Three former Philadelphia police detectives charged with perjury and making false statements during murder prosecution. “The detectives said that Anthony Wright had confessed to the rape and murder of his 77-year-old neighbor Louise Talley in 1991, and that they found the bloody clothes he wore during the killing in his bedroom. But Wright denied confessing, and DNA testing in 2013 showed that another man, who lived near the victim, had raped and likely murdered her, prosecutors said in court papers. It also showed that the clothes the detectives claimed they found were actually worn by the victim, not Wright, court records state. Still, Philadelphia prosecutors insisted on retrying Wright in 2016. And that is when the actions of homicide detectives Manuel Santiago, Martin Devlin and Frank Jastrzembski began to unravel, according to a Philadelphia County grand jury’s detailed presentment Friday.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/13/philadelphia-detectives-charged/
Number of new covid-19 cases increases sixfold in Sturgis, South Dakota two weeks after massive motorcycle event. “The 1,550 percent increase comes after the motorcycle rally, which usually draws around half a million people, possibly had its biggest year ever, according to County Sheriff Ron Merwin.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-dakota-covid-cases-quintuple-after-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-n1277567
Federal appeals court strikes down white supremacist Dylann Roof’s bid to escape execution for mass murder of nine African Americans. “A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond rejected arguments that the young white man should have been ruled incompetent to stand trial in the shootings at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston…. Authorities have said Roof opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at the church, raining down dozens of bullets on those assembled.” https://apnews.com/article/religion-389bcc56019f268cb1056e37a517bd6c
Ty Garbin, the only defendant to plead guilty to involvement in FBI orchestrated plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, is sentenced to six months and three years in prison. “Adherents of paramilitary movements from as far away as Delaware and Wisconsin are among the accused, with the six defendants facing federal charges set to go on trial on Oct. 12. The remaining eight, who are charged with assisting them, will be tried in two different state courts…. For the men still facing trial, the central argument used by defense lawyers in court papers thus far has been entrapment, accusing the main F.B.I. informant who penetrated the group, as well as various other informants or undercover agents, of pushing the plot along.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/us/gretchen-whitmer-kidnapping-plot-michigan.html
Federal judge sanctions Stop the Steal lawyers. “The lawsuit to decertify President Joe Biden’s victory in the state (of Michigan) should have never been filed, (Judge Linda) Parker said in her opinion. ‘Further, they presented pleadings that were not ‘warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or establishing new law’ and contained factual contentions lacking evidentiary support or likely to have evidentiary support,” Parker said.” https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/25/powell-wood-trump-sanctions-506910
Politicians of both parties, the military and the State Department outraged over congressmen who flew to Kabul to conduct legitimate oversight. “Three officials familiar with the flight told Associated Press that state department, defense department and White House officials were furious about the incident because it was done without coordination with diplomats or military commanders directing the evacuation. According to the officials, the US military found out about the lawmakers’ visit as the pair were already flying to Kabul. (Congressman Seth) Moulton (D-MA) and (Peter) Meijer (R-MI), (are) both military veterans…. ‘After talking with commanders on the ground and seeing the situation here, it is obvious that because we started the evacuation so late, that no matter what we do, we won’t get everyone out on time, even by September 11.'” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/25/fury-as-us-politicians-fly-into-kabul-in-midst-of-evacuation-effort Why aren’t they conducting oversight on a tropical beach or in Europe, like other representatives!
Video of 2019 flashlight beating of black motorist released by Louisiana State Police. “Seven minutes of footage from the officer’s body-worn camera from the May 2019 incident was recently turned over to attorneys for the motorist, Aaron Larry Bowman, pursuant to a court order last week. CNN obtained a copy of that video Wednesday from Bowman’s attorneys. The trooper in the video, Jacob Brown, was charged in December with aggravated second-degree battery and malfeasance in office.” https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/25/us/louisiana-body-camera-police-beating/index.html
Identity of Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt was revealed in article published on August 6th. “Questions linger over the shooting, especially whether the officer who fired the fatal shot warned Babbitt to stop before he opened fire as she attempted to breach a barricaded door inside the Capitol Building. The officer’s lawyer insists his client not only issued such a command, but did so loudly and clearly. However, in an interview with RealClearInvestigations, Babbitt family attorney Terry Roberts said he has gathered evidence indicating the officer, a plainclothes police lieutenant, remained silent.” https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/08/05/lawyer_capitol_cop_who_shot_ashli_babbitt_ambushed_her_on_jan_6_without_warning_788569.html
Story of South Dakota attorney general’s fatal collision with a pedestrian becomes even stranger. “At 10:20, according to cell phone data obtained by the investigators, he unlocked his phone and signed into his Yahoo email account. From there, Ravnsborg scanned headlines before landing on an article published by a right-wing website about Riding the Dragon, a documentary billed as an exposé… of Joe Biden and his family’s relationship to China…. At 10:22, prosecutors determined he locked his phone. A minute later, (Jason) Ravnsborg veered (on to) the right shoulder, where (Joseph) Boever was walking, sending his head through the windshield…. Cell phone data, the investigators said, showed Ravnsborg had walked by the corpse, which was less than two feet off the road and about 60 feet behind where the damaged Ford Taurus was parked. One of the agents said that Boever’s lifeless body, which had been stripped of clothes in the crash, was ‘lily white’ and almost certainly would have been illuminated by the cell phone flashlight Ravnsborg used to search the area. The agents also pointed out that Boever had himself been carrying a flashlight, which wound up on the edge of the grass.” https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/08/how-a-deadly-crash-upended-south-dakota-politics And it gets even stranger…. Was Boever suicidal? Did Ravnsborg lie about swerving off the road? Article also covers strange details that have been reported previously – that the county sheriff responded in person, did not administer a breathalyzer test and did not spot the body lying on the side of the road. Boever’s glasses were found inside Ravnsborg’s car, but not on the night of the accident.
Private military contractor Erik Prince, who previously ran Blackwater, reportedly offering evacuation flights out of Afghanistan for $6,500 a seat. “Prince, who is the brother of former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and grew up in west Michigan, told the (Wall Street) Journal it would cost more if people needed his aid in getting out of their homes and to the airport with the Taliban in control of the country.” https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/08/25/erik-prince-afghanistan-flights-betsy-devos/5587550001/ You can pay him the money or you can try to work things out with the Taliban, it’s up to you.
Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte announces he will run for vice president in apparent bid to evade presidential term limits. “Duterte, who is notorious for his vulgar rhetoric and crackdown on illegal drugs, which has killed thousands of mostly petty suspects, said in comments broadcast Wednesday that he will run for vice president to ‘continue the crusade’…. the move would be reminiscent of the machinations of Russian President Vladimir Putin… to hold on to power despite being constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term as president in 2008.” https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-philippines-a2baadec81c6a7042c0d829b15630696
Extortion likely the motive for killing of Thai drug dealer by police chief nicknamed ‘Jo Ferrari’. “CCTV footage posted online appears to show the suspect being ordered to pay $60,000 to have charges dropped before he is suffocated with a plastic bag. On Wednesday a search of the police chief’s mansion in Bangkok revealed 13 luxury cars. A day earlier Mr Thitisan, 39, was sacked as a police superintendent in Nakhon Sawan, 250km (150 miles) north of Bangkok, after the video caused outrage.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58334979
2020 was warmest year in Europe since 1900, when temperatures were first systematically recorded. “Not only was the year 1.9C above the long-term average, it was more than 0.5C greater than the previous high mark…. Overall, Europe has seen its five warmest years on record all occur since 2014.” https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58333124
Life in a developed market economy: Former senior ICU nurse now making $200,000 a month doing porn on OnlyFans. “As a nurse I was making six, maybe seven (thousand) a month, so it was real money…. Rather than being impulsive and flashy with her newfound fortune, Rae is using the OnlyFans cash to pay off student loans…” https://nypost.com/2021/08/18/boston-nurse-allie-rae-left-job-for-onlyfans-makes-75k-a-month/ Because the ‘invisible hand of the market’ says we need porn stars more than we need ICU nurses right now.
Life in a developed market economy: Drone delivery service has flown 10,000 cups of coffee to customers in Logan, Australia. “Wing was launched in 2019 in Australia, following a series of drone tests that began in 2014. The service, which was initially part of Alphabet’s experimental research division, allows users to order items such as food through a mobile app and is fast approaching 100,000 deliveries since its launch.” https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/25/alphabet-wing-drones-delivered-10000-cups-of-coffee-in-the-last-year.html Are Australian consumers really too lazy to make coffee? Or to just drop by a coffee shop, fast food restaurant or convenience store? In a capitalist economy, catering to the whims of the wealthy is a legitimate use of a society’s resources.
Researchers who created a data scanning system similar to the one proposed by Apple for detecting underage sexual content say they ending up deciding the technology was too easy for governments to abuse. “After many false starts, we built a working prototype. But we encountered a glaring problem. Our system could be easily repurposed for surveillance and censorship. The design wasn’t restricted to a specific category of content; a service could simply swap in any content-matching database, and the person using that service would be none the wiser.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/19/apple-csam-abuse-encryption-security-privacy-dangerous/ Edward Snowden also thinks its a bad idea. “‘Apple’s new system, regardless of how anyone tries to justify it, will permanently redefine what belongs to you, and what belongs to them,’ Snowden said in his Continuing Ed blog on Substack. The proposal by a ‘pro-privacy’ company like Apple marks the dawn of a ‘dark future’ and is a ‘disaster-in-the-making’, the NSA whistleblower warned.” https://www.benzinga.com/news/21/08/22669137/apple-has-declared-war-on-your-privacy-edward-snowden-reacts-to-iphone-csam-scanning-feature Apple promises it will never let the system be misused or used for other purposes. I’d feel better about this if there were outside groups making sure the company is keeping this promise. Another approach would be to simply block identified sexual abuse photos from being transmitted or saved. The system could just delete them and leave law enforcement out of it. Of course that means pro-democracy material could also be deleted if the system fell into the wrong hands, but that’s not as bad as turning pro-democracy activists over to the police.
Life in a developed market economy: CDC trying to figure out what exactly sickened people in 17 states. “A dozen people have been taken to hospital after a salmonella outbreak spread across the country – with the source believe to be Italian-style deli meat…. They said 36 people have fallen ill in two separate outbreaks, with the remaining 24 not requiring hospital treatment. People in both outbreaks reported eating salami, prosciutto, and other meats.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9928305/Salmonella-outbreak-17-states-feared-Italian-style-deli-meat-12-hospitalized-36-ill.html
Two more former U.S. Marines indicted in connection with far right extremism. “Over the past three years, at least seven former Marines have openly avowed or been identified with neo-Nazism or the extreme right, with some alleged to have been involved in planned terrorist acts. The Corps reported to NPR in April that it had, in the past three years alone, found 16 cases of extremism within its ranks. Though these numbers only account for a tiny fraction of those Marines who enlist and serve, the problem is worth noting…. As early as 2012—well before the far right problem among American servicemen became widely known—a unit of Marine Scout Snipers were photographed proudly and openly brandishing a flag of the Nazi S.S. death squads during a tour in Afghanistan.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqwq5/marines-neo-nazis-military
Leader of neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division sentenced to three years in prison for threatening journalists. “Under his alias ‘Krokodil’, (Cameron) Shea was the primary recruiter for AWD, which has been linked to numerous murders since 2017 and a series of terror-related crimes across the U.S. Shea, of Redmond, Washington, was active with the group both online and offline. AWD’s stated end goal is to hasten the collapse of the government to build a white ethnostate from its ashes…. The neo-Nazis started with creating a list of journalists they planned on targeting, made threatening posters insinuating the journalists were surveilling them, found their addresses, devised ways to film the delivery of the posters and disseminate the videos online, and discussed at length the pros and cons of hand-delivering their threats versus mailing them…. Each poster contained a blank spot at the bottom where the group would post the target’s address and name.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgx3x3/cameron-shea-atomwaneo-nazi-leader-gets-prison-for-disturbing-threats-against-journalists
Group estimates cost of Afghan War, so far, is $2.3 trillion. “Brown University’s Costs of War project released an updated report Wednesday on US spending for the war in Afghanistan. The report found that since the 2001 invasion, Washington has sunk over $2.3 trillion into the war. The spending includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and is broken down into five categories.” https://news.antiwar.com/2021/08/25/new-report-finds-us-has-spent-over-2-3-trillion-on-afghanistan-war/
Hong Kong police reportedly questioning organizers of Tiananmen Square vigils about their ‘links to foreign countries’. “It’s ridiculous that the police accused the (Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China) of being an agent of foreign forces,” Chow (Hang-tung) told Reuters. “It has nothing to do with any foreign agents nor has it received any instructions from foreign countries.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/26/hong-kong-police-investigate-organisers-of-tiananmen-square-vigil
And estimated 2,000 opponents of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline rally at Minnesota’s Capitol. “If completed, the pipeline will have the capacity to carry around 750,000 barrels of tar sands oil each day from Alberta, Canada to Wisconsin, traversing hundreds of bodies of water and wetlands along the way…. To date, around 900 people have been arrested for engaging in civil disobedience at anti-Line 3 protests, which have frequently been met with violent police crackdowns.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/26/were-staying-line-3-opponents-camp-minnesota-capitol-protest-oil-pipeline
52% of Americans polled back Bernie Sanders plan to spend $3.5 trillion on social programs and transition to green energy. “Progressive lawmakers are pushing for the legislation to include funding for child care subsidies, paid family and medical leave, a Civilian Climate Corps to help communities across the country mitigate the climate emergency, and tuition-free community college, among other provisions. Tax increases for wealthy Americans have been proposed to help pay for the investments. Ninety percent of Democrats and nearly half of independent voters included in the survey supported the reconciliation proposal.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/25/majority-us-including-90-democrats-back-spending-trillions-infrastructure
Only 11% of federal rent relief money has been distributed by states. “… the total aid disbursed thus far to about $5.1 billion. That’s a small fraction of the $46.5 billion that Congress appropriated for rental assistance in two coronavirus relief packages passed in the last year… The (New York) Times noted that many landlords ‘have rejected the federal aid, arguing that evicting nonpaying tenants is not only their right but the most effective way of ensuring their revenue is not interrupted in the future.'” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/25/unacceptable-us-treasury-says-89-rental-aid-still-not-disbursed
Progressive News Service 