| Biden, in fiery speech, goes after Trump's coronavirus response Posted: 17 Jun 2020 12:41 PM PDT  An impassioned former Vice President Joe Biden hammered the president's coronavirus response in a speech Wednesday, lambasting Donald Trump's recent remarks suggesting that cases would go down if the country stopped testing.
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| Former Atlanta officer charged in Brooks killing surrenders to authorities Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:45 AM PDT  The former Atlanta police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks last week turned himself into authorities on Thursday afternoon, in keeping with an arrangement with prosecutors, according to county jail records. Garrett Rolfe, a white officer charged on Wednesday in the killing, was being held at the Fulton County jail. In announcing the charges on Wednesday, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he had recommended no bond for Rolfe, who shot Brooks twice in the back with his service handgun after a scuffle.
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| Indian MPs demand government take revenge on China after photographs emerge of spiked club used in clash Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:44 AM PDT  Indian MPs on Thursday demanded the government take revenge on China amid a wave of public fury over Chinese troops' use of nail-studded rods in the lethal border clash earlier this week. On Monday night Chinese troops ambushed an unarmed Indian patrol in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, a piece of contested territory China had allegedly agreed to withdraw its forces from. Doctors carrying out post mortem examinations on the 23 Indian fatalities told the Telegraph their injuries were consistent with weapons embedded with nails or barbed wire.
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| Atlanta police department morale "is down ten-fold," mayor says Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:31 AM PDT  Eight officers have resigned from the Atlanta Police Department this month.
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| Paulinho Paiakan: Amazon indigenous chief dies with coronavirus Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:37 AM PDT  Paulinho Paiakan was best known for the fight against the Belo Monte hydroelectric project in Brazil.
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| Fists, stones and clubs: China and India's brutal high altitude, low-tech battle Posted: 17 Jun 2020 07:35 AM PDT  India and China's militaries have some of the world's most sophisticated modern weaponry, but their deadliest scrap in over 50 years was fought using fists, rocks wrapped in barbed wire and clubs studded with nails. Colonel Babu was seriously injured.
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| What happened when Black Lives Matter came to a notorious KKK town in Texas Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:33 PM PDT  The town of Vidor, in east Texas, has a reputation. It's the kind of reputation that causes its residents to pause when someone asks where they're from.For years it was known as a sundown town — a place where non-whites were threatened with violence if they stayed after dark, and where they were barred from living through intimidation and discriminatory practices. It has a long history of Ku Klux Klan activity, and was once described by a local magazine as "the most hate-filled town in Texas."
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| Modi responds after Chinese troop incident kills 20 Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:34 AM PDT 
According to Indian officials no shots were fired, but soldiers were hit with clubs and stones during a brawl that erupted between the two sides in the remote Galwan Valley, high in the mountains where India's Ladakh region borders China's Aksai Chin to the east. Modi said Indian soldiers died fighting during the hand-to-hand battle. India's foreign ministry said there had been casualties on both sides, but China has not disclosed any casualties so far. Modi has also called for an all-party meeting on Friday (June 19) to discuss the situation after the confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
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| China shuts schools and cancels flights as Beijing reports an 'extremely grave' surge in new coronavirus cases Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Beijing had reported no locally transmitted cases for 57 consecutive days until a flurry of cases emerged last week,
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| Trump's attacks on mail-in voting hurt Republican chances — including his own, says former GOP Gov. Ridge Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:50 PM PDT  President Trump is hurting the electoral chances of Republicans in the fall elections, and likely even his own, by making false claims that voting by mail is not secure, said former Pennsylvania Gov. and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
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| Neighbors in Georgia teamed up to protect a group of Black teens after a police officer pointed a gun at them Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:05 PM PDT  The officer pointed the gun at the teens while responding to a 911 call about a group of teenagers fighting in a store parking lot and holding a gun.
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| State media: Iran test fires cruise missiles in naval drill Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:13 AM PDT  Iran test fired cruise missiles in a naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, state media reported Thursday. The report by the official IRNA news agency said the missiles destroyed targets at a distance of 280 kilometers (170 miles). It said the tests took place during a naval drill by Iran's navy in the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean.
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| An Epidemiologist Explains Why Protesting Racism During a Pandemic is Important Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:15 AM PDT  Racism within health systems can lead to worse outcomes for people of color.
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| Chinese fighter jets buzz Taiwan again, stoking tensions Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:07 AM PDT  Chinese air force aircraft approached Taiwan on Thursday for the fifth time in 10 days, before being warned away by Taiwanese fighters, the island's air force said, in a further ratcheting up of tensions across the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The Chinese J-10 and J-11 fighter aircraft flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan's air defence identification zone in the morning, Taiwan's air force said in a statement. Taiwanese fighters, which regularly patrol the air space around the Chinese-claimed island, warned the Chinese aircraft over the radio, whereupon they left Taiwan's air defence zone, it added, without giving further details.
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| Florida health care worker and 15 of her friends contract coronavirus on first night out at a bar after months of lockdown Posted: 17 Jun 2020 06:17 AM PDT  A healthcare worker and all 15 of her friends reportedly contracted Covid-19 after spending a night out together at a bar in Jacksonville, Florida as the state moved to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.Erika Crisp, 40, told local news outlets she and her friends had been staying at home and social distancing because of the novel coronavirus — until they decided to go out earlier this month for drinks.
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| Michael Gove warns Northern Irish voters will reject EU over bureaucratic customs rules Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:33 AM PDT  Michael Gove has warned Northern Ireland will vote to break away from EU customs rules if Brussels is too "bureaucratic" about enforcing the new border in the Irish Sea. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told MPs on a scrutiny committee that there would be "unfettered access" of Northern Irish products to mainland Britain. Pressed on whether that meant no exit declarations on goods travelling to the mainland, he said, "absolutely". Michel Barnier said at the end of the fourth round of Brexit negotiations that avoiding exit declarations on goods moving from Northern Ireland was "incompatible with the legal commitments accepted by the UK" in the Northern Irish Protocol. Mr Gove, a cabinet minister, warned a heavy-handed approach would mean voters deciding against continued alignment with EU rules in the Stormont Vote planned for four years' time. The British Government secured the vote to bring democratic accountability in negotiations with the EU, which ended in a deal to put a customs border in the Irish Sea rather than on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member. "If the protocol is seen to be working, it's more likely the alignment provisions can be accepted," Mr Gove said, "if it's the case that it were imposed in an over bureaucratic and burdensome manner that would lead inevitably, I think, to a greater degree of disquiet." "When it comes to goods moving from Northern Ireland into the rest of the United Kingdom, the situation will be exactly the same. Come what may," Mr Gove said before admitting there would be additional checks on British goods going to Northern Ireland.
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| Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz reveals he lives with a 19-year-old Cuban immigrant whom he calls his son Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:26 PM PDT  Gaetz made the announcement after shouting at a Black lawmaker over whether he understood the racism people of color face in America.
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| US questions new China virus figures, seeks observers Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:34 PM PDT  The United States on Thursday questioned China's credibility on reporting fresh coronavirus cases in Beijing and called for neutral observers to assess the extent of the outbreak. China has locked down the capital as it seeks to prevent a second wave of COVID-19, reporting 158 cases since a fresh cluster was detected last week. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an outspoken critic of China, urged greater transparency during talks Wednesday in Hawaii with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi.
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| Trump's lack of self-esteem results in 'dangerous' decisions, psychoanalyst says Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:51 PM PDT  A prominent psychoanalyst who specializes in understanding narcissistic personalities says that President Trump suffers from a grievous lack of self-esteem.
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| Black EU lawmaker reports Belgian police violence Posted: 17 Jun 2020 10:25 AM PDT 
A black European Union lawmaker says she was a victim of police violence in Brussels. This is German Green party deputy Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana in the European Parliament on Wednesday (June 17). "I would like to inform you and the colleagues that I have been the victim of police violence by Belgian police. I consider this a discriminatory act with a racist tendency. Yesterday, while leaving the (Brussels) North train station, I saw nine police officers harassing two young black people. I had my phone in hand. I took a photo of the scene with my phone, which is legal. The police headed towards me. They grabbed my phone from my hands. Four of these nine armed police officers brutally pushed me against the wall, they violently grabbed my handbag away, they pushed me against the wall, spread my legs and a police officer wanted to frisk me. They dealt with me in a humiliating way." The Mali-born lawmaker said police did not react when she told them she was a member of the European parliament and showed them relevant identification documents. She has now lodged a complaint against Belgian police. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the parliament that "there is no place for racism" in the EU after listening to the German MEP. A Belgian police spokeswoman says an investigation into the incident was under way but denied violence had been used.
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| Kathryn Wheelbarger, Pentagon’s top foreign policy official, resigns Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Wheelbarger had her nomination for a top intelligence job pulled last week.
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| 'It got ugly': What happened when Black Lives Matter protests came to small town Ohio Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:01 AM PDT  In Bethel, Ohio, peaceful protesters were seen by some as no different than looters. Here, the protesters' message was a challenge to a way of life.
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| New Zealand tightens gun laws further in response to mass shooting Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:27 PM PDT |
| Mexico posts more high virus numbers, acknowledges plateau Posted: 17 Jun 2020 06:17 PM PDT  Mexico's coronavirus cases continued to increase at near-record levels Wednesday, as officials acknowledged the country is on a plateau with few signs of decrease, even as the economy starts reopening. The Health Department reported that confirmed cases rose by 4,930, the second-highest daily increase to date, to reach an accumulated total of 159,793. Deaths rose by 770, the third-highest daily number, after one-day increases of 1,092 and 816 earlier this month.
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| Cops’ Most Deranged Lies and Bizarre Claims About the Protests Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:03 AM PDT  Protesters are not filling ice cream containers with concrete. Shake Shack employees are not putting bleach in milkshakes. And buses full of anti-fascists are not about to descend on a small town near you.That's just what police are saying.As protests over racial justice and police brutality unfold across the country, police departments are taking to social media to tell their side of the story. The trouble is, they're frequently wrong—and sometimes so wildly so that it begs the question of why they even bother.Christopher Slobogin, director of Vanderbilt University's criminal justice program, said cops can be mistaken, just like everyone. But sometimes police lie because they view themselves as in opposition to criminals, who also lie."It's possible that police concoct lies because even though they know what they're saying isn't true, they believe the lie is in service of a greater good," Slobogin told The Daily Beast. "If cops are convinced that, overall, they're in the right, what's a little lying here and there? I think that's human nature, not just cops. But the problem, the cops have the power, they have the weapons, and people in authority tend to believe them."New York Cops Beat Protesters for Crime of Being ThereWhat follows is a smattering of the most impactful, egregious, or just plain weird fibs, panicky projections, falsehoods, or exaggerations about protests to come from cops, their spokespeople, and their unions in recent weeks. Dairy DisinfoThe New York City Police Benevolent Association, which represents city police officers, claimed this week that workers at Shake Shack had put a bleach-like substance in officers' milkshakes. The PBA—which joined a similar claim made by the Detectives' Endowment Association—cited no evidence, aside from officers' apparent gastrointestinal distress after they purchased Shake Shack's notoriously heavy drinks while on the job. An official NYPD investigation quickly cleared Shake Shack workers of wrongdoing. No Concrete ProofNew York City police also claimed internally this month that protesters were filling ice cream containers with concrete—presumably to throw at cops as projectile weapons—and leaving them at a construction site. Twitter users quickly noted that, not only was the concrete in coffee cups instead of ice cream containers, but that mixing concrete samples in coffee cups is standard practice for construction workers. The cups were even labeled with workers' notes on the concrete composition. The construction site where the cups were apparently recovered even had a permit for concrete work. Phantom Brick PilesIn Brooklyn, NYPD hyped up a rumor about protesters gathering brick piles to throw during protests. "This is what our cops are up against," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted, parroting the rumor, which has also been promoted by President Donald Trump. "Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC." Reporting by The Daily Beast and other outlets cast doubt on those claims, pointing out that they were near a construction site, and nowhere near protests. Time TravelOn Monday, New York City's Sergeants Benevolent Association (another police union) tweeted a video of protesters running through a Brooklyn street and throwing things at a cop car. "This was tonight," the SBA tweeted, "Flatbush Ave Brooklyn." The tweet also implied that a program that discourages unnecessary arrests was responsible for the chaos. In fact, there was no chaos that night in Brooklyn. The video was from May, and that area of Flatbush Avenue had long been calm, reporters covering the protests noted. Murder BusIn Columbus, Ohio, police tweeted evidence of what they said was a clear violent scheme: a bus full of rocks, clubs, and a meat cleaver. "There was a suspicion of supplying riot equipment to rioters," Columbus Police tweeted. "Charges pending." In fact, Columbus Alive reported, police had stumbled across a colorfully painted circus bus. The frightened circus troupe told the outlet that the "clubs" were juggling clubs, the rocks were crystals, and the meat cleaver was pulled from the troupe's cooking utensils. "Yeah, there's a hatchet on the bus—with a bunch of wood sitting next to a wood-burning stove," the bus's owner said, noting that the vehicle was literally his house. Technically Tear GasU.S. Park Police offered an oft-changing explanation for firing irritants at protesters in Washington D.C.'s Lafayette Park in order to clear it for a Trump photoshoot in early June. Police initially denied using "tear gas" in a statement, then walked that back, claiming that, technically, the projectiles were "smoke canisters and pepper balls." Nevertheless, reporters for D.C.'s WUSA9 recovered tear gas casings from the scene—and as Vox noted, "tear gas" can be a broad term, sometimes referring to the pepper projectiles Park Police admitted to using. Attorney General William Barr also falsely claimed that pepper spray "is not a chemical irritant. It's not chemical." The Washington Post's fact-checking department awarded the claim "four Pinnochios," which is the maximum number of Pinnochios. A Bad TripPolice in Buffalo, New York, became the focus of national ire after they were filmed pushing a 75-year-old man to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness and bleed from the head. But before the video went viral, Buffalo Police offered a different characterization of the incident. "During [a] skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell," police said in a statement. The video would later reveal that the man was alone when he calmly approached officers. He has a fractured skull and is still unable to walk, his lawyer said this week. Small Biz ShakedownAfter protesters took over a six-block area in Seattle, the city's police claimed—without evidence—that the activists were extorting businesses in the area. Police appeared to walk back that claim several days later, after the local business association and prominent businesses in the area said they'd seen no indication of the alleged protection racket. Some businesses even said they were volunteering with the protests. The Antifa ExpressMultiple police departments have promoted a hoax about anti-fascists coming to their towns by the busload to wreak havoc. In Oregon, Curry County Sheriff John Ward shared a Facebook post warning that "3 buss loads of ANTIFA protestors are making their way from Douglas County headed for Coquille then to Coos Bay." Hundreds of locals reportedly stood outside with guns overnight awaiting the menace that never came.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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| Sweden 'surprisingly slow' at achieving herd immunity, study finds Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:49 AM PDT  Sweden's state epidemiologist has said the country has been "surprisingly slow" at achieving herd immunity. The death toll in Sweden passed 5,000 on Wednesday and the Scandinavian nation has one of the highest mortality rates in the world at 487 per 1m population, approximately ten times higher than neighbouring Norway. Yet an analysis by Werlabs AB of 50,000 tests showed that only 14 per cent of those living in the Stockholm region tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. In Bergamo, considered to be the epicentre of Italy's deadly outbreak, about 57 per cent of people had antibodies. The UK's Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance estimated that 60 per cent of people would need to be infected to achieve herd immunity from the novel coronavirus. Sweden chose not to implement a strict lockdown, running contrary to many other countries worldwide. Schools, shops and restaurants have all remained open during the course of 2020.
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| Coronavirus' return to Beijing disrupts life and rattles nerves Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:59 PM PDT  While residents of China's capital feel like they're living under "soft lockdown," it's still a limited outbreak, and authorities are determined to keep it that way.
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| 'Mr. President, wake up': Emboldened Biden trashes Trump's pandemic response Posted: 17 Jun 2020 02:49 PM PDT  In some of his harshest criticism to date, Biden spent an in-person campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs slamming the president's coronavirus efforts.
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| Atlanta Police Walk Out over Murder Charge as Mayor Admits Morale is ‘Down Tenfold’ Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:56 AM PDT  A number of Atlanta police officers did not show up for their Wednesday-night shifts in protest of murder charges brought against a former officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks after he resisted arrest.Hours after Fulton County district attorney Paul L. Howard said officer Garrett Rolfe would be charged with felony murder, Atlanta police union spokesman Vince Champion told NBC News that officers had decided to walk off the job and go silent on radios to protest the decision."This is not an organized thing, it's not a blue flu, it's not a strike, it's nothing like that. What it actually is, is officers protesting that they've had enough and they don't want to deal with it any longer," he said.In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Champion added that "there are officers saying they are not going to leave the precinct unless to help another officer. Some are walking off and sitting in their personal vehicles."The Atlanta Police Department released a statement after Champion's comments, calling claims that officers were walking off the job "inaccurate.""The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift," the police explained. "We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents."> Earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate. The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift. We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents.> > -- Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) June 18, 2020But Atlanta police scanner traffic conflicted with the statement. "We are not answering 911 calls right now due to personnel issues," a police dispatcher said Wednesday.In announcing the charges against Rolfe on Wednesday, Howard said that the Atlanta Police Department's initial account of events — that Rolfe shot Brooks because he appeared ready to fire a taser that had been wrestled from one of the officers — was inaccurate."We concluded that Mr. Brooks was running away at the time that the shot was fired," the district attorney said. Howard also told reporters that the taser had already been discharged twice, rendering it unusable, and said the officers would have known that.Howard added that Rolfe's former partner Devin Brosnan, who was also at the scene where Brooks was shot, would testify against his former partner. Howard said that after Brooks was shot in the back by Rolfe while fleeing arrest, Rolfe kicked him and Brosnan stood on his shoulders."There is an Atlanta policy that requires that the officers have to provide timely medical attention to Mr. Brooks, to anyone who is injured," Howard said. "But after Mr. Brooks was shot, for a period of two minutes and 12 seconds, there was no medical attention applies to Mr. Brooks."But Brosnan's attorney Don Samuel denied Howard's account of events, saying his client had not agreed to be the state's witness and did nothing wrong."The decision to initiate charges by the Fulton County DA's office is irrational, unethical and obviously based on factors which should have nothing to do with the proper administration of justice," Samuel said in a statement.Howard, who said his office was able to bring charges after reviewing eight videos of the incident, is locked in a reelection battle and faces multiple civil sexual-harassment lawsuits and is being criminally investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for funneling nonprofit funds to boost his salary.Following the announcement of charges, the GBI — which is conducting a separate investigation of the shooting — said it was "not aware of today's press conference before it was conducted" and was "not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney."> Despite today's occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. (2/2)> > Full statement ⬇️:https://t.co/Cfnboi9DCu> > -- GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) June 17, 2020In an interview on CNN Wednesday night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms warned that police morale "is down ten-fold.""This has been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta and with the tragedy of Mr. Brooks, and then on top of that the excessive force charges that were brought against the officers involved with the college students," Bottoms explained. "There's a lot happening in our city, and the police officers are receiving the brunt of it quite frankly."> Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says morale in her city's police department "is down ten-fold" amid reports officers are calling in sick tonight.> > "We expect our officers will keep their commitment to our communities," she added. https://t.co/yHd6ZAY3vs pic.twitter.com/XsrvktkItX> > -- Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) June 18, 2020
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| Galwan Valley: Ten Indian soldiers reportedly released by China Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:49 PM PDT  Indian media reports say the 10 soldiers were freed following negotiations between the two sides.
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| Fact check: More Black people died in 2019 police shootings than in George Floyd protests Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:51 AM PDT  Not all of the reported deaths happened at or during protests. Some occurred later and some happened apart from the protests.
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| 68 Outdoor Patio Ideas and Designs for Backyards and Rooftops Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:17 AM PDT |
| Malaysia could send Rohingya detainees back out to sea: sources Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:18 AM PDT |
| India's Coronavirus Death Toll Is Surging. Prime Minister Modi Is Easing Lockdown Anyway Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:08 AM PDT  India reported its highest daily increase in COVID-19 deaths this week as Prime Minister Narenda Modi continues to reopen the country.
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| Meet The USS Wasp: America's 'Leftover' Carrier That Was A Total Disaster Posted: 17 Jun 2020 07:00 PM PDT  Wasp was not a terrible aircraft carrier, but she had enough shortcomings to succumb to battle damage in September 1942
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| Hong Kong's 'rebel' tycoon Jimmy Lai has no regrets Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:39 AM PDT  Millionaire media tycoon Jimmy Lai knows his support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests could soon land him behind bars, but the proudly self-described "troublemaker" says he has no regrets. "I'm prepared for prison," the 72-year-old told AFP from the offices of Next Digital, Hong Kong's largest and most rambunctiously pro-democracy media group. Few Hong Kongers generate the level of vitriol from Beijing that Lai does.
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| Ingraham: Four years of punishment Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:28 AM PDT  Biden will just be a figurehead president with the radical left pulling the strings.
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| What Supreme Court's Daca ruling means for Trump and Dreamers Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:13 AM PDT  Another legal setback for the White House, but reprieve for immigrants leaves their fate uncertain.
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| NYPD officer bragged about taking off protester's mask and pepper-spraying him, bodycam footage shows Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Since protests erupted around the country last month, the NYPD has come under fire for numerous instances of violence against peaceful protesters.
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| Hundreds of armed counter-protesters confront Black Lives Matter rally in Ohio Posted: 18 Jun 2020 07:19 AM PDT  Counter-protesters harassed group of peaceful demonstrators with rifles, bats and racial slurs in mostly white town of BethelA small and peaceful demonstration in an Ohio town to support the Black Lives Matter movement at the weekend was overwhelmed when hundreds of counter-protesters – some armed with rifles or baseball bats – harassed the group.Alicia Gee, a 36-year-old substitute school teacher, expected about 50 people to attend a demonstration – the first protest she had ever organized, she told the Cincinnati Enquirer – but almost twice as many turned out.The rally was intended to show solidarity with the minority black community in Bethel, a mostly white town of about 2,800 people 30 miles east of Cincinnati, she added.But the small group of protesters were overwhelmed when roughly 700 counter-protesters turned up to show their opposition to the kind of rallies and marches against racism and police brutality sweeping the nation since the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May.Gee's gathering demonstrated the renewed reach of the Black Lives Matter movement to small, majority white towns in the midwest that haven't seen protests in years, spurred by recent, high-profile examples of killings of black people by white police officers or armed individuals acting as vigilantes.Some small towns holding rallies now did not see such events after the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.Gee referenced violent tragedies such as the alleged murder of Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police, and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by two armed white men in Georgia.She said in a Facebook post before the rally that such brutality made it "perfectly clear to me it's time for my comfort to be put by the wayside. It is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privlShe said in a Facebook post that such brutality made it "perfectly clear to me it's time for my comfort to be put by the wayside, it is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privilege to show my town that it is not 'fine,' that it's not just 'city folks' that have the right to peacefully assemble, and that Black Lives Matter even if there are just a few in our town."But the demonstration was engulfed by a combination of armed gun-rights defenders, "back the blue" pro-police groups and about 250 people on motorcycles, which forced the group to move two blocks from its original location and led to tumult.Videos from what turned into a two-hour clash, several of which circulated on Twitter and Facebook, show the counter-protesters shouting racial slurs and "all lives matter" and accosting demonstrators."They were grabbing me, and grabbing my mom, and they just seemed to have no respect for the law," Andrea Dennis, a Bethel resident whose Facebook live from the demonstration shows a man ripping a fellow demonstrator's sign from her hands, told the Enquirer.Bethel police said they were investigating 10 "incidents" from Sunday afternoon.In another Facebook live video, Heather Bratton, also from Bethel, asserts "this is my hometown too!" to a white women who repeatedly uses the N-word.A few counter-demonstrators "started coming over and ripping signs out of our hands, ripping the hats and masks off of our faces, ripping things out of our pockets," wrote demonstrator Abbi Remers on Facebook, along with a photo of a man's bloody cheek, a bloodied mask, and video of men shouting "This ain't Seattle!" and "This is a Republican state!"Another widely circulated video shows a man wearing what appears to be a Confederate flag bandana sucker-punching a protester in the back of the head in front of a police officer, who makes no arrest attempt. The video drew condemnation from Ohio senator Sherrod Brown."These officers' inaction is shameful," Brown tweeted. "This is why we need the Justice in Policing Act – to hold police accountable," he added, referring to legislation introduced by House Democrats earlier this month.> A BlackLivesMatter protestor in Bethel Ohio got sucker punched DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A COP & nothing was done by the officer to protect and serve the protestor. > > ����♂️ pic.twitter.com/BPeKhOjxb3> > — Josh Martinez (@YoJoshMartinez) June 15, 2020In a virtual village council meeting on Tuesday, Bethel police chief Steve Teague said the officer present had not witnessed the incident because his attention was pulled to the side. All six of Bethel's officers were present on Sunday, Teague said, as well as some county deputies.On Wednesday, Bethel police issued an arrest warrant for assault, citing the video as evidence.Because of tension and intimidation on Sunday, Gee said in a Facebook live video posted Monday that she did not plan to schedule another demonstration. "I want us to heal, I want our community to heal, I want peace and love to be spread," she said. "And I'm worried that what we saw yesterday with more counter-protesters coming out – I'm worried that's going to happen again."By Monday evening, Bethel mayor Jay Noble imposed a 9pm curfew, citing "the threat of continued and escalating violence."Gee urged supporters to "not come to Bethel right now", in a chilling echo of so-called "sundown towns" – majority-white towns where black people were evicted, barred from buying property, and banned after dark by threat of violence earlier in the 20th century."It is not a time for any type of Black Lives Matter supporters to be in Bethel right now," Gee said. "It's not safe.""Our purpose was to show our community that it cares," she said. "That it loves the people within our community, and right now, that cannot happen."
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| China not forthcoming in Hawaii talks, but made commitment on trade: U.S. diplomat Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:58 PM PDT  China's attitude in talks with the United States this week in Hawaii cannot be described as forthcoming, although it did commit to following through on Phase One of the U.S.-China trade deal, the senior U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Thursday. David Stilwell, who spoke after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Hawaii on Wednesday, told reporters the next couple of weeks would show whether the talks were productive. "The PRC (People's Republic of China) side could not be described as really forthcoming," said Stilwell.
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| Sen. Tim Scott Declares ‘We Are Not a Racist Country,’ Argues Dems’ Focus on Race Obstructs Police Reform Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:13 AM PDT  While unveiling the Republican police reform bill on Wednesday, Senator Tim Scott said that the U.S. is "not a racist country" and criticized Democrats for what he saw as their relentless focus on race, advocating a discrete approach to policy solutions designed to address police brutality.Scott, the Senate's only black Republican, remarked in a press conference held to unveil the legislation that "some people enjoy talking about systemic racism" and "want to define everything from a racist perspective.""We don't spend time on the definition of a word, but we spend time on the definition of the problem and the definition of the solution," the South Carolina senator said, adding that Americans are often given the "false, binary choice" of backing either black Americans or law enforcement."I don't know how to tell people the nation is not racist. I'll try again: we are not a racist country," Scott said. "We deal with racism because there is racism in the country. Both are true, not mutually exclusive."The GOP police-reform bill, dubbed the Justice Act, would provide incentives for police departments to ban choke holds, strengthen reporting requirements for departments to disclose when an officer's use of force results in death or serious injury, fund more police body cameras, and mandate that the Justice Department come up with guidelines for deescalating police encounters, among other reforms. The bill also makes lynching a federal hate crime and establishes a commission to examine the social situation of black men and boys in the country."I don't worry about the definitions that people want to use, it's good for headlines, but it's really bad for policy. We're going to focus on getting something done," Scott concluded at the press conference.President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday encouraging police officers to limit the use of deadly force in the line of duty. The order detailed the administration's initiatives to encourage high standards for use of force, track officer misconduct, and bring in social workers and mental health professionals when responding to certain emergency calls.Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell promised Wednesday to take up the Republican bill quickly and encouraged Democrats to lend it their support. Democrats in both legislative chambers have meanwhile criticized the GOP bill, saying it does not include enough reforms for them to back it. House Democrats have introduced a separate police reform bill that McConnell said he will not bring to the floor should it reach the Senate.
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| FAA explains why it's taking so long to fix the grounded Boeing 737 jetliner Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:26 PM PDT  It's been over a year since the jet that figured in two crashes was last flown. On Wednesday, FAA chief Stephen Dickson gave the Senate an update.
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| The Royal Navy ‘Tested to the Limit’ in Baltic Exercise as Russia Flexes Muscles Posted: 18 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT  The former head of the Royal Navy called the situation dangerous and warned that the drills could become something far deadlier.
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| The black congresswoman who's helping Biden pick his running mate Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:41 PM PDT  "If we want to transform this country, this is the time to recognize ... the leadership of black women," Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester said recently. "We won't be taken for granted."
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| Revival Rugs Launches Debut Furniture Collection Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:32 PM PDT |
| John Bolton: Trump sought Xi's help to win re-election Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:56 AM PDT  Details from the new book by the president's ex-national security adviser include damning accusations.
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