| Trump floats baseless conspiracy about 75-year-old Buffalo protester pushed to ground by police Posted: 09 Jun 2020 07:51 AM PDT  The president on Tuesday suggested without evidence that a 75-year-old man who was knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, N.Y., was a member of antifa and that the incident was "a set up."
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| Schiff demands answers from Pentagon on monitoring domestic unrest Posted: 08 Jun 2020 02:02 PM PDT  Rep. Adam Schiff wrote the Pentagon Monday expressing concerns that the Defense Department might be involved in "unlawful or unethical activities" in response to recent nationwide protests.
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| Amid US tension, Iran builds fake aircraft carrier to attack Posted: 09 Jun 2020 01:08 AM PDT  As tensions remain high between Iran and the U.S., the Islamic Republic appears to have constructed a new mock-up of an aircraft carrier off its southern coast for potential live-fire drills. The faux foe, seen in satellite photographs obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, resembles the Nimitz-class carriers that the U.S. Navy routinely sails into the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, its narrow mouth where 20% of all the world's oil passes through. While not yet acknowledged by Iranian officials, the replica's appearance in the port city of Bandar Abbas suggests Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is preparing an encore of a similar mock-sinking it conducted in 2015.
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| Minneapolis City Council President Claims Fear of Dismantling Police ‘Comes From A Place of Privilege’ Posted: 08 Jun 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Fears of dismantling local police forces come from a "place of privilege," Minneapolis City Council president Lisa Bender told CNN on Monday."What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?" CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Bender after the city council president laid out her vision for a post-police city."I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors, and I know — and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege," Bender responded. "For those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm instead."> Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender on the intent to defund and dismantle the city's police department: "[We] have looked up ways we can shift the response away from our armed police officers… the groundwork is laid already." https://t.co/h0eSepelHE pic.twitter.com/wBASgjsIbq> > -- CNN (@CNN) June 8, 2020Bender and eight other City Council members, who together form a veto-proof majority on the twelve-seat body, have already signed a pledge to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. Mayor Jacob Frey has backed reform but refused to defund the city's police force entirely.However, Bender appeared to temper a push to defund the MPD immediately, saying it would take "years" before police would not be necessary. She and other Council Members had come out in support of a "police-free future" in 2017."To me, [a police-free future] is a long way away, and it would take an enormous amount of investment in things that we know work to keep people safe," Bender said. "I know the statement was bold, and I stand by that bold statement, but the work ahead of us will be long."Calls to defund and dismantle police departments have grown after the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by four Minneapolis police officers. The city saw widespread demonstrations and riots following Floyd's death, with rioters looting and burning down buildings including the headquarters of the city's 3rd precinct, where the four officers were stationed.
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| KKK 'leader' charged for attack on Black Lives Matter protesters Posted: 08 Jun 2020 06:24 PM PDT  A hate crime investigation is underway after a Virginia man allegedly drove his car into protesters.
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| Malaysian prosecutors drop corruption charges against Najib ally Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Malaysian government prosecutors withdrew corruption charges on Tuesday against an ally of former premier Najib Razak, whose party returned to power in a new coalition three months ago after having lost the last election amid massive graft scandals. The Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted Musa Aman, a senior figure in Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and former chief minister of Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo, after the prosecution dropped all 46 charges of alleged bribery in timber concession deals and money laundering. The opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition described the decision as "confusing and disappointing".
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| Biden seeks running mate who's "ready to be president on day one" Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:05 PM PDT  The presumptive Democratic nominee said he wants someone who's comfortable raising any disagreements with him.
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| Small cars are still the most dangerous choice on the market, according to a new ranking of vehicles by fatality rate Posted: 09 Jun 2020 10:42 AM PDT  These 20 models — including cars from Ford, Chevy, Hyundai, and Kia — have the highest rates of driver death, according to a new IIHS study.
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| Prince Philip to mark 99th birthday amid coronavirus crisis Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:05 AM PDT  Britain's Prince Philip will celebrate his 99th birthday on Wednesday, spending it quietly with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II.
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| Second Etihad plane from UAE lands in Israel Posted: 09 Jun 2020 05:13 PM PDT  UAE carrier Etihad Airways sent its second flight to Israel in less than a month Tuesday, carrying medical aid to help the Palestinians tackle the coronavirus pandemic, witnesses and officials said. Jordan and Egypt aside, Arab countries have no official diplomatic ties with Israel, but Gulf Arab nations have had ever more publicly warm ties with Israel of late, partly over shared rivalry with Iran. In mid-May, the United Arab Emirates flew its first publicly announced flight to Israel, also an Etihad flight carrying coronavirus aid for the Palestinians.
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| ‘Ugh’: Republicans cringe after Trump's attack on 75-year-old protester Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:21 AM PDT  Most GOP senators tried to deflect questions about the president's latest controversial tweet.
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| DOJ Claims Flynn Was Involved in Conspiracy to Target Turkish Exile Posted: 08 Jun 2020 07:12 AM PDT  The Justice Department said in a new court filing that it is "unsustainable" to suggest that Michael Flynn "was not a part of any conspiracy" with members of the Turkish government.The filing was drafted as part of the government's case against Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Flynn who was prosecuted by Robert Mueller on charges of conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent. The development marks a departure from the DOJ's decision last month to drop charges against Flynn.Rafiekian's defense recently wrote to Jeff Jensen — the U.S. Attorney that Attorney General Bill Barr appointed to review the Flynn case — to request that Rafiekian's case get a similar review, but the DOJ is pressing ahead with a request to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to move forward with its case."Defendant argues that the district court should have instructed the jury not on law but on a specific fact: that Michael Flynn was not a part of any conspiracy. That argument is unsustainable," the DOJ says in its brief, which was filed on Sunday."Wrongful and wasteful use of scarce taxpayer resources," Flynn's lead attorney Sidney Powell told Politico on the decision to include Flynn in the case against Rafiekian. Flynn's case has yet to be dropped, with the D.C. Circuit hearing oral arguments this week after the judge overseeing Flynn's case refused to comply with the DOJ's request.Rafiekian was found guilty by a jury — only for a judge to later overturn the conviction — after Flynn said in his initial 2017 guilty plea that he had made "materially false statements and omissions" related to Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings for his Flynn Intel Group.Prosecutors used Flynn's admission to say Rafiekian, a former Trump transition team adviser, had secretly worked as a Turkish agent to hide the fact that Flynn signed a contract in 2016 for $530,000 to investigate Fethullah Gulen, an exiled cleric and critic of the Turkish government who lives in the U.S.Flynn wrote an op-ed for The Hill on Election Day 2016 that said Gulen was the "primary bone of contention" between Turkey and the U.S., calling him a "radical Islamist" and a "shady Islamic mullah." Prosecutors also looked into reports that Flynn had been involved in trying to kidnap Gulen to return him to Turkey, but Flynn denied any such plot.Flynn initially agreed to serve as the government's star witness against Rafiekian, but later backed out after dropping his initial defense team, which also had handled FARA filings on behalf of Flynn Intel Group.
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| Fired Atlanta officers file suit against mayor, police chief Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:12 AM PDT  Two Atlanta police officers who were fired after video showed them using stun guns on two college students pulled from a car in traffic during a large protest against police brutality are looking to get their jobs back. Bottoms and Shields have said they reviewed body camera footage from the May 30 incident and decided to immediately fire the officers and place three others on desk duty. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard brought criminal charges on June 2 against Gardner, Streeter and four other officers involved in the incident.
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| Protesters across US attacked by cars driven into crowds and men with guns Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Protesters confronted by armed men – including members of the so-called 'boogaloo movement' – in different parts of AmericaAnti police-brutality protesters have been confronted by armed men in cities around America in recent days, with some brandishing firearms or other weapons, some driving vehicles at crowds, and others – including members of the so-called "boogaloo movement" – claiming they have come to help anti-racism demonstrations.On Sunday, in Seattle, a man drove at speed towards protesters, while several protesters tried to slow or stop the vehicle.One who reached through the car window was shot in the arm by the driver. The driver then exited the vehicle carrying a handgun, which appeared in photographs to have a modified, extra-long magazine. He moved into the crowd, and later surrendered to police.But this was not even the first such incident that day. In Lakeside, Virginia, an armed man named Harry "Skip" Rogers, was arrested on charges of assault and battery after he allegedly drove his truck at protesters, hitting a cyclist.Rogers, reportedly an organizer for the National Association for Awakening Confederate Patriots, carried out a one-man protest in 2016 wearing Ku Klux Klan robes, and was also part of the Unite the Right demonstration in Charlottesville in 2017, where protester Heather Heyer was murdered in a vehicular homicide. Two days days after Unite the Right, according to photographs and accounts of activists, Rogers was bloodied in an altercation that took place when he attempted to disrupt a memorial rally for Heyer, while wearing a shirt with KKK and Confederate flag patches.Other vehicular attacks have also occurred, among other places, on 29 May in Bakersfield, California, and day before in Denver. On 30 May an armed man pulled a gun before driving through a crowd in Gainesville, Florida. In Minneapolis, a man in a semi-trailer truck parted the crowd on an overpass when he drove towards them. Further incidents involving firearms and other weapons have also occurred. In McAllen, Texas, last Friday, a lone man threatened Black Lives Matter protesters with a running chainsaw, first screaming "go home" before shouting racial slurs. In Upland, California, on 1 June, a man pulled an AR-15 from his truck and brandished it at protesters, and was subsequently arrested.In Chicago on 31 May, a lone man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a sidearm pistol was led away from the scene of a protest by police. Earlier, protesters say, he had brandished the weapon at them.In Boise, Idaho, on 1 June, two armed men disguised with skull masks similar to those favored by some neo-Nazi groups counter-protested a local Black Lives Matter march. One, Michael Wallace, 19, was later arrested after what police were investigating as an accidental discharge of his weapon. In Salt Lake City on 31 May, a man was arrested after threatening a crowd of protesters with a hunting bow. But some armed individuals attending protests, identified as members of the "boogaloo movement", have presented protesters with a troubling ambiguity. So-called "boogaloo bois" are members of a loose-knit, pro-gun, anti-government movement, which is preoccupied with what they believe to be a looming second American civil war. Last week, three former armed servicemen associated with the movement were arrested and charged over an alleged plot aimed at vital national infrastructure.In general, the subculture resents the police and government agencies who would restrict their access to firearms. But they are divided within themselves on several questions, including racial politics. While some ardent white supremacists use the vocabulary and imagery of the movement – including donning Hawaiian shirts – others express strong sympathy for black victims of police violence. At protests around the country, some members of the boogaloo movement have shown up armed to protect stores from protesters, and others are implicitly hostile. But others claim to support the protests. Social media material obtained by the Guardian shows some in smaller communities in the Pacific north-west marching alongside Black Lives Matter protesters. On social media, some of the most popular Facebook pages and groups associated with the movement have celebrated the protests against the killing of George Floyd. One viral social video shows a "boogaloo boi" vocally criticizing police brutality and sympathizing with the protesters.But worries about infiltration and uncertainty about the true motivations of boogaloo sympathizers have led many protesters to keep their distance. The Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club is a leftist "community defense organization", which itself frequently openly carries firearms in defense of leftwing protests, and is known for attempting dialogue with members of rightwing militia groups. Via a messaging app, its spokesman reflected the ambivalence with which many protesters regard boogaloo bois. "The 'boog movement' has many bad actors within its ranks proliferating antisemitic, racist and QAnon dog whistles, either deliberately or inadvertently, but the movement has also scooped up legitimately disillusioned people," the spokesperson said.Asked how the group and other leftists should respond to "boogaloo bois" seeking to join or assist protests, the spokesperson said: "We've had boogaloo types show up at events. Usually we watch from a distance because of the risk and unpredictability."
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| U.N. expert says some are 'starving' in North Korea Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:49 AM PDT  A United Nations human rights expert voiced alarm on Tuesday at "widespread food shortages and malnutrition" in North Korea, made worse by a nearly five-month border closure with China and strict quarantine measures against COVID-19. Tomas Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, urged the U.N. Security Council to reconsider sanctions imposed on the isolated country over its nuclear and missile programmes, so as to ensure food supplies. The pandemic has brought "drastic economic hardship" to North Korea, Ojea Quintana said, with a 90% fall in trade with China in March and April leading to lost incomes.
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| A tale of two mothers: How Texas couple claimed their baby from Ukraine despite lockdown Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:47 AM PDT  One cannot bear children, another needs money for her own family. A look at the joy and heartbreak of surrogate motherhood.
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| One of oldest wild grizzly bears emerges from hibernation with cubs Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:14 AM PDT  A beloved grizzly bear believed to be one of the oldest living in the wild has been spotted alive and with a new litter of cubs.399 - the bear's number - is a 24-year-old grizzly living in Grand Teton national park, within the Yellowstone ecosystem.
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| Cuomo: Trump should apologize for "reprehensible" tweet Posted: 09 Jun 2020 10:16 AM PDT  New York's governor spoke about protests and New York City beginning Phase 1 of reopening after an 80-day lockdown.
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| Trump reportedly wanted to fire his defense secretary after he broke with the president over sending combat troops to subdue protests Posted: 09 Jun 2020 12:38 PM PDT  Trump was reportedly furious when Esper publicly split with him, and Esper also started preparing his resignation letter after the disagreement.
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| The U.S. Air Force’s Shiny, New Sea Power Presence Posted: 09 Jun 2020 09:28 AM PDT  It will take more than a lone bomber mission from afar—no matter how impressive—to rattle Moscow's complacency.
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| Minneapolis Manufacturing Company Will Leave City after Plant Burned in Riots Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:41 AM PDT  A Minneapolis manufacturing company whose plant was set on fire by rioters plans to leave the city, saying that city officials afforded them no assistance in handling the destruction."They don't care about my business," 7-Sigma Inc.'s president and owner, Kris Wyrobek, told The Star Tribune about Minneapolis public officials. "They didn't protect our people. We were all on our own."The 7-Sigma plant in south Minneapolis, which the company has maintained since 1987, shut down several hours early around 7 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. as a precautionary measure on the first night of rioting. The company manufactures several products, including rollers for high-speed printing presses and medical training mannequins.When a fire broke out in an apartment complex under construction that was next door to the manufacturing facility, "the fire engine was just sitting there, but they wouldn't do anything," Wyrobek said. The apartment complex was leveled by the fire, and several stores across the street including a Target store were looted during the first night of riots.Mayor Jacob Frey said the city's fire department was operating at full capacity in response to the riots, which he said required the state's National Guard to quell the violence. Governor Tim Walz, who excoriated the city's weak response, called in the state's National Guard to Minneapolis after the mayor requested it. The Minnesota National Guard said in a statement that "a key objective is to ensure fire departments are able to respond to calls.""This was a Guard-sized crisis and demanded a Guard-sized response," Frey said. "And once we had the full presence of the National Guard — which by the way hasn't been deployed since World War II — there was a significantly different result."The city will lose about 50 jobs when the company skips town, a move that Wyrobek said he had "not in my wildest nightmare" considered before the riots. Now, he is "cautiously optimistic" that he can rebuild his company elsewhere, "but we are certainly not able to do that in Minneapolis."Riots broke out in Minneapolis during the last week of May after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, including after Floyd passed out. Rioters set a police precinct ablaze as well as businesses across the city.Both peaceful protests and riots have occurred in metropolitan areas around the country in response to Floyd's death and have continued through both of the following weekends.
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| US police have fatally shot nearly 1,000 people a year since police-brutality protests erupted, Washington Post finds Posted: 08 Jun 2020 11:21 PM PDT  "When we talk about defunding the police, what we're saying is 'invest in the resources that our communities need,'" a protest organizer has said.
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| New York starts reopening as WHO says virus 'worsening' worldwide Posted: 08 Jun 2020 03:21 PM PDT  New York City -- the epicenter of America's coronavirus outbreak -- began partially reopening its shattered economy Monday after almost three months of lockdown, as the World Health Organization warned the health crisis was "worsening" worldwide. "It's good to be back," said Michael Ostergren, manager of the Shakespeare and Co bookshop on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where a trickle of customers arrived shortly after the doors reopened. As New York entered phase one of its reopening and some of Europe's hardest-hit nations lurched back to a new kind of normal, the WHO reported a record number of new cases globally.
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| 'Enough is enough': South African opposition leads protests outside U.S. missions Posted: 08 Jun 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Demonstrators gathered outside U.S. missions in South African cities on Monday to condemn the killing of George Floyd, the black man whose death in police custody has set off a wave of protests worldwide and ignited a debate about race and justice. Protesters led by opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) carried placards saying "Black Lives Matter" and "Black people are not slaves" outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria and consulates in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
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| North Korea cuts off all communication with South Korea Posted: 08 Jun 2020 03:51 PM PDT  North Korea said it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea on Tuesday, a move experts say could signal Pyongyang has grown frustrated that Seoul has failed to revive lucrative inter-Korean economic projects and persuade the United States to ease sanctions. The North's Korean Central News Agency said all cross-border communication lines would be cut off at noon in the "the first step of the determination to completely shut down all contact means with South Korea and get rid of unnecessary things." When South Korean officials tried to contact their North Korean counterparts via several channels after the North's announcement Tuesday, the North Koreans didn't answer, according to the South Korean government.
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| LAPD officer charged with assault after Boyle Heights confrontation Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:31 PM PDT  A Los Angeles Police Department officer who was seen on camera repeatedly punching a trespassing suspect in Boyle Heights has been charged with assault, according to the district attorney's office.
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| Dramatic details emerge in capture of man accused of killing deputy Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:49 AM PDT  Northern California officials called U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Steven Carrillo "a dangerous man intent on bringing harm to police officers" during a weekend ambush.
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| New fence around the White House becomes a canvas for protesters Posted: 08 Jun 2020 09:40 AM PDT  George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, racial injustice and police reform are all prominent messages.
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| Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza dies of 'cardiac arrest' at 55 Posted: 09 Jun 2020 12:03 PM PDT  Pierre Nkurunziza was admitted to hospital on Saturday after feeling unwell, the government says.
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| One Year After the Hong Kong Protests Began, Frustrated Hardliners Call for Independence Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:22 AM PDT  Desperation forces some to call for a break from China
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| A Brazilian health council has started releasing the country's full coronavirus count after Brazil wiped months of data from its official COVID-19 tracker Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:27 AM PDT  President of CONASS Alberto Beltrame said the health council's decision was guided by "science, truth, and accurate and timely information."
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| Canada border opens to foreign families of Canadians Posted: 08 Jun 2020 12:57 PM PDT  Thousands of foreign nationals will be able to reunite with their families in Canada after the government in Ottawa moved Monday to exempt them from its travel ban. In late May, a deal was reached with the United States to extend the closure of their shared border but still allow a select few, including health care workers, to cross back and forth until at least June 21. "This is an incredibly difficult time to be apart from a spouse or a child or mom and dad," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
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| D.C. National Guard responding to protests test positive for coronavirus Posted: 09 Jun 2020 01:40 PM PDT  Some Washington D.C. National Guard troops have tested positive for the coronavirus after being deployed to the city to respond to protests over the death of an African-American man in police custody, the military said on Tuesday. About 1,300 D.C. National Guard troops were sent to the capital to back law enforcement during demonstrations that erupted over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after being pinned beneath a white officer's knee for nearly nine minutes. The National Guard said in a statement it would not reveal how many personnel had tested positive because of "operational security."
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| The Army Will Consider Renaming Bases that Honor Confederate Leaders Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:18 AM PDT  The Army secretary is open to changing the names of 10 Army bases that were named for Confederate leaders.
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| George Floyd protests: Lawyer arrested twice after spitting on black teenager and slapping another the next day Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:49 AM PDT  A lawyer who spat on a teenage protester during a demonstration over George Floyd's death has been arrested twice in two days.According to eye witness reports from the scene on Saturday, Stephanie Rapkin, a white 64-year-old resident of the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, parked her car in the middle of an intersection to block an anti-racism protest, angrily ignoring demands that she get back into the car and move it.
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| Falwell apologizes for tweet that included racist photo Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:53 PM PDT  Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. apologized Monday for a tweet that included a racist photo that appeared on Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page decades ago. "After listening to African American LU leaders and alumni over the past week and hearing their concerns, I understand that by tweeting an image to remind all of the governor's racist past I actually refreshed the trauma that image had caused and offended some by using the image to make a political point," he tweeted Monday. Falwell, a stalwart backer of President Donald Trump and the son of the late evangelist the Rev. Jerry Falwell, said he had deleted the tweet and apologized "for any hurt my effort caused, especially within the African American community."
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| Georgia: Chaos engulfs voting in White House battleground Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:56 PM PDT  Atlanta's mayor said the new voting machines did not work, but state officials blamed user error.
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| F-35s And Supersonic Missiles: This Is Japan's Strategy To Beat China's Navy Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:30 AM PDT  Japan is extending the range of its weapons.
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| Poland seizes three tonnes of cocaine hidden in barrels of frozen pineapple Posted: 09 Jun 2020 07:18 AM PDT 
Polish authorities have seized more than three tonnes of cocaine hidden in barrels of frozen pineapple pulp and with a street value of around 3 billion zlotys ($760.9 million) in a record haul for the country. The cocaine was discovered in barrels of frozen pineapple pulp in a warehouse in the northern port city of Gdynia, police said in a statement on Tuesday (June 9). The cocaine had been transported by ship to Hamburg from Ecuador before travelling to Gdynia by road, police said, adding they had arrested three men from the northern Polish region of Pomerania, aged from 64 to 71, as a result of their investigation. Latin American drug lords have been sending bumper shipments of cocaine to Europe even as the new coronavirus pandemic disrupts drug supply chains and confines users to their homes, anti-narcotics officials say.
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| Iran says it will execute man convicted of spying on Soleimani for CIA Posted: 09 Jun 2020 12:40 AM PDT  An Iranian who spied for U.S. and Israeli intelligence on slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani has been sentenced to death, Iran said on Tuesday, adding the case was not linked to Soleimani's killing earlier this year. On Jan. 3, a U.S. drone strike in Iraq killed Soleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force. Washington blamed Soleimani for masterminding attacks by Iran-aligned militias on U.S. forces in the region.
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| Murders and shootings increased dramatically in New York City last week, according to reports Posted: 08 Jun 2020 07:39 AM PDT  The number of shootings and murders in New York City last week rose dramatically, according to the authorities.There were 13 people murdered from Monday 1 June to Sunday 7 June, compared to only five in the same period in 2019.
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| Philippine defense chief flies to disputed island amid feud Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:14 AM PDT  The Philippine defense chief and top military officials flew to a disputed island in the South China Sea on Tuesday to inaugurate a beach ramp built to allow the "full-blast" development of the territory in a move likely to infuriate China. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana brought journalists to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the island, internationally called Thitu, in what he said was a milestone in efforts to make the island, long occupied by Filipino forces and fishermen, more livable without militarizing it. Lorenzana said the Philippines has the right to develop its nine occupied islands as other claimants have done.
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| Team Trump ‘Desperately’ Wants Bush to Endorse Biden. Some Dems Love the Idea, Too. Posted: 09 Jun 2020 01:25 AM PDT  President Donald Trump and his political lieutenants are privately hoping that former President George W. Bush will endorse Joe Biden this cycle, creating a bizarre confluence of interests with an increasing number of Democrats who are hoping for the same.To Team Trump, a Bush endorsement of Biden would allow them to hitch a formerly unpopular GOP president and the personification of dynastic politics to the Democratic Party's 2020 ticket. They believe that Bush's backing would drive the progressive wing of the party into a tizzy, especially if the Democratic nominee were to accept and promote it, creating internal strife for Biden at a time when he needs unity. According to two people familiar with his private remarks on the matter, Trump has said it would be "fun" if he could effectively run against both Bush and Biden. These sources with knowledge of the president's thinking say he views both Biden and Bush as emblematic of the political establishment that he successfully ran against in the last election, and that Trump continues to harbor a visceral distaste for members of the Bush family and administration."We would LOVE him to officially endorse Biden," messaged a source close to the White House adding it "would be such a gift to us" citing the 43rd president's legacy on trade, big government policies, and "constant war."One senior Trump campaign official even said that some on the team "desperately" wanted the 43rd president of the United States to come out for Biden 2020, as it would make for easy messaging fodder. "I imagine we want it about as much as a lot of Biden people would not want it," the official said.The New York Times reported Saturday that, among other Republicans struggling with an endorsement decision, the former president would not support Trump's re-election efforts, citing people familiar with the situation. A spokesman for Bush told The Texas Tribune that the Times' assertion was "false."Bush certainly left the White House as a deeply unpopular figure, under the cloud of disastrous wars, various scandals, and a cratered economy. But his standing has improved in his years away from the political scene, including among Democratic voters. And on the few occasions he has waded back into public life, he has conveyed a more socially conscious approach to national affairs, including offering his recent support for ending systemic racism in police forces. Over time, the previously unthinkable has begun to happen, with prominent Democrats warming up to him and—now—the idea that an endorsement from him could provide an assist to the Democrats' White House chances. "Our task is to build the broadest coalition possible," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a leading House progressive and former co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) presidential campaign, told The Daily Beast about a hypothetical endorsement. "I began my career in public service running against Bush's war in Iraq in 2004. But no one doubts his commitment to tolerance and inclusiveness."Khanna argued that Bush is in a "different moral league" than Trump, particularly in regard to the latter's fondness for promoting "divisiveness" and "fearmongering." "His endorsement would help to highlight the enormous stakes in 2020 for our democracy," he said. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a top Biden booster, said he would "welcome" the endorsement, arguing that the public embracing of a high-profile Republican could have an electoral upside in critical swing states. "Ninety percent of Trump's vote is the base. And the base isn't going to care what George Bush says," Rendell said. "Then there's the 10 percent of Independents, suburban Republicans that stuck with him. … The question is: what effect does a George Bush endorsement have with them? I'd say, it adds weight to the entire picture that's growing. I don't think there's any blowback on our side."Ellen Defends Laughing It Up With George W. Bush at Cowboys GameIt is unclear if Bush will end up endorsing anyone for president this year, and he could very well sit on the sidelines and merely refuse to publicly support Trump's reelection. According to a New York Times story published this weekend, Bush "won't support the re-election of Mr. Trump." But a Bush spokesperson told The Texas Tribune that the detail in the Times' piece was "false."Bush is hardly a Republican turncoat, having fundraised for conservative House and Senate candidates in the 2018 midterm elections in an effort to help preserve GOP congressional majorities—which, had it been successful in the House, would have preserved Trump's sway on Capitol Hill. But his distaste for Trump has been evident for some time. And, in this case, the animus goes both ways. Two White House officials said they simply couldn't care what Bush did or didn't do ahead of this election, casting him as a trivial media obsession. "Elections are about the future, not the past," said Ed Brookover, a former senior Trump adviser during the 2016 race. "President Bush performed well during his two terms, but people judge today's candidates in today's world. President Trump receives support from many voters who supported President Bush, as well as voters he pulled into his own orbit. President Trump's policies and actions represent a new brand of leadership, which America has been needing for quite a while."Dubya Was Bad, but the Donald Might Be Worse: Richard ClarkeFor Biden, the risks of accepting a Bush endorsement are fairly clear. The association with the Iraq War (which Biden supported), the use of torture, and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, alone, represents a heaping of political baggage that could outweigh any benefit. And some progressives were clear that they would struggle with having a president they had deeply reviled in their proverbial corner. "George W. Bush is a war criminal who lied to the American people in order to illegally invade a country. If nothing else, for that reason alone, I would never support accepting his endorsement," said Charlotte Clymer, a LGBTQ activist who previously backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and has since thrown her weight behind Biden. But even Clymer found a bigger upside to the idea of an endorsement for party purposes, saying she wouldn't be surprised to see Biden accept it "in order to remove our greatest national security threat in modern history: Donald Trump."And among more establishment Democrats, the choice to welcome a potential boost from Bush now was seen as a no-brainer. "No one can ever accuse me of being a fan of former President George W. Bush," said Jim Manley, a longtime senior Democratic Senate aide who served as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman during the latter Bush years. "But as far as I'm concerned, it would be fantastic if he were to come out and support the vice president. It would serve as a powerful rebuke to the current president."James Carville, a former top adviser to President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign who is now advising the pro-Biden Democratic group American Bridge, responded enthusiastically about the prospect of a Bush endorsement for the presumptive Democratic nominee."I fought with these guys during impeachment, I fought with these guys on the Iraq War, I fought with these guys left and right," Carville said. "We're in a different situation now. We have a deadly pathogen that's infected this country and we got to get rid of it."Put another way, Carville said: "What did Churchill say? 'If Hitler invaded hell, I would side with the devil.'" 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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| Graham Says FBI ‘Denying’ Requests to Interview Agents Who Talked to Steele’s Subsource Posted: 08 Jun 2020 09:55 AM PDT  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) revealed Sunday that the FBI has denied his requests to interview the two officials who interviewed Christopher Steele's primary subsource."I made a request to interview the case agent and the intel analyst . . . and they're denying me the ability to do that," Graham said in an interview on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures.The two FBI agents, a case agent and an intelligence agent, interviewed Steele's primary subsource three times in 2017. In the course of those interviews, the unidentified person "revealed potentially serious problems with Steele's descriptions of information in his reports," according to Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.Graham explained that he wanted to know "did the case agent and the intel agent refuse to tell the system about exculpatory information? Does the fault lie with two or three people? Or was it a system out of control?"Horowitz's December report on the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation found that the Bureau knew in January 2017 that Steele's allegations relating to the Trump campaign relied in part on disinformation produced by Russian intelligence, according to recently declassified footnotes.One of the agents who took part in the initial interviews with Steele's source is Stephen Somma, a counterintelligence investigator in the FBI's New York field office. Horowitz said in his report that Somma — identified as "Case Agent 1" — was "primarily responsible for some of the most significant errors and omissions" in FISA applications to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.In April, Graham asked the DOJ for records that "question the accuracy and reliability" of former British spy Christopher Steele's sourcing, before announcing a number of hearings "regarding all things Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller investigation" that began with the testimony of former acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last week.Rosenstein told Graham that he would not have signed off on the warrant to spy on Page, had he known the issues with the underlying evidence at the time, and blamed the FBI for failing to follow protocols "to ensure that every fact was verified."
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| Tesla's vast, multinational Supercharger network is a huge competitive advantage. Take a closer look. Posted: 09 Jun 2020 08:04 AM PDT  Other automakers have partnered with charging operations and have explored their own solutions, but only Tesla has a vast network.
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