| 'The Gotaway': Online video produced and posted by the Border Patrol spreads fear of migrants Posted: 04 Sep 2020 05:55 PM PDT  According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official, "The Gotaway" video was produced "in an effort to highlight criminal apprehensions across the Southwest border."
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| Why a herd immunity approach to COVID-19 could be a deadly disaster Posted: 05 Sep 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Since the coronavirus pandemic began, herd immunity has been floated as a possible solution, but the controversial strategy is considered downright dangerous by many experts.
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| Kamala Harris walks back Biden's call for a nationwide mandate to wear a mask Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  Instead of a nationwide mandate as initially suggested, the Biden administration would push a "standard" to wear a mask, Harris said.
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| Northeastern University Dismisses 11 Students, Without Returning Their $36,500 Tuition Fees, for Violating COVID-19 Rules Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:18 AM PDT  The Boston university dismissed the students they were caught gathering at a hotel
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| Facebook takes down Patriot Prayer to stop 'violent social militias' Posted: 05 Sep 2020 02:01 AM PDT  Facebook has removed an American far right organisation called Patriot Prayer which is based in Portland and its founder Joey Gibson from its platform.The group has organised pro-gun rallies in support of Donald Trump and far right protests in liberal areas which have been attended by both far right groups such as Proud Boys and counter-protesters.
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| Rwanda's president says 'Hotel Rwanda' hero must stand trial Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:52 AM PDT  Rwanda's president says that the man portrayed as a hero in the film "Hotel Rwanda" will stand trial for allegedly supporting rebel violence. President Paul Kagame, appearing on national television Sunday, did not explain how Paul Rusesabagina was brought to Rwanda where he has been held in custody for more than a week. Rusesabagina is credited with saving 1,200 lives during Rwanda's 1994 genocide by letting people shelter in the hotel he was managing during the mass killings.
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| Mexico says 122,765 extra people died during pandemic in 'excess deaths' study Posted: 05 Sep 2020 05:46 PM PDT  Mexico has recorded 122,765 deaths more than would be expected during the pandemic up to August, the health ministry said on Saturday in a report on excess mortality rates, suggesting Mexico's true coronavirus toll could be much higher. Mexico has recorded 67,326 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 629,409 cases, the world's fourth highest death toll from the virus that has infected more than 26 million people around the globe. Mexico's government has often said the real number of infected people is likely to be significantly higher than the confirmed cases due to the low levels of testing.
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| Jacob Blake speaks from his hospital bed: 'Change your lives out there' Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:46 AM PDT  A minute-long video was posted to Twitter on Saturday by Blake's attorney, Benjamin Crump in which Jacob Blake urged viewers to value their lives.
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| 5 boats sink at Trump boat parade on Texas' Lake Travis Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:01 AM PDT  According to the sheriff's department, the wake in the water was caused by "many, many" boats on the water.
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| The Mask-Defying Church at Center of Disastrous Maine Wedding Linked to 3 Deaths, 144 Virus Cases Posted: 05 Sep 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Maine's biggest COVID-19 outbreak is linked to a wedding officiated by the pastor of a distancing-defying church who says masks are part of a "socialistic platform." Now more than 144 COVID-19 patients have been linked to the event, and three people are dead.Todd Bell is pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine. Famous for flying between ministries in multiple states on his private plane (God "burdened" his heart to do airplane ministry, he says), Bell flew in to officiate a rural Maine wedding on August 7.That wedding is the nexus of 144 COVID-19 cases, including three that resulted in deaths, Maine officials said Friday. One of the deceased, an 83-year-old woman, did not even attend the wedding, but contracted the virus from a guest. None of this appears to be stopping Bell from doing business as usual in his church, calling on worshippers to trust "God, not government" as the pandemic progresses.The Fall of Florida's Biggest Sham 'Church' Peddling Bleach as a 'Sacrament' The August 7 wedding in Millinocket, Maine was a super-spreader event. Sixty-five guests attended the event at the Big Moose Inn, a violation of the state's limit on large gatherings. Officiated by Bell, the celebration went on to sicken guests, some of whom in turn passed it on to people in particularly vulnerable communities. COVID-19 outbreaks at a local rehabilitation center, a senior living facility, a county jail, and a school have all been traced back to the wedding. The number of cases linked to the event has doubled in the past week.One of the victims, 83-year-old Theresa Dentremont, did not attend the wedding, but caught COVID-19 from someone who had. A mother of six, Dentremont was described in an obituary as the "anchor of her family" and someone who was "unwaveringly positive and...always found the good in every person and every situation."Six Calvary Baptist families also attended the wedding, Bell confirmed in a sermon last Sunday, reported by the Penobscot Bay Pilot. But despite a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Calvary Baptist-goers should voluntarily quarantine, the church was still in full unmasked operation last week.In his sermon, Bell told worshippers to stay home if they were sick, but launched into a conspiratorial sermon denouncing vaccines and repudiating anti-coronavirus measures. He also spent part of the sermon lashing out at people who had criticized him on social media, including a person who, after observing one of his posts about flying his private plane, speculated that Bell was going to spread the disease at a casino elsewhere in Maine.Bell quipped that a casino would be a good place to deliberately spread COVID-19. "Gambling has killed more people and ruined more homes and destroyed more things in our society almost than liquor or pot or pornography," Bell said, according to the Boston Globe. "Gambling is wicked."Although in his sermon Bell said he hoped the media was listening, the church has since removed all its live streamed sermons from YouTube and pulled its website. The church's phone number, when called, returns a message saying the number is not currently accepting calls. On Twitter, the church retweeted a person who claimed Bell was unfairly under attack."Please pray for Pastor Todd Bell, his family and his church. The media and many others have been relentlessly attacking him for having church amidst the rise of COVID cases in Maine," the tweet reads. "Pastors are being made out to be enemies of the people by media. We must stand together."> ������������ pic.twitter.com/DP9yK9Dmfb> > — Calvary Baptist Church (@CalvarySanford) August 23, 2020That claim—that pastors are being portrayed as enemies—might be harsh toward the rest of the state's religious leaders, most of whom have reportedly not had COVID-19 outbreaks in their congregations. Maine's WGME reported that the overwhelming majority of Maine religious congregations have taken steps to prevent the disease's spread, with some of them moving outdoors, implementing distancing for indoor services, or offering online sermons.Some groups affiliated with Calvary Baptist have distanced themselves from the church. A nonprofit shelter that used the church to distribute food to low-income locals relocated to an outdoor site this week. Beneficiaries of the food program are especially susceptible to COVID-19, the program's director told WGME, noting that 85 percent of the shelter's clients had health complications that could exacerbate COVID-19's worst effects.Another local told WGME that Calvary Baptist missionaries had actively proselytized after the wedding, even trying to enter her home without masks."They came in without masks and asked to come in even further," the woman told the news station. "They asked twice if I was sure they couldn't come into my living room. When I refused they forced a pamphlet at me."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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| From spit hoods to ketamine injections: The controversial police tactics highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:15 AM PDT  The nationwide protests of the Black Lives Matter movement and has charged the debate about how police enforce law and order.
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| Race to assess damage to stricken oil tanker off Sri Lanka Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:48 AM PDT  An international team of salvage experts arrived in Sri Lanka Sunday to assess damage to a fire-stricken oil tanker off the east coast, officials said, as fear mounted for an environmental disaster if there is a leak.
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| Mayor promises police reforms following Daniel Prude's death Posted: 06 Sep 2020 06:37 AM PDT  The mayor of Rochester promised reforms are coming to the city's police department as community elders sought to bring calmer minds to a fifth night of demonstrations Sunday over the March death of Daniel Prude, who lost consciousness after police held him down with a hood over his head. Mayor Lovely Warren announced at a news conference Sunday that the crisis intervention team and its budget would move from the police department to the city's department of youth and recreation services. Police Chief La'Ron Singletary, who joined Warren at the news conference, said he supports the need for reform in his department and is working with experts and clinicians in getting outpatient services for people with mental health issues that bring them into repeated police contact.
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| Typhoon Haishen heads toward Korea after battering Japan Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:25 PM PDT  South Korea hunkered down for the arrival of Typhoon Haishen on Monday, after the powerful storm battered Japan's southern islands but appeared to pass through without major damage or casualties. The storm, carrying top sustained winds of up to 144 kilometres (90 miles) per hour, was headed north toward South Korea's second largest city of Busan, South Korea's weather agency said. High winds have already cut power to almost 5,000 households in the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, including the resort island of Jeju, which has reported more than 473 mm (19 inches) of rainfall since Saturday.
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| Coronavirus live updates: San Diego State students forced indoors; Kentucky sets weekly records for most deaths, cases; US nears 190K deaths Posted: 06 Sep 2020 02:50 PM PDT  Thousands of San Diego State University students have been ordered to stay indoors over Labor Day weekend. Speeding tickets soar. Latest news.
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| Mali coup: Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta flies to UAE Posted: 06 Sep 2020 02:59 AM PDT  Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was toppled by the military in August after mass protests against his rule.
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| Mnuchin says both GOP, Pelosi agree to avoid shutdown Posted: 06 Sep 2020 12:58 PM PDT  Both parties need to agree to a government funding bill by the end of the month to avoid a shutdown.
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| 'Reign of terror': A summer of police violence in Los Angeles Posted: 06 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Despite protests and a pandemic, law enforcement are killing people at a rate consistent with previous yearsLos Angeles police officers have continued to kill civilians at alarming rates and under questionable circumstances in the last three months, despite a summer of unprecedented activism and growing political pressure from lawmakers.Most recently, two deputies with the Los Angeles sheriff's department (LASD) fatally shot a bicyclist, 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee, who was fleeing after officers tried to stop him for an alleged "vehicle code" violation. The killing on Monday of yet another Black man in South LA was one of more than 10 fatal police shootings in the LA region since the George Floyd protests erupted at the end of May."If they are killing in this climate, even with the light that has been shined on this, then it's obvious that it's their intent," said Myesha Lopez, 35, whose father was killed by LASD in June. "I think the protests are only making them more agitated, more trigger-happy, more volatile, more unstable. I don't believe these officers have the ability to reform themselves."Police leaders have put forward accounts of each killing that they say justify the use of force. But civil rights activists and victims' families say the repeated bloodshed is a sign that police continue to escalate conflicts and resort to violence, even in the most routine of encounters – and that a more radical response is needed to prevent the next tragedy. Steady killings during protests and pandemicPolice shoot an average of three to four people in LA county each month, or roughly 45 victims each year, according to an analysis by the LA Times. In the last two decades, officers have killed more than 1,000 people in the county, according to Youth Justice Coalition (YJC), an activist group.Despite the pandemic shutdowns and heightened attention to police brutality, LA law enforcement is killing civilians at a rate that appears to be fairly consistent with previous years. From the start of 2020 through June, police in the county have killed at least 23 people, YJC says."It's like there's no end to it, it just keeps happening," said Lupita Carballo, a 21-year YJC organizer who lives in South LA, near the site of the latest killing.Since the end of May, when mass protests erupted in LA, officers have fatally shot 11 people, according to Black Lives Matter LA, which also tracks killings. The sheriff's department, which is separate from the LA police department (LAPD) and patrols areas outside of the city, was responsible for seven of these deaths. > If they are killing in this climate, even with the light that has been shined on this, then it's obvious that it's their intent> > Myesha LopezLASD is the largest county police agency in the US, with jurisdiction in nearly 200 different towns and cities, and has a track record of brutality and controversial killings, racial profiling and corruption cases.LASD scandals have piled up this summer at a dizzying pace. On 18 June, during the height of protests, an LASD Compton deputy killed Andres Guardado, an 18-year-old security guard who was fleeing and shot five times in the back. Recently, a deputy whistleblower alleged that Compton was home to a gang of violent deputies who have violated civilians' rights and used excessive force.In another LASD unit, more than two dozen deputies faced discipline in August for their links to a gang of tattooed officers, and a high-ranking official was reassigned after he said Guardado "chose his fate". One lawsuit filed last month further accused LASD of fabricating a story and withholding evidence."It's a reign of terror," said Paula Minor, a BLM activist in LA. "The sheriff's department does whatever they want to do, and they know that no one will be held accountable."In LASD's initial account of Dijon Kizzee's killing this week, a spokesperson alleged that he had dropped a bundle of clothes while fleeing and the deputies spotted a handgun. The agency later claimed he "made a motion" toward the gun, and also accused the man of punching a deputy, though the officers did not sustain any injuries. Witnesses disputed the police account, and a family attorney said it appeared police shot at him 15 to 20 times. There was no body-camera footage."People run because of their innate fear of police," said Marina Vergara, a South LA resident whose brother, Daniel Hernandez, was killed by police in April. She noted that some neighborhood residents arm themselves for protection: "When you are in South LA, you are not afforded the second amendment. We're not seen as citizens who are protecting ourselves. We are seen as criminals." The forgotten victims: 'We have no answers'Most of the summer's killings received almost no news coverage, with the limited information released about them coming from police. In a 27 May killing of a Latino man in North Hollywood, an officer was called to a "neighbor dispute" and killed a man with a "sword". In a 29 May killing in north LA county, police said they approached a man who was "walking on the sidewalk", and when they saw he had a firearm, ended up taking him to the ground and killing him. In an East LA suburb on 7 June, police killed a 38-year-old who had reportedly been hit by a train; police said when they approached him he had a knife.One victim who did not become a hashtag is Michael Thomas, a 61-year-old grandfather killed by LASD deputies on 11 June inside his home in Lancaster, north of the city. LASD alleged that the officers were responding to a suspected domestic violence call and that Thomas, who was unarmed, reached for the officer's gun. But Thomas' girlfriend said the two were only having an argument, and that he was trying to stop the officers from unlawfully entering his home, citing the fourth amendment.Myesha Lopez, one of Thomas' five daughters, said her father had watched a special on George Floyd the previous night and was terrified police would shoot him: "He said, 'I know if I open this door, you're going to kill me.'"The officers, it appears, did just that, fatally shooting him in the chest.Lopez said she believed that the "fact that he knew his rights incited the officer's rage", adding that she was devastated to learn that his girlfriend couldn't even hold his hand or comfort her father as he lay dying. "They didn't value his life. They didn't care."In the Guardado case, authorities released key documents under intense public pressure. But Lopez said she has struggled to get the most basic information from LASD, including the names of the officers, or an incident report. She said she has even begged the department to allow the officer who killed her father to speak with her anonymously, just so she can understand what happened in the final moments: "We have no answers."Even a simple acknowledgment of the family's pain would go a long way, she said: "We charge these people with authority over our lives, and they are unwilling to even say, 'I'm sorry.'"The sheriff's office did not respond to inquiries about the case. 'The system isn't broken'Los Angeles' elected leaders have responded to the calls for police accountability this summer with a range of proposals – more community policing, minor cuts to police budgets, legislative efforts to prevent brutality and more.But Kizzee's killing this week has reignited calls for a more radical and urgent response – the dismantling of the embattled sheriff's department.Regardless of Kizzee's final moments, activists said a suspected bike violation should never end in death, and that police can't be trusted as first responders given how quickly they resort to lethal force."We don't want to pay for more training. The culture is not going to change," said Vergara, noting that the bloodshed will stop only when officers lose the many protections that give them license to kill with impunity. And she fears that might not happen until the public in LA sees a video akin to George Floyd's death, one that captures an entire interaction from start to finish and clearly demonstrates an officer's disregard for human life.Lopez, Thomas's daughter, also argued that the police should be disbanded, noting that LASD doesn't provide safety for communities like hers, and that they often only engage in harmful acts when they are called to assist people in crisis or with other challenges."Officers are trained to think someone is trying to take their lives, so they are trained to kill," said Lopez, noting she has never called police. "You can't say that the system is broken. It's doing what it was intended to do. It's operating at optimum level."Lopez knew she wanted to get in engaged in local activism after watching George Floyd's death. In June, she wrote to the mayor of Ontario, the southern California city where she lives, and outlined her own experiences with police over the years and the ways officers mistreat Black families like hers. She called on city leaders to stand up to systemic racism: "I tell you about us so that you are convinced that we matter."On 10 June, a police official responded to her email, thanking her for her words, but suggesting the George Floyd tragedy was unique and did not represent officers' behavior.The following day, police killed her father.
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| One chart shows the best and worst face masks for coronavirus protection — and which situations they're suited for Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:48 AM PDT  A mask made of multiple layers of high-thread-count cotton is preferable to one made from a dishcloth or cotton T-shirt.
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| Jill Biden drawing on classroom time for case against Trump Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:21 AM PDT  When Jill Biden introduced herself to millions of Americans during last month's Democratic National Convention, she did so from a high school where she once taught English near her Delaware home. The emphasis on education is a natural fit for someone who was a public school teacher for more than 20 years, earned two master's degrees and then a doctorate in education and continued teaching at a community college when her husband, Joe Biden, was vice president. "I feel if Joe had been president at this time we would not be in the midst of this chaos," Jill Biden told a mother and two teachers during a discussion that lasted more than half an hour on the patio of a private home last week in Wauwatosa, outside Milwaukee.
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| Amid theft and accusations of sabotage, Haiti struggles to turn on the lights Posted: 06 Sep 2020 04:05 AM PDT |
| Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie says Kyle Rittenhouse showed 'incredible restraint' in Kenosha shooting Posted: 04 Sep 2020 06:51 PM PDT  Massie said the 17-year-old charged with two homicide counts after shooting protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, acted in self-defense.
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| Typhoon Maysak: North Korea vows to punish officials over 'casualties' Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:11 AM PDT  The ruling party says local officials are responsible for "dozens of casualties" in Typhoon Maysak,
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| Grandeur or grandstanding: what is Emmanuel Macron up to in the Middle East? Posted: 05 Sep 2020 05:30 AM PDT  President Emmanuel Macron embarked on a high-stakes, headline-grabbing tour in the Middle East this week that has prompted claims France is seeking to re-activate its once-mighty "Arab policy". Just as France relived the trauma of the al Qaeda-inspired Charlie Hebdo 2015 attack with the opening of the trial of alleged accomplices in Paris, Mr Macron descended on Lebanon's capital, Beirut. In his second visit in a month following the gigantic explosion that killed 190 and destroyed half the city, he wrested a promise from Lebanon's discredited political class to conduct lightning reforms or face a funding drought or, worse, targeted sanctions. The 42-year-old then went on to pay a whirlwind, three-hour visit to Iraq, where he urged the battle-scarred country to assert its "sovereignty" in the face of US-Iran tensions and an increasingly intrusive Turkey. The back-to-back visits prompted Le Parisien to headline: "Macron kick starts France's Arab policy."
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| 43 million Americans are baking under record temperatures Posted: 05 Sep 2020 03:33 PM PDT  California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency.
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| Fraternal Order of Police national president on why his union is endorsing Trump for president Posted: 05 Sep 2020 08:38 AM PDT  Patrick Yoes, national president of America's largest police union, joins 'CAVUTO Live.'
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| Ahmaud Arbery’s mother says 2:23 Foundation using son’s name without consent Posted: 05 Sep 2020 05:20 PM PDT  Ahmaud Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said she has not endorsed an organization called the 2:23 Foundation. The foundation started a, "I Run With Maud" Labor Day campaign. Cooper-Jones said she feels disrespected because her late son's name is being used without her approval.
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| Dueling versions of reality define 1st week of fall campaign Posted: 04 Sep 2020 09:06 PM PDT  On the campaign trail with President Donald Trump, the pandemic is largely over, the economy is roaring back, and murderous mobs are infiltrating America's suburbs. With Democrat Joe Biden, the pandemic is raging, the economy isn't lifting the working class, and systemic racism threatens Black lives across America.
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| From window to jug: Lebanese recycle glass from Beirut blast Posted: 05 Sep 2020 10:12 PM PDT  Standing in a pile of broken glass in northern Lebanon, a man heaved shovel-loads of shards -- retrieved from Beirut after the massive explosion at its port -- into a red-hot furnace.
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| Armed guards provided for threatened lesbian couple Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:03 PM PDT  Their love story made headlines as they fought to get protection from their own families.
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| Hong Kong police fire pepper balls at protesters opposed to election delay, new law Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:07 AM PDT  Police fired rounds of pepper balls at protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday and arrested almost 300 after demonstrators took to the streets to oppose the postponement of legislative elections and a new national security law imposed by China. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam postponed the Sept. 6 election for seats in the Asian financial hub's Legislative Council for a year in July because of a spike in coronavirus cases. The move dealt a blow to the pro-democracy opposition which hoped to win a historic majority in the Council, where only half the seats are directly elected and the other half are appointed members who mostly support Beijing.
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| Schools in Japan are back in session amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 05 Sep 2020 07:38 AM PDT  There's nothing typical about school now for students at an elementary school in northeast Tokyo.
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| Georgia teen abused by father on Instagram Live Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:16 PM PDT |
| Will police be charged in Daniel Prude's death? This evidence may be the deciding factor Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:36 AM PDT  Video of Daniel Prude's restraint and subsequent autopsy likely will be the centerpiece of decisions about whether officers will be charged.
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| New Trump ads stoke racial bias among white people in Minnesota and Wisconsin Posted: 06 Sep 2020 07:00 AM PDT  Trump's racially charged Minnesota and Wisconsin TV ads focus on the violent aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake.
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| Bond denied for Georgia trooper charged in fatal shooting Posted: 05 Sep 2020 03:08 PM PDT |
| Jessica Krug Is Just Another Culture-Appropriating White Supremacist Posted: 04 Sep 2020 09:41 PM PDT  A few weeks ago, I re-watched Jordan Peele's racial thriller Get Out. The movie still elicits a visceral response of horror, mostly due to its banality and familiarity. The upper-class liberal white family is creepy, but they are given the benefit of the doubt, repeatedly. The situation is familiar to many of us who move in racially mixed social and work spaces. We ignore the uneasiness until we realize that, like a frog in water set to boil, it's too late. They never actually saw your humanity. Instead, they saw you as a commodity, and you and the labor of your body and mind are about to be overrun and possibly consumed.That's the feeling that some in academia have been expressing after being conned by recently tenured associate professor of Africana studies at George Washington University, Jessica Krug. According to her confession on Medium last Thursday, Krug, who is a white woman from Kansas, has been masquerading for years as a woman of color. She has embodied the identity of a North African, a Black Carribean and a salsa-dancing, accent-faking Afro-Puerto Rican from the Bronx for more than a decade. During that time, she has won a McNair Scholarship—a prestigious financial academic award reserved for people of color and first-generation students. White Professor Admits She Pretended to Be Black: 'I Absolutely Cancel Myself'Similar to but unlike Rachel Dolezal, who feels she actually identifies as Black, Krug admits her act was, in fact, a ruse. She blames her identity shifting and cultural theft on "mental illness" due to "childhood trauma." But before one looks at her actions as those of someone who is delusional or ill, it's important to note that her actions are not as uncommon as they may seem.As outlandish as attempts to embody another race may seem (which is not to be confused with the type of passing mixed-race Black people may have done in earlier times in order to escape the horrors of Jim Crow and racial oppression), appropriating the culture and labor of Black people is precisely what white supremacy has been doing in this country since the first Black bodies were brought to American soil. From stealing the profit of Black labor through slavery, sharecropping, convict leasing, the current prison system, and intractable unequal pay, the economic theft and consuming of Black bodies has not abated. Cultural theft includes minstrelsy, the attribution of the birth of rock and roll to white artists, and the Kardashians, who continuously appropriate, don, and consume Blackness by transforming themselves, their lips, hips, skin color, and hair styles to perform a whitewashed Blackness for profit. And it is this last form that Krug's masquerade most closely resembles. The Kardashians gain credit for styles and looks that actual Black women have been criticized and shamed for. The legitimacy and success that white people obtain when performing Blackness that eludes actual Black people is evident in Krug's performance in academia. Not satisfied with being a scholar who is an ally to Black or Latina women, she actually took on the persona of these women, while also reportedly criticizing and denigrating the work of actual Black and Latina women. For example in the forward to her latest book, she referred to scholar Marisa Fuentes as a "slave catcher." She also pitted Black and Latinx folk against one another, as many Black women questioned her racial and ethnic identity, while others felt compelled to shield and protect her.In addition, Krug's impersonation brings unwarranted scrutiny to the field of Africana studies, as some question that if the identity is a sham, perhaps the scholarship is as well. She also brings unwarranted scrutiny to Black women whose features may indeed not fit an Afrocentric mold. Colorism, the favoring of European features within communities of color, is real and harmful, and there is no doubt that the perception of Krug as a light-skinned Black woman helped her gain favor in a white supremacist culture and in academia. For Black women whose Blackness has already been called into question because of the shade of their skin, Krug did them no favors. And for darker-skinned Black women who are too often not centered in academic spaces or heard, Krug's successes confirm the reality of colorism, the biases against them, and the devaluing of Blackness.Toward the end of Get Out, the main character asks the man to whom his body is being sacrificed, "Why us, why Black people?" The character, an art lover and dealer who lacks legitimate artistic talent, says, "I want your eyes… I want those things you see through." Krug's deep insecurity with her own vision and talents caused her to don Blackness in an attempt to be who we are and see what we see, without realizing it doesn't work that way. And despite white America's centuries-long attempts to capture and keep it, Blackness will never work that way. Blackness will never be yours.The author would like to dedicate this piece to her mother, Mary Francis Taylor.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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| The orphans of Angola's secret massacre seek the truth Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:00 PM PDT  In May 1977 a ruling party killed thousands, but the purge has been shrouded in mystery for decades.
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| Rep. Adam Smith on President Trump's threat to cut federal funds to Seattle over recent violence Posted: 05 Sep 2020 08:28 AM PDT  Washington Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, joins 'CAVUTO Live.'
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| 'Hands off the children': masked men arrest protesting Belarusian students Posted: 05 Sep 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Up to 30 people were detained for taking part in unsanctioned protests, Russian news agency TASS quoted the Minsk police as saying. Draped in red-and-white opposition flags, students staged protests in several places in the capital, including outside the Minsk State Linguistic Institute where police had arrested five people on Friday, local media footage showed. Elsewhere masked men dragged away students who had gathered at an eatery in Karl Marx Street in the centre of Minsk, while some of the protesters shouted "tribunal!", according to footage shown by news outlet TUT.BY.
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| Businessman racially discriminated by wife who made Australia rant, tribunal rules Posted: 06 Sep 2020 10:20 AM PDT  An Australian businessman has been awarded a payout of more than £100,000 after winning a racial discrimination case against his British wife who said she hated his country's "mentality", a tribunal has ruled. Duncan Bendall took his wife, Fiona, and their company The Female Social Network (TFSN) to an employment tribunal claiming he was discriminated against because he is a man and due to his nationality when he was pushed out of the firm. He also claimed unfair dismissal after she ousted him following the breakdown of their marriage. An employment judge awarded him more than £100,000 for race discrimination and unfair dismissal, but rejected his claims he was fired due to his gender. The tribunal heard Mr Bendall received an email from his wife three months before he was sacked in August last year in which she said: "I hate Australian mentality and you have it [in] droves just sh**…And DO NOT say you are a founder in MY business MY efforts ever again You Leech - you don't even believe in women or have ever stuck your neck out." Mr Bendall claimed he was dismissed as a result of his gender and nationality, and told the panel his wife "kept treating Australia as an inferior race" despite the couple living there for 15 years. He told the hearing: "It just made me feel small and like she was putting me down. It seemed she was only saying all this because now she was back in England. "The board had clearly chosen to back an English female and remove an Australian male." The tribunal heard Mr Bendall and his ex-wife, 42, set up a company called Bendalls in Australia in 2004, before setting up The Female Social Network in 2016. It then became a global company and the couple have been pictured with Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York at the UK launch last June.
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| Russian ex-Gulag town on China's doorstep eyes rebirth Posted: 05 Sep 2020 09:12 PM PDT  The remote Russian town of Svobodny has languished in misery for decades but the launch of new mega-projects with their sights set on nearby China is expected to give it a new lease on life.
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