Today's News (2020/6/8): Fascism Flatulent Edition

This is a bit of a mix, heavy on individual fascists and responses to fascism, since the out-and-out bald-face organised fascism as stepped back a little bit for the moment.

Don't be fooled, it's a strategic retreat at best.

1. House Democrat moves to cut Attorney General Barr's budget by $50 million
2. Barr seeks to dissociate himself from move on demonstrators outside Lafayette Square
3. AG Barr uses painstaking distinctions to defend the use of force against protesters near the White House last Monday
4. Man shot on Capitol Hill in Seattle after gunman drives car into George Floyd protest
5. Pittsburgh paper accused of barring black reporters from covering protests, censoring stories
6. Virginia man who plowed his truck into Black Lives Matter crowd is the head of the state’s Ku Klux Klan

( The articles )

Today's News (2020/6/8): Police Violence edition

There are so many reasons to completely tear down policing and start over. The cops-slashing-tyres example in this edition of the Police Violence news is in so many ways trivial, given everything else, and yet it's one more demonstration of pure immunity from consequence.

They can do whatever the fuck they want, and they know it, and want you to know it.

That has to end. Now.

1. EXCLUSIVE: Two Buffalo Police ERT members say resignation was not in solidarity with suspended officers
2. Spokane PD try to pass off a small plant pot with a thin layer of drainage gravel at the bottom as a "bucket of rocks staged downtown" for violence.
3. Seattle PD try to pass off a prayer candle (that they may have knocked over from a memorial?) as an improvised explosive device.
4. [SEATTLE] WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Some protesters stood their ground as Seattle police tried to move them down the street using flash bangs
5. A member of the press was arrested tonight by asking a member of the Portland Police Bureau his name.
6. Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop
7. [SEATTLE] A documention of Seattle PD’s bullshit.
8. [MINNEAPOLIS] Officers slashed tires on vehicles parked amid Minneapolis protests, unrest
9. The crackdown before Trump’s photo op

( The articles )

Today's News (2020/6/8): the COVID-19 hasn't gone anywhere edition

COVID-19 is still very real. If we don't get lucky - if outdoor groups fail to spread the disease like indoor grouping does, and there are legitimate reasons to hope it doesn't - then we're in for a genuinely massive surge of cases starting, well, any day now.

Let's hope we get very, very lucky.

1. As coronavirus deaths in Brazil surge, Bolsonaro limits the release of data
2. Protesters Must “Pick Their Pandemic”

( The articles )

Today's News (2020/6/8): the Never Waste a Crisis edition

And everything else. It's the usual potpourri of racism, opportunism, and, well. You know. But it also has some promising reactions to all of this, so take that much with it.

1. How Much Do We Need The Police?
2. Barr: I don't think that the law enforcement system is systemically racist.
3. Trump Campaign Aide Shared Praise for Racist With Chainsaw Who Assaulted Protesters
4. In violent protest incidents, a theme emerges: Videos contradict police accounts
5. Defund the police? Here’s what that really means.
6. Romney becomes first known Republican senator to march in protest
7. Citing an economic emergency, Trump directs agencies across government to waive federal regulations
8. Courage
9. He Is Even Dumber Than We Thought
10. Congressional Democrats unveil sweeping police reform bill that would ban chokeholds, no-knock warrants in drug cases
11. Minneapolis To Disband Police Department
12. This is how I, a 45-year-old white woman and mother of 6, currently at her peak Karen power, went from assuming police work was a necessary part of functional communities, to becoming a passionate advocate for #abolishthepolice #defundthepolice, over the course of one week.
13. Tennessee State Rep. Mike Carter (also a judge, apparently) makes racist "fried chicken" joke about Black Democratic representative Joe Towns, Jr., on the house microphone

( The articles )