June 30, 2022

California government website accidentally reveals personal information of all of the state’s residents with concealed carry licenses. “The California Department of Justice suffered the breach as part of the launch of its 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, which said it was informed of the leak Tuesday by the California State Sheriffs’ Assn…. ‘This includes, but is not limited to a person’s name, age, address, Criminal Identification Index number and license type (Standard, Judicial, Reserve and Custodial).’ …. ‘It is unknown exactly how much time the information was accessible,’ the [Fresno county] Sheriff’s Office said.”   https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-28/data-breach-affects-all-california-concealed-carry-permit-holders

Mitch McConnell takes credit for Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that his decision to block former President Obama’s Supreme Court pick [Merrick Garland] to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016 led to the Roe v. Wade getting overturned…. ‘It’s the single-most consequential decision I’ve made in my public career’…. The senator also called the Supreme Court’s opinion ‘a huge step in the right direction’…. McConnell, when Garland was nominated, directed Senate Republicans to not consider Obama’s pick. He then expanded the so-called ‘nuclear option’ to get rid of the filibuster to confirm [Trump’s] Supreme Court nominees in 2018. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett were [all]  confirmed with a simple majority.”   https://www.axios.com/2022/06/29/mcconnell-obama-supreme-court-roe

Five New Haven, Connecticut police officers put on leave after black suspect is paralyzed during transport in police van. “Randy Cox was handcuffed and incapacitated when police in New Haven dragged him from the back of the vehicle. He was not wearing a seat belt and his head was slammed against the back of the van when the officer driving it made a sudden stop, a disturbing video shows…. Despite Cox’s repeated calls for help, it took the officer almost four minutes to check on him before calling an ambulance to meet him at the station. When the van arrived, several other officers were waiting and began berating Cox to get out…. About three minutes later, they pulled Cox by his feet and dragged him out of the van before forcefully hoisting him into a wheelchair…. Cox was placed on the floor [of a holding cell], where an officer shackled his legs, but he couldn’t move as he was paralyzed from the chest down. He remains hospitalized in intensive care.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/randy-cox-paralyzed-new-haven-connecticut-police-van/

Environmental groups sue Biden administration over new oil and gas leases. “The lease sales in Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Utah mark the first since the administration temporarily froze new lease sales on federal lands in January 2021…. The plaintiffs projected that the sales, as well as another series of sales scheduled in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming, will cost billions in harms to air, water, local wildlife and public health. ‘In spite of this administration’s climate commitments, the Department of Interior is choosing to resume oil and gas leasing.'”   https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3541298-environmental-groups-sue-biden-administration-for-resuming-oil-and-gas-lease-sales/

Missouri hospitals stopped providing emergency contraception to rape victims over fears of prosecution. “A large Missouri hospital chain briefly stopped providing emergency contraception amid confusion over whether the state’s abortion ban could put doctors at risk of criminal charges for providing the medication, even for sexual assault victims. St. Luke’s Health Kansas City said in a statement Wednesday that it would resume offering the medication known as the morning after pill…. after the state’s attorney general issued a statement stating unequivocally that emergency contraception is not illegal under an abortion ban that was enacted minutes after Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.”   https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-entertainment-health-sexual-assault-eafd729c413fcb798f5385d577bf1b68

Pentagon confirms Dr. Travis Taylor was leader, or a leader, of its UAP Task Force. “In fact, Taylor did serve in a lead role with the government’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force, which produced 2021’s fuzzy UFO report, Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough confirmed to ScienceInsider. But Taylor was ‘considered the informal chief scientist’, Gough says, and it was not a full-time position….Taylor told [Las Vegas investigative journalist George] Knapp poltergeist-like entities from the [Skinwalker Ranch] had followed him home to Alabama and caused mechanical mayhem. ‘My car has started and stopped itself,’ Taylor said. Once, after his car stuttered in his driveway, Taylor said he ‘looked up and there was an odd vortex in the clouds above my house.'”   https://www.science.org/content/article/pentagon-ufo-study-led-researcher-who-believes-supernatural

Turkey wants Kurdish activists extradited from Sweden and Finland in return for dropping objection to the countries joining NATO. “Turkey will seek the extradition of 33 ‘terror’ suspects from Sweden and Finland after the three countries signed a memorandum enabling the two Nordic countries to join NATO, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Wednesday. Speaking to local media, Bozdag said his country would seek the handover of the suspects ‘within the framework of the new agreement’, signed on Tuesday after a three-hour meeting at the NATO summit in Madrid…. Turkey… had warned that there would be no accession to membership unless the two countries agreed to extradite members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought an armed struggle with the Turkish state since 1984.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-nato-sweden-finland-memorandum-seek-extraditions

Mexican journalist assassinated outside his home. “The victim, 47-year-old Antonio de la Cruz, a reporter for the regional newspaper Expreso, is the 12th Mexican journalist murdered this year amid rising violence against members of the press. De la Cruz worked for Expreso for nearly three decades, reporting on rural and social issues while living in the city of Ciudad Victoria. The city is located in the border state of Tamaulipas, which has faced issues of violence and organised crime.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/29/mexican-journalist-shot-marking-12th-such-murder-this-year

Two foreign volunteers recently killed while fighting in Ukraine were likely neo-Nazis. “Wilfried Bleriot, 32, was killed in action, according to Ukraine’s International Legion in a Facebook post on June 4, 2022…. The Misanthropic Division’s violent, hate-filled Telegram channel was the first to announce Bleriot’s death, one day earlier, on June 3. The post said that he died on June 1 in Kharkiv and included a photo in which the thin and bearded Bleriot wears a T-shirt that says ‘Misanthropic Division’ across the front. In 2018, the Los Angeles Times described the Misanthropic Division as ‘one of many neo-Nazi groups that have mushroomed throughout Ukraine in recent years’. In 2020, the Daily Beast characterized it as ‘the militant foreign volunteer wing of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion‘…. In the same Facebook post of June 4 that announced Bleriot’s death, the International Legion also disclosed the death of Björn Benjamin Clavis, a German of unknown age. The photo of him shows a man who looks about 30 with buzzed hair in the uniform of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Force. On the back of his right hand is an unmistakable tattoo of an Iron Cross, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as a ‘commonly-used hate symbol’ favored by ‘neo-Nazis and other white supremacists’…. In Germany, where Clavis was from, it is very much associated with the Third Reich.”   https://theintercept.com/2022/06/30/ukraine-azov-neo-nazi-foreign-fighter/

Michigan’s supreme court kills indictments of state officials implicated in Flint water scandal over a technicality, angering victims. “The high court found that prosecutors appointed by Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel should not have relied on Genesee County Circuit Judge David Newblatt acting as a one-man grand jury to charge nine people including Rick Synder, the former GOP governor…. ‘MCL 767.3 and MCL 767.4 authorize a judge to investigate, subpoena witnesses, and issue arrest warrants. But they do not authorize the judge to issue indictments,’ states the Michigan Supreme Court opinion. ‘And if a criminal process begins with a one-man grand jury, the accused is entitled to a preliminary examination before being brought to trial…. We remand [back] to the Genesee Circuit Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/29/flint-residents-disgusted-after-court-throws-out-indictments-top-officials

Federal appeals court strikes down Fort Meyers Beach’s ban on portable signs. “The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that a Florida town’s ban on portable signs violates the First Amendment after a ‘street preacher’ argued it infringed on his freedom of speech. Adam Lacroix first challenged the Fort Meyers Beach ordinance in December 2020 after he was cited and fined by local law enforcement officers for using signs on a public sidewalk to convey religious messages…. ‘The town’s complete ban on all portable signs carried in all locations almost surely violates the First Amendment. Although we agree with the district court that the ordinance’s prohibition on portable signs is content-neutral, the codification still likely fails intermediate scrutiny because it entirely forecloses a venerable form of speech and does not leave open alternative channels of communication…'”   https://www.courthousenews.com/a-florida-towns-ban-on-portable-signs-ruled-unconstitutional-by-11th-circuit/

Federal appeals court rules that Pittsburgh transit authority can’t ban employees from wearing Black Lives Matter face masks. “‘The government may limit the speech of its employees more than it may limit the speech of the public, but those limits must still comport with the protections of the First Amendment,’ the three-judge panel wrote. ‘Port Authority bears the burden of showing that its policy is constitutional. It has not made that showing.’ However, the 23-page opinion makes clear that its ruling is intended to be narrow. ‘In upholding the District Court’s ruling, we do not suggest that Port Authority must allow the display of all messages,’ the court wrote. It specified that its decision was based on the specifics of the policy being challenged in the current case, and that words that are obscene, defamatory or inciteful could still be prohibited by the transit agency.”   https://triblive.com/local/court-says-port-authority-ban-on-black-lives-matters-masks-unconstitutional/

NATO escalates conflict with Russia. “White House officials said that the combination of the accession of Finland and Sweden — two militarily nonaligned Nordic states prompted to join by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and the more robust force posture in Europe, as well as increased NATO funding targets, underscore the alliance’s resolve and growing influence…. Putin has always bitterly objected to any expansion of the alliance, whose members pledge to come to each other’s defense in case of any attack, seeing it as a way of hemming in his country and limiting its influence…. On Monday, Stoltenberg also announced that the alliance plans to build a rapid-reaction force of 300,000 troops to defend its territory — a significant step that nonetheless came as a surprise to many of the defense officials who oversee the troops. Several senior European security policymakers said that they did not know in advance about the plan to expand NATO’s quick response force from its current size of 40,000 and that they were taken by surprise when Stoltenberg announced it.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/29/biden-nato-defiant-russia/   The mere suggestion that Ukraine might at some point join NATO spooked Russia enough that it tried to carry out ‘regime change’ before that could happened, but maybe things will turn out different this time?

June 29, 2022

Aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows claims president tried to go to Capitol to join riot, but was blocked by Secret Service due to reports of weapons in the crowd. “[Cassidy Hutchinson] said that Tony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff, said that Robert Engel, who was the Secret Service agent in charge on January 6, repeatedly told Trump on their way back to the White House after Trump’s Ellipse speech that it wasn’t safe to go to the Capitol. According to Hutchinson, Ornato recounted Trump screaming, ‘I’m the f**king President. Take me up to the Capitol now.’ Trump then ‘reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel,’ Hutchinson remembered learning. She added that, according to Ornato, Trump used his other hand ‘lunge’ at Engel…. ‘[President Trump] didn’t think that they did anything wrong,’ said Hutchinson, referring to the pro-Trump rioters. ‘The people who did something wrong that day-or-the person who did something wrong that day was Mike Pence, by not standing with him.'”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/28/politics/january-6-hearing-day-6-takeaways-hutchinson/index.html

Trump-endorsed candidate wins Illinois Republican primary race for gubernatorial election, with help from Democrats. “The race was called for [state senator Darren] Bailey with about 33% of votes counted. He had 53.5% of the vote with venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan getting 16.9% and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin with a disappointing 16.5%…. [incumbent governor J.B. Pritzker] and the Democratic Governors Association spent heavily to help Bailey win the GOP contest, even bankrolling ads noting he is ‘100% pro-life’. Illinois is one of several states where Democrats have aided conservative or far-right candidates, betting that they’ll be easier to defeat in the general election…. Some Democrats have warned that the strategy could backfire in a hostile political environment highlighted by skyrocketing inflation — including record-high gas prices.”   https://nypost.com/2022/06/28/darren-bailey-wins-gop-primary-for-illinois-governor/

G-7 countries relax their climate targets. “The Group of Seven industrialized democracies allowed themselves leeway to continue using non-offset fossil fuel investments in ‘exceptional’ circumstances, despite an earlier commitment to end public support for them by (the end of) 2022. They also dropped a commitment to making half of all vehicles zero-emission by 2030, following pressure from Japan, replacing it with a vaguer promise to ‘significantly’ increase their sales…”   https://www.reuters.com/world/g7-aims-form-climate-club-pursue-net-zero-by-2050-communique-2022-06-28/

More than 90% of abortions in the U.S. occur during first trimester, 85% are performed on unmarried women, per 2019 data. “[The Guttmacher Institute] recorded more than 1.5 million abortions in the U.S. in 1991, about two-thirds (sic) more than the 930,160 it reported for 2020.”   https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/24/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-u-s-2/   I think that’s supposed to be ‘one-third’ more abortions in 1991, according to my math. If there were 1.5 million in 1991 and less than 1 million in 2020, that means the number fell by more than 1/2 a million, which is one-third of 1.5 million.

Cities in Italy and Norway hit by record June temperatures. “Temperatures surpassed 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) across much of Italy on Tuesday. Rome tied its hottest temperature on record, while several other cities set monthly records. Record-warm temperatures persisted overnight across a large chunk of Eastern Europe…. Several other countries, including Finland and Iran, also have experienced new monthly temperature highs…. Other June record highs set Monday in Italy included Tuscany with 107 degrees, Florence at 106 degrees, Viterbo (also an all-time high) with 105 degrees and Naples at 100 degrees…. Saltdal, Norway, reached 89 degrees, a June record for that city. To the southeast, in Vihti Maasoja, Finland, the temperature hit a June record of 89 degrees…. Locations on Norway’s Arctic coast of the Barents and Norwegian seas — like Andoya and Berlavag — have broken June and, in some cases, all-time records, with highs in an 85-to-90-degree zone. Norway’s largest port city, Tromso which sits north of the Arctic Circle, reached at least 85 degrees, a record for June.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/06/28/record-heat-europe-italy-rome-scandinavia/

Major accounting firm fined after its employees caught cheating on ethics exam. “Professional services firm Ernst & Young agreed to pay a $100 million fine on Tuesday after admitting that dozens of its accountants cheated on ethics exams, and that the firm misled federal regulators for months about its knowledge of the practice. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found that 49 EY audit professionals sent or received answer keys to ethics exams required to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), while others cheated on various continuing professional education courses required to maintain their licenses.”   https://thehill.com/policy/finance/3540441-ey-to-pay-100-million-sec-fine-for-employees-cheating-on-ethics-exam/

58% of Americans say they are ‘living from paycheck to paycheck’, including 30% of those making $250,000 a year or more. “As of May, 58% of Americans — roughly 150 million adults — live paycheck to paycheck, according to a new LendingClub report. That’s down slightly from 61% who reported living paycheck to paycheck in April but up from 54% in May 2021. Even top earners say they are stretched thin, the report found. Of those earning $250,000 or more, 30% are living paycheck to paycheck. (Another recent survey, from consulting firm Willis Towers Watson, estimated 36% of those earning $100,000 or more are living paycheck to paycheck.)”   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/27/more-than-half-of-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-amid-inflation.html   $250,000 a year and NO savings? Unbelievable.

Philippine government orders Rappler news site to shut down. “The site, which gained notoriety for reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, was ordered to shut a day before Duterte leaves office. Despite the order, Ressa vowed to keep the site running…. As vocal critics of Duterte, Ressa and Rappler have faced a series of criminal charges, probes and online attacks.”   https://www.dw.com/en/philippines-news-site-rappler-ordered-to-shut-down/a-62296819

Illinois progressive defeats billionaire funded opponent in Democratic Party primary election. “State Rep. Delia Ramirez trounced Chicago Alderman Gil Villegas in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ newly drawn and solidly blue 3rd Congressional District, besting an influx of spending by billionaire-backed organizations working to defeat progressive candidates nationwide. ‘Tonight, the Illinois 3rd Congressional District has spoken—we are rooted and we are ready,’ Ramirez said after she was officially declared the winner. As of this writing, Ramirez leads Villegas by a margin of 65.8% to 23.7%.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/29/progressive-delia-ramirez-defeats-billionaire-pac-money-win-illinois-primary

Manhattan Beach, California returns beachfront property seized from black family in 1924. “Charles and Willa Bruce bought the beachfront property for $1,225 in 1912. They turned the two lots into a sort of seaside resort, including a dance hall, a cafe and a lodge for Black beachgoers, who were banned from most of the other beaches in the area. A handful of other Black families bought adjacent properties and built their own houses. Both the Bruces and their Black neighbors were forced to endure harassment from white neighbors, as well as the Ku Klux Klan. Then, in 1924, the Manhattan Beach Board of Trustees voted to condemn Bruce’s Beach and the surrounding land and seized the properties by eminent domain, supposedly to build a public park. After the resort was demolished, the land sat vacant for decades while the Bruce family was forced to move out of Manhattan Beach.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/after-a-century-la-county-officially-returns-20-million-beachfront-property-to-black-family/

Number of Fox News viewers drops sharply when January 6th Committee hearings are broadcast. “During two daytime hearings last week, Fox averaged 727,000 viewers, the Nielsen company said. That compares to the 3.09 million who watched the hearings on MSNBC and the 2.21 million tuned in to CNN. It completely flips the typical viewing pattern for the news networks. During weekdays when the hearings are not taking place, Fox News Channel routinely has more viewers than the other two networks combined, Nielsen said.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/ratings-show-fox-news-viewers-tuning-out-jan-6-hearings/

June 28, 2022

Supreme Court rules that after game, on-field prayers led by public high school coach did not violate the ‘establishment clause‘ forbidding the favoring of one religion over others by the government. “The majority decision for Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh, leans heavily on evidence and statements that no student was coerced or ever said they felt coerced to participate in these post-game prayers…. [Justice Sonia] Sotomayor’s dissent includes actual embedded photographs of the prayers on the 50-yard line with the coach surrounded by players, showing that this isn’t some quiet personal observance…. Parents told the school district that their children participated in the prayers ‘solely to avoid separating themselves from the rest of the team’.”  https://reason.com/2022/06/27/supreme-court-says-high-school-coachs-postgame-prayers-are-protected-free-speech/   This implies that coaches of other faiths are also free to lead public prayers based on their personal religions during high school sporting events. “Satan, thank you for helping us crush our opponents today, demonstrating once again your dominance in this earthly, material realm.”

Companies sue over Florida restrictions on their inclusiveness and sensitivity training. “On Wednesday, three private companies filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, alleging that the state’s Stop WOKE Act violates the First Amendment rights of corporations to discuss certain concepts in workplace trainings. The plaintiffs… say that workplace trainings with a ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ focus are invaluable to their businesses and that a law banning them as illegal harassment violates their First and 14th Amendment rights.”   https://reason.com/2022/06/27/new-complaint-challenges-limits-to-corporate-speech-enacted-by-floridas-stop-woke-act/

California’s legislature to propose amendment to the state’s constitution guaranteeing abortion rights. “California voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to an abortion in their state constitution, a question sure to boost turnout on both sides of the debate during a pivotal midterm election year as Democrats try to keep control of Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade…. state lawmakers on Monday agreed to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this year that would leave no doubt about the status of abortion in California.”   https://ktla.com/news/california/california-voters-to-decide-on-constitutional-right-to-abortion/

Women living in states that ban abortion pills may need to obtain them from groups based overseas. “At least eight states immediately banned all forms of abortion, including medical abortions using the pill, within hours of the high court’s decision. Health-care providers who perform abortions, and in some cases people who help patients get the procedure, would face criminal prosecutions and years-long prison sentences. In Missouri, for example, anyone who performs an abortion faces up to 15 years in prison. However, the states prohibit the prosecution of women who receive abortions, according to the text of the legislation in the eight states. That suggests many women with unwanted pregnancies who cannot travel out of state for an abortion will likely end their pregnancies alone at home with abortion pills purchased online through international tele-health companies like Aid Access…. an international tele-medicine abortion provider founded by Dutch physician Dr. Rebecca Gomperts. Its European doctors provide online consultations and write prescriptions for abortion pills, which are then filled and mailed by a pharmacy in India.”   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/27/women-in-states-that-ban-abortion-will-still-be-able-to-get-abortion-pills-online-from-overseas.html

Indian woman seeking justice for victims of 2002 anti-Muslim riots is arrested. “[Teesta] Setalvad was picked by the anti-terrorism wing of the Gujarat police on Saturday afternoon from her home in Mumbai hours after India’s interior minister, Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi, accused her of giving baseless information to the police about the deadly anti-Muslim violence during Modi’s chief ministership of the state…. The police have accused her of ‘committing forgery and fabricating evidence’, among other charges…. The riots, triggered by a train burning incident, killed, according to some estimates, 2,000 people, a majority of them Muslim. Official figures stand at about 1,000…. ‘Detention of prominent human rights activist Teesta Setalvad by the Indian authorities is a direct reprisal against those who dare to question their human rights record,’ Amnesty India tweeted. ‘Targeting human rights activists for their legitimate human rights work is unacceptable.'”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/26/indian-police-arrest-gujarat-riots-victims-advocate

Sydney climate protesters disrupt traffic, eleven arrested. “Dozens of members of Blockade Australia, a climate activist group, moved across major roads causing peak-hour traffic chaos for motorists and pedestrians. Television footage showed some people throwing garbage bins, construction barricades and milk crates on the road…. Police estimated about 60 people were part of the protest. Blockade Australia said the rally was in response to ‘Australia’s continued blocking of climate action’.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/climate-change-protest-throws-sydney-traffic-into-chaos-11-arrested-2022-06-27/   Why not block roads around government offices or fossil fuel companies? You need the public on your side.

Sailors tell documentary maker that objects that swarmed ships were not drones. “Sailors on board a fleet of Navy warships sailing off the Southern California coast in July 2019 witnessed several of the ships being swarmed by a host of unidentified flying objects. The incident went on for hours, and then happened again and again throughout the month, with craft hovering and zipping around near the fleet with flashing multicolored lights. Navy chiefs have tried to explain away the incident, with the Deputy Director for Naval Intelligence saying he was ‘reasonably confident’ the objects were drones. But documentary filmmaker Jeremy Corbell, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, says that crew from the ships have told him the swarms of ‘at least 100’ UFOs possessed unexplainable capabilities far beyond traditional drones.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10939579/Naval-crew-confirm-warships-swarmed-100-worldly-UFOs.html

Journalists and legal observers harassed by police during protests against Supreme Court abortion ruling. “… several examples of LA riot police jabbing their batons into reporters and pushing them to the ground as they marched down the street demanding press members ‘leave the area’ were caught on video and posted to social media over the weekend. One reporter even had a weapon pointed in their face as they tried to film.… a reporter with the Los Angeles Times tweeted that officers refused to let him walk down a street where cops were using zip ties to arrest people…. according to AZ Central…. legal observers were detained by state police…”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3pgvk/la-police-beat-abortion-rights-protesters

U.S. military having trouble recruiting enlistees. “‘This is the start of a long drought for military recruiting,’ said Ret. Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank. He said the military has not had such a hard time signing recruits since 1973, the year the U.S. left Vietnam and the draft officially ended. Spoehr said he does not believe a revival of the draft is imminent, but ‘2022 is the year we question the sustainability of the all-volunteer force’…. More than half of the young Americans who answered the survey — about 57% — think they would have emotional or psychological problems after serving in the military. Nearly half think they would have physical problems…. Overall confidence in U.S. government institutions is also decreasing, and that has hit the U.S. military as well.”   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/every-branch-us-military-struggling-meet-2022-recruiting-goals-officia-rcna35078   Article doesn’t mention the effect of the current low unemployment rate, i.e., the end of the ‘poverty draft’.

German officer in charge of training NATO pilots at Texas airbase allegedly posted pictures of Nazi pilot and aircraft. “The German airman in charge of training NATO combat pilots in the U.S. is facing criticism for hanging a portrait of a Nazi fighter ace outside his office at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. German Air Force Col. Stefan Kleinheyer, the 80th Operations Group commander, has on display a print of a Messerschmitt 262 fighter jet above a bust of Wolfgang ‘Bombo’ Schenck, along with the World War II pilot’s signature. It’s one of at least four pieces of art of swastika-emblazoned Luftwaffe aircraft at Sheppard, though it’s unclear whether they predate Kleinheyer’s time as group commander.”  https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-air-force/2022/06/27/head-of-nato-pilot-training-in-texas-under-fire-for-showcasing-nazi-aces-portrait/

Amnesty International calls on Biden administration to abolish federal death penalty. “International human rights group Amnesty International on Monday called on U.S. President Joe Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to eliminate the federal death penalty and commute the sentences of death row inmates as the country approaches the 50th anniversary of the landmark capital punishment case Furman v. Georgia…. ‘Except for a temporary moratorium on federal executions, in the 18 months since he entered the White House as president, little progress on his abolitionist pledge has been visible…. What is more, his administration’s defense of the sentences of all of those currently on federal death row—opposing relief and moving them closer to execution—is cause for concern.'”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/27/amnesty-report-demands-biden-take-action-end-death-penalty

June 27, 2022

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch should be impeached for lying on Roe v. Wade views during confirmation hearings. “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday said she believes it’s an ‘impeachable offense’ for a Supreme Court justice to lie under oath…. ‘If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue, without basis,” she said, “we must see that through. There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and a hostile takeover of our democratic institutions.'”   https://news.yahoo.com/aoc-says-supreme-court-justices-155701061.html

Federal jury awards family of 16 year-old police shooting victim $21 million. “Elena Mondragon was 16 years old and pregnant when she and four other teenagers piled into a BMW in Hayward, Calif., in 2017. According to the complaint filed in 2018 by a law firm representing Elena’s family, the BMW was cut off by [an unmarked] van filled with undercover Fremont Police officers. The BMW driver, Rico Tiger was wanted for several robberies, which Mondragon had not known before the incident. The plainclothes officers drew AR-15s, and in a panic, Tiger tried to escape, prompting the undercover officers to fire at the car…. Tiger escaped, but was later arrested in San Francisco.”   https://www.insider.com/family-pregnant-teen-killed-police-awarded-21-million-2022-6

Governor of South Dakota says she’ll ban mailing of abortion pills too. “In South Dakota, abortions are illegal and performing the operation is now a felony unless it will save the life of the mother. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. [Gov. Kristi] Noem also said she would seek to ban telemedicine appointments for abortions, looking to stop abortion care providers from shipping abortion pills to women after an online consultation.”   https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3537449-doctors-who-perform-abortions-will-be-targeted-for-prosecution-south-dakota-governor-says/

President Biden pledges $200 billion for economic development and infrastructure – in other countries. “President Biden on Sunday relaunched a global infrastructure initiative meant to counter China’s growing influence, saying the U.S. would commit $200 billion to the effort in public and private financing to boost projects in developing and middle-income countries…. The plan, called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, is a rebranding of the Build Back Better World initiative that Biden unveiled at last year’s G-7 summit. The partnership was initially named after Biden’s sweeping domestic policy agenda, which has since stalled in Congress.”   https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3537495-biden-commits-200-billion-to-global-infrastructure-plan-meant-to-counter-china/   I’m so happy for these lucky countries. (sarcasm)

President of France criticizes Supreme Court abortion decision, despite having stricter law than Mississippi. “While [President Emmanuel] Macron was among a number of international leaders to criticize the decision, France has a stricter abortion law than the Mississippi law [before the court] that sought to impose a 15-week abortion ban. France limits most abortions to 14 weeks, which was only recently increased from 12 weeks in February. That makes it similar to other countries in Europe, although more restrictive than countries like England, where abortions are mostly limited to up to 24 weeks.”   https://www.foxnews.com/world/macron-criticizes-supreme-court-ruling-france-strict-abortion-limits   It’s sort of like criticizing Islamic countries for lack of religious tolerance and then banning headscarves and ‘burkinis’.

59% of Americans polled disapprove of Supreme Court’s decision to let states decide abortion rights, 67% disapprove among women, 52% say it’s a ‘step backward for America’. “The American public is rendering its initial judgment on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and most disapprove of the ruling, including two-thirds of women who disapprove. By more than a 20-point margin, Americans call it a step backward rather than forward for America. And women, by more than three to one, think the ruling will make women’s lives worse rather than better.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-react-to-roe-v-wade-overturn-opinion-poll-2022-06-26/

Mother of Los Angeles police officer claims he was fatally injured during crowd control training exercise. “Officer Houston Tipping suffered a spinal cord injury during the May 26 training at the police academy in Elysian Park and died three days later…. [Tipping’s mother, Shirley Huffman] alleged her son was ‘repeatedly struck in the head severely enough that he bled’, and that the beating resulted in injuries requiring stitches. He also suffered multiple breaks in his neck, which caused his death, the claim said.”   https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-24/lapd-officer-beaten-in-training-meant-to-simulate-a-mob-before-death-mother-claims   And how many police officers have actually been killed by crowds in real life? None that I’m aware of, at least not recently. “A US police officer who died after January’s Capitol riot had two strokes and died from natural causes, the chief medical examiner for Washington DC has ruled…. The autopsy found no evidence of an allergic reaction to chemicals, nor of internal or external injuries, Dr Francisco Diaz said. Officer [Brian] Sicknick, 42, was defending the Capitol building from supporters of then President Donald Trump who stormed it on 6 January.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56810371    CNN and some other U.S. news organizations are STILL implying Sicknick was killed by rioters. “‘Infuriating’: Partner of fallen Capitol officer responds to Trump’s claim: CNN’s Jim Acosta speaks to the partner of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick after Trump claimed that no one was killed during the Capitol riot except Ashli Babbitt.”   https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/06/18/exp-sandra-garza.cnn

Austin, Texas area doctors say interest in vasectomies and tubal ligation has surged since Supreme Court abortion decision. “‘We’ll typically receive about 200 or so phone calls on a given Friday,’ Dr. Koushik Shaw, founder of the Austin Urology Institute said. ‘Then we had over 400 phone calls to our office just this past Friday, with 70 occurring over just the one hour period after Roe v. Wade was passed. We had a record number of bookings for requests for vasectomies…we’ve actually increased our schedule availability just to accommodate the current surge that we’ve seen.’ Dr. Tyler Handcock, an OBYN at Women’s Health Domain, said his clinic has received over 100 online requests from women, interested in getting their tubes tied in light of the news.”   https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-abortion/scotus-abortion-decision-prompts-increase-in-requests-for-vasectomies-getting-tubes-tied-in-central-texas/

Turkish police break up Pride parade in Istanbul. “Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul after city authorities banned an LGBTQ Pride march, organizers said Sunday. Turkey’s largest city has banned the march since 2015, but large crowds nonetheless gather every year to mark the end of Pride Month. Organizers called the ban unlawful.”   https://nypost.com/2022/06/26/dozens-arrested-in-istanbul-as-lgbtq-marchers-try-to-defy-pride-ban/

Dr. Travis Taylor, of Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and Ancient Aliens fame, was reportedly the Pentagon’s top UFO expert. “After writing a book on how the US government should prepare for alien contact, Dr Travis Taylor was offered the job of chief scientist for the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force, the organisation created by Congress (sic) to track UFO sightings…. ‘Jay Stratton, the director of the UAP Task Force asked me if I would be interested in being the chief scientist,’ Taylor told 8 News Now‘s George Knapp. ‘And I was like, yeah, absolutely. Of course I would.'”   https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18969813/pentagon-ufo-scientist-revealed/   Strengthening my suspicion that the History Channel is actually a government-linked Disclosure Channel used to gradually drip concealed information out to the public, such as the escape of Adolf Hitler after WWII. I believe the UAP Task Force was organized by the Pentagon, at the request of Congress.

June 26, 2022

Rhode Island police officer running for state senate drops out of race after video emerges of him punching his black, female opponent in the head. “A Providence, Rhode Island, police officer who had been running for state Senate as a Republican was arrested Saturday on charges related to his alleged physical assault of his female political opponent at an abortion rights rally a day earlier. The arrest of patrolman Jeann Lugo came hours after a video of his alleged attack while off-duty on Jen Rourke outside the Rhode Island State House went viral on Twitter…”   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/25/ri-cop-allegedly-attacks-political-opponent-at-abortion-rally-after-roe-ruling.html

Four Kansas congressmen were on Trump presidential pardon request list. “Outgoing U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who championed Donald Trump’s baseless claims of 2020 election fraud, asked the White House to pardon four members of the Kansas congressional delegation for joining challenges of presidential election results in swing states…. Brooks sought general pardons for ‘every congressman and senator who voted to reject the Electoral College vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania’. That included four Kansas Republicans: U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and U.S. Reps. Ron Estes, Jake LaTurner and Tracey Mann.”   https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/congressman-asked-trump-for-presidential-pardon-of-four-kansas-federal-lawmakers/

Japanese city breaks the country’s June high temperature record. “The mercury soared to 104.4 degrees (40.2 Celsius) in Isesaki, a city of more than 200,000 people [in Gunma prefecture] about 50 miles northwest of Tokyo. That marked Japan’s hottest temperature ever observed during June…. Isesaki was among ‘dozens’ of locations in Japan to set monthly high temperature records Saturday, according to Thierry Goose, who monitors temperatures worldwide. He tweeted that several locations also set records for their highest temperatures seen in any month.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/06/25/japan-heat-wave-climate-record/

More protests against Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling expected around the country this weekend. “More demonstrations are expected Saturday and Sunday in cities big and small, including in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, California and many others.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/25/us/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-saturday/index.html

The establishment campaign to keep Jeremy Corbyn from becoming the U.K.’s prime minister. “The month before the 2019 election, I decided to go through the newspaper clippings from Corbyn’s four years as Labour leader to try to locate all the hit pieces on him that emanated from the British military and intelligence establishment. What I found shocked me. Some 34 major national stories attacking Corbyn as a ‘threat’ to British security had come from elements within the national security state…. One example came a week after Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015. The Sunday Times carried a story quoting a ‘senior serving general’ who warned that the armed forces would take ‘direct action’ to stop a Corbyn government. The anonymous general added: ‘There would be mass resignations at all levels and you would face the very real prospect of an event which would effectively be a mutiny.’ …. In September 2018, two anonymous senior government sources told The Sunday Times that Corbyn had been ‘summoned’ for a ‘”facts of life” talk on terror’ by then MI5 chief Andrew Parker.” …. Then, two months later, the Daily Telegraph ‘learnt’ from an unspecified source that Corbyn had ‘recently met’ with Alex Younger, then head of MI6, during which ‘the importance of the agency’s work and the severity of the threats facing Britain were made clear to him’. The imputation was again that Corbyn was naive to the threats facing the U.K….. From 2016-19, The Guardian published 1,215 stories mentioning Labour and ‘anti-Semitism’, an average of around one per day, according to a search on Factiva, the database of newspaper articles. In the same period, The Guardian published just 194 articles mentioning the Conservative Party’s much more serious problem with Islamophobia.”   https://consortiumnews.com/2022/06/24/corbyn-on-the-establishments-campaign-against-him/   The quotes around ‘anti-Semitism’ are mine – the overwhelming majority of what was being hyped as anti-Semitism within the Labour Party was actually criticism of Israel, i.e., criticism of Israel = anti-Semitism.

June 25, 2022

Supreme Court overturns the court’s own 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, allowing each state governments to set its own policies (in contrast to their recent decision on concealed carry laws, which overruled state governments with strict gun restrictions). “The decision, most of which was leaked in early May, means that abortion rights will be rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions likely to follow…. Several states — among them Mississippi, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — still have decades-old abortion bans on their books; with Roe overturned, those states could revert to a pre-Roe environment…. South Dakota, Kentucky and Louisiana have laws in place that lawmakers designed explicitly to take effect immediately upon the fall of the Roe precedent. Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas – where most abortions are already illegal after about six weeks of pregnancy – have similar laws, which would take effect after 30 days…. seven other ‘trigger ban’ states have laws that would require state officials such as governors or attorneys general to take action to implement them.”   https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn

Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling ignores 9th amendment, says critic. “At the heart of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturns Roe v. Wade (1973) and eliminates the constitutional right to abortion, is Alito’s objection that ‘the Constitution makes no mention of abortion’…. On June 8, 1789, [James Madison] gave a speech to Congress proposing the group of amendments that would ultimately become the Bill of Rights…. ‘It has been observed also against a bill of rights, that, by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration,’ he said, ‘and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the general government, and were consequently insecure.’ Madison acknowledged that ‘this is one of the most plausible arguments I have ever heard urged against the admission of a bill of rights into this system; But, I conceive, that may be guarded against. I have attempted it.’ Madison’s attempt became enshrined in the Constitution as the Ninth Amendment. Here is what it says: ‘The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.’ In short, unenumerated rights get the same respect as enumerated ones.”   https://reason.com/2022/06/24/alitos-abortion-ruling-overturning-roe-is-an-insult-to-the-9th-amendment/

Pro-choice protests spring up around the country. “Protests in favor of abortion rights exploded in size following the justices’ ruling sending the issue back to the states to decide, both in Washington, D.C. and in state capitals across the country…. protests were only expected to grow in the coming days…”   https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/06/24/abortion-access-protests-across-country-supreme-court-roe-v-wade   “In New York, at least 25 people have been arrested after demonstrations across the city Friday, according to the New York Post. Similar arrests were made in Los Angeles, according to KTLA, while [arrests] of protesters in Chicago, Washington [D.C.] and other… cities also took place…. It comes as tens of thousands descended on streets across the US amid mixed reactions at the Supreme Court tearing up Roe v Wade and handing the rights to abortions back to states after nearly 50 years.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10952241/Anti-abortion-activists-tear-gassed-breach-Arizona-Capitol-building.html

ACLU to appeal federal court ruling upholding Arkansas’s anti-boycott law. “[Arkansas Times publisher Alan Leveritt] brought his case after being asked by the University of Arkansas as a condition of it continuing to advertise in the paper to certify in writing that the Times was not involved in boycotting Israel…. ‘Though boycotting Israel could not have been further from our minds and though state funding is a significant source of our income, our answer was no. We don’t take political positions in return for advertising.’ …. After losing in district court, Leveritt and the ACLU appealed to the 8th Circuit—and won, with a three-judge panel deciding in their favor. But the state of Arkansas asked for a rehearing en banc, meaning the case would be heard by all of the 8th Circuit’s judges. The state’s request was granted, and now the court has ruled for the state…. ‘The court’s conclusion that politically-motivated consumer boycotts are not protected by the First Amendment misreads Supreme Court precedent and departs from this nation’s longstanding traditions,’ said ACLU staff attorney Brian Hauss in a statement. ‘It ignores the fact that this country was founded on a boycott of British goods and that boycotts have been a fundamental part of American political discourse ever since.'”   https://reason.com/2022/06/23/boycotts-arent-protected-speech-rules-appeals-court/

Federal jury awards homeowner compensation for damage caused by police. “The April 29 federal district court ruling in Baker v. City of McKinney…. is at odds with several previous federal court decisions (in other circuits), which have held that property owners are not entitled to ‘just compensation’ under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment when police damage or destroy property in the course of law enforcement operations…. In December 2019, the US Court of Federal Claims ruled that the US Army Corps of Engineers was liable for a taking when it deliberately flooded numerous properties in Texas during Hurricane Harvey in order to prevent even worse flooding elsewhere. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could be liable for a taking when it inflicted recurrent flooding on property, even though the purpose of the flooding was to protect farm interests in the region. If the ‘police power’ theory doesn’t immunize the government in these kinds of cases, despite potentially massive benefits to public safety, it is difficult to see why law-enforcement operations should be given blanket immunity form takings liability.”   https://reason.com/volokh/2022/06/23/federal-jury-awards-59000-in-takings-compensation-to-property-owner-whose-house-was-severely-damaged-by-swat-team-pursuing-a-suspect/

Sen. Bernie Sanders tell constituent he ‘strongly supports’ release of Leonard Peltier. “…Leonard Peltier has spent over 40 years of his life in prison despite the fact that the government has admitted they do not know who is responsible for the crime he was convicted of,” Sanders said in the June 8 email. “Despite national and international campaigns to free Peltier, he remains incarcerated, where he continues to advocate for the rights of native peoples…. I have and will continue to strongly support petitions for Leonard Peltier’s release.”   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-leonard-peltier-biden_n_62a25cf9e4b04a61734c347d   “Sanders is the fourth U.S. senator in recent months to advocate for President Joe Biden to give clemency to the now-77-year-old, ailing activist and send him home. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) have separately and publicly called on Biden to release Peltier.” (same source)

Arizona state troopers use teargas to clear pro-choice protester from area around state capitol. “Late Friday, law enforcement in Arizona used tear gas to disperse a crowd of abortion rights supporters protesting outside the State Capitol in Phoenix. ‘Troopers deployed tear gas after a crowd of protesters repeatedly pounded on the glass doors of the State Senate Building,’ Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bart Graves told CNN. The crowd then moved across the street to the Wesley Bolin Plaza, where police used the tear gas after a monument was vandalized, Graves said.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/24/us/supreme-court-roe-v-wade-protests/index.html

Two killed, 14 injured in Oslo nightclub mass shooting. “Several of the wounded victims were being treated for severe injuries, officials said. The London Pub, which opened in 1979, is a popular gay nightclub and bar in central Oslo. No employees were injured in the shooting.”   https://nypost.com/2022/06/25/norway-mass-shooting-at-gay-club-leaves-2-dead-at-least-14-injured/

Eighteen African migrants die while storming border of Spanish enclave. “Eighteen people have died after a mass attempt to cross from Morocco into Spain’s enclave of Melilla. About 2,000 people approached Melilla at dawn on Friday and more than 500 managed to enter a border control area after cutting a fence with shears, the Spanish government’s local delegation said in a statement.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/eighteen-killed-as-throng-of-migrants-storms-spains-melilla-border-from-morocco

Three charged in carjacking kidnapping of FBI agent in Rapid City, South Dakota. “Three accused of kidnapping an FBI agent, stealing a Dodge Durango, and using a deadly weapon to commit a crime made their first appearance in court on Friday in Rapid City. Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, Deyvin Morales, and Lourdes Alondra Bonilla are charged with kidnapping, carjacking, and brandishing a fire arm to commit violence.”   https://www.newscenter1.tv/three-accused-of-kidnapping-an-fbi-agent-make-first-appearance-in-court/   Whoops! I’ll bet it was a black one.

Black man sues Las Vegas police after being mistaken a white felon who was 26 years older, then jailed for six days. “Shane Lee Brown… was arrested on a bench warrant and spent six days in jail after being pulled over for a traffic violation on January 8, 2020, despite telling police repeatedly that he was the ‘wrong guy’…. Shane Neal Brown, then-49, was busted for a gun charge in 2019, but failed to appear in court in November of that year. A judge put out a bench warrant for his arrest at the time, ordering no bail if he was found…. He’s described as being an older white man with brown hair and blue eyes, has a beard and stands at 5-feet-11-inches tall. Shane Lee Brown, who was 23 at the time, is a 5-foot-7 black man who told police he had only been arrested for traffic violations…. the real Brown they wanted was already being held in custody in San Bernardino County, California, Authorities discovered this on January 22, 2020.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10951375/Black-man-arrested-NV-cops-weapons-charges-actually-wanted-white-man-name.html

Man held at Guantanamo prison camp for 15 years without being charged is returned to Afghanistan. “Assadullah Haroon Gul, held at Guantanamo under the name Haroon al-Afghani, departed the prison and flew on a US Air Force plane to Qatar, which for years has served as an interlocutor between the Taliban and the US…. Gul was sent to Guantanamo in 2007, after the US accused him of being a member of Hezb-e-Islami (HIA), a militia that fought against the allied invasion of Afghanistan. HIA entered into a peace agreement with the then-US-backed Afghan government in 2016. Following a decision to clear him for transfer out of the prison, a federal court ruled last October that his continued detention at Guantanamo was unlawful, the first time a Guantanamo detainee’s imprisonment has been ruled as such in a decade. The US on Friday complied with the court order, allowing his release.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-afghan-national-released-after-15-years-detention-without-charge

Australia using facial recognition tech to track its citizens. “If a person in Western Australia contracts Covid-19, they must remain in home quarantine for the following seven days – as do their close contacts. The police check up on their whereabouts by sending periodic text messages and require a selfie to be sent back to them within 15 minutes. The police use facial recognition technology and GPS tracking to determine if the person who took the selfie is at home. If they are not, they quickly follow up with a knock on the door and a potentially hefty fine…. ‘Like nuclear energy and biological weapons, facial recognition poses a threat to human society and our basic liberties that far outweigh any potential benefits,’ [Leila Nashashibi] says. ‘Facial recognition is unlike any other form of surveillance because it enables automated and ubiquitous monitoring of entire populations, and it can be nearly impossible to avoid. As it spreads, people will be too afraid to participate in social movements and political demonstrations. Free speech will be chilled.'”   https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220616-the-nation-where-your-faceprint-is-already-being-tracked

Turkey claims to have assassinated another senior PKK leader in Iraq. “Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency identified the commander as Delal Azizoglu, code-named ‘Raperin’ while attributing her death to a National Intelligence Agency (MIT) operation in Sulaimani…. The PKK has not confirmed the commander’s death…. The MIT said they had killed PKK commander Mehmet Dogan in [a drone attack] which targeted Sulaimani’s Aghjalar sub district last month.”   https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/24062022

U.N. Human Rights Office says Israeli forces killed Palestinian-American journalist. “UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva that the organisation found that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli forces. ‘It is deeply disturbing that the Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation,’ she said.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/shireen-abu-akleh-un-finds-israel-forces-killed

Journalist suggests that U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland should also round up U.S. war criminals. “… U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during a surprise trip to Ukraine this week [announced] that a veteran prosecutor known for hunting down Nazis would lead American efforts to investigate Russian war crimes. ‘We will pursue every avenue available to make sure that those who are responsible for these atrocities are held accountable.’ …. before conducting investigations of civilian harm committed by [U.S.] drone pilots and special operators across war zones from Syria to Somalia, and Libya to Yemen, the U.S. should start with the original architects of the ‘war on terror’ and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, including former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.”   https://theintercept.com/2022/06/25/russia-war-crimes-us-accountability/

U.N. says 54 Haitian prison inmates have starved to death so far in 2022. “The country’s severely overcrowded prison system has long struggled to provide food and water to inmates. It blames insufficient government funds, and the problem has worsened in recent months, leading to a new rise in severe malnutrition and deaths…. inmates have been forced to rely solely on friends or family for food and water, and many times they are unable to visit because gang-related violence makes some areas impassable, said Michelle Karshan, co-founder of the non-profit Health Through Walls, which provides healthcare in Haiti’s prisons.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/23/haiti-prisons-starvation-un-deaths-crisis

U.S. paratrooper pleads guilty to leaking information about his unit to neo-Nazi group. “Ethan Melzer was arrested in June 2020 after sending sensitive information about the location, movements and security measures of his regiment in encrypted messages to members of a group called Order of Nine Angles. The Counter Extremism Project says the Order of Nine Angles is full of neo-Nazi-Satanists whose nihilistic ideology ‘supports violent jihadist terrorism, in line with its accelerationist philosophy to support the destruction of the current world order’…. The three counts to which Melzer pleaded guilty are attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/us-solider-pleads-guilty-to-plotting-rampage-with-neo-nazi-occultists/

Norwegian man found guilty of murder in gun-less mass casualty attack is sentenced to mental care. “A man was found guilty Friday of murder and attempted murder for fatally stabbing five people and wounding four others in southern Norway when he attacked strangers with a bow and arrows and knives. The Buskerud District Court sentenced Espen Andersen Bråthen to compulsory mental health care. Three forensic psychiatric experts who assessed him concluded he has chronic paranoid schizophrenia and was mentally ill at the time of the attack on Oct. 13, 2021.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/norwegian-man-convicted-of-killing-5-in-bow-and-arrow-attack/

June 24, 2022

Supreme Court rules that New York state’s extreme restrictions on concealed firearms are unconstitutional. “Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the majority opinion for the ideologically divided court, writing that New York’s “proper-cause requirement” prevented law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right, and its licensing regime is unconstitutional…. ‘We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion.’ …. In a concurring opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Kavanuagh noted the court’s decision does not prohibit states from imposing licensing requirements for carrying handguns, and leaves untouched existing regimes in 43 states. Instead, it only impacts more stringent licensing rules in affect in six states, including New York…. In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito criticized [Justice Stephen] Breyer’s dissent for recounting recent mass shootings. ‘Does the dissent think that laws like New York’s prevent or deter such atrocities? Will a person bent on carrying out a mass shooting be stopped if he knows that it is illegal to carry a handgun outside the home?'”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-new-york-gun-law-second-amendment/   New York City Mayor Eric Adams noted that the court’s ruling will ‘put New Yorkers at further risk of gun violence’, highlighting the fact that criminals there are already carrying concealed weapons with impunity, while law abiding citizens were forced to move about the city unarmed, hoping they would not be preyed upon.

Federal student loans canceled for students who were defrauded. “[About 200,000] eligible borrowers went to one of dozens of schools that the department has already determined engaged in misconduct that justifies debt relief, including The Art Institute, ITT Tech and Westwood College. Another 64,000 borrowers who have already filed borrower defense claims may also be eligible for debt relief under the proposed settlement agreement and will get decisions on their applications within rolling deadlines, based on how long their application has been pending.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/biden-student-loan-debt-cancellation-borrower-defense/index.html

Another $450 million in Ukraine military aid approved by Biden administration. “The most significant part of the package is the four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, wheeled vehicles capable of launching barrages of guided rockets at targets up to approximately 40 miles away…. Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has approved more than $6 billion in security assistance.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/biden-administration-ukraine-military-assistance/index.html   You can kiss that imaginary Build Back Better money goodbye, America, but you’ll probably have it dangled in front of you again, just before the 2024 election.

Federal agents raid home of former Justice Dept. official implicated in Trump coup attempt, serve subpoenas to others. “Federal authorities on Wednesday raided the Virginia home of former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into the push to overturn the results of the 2020 election…. federal agents [also] served multiple subpoenas to individuals who agreed to participate in schemes by the Trump campaign to secure a slate of fake Electoral College electors in an effort to keep President Trump in power despite his loss in the 2020 presidential election.”   https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jeffrey-clark-home-raided-justice-department-1373108/

Supreme Court rules that cops can’t be sued for failing to inform suspects of their rights when arrested. “The Supreme Court lessened the impact of its landmark Miranda ruling Thursday, saying that while police must still advise suspects of their right to remain silent and consult a lawyer, they cannot be sued for damages for failing to do so…. the court’s conservative majority said Thursday that a Miranda warning, while necessary to protect a suspect’s constitutional rights, does not amount to a constitutional right by itself, and therefore is not grounds for a suit against an officer who fails to issue the warning…. Charles Weisselberg, a UC Berkeley law professor, warned that eliminating suits for Miranda violations would invite police to question suspects without any warnings. After the California Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that a recently approved ballot measure, sponsored by prosecutors, allowed juries to hear evidence obtained without Miranda warnings, he said, police statewide were trained to ignore the warnings, a practice that ended only when the Ninth Circuit authorized damage suits in 2000.”   https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Supreme-Court-dramatically-scales-back-iconic-17262149.php

June 23, 2022

State senator sues Texas Dept. of Public Safety for information on Uvalde school shooting. “State Sen. Roland Gutierrez sued the Texas Department of Public Safety Wednesday after the agency denied the lawmaker’s request for records related to last month’s shooting in Uvalde. Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, said DPS has ‘unlawfully denied’ his request and hasn’t responded to the senator within the timeframe set forth in Texas law. Gutierrez said he made the request May 31…. Gutierrez’s lawsuit also notes that some responses denying the requests cited a concern over interfering with an ongoing investigation by 38th Judicial District Attorney, Christina Mitchell Busbee. But according to the complaint, Busbee has specifically said she is ‘not investigating anything’, and so such concern is unfounded, the complaint argues.”   https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2022/06/22/427571/texas-senator-who-represents-uvalde-sues-dps-over-school-shooting-information-request/

More high temperature records broken, this time in eastern U.S. “… Macon [Georgia] set a new heat record for the day with 105 degrees, according to the National Weather Service…. [Nashville] also broke its temperature record for the date of June 22, reporting 101 degrees shortly before 3 p.m., the [National Weather Service said.… At least a dozen high-temperature records were tied or broken across the Eastern US from Arkansas to the Carolinas — all the way to New York.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/22/weather/heat-wave-southeast-wednesday/index.html

Brooklyn Center, Minnesota settles Daunte Wright police shooting lawsuit for $3.25 million. “[Wright] was shot once in the chest by a Brooklyn Center police officer after his car was stopped for expired tabs [aka registration stickers] and an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror…. [Officer Kimberley] Potter is heard on video yelling ‘Taser’ several times just before she fires her pistol.”   https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/06/22/attorneys-daunte-wright-family-has-a-325m-settlement-agreement-with-city-of-brooklyn-center

Man caught smoking on New York subway platform reportedly ‘threw himself down a flight of stairs’ after been told to put it out by a police officer. “The detective who was assaulted had told the 24-year-old suspect, Alex Eremin, to put out a cigarette he was smoking on the southbound platform on Tuesday night. Eremin then threw himself down a flight of stairs, police said, and when the detective went to check on him, he allegedly tried to drag the detective down the rest of the stairs, police said. During the struggle, Eremin allegedly made several attempts to grab the detective’s gun, police said.”   https://nypost.com/2022/06/22/nypd-tweaks-solo-subway-patrol-policy-after-detective-attacked/   I hope there is video of this, because I’ve never seen anyone throw themselves down a flight of stairs.

Governor of Okinawa compares U.S. invasion of the islands in WWII to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “… Okinawa’s governor, Tamaki Denny, drew comparisons to what innocent civilians are enduring today in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. ‘It is an indescribable shock to see what is happening there now remind us of what happened here 77 years ago during the battle of Okinawa.'”   https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220623_14/   Japan, victim of U.S. aggression in WWII… (sarcasm) The Japanese version of this story, which was the top story on the June 23rd, 7 p.m. NHK national news broadcast, was even more explicit. Survivors commented that the bombardment of civilians in Ukraine, which they’ve seen on TV, is ‘exactly like what happened to us’ during the U.S. invasion. While what happened in Okinawa was probably far worse, since far more people were killed, it was not the U.S. that set that conflict in motion, nor was it unlike what Japan itself meted out to civilians in multiple Asian countries before and during WWII, something rarely mentioned by the Japanese media, which typically focuses on the suffering of the people of Japan during the war.

Cost of rent continues to spike in many cities. “Nationally, single-family rent jumped 14% year over year in April, according to a report released Tuesday by the real estate data firm CoreLogic…. Miami by far tops the list, posting a nearly 41% jump for the year ending in April. Here’s a look at the metros where rent prices are increasing the most:

• Miami: 40.8%
• Orlando: 25.8%
• Phoenix: 17.8%
• San Diego: 17.3%
• Las Vegas: 17%   https://money.com/rent-increases-break-records-13-months/

U.S. power companies inadequately prepared for a catastrophic, grid destroying solar flare. “Mitigating this threat could be as simple as outfitting vulnerable transformers with capacitors, relatively inexpensive devices that block the flow of direct current…. To date, however, American utility companies haven’t widely deployed current-blocking devices to the live grid…. In 2005, when George W. Bush, a former oil executive, occupied the Oval Office, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which included a grab bag of giveaways to the oil and gas industry. It rescinded much of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority to regulate the utility industry. Reliability standards are now developed and enforced by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation—a trade association that represents the interests of those same companies…. Under pressure from the federal government, NERC enacted stricter standards in 2019…. Though the new standards require utilities to fix vulnerabilities in their systems, the companies themselves determine the right approach—and the timeline.”   https://www.wired.com/story/sun-storm-end-civilization/

FBI has still not released a report on its fatal, 2020 shooting of anti-government extremist Eric Allport. “The Bureau has acknowledged to The Detroit News that its review of the incident was completed last fall, but thus far has been unresponsive to requests for its release. It took The News more than a year just to obtain the autopsy, which also is a public document.”   https://www.mininggazette.com/opinion/editorial/2022/06/fbi-must-release-review-in-killing-of-extremist/   It hasn’t released its report on the 2021 Sunrise, Florida gun battle that resulted in three deaths either. “[FBI Special Agent in Charge, George] Piro said the local FBI office, in standard procedure, is still investigating the child-porn case against 55-year-old David Lee Huber, even though the divorced computer programmer had killed himself after blasting away at agents. He also said that an independent FBI review team from Washington, D.C., is investigating the Sunrise shooting, including what procedures agents had followed and protections they had used. He said both probes are still ongoing, and that a redacted version of the shooting review eventually would be released by the FBI and Justice Department to the public.”   https://www.midfloridanewspapers.com/highlands_news-sun/a-year-later-fbi-still-reviewing-how-ambush-killed-2-agents/article_37bf69c6-8740-11ec-bb84-3b3b9071f9f3.html   It sounds like a full report of the fatal shooting of Michael Reinoehl has not been released yet either. “In 2020, members of a task force led by US Marshals and consisting of members of several Washington State law-enforcement agencies killed Michael Reinoehl, a 48-year-old fugitive who was wanted for killing a member of the right-wing Patriot Prayer group at a protest in Portland, Oregon…. Documents newly obtained by Motherboard from the Marshals via public-records request depict the operation that resulted in his killing as poorly coordinated…. The documents—principally an investigative report by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, which was not involved in the killing—show that police were primed… to believe that they should expect violence from him.”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgdea3/docs-reveal-chaotic-planning-execution-of-raid-that-killed-portland-antifa-shooter-michael-reinoehl

No money for school lunches, but plenty for the Pentagon. “The Biden administration’s March request for $813 billion in military spending for Fiscal Year 2023 already marked a $31 billion increase over the current, historically large sum of $782 billion. During its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the House Armed Services Committee approved by a 42-17 margin Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-Maine) amendment to boost the topline budget by $37 billion…. Public Citizen, meanwhile, noted that the military spending increase approved by the House panel costs 10 times more than preserving the free school lunch program that Congress is allowing to expire ‘because it’s too expensive’.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/22/unconscionable-house-committee-adds-37-billion-bidens-813-billion-military-budget

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons. “Addressing the first meeting of state parties to the landmark United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in Vienna, Guterres called the world’s thermonuclear arsenals ‘a deadly reminder of countries’ inability to solve problems through dialogue and collaboration’. ‘These weapons offer false promises of security and deterrence—while guaranteeing only destruction, death, and endless brinksmanship,’ Guterres said in his video message. ‘Let’s eliminate these weapons before they eliminate us.'”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/22/demanding-global-ban-un-chief-calls-nuclear-weapons-recipe-annihilation

Mother of Johnny Hurley sues former Arvada, Colorado police officer Kraig Brownlow and Chief of Police Link Strate over fatal 2021 shooting of her son, after he was mistaken for man who shot police officer. “Despite stark differences between the two men, [plaintiff Kathleen] Boleyn claims Brownlow shot Hurley without any warning after her son had holstered his pistol and was removing the magazine from Troyke’s assault rifle…. Police identified the active shooter, Ronald Troyke, as a heavy-set man wearing a black T-shirt, a bucket hat, black boots and white tube socks. Hurley, on the other hand, was slim and wore a baseball cap, red T-shirt and blue jeans.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/cop-who-killed-hero-who-stopped-active-shooter-sued/

June 22, 2022

Response time after 911 call to assist stranded hiker on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire was reportedly 7 hours, man froze to death. “The victim, Xi Chen, 53 years old, was an experienced hiker and had reservations for the Lakes of the Cloud Hut at the top, according to his wife…. This was one of his final messages: ‘In trouble can’t move.’ His wife tried calling but got no answer. She then dialed 911. It was now 6:30 [p.m.]. Rescuers were busy on other calls. At least half a dozen other rescues took place due to the weather. It took time, but they finally got to Chen…. That was seven hours after the initial 911 call. Chen was taken to a local hospital but did not survive.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/mass-man-hiking-mountain-nh-124324137.html

People in Uvalde were concerned about shooter long before attack on elementary school. “A Uvalde school teacher has said gunman Salvador Ramos ‘scared her’ and began ‘dressing like school shooter’ in the months leading up to the massacre…. [Texas Department of Public Safety, Col. Steve McCraw] also pointed out that Ramos’ disturbing behavior was well known in the small town of 17,000, referencing footage of the shooter holding a bag of dead cats that was posted online…. ‘Out of all these interviews, how many times did they tell you he was the one they were worried about?’ Texas senator Paul Bettencourt asked McCraw.  ‘Several times. We had one teacher who said she was always worried about him,’ McCraw answered…. In another bombshell revelation, McCraw revealed that the door to the classroom that Ramos had been hiding behind had not been locked – contradicting earlier assertions from Arredondo’s department that the chief had been frantically trying to track down keys for more than an hour, to open the fourth-grade classroom’s door.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10940019/Teacher-says-Ramos-student-scared-dressed-like-school-shooter.html   “‘He dated my ex-friend. And then they broke up,’ [Keanna] Baxter, 17, said Friday. ‘And then he tried to date me after that, but I told him no. Because he always had this kind of eerie sense about him…. She told me that he was scary,’ Baxter said. ‘Like he would get super violent. And when he would lose his temper, she would literally be scared for her life, basically…. He was overall just aggressive, like violent. He would try and fight women. He would try and fight anyone who told him no — if he didn’t get his way, he’d go crazy. He was especially violent towards women…. He was a loner. He didn’t have any friends,’ Baxter said. ‘To be honest, no one ever spoke to him. Just because people were genuinely afraid of him.'”   https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/If-he-didn-t-get-his-way-he-d-go-17204398.php

Mexico’s president renews his offer of asylum for Julian Assange. “‘Mexico will open its doors to Assange if it is resolved to free him,’ López Obrador said, renewing his offer of asylum to the Wikileaks founder…. López Obrador described Assange – who published troves of classified material on the Wikileaks website including a 2007 U.S. military video dubbed ‘collateral murder’ that shows a U.S. helicopter in Iraq fatally attacking civilians, including two Reuters journalists – as a ‘prisoner of conscience’ who has been ‘unfairly treated’. ‘His crime, in quotation marks, was to report serious human rights violations in the world as well as interference of the United States government in the internal affairs of other countries – that’s what Assange did,’ he said.”   https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/amlo-to-bring-up-case-of-wikileaks-founder-assange-during-meeting-with-biden/

South Dakota’s attorney general impeached over death of pedestrian in the autumn of 2020. “[Jason] Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher the night of the crash that he might have struck a deer or other large animal and has said he didn’t know he struck a man — 55-year-old Joseph Boever — until he returned to the scene the next morning. Criminal investigators said they didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s statements, and several senators made clear they didn’t either…. Investigators had determined the attorney general walked right past Boever’s body and the flashlight Boever had been carrying — still illuminated the next morning — as he looked around the scene the night of the crash. Ravnsborg said neither he nor the county sheriff who came to the scene knew that Boever’s body was lying just feet from the pavement on the highway shoulder.”   https://apnews.com/article/jason-ravnsborg-south-dakota-impeachments-e5d62c76eedecf4c9290fecd821496aa

Recount finds Texas centrist beat progressive in Democratic Party primary by 289 votes. “Despite being hammered over his anti-abortion position by [Jessica] Cisneros and her allies, including EMILY’s List, which invested big late in the race, [long-time incumbent Henry] Cuellar again emerged with the nomination in the South Texas district, which runs south from San Antonio to the US-Mexico border.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/21/politics/henry-cuellar-defeats-jessica-cisneros-texas/index.html

Judge in Delaware allows lawsuit of election machine company against Fox News to proceed. “‘Dominion alleged the executives of Fox Corporation believed Fox News would benefit if it endorsed former President Trump’s election fraud narrative and suffer if it did not; thus, the executives of Fox Corporations ‘pressur[ed]’ [Fox News to] ‘lure the Fox audience back home’ and ‘encouraged’ on-air personalities to perpetuate false claims about Dominion; and Fox Corporation ‘rewarded’ those at Fox News who complied with the alleged instructions and ‘punished’ those who did not,’ [Judge Eric] Davis wrote, summarizing Dominion’s arguments…. Dominion’s [$1.6 billion] lawsuit is set to go to trial on April 2023. The company is separately facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Smartmatic, a rival election technology company also ensnared in election conspiracy theories, which is moving forward in New York.”   https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-parent-company-dominion-defamation-lawsuit-rupert-lachlan-murdoch-2022-6

Trump campaign and supporters pressured and bullied state officials to change 2020 election results. “The [January 6th] committee sought to show Tuesday that the institutions held because a few key people here or there chose not just to risk their jobs or careers, but their lives and their reputations as well, to do so…. [Arizona House speaker Rusty Bowers] testified that he received ‘in excess of 20,000 emails and tens of thousands of voicemails and texts, which saturated our offices and we were unable to work, at least communicate.’ At his home, meanwhile, he said he now has ‘to worry what will happen on Saturdays, because we have various groups come by.’ They ‘have had panel trucks with videos of me proclaiming me to be a pedophile, and a pervert, and a corrupt politician, and blaring loudspeakers in my neighborhood.’ They [still] threaten him and his neighbors…. ‘There is no permanent election worker or supervisor in that [Fulton county, Georgia election office] video who’s still there,’ [Shaye Moss] said. It’s not just her or her colleagues in Fulton County. Election officials are quitting in droves because the simple act of tallying votes has become a dangerous profession.”   https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/jan-6-hearings-new-testimony-reveals-the-horrible-price-public-servants-paid-for-standing-up-to-trumps-election-lies.html

Chinese officials probe slow police response to Tangshan restaurant beatings. “Policeman Chen Zhiwei had told investigators that he had arrived at the scene of the crime around five minutes after receiving the call at 2.41 am. But the report made clear that police did not arrive until 3.09am, a full 28 minutes later, by which time all the suspects had long since disappeared…. Of the four women attacked, Yuan Mou, 24, and Li Mou, 29, were lightly injured, but Wang Moumou, 31, and Liu Moumou, 29, were sent to intensive care and are still in hospital eleven days later.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10938433/Cop-fired-slow-response-brutal-attack-women-rejected-thugs-advances-Chinese-diner.html

Facebook settles another discrimination lawsuit over targeted ads. “According to terms of the settlement, Facebook will stop using an advertising tool for housing ads that the government said employed a discriminatory algorithm to locate users who “look like” other users based on characteristics protected by the Fair Housing Act, the Justice Department said. By 31 December, Facebook must stop using the tool once called “Lookalike Audience”, which relies on an algorithm that the US said discriminates on the basis of race, sex and other characteristics…. Facebook already agreed in March 2019 to overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing, credit and employment ads as part of a legal settlement with a group including the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Fair Housing Alliance and others. The changes announced then were designed so that advertisers who wanted to run housing, employment or credit ads would no longer be allowed to target people by age, gender or zip code.”   https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jun/21/facebook-lawsuit-settlement-advertising-lookalike-audience-doj

Multiple neighbors called police about screams coming from house of California man accused of torturing, raping and mutilating woman. “One woman, who asked not to be named, said the blood-curdling noises led them to call cops on Peter McGuire over his treatment of the 22-year-old victim…. [Peter McGuire] is accused of horrific abuse of his roommate who he allegedly raped, gouged out her eye, ‘disabled’ her tongue and slit her nose, ear and lip…. He has since pleaded not guilty to ten charges including kidnapping, mayhem and sodomy by use of force…. Another neighbor… reported some banging on the wall, and he called police because he could hear the banging and he could hear screams for help…. ‘They said there was no substantial evidence for them to do a wellness check … I was told, there was no way for them to pinpoint where the screams are coming from.’ …. Two weeks ago the woman was able to escape the residence in a quiet [Chino Hills] cul de sac and contact police.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10939787/Horrified-neighbors-reveal-blood-curdling-screams-banging-house-horrors.html

June 21, 2022

Police reportedly had rifles and a ballistic shield at Uvalde elementary school either 9 or 19 minutes after gunman entered (news sources vary). “Multiple police officers stood in a hallway at Robb Elementary School armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield within nine minutes of a gunman arriving at the campus, according to documents reviewed by the American-Statesman, a devastating new revelation deepening questions about why police didn’t act faster to stop the shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers…. Investigators say the latest information indicates officers had more than enough firepower and protection to take down the gunman long before they finally did.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-officers-arrived-uvalde-school-221228134.html   “The shooter entered at 11:33 a.m…. Based on the newest information, it is believed that 11 officers entered the school within three minutes of the gunman…. At 11:52 a.m., an officer with the first ballistic shield enters the school and other officers grow more impatient. In body camera footage, you can hear one officer say, ‘If there’s kids in there, we need to go in there.'”   https://www.kvue.com/article/news/special-reports/uvalde-school-shooting/interior-images-uvalde-police/269-b1be96cb-aa8a-4edc-aa51-d4cbd41382f4

Life in a developed market economy: Hundreds of homeless people dying every year due to excessive heat. “Excessive heat causes more weather-related deaths in the United States than hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes combined. Around the country, heat contributes to some 1,500 deaths annually, and advocates estimate about half of those people are homeless. Just in the county that includes Phoenix, at least 130 homeless people were among the 339 individuals who died from heat-associated causes in 2021. ‘If 130 homeless people were dying in any other way it would be considered a mass casualty event,’ said Kristie L. Ebi, a professor of global health at the University of Washington.”   https://apnews.com/4f23d928ea637d239147c0e4adbad6dc

Unarmed North Carolina man dies after being tased repeatedly by police officers. “One of [Christopher] Hensley’s neighbors, who witnessed him being pinned down, told the Citizen Times that she saw him get stunned with a Taser at least twice and punched by officers…. The neighbor said that she did not understand why officers tased Hensley. He was resisting arrest, she said, but never threw a punch or fought with officers while she was watching. The situation appeared to be a mental health crisis, she said.”   https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2022/06/18/man-who-died-after-fletcher-police-fight-father-youth-pastor/7657831001/

Australian court rulings holding website owners liable for content of posted comments are shutting down debate. “From its inception, the internet has facilitated robust debate, eliminating traditional media gatekeepers. Social media accelerated this trend, facilitated by [U.S.] legislation like Section 230. Without the risk of civil liability, tech companies can allow the unfettered flow of discourse…. In the wake of the 2021 [Australian] High Court ruling, many Australian publications opted to limit the ability of third parties to comment on their articles. CNN—admittedly a minnow in the Australian media ecosystem— took the most drastic action and deleted its Australian Facebook page entirely. The ruling even prompted some politicians to reassess their social media presence. Peter Gutwein, who led Tasmania until April of this year, switched his Facebook profile to read-only mode, cutting off a potential communications channel for constituents…. When Reason asked [speech lawsuit defendant Jordan] Shanks-Markovina for comment, a spokesperson compared the ruling to ‘making a paper mill responsible for everything that may in the future be printed on their paper,’ and added: ‘If Australia continues to go down this path, it essentially means that anyone will be able to submit vexatious complaints to Google about public interest content and it will be in Google’s commercial interest to remove the content complained of no matter the merits of the complaint.'”   https://reason.com/2022/06/20/australia-offers-a-terrifying-vision-of-an-internet-without-section-230/   Facebook already has a policy like this. If anyone complains about a post you’ve made, for whatever reason, like they simply disagree with your point of view, Facebook automatically takes it down, and you have to appeal the decision (if you can figure out how to do it, or if it’s even possible) to get a human being to look at it.

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate runs ‘RINO hunting’ campaign ad that appears to advocate assassination of anti-Trump Republicans. “In the ad, [former Missouri governor Eric] Greitens stands outside a home with a team of others dressed in tactical gear and whispers: ‘The RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice.’ The tactical team then busts open the door, detonates smoke bombs inside and storms through with their guns drawn. ‘Join the MAGA crew. Get a RINO hunting permit,’ Greitens says, standing inside an apparently empty house surrounded by smoke. ‘There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn’t expire — until we save our country.'”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/20/greitens-rino-hunting-ad/

Miami-Dade police officer tells black motorist who asked why he was pulled over, ‘This is how you guys get killed out here, man.’ “[Gerardson] Nicolas was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt last week…. The officer asks Nicolas for his license, registration and insurance and says if he doesn’t offer it up, ‘you will not be going to work.’ When Nicolas doesn’t immediately offer up the documents, the officer makes the racially charged statement. Nicolas, whom the Miami Herald couldn’t reach Monday night, told NBC 6 he began recording the encounter when the officer grabbed his car’s door handle.”   https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article262708447.html

Former Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers claims higher unemployment rates would tame inflation. “‘We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation — in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment,’ said Summers said in a speech in London Monday.”   https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-20/summers-says-us-needs-5-jobless-rate-for-five-years-to-ease-cpi   This guy has obviously never been unemployed. Assuming this is demand-fueled inflation, which I doubt, what if it’s rich people, spending their windfall like drunken sailors on private jets, yachts, jewelry, art and mansions, that are fueling inflation? What if it’s higher corporate profits that are fueling inflation? (see story below)

U.S. corporate net profit margins increased by 4% from 1980 to 2021 say researchers. “A new paper published Tuesday shows that U.S. corporate price markups and profits surged to their highest levels since the 1950s last year, bolstering arguments for an excess profits tax as a way to rein in sky-high inflation…. In their new brief, [Mike] Konczal and [Niko] Lusiani note that higher markups don’t always mean larger profits. ‘But they did in 2021,’ the researchers write, showing that the net profit margins of U.S. firms jumped from an annual average of 5.5% between 1960 and 1980 to 9.5% in 2021 as companies pushed up prices, citing inflationary pressures across the global economy as their justification…. ‘Making corporations once again price-takers rather than price-makers,’ Lusiani added, ‘will help bring down prices, and in time lead to a more equitable, innovative economy.'”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/21/study-shows-excess-corporate-profits-us-have-become-widespread

Vice President Kamala Harris overstates duration of slavery in the U.S. by more than a century and a half during Juneteenth event. “‘I think that we all know today is a day to celebrate the principle of freedom,’ Harris told a group of about two dozen elementary school-aged children at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington. ‘And think about it in terms of the context of history, knowing that black people in America were not free for 400 years of slavery.’ …. The first African slaves in the American colonies arrived in 1619 in Virginia. Slavery was abolished through the 13th Amendment, which was ratified in 1865 — ending 246 years of the practice, not 400. A White House official acknowledged Harris’ error, telling The Post that ‘the vice president was referring to 400 years since slavery began.'”   https://nypost.com/2022/06/20/kamala-harris-botches-juneteenth-history-lesson-on-slavery/   I think slavery has been around for thousands of years, actually. It’s mentioned in the Bible.

New York law banning body armor doesn’t ban the type worn by Buffalo supermarket shooter. “A law hastily enacted by state lawmakers following the shooting bans sales of ‘bullet-resistant soft body armor’. Soft vests are light, can be concealed underneath clothing and are protective against pistols. Vests carrying steel, ceramic or polyethylene plates are not outlined in the new law. This type of armor can potentially stop rifle rounds…. Brad Pedell, who runs tactical gear and body armor store 221B Tactical in New York City, said his customers purchase armor to protect themselves from potential attackers…. New York residents are still allowed to own body vests and buy them in other states.”   https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-law-body-armor-buffalo-shooter-vest

Ukrainian parliament passes bill that would restrict publication of books, and performance of songs, in Russian. “One law prohibits the playing of Russian-language music in public, on television and on the radio…. The other law bans the printing of books written by Russian citizens, unless the authors choose to give up their Russian passports and become citizens of Ukraine. It also blocks… books printed in Russia, Belarus and occupied Ukrainian territory from entering the country or being distributed…. An estimated 1 in every 3 Ukrainians speaks Russian at home, according to researchers.”   https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-bans-russian-music-books-121902016.html

President of Honduran energy company sentenced to 22 years in prison for orchestrating assassination of indigenous activist. “[Berta] Cáceres, winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead by hired hitmen on 2 March 2016, two days before her 45th birthday, after years of threats linked to her opposition of the 22-megawatt Agua Zarca dam on the Gualcarque River. On Monday, Roberto David Castillo – the former head of the hydroelectric dam company Desarrollos Energéticos, or Desa – was sentenced for his role in ordering and planning the murder.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/20/honduras-man-who-planned-berta-caceress-jailed-for-22-years

Conservatives and fossil fuel industry accused of collaborating to weaken federal government’s power to fight climate change. “… West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, is the product of a coordinated, multiyear strategy by Republican attorneys general, conservative legal activists and their funders, several with ties to the oil and coal industries, to use the judicial system to rewrite environmental law, weakening the executive branch’s ability to tackle global warming. Coming up through the federal courts are more climate cases, some featuring novel legal arguments, each carefully selected for its potential to block the government’s ability to regulate industries and businesses that produce greenhouse gases…. Known as ‘Chevron deference’, after a 1984 Supreme Court ruling, that doctrine holds that courts must defer to reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes by federal agencies on the theory that agencies have more expertise than judges and are more accountable to voters. “Judges are not experts in the field and are not part of either political branch of the government,” Associate Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion for a unanimous court…. Chevron deference has long been a target of conservatives, according to Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who worked in the Trump White House. ‘The originalist crew has been steadily moving toward significantly rewriting Chevron for years,’ he wrote in an email. ‘They are about to be rewarded with a substantial and material victory.'”   https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html

Biden administration nominates former Social Security privatization advocate to the program’s government advisory board. “On May 13, Biden chose to nominate Andrew Biggs, a fellow at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute think tank, for a Republican seat on the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board, which was created in 1994 to consult the president and Congress about the Social Security system. For years, Biggs has been a vocal critic of expanded Social Security and workers’ right to a secure, stable retirement free from the vagaries of the stock market…. And two decades ago, Biggs worked on a Bush administration commission that pushed to privatize Social Security. In response to questions from The Lever, Biggs suggested he no longer favors privatizing Social Security. Instead, he said he now believes that nations’ Social Security-like programs should be ‘more focused on guaranteeing against poverty in old age, while middle and high-income individuals take on greater responsibility for saving for retirement on their own, such as by the government establishing universal retirement savings accounts for every worker.’ Establishing such savings accounts would be a solution in search of a problem. Social Security is incredibly successful at delivering retirement benefits, and [removing the Social Security taxation cut-off of] the wealthy would be a straightforward way to expand the program.”   https://www.levernews.com/biden-taps-anti-social-security-ideologue-to-oversee-program/