries where vaccines largely remain out of reach…. The New York Times vaccine tracker reports that only 0.3 percent of the global vaccine supply has reached the 29 poorest countries, while 84 percent of vaccines have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries.”   https://truthout.org/articles/covid-vaccine-billionaires-strike-it-rich-as-poor-nations-struggle-for-access/

Portland, Oregon to resume clearing of homeless camps. “In response to these sweeps, a group of Portlanders who are houseless have filed a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the city fails to follow the law by not giving people a reasonable opportunity to collect their property within 30 days and that the city is throwing out items that don’t meet the criteria to be thrown out.”   https://www.kptv.com/news/portland-resumes-sweeps-of-homeless-camps/article_83d38214-bce5-11eb-b48f-1f18ee7fe98e.html

Belarus security agents were apparently on board diverted airliner carrying opposition activist Roman Protasevich. “When the plane landed, either five or six people didn’t reboard the plane before it took off again, but only one or two people were actually arrested, so that certainly would suggest that a number of the other people who left the plane were secret service.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/24/europe/belarus-ryanair-flight-roman-protasevich-hijacking-intl/index.html   But it’s not actually the first time this international norm has been violated, as illustrated by this 2013 story. “Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane, forced to land in Austria because of suspicions that American fugitive Edward Snowden was on board, was permitted to fly home Wednesday, Bolivian and European authorities said.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bolivian-presidents-plane-forced-to-land-in-austria-in-hunt-for-snowden/2013/07/03/c281c2f4-e3eb-11e2-a11e-c2ea876a8f30_story.html

Eight states join lawsuit against DEA over medicinal mushrooms. “‘Here, dying patients seek access to promising new treatments still in the investigative process—access expressly permitted under both state and federal law—to help them live in peace,’ says the brief, filed Friday by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) and joined by Mark Brnovich (R) of Arizona, Kathleen Jennings (D) of Delaware, Karl Racine (D) of Washington, D.C., Kwame Raoul (D) of Illinois, Dana Nessel (D) of Michigan, Keith Ellison (DFL) of Minnesota, David Yost (R) of Ohio and Ellen Rosenblum (D) of Oregon.”   https://www.marijuanamoment.net/8-states-side-with-cancer-patients-in-psilocybin-mushroom-lawsuit-against-dea/

New York Times columnist is also the editor of a pro-Israel journal, but NYT readers weren’t informed of that fact. “(Bret) Stephens’ article last week concluded that ‘the goal of U.S. policy is to support Israel’s efforts to defang, deflate and ultimately disempower Hamas.’ Neither Stephens nor The New York Times provided any disclosure that he was currently employed at an Israel advocacy group that ‘aims to connect Jews to their people and their heritage and to contribute to the vitality of the State of Israel.’”   https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/05/17/nyt-fails-to-disclose-columnists-side-gig-at-pro-israel-advocacy-group/

Commerce Dept. also accused of monitoring U.S. social media for ‘threats’. “The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees’ offices at night, ran broad keyword searches of their emails trying to surface signs of foreign influence and scoured Americans’ social media for critical comments about the census, according to documents and interviews with five former investigators. In one instance, the unit opened a case on a 68-year-old retiree in Florida who tweeted that the census, which is run by the Commerce Department, would be manipulated ‘to benefit the Trump Party!’ records show.”   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/commerce-department-security-unit-evolved-into-counter-intelligence-like-operation-washington-post-examination-found/ar-AAKjUtx

Second U.S. journalist detained in Myanmar. “Danny Fenster, 37, the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, one of the country’s top independent news sites, was detained at the main international gateway in Yangon while preparing to fly to Malaysia, Frontier said on Twitter. It said he had been transferred to Yangon’s Insein Prison…. Another U.S. citizen who was arrested, Nathan Maung, remains in detention.”   https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-05-24/myanmar-news-site-says-american-editor-detained

Tunisia’s president allegedly contemplating power grab, according to leaked document. “Kais Saied’s top advisors have urged the Tunisian president to seize control of the country from the elected government as it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic and mounting levels of debt. The plan would be to lure Saied’s political rivals to the presidential palace and announce the coup in their presence while not allowing them to leave. Other top politicians and businessmen would be simultaneously arrested.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-exclusive-top-secret-presidential-document-plan-constitutional-dictatorship

Scary clown posts attracted lots of attention from U.S. law enforcement agencies. “Vague threats from social media users dressed as menacing clowns in 2016 led to intense police monitoring of their accounts and an effort to ‘identify those who may be responsible’, according to records from Washington DC’s Metropolitan police department (MPD)…. An 3 October 2016 document, entitled Social Media Clown Threats, laid out measures taken over the previous four days in relation to ‘threats coming from accounts created by unknown persons with profile pictures of clowns’ on ‘the popular Social Media sites today like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc’.”   https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/may/25/threats-menacing-clowns-police-surveillance-online-accounts

European Court of Human Rights finds UK guilty of illegally intercepting its residents’ communications. “Europe’s top rights court found on Tuesday that a bulk data collection program in the United Kingdom violated citizens’ right to privacy…. The 17-judge panel found that ‘there is considerable potential for bulk interception to be abused in a manner adversely affecting the rights of individuals to respect for private life.’”   https://www.courthousenews.com/big-brother-shouldnt-be-watching-rights-court-rejects-uk-bulk-data-collection/

Trump administration deported migrants without their children. “… at least 348 parents… were separated from their children without (ICE) documenting whether they wanted to leave their kids behind…. The (Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security) report confirmed that immigrant parents ‘did not consistently have the opportunity to reunify with their children before removal’ before President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 20, 2018, that halted the government’s practice separating most families apprehended at the border.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/watchdog-finds-ice-did-not-give-hundreds-of-immigrant-parents-a-chance-to-reunify-with-children-before-deportation/

Federal appeals court dismisses lawsuit claiming public school students in Portland, Oregon were pressured to participate in school-sponsored anti-gun protests. “‘To the extent that the school district encouraged students to voluntarily participate in the protests, it engaged in teaching ‘by persuasion and example,’ which does not support a compelled speech claim,’ the panel wrote.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-rejects-student-claims-their-school-district-forced-them-to-protest-guns/

May 24, 2021

Three Wuhan Institute of Virology employees reportedly hospitalized prior to first coronavirus outbreak, according to (leaked?) intelligence report. “A State Department fact sheet released near the end of the Trump administration had said ‘the U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.’ It did not say how many researchers.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/wuhan-lab-staff-sought-hospital-215837238.html

Belarus diverts European airliner, arrests opposition activist. “(President Alexander) Lukashenko ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to scramble and accompany the Ryanair plane to Minsk due to a supposed bomb threat to the airliner as it flew over Belarus en route from Greece to Lithuania, according to social media linked to the presidential administration. Officials said no bomb was found onboard, but during security checks on passengers, police arrested activist and blogger Roman Protasevich, who was placed on a terrorist watchlist and accused of several crimes by Belarusian security services during their brutal crackdown on last year’s huge opposition protests against Mr Lukashenko’s 26-year rule.”   https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/forced-landing-of-ryanair-plane-in-belarus-to-detain-activist-unacceptable-eu-says-1.4572846

London Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson hospitalized after being shot in the head. “Taking the Initiative’s statement said: ‘It is with great sadness that we inform you that our own Sasha Johnson has sustained a gunshot wound to her head. She is currently hospitalised and in critical condition. The incident happened in the early hours of this morning, following numerous death threats.’ … A (Metropolitan police) spokesperson said that, while the investigation was at an early stage, there was nothing to suggest it was a targeted attack or that the woman had received any credible threats against her before this incident.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/23/blm-activist-sasha-johnson-in-critical-condition-after-gunshot-to-the-head

May 31st is 100th anniversary of Tulsa massacre. “In 24 hours, the (White) mob torched 35 blocks, destroying Black-owned businesses, churches, homes, a library, a school and a hospital. Members of the mob, some of whom had been deputized by officials, randomly shot and killed innocent Black residents. No one was charged in the mass killings…”   https://www.axios.com/tulsa-race-massacre-survivors-america-6f98afc1-3c2a-4a26-b624-f1bbc0afc455.html   Planes and machine guns were reportedly used, and police and National Guardsmen joined the mob. “From a high grain elevator, a machine gun laid fire on Greenwood Avenue…. The police joined the mob. National Guard troops pressed the attack against what one Guard officer called ‘the enemy’…. And he hears planes circling and sees roofs of buildings catching fire. And these are from turpentine balls, burning turpentine balls dropped from planes.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tulsa-race-massacre-60-minutes-2021-05-23/

In apparent provocation, Israeli police allow Jewish settlers to tour Al-Aqsa mosque grounds while barring Muslims from entering. “Dozens of Jewish settlers, flanked by heavily armed Israeli special forces, entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem in the early morning, further raising tensions hours after Palestinian worshippers were beaten and assaulted by Israeli police, according to the Islamic authority overseeing the site…. Israeli police also increased restrictions at the gates leading to Al-Aqsa, barring worshippers under the age of 45 from entering the mosque.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/23/backed-by-israeli-police-jewish-settlers-storm-al-aqsa-compound

An estimated 500 pro-democracy activists reportedly arrested in Algeria. “Algerian authorities put down weekly pro-democracy protests in the capital Algiers and across the country on Friday, detaining hundreds of demonstrators, human rights activists said…. The largely leaderless and politically unstructured Hirak movement was launched in 2019 over then-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria-hundreds-arrested-crack-down-protests

88% of Israeli’s arrested during recent ethnic street violence were reportedly Palestinians. “Just 15 of the 170 people who have been indicted with charges of rioting, assaulting police officers, and damaging property are Jewish Israelis.”   https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/90-indicted-israel-intercommunal-violence-were-palestinian

May 23, 2021

Police video shows death of Lewisburg, Tennessee prisoner during altercation with jailers after he banged on the door of his cell. “On May 6 of last year, seven officers pinned William Jennette, 48, facedown, legs and arms tied, to the ground at a Tennessee jail, pressing their knees on his back. It was fatal…. Jennette refused to get in a restraint chair, causing law enforcers to get aggressive with him.”   https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/554858-you-shouldnt-be-able-to-breathe-shocking-video-of-police

Former St. Paul, Minnesota police officer sentenced to six years in prison for brutal assault on man mistaken for a suspect. “(In 2016,) St. Paul police were looking for an armed suspect when they came across (Frank) Baker, who was not the suspect and who was not armed. Police sent a K-9 after him; the dog mauled and seriously injured Baker as (Officer Brett) Palkowitsch kicked Baker…. Baker suffered collapsed lungs and seven broken ribs. He also underwent several skin grafts due to dog-bite wounds.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-st-paul-police-officer-215600365.html   Not that this would have been ok if it had been the right guy….

Citizen journalist who filmed fatal shooting of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt has his royalties confiscated by an unnamed federal agency. “One of the videos (John Sullivan) recorded, which included the shooting of Ashli Babbitt by a police officer, was sold to several unnamed news outlets for a total of $90,000, according to a seizure warrant seen by the news agency…. An FBI affidavit also pointed out that the self-proclaimed journalist had no press credentials, the Rolling Stone reported.”   https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-rioter-sold-fatal-shooting-footage-john-earle-sullivan-2021-5   He is apparently not being charged with ‘practicing journalism without credentials’.

Johnson County, Kansas district attorney and follow-up investigation both failed to include information about police officer shooting fleeing teen from the side of the boy’s van in 2018. “(Officer Clayton) Jenison can be heard yelling ‘Stop!’ before side-stepping to his right and firing two rounds at the van in quick succession. The van stops briefly before wildly accelerating in reverse, spinning 180 degrees at the end of the driveway as Jension moves to its opposite side and resumes firing…. In all, Jenison fired 13 times. (John) Albers was struck six times, with most of the bullets hitting the back of his body, including his head.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/overland-park-officer-shot-john-202818835.html   So he stepped out of harm’s way and then opened fire.

Guards at New York City federal detention center sentenced to community service for failing to check on Jeffrey Epstein and filing false reports on their activity that night. “Prosecutors alleged that (Tova) Noel and (Michael) Thomas sat at their desks just 15 feet from Epstein’s cell, shopped online for furniture and motorcycles, and walked around the unit’s common area instead of making required rounds every 30 minutes. During one two-hour period, both appeared to have been asleep…”   https://apnews.com/article/business-government-and-politics-3a0b465c080e1b0a53ce15315179d542    Did they do this every night, or just on the night Epstein died?

Rep. Katie Porter grills pharmaceutical executive over drug pricing. “(AbbVie) now charges $77,000 for a year’s worth of (auto-immune disorder drug Humira), ‘a 470 percent increase from when the drug entered market’ in 2003, according to a new investigation from the committee…. Porter punctured what she called the ‘Big Pharma fairy tale’ that U.S. customers need to pay such exorbitant prices so that drug companies can fund future innovation by investing in research and development. Porter began her interrogation of (CEO Richard) Gonzalez with a small pink circle of construction paper taped to her white board, representing the $2.45 billion AbbVie had invested in R&D from 2013 to 2018…. Porter came equipped with data — and other circles of construction paper scaled to the spending, which she taped to her white board as she unveiled them. That small pink R&D circle was soon eclipsed by a yellow circle representing marketing and advertising — $4.71 billion. And then dwarfed by a blue death star of stock buy-backs and dividends, which equaled $50 billion over the same period.”   https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/katie-porter-abbvie-gonzalez-big-pharma-knockout-punch-1171735/

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene compares House mask rule to Nazi’s ‘Star of David’ rule for Jews. “You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said. “And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”   https://www.businessinsider.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-stands-behind-her-holocaust-statement-2021-5

56% of Republicans polled say 2020 election was rigged or that massive voting fraud occurred. “… 53 percent, said they think Donald Trump is currently the ‘true president’ of the United States…. and 54 percent agreed the Capitol riot was led by ‘violent left-wing protestors trying to make Trump look bad’.”   https://www.newsweek.com/over-half-republicans-say-trump-true-president-capitol-riot-done-make-him-look-bad-1593962

The good news: Joe Biden is proposing a minimum global tax on corporations, to discourage tax dodging in low-tax countries. The bad news: He’s proposing a tax rate of 15%. “According to the Tax Foundation, the average corporate tax rate across 177 different jurisdictions in 2020 was just under 24%.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/global-minimum-tax-rate-15-percent-biden-administration/

Myanmar military junta suspends 125,900 school teachers for striking in protest against coup. “‘These are just statements to threaten people to come back to work. If they actually fire this many people, the whole system will stop.’ …. Around 19,500 university staff have also been suspended, according to the teachers’ group.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/more-than-125000-myanmar-teachers-suspended-opposing-coup-2021-05-23/

Indonesia sends troops into Papua to crush independence movement. “Amid a worsening conflict, some 400 extra troops have been deployed to Papua following the assassination of a senior intelligence official there and the designation of separatists as “terrorists” by the Indonesian government last month…. Papuan separatists say their struggle is legitimate because former colonial power the Netherlands promised the region it could become independent before it was annexed by Indonesia in 1963.”   https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-05-21/exclusive-indonesias-troop-surge-in-papua-aims-to-wipe-out-armed-rebels-police-intel-chief

180,000 march in London in solidarity with Palestinians. “Demonstrators also gathered in other places including Paris, Dublin, and cities across the United States.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/22/nearly-200000-gather-london-history-making-demonstration-solidarity-palestinians

Coronavirus death toll double or triple officials figures, claims World Health Organization official. “Now, with Covid-19 ravaging Latin America and Asia as new coronavirus variants spread, (WHO assistant director-general Samira) Asma estimated that ‘about six to eight million deaths’ could be attributed to the pandemic.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/21/who-says-covid-has-killed-6-8-million-people-two-three-times-more-officially

May 21, 2021

Postal Service surveillance program more elaborate than first reported. “The post office’s law enforcement arm has faced intense congressional scrutiny in recent weeks over its Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP), which tracks social media posts of Americans and shares that information with other law enforcement agencies. Yet the program is much broader in scope than previously known and includes analysts who assume fake identities online, use sophisticated intelligence tools and employ facial recognition software, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Yahoo News.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/facial-recognition-fake-identities-and-digital-surveillance-tools-inside-the-post-offices-covert-internet-operations-program-214234762.html

Trump Dept. of Justice secretly obtained phone and email records of CNN reporter. “The Justice Department informed CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, in a May 13 letter, that prosecutors had obtained her phone and email records covering two months, between June 1, 2017 to July 31, 2017. The letter listed phone numbers for Starr’s Pentagon extension, the CNN Pentagon booth phone number and her home and cell phones, as well as Starr’s work and personal email accounts.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/20/politics/trump-secretly-obtained-cnn-reporter-records/index.html

Arizona’s Secretary of State says Maricopa County will need to replace its election machines after Republican auditors passed them on to contractors. “‘I have grave concerns regarding the security and integrity of these machines, given that the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised and election officials do not know what was done to the machines while under Cyber Ninjas’ control,’ (Katie) Hobbs wrote in the letter to the county’s mostly Republican Board of Supervisors, which oversees the county elections.”   https://news.yahoo.com/maricopa-county-voting-machines-gops-231624512.html   Cyber Ninjas? Sounds like a reputable company. (sarcasm)

Life in a developed market economy: Kayaker claims I-40 bridge over the Mississippi has been dangerously cracked since at least 2016. “A Mississippi River kayaker said photos he took about five years before a crack was found in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas appear to show the fracture that led transportation officials to close the span indefinitely last week…. An Associated Press photo editor inspected metadata from one of the photos and determined it was shot on August 6, 2016.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/i-40-bridge-crack-2016-photos-kayaker/

Alabama lifts yoga ban. “Gov. Kay Ivey has signed a bill allowing K-12 schools to offer elective yoga classes to students, ending a nearly three-decade ban on the practice in the state’s public schools…. The bill requires yoga exercises to be limited to stretches and poses, requires English descriptions for poses, and forbids the use of (the word) ‘namaste’ (‘I bow to you’). Gray’s bill was amended in the Senate to add a requirement for parents to sign a permission slip, and adding existing bans on hypnosis, dissociative mental states, or ‘any aspect of Eastern philosophy and religious training’.”   https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2021/05/20/gov-kay-ivey-signs-bill-lifting-alabama-yoga-ban-k-12-schools/5190767001/

Texas forgets to notify press of execution. “The press could not witness the death of… 41-year-old (Quintin Jones) because prison agency officials neglected to notify reporters it was time to carry out the punishment, according to the Associated Press. It was the first time in at least 40 years that media was not present at an execution.”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/20/quintin-jones-texas-execution-media

Texas abortion law makes anyone who assists a woman seeking an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy liable to lawsuits. “It is designed to silence and paralyze a patient’s entire support network, leaving them isolated, afraid, and alone. An individual who decided to terminate their pregnancy cannot turn to friends for help; they cannot ask a family member for assistance; they cannot speak openly with a professional counselor. Again, an individual need only formulate the “intent” to assist an abortion in any way to be held liable in court by total strangers; no patient can have an honest conversation about their decision to terminate without fear that they placed a loved one in danger of debilitated sanctions. SB 8 ensnares abortion patients in a net of legal jeopardy to frighten them out of exercising their rights.”   https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/05/texas-abortion-ban-lawsuit-liability.html

Iowa’s governor signs into law bill that bars schools and businesses from requiring people to wear masks. “Under the new law, public and private schools cannot enforce or implement a policy requiring school employees, students, or visitors to wear a facial covering while on the premises — unless for a ‘specific extracurricular or instructional purpose’ or as required under existing Iowa law for eye and ear protective devices.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/20/politics/iowa-bans-mask-mandate-schools/index.html   What’s next, forbidding cities to require businesses to have fire extinguishers? Making it optional to wear a seat belt? Banning ‘No Smoking’ signs?

BBC reporter accused of using forged documents to get 1995 interview with Princess Diana Spencer. “According to the 127-page (independent) report, the journalist (Martin Bashir) paid a graphic designer to falsify bank statements and checks to make it look as if members of the Spencer household and the royal household were being paid to spy on Diana.”   https://www.npr.org/2021/05/20/998807375/prince-william-says-deceitful-bbc-interview-fueled-princess-dianas-paranoia

Israeli police reportedly fire on large crowd gathered at Al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers. “Israeli security forces have fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets at worshippers in al-Aqsa Mosque, hours after thousands gathered at the holy site to celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza…. At least 20 Palestinians have been wounded, with two being taken to hospital, according to Palestine Red Crescent. Reuters reported stones and molotov cocktails being thrown towards police.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-aqsa-police-raid-ceasefire

Amnesty International asks U.S. to stop weapon sales to Colombia, 42 protesters reportedly killed. “Amnesty International is calling on the Biden administration to stop selling U.S.-made weapons and other equipment to Colombia, where police have been violently cracking down on popular protests. Earlier this month, Colombia’s human rights watchdog said at least 42 people have been killed in the ongoing protests, which are demanding an end to inequality, violence and militarized policing, and for the right-wing government of President Iván Duque to enact a number of social reforms.”   https://www.democracynow.org/2021/5/21/headlines/amnesty_calls_for_us_to_stop_selling_weapons_used_to_repress_and_kill_protesters_in_colombia

Some progressive Democrats vote against or abstain on bill increasing funding for Capitol Police. “As Common Dreams reported in April, an internal agency investigation of the Capitol Police revealed that leaders of the agency ignored critical intelligence ahead of the mob attack…. The Capitol Police is one of the best-funded law enforcement agencies in the U.S., with a budget last year of $516 million—up 11% from $462 million the previous year. (Rep. Ilhan) Omar told Politico Thursday that she was ‘frankly tired of any time where there is a failure in our system of policing, the first response is for us to give them more money.'”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/20/january-6-was-not-due-lack-police-funding-squad-members-reject-capital-hill-security

Bernie Sanders introduces joint resolution to block planned sale of precision bombs to Israel. “At a moment when U.S. made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without a congressional debate,” he said in a statement. “We need to take a hard look at whether the sale of these weapons is actually helping to do that, or whether it is simply fueling conflict.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/sanders-pushes-bill-to-block-massive-arms-sale-to-israel/