| At D.C. protests, opposition to Trump doesn't always translate to support for Biden Posted: 11 Jun 2020 12:08 PM PDT  The protests that have followed the death of George Floyd have combined anger toward President Trump with calls for police reform and a push to address systemic racism. Yet many protesters are reluctant to embrace Joe Biden.
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| Leading 'defund the police' advocate says law enforcement needs to 'get out of our lives' Posted: 11 Jun 2020 10:14 AM PDT  "When push comes to shove, the police are showing us their true colors," said Alex Vitale on the Yahoo News podcast "Skullduggery." "They are violence workers who are often not really interested in the well-being of huge parts of the population."
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| Putin appeals to Russians' core values as vote on extending term looms Posted: 12 Jun 2020 05:32 AM PDT  President Vladimir Putin appealed to what he termed Russians' core values on Friday, the country's national day, as he sought to rally support for a vote on constitutional reforms that could potentially keep him in office until 2036. The plebiscite will run from June 25-July 1 and, if approved, includes a change that would allow 67-year-old Putin, in power since 1999, to serve two more six-year terms in the Kremlin after 2024, when he would under current laws be obliged to step down. "We have a common historical code, moral foundations... Respect for parents and family (and) love for our soil," Putin said at a flag-raising ceremony in Moscow to mark Russia Day.
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| Appeals court appears unlikely to stop Flynn case Posted: 12 Jun 2020 01:00 PM PDT  Flynn's lawyers are seeking order directing a federal district judge to let the Department of Justice drop the case.
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| EU finally accepts there will be no extension to Brexit transition period Posted: 12 Jun 2020 07:00 AM PDT  There will not be an extension to the Brexit transition period, the European Commission said on Friday, before warning Britain it must now get ready to police the border in the Irish Sea. Michael Gove told Maros Sefcovic, a commission vice-president, that Britain would not ask for a delay to the period beyond the end of the year in a meeting of the joint committee on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster "couldn't be clearer" in his formal notice to the commission, Mr Sefcovic told reporters in Brussels, "he explained this was the promise that was given to the British citizens in the electoral campaign". "[He] was very clear, unequivocal on the fact that the UK is not going to seek the extension and because this was the last joint committee before the deadline expires we take this decision as a definitive one," said Mr Sefcovic. "Therefore, we are pleading for acceleration of work on all fronts." "We have informed the EU [on Friday] that we will not extend the Transition Period. The moment for extension has now passed," Mr Gove said. The EU has always said it is open to negotiating an extension, especially because of the impact of coronavirus on the already tight deadline, despite Downing Street's repeated vow it would never ask for a delay. "We must now progress on substance," tweeted Michel Barnier as it was confirmed the end of June deadline for extension would expire without a request. The UK and EU agreed a programme of intensified negotiations in July before Monday's meeting of Boris Johnson and three presidents of the major EU institutions. Failure to strike a trade deal by the end of the year will mean the UK and EU trading on less lucrative WTO terms and with tariffs on goods, which experts warn will compound the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Sefcovic demanded more details from the UK Government over how it planned to enforce the new customs arrangements in Northern Ireland after the end of the transition period at the end of the year. A UK command paper was long on aspiration but short on detail, he said.
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| ‘There is no emergency’: W.H. economic advisers shrug off feared ‘second wave’ of coronavirus Posted: 12 Jun 2020 06:55 AM PDT  The remarks from two top aides come as new coronavirus hotspots continue to emerge across the United States.
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| Taylor Swift Calls for the Toppling of Tennessee’s ‘Racist’ and ‘Evil’ Confederate Statues Posted: 12 Jun 2020 02:20 PM PDT  Taylor Swift has no interest in preserving and protecting statues of racist leaders. In a lengthy Twitter thread posted Friday, the singer condemned several "racist" monuments in her home state of Tennessee.As protests have erupted across the country in support of Black Lives Matter, demanding justice for black Americans murdered by police, statues of various racist figures, most of them Confederate leaders, have toppled. As a result, a debate has begun to rage regarding these monuments' historical significance as some states vow to repair and replace them—despite the violence and bigotry they represent."Taking down statues isn't going to fix centuries of systemic oppression, violence and hatred that black people have had to endure," Swift wrote, "but it might bring us one small step closer to making ALL Tennesseans and visitors to our state feel safe - not just the white ones."As a Tennessee native, Swift wrote at the top of her thread, "it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things."Among those figures, she said, are Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Most Hideous Confederate Statue by the Man Who Defended MLK's KillerTaylor Swift Goes Nuclear on Trump Over White Supremacy: 'We Will Vote You Out'Tennessee's state government has vowed to replace the toppled statue of white supremacist publisher and politician Edward Carmack, who among other things wrote pieces in support of lynching and incited a mob that burned the office of newspaper writer Ida B. Wells, who had written pieces opposing lynching.As Swift put it, it's Wells who "actually deserves a hero's statue for her pioneering work in journalism and civil rights." Replacing Carmack's statue, she added, "is a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing."Bedford Forrest, Swift wrote, "was a brutal slave trader and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who, during the Civil War, massacred dozens of black Union soldiers in Memphis." She then shared a link to a story published today by The Daily Beast on the Nathan Bedford Forrest Equestrian Statue, perhaps the most hideous Confederate state ever."His statue is still standing and July 13th is 'Nathan Bedford Forrest Day,'" Swift continued. "Due to social pressure, the state is trying to overrule this, and Tennesseans might no longer have to stomach it. Fingers crossed."For years, Swift avoided using her platform for overtly political causes. Lately, however, she's become more outspoken, particularly on issues involving white supremacy. This might have something to do with the fact that for years, some on the alt-right have tried to co-opt her as a symbolic "Aryan goddess." At this point, however, Swift's views have been made loud and clear."We need to retroactively change the status of people who perpetuated hideous patterns of racism from 'heroes' to 'villains,'" Swift wrote Friday. "And villains don't deserve statues. I'm asking the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission to please consider the implications of how hurtful it would be to continue fighting for these monuments.""When you fight to honor racists," she concluded, "you show black Tennesseans and all of their allies where you stand, and you continue this cycle of hurt. You can't change history, but you can change this."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Martin Gugino, 75-year-old protester pushed in Buffalo, has brain injury, fractured skull Posted: 12 Jun 2020 03:53 PM PDT  On Friday, Martin Gugino's lawyer, Kelly Zarcone, said Gugino's skull was fractured and that he hasn't been able to walk yet.
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| Seattle protesters take over city blocks to create police-free 'autonomous zone' Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:25 PM PDT  For three days, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or Chaz, has offered 'a snippet of a reality the people can have'Hundreds of protesters have taken over several blocks of Seattle and transformed it into the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or "Chaz", helping to amplify nationwide protests while offering a real-world example of what a community can look like without police.For three days, protesters have filled several blocks and at least part of a park in the artsy Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, after police abandoned their east precinct, following dangerous clashes between protesters and law enforcement."I think what we're seeing in Chaz is just a snippet of a reality that the people can have," said Dae Shik Kim Jr, 28, one of the many organizers at the site. "I think what it's doing is exposing the unnecessary need of an over-policed state."The space has both a protest and street fair vibe, with a small garden, medic station, smoking area, and a "No Cop Co-op", where people can get supplies and food at no cost. There's also a trio of shrine-like areas filled with candles, flowers and images of George Floyd and many others who have been killed by police.But in a tweet, Donald Trump described the protesters as "Domestic Terrorists" who "have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!"In another tweet addressing the Seattle mayor, Jenny Durkan, and the Washington governor, Jay Inslee, he told them to "take back your city NOW… If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game," adding: "These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!"Inslee responded with his own tweet: "A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state's business."Durkan pushed back against Trump's tweets during a press conference on Thursday, saying the story he is trying to tell about domestic terrorists and a radical agenda was "simply not true". "The threat to invade Seattle, to divide and incite violence in our city, is not only unwelcome, it would be illegal," she said.Kim said he saw a silver lining to the president's tweets, as they could force Seattle leaders to decide whether they are going to side with Trump or with the community."In a lot of ways they have been trying to pacify the movement, and undercut the efforts of the organizers, but they've been unsuccessfully doing that," he said.For days the area has been filled with all manner of speeches, concerts and movie nights, including 13th, the Ava DuVernay documentary about racial inequality and the criminal justice system.Throughout the space are images and signs claiming this space for the people. "You are now entering free Cap Hill," reads one sign at the edge of the zone in Capitol Hill, which has long had a leading role in the city's political and social movements. Across the main road in the encampment are three words written in large white block letters: "Black Lives Matter."Protesters have described the site as a safe and peaceful place, where the vast majority of people wear masks to protect each other against coronavirus and offer whatever skills or supplies they have. On Wednesday, people could be seen handing out masks, hand sanitizers, snacks and water.A variety of demands have been raised during the course of the occupation, but the main three involve defunding the police, using that money to invest in community health and services, and dropping criminal charges against protesters.Shaun Scott, a Seattle writer and activist, said he saw some parallels between what was happening in Seattle and the Occupy movement, calling them "kindred spirits in a lot of ways"."But the movement for police abolition in Seattle right now has differentiated itself by presenting three very clear and actionable demands that the city can take action on in a pretty short period of time," he said.Lisa McCallister, 30, a case worker in Seattle who has attended the protests, described Chaz as "amazing"."It's the retaking of a space that was covered in violence for no reason," she said. "They were teargassing and flash-banging at 12.30 at night for hours. And then to kind of completely retake this space with peace and love."
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| Even if Derek Chauvin is found guilty of murdering George Floyd, he's still eligible to receive a $1.5 million pension Posted: 12 Jun 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Laws in 22 states prevent police officers from receiving pensions if they commit any felony related to their work. Minnesota has no such law.
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| Syria economic meltdown presents new challenge for Assad Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:21 PM PDT  In scenes not witnessed for years in government-controlled parts of Syria, dozens of men and women marched through the streets this week, protesting a sharp increase in prices and collapse of the currency, some even calling for the downfall of President Bashar Assad and his ruling Baath party. In Syria nowadays, there is an impending fear that all doors are closing. After nearly a decade of war, the country is crumbling under the weight of years-long Western sanctions, government corruption and infighting, a pandemic and an economic downslide made worse by the financial crisis in Lebanon, Syria's main link with the outside world.
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| Trump administration to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the International Criminal Court as a "highly politicized" institution on Wednesday morning as he announced new sanctions against it for its investigation into potential war crimes by U.S. forces during the years-long war in Afghanistan.
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| UAE warns annexation would upend any normalisation with Israel Posted: 12 Jun 2020 10:54 AM PDT  The Emirati ambassador to Washington warned Friday that annexation by the Jewish state of parts of the West Bank would jeopardise any warming of Arab-Israeli ties. "Annexation will certainly and immediately upend Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and with the UAE," Yousef al-Otaiba wrote in a rare op-ed by an Emirati official in Israel's top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot.
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| Canada indigenous chief battered during arrest Posted: 12 Jun 2020 04:15 PM PDT  A violent arrest and police custody deaths have ignited anti-police brutality protests across Canada.
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| Protests this past week have been largely peaceful, but Fox News continues to show old footage to rile up viewers Posted: 11 Jun 2020 12:30 PM PDT  Fox News has continuously run older footage showing looting, though a network spokesman pointed to examples of peaceful protests being covered.
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| Will the Black Lives Matter movement finally put an end to Confederate flags and statues? Posted: 12 Jun 2020 10:25 AM PDT  In the past week, public officials, military leaders and sports executives have made moves to take down Confederate symbols.
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| Senate panel advances Mississippi appeals court nominee Posted: 11 Jun 2020 10:58 AM PDT  The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced a federal appeals court nominee from Mississippi, despite Democratic objections over derisive comments he made about former President Barack Obama and his signature health care legislation. The GOP-led panel endorsed Mississippi Appeals Court Judge Cory Wilson on a 12-10, party-line vote. Wilson, a former Republican state legislator who has been on the state appeals court for 16 months, was nominated by President Donald Trump for a seat on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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| San Francisco's mayor wants to outlaw tear gas and stop police from responding to non-criminal calls Posted: 12 Jun 2020 10:47 AM PDT  The announcement points to a changing understanding among public officials of American policing and its function.
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| French nuclear submarine on fire at Toulon harbour: prefecture Posted: 12 Jun 2020 07:50 AM PDT |
| Brazil to produce Chinese coronavirus vaccine: officials Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:41 AM PDT  Brazilian officials on Thursday announced an agreement with China's Sinovac Biotech to produce its coronavirus vaccine in the state of Sao Paulo, where tests involving 9,000 volunteers are to begin next month. Brazil has the world's second-highest coronavirus caseload after the United States, with more than 770,000 confirmed infections and nearly 40,000 deaths. Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria told a news conference that the Butantan Institute, Brazil's leading research center, had reached a technology transfer agreement with Sinovac Biotech.
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| New Jersey cop charged after bodycam footage shows him using pepper spray on young black men Posted: 12 Jun 2020 06:35 AM PDT  A New Jersey police officer has been charged with assault after bodycam footage showed the man allegedly using pepper spray on a group of young black men unjustly.Ryan Dubiel, 31, directed pepper spray at people "without provocation" when responding to a trespassing call, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
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| Widow of Chinese doctor who sounded coronavirus alarm gives birth to son Posted: 12 Jun 2020 07:21 AM PDT  The widow of Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who first sounded the alarm about a potential Covid-19 outbreak, has given birth to a son four months after her husband's death. Doctor Li died aged 33 after contracting the novel coronavirus in February but first alerted the Chinese authorities to the dangers of the disease back in December 2019. He was initially ignored by the Chinese government, which played down the threat of the virus after it was first detected in Wuhan. Dr Li was the first person to link the outbreak of the disease to the Huanan Seafood market. Doctor Li's wife, Fu Xuejie, shared an image of her new son on the Chinese social media site WeChat, describing him as a final gift from her late husband. "Husband, can you see this from heaven? You have given me your final gift today. I will of course love and protect them," Mrs Fu told local news outlet Litchi News. Dr Li, an eye doctor, first noticed the virus in seven patients and sent a note to fellow doctors alerting them that the virus he had found closely resembled that of Sars. The Sars outbreak in 2003 claimed 774 lives around the world.
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| Mayor Garcetti disagrees with protesters' calls for defunding LAPD Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:14 AM PDT  Mayor Eric Garcetti said he does not support Black Lives Matter-LA's proposal to cut the Los Angeles Police Department's $1.8 billion operating budget by 90%.
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| Kim Jong Un Is MIA. His Sister Is on the Attack. Posted: 11 Jun 2020 01:29 AM PDT  SEOUL—The younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is taking center stage in an escalating, and very nasty, campaign against South Korea.If Kim Jong Un Dies, His Younger Sister Is Primed to Take OverWhile Numero Uno Kim Jong Un stays out of sight, 32-year-old Kim Yo Jong is putting her name on calls to punish Seoul.The proximate cause of her orchestrated wrath is the success defectors to the South have had launching balloons to drop leaflets in Kim Jong Un-land that bear heavy-handed messages about his supposed ill health, his egregious human-rights violations, and the general poverty of the North Korean people compared to the luxurious lifestyles of the elite."I would like to ask the south [sic] Korean authorities if they are ready to take care of the consequences of evil conduct done by the rubbish-like mongrel dogs," she said, professing to "detest those who feign ignorance or encourage more than those who move to do others harm."A subsequent report by the news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is to say the North, declared, "The south [sic] Korean authorities connived at the hostile acts against the DPRK," and accused Seoul of "trying to dodge heavy responsibility with nasty excuses."The North's Korean Central News Agency cited Kim Yo Jong and Kim Yong Chol as the figures who decided to cut off the fragile connections previously agreed to by the leaders of the two Koreas. In consequence, the dream of reconciliation by South Korea's President Moon Jae-in appears to be drifting away over the horizon.North Korea is not only ignoring Moon's entreaties for dialogue but cutting off channels that Moon proudly established after meeting Kim for what seemed like a landmark summit in the truce village of Panmunjom more than two years ago. Daily communication between North and South on telephone links between liaison officers, once hailed as symbols of reconciliation, have been terminated, it would seem, on the orders of Kim Yo Jong, although there's little doubt big brother is backing her up.It was in her capacity as first vice department director of the central committee of the Workers' Party that she and the party vice chairman, Kim Yong Chol, decided there was "nothing to discuss" with South Korean "authorities." The fact that she played a leading role in the decision despite her minor formal title clearly suggests that she's operating as a stand-in for her brother, the party chairman, who has delegated broad responsibilities to her while he keeps out of sight. She now appears to exercise real control over Kim Yong Chol, a former top-level intelligence official and negotiator who lost influence after the failure to get rid of sanctions in three meetings between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, even as the North avoided giving up its nuclear program. The KCNA report on the cut-off of communications was brimming with rage against the South, even though President Moon's name was not mentioned. Seoul's "authorities connived at the hostile acts against the DPRK," initials for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, it said, accusing the South Koreans of "treacherous and cunning behavior." South Korean officials have been uncertain how to respond, remaining silent on the cut-off but promising to introduce legislation making the balloon launches illegal. The South's unification ministry said it's also drafting charges against two defector groups for sending stuff to North Korea without approval. The balloons often carry U.S. dollar bills and South Korean candy bars as reminders of the good life south of the DMZ.On a practical level, the cut-off of pro forma hi-and-goodbye calls and sporadic visits to a little used but sparkling liaison office built by South Korea at the shuttered industrial complex at Kaesong, next to Panmunjom, had almost no meaning. But Moon had held high hopes of building on these beginnings, opening up North-South trade and regular visits on a scale not seen since before the Korean War.Judging from the fierceness of the North Korean rhetoric, renewed dialogue between South and North does not seem likely any time soon, and any hopes that Kim Yo Jong would soften her brother's approach seem misplaced, given the role she's playing at the center of the standoff. Indeed, she might be even tougher than the brother, who may be suffering from the effects of diabetes brought on by obesity, heavy drinking, and smoking.Adding to concerns about the rhetoric from the North was the use of the word "enemy" in referring to the South. The KCNA report on the cut-off of communications said that Kim Yo Jong and Kim Yong Chol had "stressed that the work toward the south should thoroughly turn into the one against the enemy."The two "discussed phased plans," said the report, "in order to make the betrayers and riff-raff pay for their crimes." It was in that spirit, it said, that they "gave an instruction to completely cut off all the communication and liaison lines between the north and the south." (North Korea, viewing all Korea, North and South, as one country, uses the lower case in "north and "south.")None of the reports attacked Moon or other South Korean leaders by name, leaving open the slight possibility that some give-and-take might be possible, but the implications were worrying."South Koreans have been have been sending leaflets across the DMZ for many years," said David Straub, a former senior diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Seoul and on the Korea desk at the State Department, "so it's clear that North Korea's complaints about them are only a pretext for something else it has in mind."One of the "riff raff" whom Kim Yo Jong detests is Ji Seong-ho, who lost a leg when caught under a train during an attempt to defect from North Korea before he finally managed to escape. Ji, elected to the South Korean national assembly last month, totally believes in bombarding North Korea with leaflets."The distribution of leaflets to North Korea is a human rights issue that secures the right of North Koreans to know," he argues. "The campaign to distribute leaflets to North Korea is a human rights movement recognized by the international community." The point is to "inform North Koreans who are oppressed by the North's hereditary dictatorship and trampling on their human rights. We need to save our compatriots."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Local Businesses Love the ‘Domestic Terror’ Zone in Seattle, Actually Posted: 12 Jun 2020 12:01 PM PDT  President Donald Trump says Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, a largely police-free community space fashioned amid protests, is run by "domestic terrorists." Seattle's police department made (and walked back) a claim about anarchists "extorting" businesses in the area.But actual businesses around the zone say they're watching Ava DuVernay films, handing out granola bars, and having a nice time.Following several nights of showdowns between police and protesters, in which cops made liberal use of tear gas and flash grenades, Seattle reached a detente with activists on June 9. The city would open up a few streets for Black Lives Matter marches in its Capitol Hill neighborhood, and police would evacuate the nearby precinct. With police mostly gone, activists—including a mix of Black Lives Matter organizers, anarchists, and the two groups' overlap—set up barricades around several blocks and proceeded to turn the interior into a sort of cop-free commune. Local businesses are chipping in with free food and open bathrooms, despite rumors that activists were holding them prisoner in their own beer halls and indie movie theaters.But the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ as it quickly became known, has inevitably became the focus of conservative hand-wringing. "Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle," Trump tweeted late Wednesday, alongside a demand that state and local officials "take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!" The president has continued to inveigh about the allegedly dangerous project underway there.Trump Goes After George Floyd Protesters and Lincoln's 'Questionable' Legacy in Bizarre Fox News InterviewSeattle Police circulated their own talking points about the CHAZ. "We've heard, anecdotally, reports of citizens and businesses being asked to pay a fee to operate within this area," Assistant Chief of Police Deanna Nollette said on Wednesday. "This is the crime of extortion. If anyone has been subjected to this, we need them to call 911."Not only is that not true, local business owner Gay Gilmore told The Daily Beast, but some businesses are actually opening to protesters for the first time after long closures for COVID-19.Rumors that "businesses have actually been tithed or taxed by the autonomous zone [are] absurd," said Gilmore, who co-owns the Optimism Brewing Company with her husband. "No one is doing that there. I have no idea where that idea came from and I'm in contact with lots of the businesses who are in this neighborhood."Local business associations made the same observations."GSBA and Capitol Hill Business Alliance have also reached out to businesses in the area, and we have found no evidence of this occurring," the Greater Seattle Business Association tweeted on Thursday. The few concrete claims of discomfort stem from a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article that cites unnamed businesses worried about safety, and reports of at least one person carrying a gun on the scene. (Washington is an open-carry state, although Seattle banned weapons in an emergency order on May 30.)The Seattle Times traced the extortion rumors to a fringe Canadian blog that focuses almost pathologically on overheated fears about leftist activists. That article cited unnamed police sources, who allegedly claimed businesses were being extorted. Those claims spread quickly through the right-wing media sphere, until police repeated them on Wednesday, prompting more articles and completing the ouroboros of extortion rumors.The department appeared to backtrack on those claims Thursday, stating its "anecdotal" reports had come from media and social media."That has not happened affirmatively," Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said during the Thursday evening press conference. "We haven't had any formal reports of this occurring."The zone's Northwest Film Forum, Northwest Liquor and Wine, and Pel Meni Dumpling Tzar all told Seattle's Q13 FOX News that businesses were not being extorted."I've been talking with neighboring businesses and they're all elated honestly," a Pel Meni employee told the station. Some businesses told the Seattle Times that their sales had actually improved, since people were placing walk-up orders that didn't require delivery fees."This protest has not hurt us at all," Brian O'Connor, co-owner of the zone's Bok a Bok Chicken told the paper, adding that someone gave him a free sandwich when he entered the CHAZ.Mx. Pucks A'Plenty, a local activist and performer who asked to speak under their performance name, said Capitol Hill is a historically Black and queer neighborhood, and that that history informs locals' interactions with the CHAZ."The people of Capitol Hill have been extremely giving," Pucks told The Daily Beast. "They have helped provide supplies. They have helped take care of people when they were tear gassed. They had their phones turned on to the police and made sure that people of the world were watching what's happening here in Seattle. And so I think a portion of what we were seeing on, on the Hill right now is this desire to give back to a community that really did support what was happening in it."Rancho Bravo, a restaurant in the CHAZ, was hosting a medical tent—even after its trash cans were damaged in the protests, Pucks said. "You have restaurants in the area making food and delivering it to people on the frontline," they added. "You have the Vermilion [an art gallery and bar], which was storing supplies, giving out supplies."Optimism—a large beer hall located just outside the barricaded area—has been closed for months as COVID-19 swept the country. "The business is in debt," Gilmore said, adding that they were opening a proper reopening in a few weeks. Even so, she and her colleagues agreed to open the beer hall's bathrooms for protesters, after seeing them line up for a pair of port-a-potties on the street. "It was the one thing that we could do was to open the bathrooms."Her staff has even been volunteering and using the hall's long tables to collect donations for CHAZ-dwellers, she added."I'm looking at three huge tables covered in water bottles and toilet paper rolls and tampons and bandaids and markers to make signs and granola bars and oranges and bananas," Gilmore said.CHAZ activists have used those donations to assemble bags of food for the homeless, part of an organic activism program that also includes teach-ins on racial justice and movie screenings at night. Ava DuVernay's film 13th, which highlights racist underpinnings of America's criminal justice system, screened Tuesday night.It's a radical change from the tear gas and flash bangs that dominated the streets just days ago, and echoes similar mutual aid networks set up in protest flashpoints like Minneapolis. Likewise, local businesses allying themselves with protesters echoed the solidarity on display during past activist waves, including Occupy Wall Street."For the past few days, it hasn't [ever] felt safer," Gilmore said of the neighborhood. "I'm taking the paper down from our windows. We are getting ready to open, now that the police are not here."For all the progressive activism, however, Pucks expressed concern that the initial protest—one for Black lives—was being lost in the noise."I think the concept in and of itself is amazing and brilliant," they said, but "I am terrified that [it will] be at the expense of the Black Lives Matter movement. It will be at the expense of getting equity for Black folks, and that will get forgotten again. There's gotta be a balance and I'm struggling to see that."Pucks' son is Black, autistic, and tall for his age. "My investment in this is that I gave birth to a Black man and I don't want my son to be killed because he's having a bad day or he's having a bad moment," Pucks said. "That's my place in this fight. I am not in the business of giving birth to black children to bury them."Threats like Trump's, which implied the National Guard or other armed forces might move on the CHAZ, added to concerns about Black lives in the zone."Whenever Trump tweets, it's pretty alarming because we're watching someone who doesn't feel like he's connected to the reality of things that are happening. I read a tweet from him and it's like the Twilight Zone. It doesn't feel real," Pucks said. But, they added, "none of this feels real. Sometimes I feel like, am I in the middle of a fever dream?"Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Iran asks French experts to read black boxes of downed jet: official Posted: 12 Jun 2020 05:27 AM PDT  The Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down on Jan. 8 by an Iranian ground-to-air missile, killing 176 people in what Tehran termed a "disastrous mistake" at a time of heightened tensions with the United States. The fate of the cockpit voice and data 'black-box' recorders has been the subject of an international standoff eclipsed by the coronavirus crisis, which Iran says has also contributed to delays in a probe by Iran's Air Accident Investigation Board. Progress was discussed at a council meeting of the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization on Wednesday.
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| One killed in blast in Pakistan's Rawalpindi Posted: 12 Jun 2020 01:38 PM PDT  At least one person was killed and a dozen others wounded in a rare bomb blast in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Friday, officials said. Rawalpindi, Pakistan's fourth-largest city, is known for its military garrison and adjoins the capital Islamabad. The explosion took place Friday evening at a popular market, a stone's throw from Pakistan's heavily guarded military headquarters.
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| Russia Has a Stealth Fighter Problem Posted: 12 Jun 2020 03:00 PM PDT  Russian airpower is inferior to U.S. airpower, according to one Russian news site.
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| US to withdraw troops from Iraq over coming months despite Islamic State surge Posted: 12 Jun 2020 08:52 AM PDT  The US said it will withdraw troops from Iraq in the coming months, six months after the assassination of an Iranian general in Baghdad threatened to see them expelled from the country. The announcement comes amid a spike of Islamic State activity in the country, and as Baghdad and Washington began long-anticipated talks over the future of the presence of the US in the country. A joint statement read: "In light of significant progress towards eliminating the Isis threat, over the coming months the U.S. would continue reducing forces from Iraq." Relations between the two plummeted to an all-time low this year after the US killed Iranian spy chief Qassim Soleimani in an airstrike near Baghdad airport in January. Iranian-backed militias have since launched repeated rocket attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad, and on military bases housing US troops. At the time, Iraqi officials were publicly furious, with President Barham Salih, describing the airstrike as a breach of sovereignty. The Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution to expel American troops immediately. Yet, US officials insisted both publicly and privately that they would leave on their timetable, and only when Iraq was capable of handling its own security affairs. US-led efforts against Isil n Syria are heavily reliant on Washington's presence in Iraq. The October 2019 raid that killed Isil-chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was conducted by forces flown in from bases in Iraq. The withdrawal announcement comes as attacks by Isil surge in the country. A recent study by the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point notes that Isil claimed 566 attacks in Iraq in the first quarter of 2020 - a notable increase on previous months. The study described Isil as showing "very significant resilience", adding that "the movement has undertaken an agile, fluid, and pragmatic shift back to insurgency in every area of Iraq where the group has lost physical control of populations and resources." At 5,200, the current contingent of US troops in Iraq is already considerably reduced compared to the peak in 2007, when numbers topped 160,000 under President George W. Bush. The Trump administration has attempted to balance its desire to bring as many troops as possible home before the presidential election later this year, and a "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran – Iraq is seen as a key battleground in the rivalry. Though no exact figures were given, western officials believe the reduction will halve the number of US troops remaining in Iraq, with further reductions possible before the end of the year.
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| Google fires back at Sonos with its own lawsuit after the smart speaker company sued it over alleged patent infringement Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:55 PM PDT  Google said it must "assert its intellectual property rights" as the relationship between the two companies begins to sour.
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| NYC First Lady: Police-Free City Would Be ‘Nirvana,’ But Goal is Unreachable Posted: 11 Jun 2020 10:26 AM PDT  New York City first lady Chirlane McCray speculated that an NYPD-free city would be "Nirvana," in a Tuesday interview with Time magazine."That would be like a nirvana, a utopia that we are nowhere close to getting to," McCray said. When asked whether New York would follow Minneapolis in attempting to disband its police department, McCray responded, "They can do things that would not be possible in a large city like New York."Mayor Bill de Blasio said in the same interview, "Could the human race evolve to a point where no guardians, no structures are needed? I guess in theory, but I don't see that in the future we're going to live the next few generations."De Blasio on Sunday told reporters that an unspecified amount of funds will be redirected from the NYPD to youth and social services, and credited McCray with the idea behind the initiative.The NYPD had a budget of $6 billion in 2019, while City Comptroller Scott Stringer has recommended diverting $1 billion from the police to other programs.Calls to "defund the police" have grown in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. At the same time, massive demonstrations sparked by Floyd's death have led to instances of rioting and looting.The NYPD has been called out in force to quell rioting throughout New York City, with looters targeting wealthy neighborhoods in lower and midtown Manhattan as well as sections of Brooklyn and the Bronx. De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have criticized the department's performance in handling the demonstrations."The legislators, the press, everybody's trying to shame us into being embarrassed about our profession," shot back Mike O'Meara, head of the New York Association of Police Benevolent Associations. "Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect….We've been left out of the conversation, we've been vilified — it's disgusting."De Blasio has also appointed McCray to co-chair the city's coronavirus racial inequality task force.
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| Deputies Claim They Killed a Black Man in His Home When He Tried to Grab a Gun. His Family Says Otherwise. Posted: 12 Jun 2020 10:34 AM PDT  A Los Angeles man was fatally shot in his home by deputies Thursday morning in a tragic domestic dispute call gone wrong. His family, however, insists the tragic incident could have been avoided if authorities didn't prematurely pull the trigger. Michael "Blue" Thomas, 62, was killed in his living room in the early hours on Thursday after Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies responded to a domestic dispute call, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast. But while authorities claim Thomas was shot after reaching for one of the deputy's guns, his fiancée and attorney insist the opposite—that he was turning away. "They broke the front down and they grabbed Mr. Thomas immediately," Bradley Gage, the family's attorney, told The Daily Beast on Friday. "As they were holding him, they hurt him by twisting his arm. At that point, because he was uncomfortable, Mr. Thomas tried to move and one deputy just stepped back and shot him.""He was murdered without justification," he added. "It was 100 percent avoidable." According to the Sheriff's Department, deputies responded to a "domestic violence in progress call" in Lancaster at around 5:30 a.m. The 911 call was made by Thomas's fiancée, Kimberly. She later told deputies she "was assaulted by the suspect," according to a statement from authorities."During the call to 911, she never speaks to the operator but rather the phone line is left open," the statement said. "For several minutes arguing and fighting between the caller and the suspect can be heard in the background."Once deputies arrived, authorities said they tried to detain Thomas, but he "refused to comply with the deputy's orders and an altercation" ensued. "During the altercation, the suspect reached down and attempted to gain control of one of the deputy's firearms. It was at that time when a deputy-involved shooting occurred," the statement said. However, Gage said that Thomas did not own a weapon and was only having a verbal argument with his fiancée when police arrived—which police could have observed "from a window outside instead of barging in." He said that Kimberly did not go into detail with him about why she initially called the police—but he noted that the pair had lived together for 21 years and often communicated loudly because she is "mostly deaf." "The claim that he reached for a gun is completely false," Gage added, noting that the incident "completely defies the fourth amendment." "He was disabled, he had problems with his hands. It would have been painful for him to try to grab a gun."In an interview with CBS Los Angeles, which first reported the shooting, Kimberly also said that Thomas never tried to grab one of the deputies' guns. "I heard Michael say, 'I have a right to not let you in the house,'" she said. Authorities said Thomas was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No deputies were injured. Gage, who has represented police officers and victims of officer-involved assaults for more than 35 years, stated that Thursday's incident was a violation of the constitution. He was demanding accountability for all the officers involved. He said the officer who shot Thomas should be charged and the other deputies who were present should come forward and "admit the criminal act.""It's time to take ownership," Gage said.Black Lives Matter Protests Over George Floyd's Death Spread Across the CountryThe Sheriff's Department told The Daily Beast that the Homicide Bureau, internal affairs and the county's Office of the Inspector General are doing separate investigations—which is standard procedure during officer-involved shootings. It was not immediately clear if any of the officers involved had been disciplined for the Thursday incident. The fatal shooting comes as residents in all 50 states have taken to the streets, engaging in both peaceful and destructive protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While demonstrators are speaking out against racial injustice and police brutality, many of them have been met with further violence from law enforcement. It has prompted several cities to confront the brutal methods used by their own police officers, many of them captured in harrowing video footage. But for Gage, Thursday's incident is another painful reminder that law enforcement reform has a long way to go. "There is no doubt in my mind that if Mr. Thomas was white, he would be alive today," he said. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Trump news – live: Administration rolls back LGBT+ health protections as president demands end to Seattle 'autonomous zone' Posted: 12 Jun 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Donald Trump has blamed the scenes of police brutality recorded at George Floyd protests across the US on "bad apples", claiming to have "dominated the streets with compassion" to maintain law and order and pledging an executive order to establish a use-of-force standard, stopping short of broader reforms.Speaking at a roundtable event in Dallas, Texas, the president sought to allay ongoing frustrations by commenting: "We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear, but we will make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labelling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots."
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| Oklahoma cop faces backlash but won't apologize after saying African Americans 'probably ought to be' shot more by police Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:48 PM PDT  A top police commander in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is "under review" after citing what he called "alternative data" during a local radio interview this week.
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| Senate committee unveils $740 billion defense bill, targets China Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:56 AM PDT  The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday unveiled its version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Defense Department on everything from troop salaries and equipment purchases to great power competition with China. The 2021 bill also wades into current controversies revolving around racial issues highlighted by protests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, an African American. The proposed NDAA, which is several steps from becoming law, backs renaming bases named after Confederate generals and bars the use of the military against peaceful protests.
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| New virus cases raise fears in Chinese capital, markets closed Posted: 12 Jun 2020 06:10 AM PDT  Beijing closed two markets on Friday and delayed the return of primary school students after three fresh coronavirus cases emerged in the capital -- the first after two months of no infections in the city. The majority of cases in recent months have been overseas nationals tested as they return home. The two latest patients are employees of the China Meat Research Centre, city officials said at a daily press conference.
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| The U.S. Air Force Deployed Spy Drones in the South China Sea Posted: 11 Jun 2020 12:55 PM PDT  The Air Force is flying the B-1B bombers and the Global Hawk drones in the South China Sea and other areas within the Pacific theater as part of a broad strategy to sustain surveillance in the region.
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| Assad sacks prime minister as economic crisis worsens and protesters demand fall of regime Posted: 11 Jun 2020 07:40 AM PDT  Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, sacked his prime minister on Thursday amid a spiralling economic crisis and a series of rare protests against his regime. In a statement, the office of the Syrian president announced that Imad Khamis, who had served as prime minister since 2016, had been dismissed "President Assad issues decree number 143 for year 2020 which relieves the prime minister Imad Muhammad Dib Khamis of his position," it said. The dismissal came as a highly unusual mass protest against Assad continued for its fifth consecutive day in the Druze-majority town of Suweida in southwestern Syria. Dozens marched through the town calling for the "fall of the regime" as well as revolution and justice. Similar protests were held this week in the southern town of Tafas, in the Daraa region. "Protesters called for freedom and toppling of the regime as a result of popular anger over the deteriorating economic, social, security and political situation," one protester in Suweida, Noura al Basha, told Reuters news agency. Most of Syria's Arab Druze community has stayed loyal to the Assad regime for fear of religious persecution, while Suweida has largely avoided the bloodshed of the civil war. Public protests against Assad's rule since the civil war began are almost unheard of due to the risk of being "disappeared" into the country's prisons and torture chambers by security forces.
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| White House eyes travel from Mexico as source of virus spike Posted: 11 Jun 2020 03:57 PM PDT  The White House is floating a theory that travel from Mexico may be contributing to a new wave of coronavirus infections, rather than states' efforts to reopen their economies. The notion was discussed at some length during a meeting of the administration's coronavirus task force in the White House Situation Room Thursday that focused, in part, on identifying commonalities between new outbreaks, according to two administration officials familiar with the discussions. COVID-19 cases are currently rising in nearly half of states across the country, according to an Associated Press analysis.
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| Human trials for a COVID-19 vaccine to start ahead of schedule Posted: 12 Jun 2020 11:14 AM PDT |
| Trump fans cheer and whoop as he describes coronavirus as 'the plague from China' Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:51 PM PDT  Supporters of Donald Trump cheered as the president told an audience that coronavirus had many names, but he preferred to call it "the plague from China".Talking at a round table on police reform in Dallas, Mr Trump darted across topics from hurricanes to oil to the coronavirus in the span of minutes before lingering on the pandemic when the pro-Trump crowd cheered in support.
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| Chicago's police union president says officers who kneel with Black Lives Matter protesters could be kicked out of the organization Posted: 12 Jun 2020 10:12 AM PDT  John Catanzara, the new president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police said it's not the "time or place" to be kneeling with protesters.
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| Andy Ngo details Seattle 'autonomous zone' set up by protesters Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:34 PM PDT  Seattle protesters take over neighborhood and declare 'autonomous zone' with no police; The Post Millennial editor-at-large Andy Ngo weighs in.
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