Today's News (2020/6/10): General edition
Jun. 10th, 2020 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdNo time to come up with anything even vaguely clever. The rest of the news.
----- 1 -----
jaime brooks
twitter.com/elite_gz
9 June 2020
https://twitter.com/elite_gz/status/1270447485094248449
summary: this person found IG accounts for members of this mysterious new black panthers-esque group who have been doing photo ops with cops at protests in atlanta and they’re all actors with no prior history of activism
assume the same thing is happening in other cities
[QUOTED TWEET]
Wolf The Red
twitter.com/WolfTheRed
9 June 2020
https://twitter.com/WolfTheRed/status/1270369754432356352
[THREAD]
Alright. This is the last time (doubt it) I'm gonna post about this in this capacity. We're going to talk about the modern Black Panthers and especially about the ones who showed up in atlanta last weekend.
[NEXT]
First as I have pointed out a few times there is the New Black Panther Party. A designated hategroup with a long history of nationalism and racist ideology. They formed in 1989 and have been a problem ever since. They are based in Atlanta.
[NEXT]
There is ANOTHER group in Atlanta with similar ideologies and wording in their goal statements called the Revolutionary Black Panther Party of Atlanta.
[NEXT]
Alright let's get back the this group who showed up last weekend carrying rifles and calling for black folks to arm themselves as is their right. (Agreed!) Their leader and mouth piece for the day was a black lady referred to by the internet as Queen.
[NEXT]
She spoke many times in videos and referred to themselves as the New Black Panthers. Red flag right? A local news outlet Decaturish wrote an article and hinted at them being problematic. They have since retracted that.
[NEXT]
Apparently Decaturish were able to get in touch with someone from their "organization" to get some clarification. They said they were instead the Black Panthers Revolutionaries Atlanta Chapter.
Scroll back up. It's not exactly the same group name as before.
[THREAD CONTINUES AT LINK, GO READ]
----- 2 -----
Governor Jay Inslee
twitter.com/GovInslee
10 June 2020
https://twitter.com/GovInslee/status/1270797518951989248
[THREAD]
I have become convinced the Pierce County Sheriff should not complete the investigation of the death of Manuel Ellis.
There will be a new investigation and charging decision made independent of Pierce County law enforcement. 1/5
[EMBEDDED LINK TO STATEMENT]
[THREAD CONTINUES AT LINK]
----- 3 -----
Andrew James Carter
twitter.com/Carter_AndrewJ
10 June 2020
https://twitter.com/Carter_AndrewJ/status/1270787941275762689
[THREAD]
[EDITOR: BACKGROUND - J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has been building towards anti-trans activism for a while, and has finally come out swinging, using her position to go all-out anti-trans, even as her anti-trans friends move from being anti-trans to being explicitly and generically anti-gay. (E.g., the cofounder of her major charity stating in the last couple of days that same-sex marriage isn't legitimate, gay couples shouldn't adopt, and that the existence of same-sex relationships "devalues" women and girls.
Several organisations have, over the last several months, tried to stop this, including GLAAD, with whom she refused to meet, even for off-the-record fully-private meetings. Which tells me this has been an entirely deliberate swing over a period of a couple of years. I'm very sorry for all the people who grew up with the Potter books. You have my sincerest condolences.]
Since JK Rowling has blocked any reply to this litany of half-truths and transphobic dogwhistles, I thought I'd catalogue them properly here:
[NEXT]
1a. In the case of Maya Forstater.
Firstly, she did not "lose her job" (she was a contract worker, her contract was not renewed). The distinction is important both legally and linguistically - since "losing a job" casts Forstater as the victim, implying she was fired.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE of JK Rowling's lies about both Forstater's actions and the judge's ruling]
[NEXT]
1b. Forstater also did not "ask the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected by law".
She asked the judge to rule that (among other things) misgendering was protected speech. This was the judge's response.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE of judge's ruling]
[THREAD CONTINUES AT LINK]
----- 4 -----
Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, author of _China_
10 June 2020
https://www.axios.com/zoom-closes-chinese-user-account-tiananmen-square-f218fed1-69af-4bdd-aac4-7eaf67f34084.html
The U.S. video-conferencing company Zoom closed the account of a group of prominent U.S.-based Chinese activists after they held a Zoom event commemorating the 31st anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Zoom has faced growing scrutiny over security concerns and its ties to China, which forbids free discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement.
Details: Zhou Fengsuo, founder of the U.S. nonprofit Humanitarian China and former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, organized the May 31 event held through a paid Zoom account associated with Humanitarian China.
----- 5 ------
A White Woman, Racism and a Poodle
Cynthia Franks
June 1, 2020
https://franklywrite.com/2020/06/01/a-white-woman-racism-and-a-poodle/
I have not told this story before. I worry how it will be received. I don’t know the right language to express it other than my own thoughts and feelings. This post is not for people of color because they already know it. This is for white people living in suburbs and small towns who think this is a big city problem and “It’s not my town.”
Before moving to New York City, I drove every where. I got pulled over 3 times in 15 years; two speeding tickets and an illegal left hand turn.
The first year I was back in Michigan, I got pulled over 5 times. Each time it was for impeding traffic and I did not get a ticket.
I drove a dark grey, 1998 Chevy Venture van that was in storage for several years. It was in good shape.
The traffic stops were unlike any I had experienced in the past. The first one was in Monroe County on Dixie Highway near Sterling State Park. I was coming home from the park with my dogs. The sun was setting and it was twilight. My Poodle, Merlin, sat in the passenger seat and Indy, a Jack Russel Terrier, was in the back. I was driving down Dixie Highway at 50 mph, which is the speed limit. Flashing lights popped up behind me. My heart raced. What did I do? I pulled over and tried to calm down; I didn’t want to look suspicious.
[SERIOUSLY, GO READ THIS]
----- 6 -----
Hannity Compares Trump to George Floyd: ‘He Was a Victim of Crooked Cops’
Hannity comparing Trump’s Russia probe experience to Floyd’s killing comes after colleague Laura Ingraham said Trump understands what black victims of police violence go through.
Justin Baragona, Contributing Editor
Updated Jun. 10, 2020 3:02AM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hannity-compares-trumps-russia-probe-experience-to-george-floyd-says-he-was-a-victim-of-crooked-cops?via=twitter_page
Did Fox News’ Sean Hannity just compare President Donald Trump dealing with the FBI’s Russia investigation to George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police?
Yes. Yes, he did.
----- 7 -----
“No, I Am Not Okay”: A Black Journalist Addresses His White Friends
With a new daughter entering a world defined by protests and a pandemic, a middle-aged father feels his faith in America—or, more accurately, “Great-Again America”—slipping away.
By Jimmie Briggs
June 4, 2020
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/no-i-am-not-okay-a-black-journalist-addresses-his-white-friends
All week I have been sitting in front of the television, rocking our newborn daughter to sleep. I have been watching the drama in the darkened living room. And the characters, like well-rehearsed actors in a stale play, have been hitting their marks all too well.
The cast varies from staging to staging but generally includes National Guardsmen in body armor and carrying automatic rifles or other weaponry not intended for use against civilians; local police straining not to swing batons, fire tear gas, or set off stun grenades; ragtag crowds of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings carrying recycled slogans and chants from movements forgotten or never understood, their ranks dotted with masked millennials and Gen Xers unable to really articulate clear outcomes for the mass actions; scurrying reporters seeking a semblance of combat-action bona fides; and play-by-play announcers in faraway broadcast studios, lowering and heightening the emotions of onlookers at home, accompanied by a rotating cast of “experts” to explain for riveted, unnerved white Americans and international viewers why what is happening on their screens is happening.
The baby I hold is just three weeks old, all seven pounds and change of her. She slumps down into the crook of my right arm while my free left hand switches between cable-news channels. Since May 25, I have been riveted and repulsed by the nocturnal scenes of the teleplay ostensibly inspired by the suffocation of George Floyd. Alternating between sucking on her pacifier and partially spitting it out, she stares in my direction through sleepy, half-closed eyes. The frigid coolness blasting from the air conditioner usually has us huddling for refuge under a soft, white blanket. When the rhetoric of the news anchors and the on-scene reporters gets excessive, I switch from footage of civil unrest to less distressing fare, finding comfort in old episodes of Murder, She Wrote, Martin, or Charmed.
I know my tone here is bitter and judgmental, and it is intended to be. Since George Floyd’s death just over a week ago, his final eight minutes and 46 seconds of life have been repeatedly shown on TV and social media to the point of becoming a macabre GIF, shared, studied, and ultimately used to dehumanize, traumatize, and inflame. In the days since his death, I, like many black friends, colleagues, and family members, have heard from an array of people in our lives—mostly well-meaning white people. For myself, the outreach has been in the form of text messages asking, “Are you okay?” Or, “How are you all and the baby doing?” In recent days communications have had an air of greater urgency, with an added, “Please stay safe.” Or, “Hope you are inside and away from the outside.” While I deeply appreciate the expressions of love, affirmation, and care—and I do cherish my relationships with those who have reached out—I am more interested in posing a question to them: “Are you okay??”
----- 8 -----
Some Democrats Are Highly Adept at Losing Battles That Haven't Begun Yet
One congressman tackles the defining issue of the moment: entitlement "reform."
By Charles P. Pierce
Jun 10, 2020
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32823542/democrats-entitlement-reform-commission/
It’s going to take a mighty effort from what we call Government to pull us out of the ravine into which Camp Runamuck has driven the republic. Recognizing this, Congressman Scott Peters has summoned 31 of his colleagues to the flag of the only cause that really matters...
...entitlement “reform.”
----- 9 -----
THE DEMANDS OF THE COLLECTIVE BLACK VOICES AT FREE CAPITOL HILL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
FreeCapitolHill
Jun 9, 2020
https://medium.com/@seattleblmanon3/the-demands-of-the-collective-black-voices-at-free-capitol-hill-to-the-government-of-seattle-ddaee51d3e47
In credit to the people who freed Capitol Hill, this list of demands is neither brief nor simplistic. This is no simple request to end police brutality. We demand that the City Council and the Mayor, whoever that may be, implement these policy changes for the cultural and historic advancement of the City of Seattle, and to ease the struggles of its people. This document is to represent the black voices who spoke in victory at the top of 12th & Pine after 9 days of peaceful protest while under constant nightly attack from the Seattle Police Department. These are words from that night, June 8th, 2020.
For ease of consideration, we’ve broken these demands into four categories: The Justice System, Health and Human Services, Economics, and Education.
----- 10 -----
Trump to Keep Confederate Names on Bases, Halting Pentagon Talks
President ends deliberations within Pentagon on renaming bases
Namesakes of Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, others were rebel generals
By Alex Wayne
June 10, 2020, 12:02 PM PDT Updated on June 10, 2020, 2:44 PM PDT
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-10/trump-says-u-s-military-bases-to-retain-confederate-names
President Donald Trump said his administration won’t rename American military bases that honor leaders of the Confederacy, an abrupt halt to Pentagon deliberations over ending tributes to treasonous soldiers who fought the U.S. to maintain slavery.
The announcement was part of a series of remarks by White House officials on Wednesday that touched awkwardly on the deep U.S. racial divisions on display in the protests over the death of George Floyd. Following tweets on the military bases, Trump brought reporters into an unannounced meeting with some of his black supporters and media figures, where the group discussed police reform.
His tweets on the bases came in answer to growing debate about their names, including an op-ed by retired General David Petraeus in the Atlantic on Tuesday that called for the facilities to be renamed.
“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars,” Trump said Wednesday in a series of tweets. “Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations. Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!”
An Army spokesman said earlier this week that the service’s secretary, Ryan McCarthy, was open to changing the names of bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Hood in Texas. Politico reported that Defense Secretary Mark Esper also supported the discussion.
Braxton Bragg and John Hood, the namesakes of the two bases, were generals in the Confederate army that waged what remains the bloodiest war in U.S. history. Eight other U.S. military bases are named after officers for the rebel cause.
Politico reported the suggestion to rename the bases had gained momentum in the Pentagon in response to civil unrest over the death of Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in Minneapolis police custody last month.
Trump has shown hostility toward protests over Floyd’s death, blaming rioting and looting that has accompanied some of the demonstrations on leftist “Antifa” groups he’s called terrorists and threatening to use the military to quell the unrest.
----- 11 -----
Evangelical group wants gays removed from anti-lynching bill
Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver opposes including the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in a federal anti-lynching bill.
Jan. 9, 2019, 1:55 PM PST
By Brooke Sopelsa
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/evangelical-group-wants-gays-removed-anti-lynching-bill-n956831
The U.S. Senate last month unanimously passed a bill that would explicitly make lynching a federal crime. Not everyone, however, is pleased with passage of the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act.
Liberty Counsel, an evangelical nonprofit that opposes gay rights, and its chairman, Mat Staver, are taking issue with the bill’s inclusion of LGBTQ people.
----- 12 -----
Car crashes into crowd of protesters, no one seriously injured
The Seattle Times
10 June 2020
[IMAGE] Bicylists raise their bikes to protect themselves as a vehicle that has run their line on 9th near Virginia ducks into a parking garage. The driver appeared unwilling to wait to access the parking structure and ran through a line of bikes providing security to the Seattle Youth Protest. There appeared to be minor injuries.
The car that appeared to drive through a line of bikes providing security for The Seattle Youth Protest tries to get through the barricade of this garage on 9th near Virginia. It drags with it one of the bikes that was run over. The Seattle Youth Protest marched peacefully through Seattle, but was marred when a driver ran through protesters whose bike protected the route in an apparent attempt to reach a parking garage. Photographed Wednesday June 10, 2020 214232 (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times)
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-area-protests-live-updates-for-wednesday-june-10/#update-12841667
A peaceful protest in front of the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct in Belltown took a sudden violent turn when a car ran through a bicycle line of protesters.
The driver hit the cyclists, then turned into the garage on Ninth Street, just south of Virginia Street. Two cyclists, who were part of a group helping with crowd control and protection, had what appeared to be hand and arm cuts.
Protesters knocked out the back window of the Honda as it pulled into a garage. It is unclear what happened to the driver; police weren't seen immediately responding.
Twenty-year-old Jordan Davis-Miller was giving a speech when the incident occurred, with protesters seated on the road with their backs to where the car hit the cyclists.
The protest, which was upbeat and peaceful, quickly turned angry. At 7 p.m., about 15 minutes after the incident, the crowd started marching again, back toward Capitol Hill.
The Seattle Fire Department tweeted that officials responded to reports of a vehicle and bicyclist collision near a protest area in the 800 block of Virginia Street. Crews were canceled because no injuries were reported, according to Seattle fire spokesman David Cuerpo.
----- 13 -----
Statue of Jefferson Davis torn down on Monument Avenue
By ZACH JOACHIM AND JOHANNA ALONSO Richmond Times-Dispatch
10 June 2020
https://www.richmond.com/news/local/statue-of-jefferson-davis-torn-down-on-monument-avenue/article_64865aee-76bc-54e1-8e90-2fa749f8877b.html
The statue of Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue in Richmond was torn down late Wednesday night.
The statue of the president of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m. and left on the ground at the intersection of Davis and Monument avenues.
Richmond police were quickly on the scene. A tow truck showed up around 11:30 p.m. to take the statue away.
The vandalism of the statue comes nearly two weeks into protests against police brutality against black Americans, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
It comes a day after the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park was pulled down by protesters, and on the same night that demonstrators pulled down four statues from a Confederate monument in Portsmouth.
On Saturday, a Confederate statue honoring Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham was torn down in Richmond's Monroe Park.
The Jefferson Davis monument and the J.E.B. Stuart monument were both dedicated in 1907.
- Literally actors posing as Black Panther splinter group
- Washington State Governor Inslee: "I have become convinced the Pierce County Sheriff should not complete the investigation of the death of Manuel Ellis."
- A factual critique of J.K. Rowling's manifesto against transgendered people
- Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
- A White Woman, Racism and a Poodle
- Hannity Compares Trump to George Floyd: ‘He Was a Victim of Crooked Cops’
- “No, I Am Not Okay”: A Black Journalist Addresses His White Friends
- Some Democrats Are Highly Adept at Losing Battles That Haven't Begun Yet
- THE DEMANDS OF THE COLLECTIVE BLACK VOICES AT FREE CAPITOL HILL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
- Trump to Keep Confederate Names on Bases, Halting Pentagon Talks
- Evangelical group wants gays removed from anti-lynching bill
- Car crashes into crowd of protesters, no one seriously injured
- Statue of Jefferson Davis torn down on Monument Avenue
----- 1 -----
jaime brooks
twitter.com/elite_gz
9 June 2020
https://twitter.com/elite_gz/status/1270447485094248449
summary: this person found IG accounts for members of this mysterious new black panthers-esque group who have been doing photo ops with cops at protests in atlanta and they’re all actors with no prior history of activism
assume the same thing is happening in other cities
[QUOTED TWEET]
Wolf The Red
twitter.com/WolfTheRed
9 June 2020
https://twitter.com/WolfTheRed/status/1270369754432356352
[THREAD]
Alright. This is the last time (doubt it) I'm gonna post about this in this capacity. We're going to talk about the modern Black Panthers and especially about the ones who showed up in atlanta last weekend.
[NEXT]
First as I have pointed out a few times there is the New Black Panther Party. A designated hategroup with a long history of nationalism and racist ideology. They formed in 1989 and have been a problem ever since. They are based in Atlanta.
[NEXT]
There is ANOTHER group in Atlanta with similar ideologies and wording in their goal statements called the Revolutionary Black Panther Party of Atlanta.
[NEXT]
Alright let's get back the this group who showed up last weekend carrying rifles and calling for black folks to arm themselves as is their right. (Agreed!) Their leader and mouth piece for the day was a black lady referred to by the internet as Queen.
[NEXT]
She spoke many times in videos and referred to themselves as the New Black Panthers. Red flag right? A local news outlet Decaturish wrote an article and hinted at them being problematic. They have since retracted that.
[NEXT]
Apparently Decaturish were able to get in touch with someone from their "organization" to get some clarification. They said they were instead the Black Panthers Revolutionaries Atlanta Chapter.
Scroll back up. It's not exactly the same group name as before.
[THREAD CONTINUES AT LINK, GO READ]
----- 2 -----
Governor Jay Inslee
twitter.com/GovInslee
10 June 2020
https://twitter.com/GovInslee/status/1270797518951989248
[THREAD]
I have become convinced the Pierce County Sheriff should not complete the investigation of the death of Manuel Ellis.
There will be a new investigation and charging decision made independent of Pierce County law enforcement. 1/5
[EMBEDDED LINK TO STATEMENT]
[THREAD CONTINUES AT LINK]
----- 3 -----
Andrew James Carter
twitter.com/Carter_AndrewJ
10 June 2020
https://twitter.com/Carter_AndrewJ/status/1270787941275762689
[THREAD]
[EDITOR: BACKGROUND - J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has been building towards anti-trans activism for a while, and has finally come out swinging, using her position to go all-out anti-trans, even as her anti-trans friends move from being anti-trans to being explicitly and generically anti-gay. (E.g., the cofounder of her major charity stating in the last couple of days that same-sex marriage isn't legitimate, gay couples shouldn't adopt, and that the existence of same-sex relationships "devalues" women and girls.
Several organisations have, over the last several months, tried to stop this, including GLAAD, with whom she refused to meet, even for off-the-record fully-private meetings. Which tells me this has been an entirely deliberate swing over a period of a couple of years. I'm very sorry for all the people who grew up with the Potter books. You have my sincerest condolences.]
Since JK Rowling has blocked any reply to this litany of half-truths and transphobic dogwhistles, I thought I'd catalogue them properly here:
[NEXT]
1a. In the case of Maya Forstater.
Firstly, she did not "lose her job" (she was a contract worker, her contract was not renewed). The distinction is important both legally and linguistically - since "losing a job" casts Forstater as the victim, implying she was fired.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE of JK Rowling's lies about both Forstater's actions and the judge's ruling]
[NEXT]
1b. Forstater also did not "ask the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected by law".
She asked the judge to rule that (among other things) misgendering was protected speech. This was the judge's response.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE of judge's ruling]
[THREAD CONTINUES AT LINK]
----- 4 -----
Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, author of _China_
10 June 2020
https://www.axios.com/zoom-closes-chinese-user-account-tiananmen-square-f218fed1-69af-4bdd-aac4-7eaf67f34084.html
The U.S. video-conferencing company Zoom closed the account of a group of prominent U.S.-based Chinese activists after they held a Zoom event commemorating the 31st anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Zoom has faced growing scrutiny over security concerns and its ties to China, which forbids free discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement.
Details: Zhou Fengsuo, founder of the U.S. nonprofit Humanitarian China and former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, organized the May 31 event held through a paid Zoom account associated with Humanitarian China.
----- 5 ------
A White Woman, Racism and a Poodle
Cynthia Franks
June 1, 2020
https://franklywrite.com/2020/06/01/a-white-woman-racism-and-a-poodle/
I have not told this story before. I worry how it will be received. I don’t know the right language to express it other than my own thoughts and feelings. This post is not for people of color because they already know it. This is for white people living in suburbs and small towns who think this is a big city problem and “It’s not my town.”
Before moving to New York City, I drove every where. I got pulled over 3 times in 15 years; two speeding tickets and an illegal left hand turn.
The first year I was back in Michigan, I got pulled over 5 times. Each time it was for impeding traffic and I did not get a ticket.
I drove a dark grey, 1998 Chevy Venture van that was in storage for several years. It was in good shape.
The traffic stops were unlike any I had experienced in the past. The first one was in Monroe County on Dixie Highway near Sterling State Park. I was coming home from the park with my dogs. The sun was setting and it was twilight. My Poodle, Merlin, sat in the passenger seat and Indy, a Jack Russel Terrier, was in the back. I was driving down Dixie Highway at 50 mph, which is the speed limit. Flashing lights popped up behind me. My heart raced. What did I do? I pulled over and tried to calm down; I didn’t want to look suspicious.
[SERIOUSLY, GO READ THIS]
----- 6 -----
Hannity Compares Trump to George Floyd: ‘He Was a Victim of Crooked Cops’
Hannity comparing Trump’s Russia probe experience to Floyd’s killing comes after colleague Laura Ingraham said Trump understands what black victims of police violence go through.
Justin Baragona, Contributing Editor
Updated Jun. 10, 2020 3:02AM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hannity-compares-trumps-russia-probe-experience-to-george-floyd-says-he-was-a-victim-of-crooked-cops?via=twitter_page
Did Fox News’ Sean Hannity just compare President Donald Trump dealing with the FBI’s Russia investigation to George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police?
Yes. Yes, he did.
----- 7 -----
“No, I Am Not Okay”: A Black Journalist Addresses His White Friends
With a new daughter entering a world defined by protests and a pandemic, a middle-aged father feels his faith in America—or, more accurately, “Great-Again America”—slipping away.
By Jimmie Briggs
June 4, 2020
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/no-i-am-not-okay-a-black-journalist-addresses-his-white-friends
All week I have been sitting in front of the television, rocking our newborn daughter to sleep. I have been watching the drama in the darkened living room. And the characters, like well-rehearsed actors in a stale play, have been hitting their marks all too well.
The cast varies from staging to staging but generally includes National Guardsmen in body armor and carrying automatic rifles or other weaponry not intended for use against civilians; local police straining not to swing batons, fire tear gas, or set off stun grenades; ragtag crowds of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings carrying recycled slogans and chants from movements forgotten or never understood, their ranks dotted with masked millennials and Gen Xers unable to really articulate clear outcomes for the mass actions; scurrying reporters seeking a semblance of combat-action bona fides; and play-by-play announcers in faraway broadcast studios, lowering and heightening the emotions of onlookers at home, accompanied by a rotating cast of “experts” to explain for riveted, unnerved white Americans and international viewers why what is happening on their screens is happening.
The baby I hold is just three weeks old, all seven pounds and change of her. She slumps down into the crook of my right arm while my free left hand switches between cable-news channels. Since May 25, I have been riveted and repulsed by the nocturnal scenes of the teleplay ostensibly inspired by the suffocation of George Floyd. Alternating between sucking on her pacifier and partially spitting it out, she stares in my direction through sleepy, half-closed eyes. The frigid coolness blasting from the air conditioner usually has us huddling for refuge under a soft, white blanket. When the rhetoric of the news anchors and the on-scene reporters gets excessive, I switch from footage of civil unrest to less distressing fare, finding comfort in old episodes of Murder, She Wrote, Martin, or Charmed.
I know my tone here is bitter and judgmental, and it is intended to be. Since George Floyd’s death just over a week ago, his final eight minutes and 46 seconds of life have been repeatedly shown on TV and social media to the point of becoming a macabre GIF, shared, studied, and ultimately used to dehumanize, traumatize, and inflame. In the days since his death, I, like many black friends, colleagues, and family members, have heard from an array of people in our lives—mostly well-meaning white people. For myself, the outreach has been in the form of text messages asking, “Are you okay?” Or, “How are you all and the baby doing?” In recent days communications have had an air of greater urgency, with an added, “Please stay safe.” Or, “Hope you are inside and away from the outside.” While I deeply appreciate the expressions of love, affirmation, and care—and I do cherish my relationships with those who have reached out—I am more interested in posing a question to them: “Are you okay??”
----- 8 -----
Some Democrats Are Highly Adept at Losing Battles That Haven't Begun Yet
One congressman tackles the defining issue of the moment: entitlement "reform."
By Charles P. Pierce
Jun 10, 2020
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32823542/democrats-entitlement-reform-commission/
It’s going to take a mighty effort from what we call Government to pull us out of the ravine into which Camp Runamuck has driven the republic. Recognizing this, Congressman Scott Peters has summoned 31 of his colleagues to the flag of the only cause that really matters...
...entitlement “reform.”
----- 9 -----
THE DEMANDS OF THE COLLECTIVE BLACK VOICES AT FREE CAPITOL HILL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
FreeCapitolHill
Jun 9, 2020
https://medium.com/@seattleblmanon3/the-demands-of-the-collective-black-voices-at-free-capitol-hill-to-the-government-of-seattle-ddaee51d3e47
In credit to the people who freed Capitol Hill, this list of demands is neither brief nor simplistic. This is no simple request to end police brutality. We demand that the City Council and the Mayor, whoever that may be, implement these policy changes for the cultural and historic advancement of the City of Seattle, and to ease the struggles of its people. This document is to represent the black voices who spoke in victory at the top of 12th & Pine after 9 days of peaceful protest while under constant nightly attack from the Seattle Police Department. These are words from that night, June 8th, 2020.
For ease of consideration, we’ve broken these demands into four categories: The Justice System, Health and Human Services, Economics, and Education.
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Trump to Keep Confederate Names on Bases, Halting Pentagon Talks
President ends deliberations within Pentagon on renaming bases
Namesakes of Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, others were rebel generals
By Alex Wayne
June 10, 2020, 12:02 PM PDT Updated on June 10, 2020, 2:44 PM PDT
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-10/trump-says-u-s-military-bases-to-retain-confederate-names
President Donald Trump said his administration won’t rename American military bases that honor leaders of the Confederacy, an abrupt halt to Pentagon deliberations over ending tributes to treasonous soldiers who fought the U.S. to maintain slavery.
The announcement was part of a series of remarks by White House officials on Wednesday that touched awkwardly on the deep U.S. racial divisions on display in the protests over the death of George Floyd. Following tweets on the military bases, Trump brought reporters into an unannounced meeting with some of his black supporters and media figures, where the group discussed police reform.
His tweets on the bases came in answer to growing debate about their names, including an op-ed by retired General David Petraeus in the Atlantic on Tuesday that called for the facilities to be renamed.
“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars,” Trump said Wednesday in a series of tweets. “Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations. Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!”
An Army spokesman said earlier this week that the service’s secretary, Ryan McCarthy, was open to changing the names of bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Hood in Texas. Politico reported that Defense Secretary Mark Esper also supported the discussion.
Braxton Bragg and John Hood, the namesakes of the two bases, were generals in the Confederate army that waged what remains the bloodiest war in U.S. history. Eight other U.S. military bases are named after officers for the rebel cause.
Politico reported the suggestion to rename the bases had gained momentum in the Pentagon in response to civil unrest over the death of Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in Minneapolis police custody last month.
Trump has shown hostility toward protests over Floyd’s death, blaming rioting and looting that has accompanied some of the demonstrations on leftist “Antifa” groups he’s called terrorists and threatening to use the military to quell the unrest.
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Evangelical group wants gays removed from anti-lynching bill
Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver opposes including the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in a federal anti-lynching bill.
Jan. 9, 2019, 1:55 PM PST
By Brooke Sopelsa
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/evangelical-group-wants-gays-removed-anti-lynching-bill-n956831
The U.S. Senate last month unanimously passed a bill that would explicitly make lynching a federal crime. Not everyone, however, is pleased with passage of the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act.
Liberty Counsel, an evangelical nonprofit that opposes gay rights, and its chairman, Mat Staver, are taking issue with the bill’s inclusion of LGBTQ people.
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Car crashes into crowd of protesters, no one seriously injured
The Seattle Times
10 June 2020
[IMAGE] Bicylists raise their bikes to protect themselves as a vehicle that has run their line on 9th near Virginia ducks into a parking garage. The driver appeared unwilling to wait to access the parking structure and ran through a line of bikes providing security to the Seattle Youth Protest. There appeared to be minor injuries.
The car that appeared to drive through a line of bikes providing security for The Seattle Youth Protest tries to get through the barricade of this garage on 9th near Virginia. It drags with it one of the bikes that was run over. The Seattle Youth Protest marched peacefully through Seattle, but was marred when a driver ran through protesters whose bike protected the route in an apparent attempt to reach a parking garage. Photographed Wednesday June 10, 2020 214232 (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times)
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-area-protests-live-updates-for-wednesday-june-10/#update-12841667
A peaceful protest in front of the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct in Belltown took a sudden violent turn when a car ran through a bicycle line of protesters.
The driver hit the cyclists, then turned into the garage on Ninth Street, just south of Virginia Street. Two cyclists, who were part of a group helping with crowd control and protection, had what appeared to be hand and arm cuts.
Protesters knocked out the back window of the Honda as it pulled into a garage. It is unclear what happened to the driver; police weren't seen immediately responding.
Twenty-year-old Jordan Davis-Miller was giving a speech when the incident occurred, with protesters seated on the road with their backs to where the car hit the cyclists.
The protest, which was upbeat and peaceful, quickly turned angry. At 7 p.m., about 15 minutes after the incident, the crowd started marching again, back toward Capitol Hill.
The Seattle Fire Department tweeted that officials responded to reports of a vehicle and bicyclist collision near a protest area in the 800 block of Virginia Street. Crews were canceled because no injuries were reported, according to Seattle fire spokesman David Cuerpo.
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Statue of Jefferson Davis torn down on Monument Avenue
By ZACH JOACHIM AND JOHANNA ALONSO Richmond Times-Dispatch
10 June 2020
https://www.richmond.com/news/local/statue-of-jefferson-davis-torn-down-on-monument-avenue/article_64865aee-76bc-54e1-8e90-2fa749f8877b.html
The statue of Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue in Richmond was torn down late Wednesday night.
The statue of the president of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m. and left on the ground at the intersection of Davis and Monument avenues.
Richmond police were quickly on the scene. A tow truck showed up around 11:30 p.m. to take the statue away.
The vandalism of the statue comes nearly two weeks into protests against police brutality against black Americans, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
It comes a day after the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park was pulled down by protesters, and on the same night that demonstrators pulled down four statues from a Confederate monument in Portsmouth.
On Saturday, a Confederate statue honoring Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham was torn down in Richmond's Monroe Park.
The Jefferson Davis monument and the J.E.B. Stuart monument were both dedicated in 1907.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-11 04:51 am (UTC)In other news, I was today years old when I learned there were even any Confederate monuments in Washington state to take down, as is in the autonomous zone's demands. I would have thought the timelines didn't line up since the state was created fairly late in the 19th century, so was surprised to learn there was a Jefferson Davis park (!) -- although to my relief, as I expected, WA's entry in the Wikipedia list is pretty short comparatively speaking.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-12 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-12 01:57 am (UTC)