June 29, 2023

New Haven, CT fires police officers over paralyzed suspect. “The decision to fire officers Oscar Diaz and Betsy Segui for their alleged conduct during the June 19, 2022, incident took place during a scheduled commission meeting on Wednesday evening. ….Officers arrested [Richard ‘Randy’] Cox on June 19, 2022, for criminal possession of a firearm and breach of peace. Surveillance video shows the officers placing Cox in the back of a police van without seat belts, leading Cox to be thrown headfirst into the back wall of the van during an abrupt stop. Video also shows that Cox repeatedly asked for help, saying he couldn’t move, but the officers did not immediately render him medical aid and allegedly assumed he was drunk when they arrived at the police station.”   https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-board-votes-fire-2-new-haven-officers/story?id=100442386

Lost in translation: ‘Barbie’ movie ad raises eyebrows in France. “The new poster features Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken, along with a French translation of the now familiar tag line, ‘She’s everything…. he’s just Ken.’ But the translation… takes things in a somewhat NSFW direction. ….’Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c’est juste Ken,’ reads the French version of the tag line. But ‘Ken’, according to Hollywood Reporter, is a French colloquialism for a four-letter word that starts with ‘F’ and rhymes with ‘duck’. ….’c’est’ [‘is’ in English] sounds like ‘sait’ which translates to ‘knows’…’ ….So in French, the [tag line sounds like] ‘She [can do anything]… he just knows how to f&%k.’ And, predictably, French Twitter is finding it pretty hilarious.”   https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/x-rated-barbie-poster-cant-130141775.html

Frontiers of free enterprise: Nursing home owners accused of diverting Medicare and Medicaid funds, one bought airline. “A lawsuit filed by New York State Attorney General Letitia James Wednesday accuses the Israeli-American operator of four nursing homes of misusing more than $83 million in government funds and neglecting residents, funneling money for their care into purchasing Israeli flagship airline El Al and other investments instead. The suit filed in Manhattan court alleges that Centers Health Care owner Kenneth Rozenberg, who purchased a controlling stake in the struggling Israeli airline in 2020 for $107 million, and Centers co-owner Daryl Hagler of using Medicaid and Medicare funds to enrich themselves, their relatives and associates instead of for the care of the residents. James claims understaffing at the homes contributed to the neglect…”   https://www.timesofisrael.com/ny-alleges-el-al-owner-used-medicaid-funds-meant-for-elderly-to-buy-airline-instead/

Canada’s wildfires still raging. “The blazes have burned more than 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) across the country – 21 times above the average over the last decade. There are currently 483 wildfires across Canada. More than 250 of those are considered to be out of control. The wildfires have also produced record levels of carbon emissions, with smoke reaching as far as Europe. ….the wildfires have released 160 million tonnes of carbon, the most of any year since 2014. ….’Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildland fires and creating longer fire seasons in Canada,’ said Michael Norton, director general of the Northern Forestry Centre at Canada’s Department of Natural Resources.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65816466

Widespread rioting in France after police shooting of teenage motorist. “France will deploy 40,000 police officers overnight to quell violence that engulfed cities and towns in the wake of a deadly police shooting, France’s interior minister said Thursday. ….Overnight, protesters set cars and public buildings ablaze in Paris suburbs and unrest spread to some other French cities and towns, despite increased security efforts and the president’s calls for calm. ….Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said that based on an initial investigation, he concluded that ‘the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met’. ….Police arrested 150 people around the country, more than half of them in the Paris region, the spokesperson said.”   https://www.ctpost.com/news/world/article/french-police-protesters-clash-in-multiple-towns-18176387.php

Kramatorsk pizza restaurant may have been ‘collateral damage’ of airstrike on adjacent hotel. “Ukraine was quick to underline that the site was purely civilian; however, videos circulated online show that there was a huge concentration of troops at the site hit by Russia. Though they were not in uniform, the soldiers in question bore many indications highlighting that they were foreigners, as they were speaking English and had tattoos and symbols affiliated with the US military…. Some journalists argued that the Russian armed forces attacked a hotel in which NATO instructors and Ukrainian soldiers reside. ….The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that they arrested a ‘Russian spy’ over disclosing the position of the strike, which would not add up if the victims were civilians, as Russia would not need intelligence to target civilian infrastructure.”   https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/possible-massive-western-mercenaries-gathering-hit-in-ukrain   This PBS story shows a picture of the damaged hotel and the hotel is mentioned in the caption, but it is not mentioned in the news story. “[Rescuers] and volunteers work at the site of hotel and restaurant buildings heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in central Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 27, 2023. Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters”   https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/officials-arrest-local-man-accused-of-helping-russia-direct-deadly-missile-strike-in-east-ukraine   If you were fighting a war and it wasn’t going very well, would you waste a valuable missile on random civilian diners in a pizza restaurant? This story, which is being widely spread by the mainstream western media, is on the same level as ‘Russia blew up its own pipeline’, i.e., it’s more government generated disinformation.

Married police couple in Florida reportedly jailed and handcuffed their three year-old child as punishment. “Body camera footage obtained by the Daytona Beach News-Journal shows Lt. Michael Schoenbrod saying he was successful in teaching his 3 1/2 year old son a lesson when he and his partner, Det. Sgt. Jessica Long, jailed the boy at the Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department on successive days last October. Schoenbrod even allegedly admitted to handcuffing the young boy on the second day of his ‘discipline.’ ‘He was crying. I was getting the response I expected from him,’ the lieutenant told a Department of Children and Families caseworker, according to the footage from a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputy and seen by the News-Journal. He said the boy promised to never again poop his pants following the intervention.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12245583/Florida-cop-parents-arrest-toddler-discipline-trouble-potty-training.html

Master Lock to close Milwaukee factory, move jobs to China and Mexico. “For over 100 years, the Master Lock plant in Milwaukee manufactured locks and security products. Now, what was for years the last remaining large manufacturing holdout on the north side of Milwaukee’s industrial sector, is being shut down after the company informed employees a phased shutdown will begin on 31 October 2023, with final operations halting by March 2024. ….More than 400 jobs will be lost, including 330 workers represented by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 469.”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/29/master-lock-milwaukee-plant-closure-manufacturing-holdout

Nurses strike over dangerously low staffing. “Thousands of nurses in Texas and Kansas walked off the job Tuesday for a one-day strike to demand better workplace safety. Nurses have denounced chronic understaffing at three Ascension hospitals in Wichita and Austin. It was the largest nurses’ strike in Texas and Kansas history.”   https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/28/headlines/nurses_in_texas_and_kansas_hold_one_day_strike_to_demand_safe_staffing_levels

New York City to buy machine guns for special Rikers Island emergency team. “A purchase order posted in the city record last week shows that a South Jersey gun dealer is sending the city $91,171.50 in MP5 submachine guns. This follows the department’s $100,000 purchase of 10 sniper rifles earlier this fiscal year. The purchase of heavy weapons is not actually for use inside the jails, as correction officers are forbidden from carrying weapons while working in its jail facilities on Rikers Island and elsewhere. A department spokesperson said the guns are needed by a specially trained team for extraordinary situations, not for daily use. ….In an email, spokesperson Latima Johnson wrote that the Department of Correction is a law enforcement agency with officers who are “also first responders who deploy when needed to critical incidents…[at] Department facilities both on and off Rikers Island.”   https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-buying-90000-in-submachine-guns-for-officers-at-rikers   For policing protests?  “[Police Commissioner Bill Bratton] said that the new 350 cop unit, called The Strategic Response Group, will be dedicated to ‘disorder control and counterterrorism protection capabilities’…. This new squad will be used to investigate and combat terrorist plots, lone wolf terrorists, and… protests.”   https://gothamist.com/news/new-nypd-anti-terror-unit-will-get-machine-guns-to-police-protesters

June 28, 2023

Senate committee report blames FBI and Homeland Security for underestimating seriousness of January 6th plans. “‘Repeating the ‘failure of imagination’ that the 9/11 Commission described nearly 20 years earlier, the intelligence processes in advance of January 6th [riot at the U.S. Capitol] suffered from a bias toward discounting intelligence that indicated an unprecedented event. ….FBI and (Homeland Security) intelligence collectors, analysts, and leaders failed to sound the alarm about January 6th in part because they could not conceive that the U.S. Capitol Building would be overrun by rioters.’ ….’What was shocking is that this attack was essentially planned in plain sight [on] social media,’ said [committee chairman], Sen. Gary Peters. ‘And yet it seems as if our intelligence agencies completely dropped the ball.’ The committee report said federal officials had multiple pieces of intelligence warning specifically about the risk of a violent attack on the Capitol, but said warnings were downplayed or lost in a sluggish bureaucracy, even as the attack unfolded during the afternoon hours of Jan. 6.”   https://news.yahoo.com/senate-probe-says-fbi-dhs-090005056.html

Reuters: 1/5th of U.S. political and legal officials are descendants of slave owners. “In researching the genealogies of America’s political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of the nation’s congressmen, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people. Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, for example, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate – 28 members – can trace their families to at least one slaveholder. Among those lawmakers from the 117th Congress are Democrats and Republicans alike. They include some of the most influential politicians in America: Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Jeanne Shaheen. In addition, Reuters determined that President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president – except Donald Trump – are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and – through his white mother’s side – Barack Obama. Two of the nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices – Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – also have direct ancestors who enslaved people.”   https://news.yahoo.com/americas-political-elite-family-links-101417821.html

Supreme Court rejects legal theory that state legislatures have absolute authority over elections. “By a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the ‘independent state legislature’ theory in a case about North Carolina’s congressional map. The once-fringe legal theory broadly argued that state courts have little — or no — authority to question state legislatures on election laws for federal contests. The court’s decision in Moore v. Harper closes the path to what could have been a radical overhaul of America’s election laws. A particularly robust reading of the theory — which the court turned aside — would have empowered state legislatures to make decisions on all aspects of elections, from congressional [election district] lines to how people register to vote and cast a ballot, without any opportunity for challengers to contest those decisions in state courts under state laws or constitutions.”   https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/27/supreme-court-rejects-independent-state-legislature-theory-00103793

DoJ inspector general: ‘Negligence, misconduct, and job performance failures’ responsible for Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide in federal custody. “The 66-year-old financier was found dead in his New York cell in 2019 a little over a month after federal authorities took him into custody for the alleged sex trafficking of minors. ….Four Bureau of Prison employees were identified by the inspector general as having committed potential crimes, accused of either falsifying records or lying to investigators. ….the prison’s Psychology Department sent a notification to over 70 MCC employees notifying them that because of his condition, Epstein had to be housed with an appropriate cellmate for supervision. But on August 9, 2019, his cellmate was transferred to another corrections facility, and employees at the MCC failed to find Epstein another cellmate, according to the report. ….Regulations required inmates to be checked twice per hour and the report concluded Epstein and his fellow inmates in the MCC’s special housing unit were left unmonitored for hours overnight, during which time Epstein died by suicide. It was not until [guard Michael] Thomas… performed his morning rounds that he found Epstein unresponsive in his cell.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-suicide-justice-dept-watchdog-report-finds/

Air Force conducts fly-overs in all 50 states to ‘celebrate 100 years of air refueling’. “More than 150 aircraft will take part, in all 50 states, to pay tribute to the first successful air refueling on June 27, 1923, 20 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, according to the National Museum of the Air Force. ….The flyovers Tuesday are one piece of the Air Mobility Command’s ‘100 Years of Air Refueling’ campaign, created to educate the public about the vital role that AMC and air refueling plays in supporting the U.S. military.”   https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2023/06/27/air-force-flyovers-around-us-celebrate-100-years-of-air-refueling/   Seriously? All on the same day? Very suspicious.

Hate crimes in California against sexual minorities and African Americans up almost 30% in 2022. “In 2021, there were 1,763 hate crimes reported in California. In 2022, there were 2,120. ….’Crimes motivated by sexual orientation increased 29% in particular,’ [California Attorney General Rob] Bonta said…. The report also found that there were 652 anti-black crimes, a rise of more than 27%. ….Religious-based hate crimes are up, with anti-Semitic hate crimes increasing by more than 24%. ….The report found that anti-Asian hate crimes fell from 247 in 2021… [to] 140 reports in 2022…”   https://abc7news.com/hate-crime-ca-report-2022-california-attorney-general-rob-bonta-hatecrime/13434370/

Rankin County, MS sheriff’s deputies fired after beating, sexually assaulting, tasering and shooting drug suspects. “The announcement comes months after Michael Corey Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker said six deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department burst into a home without a warrant. The men said deputies beat them, assaulted them with a sex toy and shocked them repeatedly with Tasers in a roughly 90-minute period during the Jan. 24 episode, Jenkins and Parker said. Jenkins said one of the deputies shoved a gun in his mouth and then fired the weapon, leaving him with serious injuries to his face, tongue and jaw. ….There is no body camera footage of the episode. Records obtained by The AP show that Tasers used by the deputies were turned on, turned off or used dozens of times during a roughly 65-minute period before Jenkins was shot.”   https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/mississippi-sheriff-fires-deputies-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-black-men-and-shooting-one-in-mouth

Former Maryland police chief sentenced to life in prison for arson attacks. “Former Laurel Police chief David Crawford was sentenced to two life terms plus 75 years in prison Tuesday for setting fires to three homes in Howard County and trying to kill eight people. ….The stunning investigation into his fire-starting broke open in 2021, when authorities accused him of setting fires to approximately 11 houses, cars and garages across several Maryland counties over a multiyear period. His targets — from former police colleagues to his chiropractor to his stepson — [were] known to Crawford, and he had worked up grievances against them, investigators asserted. ….No one was physically injured in his fires. But residents had to flee their burning homes in terror and lost precious possessions.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/27/david-crawford-arson-life-sentences/

Dept. of Defense announces yet another massive arms package for Ukraine. “The Defense Department announced an additional security assistance package of up to $500 million aimed at providing key capabilities to support Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations and defend against Russia’s war of aggression. The package includes additional armored vehicles, antiarmor systems and critical munitions for U.S.-provided Patriot air defense systems and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems among other items. ….The Biden administration has committed more than $40.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.”   https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3441398/pentagon-announces-500m-in-security-assistance-for-ukraine/

Overview of Wagner mutiny from a Russian perspective. “Prigozhin ‘speaks truth to power’. He says what everyone knows: what a clusterf&%k it all is. He says that the army commanders are idiots, the official TV news reports lie; that the Ukrainian army is both well-stocked and well-staffed, and that we should never have started this bloody war in the first place. But the solution to this mess is not to end the war. It is to win it. We must win this war, which should have never been started because we cannot lose. Because the Motherland is in Danger! Because we’re all in this together. And this is also why people love Prigozhin. Because he gets things done. Prigozhin pays his troops in cash and arms them decently. He evacuates the bodies of his dead and sends them home to be buried; he pays monetary compensation to their mothers and widows. True, he is famous for the image of heads bashed in with sledgehammers. But hey, it’s effective!”   https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/what-it-was-like-to-be-in-russia-and-watch-a-failed-coup/   Russian journalist asks Muscovites what they think about it, most are tight-lipped. “I don’t know. I don’t have any opinion about it.”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA7wP3Jvwho

Police officer in Paris fatally shoots teen driver during traffic stop, city burns. “A verified video of the shooting shows an armed traffic officer pointing his service pistol into the yellow hired Mercedes AMG and saying: ‘I’m going to lodge a bullet in your head’. There is then a bang and the car lurches forward, before Nael dies at the scene of the shooting, which happened at about 8.30 am. ….There were two other unidentified people in the vehicle at the time. ….’At first police said the teenager had tried to run them over, but they changed their tune when the video appeared,’ said an investigating source…. Yassine Bouzrou, lawyer for Nael’s family, said the video ‘clearly showed a policeman killing a young man in cold blood.'”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12239965/Riots-erupt-Paris-policeman-executes-driver-17-broke-traffic-rules.html   Nothing appears to be happening when the shot is fired, which makes it look like either an accident or a motiveless execution. A moment after the shot is fired, the car lurches forward.

Zelensky: No presidential or parliamentary elections until war is over. “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told BBC last week that there will be no Ukrainian presidential election in 2024 if martial law is still in effect…. Zelensky’s five-year term is due to end in 2024, but his comments suggest that it will be extended indefinitely if the war isn’t over by then. He made similar comments about Ukraine’s parliamentary elections, which are due to be held in October of this year, in an interview with The Washington Post last month. When asked if parliamentary elections will be held this fall, Zelensky said, ‘If we have martial law, we cannot have elections. The constitution prohibits any elections during martial law. If there is no martial law, then there will be.'”   https://news.antiwar.com/2023/06/27/zelensky-says-no-elections-in-ukraine-until-war-is-over/

Frustrated Swedish guy carries out his own, personal Nord Stream bombing investigation. “‘It was annoying me tremendously that the first footage was like 12 hours after. While in the immediate event, the gas plume must have been enormous and just the thought of what could have happened,’ said [Erik] Andersson. ….Andersson spent $10,000 on the boat charter and another $10,000 on an underwater drone with a high-resolution camera and other equipment. ….For three days, Andersson’s vessel traversed the crime scene in the Baltic Sea, and he created extensive sonar maps of each of the blast sites. He filmed the damage from the explosions and the sites where sections of pipelines ruptured. In the case of one section of Nord Stream 2, which was punctured by a blast but did not explode because it had been depressurized, he captured what appears to be the only private footage of primary damage from an explosive device used in the bombing. He discovered craters from gas explosions and found evidence suggesting that the bombs had been dug into the mud, indicating that divers, not drones, likely placed explosives under or along the lines. ….His footage of a blast hole and other detonation sites suggest that the sabotage could have been accomplished with a smaller quantity of explosives: 50 kg or less for each line. ….He and a German military explosive expert who also reviewed Andersson’s images agreed the bombs could potentially have been as small as 10 kg each depending on the specific type of explosives used. ….Andersson’s current hypothesis is that a small team of divers placed a single bomb under both lines of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and mistakenly placed two bombs on Line A of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. For yet unexplainable reasons, the first bomb on that line exploded at 2:03 a.m. and then all the other bombs exploded 17 hours later.”   https://theintercept.com/2023/06/28/nord-stream-pipeline-bomb-investigation/

IMF economists: European consumers victims of ‘greedflation’. “In a blog post on Monday, the IMF’s Niels-Jakob Hansen, Frederik Toscani, and Jing Zhou wrote that ‘rising corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe’s inflation over the past two years as companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy.’ If inflation is to return to the European Central Bank’s 2% target, the trio argued that ‘companies may have to accept a smaller profit share’ as workers demand ‘pay rises to recoup lost purchasing power.’ The economists referenced a working paper they released last week that shows corporate profits are responsible for just under 45% of the inflation spike during the coronavirus pandemic. As the paper explains, companies have hiked prices beyond what was necessary to cover the rising prices of energy and other materials, passing greater costs onto consumers and fueling a cost-of-living crisis across Europe while padding their bottom lines.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/imf-corporate-profiteering-inflation

June 27, 2023

Man sues Covington, Kentucky police over unprovoked police dog attack. “According to the Covington police incident report, on June 8, 2022, police received a call from a woman who said she believed that her violent ex-boyfriend, whom she had a protection order against, was sleeping in a wooded area near a campsite at which she was staying. When police arrived, they found Sean Davis—not the woman’s ex-boyfriend—sleeping in a hammock in the woods. Without warning, a police officer released a K-9 on Davis, which bit his arm and brought him to the ground. ….According to WCPO, a local news station, body camera footage of the incident shows that officers handcuffed Davis and demanded he identify himself. In the footage, Davis repeatedly gives officers his name, social security number, as well as his photo ID, proving that he was not the person in the protection order. Nonetheless, police kept Davis handcuffed for 37 minutes. ….Eventually, police took Davis to a local hospital where he was treated and released. ….Davis argues that his mauling was clearly unjustified and that the officer responsible for the K-9 acted with an intent to harm him, or ‘a conscious disregard to’ Davis’ rights or safety. However, in a response to the complaint, the city denied Davis’ claims that he was unjustly attacked, arguing, ‘If the Plaintiff was injured and/or damaged as alleged… his injuries and/or damages were caused solely as a result of his own acts or omissions’, and insisting that police actions were justified.”   https://reason.com/2023/06/24/police-let-their-k-9-maul-on-the-wrong-guy-they-arrested-him-anyway/

Man who killed 5 and wounded 19 at Colorado Springs nightclub sentenced to life in prison. “Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, was sentenced Monday to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the 2022 massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Judge Michael McHenry also sentenced Aldrich to an additional 2,208 years in prison for the attempted murder charges. Aldrich also received a four-year sentence for bias-motivated charges, which are akin to hate-crime charges in other states. ….’He exhibited extreme hatred for people in the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups as well,’ [district attorney Michael] Allen said.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/26/us/club-q-shooting-suspect-court-appearance/index.html

U.N. investigator: Conditions at Gitmo ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading’. “Ms. [Fionnuala Ni Aolain] said detainees have permanent disabilities, traumatic brain injuries and chronic pain — including joint, gastrointestinal and urinary issues — as well as untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. She blamed torture and rendition programs for some of the medical issues. She attributed some of them to long-term detention, hunger striking and forced feeding at Guantánamo Bay.”   https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/us/politics/gitmo-prisoners-united-nations.html

Prosecutors: Not enough evidence to charge woman who fatally shot neighbor through door with murder. “Florida prosecutors have declined to charge a white woman accused of fatally shooting her Black neighbor through the door of her apartment with second-degree murder, citing ‘insufficient evidence’. Susan Lorincz, 58, faces up to 30 years in prison if she is convicted on the charges she faces: one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault. ….’My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon, she posed no imminent threat to anyone.'”   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-neighbor-killing-black-mother-no-murder-charges_n_6499fe73e4b0aec6b802e3a6

Chicago billionaire dies after racing accident. “A prominent Chicago billionaire died in a car crash Sunday at a racetrack in Colorado, officials said. James Crown, a businessman and philanthropist who was part of Chicago’s wealthy Crown family, suffered blunt force trauma after hitting an impact barrier at Aspen Motorsports Park in Woody Creek…”   https://news.yahoo.com/billionaire-james-crown-dies-apparent-164747874.html   Billionaires apparently have dangerous hobbies.

Neo-Nazis demonstrate outside two Georgia synagogues. “On Saturday afternoon, around a dozen people with Nazi banners emblazoned with swastikas confronted worshipers outside a Chabad-Lubavitch center near East Cobb, north of Atlanta. ….On Friday, white supremacists gathered outside Temple Beth Israel in Macon, Georgia, in the central part of the state. ….Antisemitism has been on the rise in the US in recent years, according to the ADL. There were a record 3,697 reported antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2022, according to an annual tally by the group.”   https://www.timesofisrael.com/neo-nazis-harass-shabbat-worshipers-outside-georgia-synagogues/

Donald Trump claims electric vehicles will ‘kill more than half of U.S. auto jobs’. “Driven by [Joe Biden’s] ridiculous regulations, electric cars will kill more than half of U.S. auto jobs and decimate the suppliers that they decimated already — decimate the suppliers, and it’s going to decimate your jobs and it’s going to decimate more than anybody else, the state of Michigan,’ he added. ‘It’s is going to be decimation. It’s going to be at a level that that people can’t even imagine.'”   https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4067252-trump-takes-aim-at-ev-industry-during-speech-to-michigan-republicans/   If Trump says this is true, it must be true. (sarcasm)

Sen. Marco Rubio: David Grusch not the only high-level government UFO whistleblower. “Rubio told NewsNation on Monday that he has heard from firsthand witnesses in ‘high positions in our government’ to some of the claims made by Grusch. ….Grusch claims the government is covering up evidence that UFOs really are extraterrestrial and that he has seen evidence of a secret crash retrieval program. The Air Force veteran alleges the U.S. has even retrieved bodies from other species.”   https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/rubio-recent-ufo-whistleblower-isnt-the-only-one/

113 arrested at Istanbul, Turkey gay pride event. “The march was banned for the ninth consecutive year  as were all other pride events in the city, with the Istanbul governor stating on social media that there would be no permission for events that ‘threaten [the] institution of the family’. In the western city of Izmir where pride demonstrations were also banned, police detained at least 52 people. Those detained in both cities were released a few hours later except five foreigners, whose whereabouts was uncertain at the time of writing.”   https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/27/turkey-mass-detentions-pride-marches

John Kerry tells French TV interviewer that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not the same as the U.S. invasion of Iraq. “French TV journalist Darius Rochebin asked John Kerry whether Russia’s Ukraine War can be compared to America’s Iraq War. Rochebin asked: ‘Was it not a crime of aggression to enter Iraq based on a lie?’ Kerry, the U.S. presidential envoy for climate issues, replied: ‘No, no, no… Well, we didn’t know it was a lie at the time. You know the evidence that was produced, people didn’t know that it was a lie. So no, again, I think, you’re stretching something. That’s not constructive. ….we gave the president the power, regrettably, in the Congress, based on the lie. And when we knew it was a lie, people stood up and did the right thing.’ ‘You understand that for the countries of the South, of course, the justice, equality, the principles, it’s their impression that there is a double standard,’ Rochebin said.”   https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/06/26/rench_tv_host_confronts_john_kerry_about_ukraine_hypocrisy_why_isnt_bush_judged_in_the_same_way.html   What ‘right thing’ is Kerry referring to? Holding elections and leaving, reinstating the former government and leaving, or some other thing that never happened?

Investigators claim San Antonio airport worker who was pulled into jet engine committed suicide. “The Texas airport worker who was killed after being sucked into a jet engine last week took his own life, authorities have determined. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said they did not plan to conduct an investigation into the death of 27-year-old David Renner, all but closing a case that made national news headlines over the weekend. ….A source briefed on the worker’s death told the Guardian on Sunday that investigators were examining further after it appeared Renner had ‘intentionally stepped in front of the live engine’ on the jet in question. ….Despite some apparent similarities, authorities’ conclusions about Renner’s death make it starkly different from that of the Montgomery, Alabama, airport worker Courtney Edwards last New Year’s Eve, which authorities found was unintentional and a breach of safety rules by the jet operator.”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/26/texas-airport-worker-jet-engine-suicide  As the ‘Church Lady’ used to say, “How conveeeeeenient!” It would be nice to see some proof that this wasn’t an accident, whether it was the company’s fault or the employee’s fault.

FDA issues guidelines for psychedelic drug research. “‘Psychedelic drugs show initial promise as potential treatments for mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. However, these are still investigational products,’ said Tiffany Farchione, MD, director of the Division of Psychiatry in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. ‘Sponsors evaluating the therapeutic potential of these drugs should consider their unique characteristics when designing clinical studies.’ ….These typically include drugs such as psilocybin [‘magic mushrooms’] and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) that act on the brain’s serotonin system, as well as ‘entactogens’ or ’empathogens’ such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Nine drugmakers have psychedelics in development.”   https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/fda-releases-first-ever-draft-guidance-on-psychedelic-drug-research/

More UFOs caught on video over Las Vegas. “Two beams of light can be seen in the sky, hovering next to one another in the new clip that was posted on social media. It was filmed on Wednesday, June 22, at 10.30pm over Las Vegas. The unidentified objects were in the sky for ’20 minutes straight’ according to the person who filmed it. A second local resident then posted an image of their view from Thursday night, showing two interlocking white circular beams of light in the sky.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12235243/ANOTHER-UFO-spotted-flying-Las-Vegas.html

Mexico City agrees to let feminist statue stay. “After nearly two years of quarreling with the Mexico City government over an unsanctioned statue, feminist activists on Monday celebrated a promise from city officials that their anti-monument would not be taken down. ….The activists set up the anti-monument on a plinth where a statue to Christopher Columbus once stood on a median of Mexico City’s iconic Paseo de la Reforma Avenue in September 2021. It consists of a metal statue of the silhouette of a young woman with her fist raised, the word ‘justice’ etched into the support…”   https://www.courthousenews.com/feminist-coalition-declares-victory-in-mexico-city-anti-monument-dispute/

Federal appeals court dismisses protesters’ Lafayette Park lawsuit against federal law enforcement agencies. “Black Lives Matter protesters can’t pursue damages claims against federal law enforcement officers who used tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray to remove them from Lafayette Park in June 2020, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled Friday. The court affirmed dismissal of the Bivens action, which alleged violations of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment. The US Supreme Court’s 1971 Bivens ruling allows actions for damages based on constitutional violations caused by a federal officer acting under color of federal authority.”   https://news.bloomberglaw.com/social-justice/blm-protesters-lose-suit-over-forced-removal-from-lafayette-park

Israeli government approves new construction in West Bank settlements. “Israel’s far-right government on Monday approved plans to build thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank — a move that threatened to worsen increasingly strained relations with the United States. ….Multiple Israeli media outlets said the Defense Ministry planning committee that oversees settlement construction approved over 5,000 new settlement homes. ….Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/israel-oks-plans-for-thousands-of-new-settlement-homes-move-defies-white-house-calls-for-restraint/

June 26, 2023

Flights resume at D.C. area airports after communications problem resolved. “Flights to DC-area airports are able to resume after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted a ground stop made earlier Sunday evening due to equipment problems at an air traffic control facility in Virginia. The agency had paused departures to Reagan National, Washington Dulles International and Richmond International airports in Virginia as well as Baltimore Washington International in Maryland while repairs were made at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, according to the FAA’s Twitter. The control facility switched to a backup system for communications while the repairs were being made, the agency said. Shortly after 7:00 p.m. ET, the agency announced that normal operations were resuming after the repairs to ‘a communications power panel’ at the Potomac facility were completed.”   https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/washington-dc-faa-ground-stop/index.html

Tennessee deputy fatally shoots fleeing motorist. “… the man who died in the incident has been identified as 21-year-old Jarveon Hudspeth. …. It happened near Rosswood Avenue when the [Shelby County Sheriff’s] deputy approached a parked car and tried to stop Hudspeth from leaving the scene. For reasons that are still under investigation, the situation escalated, and it resulted in the man driving off and dragging the deputy approximately 100 yards. At some point, the deputy fired his gun at least one time, hitting [Hudspeth], TBI said. He died on the way to the hospital. The deputy is still in the hospital with serious injuries.”   https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/driver-drags-shelby-county-deputy-leads-to-shots-fired-killing-man-tbi-says/article_aadca494-12c9-11ee-a8da-bb9979b6c824.html

Gangs of Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinian villages. “Israeli settler gangs on Sunday morning burned crops in the Palestinian town of Turmusaya, north of Ramallah, only days after the village was subjected to a rampage that left at least 30 houses and 70 vehicles on fire. More than 400 settlers stormed the village on Wednesday under the protection of the Israeli army, killing one Palestinian, Omar Jabara Abu Al-Qattin, 25. On Saturday, dozens of settlers swept through several West Bank villages attacking Palestinian homes in scenes that have been described as an organised ‘pogrom’. Several dozen settlers rampaged through the village of Umm Safa, in the occupied West Bank, terrorising Palestinian residents.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-settlers-rampage-through-palestinian-villages-fifth-day

Two environmentalists murdered in Mexico. “…. human rights advocates are demanding justice for two environmentalists assassinated in separate attacks in the state of Mexico earlier this month. Álvaro Arvizu and Cuauhtémoc Márquez were forest and water defenders who fought against extractivism in the region. Márquez, who was also a beekeeper, was shot dead near his home on June 12. A day later, Arvizu died after being brutally assaulted by a group of unknown assailants with what appeared to be an ax. Mexico continues to be one of the deadliest countries for environmentalists in the world.”   https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/23/headlines/mexican_environmentalists_alvaro_arvizu_and_cuauhtemoc_marquez_found_murdered

Fossil fuels provided 82% of world’s energy needs in 2022. “Despite further strong growth in wind and solar in the power sector, overall global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased again,” said [Juliet] Davenport [of the Energy Institute]. “We are still heading in the opposite direction to that required by the Paris Agreement.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuels-global-energy-consumption

June 25, 2023

Train plunges into Yellowstone River after bridge collapse. “Three of the railcars that derailed were carrying hot asphalt, and four were carrying molten sulfur, KC Williams, the director of Emergency Management for Yellowstone County, told ABC News. Two impacted railcars were also carrying sodium hydro sulfate, a corrosive substance, but those substances did not enter the river, according to Montana Rail Link. Drinking water in Yellowstone County is not currently affected, Williams said.”   https://abcnews.go.com/US/train-derails-yellowstone-river-after-bridge-collapse/story?id=100356919

Profile of Yevgeny Prigozhin. “In the 1980s, he was sent to prison after being convicted of fraud and theft. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, he was released from prison after serving nine years. In the turmoil of the 1990s, Prigozhin established a successful hot dog stand, and his business expanded.Afterward, Prigozhin turned to the restaurant business. He opened a high-end restaurant in St. Petersburg, frequented by wealthy and celebrity customers, including Putin himself, who at that time had transitioned from the KGB to politics. His catering company Concord worked with the Kremlin, earning Prigozhin the nickname ‘Putin’s chef’. Russian media describes him as a billionaire with enormous wealth acquired through government contracts. His business includes a corporation that provides meals to millions of Russian soldiers, as well as to police officers, patients in hospitals and school children to the tune of at least three billion dollars over the past decade.”   https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjgqsvndn   Article points out that Prigozhin is Jewish, therefore, just like Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his forces can’t possibly include a significant number of Nazis. (sarcasm)

Americans march for restoration of abortion rights. “Saturday marked one year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Both supporters of abortion rights and anti-abortion rights advocates held protests and rallies nationwide to mark the day.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rallies-held-one-year-after-roe-v-wade-overturned/

Beijing breaks June high temperature record. “Beijing experienced its second-hottest day on record Thursday, when temperatures soared to 41.1 C (106 F). It was also the highest temperature ever recorded in China’s capital during the month of June.”   https://apnews.com/article/china-heat-wave-beijing-alert-51441f6afb6b23a35d26936c544621d2

‘Death flight’ plane returned to Argentina. “The plane, which was discovered in the U.S., is the first ever proven in a court to have been used by Argentina’s junta to hurl political detainees to their deaths from the sky, one of the bloody period’s most cold-blooded atrocities. Argentina’s government will add the plane to the Museum of Memory, which is in what was the junta’s most infamous secret detention center. Known as the ESMA, it housed many of the detainees who were later tossed alive from the “death flights” into the ocean…. The plane’s return was enabled by Italian photographer Giancarlo Ceraudo, who spent years seeking out ‘death flight’ planes. This one had later delivered mail in Florida and more recently carried skydivers in Arizona. ….’The planes had to be recovered because they were an important piece, like the (Nazi) gas chambers, a terrible tool,’ Ceraudo said in an interview. ….[Argentina’s military junta] detained, tortured and killed people suspected of opposing the regime. Human rights groups estimate 30,000 were slain, many of whom disappeared without a trace.”   https://news.yahoo.com/argentine-dictatorship-death-flight-plane-223337609.html   “Argentina was the operations center for Plan Condor, a U.S.-organized alliance between the dictatorships of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, created in 1975 and operational until around 1980. Fearing the spread of communism across the Americas, the Ford administration offered these rightist military regimes everything from counterinsurgency training and financial assistance to intelligence briefings. With U.S. support, Argentina’s junta kidnapped leftists, dissidents, union leaders, and anyone who looked remotely like a threat. They tortured detainees, and then threw them alive and conscious out of airplanes… or dumped their bodies in mass graves.”   https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-history-of-american-intervention-in-argentina

Former detainees of Myanmar’s prisons report widespread torture during interrogations. “Lin Lin Htet was interrogated for five to six days. ‘He was beaten pretty badly,’ says [his father] Myo Myint, who shared his cell for their first weeks in prison. ‘When he came out of the interrogation centre he could not walk or stand, two people had to drag him to the cell. I saw many wounds on his body. Burns on his chin and legs. Two toenails had been pulled out. His whole body was in pain. All I could do was apply some pain-killer cream I had. My son said they grabbed his hair and smashed his head against the wall or table. He can’t hear properly any more.'”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65959508

Member of airport ground crew ‘ingested’ by jet engine. “Officials are investigating the death of an airline ground crew member, who was reportedly caught in a plane engine, at the San Antonio International Airport. ….The National Transportation Safety Board says Delta Air Lines flight 1111 was taxiing to its gate around 10:25 p.m. Friday night when an airline ground crew member somehow went into the plane’s engine. ….Delta says the worker was employed by subcontractor Unifi Aviation.”   https://www.wfsb.com/2023/06/25/ntsb-airline-worker-ingested-into-plane-engine-texas-airport/

Spirit AeroSystems machinists go on strike. “Disagreements some members expressed were a lack of opportunities for pay raises and mandatory overtime on weekends. ….The biggest issue with the contract for many of the members on strike is a change in the healthcare copay and covered prescriptions. ‘… they’re raising up our co-pays double…’ ….Additionally, members say many prescriptions are no longer covered in the contract.”   https://www.ksn.com/top-stories/spirit-aerosystems-machinists-union-want-the-new-contract-to-include-better-healthcare-coverage/

Letter from Canadian MP to Defense Minister reveals knowledge of UFO program. “A Manitoba member of Parliament wrote Canada’s minister of defence this spring suggesting the country has participated in a secret multi-nation program devoted to “the recovery and exploitation” of material from unidentified aerial phenomenon, more commonly known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs. ….Citing meetings with unnamed ‘American officials’, [Larry] Maguire suggests Defence Research and Development Canada ‘is in possession of recovered UAP material’. ….Maguire calls for more parliamentary oversight and for [Defense Minister Anita] Anand and the Canadian government to develop a public communication plan ahead of what he termed ‘upcoming public revelations that will stem from these American [foreign material programs]’.”   https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ufo-uap-manitoba-larry-maguire-defence-minister-1.6885580

June 24, 2023

San Antonio, TX police officers charged with murder after fatal shooting of woman armed with hammer. “Three San Antonio Police Department officers – identified as Sergeant Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro, and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos – on June 23 were charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 46-year-old woman who was experiencing a ‘mental health crisis’, the police chief said. ….The officers who arrived at the scene attempted to get Perez to walk to a patrol unit, but the woman ran back inside her apartment unit and locked the door. ….[Melissa] Perez allegedly picked up a hammer, and approached the officers from inside her unit. Perez allegedly swung the hammer in the direction of the officers, and shattered a window. A police officer responded by firing in her direction, but police said it appeared Perez was not struck by gunfire during the initial exchange. Perez retreated back into her unit, then headed back outside in the direction of three officers, still holding the hammer. At that point, three police officers fired their weapons at the woman, fatally striking her.”   https://www.kwtx.com/2023/06/24/3-san-antonio-police-officers-charged-with-murder-after-woman-was-fatally-shot/   There may be bodycamera video here, but I can’t view it:   https://www.kwtx.com/video/2023/06/24/san-antonio-police-release-footage-deadly-shooting-involving-officers/

61% of Americans polled disapprove of Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade. “In the poll, 61% of all voters say they disapprove of the 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which leaves the legality and conditions of abortion up to individual states. The total includes a majority of voters — 53% — who strongly disapprove of the decision. By comparison, 36% of voters say they approve of it, including 27% who strongly approve. ….Inside the new numbers, majorities of men (55%) and women (67%); white (57%), Latino (70%) and Black voters (78%); and urban (71%) and suburban residents (57%) all disapprove of the Dobbs decision. By comparison, majorities of Republicans (65%) and rural voters (53%) say they approve.”   https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read/poll-61-voters-disapprove-supreme-court-decision-overturning-roe-rcna90415

80th anniversary of ‘Battle of Bamber Bridge’ between black soldiers and white MPs. “The village of Bamber Bridge in northwestern England is proud of the blow it struck against racism in the U.S. military during World War II. ….Ignoring pressure from British and American authorities, pubs welcomed [black] GIs, local women chatted and danced with them, and English soldiers drank alongside men they saw as allies in the war against fascism. ….On that hot June night, Private Eugene Nunn was sitting at the Hob Inn bar when a white military police officer threatened to arrest him for wearing the wrong uniform. British soldiers and civilians intervened. ‘Everyone was saying, “Leave him alone. He just wants a drink. It’s a hot day,”‘ Fell said as she recounted her mother’s story. ‘People just didn’t understand this viciousness.’ When Nunn left the pub, the police were waiting. Tempers rose. A bottle smashed against the windshield of the police Jeep. Things escalated from there. It wasn’t until 4 a.m. that order was restored. ….Thirty-seven Black soldiers were charged with mutiny, riot and unlawful possession of weapons, and some 30 were convicted on some or all of the charges.”   https://apnews.com/article/world-war-ii-black-troops-bamber-bridge-5ab0daff5ce9c316aa200cacc853d743

Customs and Border Patrol release bodycamera video of fatal shooting of native American homeowner. “Three U.S. Border Patrol agents shot Raymond Mattia nine times outside his home on May 18, according to the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report released Friday. ….Mattia, 58, was shot once in the back as well as in his abdomen, shoulder, buttock, forearm, elbow and both thighs, the report found. ….Agents shot Mattia, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, numerous times after he tossed a sheathed machete in front of a Tohono O’odham Nation Police Department officer. Agents began firing after Mattia took his hand from his jacket pocket, according to the body camera footage released Thursday. ….Agents appeared to believe that Mattia had a gun in his hand in the video as they repeatedly asked and searched for a gun after shooting him. ….CBP has not commented on if a firearm was found on Mattia.”   https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/border-issues/2023/06/23/border-patrol-shot-tohono-oodham-man-9-times-death-ruled-a-homicide/70351733007/   “A relative who did not want to be identified told News 4 Tucson that Raymond had called to request assistance from Border Patrol regarding ‘multiple illegal immigrants who had trespassed into his yard’ and asked to use his telephone and bathroom. ‘They told us there was an estimated 38 shots fired at him,’ the relative told the local news outlet. ‘You know that’s excessive and we want justice and we want to know what happened and why there were so many Border Patrol out there shooting at him.’ The relative added that Mattia often called Border Patrol to report migrants on his property.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12228163/Bodycam-footage-shows-Border-Patrol-agents-shoot-dead-unarmed-tribal-member-Arizona.html

Wagner forces mutiny after alleged attacks on their bases by Russian military. “[Yevgeny] Prigozhin said Wagner field camps in Ukraine were struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from [Gen. Valery] Gerasimov following a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which they decided to destroy Wagner. ….Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that military contractors sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. In a statement late Friday, he said he was ready to find a compromise but ‘they have treacherously cheated us’. ‘Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,’ he said. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps. Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike and then ‘cowardly’ fled.”   https://www.npr.org/2023/06/23/1184090744/russia-wagner-group-yevgeny-prigozhin-criminal-case

Life in a developed market economy: FDA issues warning for frozen fruit products containing pineapple (and for others that don’t seem to involve pineapple). “SunOpta Inc’s subsidiary, Sunrise Growers Inc., has issued a voluntary recall of specific frozen fruit products linked to pineapple provided by a third-party supplier due to the potential for these products to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Products were distributed via the following retailers: Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, Aldi, Associated Wholesale Grocers…”   https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/voluntary-recall-specific-frozen-fruit-products-due-possible-contamination-listeria-monocytogenes   Many of these products don’t seem to contain pineapple. They include frozen cherries, frozen mango, and frozen berries of various kinds.

UAW criticizes Biden administration for huge, low-interest loan to low-wage employer. “United Auto Workers (UAW) union President Shawn Fain on Friday harshly criticized the U.S. Energy Department plan to lend $9.2 billion to a joint venture of Ford Motor and South Korea’s SK On to build three U.S. battery plants. ….The starting salary for workers at a Warren, Ohio, [joint venture] Ultium Cells plant is $16.50 an hour, which rises to $20 an hour after seven years. Union workers at a nearby Ohio GM assembly plant that closed in 2019 made at least $32 an hour.”   https://finance.yahoo.com/news/auto-union-harshly-criticizes-us-163630121.html

Unredacted FDIC document reveals ‘whales’ who were bailed out after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. “According to Bloomberg, that document was accidentally released unredacted by the FDIC in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. After SVB suddenly collapsed, the FDIC and other federal regulators decided to make all of the bank’s customers whole, including those with more funds than the $250,000 insurance limit. ….For instance, leading venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, held just more than $1 billion at SVB, according to the FDIC document. Sequoia, famous for its prescient investments in PayPal, Google, Apple and other tech firms, was SVB’s fourth-biggest depositor, according to the document. ….Another major SVB customer was Kanzhun, a Beijing tech firm that runs BOSS Zhipin, China’s largest online recruitment platform. The FDIC document indicates the Chinese firm held about $903 million at SVB. ….SVB’s biggest depositor was Circle Internet Financial, the stablecoin firm behind USD Coin. The FDIC document shows that Circle held $3.3 billion at SVB, a figure that the stablecoin company previously disclosed. The streaming platform Roku held $420 million at SVB, according to the FDIC document. Hours after SVB failed, Roku warned investors it held about $487 million — roughly a quarter of its total cash — with the bank and did not know if it would be able to recover the funds. ….The FDIC estimates the SVB failure will cost its deposit insurance fund $16.1 billion. The agency plans to recoup those losses by assessing fees on banks.”   https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fdic-accidentally-reveals-details-silicon-170705191.html

Senator claims government hiding ‘huge’ number of UFO sightings. “‘The number of these is apparently huge, huge. And that is something that the government has, the best I can say about it, downplayed, if not kept from the public, for a long, long time,’ [Sen. Josh] Hawley said during an interview with NewsNation on Wednesday. ….’The takeaway from that is, they had thousands of sightings of these things over the years, which was news to me,’ Hawley told Wired this month. ‘So I’m not surprised, necessarily, by these latest [UFO retrieval] allegations, because it sounds pretty close to what they kind of grudgingly admitted to us in the briefing.'”   https://www.newsweek.com/government-concealed-huge-huge-number-ufos-senator-says-1808697

‘Moms for Liberty’ group used Hitler quote in newsletter. “The group’s Hamilton county [Indiana] chapter on Thursday posted a revised version of its newly launched newsletter, The Parent Brigade, on Facebook after it had previously shared a version that featured the Hitler quote on its front cover. The first version of the newsletter included the quote, ‘He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future,’ and cited Hitler. While the origin of the quote is not entirely clear, it has been attributed in numerous historical texts to a 1935 rally speech by the Nazi leader.”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/23/moms-for-liberty-hitler   No one knows more about ‘liberty’ than Nazis. (sarcasm)

Corpus Christi, TX recorded heat index of 125. “Corpus Christi logged an unprecedented 125-degree heat index — a combined measurement of temperature and humidity — [last] Saturday, said Liz Sommerville, the service’s lead forecaster there. And readings at six of 20 monitoring stations in Texas on Tuesday tied or exceeded the highest temperatures ever recorded on June 20, according to data compiled by the Southeast Regional Climate Center.”   https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/21/texas-cities-record-heat/

UK’s new voter ID law stopped at least 14,000 people from voting in local elections. “The Electoral Commission said 0.25% of people who went to polling stations [in May] were unable to cast ballots because they didn’t have the right ID, and ‘significantly more’ than that likely did not show up at all. Craig Westwood, the commission’s communications director, said there was ‘concerning’ evidence that disabled and unemployed people were more likely than other groups to give a reason related to ID for not voting. ….Opposition parties accused the Conservative government of trying to suppress the votes of those less likely to support the ruling party.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/uk-elections-watchdog-says-new-voter-id-law-stopped-thousands-from-casting-ballots/

June 23, 2023

Sharp contrast in rescue efforts made on behalf of a few billionaires and those made to rescue hundreds of refugees. “Governments immediately spent millions mounting a search and rescue operation to find the Titan, submerged somewhere in the north Atlantic…. The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy and the Canadian government sent planes and boats to the search area. France and Canada each deployed deep sea robots. People around the world watched and waited breathlessly. Meanwhile, in Greece, officials knew the exact location of the overcrowded, disabled Adriana. Shocking details are now emerging of its sinking on June 14th. First-hand accounts, reported in El Pais, suggest the Greek Coast Guard could have saved the doomed vessel’s 400-750 passengers, but opted not to.”   https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/22/a_titanic_disparity_in_how_the

Arizona election official sues Kari Lake for defamation. “The lawsuit by Stephen Richer, a Republican who has served as recorder of Maricopa County since 2021, marks the most aggressive attempt to hold Lake and her allies accountable for election-related misinformation. ….In the complaint, Richer alleges that Lake, her campaign and a nonprofit organization tied to her repeatedly and falsely accused him of causing Lake’s 2022 defeat. Lake and the two organizations, the complaint alleges, falsely claimed that Richer ‘sabotaged the election to prevent Republican candidates, including Lake, from winning.’ ….Richer’s complaint claims that, during a ‘Save Arizona’ rally in January, Lake ‘falsely and with actual malice’ accused Richer of sabotaging the election by misprinting ballots. Lake added that Richer and Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, also a Republican, ‘intentionally printed the wrong image on the ballot on Election Day so that those ballots would intentionally be spit out of the tabulators.'”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/22/kari-lake-defamation-lawsuit-arizona/

Israeli settlers launch pogroms against Palestinian towns. “According to an Israeli defense official, roughly 20 settlers set cars on fire in the Palestinian village of Hawara — the site of a rampage carried out by settlers earlier this year. IDF soldiers were brought to the area, and there are reports of settlers attacking them, forcing the soldiers to fire warning shots in the air. ….In the Tapuach Junction, 40 settlers threw rocks at Palestinian cars, while a group of roughly 15 settlers blocked the entrance to Nablus. ….The various violent incidents occurred a few hours after the shooting near the settlement of Eli. Four Israelis were killed and four more were wounded, including one in serious condition.”   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-06-20/ty-article/.premium/settlers-throw-rocks-burn-vehicles-in-hawawra-following-deadly-west-bank-shooting-attack/00000188-d9f4-df52-a79d-ddf7903a0000

Dallas postal carrier collapses and dies as heat index hits almost 115 degrees. “The family of Eugene Gates Jr. says he’s the postal worker who died in the Lakewood area on Tuesday. The heat index reached nearly 115 degrees. Gates was a longtime letter carrier who worked for the United States Postal Service for nearly 40 years. ….The Gates family is still waiting for the cause of death to be released.”   https://www.fox4news.com/news/dallas-usps-worker-dies-after-passing-out-during-excessive-heat

Mexican soldiers arrested in connection with 2014 disappearance of students. “A Mexican military official confirmed Thursday that eight soldiers have been detained and taken to a military prison for their possible involvement in events surrounding the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from a rural teacher’s college in southern Mexico. ….Security forces abducted the students from buses in Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014, and turned them over to a local drug gang.”   https://apnews.com/article/mexico-missing-students-gang-disappearances-e9a52df3ab24719c0e9170de766fb672

Syrian religious extremists fought Russians in Ukraine. “‘Dozens of foreign jihadists, especially Chechens, led by Abdel Hakim al-Shishani, the leader of the Soldiers of the Caucasus group, left Idlib in northern Syria and relocated to the fronts against Russian forces in Ukraine,’ [researcher Ahmad] Sultan [claims]…. According to Sultan, Shishani and his Soldiers of the Caucasus were stationed on the fronts near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city which just last month fell to Russian forces. ….According to Al-Akhbar’s January report, Turkish intelligence played a leading role in facilitating the transfer of militants from Syria to Ukraine. ….Since the start of the war in Ukraine, hundreds of Syria-based militants belonging to ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and other groups, have made their way to the eastern European country.”   https://thecradle.co/article-view/26255/extremists-who-left-syria-to-fight-in-ukraine-realize-journey-futile-expert

Group funded by billionaires trying to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives. “The Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based group affiliated with the alliance of conservative thinktanks called the State Policy Network, has played a key role in recent efforts to raise the threshold for passing citizen ballot initiatives from a simple majority to a supermajority, and to make it harder to place measures on the ballot in the first place. ….In at least four states, FGA and its lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, have lobbied or testified in favor of changing ballot initiative rules to enshrine minority rule, and in some cases have financed ballot committees advocating for those changes. FGA has also issued reports, legal memos, op-eds and polling that advocate for gutting direct democracy. ….The latest fight is in Ohio, where Republican lawmakers last month passed a measure requiring future constitutional amendments to receive at least 60% support from voters – rather than a simple majority – and that would make it harder for proposed amendments to make it on to the ballot. Ohioans will now vote in August on whether to approve the higher thresholds.”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/23/foundation-government-accountability-democracy

Ukrainian government reportedly restricting activities of journalists. “Not every story is going to have immediate practical benefits for Ukraine or its armed forces, and that’s what they want. That’s why they’re so obsessed with controlling the narrative. But that control comes at a long-term cost of an erosion of trust in any news about the conflict, both among Ukrainians and, crucially, among the Americans and Europeans on whose continued support and solidarity the war effort depends.”   https://theintercept.com/2023/06/22/ukraine-war-journalists-press-credentials/

Iowa meteorologist resigns after receiving death threats. “The chief meteorologist for a Des Moines news station announced Wednesday he is stepping down after receiving violent threats for his frank coverage of the climate emergency and how it could affect his viewers’ lives—something he considered a mission as he regularly delivered news about the weather to Iowa residents. ….[Chris] Gloninger was accustomed to angry feedback from viewers who denied climate change or opposed the solutions that scientists have demanded for decades, but messages he began receiving in June 2022 left him fearing for his family’s safety.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/iowa-meteorolgist-quits-threats

Executive with Religious Liberty Initiative reportedly bought home from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. “A Notre Dame professor who had just taken a leadership role at RLI purchased Barrett’s private home months after she was sworn in in October 2020. The group, which advocates for religious freedom, was founded in 2020 and has filed numerous amicus briefs in cases related to… abortion, public health precautions, and school prayer…. RLI has filed at least nine briefs with the court since the sale of Barrett’s home.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/coney-barrett-real-estate-deal   Story doesn’t mention whether or not the home was sold above the market price.

Multnomah county, OR sues fossil fuel companies over 2021 heat wave. “The complaint names fossil fuel companies including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and Shell, as well as the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and two trade associations: the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA). The 2021 extreme heat event was linked to hundreds of deaths in the region and scientists said at the time it would have been ‘virtually impossible without human-caused climate change’, which is notably driven by ongoing fossil fuel extraction and use.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/oregon-multnomah-county-fossil-fuels-heatwave

France outlaws climate protest group. “On Wednesday, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced a decree that outlaws a popular ecological movement spawned in the past two years called the Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Uprisings of the Earth), or SLT. Darmanin has called them ‘eco-terrorists’. Darmanin accuses SLT of inciting violence and conducting sabotage at about 20 protests against large infrastructure projects. ….France’s crackdown on climate protesters echoes developments in Germany and the United Kingdom, where increasingly repressive methods are being taken to quell a wave of disruptive climate protests arisen since the end of pandemic lockdowns and the resumption of free movement and assembly.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/france-outlaws-grassroots-climate-activists-declares-them-eco-terrorists/

June 22, 2023

Federal judge rules in favor of woman hit by police projectile. “Over three years after Fort Lauderdale police officer Eliezer Ramos shot a foam rubber bullet into the face of LaToya Ratlieff, a federal judge ruled that the officer’s defense of ‘just-following-orders’ does not afford him qualified immunity from Ratlieff’s civil rights lawsuit against him. ….Ratlieff took to the streets of Fort Lauderdale to peacefully protest on May 31, 2020. As she was leaving the rally, Ramos shot a rubber bullet into the crowd, striking Ratlieff just above her right eye. ….The 36-page complaint alleges that the hard projectile caused ‘serious and permanent eye damage, neurological injuries, and other directly attributable physical and emotional injuries.’ Ratlieff is alleging violations of the First, Fourth and 14th amendments. She also accuses officers of battery for both the use of impact projectiles and tear gas as well as negligence in the use of impact weapons.”   https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-shot-face-rubber-bullet-111537043.html

FBI conducted FISA searches of NSA warrantless mass surveillance data on huge list of political campaign donors. “… an FBI analyst ‘conducted a batch query for over 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign’ because the analyst said the campaign was ‘a target of foreign influence’, the opinion said. But Justice Department officials found in an audit that ‘only eight identifiers used in the query’ — often a name, phone number or an email address — ‘had sufficient ties to foreign influence activities’ to comply with FISA standards. It’s not clear what, if anything, was done with the information collected. Officials said the candidate in question did not ultimately win a seat in Congress, and the incident was distinct from an instance in which Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) said FISA surveillance wrongly targeted him.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/19/fbi-digital-surveillance-misuse-jan6-blm/

House Republicans pass censure motion against Democrat who aggressively pushed Russiagate ‘conspiracy theory’. “The House GOP voted Wednesday to publicly reprimand Rep. Adam Schiff for his leading role in Democratic investigations of former President Donald Trump. The measure, which passed 213-209, formally censures Schiff and directs the House Ethics Committee to investigate his actions. ….The House seldom censures its members, last voting to do so in 2021, when the Democratic majority reprimanded Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) for posting an anime video on social media that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and attacking President Joe Biden.”   https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/21/house-gop-clears-the-way-for-schiff-censure-00102961

More heat records broken in Texas. “Del Rio, Texas, soared to 115 degrees on Wednesday, topping their previous all-time record set on Tuesday of 113 degrees. San Angelo, Texas, first tied their all-time record Monday (111 degrees), then smashed it on Tuesday, reaching 114. They tied their new all-time record of 114 degrees again on Wednesday. ​ Laredo, Texas, topped out at 115 degrees on Monday, which tied their all-time record from three other years. I​t reached 118 degrees Tuesday at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park. That was not only the nation’s hottest temperature so far this year, according to weather historian Christopher Burt, but just missed the state’s all-time record of 120.”   https://weather.com/safety/heat/news/2023-06-21-texas-heat-wave-record-forecast

Capitol rioter who tased cop is sentence to 12 1/2 years in prison. “Daniel Joseph Rodriguez… admitted to the FBI that he drove a stun gun into the neck of then-Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone. He yelled ‘Trump won!’ as he was taken out of the court room. ….Rodriguez pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, obstruction and evidence tampering.”   https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jan-6-rioter-stun-gun-officer-sentenced-12/story?id=100284409

Investigation reveals illegal searches and seizures by Sacramento, CA police. “The audit found several instances in which Sacramento police appear to violate the Fourth Amendment and act with racial bias. ….The report concluded that the department should end pretextual stops or set restrictions, such as those used by the San Francisco Police Department. ….Police officers engage in automatic pat-downs of citizens, which is against the 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision Terry v. Ohio. ….Officers searched or seized cellphones in violation of state and federal laws. Multiple times officers ‘forcibly seized’ cellphones from bystanders who were legally recording officers in public. ….The department has no policy regarding handcuffing minors. In one instance a 10-year-old Black girl was scared and crying in her pajamas after being handcuffed and reprimanded by an officer, the report stated. ….Officers routinely enter homes without warrants and conducted searches without sufficient legal authority. In some cases, officers broke down doors or physically pushed residents aside to conduct so-called welfare checks, the report stated.”   https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article276578161.html

Former FBI intelligence analyst sentence to almost four years in prison for possession of classified documents. “According to a release from the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs, Kendra Kingsbury ‘improperly removed and willfully retained’ some 386 classified documents, some of which ‘contained extremely sensitive national defense information’, at her home in Missouri over the course of her more-than-12-year FBI tenure. Kingsbury, 50, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of unlawfully retaining documents related to national defense. She has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.”   https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/4062397-former-fbi-analyst-who-kept-classified-records-in-home-sentenced-to-prison/

FBI requiring police departments to sign non-disclosure agreements when using the agency’s phone tracking technology. “The FBI requires the NDAs to be signed before agreeing to aid police in tracking suspects using the [cell-site simulation] devices. Stipulations in the contracts include withholding information about the devices, they’re functionality, and deployment from defendants and their lawyers in the event the cases prove justiciable. ….The key function of cell-site simulators is to masquerade as a cell tower in order to identify nearby networked devices. ….Multiple variants of the device are known to exist and some are capable of launching attacks more sophisticated and invasive than others. Some allow operators to eavesdrop on calls, or will force devices to execute unauthenticated commands that disable encryption or downgrade the connection to a lower and less secure network.”   https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-cell-site-simulator-stingray-secrecy/

June 21, 2023

Warren, MI police officer charged with assault and battery after attacking arrestee during booking. “The officer was identified as Matthew Rodriguez and has 14 years on the force, according to [Police Commissioner William] Dwyer. ….Video released by Warren police shows the officer talking to the suspect, then hitting the suspect with his right hand, knocking him down, knee him against the wall and throwing him down on the ground. [Ed. note: Then punching him in the head and slamming his head into the floor.] Other officers [arrived and helped restrained the prisoner], and then the first officer dragged him up and threw him into the holding cell.”   https://www.wxyz.com/news/warren-police-officer-charged-for-assaulting-suspect-in-custody   Video here:   https://www.yahoo.com/news/warren-police-officer-charged-assaulting-163120220.html

New York City man faces decades in prison for shooting a mugger (with 15 prior arrests) with an unlicensed pistol. “The government appears to agree with the defendant, Charles Foehner, on at least one major point: that the shooting was justified. Indeed, prosecutors have not attempted to indict Foehner, 65, on any homicide-related charge. The counts he’s facing—there were reportedly more than two dozen of them at his arraignment—are related to criminal possession of various weapons, after police searched his apartment and found that only some of his firearms are licensed with the state. ….Foehner had fulfilled the licensing requirements for five of his firearms, meaning the state acknowledged and understood that he was an upstanding citizen. He had just neglected to do the same for the totality of his weapons collection—almost certainly a result of the procedure being time- and cost-intensive.”   https://reason.com/2023/06/20/hes-facing-life-in-prison-for-owning-firearms-without-a-license/

Utah school district ends Bible ban over illicit sex and violence. “With a unanimous vote late Tuesday afternoon, members of Davis School District’s Board of Education moved to return the religious text to library shelves for students of all ages. ….The requester noted in their challenge… that they’d become frustrated by the other titles that had been removed under a state law passed in 2022 banning what some have called inappropriate books. That measure was pushed forward by conservative groups that have largely been targeting works about the LGBTQ+ community. If those books were being removed, the parent said the Bible should be, too, for containing scenes of incest, bestiality and rape [Ed. note: As well as prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, mass murder and torture resulting in death]…. Davis School District assigned their complaint to a review committee to analyze, as required by the new law. Those individuals found it did not violate the law for ‘pornographic or indecent’ materials, which would mean it would need to be removed immediately from all schools under what’s called a ‘bright line’ rule. But the committee did find under the law that the book was not appropriate for younger students, and decided it should only be accessible for upper grade levels. ….[however] the board [of education] determined ‘that The Bible has significant, serious value for minors which outweighs the violent or vulgar content it contains’. And so it will be returned to the seven or eight elementary and middle schools it was temporarily removed from.”   https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2023/06/20/utah-school-district-votes-return/

Hunter Biden plea deal: Probation and diversion program for federal tax evasion and gun charges. “In one case, the president’s son will plead guilty to the tax charges, which allege willful failure to pay federal income tax. In another case, he agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement for the gun offense, in which he acknowledged unlawful possession of a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver, despite being addicted to drugs. ….He allegedly received more than $1.5 million in taxable income during 2017, when he lived in Washington, D.C., and owed the federal government more than $100,000, according to a court record. He was required to pay the tax by April 2018 but didn’t, according to the document filed by Leo Wise and Derek Hines, two special assistant U.S. attorneys in Weiss’s office. Biden again received more than $1.5 million in 2018 and failed to pay his taxes by April 2019, according to the document. ….Another charge in Weiss’s inquiry alleges Biden made a false statement on a federal form when he bought a gun in 2018. ….By his own account in his memoir ‘Beautiful Things’, Biden battled drug addiction and for periods during 2018 smoked crack ‘every 15 minutes’.”   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/20/hunter-biden-plea-agreement-tax-gun-charges/70179331007/   Don’t try this at home!

30% of U.S. homeless living in California, 2/3 born there, 90% became homeless there. “….the state accounts for only 12% of the U.S. population overall…. Every day, an estimated 171,000 people experience homelessness in California; this is the largest homeless population in the country. ….A key finding was that ‘high housing costs and low income left participants vulnerable to homelessness’. Among those surveyed, the median monthly household income in the six months prior to losing their homes was $960, the study reported.  ‘….nearly half of the single adults are 50 and older…. This is increasingly a crisis of older adults struggling in a brutal economy.’ ….More than three-quarters of people said they had mental health issues at one point in their lives, and nearly two-thirds reported a time in their lives when they used illicit drugs.”   https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-homelessness-study-surprising-findings-18161475.php

Pentagon ‘discovers’ another $3.2 billion in arms funding for Ukraine. “In May Reuters reported that the Pentagon weeks before realized it had been calculating the cost of security aid via presidential drawdown — weapons taken straight from US stocks and sent to Ukraine — as if the weapons and platforms it was providing were new, rather than used, meaning its figures had been inflated. At the time, the Pentagon said it was off by some $3 billion. The jump to $6.2 billion accounts for miscalculations in both fiscal years 2022 and 2023, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters today. ….’In a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net-book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment being drawn down from US stocks and provided for Ukraine.’ ….The May revelation raised some congressional concerns that the department is playing loose with money as a way to circumvent needing to formally request more funding for Ukraine aid. Without the funds, it had been calculated that the pot of money for Kyiv would run out later this year…”   https://breakingdefense.com/2023/06/pentagon-discovers-6-2b-in-ukraine-funds-after-valuation-errors/   But what will it cost to replace those weapons? ‘Net-book value’ (unless they aren’t replaced, or they’re replaced with used weapons), and U.S. taxpayers will be paying for them.

Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito accused of failing to report gifts, failing to recuse himself. “[Hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer] flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet [for a fishing vacation]. If the justice chartered the plane himself, the cost could have exceeded $100,000 one way. In the years that followed, Singer’s hedge fund came before the court at least 10 times in cases where his role was often covered by the legal press and mainstream media. ….Alito did not report the 2008 fishing trip on his annual financial disclosures. ….In June 2005, [Robin] Arkley flew [Supreme Court justice Antonin] Scalia on his private jet to Kodiak Island, Alaska, two of Arkley’s former pilots told ProPublica. Arkley had paid to rent out a remote fishing lodge that cost $3,200 a week per person, according to the lodge’s owner, Martha Sikes. Snapshots from the trip, found in the justice’s papers at Harvard Law School, capture Scalia knee-deep in a river as he fights to reel in a fish.”   https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

June heat in Texas towns breaks records. “San Angelo, Texas, broke its all-time record high of 111°F, reaching 114°F on Tuesday afternoon. ….Del Rio hit an all-time record high of 113°F on Tuesday. ….Dallas and San Antonio broke their records for the hottest heat index since data began there…”   https://www.axios.com/2023/06/21/texas-heat-wave-continues-records   “Records were smashed across Texas during a heat wave this week, with new daily highs hit in San Antonio (105 degrees on Monday), Corpus Christi (100 degrees on Saturday), and McAllen (107 degrees on Monday)…”   https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/06/20/austin-and-san-antonio-set-heat-records-here-are-the-record-breaking-cities-this-summer/

Heatwave in northern India has killed at least 170. “Power outages have left people with no running water, fans or air conditioners as temperatures topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Other regions of the world were also battered by heat waves in recent days. In Mexico, at least eight people have died due to the extreme heat. In the southern United States, at least six people were reported dead and hundreds of thousands faced power outages as temperatures soared in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi.”   https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/20/headlines/deadly_heat_wave_in_india_kills_170_as_temps_top_110_degrees_fahrenheit

Proposed European protections for journalists include huge national security exemptions. “The original proposal sought to ensure governments could not ‘detain, sanction, intercept, subject to surveillance or search and seizure’ journalists in order to uncover their sources, unless ‘justified by an overriding requirement in the public interest.’ They shouldn’t deploy spyware on journalists’ devices either, unless — again — it’s for national security purposes, ‘on a case-by-case basis’, or such surveillance is needed to investigate ‘serious crimes’, which the Commission listed as terrorism, human or weapons trafficking, exploitation of children, murder or rape, for example. But EU capitals, led by France, want [an even] bigger carve-out. ….’National security is a classic exception. It opens the door to all kinds of abuse,’ Julie Majerczak, head of the Brussels bureau of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told POLITICO, calling it a ‘Pandora’s box’.”   https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-capitals-want-media-law-carve-out-to-spy-on-reporters/

Report reveals widespread attacks on press by police. “… U.S. police have failed to uphold basic constitutional rights for journalists covering rallies and other protests, a new report from the Knight First Amendment Institute said Tuesday, with the study documenting a number of physical attacks, unjust arrests, and suppression tactics used by police at protests both large and small. ….’In 2020, at least 129 journalists were arrested covering social justice protests. More than 400 journalists suffered physical attacks, 80% of them at the hands of law enforcement.’ ….The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker—whose data [Joel] Simon used to compile the report—found that ‘hundreds of separate incidents’ of police violence against journalists took place in 80 cities across 36 states in the year following Floyd’s murder. Journalists in 309 cases said they were targeted by police officers between May 26, 2020—the day after the killing—and May 26, 2021…”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/police-violence-journalists-report

June 20, 2023

Declassified UK Foreign Office files reveal more details about ‘Operation Gladio’. “Various passages dotted across the tranche strongly suggest the British knew much more than they publicly admitted about egregious criminal deeds, including the attempted overthrow of an allied Italian government and the kidnap and murder of its leader [Aldo Moro]. ….Gladio consisted of a constellation of ‘stay behind” anti-communist partisan armies whose ostensible mission was to fend off the Red Army in the event of Soviet invasion. In reality, these forces committed countless violent and criminal acts as part of a ‘strategy of tension‘ designed to discredit the left and justify a security state clampdown.  ….In April 1981, magistrates in Milan raided the villa of Licio Gelli, an Italian financier and self-identified fascist who founded P2. There, they uncovered a list of 2,500 members which read like a ‘Who’s Who’ of Italian politicians, bankers, spooks, financiers, industrialists, and senior law enforcement and military officials. Among the cabal’s most  prominent members was Silvio Berlusconi.”   https://thegrayzone.com/2023/06/19/files-british-natos-secret-terror-armies/

Mom freaks out after son brings home another kid to play video games. “The mom didn’t understand how a child could make a new friend, come over, and play without his mom or dad freaking out and searching for him. If her own son had disappeared for six hours, she added, she would be calling the police. ….’I don’t know this kid, I don’t know his mom, I don’t know where he lives.’ ….While the video was subsequently made private, over 100,000 people viewed it. ….Many of the elder commentors pointed out that when they were kids, this had been a perfectly normal way to make friends.”   https://reason.com/2023/06/17/confused-tiktok-mom-asks-for-help-when-random-child-comes-over-to-play-with-her-kid/

Pennsylvania man killed after shooting two state troopers was mentally unstable, claims family member. “‘It only went on a few minutes but it seemed to go on forever and ever, with the shots,’ said [Linda] Gray, who lives right near where the shootout between Stine and Trooper Rougeau happened. ‘It was almost like a war zone, simple as that.’ FOX43 spoke with a close family member of [Brandon] Stine on Monday. She didn’t want to appear on camera or be identified, but tells us he had mental health issues and was suffering from psychosis. In the weeks and months leading up to Saturday’s incident, she says he wasn’t sleeping and believed someone was attempting to poison him.”   https://www.fox43.com/article/news/crime/mifflintown-pennsylvania-state-police-trooper-jacques-rougeau-james-wagner-brandon-stine/521-89ee5979-3b9a-4b88-9d25-9ed8cc80bb32

Israel’s prime minister announces $25 billion in new investment by Intel. “Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Intel will invest $25 billion on semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the country. ….Intel’s presence in Israel began in 1974, and the chipmaker has since grown into one of the country’s largest private sector employers and exporters. Around 12,000 of its global 120,000 employees are located in Israel across presences in Haifa, Jerusalem, Petach Tikva, and Kiryat Gat. Its $8.7 billion worth of Israeli exports account for 1.75 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to Intel.”   https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/19/intel_israel_expansion/

Three Austrians accused of plotting attack on Vienna gay Pride event. “The three suspects, who remain under arrest, were already on the radar of security services for belonging to the radical Islamist scene. One had previously been investigated for suspected membership of a terrorist organisation, although prosecutors did not pursue the case. The two eldest suspects are Austrian citizens of Bosnian descent, while the youngest is an Austrian of Chechan descent; all were radicalised online, said [Omar] Haijawi-Pirchner.”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjvv9m/vienna-pride-isis-attack

Israeli government’s plan to expand West Banks settlements ‘obstacle to peace’. “The US State Department said on Sunday that it was ‘deeply troubled’ by Israeli moves aimed at expanding settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. Washington branded the Israeli move to discuss 4,560 housing units across the occupied West Bank as an ‘obstacle to peace’. ….The majority of settlement units under discussion now would be located deep in the West Bank. The move would further diminish efforts to create a contiguous and viable Palestinian state.”   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-us-west-bank-settlements-obstacle-peace

Third Sikh separatist found dead. “[Canadian federal] police said a man was found in his pickup truck in the [parking lot] of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia, at about 8.30pm on Sunday, with apparent gunshot wounds. ….he was 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the temple’s president who advocated for the creation of a Sikh state known as Khalistan. ….He had been warned by Canada’s spy agency about threats against him, according to the World Sikh Organization of Canada, which alleged he was ‘assassinated in a targeted shooting’. It pointed to the killings or suspicious deaths of other prominent Khalistan activists in recent months: Avtar Singh Khanda, in Britain, and Paramjit Singh Panjwar, in Pakistan. India’s Punjab state – which is about 58% Sikh and 39% Hindu – was rocked by a violent Khalistan separatist movement in the 1980s and early 1990s, in which thousands of people died.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/20/advocate-separate-sikh-state-india-shot-dead-canada-hardeep-singh-nijjar-temple

Daniel Ellsberg: Americans need to know the truth about their country’s wars. “What is concealed from Americans… ‘is that they are citizens of an empire, they are in the core of an empire that feels itself as having the right to determine who governs other countries, and if we don’t approve of them because of their effect on corporate interests, or their refusal to give us bases, or through pipelines of a kind that we need, we feel absolutely right and capable of removing them, of regime change. ….Virtually every president tells us, or reassures us, that we are a very peace-loving people, very slow to go to war, very reluctant, perhaps too slow in some cases, but very determined once we’re in, but it takes a lot to get us to accept the idea of going to war, that that’s not our normal state. That of course does go against the fact that we’ve been at war almost continuously. ….That there is deception, that the public is evidently misled by it early in the game, in the approach to the war, in a way that encourages them to accept a war and support a war, is the reality. How much of a role does the media actually play in this, in deceiving the public, and how difficult is it to deceive the public? I would say, as a former insider… it’s not difficult to deceive them. First of all, you’re often telling them what they would like to believe — that we’re better than other people, we are superior in our morality and our perceptions of the world.'”   https://theintercept.com/2023/06/16/daniel-ellsberg-pentagon-papers-dead/

Federal judge orders oil pipeline company to gradually shut down section crossing tribal land. “U.S. District Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin handed down the ruling on Friday after the Bad River Band argued in court that there are now fewer than 15 feet between parts of Line 5 and the Bad River following the partial erosion of the riverbank in recent months. The tribe said its land is in imminent danger of a potential pipeline rupture as roughly 12 miles of Line 5 run through the Bad River Band’s reservation, carrying up to 23 million gallons of oil and liquefied natural gas each day through Michigan and Wisconsin to Ontario. ….In addition to ordering Enbridge to pay the tribe, Conley on Friday gave the company three years to wind down its operations on the Bad River Band’s land, ordering it to ‘cease operation of Line 5 on any parcel within the band’s tribal territory on which defendants lack a valid right of way and to arrange reasonable remediation at those sites.'”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/enbridge-line-5-shut-down-tribe

World Bank report proposes subsidizing climate transition instead of environmental destruction. “According to the bank’s newly published report, ‘Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies‘, governments around the world collectively spend at least $7.25 trillion each year — roughly 8 percent of global gross domestic product — to sustain the socially and ecologically damaging fossil fuel industry along with often destructive forms of farming and fishing. ….Some of the annual support for fossil fuels, farming, and fishing comes in the form of more than $1.25 trillion in explicit subsidies, or direct government expenditures. The report notes that governments provided $577 billion in 2021 to ‘artificially lower the price’ of planet-heating coal, oil and gas. That’s nearly six times as much as the $100 billion of financing wealthy countries pledged to mobilize annually for climate action in impoverished nations starting in 2020 — a promise that has yet to be delivered. ….Implicit subsidies for fossil fuels amounted to an estimated $5.4 trillion in 2020. This includes ‘impacts from local air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, road congestion, and forgone tax revenues’, notes the report.”   https://consortiumnews.com/2023/06/19/world-bank-seems-to-finally-get-it/