November 29, 2022

Mainstream media outlets (finally) calling for Julian Assange to be released. “A number of the world’s leading news organization, including The New York Times, are urging the U.S. government to drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, citing First Amendment concerns. In an open letter from the Times, the United Kingdom’s The Guardian, France’s Le Monde, Spain’s El País and Germany’s Der Spiegel, the media companies argued charges against Assange should be dropped. ‘This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press,’ the outlets said. ‘Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalised, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker.'”   https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3752644-new-york-times-european-news-outlets-call-on-us-to-drop-charges-against-assange/

Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system produces outcome more representative of the wishes of the state’s voters. “To see how this works in practice, let’s look at [Libertarian candidate] Chris Bye, who finished last in the first round of vote counting. He received 4,560 first-place votes. After being eliminated, those ballots were re-distributed to the other candidates. Begich was the second choice of 1,988 Bye voters, so he received those ballots for the second round. Palin was the second choice of 1,064 Bye voters, and Peltola was the second choice for 1,038 of them…. Despite getting a plurality of Bye’s votes, Begich was still in third place, so he was eliminated and his votes were reallocated to Palin and Peltola…. As you might expect since both [Begich and Palin] were Republicans, a majority of Begich’s ballots ended up in Palin’s pile. But not all of them, and the Begich-to-Peltola pipeline was enough to push the Democratic incumbent over the 50 percent threshold.”   https://reason.com/2022/11/28/in-alaska-ranked-choice-voting-worked/

Mesa, Arizona settles lawsuit over fatal police shooting of man surrendering in hotel hallway, will pay his widow $8 million. “[Daniel] Shaver is the unarmed man who was fatally shot while crawling down a hallway on his hands and knees toward police officers, begging them not to shoot him. In January 2016, Mesa police responded to a report of a man pointing a rifle out of a hotel window. It was in fact Shaver showing a pellet gun that he used at his exterminator job to a couple other hotel guests in his room. Police ordered Shaver out of the hotel room and onto the ground, with his hands behind his head. But instead of handcuffing Shaver, officers—bizarrely—started barking confusing and contradictory orders at him to crawl toward them. As a clearly terrified and drunk Shaver tried to crawl toward the police, he appeared to reach toward his waistband to pull up his sagging shorts. A Mesa officer, Philip Mitchell Brailsford, shot Shaver five times with an AR-15, killing him.”   https://reason.com/2022/11/28/arizona-town-to-pay-8-million-to-widow-of-daniel-shaver-shot-while-crawling-unarmed-toward-police/

Man who abducted Riverside, CA teen, murdered her family and set their house on fire was a Virginia sheriff’s deputy. “[Austin] Edwards was accused of murdering 69-year-old Mark Winek, 65-year-old Sharie Winek and 38-year-old Brooke Winek at their home, located on Price Court in Riverside. He is also accused of taking a teenage girl, believed to be 15 years old, after murdering the three people. Riverside Police said Monday morning it was not an official case of kidnapping. The girl was not harmed during the pursuit. She is currently in protective custody. Police said they did not believe she was involved in the murders or with setting the fire.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/authorities-kill-suspect-connected-to-triple-homicide-in-riverside-in-shootout/

Far-right mass shooter pleads guilty to terrorism charge in connection with Buffalo, NY grocery store shooting. “Payton Gendron, 19 [and white], pleaded guilty to 15 state-level counts: 10 counts of first-degree murder; three counts of attempted murder motivated by hate; criminal weapons possession; and domestic terrorism motivated by hate — a charge that carries a punishment of life in prison without parole. All 10 of those killed in the May 14 massacre were Black…. Authorities say Gendron posted a manifesto online detailing his plans to target Buffalo’s Black population, driving nearly 300 miles from his home in Conklin, N.Y., with an AR-15-style rifle to carry out the attack at Tops Friendly Market, which he livestreamed with a helmet camera.”   https://news.yahoo.com/buffalo-gunman-pleads-guilty-to-15-charges-including-domestic-terror-motivated-by-hate-155013443.html

Five New Haven, Connecticut police officers charged over treatment of handcuffed prisoner paralyzed in police van. “Randy Cox, 36, was being driven to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard, apparently to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into the wall of the van, police said. As Cox pleaded for help, saying he couldn’t move, some of the officers mocked him and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries. Then, the officers dragged him by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell prior to his eventual transfer to a hospital. The five New Haven police officers were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons. They were placed on administrative leave after the incident.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11478563/5-officers-charged-Black-man-paralyzed-police-van.html   “Four of the five city cops sued for allegedly violating Richard ​‘Randy’ Cox’s constitutional rights claim in new court filings that their actions were reasonable and covered by ​‘qualified immunity’, arguing that the paralyzing injuries suffered by the 36-year-old New Havener while in police custody stemmed in large part from his own ​‘negligence and carelessness’.”   https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/qualified_immunity   … Officers Oscar Diaz, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier, Luis Rivera and Sergeant Betsy Segui—are all charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons. The charges are all misdemeanors, which sounds like a helluva lot less than Cox would’ve been charged with if he and a group of friends tossed a cop into a… vehicle and the cop came out with severe and permanent spinal injuries.”   https://www.theroot.com/what-after-randy-cox-was-paralyzed-in-police-van-5-ne-1849828368

Former Border Patrol supervisor goes on trial, charged with four murders. “… Juan David Ortiz [is] facing charges of murdering four prostitutes and attempting to kill a fifth. The murders took place in the Texas border city of Laredo in 2018. Prosecutors say the former Border Intelligence Supervisor admitted going on a 12-day killing spree in September of that year, according to an arrest affidavit. Ortiz provided a ‘voluntary verbal confession’ he shot and killed the four women, the affidavit reads. Ortiz is also accused of dumping his victim’s bodies in rural areas outside Laredo.”   https://nypost.com/2022/11/28/trial-of-border-patrol-agent-juan-david-ortiz-accused-of-killing-prostitutes-starts-in-texas/

Police in China reportedly contacting people who attended lock-down protests. “People in China who attended weekend protests against Covid restrictions say they have been contacted by police, as authorities begin clamping down. Several people in Beijing said police had called demanding information about their whereabouts. It is unclear how police might have discovered their identities…. Reports also say that police were stopping people and searching their phones to check if they had virtual private networks (VPNs) set up, as well as apps such as Telegram and Twitter which are blocked in China. One woman told news agency AFP that she and five of her friends who attended a protest in Beijing had received phone calls from police.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63785351   Your phone is a tracking device that broadcasts your identity and geographic location whenever it’s turned on. They also have a lot of facial recognition cameras set up in China.

November 28, 2022

St. Petersburg, Florida police fatally shoot elderly man after breaking into his home for ‘wellness check’. “The officers, with assistance from the St. Petersburg Fire Department, made a forced entry into the apartment and found [Gus] Spanoudis in a back bedroom. Detectives said Spanoudis made suicidal statements and pointed a firearm at Officer Jace Morrow. The officer issued several commands to drop the firearm, but Spanoudis did not do so, the news release said. The officer then fired at Spanoudis, who was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.”   https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officers-wellness-check-leads-fatal-shooting-florida-94045436   Well, they stopped him from committing suicide….

15 million acres of public land inaccessible due to being surrounded by private property. “Across America, 15 million acres of state and federal land lies surrounded by private land, with no legal entry by road or trail. Most can be found scattered across the West, moated by ranches and corporate holdings. Such ‘landlocked land’, if it were one contiguous piece, would form the largest national park in the country, an area nearly the size of Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Until a few years ago, the existence of landlocked lands in the United States was largely unknown, except to neighboring owners, some of whom ‘saw them as part of their ranch’…”   https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/business/hunting-wyoming-elk-mountain-access.html

George W. Bush lobbied for Georgia and Ukraine join NATO in 2008. “NATO foreign ministers will gather for two days at the Palace of the Parliament in the Romanian capital Bucharest. It was there in April 2008 that U.S. President George W. Bush persuaded his allies to open NATO’s door to Ukraine and Georgia, over vehement Russian objections. ‘NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO’, the leaders said in a statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was at the summit, described this as ‘a direct threat’ to Russia’s security. About four months later, Russian forces invaded Georgia.”   https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-nato-europe-bucharest-1b3564af002c8e879c304a6a85bf1f97

Turkish forces launch heavy, cross-border artillery bombardment of northern Syria. “Hundreds of shells have landed in northern and eastern Syria in the past 24 hours. While drones circled over Manbij, Turkish artillery attacked the villages of Al-Gat (also Jat) and Masî with artillery at around 11.20am on Monday. Earlier, at 10.30 a.m., the village of al-Kuzliye (ku. Gozeliyê) near Til Temir became a target of Turkish artillery. On Monday night, Turkish artillery began to attack the industrial area of Kobanê in the west as well as the villages of Selibê, Korhesen and Qizelî. In Qizelî there is an important wheat depot, which has repeatedly been the target of Turkish attacks. The canton of Shehba and the unoccupied areas near Afrin were a particular focus of the attacks. Areas around the Shera and Sherawa districts of Afrin as well as the villages of Shehba were shelled at least 545 times by tanks and howitzers until Monday morning, while the area was repeatedly overflown by warplanes. According to information so far, the villages of Malikiyê, Merenaz, Şewarqa, Tinib, Tat Maraş and Alqemiyê in Shera were affected by the shelling. A Turkish drone attack on a Syrian military post in Tinibê killed three Syrian regime soldiers, according to information from the ground. In Afrin’s Sherawa district, the villages of Meyasê, Soxanekê, Aqibê, Bênê and Ziyaret remained under fire until Monday morning.”   https://anfenglish.com/rojava-syria/heavy-attacks-on-rojava-continue-63979

FBI obtained geofence warrant for Google cell phone location data for area near the Capitol on January 6th. “A filing in the case of one of the January 6 suspects, David Rhine, shows that Google initially identified 5,723 devices as being in or near the US Capitol during the riot. Only around 900 people have so far been charged with offenses relating to the siege. The filing suggests that dozens of phones that were in airplane mode during the riot, or otherwise out of cell service, were caught up in the trawl. Nor could users erase their digital trails later. In fact, 37 people who attempted to delete their location data following the attacks were singled out by the FBI for greater scrutiny…. in early May 2021, the FBI received identifying details for 1,535 users, as well as detailed maps showing how their phones moved through the Capitol and its grounds. Geofence evidence has so far been cited in over 100 charging documents from January 6. In nearly 50 cases, geofence data seems to have provided the initial identification of suspected rioters.”   https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-google-geofence-warrant-january-6/

Senate report criticizes FBI and Homeland Security over lack of response to far-right domestic terrorism threats. “A new investigation by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee into the rise of domestic terrorism has found that the federal government is failing to adequately address domestic terror attacks, which are predominantly perpetrated by white supremacists and anti-government extremists…. the federal government has continued to allocate resources to focus on international terrorist threats instead….The report also identifies the role social media companies have played in amplifying extremist content, and says that both DHS and the FBI still fail to track and report data on domestic terrorism, despite a provision in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that requires them to do so…. several Republican candidates for office in the midterm election endorsed the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory — a white nationalist ideology centered on the claim that immigrants are being deliberately imported into the U.S. and other Western countries to ‘replace’ the white population. Belief in the ‘replacement’ theory has been linked to several acts of racist violence, including the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand and the August 2019 mass shooting in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. ‘It’s not just that this material is all over the internet,’ [Heidi] Beirich said. ‘It’s also that politically powerful people are endorsing and furthering it, so it doesn’t sound like some fringe idea that should be stuck way out on the edges of society. They’re giving it an endorsement.'”   https://www.salon.com/2022/11/28/fbi-and-dhs-failing-to-address-of-domestic-terrorism-according-to-new-senate-report/

November 27, 2022

Herman Daly, economist who popularized the idea of a ‘steady-state’ economy, dies at 84. “In the 1960s, when economic growth became the single most important objective of government economic policy, the economist Herman Daly… saw a different future. He called for a change in thinking to make our economies more consistent with the finite energy and resource limits of the Earth…. Throughout his life Herman tried hard to alert humanity to the impact of unrestricted growth, and to have people think about the economy in a different way. That a new generation of scholars, ecological economists and eco-socialists have picked up the baton gratified him enormously, and he remained hopeful to the end.”     https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/11/herman-daly-obituary

Chicago Lincoln statue vandalized over execution of Sioux insurgents. “‘The Young Lincoln’ statue in Senn Park, 5887 N. Ridge Ave., was strewn with red paint and tagged with slogans including, ‘Thanksgiving is fake. Avenge all that is taken.’ Members of a group claiming responsibility for the vandalism said it was done in protest of Lincoln’s ordered execution of the Dakota 38, who were publicly hanged for participating in the Sioux Uprising in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota.”   https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/11/25/edgewaters-young-lincoln-statue-vandalized-on-thanksgiving-by-group-advocating-indigenous-rights/

Anti-lockdown protests spread in some Chinese cities. “On Friday night, hundreds of Urumqi residents marched to a government building chanting ‘end lockdowns’, with some holding the Chinese flag, according to videos circulating on Chinese social media and a Urumqi resident. Smaller protests also erupted at residential communities across the city, which saw residents breaking down lockdown barriers and quarreling with officials. Throughout the weekend, anti-lockdown protests have rocked neighborhoods in cities from Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan to Lanzhou. According to social media videos, residents at multiple residential communities in Beijing defied lockdown orders. In one compound, residents marched and chanted, ‘Say no to Covid tests, yes to freedom!'”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/26/china/china-protests-xinjiang-fire-shanghai-intl-hnk/index.html

Researchers find 38% of computer repairs resulted in personal data snooping, with some technicians even making copies of owners’ files. “Researchers at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, recovered logs from laptops after receiving overnight repairs from 12 commercial shops. The logs showed that technicians from six of the [16] locations had accessed personal data and that two of those shops also copied data onto a personal device. Devices belonging to females were more likely to be snooped on, and that snooping tended to seek more sensitive data, including both sexually revealing and non-sexual pictures, documents, and financial information.”   https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/11/half-of-computer-repairs-result-in-snooping-of-sensitive-data-study-finds/   Just ask Hunter Biden!

November 25, 2022

President Biden vows to ban sales of modern, semi-automatic rifles to the public. “‘The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick, it’s just sick. It has no social redeeming value, zero, none. Not a single, solitary rationale for it,’ Biden told reporters during a brief gaggle outside the Nantucket Fire Department in Massachusetts, where he greeted first responders. Asked whether he would try to take action on guns, the president said, ‘I’m going to try. I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.’ When pressed on whether he would try to do so during the lame duck session, he said, ‘I’m going to do it whenever – I’ve got to make that assessment as soon as I get in and start counting the votes.'”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/24/politics/biden-assault-weapons-mass-shootings/index.html

Two Colorado sheriff’s deputies fired after grand jury indicts them in connection with fatal shooting of man who called 911 after driving off the road. “Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould were indicted by a grand jury on second-degree murder charges, as well as official misconduct and criminally negligent homicide, according to court records. Christian Glass, 22,  was shot five times and killed when Buen fired at him during an hour-long standoff. Glass, from New Zealand, had called 911 for roadside assistance while experiencing what his mother described as a mental health crisis. He refused to get out of his car because he was ‘terrified’ and made heart-shaped signs with his hands, and flashed a knife at the deputies.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11464647/Grand-jury-indicts-deputies-shooting-death-young-man.html

Gang of wild turkeys terrorizes Massachusetts town. “People in Woburn, north-west of Boston, have been subjected to a barrage of attacks and intimidation by a group of five wild turkeys, with the situation forcing some to take up improvised weapons and residents reporting being trapped in their homes. The turkeys, led by a male bird nicknamed Kevin, arrived two years ago. Initially the birds were docile, but as time passed they have become ever more pugnacious, leaving Woburners fearful for their safety and forced to adapt their behavior…. In the 1970s a group of biologists decided to try to reintroduce turkeys, by trapping 37 birds in New York state and releasing them in south-west Massachusetts. The birds thrived and, supplemented by further out-of-state turkey transplants, there are now 30-35,000 turkeys in Massachusetts. An unintended consequence has been the expansion of the birds into towns and cities. The turkeys dine on on easy-to-get food, including seed from bird feeders…”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/24/turkeys-massachusetts-kevin-woburn-thanksgiving   They have grievances.

Dominican Republic sugar company hit with import ban over forced labor allegations. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday that, effective immediately, sugar and sugar-based products made by Central Romana Corporation will be detained at ports of entry after an investigation by the agency found indications of the use of forced labor in its operations. The investigation found evidence of abusive working and living conditions, withheld wages, excessive overtime and other violations.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/23/sugar-ban-dominican-republic/

Taliban flogs 12 in front of stadium crowd. “Twelve people, including three women, have been flogged in front of thousands of onlookers at a football stadium in Afghanistan. The group were guilty of ‘moral crimes’ including adultery, robbery and gay sex, a Taliban official told the BBC…. The men and women received between 21 and 39 lashes each. The maximum number a person can receive is 39, another Taliban official said. Nineteen people were also punished last week in a similar flogging in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan, reports say.”   https://news.yahoo.com/three-women-among-dozen-publicly-222425960.html

Amazon warehouse workers around the world go on strike. “Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers are today staging a mass Black Friday strike across 40 countries including the US and Germany in a row over pay and working conditions. The global strike action for one of the biggest shopping days of the year was called for by the campaign Make Amazon Pay. They have titled the protests and action ‘Make Amazon Pay Day’. The initiative, promoted by groups on Twitter under #MakeAmazonPay listed the industrial action planned in the 40 countries across the globe.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11468699/Amazon-warehouse-workers-stage-global-Black-Friday-strike-40-countries.html

San Francisco police department to request permission to arm their robots. “The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is proposing to use robots to kill suspects in ‘rare’ circumstances – with the force’s 12 bots set to assist officers with deadly force and ‘ground support’. The new policy proposal is to be debated next week by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee and will define how the SFPD is allowed to use its military-style weapons. One way the machines can cause deadly harm is by attaching a PAN disruptor device – which uses shotgun shells – to the robot. This can then fire bullets (sic) at the suspect. Another method would be strapping explosives to a robot and then using it to blow up a suspect – which was a technique used in Dallas in 2016.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11467633/San-Francisco-Police-Department-propose-using-robots-KILL-suspects.html   Killer robots – coming to a police department near you!

Hemp plants take in almost three times as much CO2 as trees. “Numerous studies have shown that hemp captures up to 16 tons of greenhouse gas annually, while trees suck up about six tons. The carbon dioxide also becomes permanently encased within hemp fibers that are used in a range of products – from textiles to medicines and car parts. Hudson Carbon, a New York research center that studies carbon storage, found that one acre of cannabis plants can store up to three tons of carbon, removing more than seven tons from the atmosphere.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11467061/Cannabis-plants-help-fight-climate-change-absorbing-carbon-dioxide.html

50 police officers and more than 300 protesters killed so far during riots in Iran. “U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said on Thursday Iran faced a “full fledged human rights crisis” with 14,000 people arrested so far, including children. He was speaking ahead of a special session in Geneva with a possible vote on setting up a fact-finding mission…. Anger has focused on women’s rights but protesters have also called for the fall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”   https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-11-24/iran-forms-panel-to-investigate-deaths-due-to-protests-minister-says

Israeli documentary ‘Tantura’ explores ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinian town in 1948. “The film, opening in theaters in the U.S. next month,  tells a story few Israelis want to hear — “a story they don’t know what to do with,” he said — but [Alon] Schwarz is not the first one who tried to tell it. In the 1990s, Teddy Katz, an Israeli graduate student, interviewed members of the IDF’s Alexandroni Brigade, the unit that carried out the massacre, and wrote a thesis based on their testimonies. He was destroyed for it, taken to court, forced to retract his thesis, and to apologize. He never got his degree. But nobody, before Schwarz, asked Katz [if they could] listen to those interviews. Armed with the tapes, years later, Schwarz returned once again to the members of the brigade, now close to the end of their lives, and asked them to speak about what one doesn’t speak about in Israel…. In the U.S., the film opened at Sundance and earned much critical praise, but no distributor was willing to risk the guaranteed backlash of associating with it. ‘It’s not a crowd-pleaser,’ said Schwarz. ‘People look away. People want to go to the shopping mall and eat ice cream.'”   https://theintercept.com/2022/11/25/tantura-movie-israel-palestine/

Journalist James Risen describes how the government and the news media cooperate to keep secrets from the public. “That fall [of 2005], I became so concerned that the Times would not run the NSA [warrantless mass surveillance] story and that I would be fired that I secretly met with another national news organization about a job. I told a senior editor there that I had a major story that the Times had refused to run under pressure from the White House. I didn’t tell him anything about the story, but I said if they hired me, I would give the story to them. The senior editor replied that their publication would never run a piece if the White House raised objections on national security grounds. I left that meeting more depressed than ever.”   https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/my-life-as-a-new-york-times-reporter-in-the-shadow-of-the-war-on-terror/

November 24, 2022

Local police monitoring activists on social media. “Research suggests that law enforcement’s use of social media is both widespread and largely unregulated. A 2016 survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police estimated that 70 percent of police departments use social media to gather intelligence and monitor public sentiment. Often, officers follow and communicate with a target using informants or undercover accounts. And although it violates the policies of the big players in the social media ecosystem, departments even use software or contract with third parties to conduct automated surveillance for them…. Like many others subjected to this kind of invasive monitoring, [Shanai Matteson] felt the need to self-censor online. ‘I thought much, much more about the visibility of what I was saying. I’m a person who wants to share and reflect on my experiences in a public way because that’s part of my activism. Once I realized we were being surveilled and information was being used against us in different ways, I stopped sharing and making these kinds of posts.'”   https://truthout.org/articles/police-are-increasingly-monitoring-social-media-to-identify-and-harass-activists/   They’re also befriending activists in real life – it’s happened to me repeatedly. It makes you wonder every time you meet someone if they are ‘real’ or an informant, which makes it difficult to form close friendships. Since I’ve never been arrested or charged or even involved in anything illegal, this has all been because of my supposedly protected First Amendment activity.

Staffers who worked on January 6th committee’s Capitol riot report claim important information is being edited out. “Fifteen former and current staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, expressed concerns that important findings unrelated to Trump will not become available to the American public…. Potentially left on the cutting room floor, or relegated to an appendix, were many revelations from the Blue Team — the group that dug into the law enforcement and intelligence community’s failure to assess the looming threat and prepare for the well-forecast attack on the Capitol. The proposed report would also cut back on much of the work of the Green Team, which looked at financing for the Jan. 6 attack, and the Purple Team, which examined militia groups and extremism…. Some staffers noted that the mission of the committee — as spelled out in the resolution authorizing its formation — was to discover what political forces and intelligence and security failures allowed the U.S. Capitol Police and its partners to be so overwhelmed and ill-prepared for the attack and to ensure that such an event could not happen again. Leaving any relevant information out of the final report would ignore important lessons for the future and issues that will outlive Trump, they argued.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/23/liz-cheney-jan-6-committee/

U.S. sending another $400 million in military supplies to Ukraine. “Including the latest aid, the U.S. has committed more than $19 billion in weapons and other equipment to Ukraine since Russia attacked on Feb. 24…. The latest package includes 200 generators, an undisclosed amount of additional rounds for both the advanced NASAMS air defense systems and the HIMARS artillery systems the U.S. has shipped to Ukraine, 150 heavy machine guns with thermal sights to shoot down drones, 10,000 120mm mortar rounds and 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition, among other items, the Pentagon said.”   https://news.yahoo.com/us-sending-ukraine-400-million-152806960.html   This ‘expanding NATO to Russia’s border‘ because ‘we don’t accept anybody’s red lines‘ thing is getting seriously expensive.

Florida district attorney drops charges against prison guards caught on video beating a prisoner. “Prisoners say beatings by Florida prison staff are common, though usually they occur in secret, outside the range of cameras. What was unusual about this beating was that it was captured on video — not through surveillance cameras, but on a smuggled-in cellphone operated by an inmate, who provided narration. It was then posted on YouTube. Four staffers lost their jobs. The Lake County State Attorney’s Office recently decided on the legal consequences for the men discharged for allegedly taking part in the caught-on-video beatdown and then lying about it: nothing. Criminal charges filed in connection with the beating have been dropped…. [Otis] Miller suffered multiple injuries including broken ribs…. Less than a year later at the same prison, an inmate serving time for stealing four phone chargers died after being beaten by staff. Christopher Howell, 51, was handcuffed at the time, witnesses told The Herald…”   https://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article269047932.html

November 23, 2022

Electronic Frontier Foundation map identifies law enforcement surveillance programs around the country. “‘The Atlas of Surveillance has now hit 10,000 data points. It contains at least partial data on approximately 5,500 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, as well as most territories and districts.’ …. The Atlas is searchable, mappable, and allows you to select or deselect specific types of surveillance such as license-plate readers, doorbell-camera networks, and facial recognition.”  https://reason.com/2022/11/21/see-the-surveillance-state-at-work-in-your-own-community/   Direct link:   https://atlasofsurveillance.org/

Oregon’s governor to pardon 47,144 people convicted of marijuana possession. “[Gov. Kate] Brown’s office says the pardons will remove 47,144 convictions for possession of a small amount of marijuana from individual records and forgive more than $14 million in associated fines and fees…. ‘Oregonians should never face housing insecurity, employment barriers, and educational obstacles as a result of doing something that is now completely legal, and has been for years. My pardon will remove these hardships.'”   https://reason.com/2022/11/22/oregon-governor-pardons-45000-marijuana-offenders/

Bidens to spend Thanksgiving at private equity firm billionaire’s home. “For the second straight year, President Biden and his family will spend Thanksgiving at the Nantucket home of private-equity billionaire David Rubenstein — and Biden’s 2024 plans could be among the dinner table discussion topics…. While there, the Bidens plan to stay at Rubenstein’s sprawling, $20 million waterfront home, the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror reported…. Rubenstein, who is worth $3.2 billion, according to a Forbes estimate, co-founded the private equity behemoth The Carlyle Group.”   https://nypost.com/2022/11/22/biden-family-to-spend-thanksgiving-in-nantucket/

Outcome of four U.S. House elections still to be decided. “California still has 593,925 remaining ballots to be counted, according to estimates from the California Secretary of State’s report on Monday…. In California’s 3rd Congressional District, Republican Kevin Kiley holds a commanding lead over Democrat Kermit Jones; however, approximately only a little over half of ballots have been counted in the ‘likely Republican’ race…. The second uncalled race in California lies in the state’s 13th Congressional District. This toss-up race is among the tightest remaining as Republican John Duarte narrowly leads Democrat Adam Gray by less than 800 votes…. Alaska’s At-Large Congressional District still remains uncalled, held up by the vote counting process of the state’s newly implemented ranked-choice voting system…. Despite relatively speedier ballot processing times, Colorado’s 3rd House district still remains too close to call. Incumbent Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert was not expected to have such a close race with her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, in the ‘likely Republican’ seat. The one-term congresswoman is narrowly leading the vote count by a little more than 500 votes, according to the Associated Press.”   https://www.foxnews.com/politics/here-where-last-uncalled-house-races-stand-two-weeks-election-day

Atlanta approves $1 million settlement in fatal police shooting of man found sleeping in his car. “Atlanta Police Department officers were called to the scene in June 2020 when [Rayshard] Brooks fell asleep in his car at the Wendy’s and spoke with him for about 40 minutes. After Brooks failed a sobriety test, the officers tried to arrest him. Brooks grabbed one of their Tasers and fired it as he fled before he was shot during the confrontation captured on video.”   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/22/atlanta-settlement-family-rayshard-brooks/10755168002/

Twitter ban still in force for group that distributes leaked and hacked documents to journalists. “… self-proclaimed ‘free speech absolutist’ Elon Musk began reversing Twitter suspensions of prominent right-wing accounts that had previously violated Twitter’s policies…. Musk has not, however, reversed the suspension of Distributed Denial of Secrets, the nonprofit transparency collective that distributes leaked and hacked documents to journalists and researchers. During the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, DDoSecrets published BlueLeaks, a set of documents from over 200 law enforcement agencies that revealed police misconduct, including spying on activists.”   https://theintercept.com/2022/11/22/elon-musk-twitter-censor-ddosecrets/

Workers at Chinese iPhone factory clash with police over pay. “Videos show hundreds of workers marching, with some confronted by people in hazmat suits and riot police. Those livestreaming the protests said workers were beaten by police. Videos also showed clashes. Manufacturer Foxconn said it would work with staff and local government to prevent further violence. In its statement, the firm said some workers had doubts about pay but that the firm would fulfill pay based on contracts…. Last month, rising Covid cases saw the site locked down, prompting some workers to break out and go home. The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63725812   “A protest erupted Tuesday over complaints Foxconn changed conditions for new workers who were attracted by offers of higher pay, according to Li Sanshan, an employee. Li said he quit a catering job in response to advertising that promised 25,000 yuan ($3,500) for two months of work. Li, 28, said workers were angry after being told they had to work two additional months at lower pay to receive the 25,000 yuan.”   https://apnews.com/article/technology-health-social-media-covid-apple-inc-de96ca707008f1ae48820ed573c56865

Syrian Democratic Forces leader claims Istanbul bomber is linked to Islamic State and Turkish proxies. “We did a lot of research and have concluded that the attack was perpetrated by Syrian opposition groups operating under Turkey’s control. We established, for example, and I am revealing this information to the media for the first time, that the woman who was arrested for planting the bomb comes from a family linked to the Islamic State. Three of her brothers died fighting for the Islamic State. One died in Raqqa, another in Manbij, and a third died in Iraq. Another brother is a commander in the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition in Afrin. She was married to three different Islamic State fighters and the family is from Aleppo. We had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing and we have no such policy.”   https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/11/syrian-kurdish-commander-says-kobani-likely-target-threatened-turkish-ground

Saudis execute 17 for drug and contraband offenses.. “Those killed were from Syria, Pakistan, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, [U.N human rights] spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told a Geneva press briefing. That brings the total number of executions this year to 144, she said.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-rights-office-17-men-executed-saudi-arabia-since-nov-10-2022-11-22/

Latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by U.S. House would allow government employees to talk about their encounters with alien phenomena. “The provision is included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for the next fiscal year, that was approved in July. The Senate has not approved its own version…. ‘If that language survives Congress and ends up being part of the act, then these guys are saying they’re going to start talking about stuff that’s happened,’ [Richard] Lang said. ‘A lot of them are going to start talking.'”   https://wtop.com/government/2022/11/govt-employees-who-are-ufo-witnesses-may-soon-break-their-silence/

Witness claims Chesapeake Walmart shooter was a manager who targeted employees. “One Walmart employee, standing outside the store after the horrific attack, revealed on social media: ‘It was the manager. One of the managers.’ Referring to the gunman, the shaken staff member added: ‘He blew his brains out and everything. He killed the girl in there and everything. He came in and started spraying. I’m sorry for the victims. I just left the break room, the manager come in there and started capping people up in there, started shooting. Sadly we lost a few of our associates.'”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11460099/Multiple-people-dead-injured-Virginia-manager-opens-fire-Walmart.html   Second source: “At some point after the shooting, the gunman, who employees say was a store manager, shot himself with a pistol and died by suicide, according to [police chief Mark] Solesky.”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3p4d5/walmart-shooting-chesapeake-virginia

Rapides Parish, Louisiana deputy fatally shoots black motorist during tinted windows traffic stop. “In the videos, [Derrick] Kittling doesn’t appear to know why he’s being stopped. ‘What is wrong with you, why are you grabbing on me, man?’ Kittling asks [Deputy Rodney] Anderson as the officer grabs him by the wrist. ‘Turn around and up your hands behind your back,’ the deputy says. ‘For what? For what bro?’ Kittling asks. On Nov. 6, Anderson reportedly pulled over Kittling’s pickup truck for the window and exhaust violations, according to Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis.”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgpnyd/derrick-kittling-shooting-police-body-cam-footage

Treasury Dept. announces an additional $4.5 billion in ‘direct budget support’ for Ukraine. “Today, the United States continued to uphold its unwavering commitment to Ukraine with the mobilization of an additional $4.5 billion in grants for direct budget support. These funds will begin disbursing in the coming weeks and help the Government of Ukraine defend against Russia’s illegal war by bolstering economic stability and supporting core government services, including wages for hospital workers, government employees, and teachers as well as social assistance for the elderly and vulnerable.”   https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1123

Slandering of LGBT community by conservatives creating a climate of hate. “Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said that the repetitive messaging from [Tucker] Carlson and others has opened the door for violence against LGBTQ people. ‘The way they soften up the support for this kind of violence is essentially by making it seem morally justified in the minds of people who believe this,’ Caraballo said. ‘The way they do this is by constantly painting LGBT people as pedophiles and groomers, and so people feel morally justified in carrying out this violence.’ …. ‘This is an “In emergency break glass” moment for social media,’ Caraballo said. ‘This is priming some very violent people to do shocking acts of violence, and this is all being pushed on social media and on Fox News, on Tucker Carlson.'”   https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/right-wing-influencers-media-double-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-wake-colorado-rcna58371

Mexico’s president honors anarchist revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magon on the 100th anniversary of his death in Leavenworth penitentiary. “The Morena Party’s explanations of its National Development Plan, its plan to transform the country during AMLO’s term, cites Flores Magón and his historic 1906 revolutionary manifesto for The Mexican Liberal Party (PLM) as inspiration for its plan for the country. The document influenced Mexico’s constitution of 1917 after the overthrow of notorious Mexican president and dictator Porfirio Díaz, who was eventually overthrown in 1911…. The PLM’s Liberal Plan of 1906 contained many ideas later incorporated into Mexico’s 1917 constitution…. [Emiliano] Zapata’s famous slogan that he carried on a banner into battle, tierra y libertad (land and liberty), was a Magonista slogan.”   https://mexiconewsdaily.com/culture/a-forgotten-revolutionary-leaders-new-relevance-in-amlos-mexico/

Federal court orders EPA to release report on effects of pesticide CTP on endangered species. “‘It shouldn’t take eight years and two lawsuits for the agency to carry out its fundamental duty to protect irreplaceable pollinators like the Fender’s blue butterfly and the rusty-patched bumblebee,’ Stephanie Parent, a senior attorney for the Center of Biological Diversity, said in a statement. Along with the Center for Food Safety and Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the EPA over its delinquent oversight of the toxic insecticide cyantraniliprole or CTP in 2014.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/epa-ordered-to-issue-long-delayed-findings-on-bee-killing-pesticide/

Activist calls for boycott of COP28. “Author and environmentalist Naomi Klein this week urged civil society organizations to boycott the 2023 COP climate summit in the United Arab Emirates — one of the world’s largest oil producers — after this year’s summit concluded without any concrete action to phase-out fossil fuels, despite the best efforts of campaigners from around the world…. ‘Civil society should announce a boycott and instead hold a true people’s summit,’ Klein wrote. ‘One gathering per continent to limit flying. Links to the official summit by video…. Let’s try something new.'”   https://consortiumnews.com/2022/11/22/cop27-klein-calls-for-boycott-of-cop28/

November 20, 2022

COP27 climate summit ends without a plan for phasing out fossil fuels. “Delegates from nearly 200 counties at the COP27 climate summit have agreed to set up a ‘loss and damage’ fund meant to help vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters…. it did not strengthen language around cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions [however]. The final text also made no mention of phasing out fossil-fuels, including oil and gas.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/19/world/cop27-egypt-agreement-climate-intl/index.html

Turkish jets bomb Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq. “[Turkey] has blamed the November 13 bomb attack in Istanbul on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and affiliated Syrian Kurdish groups. Kurdish fighters have denied involvement…. While Ankara did not give exact details of the overnight operation, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the Turkish air raids had hit Kobane (Ayn al-Arab) in northeast Syria…. The SDF spokesperson later said two villages populated with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Syria had been hit.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/20/turkey-launches-air-raids-in-syria-iraq-over-istanbul-blast

Civil rights, peace and labor activist Staughton Lynd dies at 92. “As a young professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, he led students in marches against nuclear weapons. In 1964 he was one of the main organizers behind Freedom Summer, which brought Northern college students to Mississippi to teach and organize in Black communities. When the Vietnam War was still relatively new and most Americans still supported it, he organized antiwar protests in Washington. He was among the first of about 350 people arrested during one demonstration — though not before neo-Nazis, staging a counter protest, dumped paint on him and two other marchers, David Dellinger and Bob Moses…. he made his own way on the left, drawing equal inspiration from Marxism, American abolitionism and Quaker pacifism — a diversity that helped explain his involvement with so many different movements. ‘Staughton was very unusual,’ Gar Alperovitz, a historian who wrote several books with Mr. Lynd, said in a phone interview. ‘He walked a path that was his own. And when it intersected with the activist groups on the progressive left, he would be involved. But he was a very moral political figure rather than a tactical one.'”   https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/staughton-lynd-dead.html

‘Pass-through entity’ tax loophole saving millionaires $50 billion a year in taxes. “The loophole in question was created by new state laws, and allows people to use pass-through entities such as private equity firms, hedge funds, law firms, and medical practices to bypass a $10,000 limit on state and local tax write-offs…. There has been little public scrutiny of this particular tax giveaway, likely in part because the loophole is highly technical and the tax code is rife with provisions benefitting the richest Americans. But Hemel says this giveaway stands out because it is clearly not sanctioned by Congress, and is costing the government far more money than other controversial loopholes for rich Americans.”   https://jacobin.com/2022/11/joe-biden-taxes-loophole-salt-internal-revenue-service-wealth-inequality

November 19, 2022

Man who threatened to fly private plane into Mississippi Walmart found dead in his cell. “[Cory] Patterson, 29, was at Federal Detention Center Miami in Florida when he was found unresponsive at around 1:20 p.m. on Monday, according to a news release from the Bureau of Prisons. Staff at the prison and responding EMS personnel attempted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the facility, according to BOP.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/18/us/mississippi-pilot-walmart-crash-threat-dies/index.html

Starbucks closing some unionized stores. “In early September, West Brighton [Staten Island] Starbucks workers banded together, voting unanimously to form the coffee chain’s first borough-based union…. And then, that branch of the corporate-owned store — located at the corner of Forest and Bard avenues — closed its doors on Oct. 20.”   https://www.silive.com/business/2022/11/staten-island-starbucks-location-where-workers-recently-celebrated-union-status-is-now-closed.html   “On Chicago’s North Side, Starbucks permanently closed a unionized store Oct. 30. Workers at the Edgewater location — who had voted 10-1 in favor of a union in May — had requested Starbucks meet them at the bargaining table beginning in October, just before the company announced the store would be closing. It is the tenth store with union activity shut down in recent months, Starbucks Workers United said in a statement.”   https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/unionized-starbucks-shut-down-on-chicagos-north-side/   “Less than a month after its employees voted to unionize, Starbucks announced on Tuesday that it will close its location at the corner of Exchange and Middle streets in [Portland, Maine’s] Old Port…. Its last day will be Dec. 23.”   https://www.wabi.tv/2022/11/16/portland-starbucks-that-voted-unionize-will-close/

Florida police officer captures photo of Coast Guard plane chasing hockey puck UFO. “‘I saw a Coast Guard plane flying over the bay, then I watch them turn back toward the Gulf. I thought what the heck is that as I look up and saw a big black thing in the sky,’ Bradenton Beach Police Officer Charles Morose said. ‘I’m estimating based on the size of the plane in the sky, it was at least the size of a car, or maybe a small aircraft.’ Morose said he thinks the Coast Guard plane must have seen the object because it changed course and came back toward the Gulf, appearing to follow the object. He says after the plane began to follow the object, which was almost stationary when he first observed it, its speed and trajectory changed rapidly.’That thing had to be moving at least 500 mph,’ Morose said. ‘It just shot off like a rocket toward the horizon and it was just gone.’ …. The Sun reached out to the Cortez Coast Guard detachment, who forwarded the inquiry to their public relations department. After calls to multiple departments, we were told they would reach out if they had any information, claiming there was no incident reported in the area on the date and time reported by Morose.”   https://www.amisun.com/2022/11/14/ufo-sighting-reported-in-bradenton-beach/

Sen. Rand Paul asks FBI director Christopher Wray if social media sites are sharing user information with his agency without any legal basis. “‘Is Facebook or any other social media company supplying private messages or data on American users that is not compelled by the government or the FBI?’ Paul asked Wray. ‘Not compelled — in other words, not in response to the legal process?’ Wray replied. ‘No warrant, no subpoena — they’re just supplying you information on their users?’ Paul clarified. ‘I don’t believe so. But I can’t sit here and be sure of that as I sit here,’ Wray said. ‘Can you give us a yes or no by going back to your team and asking?’ Paul insisted.”   https://nypost.com/2022/11/17/fbi-boss-wray-cant-be-sure-if-facebook-sending-agents-user-info/

Arizona executioner struggled for almost an hour to insert IV into inmate. “An Arizona death row inmate used his final words to ask witnesses ‘can you believe this?’ as bungling officials struggled to find a vein for nearly an hour. Murray Hooper, 76, was convicted of murdering two people in 1980 and was given the lethal injection at the state prison. But officials struggled to insert the IV used to administer the drug, with Hooper asking ‘what are we waiting on?’ before saying to witnesses ‘I can’t believe this’ and shaking his head. Eventually, they inserted a catheter into his femoral vein near his groin to complete the execution – being told that it would ‘hurt less’.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11444147/Arizona-death-row-officials-struggled-vein-TWO-HOURS.html

More public employees’ unions join UK strikes. “The two unions balloting for action– the National Education Union and National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers – together represent around 750,000 teaching staff…. The vote follows last week’s historic decision by nurses to launch major strikes…. Train drivers and rail staff represented by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers have been on strike since June, in what has now become the largest employment dispute in the country since 1989. They were quickly joined on picket lines by postal workers…. Barristers, college educators, refuse workers, broadband engineers, bus drivers and staff at airports and ports are all also organizing regular walkouts around the country.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/wave-of-government-worker-strikes-sweeps-uk/

November 18, 2022

Four largest U.S. cities now led by black mayors. “‘As Black mayors continue to win elections this cycle, we are excited that, for the first time, the four largest cities – New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago & Houston – are each led by an African American mayor,’ the African American Mayors Association said on Thursday. [Karen] Bass, a six-term congresswoman who represents south and west Los Angeles, will be Los Angeles’ first female mayor. She will be sworn in on December 12.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/17/us/black-mayors-large-cities-karen-bass-reaj/index.html

Biden administration weighs in on behalf of Saudi crown prince, says government post shields him from U.S. lawsuits over murder of journalist. “Saudi officials killed [Jamal] Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They are believed to have dismembered him, although his remains have never been found. The U.S. intelligence community concluded Saudi Arabia’s crown prince had approved the killing of the widely known and respected journalist, who had written critically of Prince Mohammed’s harsh ways of silencing of those he considered rivals or critics…. Human rights advocates had argued that the Biden administration would embolden Prince Mohammed and other authoritarian leaders around the world in more rights abuses if it supported the crown prince’s claim that his high office shielded him from prosecution.”   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/18/us-moves-to-shield-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-in-khashoggi-killing.html

Alabama cancels execution after executioner unable to correctly insert IV before deadline. “Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said prison staff tried for about an hour to get the two required intravenous lines connected to Kenneth Eugene Smith, 57. Hamm said they established one line but were unsuccessful with a second line after trying several locations on Smith’s body. Officials then tried a central line, which involves a catheter placed into a large vein. ‘We were not able to have time to complete that, so we called off the execution,’ Hamm said.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kenneth-eugene-smith-alabama-stops-execution-trouble-finding-suitable-vein/   Sounds painful.

10th American volunteer dies in Ukraine. “Trent Davis, a 21-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Kansas, was killed on his first mission with the International Legion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Nov. 8 near the southern city of Kherson. He is at least the tenth American to die fighting in Ukraine since Feb. 24.”   https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/11/16/us-army-veteran-killed-fighting-on-ukraines-southern-front/

COP27 delegates deadlocked over climate change payments by developed countries to less developed ones. “A major split remains between wealthy nations and the Global South on what financial responsibility larger polluters should take for causing the climate crisis. A group of more than 130 developing nations and China have proposed establishing a loss and damage fund to provide money to countries impacted by the climate crisis, but the United States has said it would not support a, quote, ‘legal structure that is tied to compensation or liability’.”   https://www.democracynow.org/2022/11/16/cop27_fossil_fuel_expo_harjeet_singh

Climate groups angry after draft of COP27 agreement doesn’t mention phasing out fossil fuels. “Climate action groups were outraged Thursday as global policymakers released a draft agreement making clear that dire warnings from energy experts and scientists regarding fossil fuel extraction have not gotten through to them, with the document failing to endorse a phase-out of oil and gas use…. The absence of crucial language regarding oil and gas left campaigners concerned that the conference, where hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists were present, will ultimately fail to produce an agreement that treats the climate crisis with the urgency needed.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/17/abdication-responsibility-fury-cop27-draft-omits-oil-and-gas-phase-out

November 17, 2022

Waco, Texas family’s life upended after mother is charged with child endangerment for letting son walk home from karate practice. “[Eight year-old] Aiden agreed to walk [1/2 a mile] home [from karate practice]; after all, it was something he had done many times. There are sidewalks the entire way, and practically zero traffic. But 15 minutes later, two cops knocked on [Heather] Wallace’s door. Her son was in their patrol car. Another officer was parked across the street. A woman one block away had called the cops to report a boy walking outside alone. That lady had actually asked Aiden where he lived, verified that it was just down the street, and proceeded to call [the police] nonetheless. The cops picked up Aiden on his own block…. Child services had the family agree to a safety plan, which meant Wallace and her husband could not be alone with their kids for even a second. Their mothers—the children’s grandmothers—had to visit and trade-off overnight stays in order to guarantee the parents were constantly supervised…. She obtained a lawyer, who told her that if she admitted guilt, she could participate in a pretrial diversion program that would close the case. On the other hand, if she went to trial and lost, she faced a minimum of two years behind bars and a maximum of 20. So she took the plea deal…. Meanwhile, she was forced to resign from the pediatric sleep consulting business where she worked, for the same reason: child endangerment charges.”   https://reason.com/2022/11/16/suburban-mom-jailed-handcuffed-cps-son-walk-home/

Gun sales in Oregon more than double after referendum to impose numerous restrictions narrowly passes. “The week of Oct. 30, the state police received 8,609 requests for gun background checks on prospective buyers. In the following election week of Nov. 6, the requests more than doubled to 18,065, according to Capt. Stephanie Bigman, a state police spokesperson…. Under Measure 114, people who want to buy a gun in Oregon will have to apply to a county sheriff for a permit, pay the $65 fee, provide their fingerprints, complete gun safety training and undergo a criminal background check. The permit will be good for five years. Each time a permit holder goes to buy a gun, the dealer again must obtain a completed and approved state police firearms background check on the person before turning over the gun.”   https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/11/oregon-gun-sales-skyrocket-after-gun-control-measure-114-passes.html

Tens of thousands of mink released from mink farm, an estimated 10,000 still on the loose. “According to police reports, the mass mustelid breakout occurred between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. after vandals destroyed fencing [at] Lion Farms USA Mink Farm in Hoaglin Township, local channel WANE15 reported. As a result, some 25,000-40,000 mink were released from the cages. Thankfully, the farm workers were able to wrangle the minks that remained on the property, leaving around 10,000 of the fur-bearers unaccounted for…. It’s yet unclear who broke into the farm, or what their motive was. However, the culprits reportedly spray-painted ‘ALF’ and ‘we’ll be back’ on the wall where the fence was cut.”   https://nypost.com/2022/11/16/ohio-vandals-release-10000-carnivorous-mink-into-the-wild/   ‘ALF’ likely stands for ‘Animal Liberation Front’. “ALF was established in Great Britain in the 1970s and is a loosely organized extremist movement committed to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals, according to [FBI deputy assistant director John] Lewis. Lewis also described ALF [in 2005] as a group that had emerged as a ‘serious domestic terrorist threat’.”   https://www.wane.com/top-stories/thousands-of-mink-released-from-van-wert-county-farm/

Kuwait carries out mass execution. “Kuwait executed seven prisoners on Wednesday in a rare mass execution even as the international outcry over the executions grows louder…. Among those killed were three Kuwaiti men, one Kuwaiti woman, a Syrian man, a Pakistani man and an Ethiopian woman…. It did not identify the method it used to carry out the executions.”   https://www.dw.com/en/kuwait-executes-seven-prisoners-amid-international-outcry/a-63775964

Unionized Starbucks workers to hold 1-day strike at 112 stores over retaliation, refusal to negotiate. “The union says it is striking to protest the retaliation taken against union supporters nationwide. It is also protesting what it characterizes as the company’s refusal to bargain with the union on a first labor deal. There are 264 stores that have voted in favor of union representation. But no contracts have yet been negotiated even at stores which voted nearly a year ago.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/17/business/starbucks-strike/index.html

FBI investigating Hardin county, Kentucky deputies over beating of burned out taillight suspect after chase. “The incident, which happened around February 2021, was captured by what appears to be a cruiser’s dash camera. The video shows a man, Joshua Tyler, pulled over, with his driver door opened. He is seen with his hands up in the air before he is grabbed and pulled to the ground by a deputy…. The Tyler family said their heart dropped after receiving the video of Joshua’s arrest from their attorney, 19 months after being told no video existed…. his father Joseph said they didn’t hear from him for three days and that his mug shot came out 12 days after he was booked. ‘When you have two cracked eye sockets and your face is swollen up like that, it didn’t look like my son,’ Joe said.”   https://www.wave3.com/2022/11/16/fbi-investigating-hardin-co-deputy-accused-punching-man-during-traffic-stop/

Air Force reportedly participated in raids on homes of Area 51 researcher. “The Air Force Office of Special Investigations and FBI entered homes owned by Joerg Arnu in Las Vegas and the tiny town of Rachel on Nov. 3 and seized potential evidence for an undisclosed joint agency probe, according to Lt. Col. Bryon McGarry, spokesman for Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas…. Arnu said both his homes were raided ‘without warning’ on Nov. 3 ‘by 15-20 agents in full riot gear’. The agents broke open the doors while Arnu was in the Rachel home and his girlfriend at the Las Vegas one, and then they ‘were detained and treated in the most disrespectful way’…. He estimated the damage cost to his home at $5,000… Arnu claims the warrant for the search had 40 pages missing and the case file was sealed, preventing him from reading about it. The FBI had not returned his phone calls, he added.”   https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/air-force-fbi-raid-homes-in-probe-of-area-51-website-2677764/

Judicial Watch appeals court decision that allowed FBI to withhold information about its collection of banking information in connection with Capitol riot. “In its appellate brief, Judicial Watch argues: ‘This appeal arises from what appears to be an unprecedented abuse of the financial privacy of thousands of Americans. Substantial and compelling evidence demonstrates that the FBI sought and received records from financial institutions of anyone who used a credit card or engaged in other transactions in the Washington, D.C. area on January 5 or 6, 2021. This would include many thousands of persons living in the Washington, DC area, including possibly members of this Court.'”   https://www.judicialwatch.org/fbi-withholding-communications/

Progressive defeats billionaire in Los Angeles mayor race. “Karen Bass on Wednesday was projected the winner of Los Angeles’ mayoral race, defeating billionaire developer Rick Caruso, a former Republican who outspent the Democratic U.S. congresswoman by 11-to-1 while enlisting the aid of Hollywood A-listers including Snoop Dogg, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kim Kardashian…. ‘Our campaign was people-powered by thousands of volunteers, sending a message that we are committed to solutions for homelessness, public safety, and affordability in every neighborhood and for every community,’ the 69-year-old former state Assembly speaker and six-term U.S. congresswoman tweeted earlier this week.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/16/left-beat-money-karen-bass-defeats-billionaire-become-la-mayor

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hear case of man beaten to death by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. “On May 28, 2010, Anastasio Hernández Rojas, a 42-year-old long-time San Diego resident and father of five, was crossing the border from Mexico into the United States when he was apprehended and tortured by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. He died in the hospital a few days later from his injuries…. After being taken to a detention center, agents used escalating force against Rojas, although he was unarmed and injured. ‘CBP agents punched, kicked, dragged, Tased, hogtied, and denied Anastasio medical attention,’ his family alleged in the complaint they filed against the United States in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. ‘Autopsy reports confirmed that Anastasio suffered extensive injuries while in custody, including bruising and abrasions on his face and body, five broken ribs, and hemorrhaging of internal organs.’ He had a heart attack, went into cardiac arrest and suffered brain damage, which ultimately led to his death. Both autopsy reports ruled Rojas’s death a homicide…. ‘Since Anastasio’s death, nearly 250 more people have died in an encounter with border agents, and no agent has been held responsible.'”   https://consortiumnews.com/2022/11/16/the-inter-american-commissions-landmark-case/