| Biden, in fiery speech, goes after Trump's coronavirus response Posted: 17 Jun 2020 12:41 PM PDT  An impassioned former Vice President Joe Biden hammered the president's coronavirus response in a speech Wednesday, lambasting Donald Trump's recent remarks suggesting that cases would go down if the country stopped testing.
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| Leaked CDC document contradicts Pence claim that U.S. coronavirus cases 'have stabilized' Posted: 17 Jun 2020 12:55 PM PDT  Even as Vice President Mike Pence wrote that U.S. coronavirus cases "have stabilized," the CDC circulated a document warning that infections have increased more than 18 percent.
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| Atlanta Police Walk Out over Murder Charge as Mayor Admits Morale is ‘Down Tenfold’ Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:56 AM PDT  A number of Atlanta police officers did not show up for their Wednesday-night shifts in protest of murder charges brought against a former officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks after he resisted arrest.Hours after Fulton County district attorney Paul L. Howard said officer Garrett Rolfe would be charged with felony murder, Atlanta police union spokesman Vince Champion told NBC News that officers had decided to walk off the job and go silent on radios to protest the decision."This is not an organized thing, it's not a blue flu, it's not a strike, it's nothing like that. What it actually is, is officers protesting that they've had enough and they don't want to deal with it any longer," he said.In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Champion added that "there are officers saying they are not going to leave the precinct unless to help another officer. Some are walking off and sitting in their personal vehicles."The Atlanta Police Department released a statement after Champion's comments, calling claims that officers were walking off the job "inaccurate.""The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift," the police explained. "We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents."> Earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate. The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift. We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents.> > -- Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) June 18, 2020But Atlanta police scanner traffic conflicted with the statement. "We are not answering 911 calls right now due to personnel issues," a police dispatcher said Wednesday.In announcing the charges against Rolfe on Wednesday, Howard said that the Atlanta Police Department's initial account of events — that Rolfe shot Brooks because he appeared ready to fire a taser that had been wrestled from one of the officers — was inaccurate."We concluded that Mr. Brooks was running away at the time that the shot was fired," the district attorney said. Howard also told reporters that the taser had already been discharged twice, rendering it unusable, and said the officers would have known that.Howard added that Rolfe's former partner Devin Brosnan, who was also at the scene where Brooks was shot, would testify against his former partner. Howard said that after Brooks was shot in the back by Rolfe while fleeing arrest, Rolfe kicked him and Brosnan stood on his shoulders."There is an Atlanta policy that requires that the officers have to provide timely medical attention to Mr. Brooks, to anyone who is injured," Howard said. "But after Mr. Brooks was shot, for a period of two minutes and 12 seconds, there was no medical attention applies to Mr. Brooks."But Brosnan's attorney Don Samuel denied Howard's account of events, saying his client had not agreed to be the state's witness and did nothing wrong."The decision to initiate charges by the Fulton County DA's office is irrational, unethical and obviously based on factors which should have nothing to do with the proper administration of justice," Samuel said in a statement.Howard, who said his office was able to bring charges after reviewing eight videos of the incident, is locked in a reelection battle and faces multiple civil sexual-harassment lawsuits and is being criminally investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for funneling nonprofit funds to boost his salary.Following the announcement of charges, the GBI — which is conducting a separate investigation of the shooting — said it was "not aware of today's press conference before it was conducted" and was "not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney."> Despite today's occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. (2/2)> > Full statement ⬇️:https://t.co/Cfnboi9DCu> > -- GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) June 17, 2020In an interview on CNN Wednesday night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms warned that police morale "is down ten-fold.""This has been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta and with the tragedy of Mr. Brooks, and then on top of that the excessive force charges that were brought against the officers involved with the college students," Bottoms explained. "There's a lot happening in our city, and the police officers are receiving the brunt of it quite frankly."> Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says morale in her city's police department "is down ten-fold" amid reports officers are calling in sick tonight.> > "We expect our officers will keep their commitment to our communities," she added. https://t.co/yHd6ZAY3vs pic.twitter.com/XsrvktkItX> > -- Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) June 18, 2020
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| 3.6 preliminary magnitude earthquake strikes Alum Rock Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:29 AM PDT  DID YOU FEEL IT? A 3.6 preliminary magnitude earthquake has struck 4.9 miles southwest of Alum Rock.
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| State media: Iran test fires cruise missiles in naval drill Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:13 AM PDT  Iran test fired cruise missiles in a naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, state media reported Thursday. The report by the official IRNA news agency said the missiles destroyed targets at a distance of 280 kilometers (170 miles). It said the tests took place during a naval drill by Iran's navy in the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean.
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| Paulinho Paiakan: Amazon indigenous chief dies with coronavirus Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:37 AM PDT  Paulinho Paiakan was best known for the fight against the Belo Monte hydroelectric project in Brazil.
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| 'It got ugly': What happened when Black Lives Matter protests came to small town Ohio Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:01 AM PDT  In Bethel, Ohio, peaceful protesters were seen by some as no different than looters. Here, the protesters' message was a challenge to a way of life.
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| Chinese fighter jets buzz Taiwan again, stoking tensions Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:07 AM PDT  Chinese air force aircraft approached Taiwan on Thursday for the fifth time in 10 days, before being warned away by Taiwanese fighters, the island's air force said, in a further ratcheting up of tensions across the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The Chinese J-10 and J-11 fighter aircraft flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan's air defence identification zone in the morning, Taiwan's air force said in a statement. Taiwanese fighters, which regularly patrol the air space around the Chinese-claimed island, warned the Chinese aircraft over the radio, whereupon they left Taiwan's air defence zone, it added, without giving further details.
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| Trump's attacks on mail-in voting hurt Republican chances — including his own, says former GOP Gov. Ridge Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:50 PM PDT  President Trump is hurting the electoral chances of Republicans in the fall elections, and likely even his own, by making false claims that voting by mail is not secure, said former Pennsylvania Gov. and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
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| The US wants to kill part of an 8,000 mile-long undersea cable linking Hong Kong with LA over China spying fears Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:17 AM PDT  A DOJ committee is worried a cable connecting the US with Hong Kong could be vulnerable to hacking by the Chinese government.
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| A 'higher than usual' number of Atlanta police officers call out after former colleague charged with murder over the killing of Rayshard Brooks Posted: 17 Jun 2020 07:43 PM PDT  The Atlanta Police Department said it was experiencing a "higher than usual" number of call outs Wednesday night.
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| Cops’ Most Deranged Lies and Bizarre Claims About the Protests Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:03 AM PDT  Protesters are not filling ice cream containers with concrete. Shake Shack employees are not putting bleach in milkshakes. And buses full of anti-fascists are not about to descend on a small town near you.That's just what police are saying.As protests over racial justice and police brutality unfold across the country, police departments are taking to social media to tell their side of the story. The trouble is, they're frequently wrong—and sometimes so wildly so that it begs the question of why they even bother.Christopher Slobogin, director of Vanderbilt University's criminal justice program, said cops can be mistaken, just like everyone. But sometimes police lie because they view themselves as in opposition to criminals, who also lie."It's possible that police concoct lies because even though they know what they're saying isn't true, they believe the lie is in service of a greater good," Slobogin told The Daily Beast. "If cops are convinced that, overall, they're in the right, what's a little lying here and there? I think that's human nature, not just cops. But the problem, the cops have the power, they have the weapons, and people in authority tend to believe them."New York Cops Beat Protesters for Crime of Being ThereWhat follows is a smattering of the most impactful, egregious, or just plain weird fibs, panicky projections, falsehoods, or exaggerations about protests to come from cops, their spokespeople, and their unions in recent weeks. Dairy DisinfoThe New York City Police Benevolent Association, which represents city police officers, claimed this week that workers at Shake Shack had put a bleach-like substance in officers' milkshakes. The PBA—which joined a similar claim made by the Detectives' Endowment Association—cited no evidence, aside from officers' apparent gastrointestinal distress after they purchased Shake Shack's notoriously heavy drinks while on the job. An official NYPD investigation quickly cleared Shake Shack workers of wrongdoing. No Concrete ProofNew York City police also claimed internally this month that protesters were filling ice cream containers with concrete—presumably to throw at cops as projectile weapons—and leaving them at a construction site. Twitter users quickly noted that, not only was the concrete in coffee cups instead of ice cream containers, but that mixing concrete samples in coffee cups is standard practice for construction workers. The cups were even labeled with workers' notes on the concrete composition. The construction site where the cups were apparently recovered even had a permit for concrete work. Phantom Brick PilesIn Brooklyn, NYPD hyped up a rumor about protesters gathering brick piles to throw during protests. "This is what our cops are up against," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted, parroting the rumor, which has also been promoted by President Donald Trump. "Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC." Reporting by The Daily Beast and other outlets cast doubt on those claims, pointing out that they were near a construction site, and nowhere near protests. Time TravelOn Monday, New York City's Sergeants Benevolent Association (another police union) tweeted a video of protesters running through a Brooklyn street and throwing things at a cop car. "This was tonight," the SBA tweeted, "Flatbush Ave Brooklyn." The tweet also implied that a program that discourages unnecessary arrests was responsible for the chaos. In fact, there was no chaos that night in Brooklyn. The video was from May, and that area of Flatbush Avenue had long been calm, reporters covering the protests noted. Murder BusIn Columbus, Ohio, police tweeted evidence of what they said was a clear violent scheme: a bus full of rocks, clubs, and a meat cleaver. "There was a suspicion of supplying riot equipment to rioters," Columbus Police tweeted. "Charges pending." In fact, Columbus Alive reported, police had stumbled across a colorfully painted circus bus. The frightened circus troupe told the outlet that the "clubs" were juggling clubs, the rocks were crystals, and the meat cleaver was pulled from the troupe's cooking utensils. "Yeah, there's a hatchet on the bus—with a bunch of wood sitting next to a wood-burning stove," the bus's owner said, noting that the vehicle was literally his house. Technically Tear GasU.S. Park Police offered an oft-changing explanation for firing irritants at protesters in Washington D.C.'s Lafayette Park in order to clear it for a Trump photoshoot in early June. Police initially denied using "tear gas" in a statement, then walked that back, claiming that, technically, the projectiles were "smoke canisters and pepper balls." Nevertheless, reporters for D.C.'s WUSA9 recovered tear gas casings from the scene—and as Vox noted, "tear gas" can be a broad term, sometimes referring to the pepper projectiles Park Police admitted to using. Attorney General William Barr also falsely claimed that pepper spray "is not a chemical irritant. It's not chemical." The Washington Post's fact-checking department awarded the claim "four Pinnochios," which is the maximum number of Pinnochios. A Bad TripPolice in Buffalo, New York, became the focus of national ire after they were filmed pushing a 75-year-old man to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness and bleed from the head. But before the video went viral, Buffalo Police offered a different characterization of the incident. "During [a] skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell," police said in a statement. The video would later reveal that the man was alone when he calmly approached officers. He has a fractured skull and is still unable to walk, his lawyer said this week. Small Biz ShakedownAfter protesters took over a six-block area in Seattle, the city's police claimed—without evidence—that the activists were extorting businesses in the area. Police appeared to walk back that claim several days later, after the local business association and prominent businesses in the area said they'd seen no indication of the alleged protection racket. Some businesses even said they were volunteering with the protests. The Antifa ExpressMultiple police departments have promoted a hoax about anti-fascists coming to their towns by the busload to wreak havoc. In Oregon, Curry County Sheriff John Ward shared a Facebook post warning that "3 buss loads of ANTIFA protestors are making their way from Douglas County headed for Coquille then to Coos Bay." Hundreds of locals reportedly stood outside with guns overnight awaiting the menace that never came.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Mexico posts more high virus numbers, acknowledges plateau Posted: 17 Jun 2020 06:17 PM PDT  Mexico's coronavirus cases continued to increase at near-record levels Wednesday, as officials acknowledged the country is on a plateau with few signs of decrease, even as the economy starts reopening. The Health Department reported that confirmed cases rose by 4,930, the second-highest daily increase to date, to reach an accumulated total of 159,793. Deaths rose by 770, the third-highest daily number, after one-day increases of 1,092 and 816 earlier this month.
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| 6 states report record-high jumps in new coronavirus cases Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:45 AM PDT  The United States may be at a crucial point in the coronavirus pandemic.
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| What happened when Black Lives Matter came to a notorious KKK town in Texas Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:33 PM PDT  The town of Vidor, in east Texas, has a reputation. It's the kind of reputation that causes its residents to pause when someone asks where they're from.For years it was known as a sundown town — a place where non-whites were threatened with violence if they stayed after dark, and where they were barred from living through intimidation and discriminatory practices. It has a long history of Ku Klux Klan activity, and was once described by a local magazine as "the most hate-filled town in Texas."
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| U.S. homebuilding rises moderately; jump in permits hints at green shoots Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:49 AM PDT  U.S. homebuilding increased less than expected in May, but a strong rebound in permits for future home construction suggested the housing market was starting to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis along with the broader economy. Starts for the volatile multi-family housing segment jumped 15.0% to a pace of 299,000 units.
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| Five bombshells about Trump from Bolton's book Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:17 PM PDT  Excerpts from former national security adviser John Bolton's book about his time in the Trump administration paint a damning view of the president as a "stunningly uninformed" man.
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| Hundreds of Chinese troops reportedly hunted down dozens of Indian soldiers and beat them with batons wrapped in barbed wire Posted: 17 Jun 2020 10:44 AM PDT  The deadly fight on Monday evening reportedly took place on a narrow ridge, in the dark, roughly 14,000 feet above sea level.
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| US employers step up anti-unionization efforts as pandemic spurs activism Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:45 AM PDT  The coronavirus crisis is making organization efforts difficult for unions and bosses seem keen to take advantageDuring the coronavirus pandemic, employers have opposed unionization elections even as workers' activism over safety protections, job security and wages has increased in the face of an economic shutdown and health fears.But the pandemic has created difficult conditions for workers to organize elections in – something many employers appear to have taken advantage of, despite the wave of labor activism sweeping the US.The number of resolved union election cases at the National Labor Relations Board dropped from 84 in March 2020 to 13 in April 2020 as the pandemic raged. Several of the delayed union elections then had petitions withdrawn or have yet to be scheduled. During the pandemic, union election petitions have declined significantly. According to the NLRB, union representation case intake in April 2020 decreased by 67.6% compared with April 2019.The NLRB initially froze all union elections, while permitting mail-in ballot elections if employers and workers agreed to proceed. The board lifted the freeze on 6 April, after 116 union elections were delayed, and several other groups of workers had petition hearings postponed.For many workers, the need to have a union has never been greater.Monica Luna, an associate at a T-Mobile retail store in Del Rio, Texas for nearly three years, filed for a union election with the NLRB in April 2020 in response to working conditions during the pandemic and the lack of job security as T-Mobile is shuttering stores around the US."A week and a half after, our district manager started making appearances and we started having union avoidance meetings," said Luna.Her retail store remained opened entirely throughout the pandemic, yet her pay of $13 an hour remained the same. "I think it's funny [that] all of a sudden we're trying to form a union, and the district manager showed up and stayed for the week, was buying us food, giving his opinion regarding the union, trying to give us facts, saying if we didn't pay dues we could get fired."A T-Mobile spokesperson said in an email: "We as a company have the right to educate our employees about the facts around union representation so they can make informed decisions."The Communications Workers of America lost the election. Organizer Tim Dubnau put the defeat down to the anti-union meetings and frequent intervention from the district manager, while organizers were unable to meet with workers due to concerns of spreading the virus.Activists and labor unions and several elected officials in Congress have been pushing for the NLRB to develop procedures to hold union elections electronically, citing employer opposition to mail-in ballot elections and the urgency of safety protections for workers who risk exposure to coronavirus.As union elections resumed during the pandemic, several employers have continued to oppose unionization efforts through captive audience meetings and pushes to postpone or delay elections.Mission hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, has been fighting with nurses working to join National Nurses United, with the hospital pushing for an in-person voting election and to expand the bargaining unit from 1,600 nurses to all nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists in the county.The hospital has also argued to postpone the election until after the pandemic, while hiring union avoidance consultants, the Crossroads Group, to hold anti-union meetings with workers and managers through the pandemic."We're still waiting for the NLRB to announce who will be able to vote and when and how the vote will take place," said Sarah Kuhl, a registered nurse at Mission Health's oncology department.Kuhl noted the hospital is still pushing for an in-person election vote, while anti-union meetings continue, and management distributes anti-union flyers. "Our cases of Covid-19 here in Asheville are increasing and staff members have been impacted, so an in-person vote would be irresponsible to patients and staff."A Mission hospital spokesperson told the Guardian: "We respect every colleague's right to decide for themselves whether they desire union representation or not. However, we do not believe unions benefit our facilities, our colleagues, and most importantly our patients."Rose Turner, organizing director at UFCW local 1529, filed a petition for a union election in Byhalia, Mississippi, as soon as the board lifted the election freeze on 6 April to represent workers at Hearthside Food Solutions, the largest private bakery in the US which packages cereal for Kellogg's.Immediately following the petition filing, Hearthside hired a union avoidance firm to hold regular meetings with workers to deter them from voting for the union. The vote was scheduled to be held via mail-in ballot due to the pandemic, but Hearthside Food Solutions pushed to hold a manual election and the NLRB agreed.The union won the election in a 62 to 47 vote."I've been with the union for over 30 years. That was the hardest election I ever experienced," said Turner, citing the difficulty for the union to hold meetings and speak to workers ahead of the vote. "In the end, we prevailed."Epic Academy College Prep and Hearthside Food Solutions did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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| Neighbors in Georgia teamed up to protect a group of Black teens after a police officer pointed a gun at them Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:05 PM PDT  The officer pointed the gun at the teens while responding to a 911 call about a group of teenagers fighting in a store parking lot and holding a gun.
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| Hong Kong's 'rebel' tycoon Jimmy Lai has no regrets Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:39 AM PDT  Millionaire media tycoon Jimmy Lai knows his support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests could soon land him behind bars, but the proudly self-described "troublemaker" says he has no regrets. "I'm prepared for prison," the 72-year-old told AFP from the offices of Next Digital, Hong Kong's largest and most rambunctiously pro-democracy media group. Few Hong Kongers generate the level of vitriol from Beijing that Lai does.
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| Sweden 'surprisingly slow' at achieving herd immunity, study finds Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:49 AM PDT  Sweden's state epidemiologist has said the country has been "surprisingly slow" at achieving herd immunity. The death toll in Sweden passed 5,000 on Wednesday and the Scandinavian nation has one of the highest mortality rates in the world at 487 per 1m population, approximately ten times higher than neighbouring Norway. Yet an analysis by Werlabs AB of 50,000 tests showed that only 14 per cent of those living in the Stockholm region tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. In Bergamo, considered to be the epicentre of Italy's deadly outbreak, about 57 per cent of people had antibodies. The UK's Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance estimated that 60 per cent of people would need to be infected to achieve herd immunity from the novel coronavirus. Sweden chose not to implement a strict lockdown, running contrary to many other countries worldwide. Schools, shops and restaurants have all remained open during the course of 2020.
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| Atlanta police department morale "is down ten-fold," mayor says Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:31 AM PDT  Eight officers have resigned from the Atlanta Police Department this month.
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| Biden remains strong in polls despite lack of in-person events Posted: 17 Jun 2020 03:32 PM PDT  Biden slowly resuming activity on campaign trail; Peter Doocy reports.
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| New Zealand tightens gun laws further in response to mass shooting Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:27 PM PDT |
| Trump's lack of self-esteem results in 'dangerous' decisions, psychoanalyst says Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:51 PM PDT  A prominent psychoanalyst who specializes in understanding narcissistic personalities says that President Trump suffers from a grievous lack of self-esteem.
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| Florida health care worker and 15 of her friends contract coronavirus on first night out at a bar after months of lockdown Posted: 17 Jun 2020 06:17 AM PDT  A healthcare worker and all 15 of her friends reportedly contracted Covid-19 after spending a night out together at a bar in Jacksonville, Florida as the state moved to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.Erika Crisp, 40, told local news outlets she and her friends had been staying at home and social distancing because of the novel coronavirus — until they decided to go out earlier this month for drinks.
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| Kathryn Wheelbarger, Pentagon’s top foreign policy official, resigns Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Wheelbarger had her nomination for a top intelligence job pulled last week.
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| NYPD officer bragged about taking off protester's mask and pepper-spraying him, bodycam footage shows Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Since protests erupted around the country last month, the NYPD has come under fire for numerous instances of violence against peaceful protesters.
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| Hundreds of armed counter-protesters confront Black Lives Matter rally in Ohio Posted: 18 Jun 2020 07:19 AM PDT  Counter-protesters harassed group of peaceful demonstrators with rifles, bats and racial slurs in mostly white town of BethelA small and peaceful demonstration in an Ohio town to support the Black Lives Matter movement at the weekend was overwhelmed when hundreds of counter-protesters – some armed with rifles or baseball bats – harassed the group.Alicia Gee, a 36-year-old substitute school teacher, expected about 50 people to attend a demonstration – the first protest she had ever organized, she told the Cincinnati Enquirer – but almost twice as many turned out.The rally was intended to show solidarity with the minority black community in Bethel, a mostly white town of about 2,800 people 30 miles east of Cincinnati, she added.But the small group of protesters were overwhelmed when roughly 700 counter-protesters turned up to show their opposition to the kind of rallies and marches against racism and police brutality sweeping the nation since the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May.Gee's gathering demonstrated the renewed reach of the Black Lives Matter movement to small, majority white towns in the midwest that haven't seen protests in years, spurred by recent, high-profile examples of killings of black people by white police officers or armed individuals acting as vigilantes.Some small towns holding rallies now did not see such events after the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.Gee referenced violent tragedies such as the alleged murder of Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police, and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by two armed white men in Georgia.She said in a Facebook post before the rally that such brutality made it "perfectly clear to me it's time for my comfort to be put by the wayside. It is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privlShe said in a Facebook post that such brutality made it "perfectly clear to me it's time for my comfort to be put by the wayside, it is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privilege to show my town that it is not 'fine,' that it's not just 'city folks' that have the right to peacefully assemble, and that Black Lives Matter even if there are just a few in our town."But the demonstration was engulfed by a combination of armed gun-rights defenders, "back the blue" pro-police groups and about 250 people on motorcycles, which forced the group to move two blocks from its original location and led to tumult.Videos from what turned into a two-hour clash, several of which circulated on Twitter and Facebook, show the counter-protesters shouting racial slurs and "all lives matter" and accosting demonstrators."They were grabbing me, and grabbing my mom, and they just seemed to have no respect for the law," Andrea Dennis, a Bethel resident whose Facebook live from the demonstration shows a man ripping a fellow demonstrator's sign from her hands, told the Enquirer.Bethel police said they were investigating 10 "incidents" from Sunday afternoon.In another Facebook live video, Heather Bratton, also from Bethel, asserts "this is my hometown too!" to a white women who repeatedly uses the N-word.A few counter-demonstrators "started coming over and ripping signs out of our hands, ripping the hats and masks off of our faces, ripping things out of our pockets," wrote demonstrator Abbi Remers on Facebook, along with a photo of a man's bloody cheek, a bloodied mask, and video of men shouting "This ain't Seattle!" and "This is a Republican state!"Another widely circulated video shows a man wearing what appears to be a Confederate flag bandana sucker-punching a protester in the back of the head in front of a police officer, who makes no arrest attempt. The video drew condemnation from Ohio senator Sherrod Brown."These officers' inaction is shameful," Brown tweeted. "This is why we need the Justice in Policing Act – to hold police accountable," he added, referring to legislation introduced by House Democrats earlier this month.> A BlackLivesMatter protestor in Bethel Ohio got sucker punched DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A COP & nothing was done by the officer to protect and serve the protestor. > > ����♂️ pic.twitter.com/BPeKhOjxb3> > — Josh Martinez (@YoJoshMartinez) June 15, 2020In a virtual village council meeting on Tuesday, Bethel police chief Steve Teague said the officer present had not witnessed the incident because his attention was pulled to the side. All six of Bethel's officers were present on Sunday, Teague said, as well as some county deputies.On Wednesday, Bethel police issued an arrest warrant for assault, citing the video as evidence.Because of tension and intimidation on Sunday, Gee said in a Facebook live video posted Monday that she did not plan to schedule another demonstration. "I want us to heal, I want our community to heal, I want peace and love to be spread," she said. "And I'm worried that what we saw yesterday with more counter-protesters coming out – I'm worried that's going to happen again."By Monday evening, Bethel mayor Jay Noble imposed a 9pm curfew, citing "the threat of continued and escalating violence."Gee urged supporters to "not come to Bethel right now", in a chilling echo of so-called "sundown towns" – majority-white towns where black people were evicted, barred from buying property, and banned after dark by threat of violence earlier in the 20th century."It is not a time for any type of Black Lives Matter supporters to be in Bethel right now," Gee said. "It's not safe.""Our purpose was to show our community that it cares," she said. "That it loves the people within our community, and right now, that cannot happen."
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| China shuts schools and cancels flights as Beijing reports an 'extremely grave' surge in new coronavirus cases Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Beijing had reported no locally transmitted cases for 57 consecutive days until a flurry of cases emerged last week,
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| 68 Outdoor Patio Ideas and Designs for Backyards and Rooftops Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:17 AM PDT |
| Revival Rugs Launches Debut Furniture Collection Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:32 PM PDT |
| Malaysia could send Rohingya detainees back out to sea: sources Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:18 AM PDT |
| ‘Something’s wrong with Donald Trump’: New ad from Republican group that drove president into a fury questions his health Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Days after he was shown struggling to descend a gentle ramp at the West Point graduation ceremony, Donald Trump has been hit with a new attack ad drawing attention to what it says is evidence of his poor and declining health.The 45-second video comes from the Lincoln Project, a group formed by longtime Republican campaign strategists who view the president's re-election as a risk to the future of the US.
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| The black congresswoman who's helping Biden pick his running mate Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:41 PM PDT  "If we want to transform this country, this is the time to recognize ... the leadership of black women," Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester said recently. "We won't be taken for granted."
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| At Least 20 Indian Army Soldiers Killed in Face-off with Chinese Troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:00 PM PDT  A dangerous escalation between two nuclear powers.
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| Garrett Rolfe, the officer charged with killing Rayshard Brooks, was accused of covering up a police shooting of a Black man in 2015 Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:38 AM PDT  Former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe faces 11 charges in connection to the June 12 fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
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| US-China row moves underwater in cable tangle Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:15 PM PDT  In another sign of growing tension, a high-speed internet cable looks set to be blocked by the US.
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| Nine People Shot in Minneapolis as Post-Riot Unrest Continues Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:35 PM PDT  Nine people were shot in Minneapolis on Tuesday evening amid a spate of violence following the death of George Floyd, the Star Tribune reported.Shootings have risen sharply in the city over three weeks of unrest after Floyd, an African American man, was killed by Minneapolis police officers. Since May 26, 66 people have been shot in the city, comprising 45 percent of all shooting victims in Minneapolis for this year.The Tuesday shootings follow an incident on Sunday in which seven people were shot during a bar fight. One of the victims of the bar shooting has since died. No arrests have been made in any of the recent shootings.It does not appear that the shootings are connected to protests over Floyd's death. Those protests turned violent in some instances, with rioters setting fire to Minneapolis's third police precinct building as well as numerous businesses.The Minneapolis City Council has estimated that damages to buildings from the riots amount to at least $55 million. However, the council warned that the damages could be much higher, and Mayor Jacob Frey has said damages could reach "hundreds of millions of dollars."Floyd's death has driven calls by Black Lives Matter activists to defund police departments. Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), whose district encompasses Minneapolis, has supported calls to defund the Minneapolis police, calling the department "beyond repair." Mayor Frey has resisted the push to dismantle the city's police department, although the Minneapolis City Council has signed a pledge to dismantle the department.
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| Florida shatters daily record with 3,207 new coronavirus cases Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:34 PM PDT  Florida shattered its previous record of daily cases and is emerging as an alarming hot spot among places grappling with a resurgence.
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| 2nd Harris County Sheriff's Office deputy dies from COVID-19 Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:29 AM PDT  Juan Menchaca served 14 years with the Sheriff's office and leaves behind a wife and seven children.
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| Germany bans big events until October despite COVID decline Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:25 AM PDT  Germany will extend a ban on large events until at least the end of October to try to avoid a new wave of coronavirus infections, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday. After speaking with the premiers of Germany's 16 states, she urged people to remain cautious and maintain social distancing. Merkel last month conceded more responsibility to the regional states for tackling the pandemic, but insisted that social distancing and mask-wearing remained essential.
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| Asia Today: Beijing's daily cases drop, India's rise sharply Posted: 17 Jun 2020 08:22 PM PDT  China's capital reported a decline in newly confirmed cases of coronavirus Thursday, with a public health expert saying a recent outbreak in the city was under control and the number of new cases should drop in the coming days. Authorities have confirmed 158 cases in Beijing in the past week. Anyone who has been near the market since May 30, along with their close contacts, will be quarantined at home for 14 days and tested at least twice, city government official Zhang Ge said.
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| 'Mr. President, wake up': Emboldened Biden trashes Trump's pandemic response Posted: 17 Jun 2020 02:49 PM PDT  In some of his harshest criticism to date, Biden spent an in-person campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs slamming the president's coronavirus efforts.
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| A female protester who was shoved to the street by a police officer testified at the New York attorney general's hearing: 'Where are the good cops I keep hearing of?' Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:45 AM PDT  "Thank you for your sympathy, but I don't want to hear that there are good cops when not a single good cop helped me," she said during the hearing.
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