Daily Archives: May 11, 2020

2020-05-11: News Headlines

Howie Hawkins (2020-05-10). Fight COVIF-19 Not Venezuela. dissidentvoice.org The Keystone Cops have nothing on the rag-tag group of soldiers of fortune who failed earlier this week in their implausible plot to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, trigger a military coup, and install the US puppet, Juan Guaidó, in the presidency. We know all about the hair-brained scheme due to a falling out of …

RT (2020-05-10). NYC more than doubles number of 'social-distancing ambassadors' after cops' enforcement of Covid-19 rules causes backlash. rt.com Following troubling viral videos of arrests and concerns about racial disparity in enforcing Covid-19-related social distancing, Mayor Bill De Blasio says he is increasing "ambassadors" in the city from 1,000 to 2,300. | "Enforcement has always been the last resort," the mayor said at a press conference Sunday. | His comment comes in the wake of the city having come under increased scrutiny thanks to a viral video, of what some have flagged as police brutality, showing NYPD officers arresting several people suspected of breaking social-distancing rules, and also to statistics showing the last few months have s…

graham (2020-05-10). Something about Julian Assange you should know. truepublica.org.uk Anyone watching the current events surrounding Julian Assange will know that justice in Britain is not the driving motivation behind his incarceration. His treatment by the state is truly shameful, immoral and reprehensible. What you are witnessing in real-time is the abuse and oppression of a journalist all funded by the taxpayer to further the …

Ed Sykes (2020-05-10). Academic says the US has 'something wrong in its soul' after lynching of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery. thecanary.co In February, a 25-year-old African-American civilian was One expert on African-American history had a particularly damning take on Arbery's murde…

Staff (2020-05-09). Wall Street Is Profiting From Police Brutality. therealnews.com Taxpayers are paying double for police brutality settlements thanks to cities and towns buying bonds from Wall Street to finance payouts for officer misconduct. San Diego cop watcher Kat from Irate Productions discusses recent police harassment of unarmed residents.

Joe Piette (2020-05-07). Protesters say: 'Shelters = Death, Hotels = Haven'. workers.org Cops stop activists from delivering demands to a city official's home. After the COVID-19 deaths of dozens of seniors at Philadelphia nursing homes and at least one homeless person in a city shelter, community activists converged on a city official's home on May 6 to deliver a message: The city . . . |

Berwick DM. (2020-05-05). Moral Choices for Today's Physician. jamanetwork.com In this essay, Don Berwick considers moral choices physicians face personally, organizationally, and globally and exhorts them to understand that the health of humanity depends on their speaking out against the social injustice of overpricing drugs and services, mass incarceration, and the lack of environmental responsibility.

sputniknews (2020-05-11). New England Patriots Players Demand FBI Investigate Ahmaud Arbery's Killing. sputniknews.com Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault 7th May. Greg claims they believed Arbery was responsible for break-ins in the area and followed him in their truck – however, reports suggest there'd been just one robbery in the area since January, in which a handgun was stolen from Travis' car.

yenisafak (2020-05-11). US: Whites protest, blacks nabbed for virus violations. yenisafak.com Black people in the US are not only disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but are also arrested four times more than whites for social distancing violations, according to ProPublica, a nonprofit news outlet.After analyzing data from the state of Ohio, where crowds of mostly white protesters have defied a stay-at-home order imposed last month without arrest, a ProPublica report said "police departments have primarily arrested black people for violating the order."In Ohio, a violation of the order is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $750 fine. Hundreds of people have alrea…

teleSUR (2020-05-10). 3 Mercenaries Arrested in Venezuela With Ties to Foiled Coup. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's government announced Sunday that its Special Forces apprehended three mercenaries with ties to the foiled May 3 plot in the northern state of Aragua, which borders Caracas. | RELATED: | The detainees were identified as First Lieutenant Jairo Betemy, Army Second Sergeant Franco Jonathan, and Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) First Sergeant Evan Rincon, who are now in the custody of the corresponding authorities.

Staff (2020-05-11). "COVID-19 Has Been Racialized": Black Scholar Jill Nelson Arrested for Chalking "Trump = Plague" democracynow.org Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in New York City's response to the spread of COVID-19. We speak with author and activist Jill Nelson, who was herself arrested by NYPD in April for writing "Trump = Plague" in chalk on an abandoned building in her Washington Heights neighborhood. The 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station and held for five hours. Now she is speaking out. The president is "telling us that as people of color, and older people, we should just die," says Nelson. "It's ridiculous."

RT (2020-05-11). 'Fugitive on the run': Interpol issues WANTED notice for wife of US diplomat over crash that killed UK teen. rt.com Interpol has issued a Red Notice for Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official who is wanted in Britain over a car crash which killed teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn last year. | An email sent to 19-year-old Dunn's parents from the Northamptonshire Police, which was seen by the PA news agency, said that 42-year-old Sacoolas is now "wanted internationally" and "should she leave the USA the wanted circulations should be enacted." In other words, Sacoolas could be immediately arrested were she now to leave the US. | Dunn was killed in a head-on collision in August 2019 near RAF Croughton in Northampto…

RT (2020-05-11). 'Arrest me': Elon Musk DEFIES Covid-19 quarantine by reopening Tesla plant in California. rt.com Elon Musk escalated his confrontation with California, reopening the Tesla car factory in Fremont in defiance of local officials and saying he is ready to be arrested for it, after critics called him callous and even racist. | Having complained over the weekend about being the only carmaker in the US still shuttered by the Covid-19 lockdown, Musk I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it onl…

RT (2020-05-11). Suspected 'ISIS-inspired' terrorist cell members arrested in Poland over attack plot. rt.com Four Tajik nationals have been detained in Poland for allegedly recruiting Muslim converts with the aim of carrying out terrorist activities, according to the spokesman of the minister coordinator for special services. | According to the minister's spokesman, Stanislaw Zaryn, Poland's Internal Security Agency found evidence showing that the four suspects sympathized with, and supported, the activities of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), although they were not members. | The four were allegedly planning to recruit people to join their terrorist cell and were arrested on May 7. "They were inspired by ISIS," Za…

Staff (2020-05-11). Black Scholar Jill Nelson Arrested for Chalking "Trump = Plague" in New York. truthout.org Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in New York City's response to the spread of COVID-19. We speak with author and activist Jill Nelson, who was herself arrested by NYPD in April for writing "Trump = Plague" in chalk on an abandoned building in her Washington Heights neighborhood. The 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station and held for five hours. Now she is speaking out. The president is "telling us that as people of color, and old…

WSWS (2020-05-11). Indianapolis cops fire pepper balls on group protesting police shooting of Dreasjon Reed. wsws.org Police arrested one protester and fired pepper balls at demonstrators who assembled at the scene where Dreasjon Reed was shot and killed by an officer on May 6.

Staff (2020-05-09). Black People Are Being Arrested at Higher Rates for Social Distancing Violations. truthout.org On April 17 in Toledo, Ohio, a 19-year-old black man was arrested for violating the state stay-at-home order. In court filings, police say he took a bus from Detroit to Toledo "without a valid reason." Six young black men were arrested in Toledo last Saturday while hanging out on a front lawn; police allege they were "seen standing within 6 feet of each other." In Cincinnati, a black man was charged with violating stay-at-home orders after he was shot in the ankle on April 7; according to…

Fight Back (2020-05-09). National Alliance Statement on the Lynching of Ahmaud Arbery. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. | This past Thursday, May 7th, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael, a father and son lynch crew, were arrested for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man on the eve of his 26th birthday. We've all seen the video of this racist, lynch-style murder that went public more than two months ago. | A Black man is hunted and gunned down and it takes two months before an arrest. Two months after seeing the video before the District Attorney, George Barnhill, files charges. The…

Staff (2020-05-08). "A Lynch Mob": After Months of Inaction, 2 White Men Are Charged with Murder of Ahmaud Arbery in GA. democracynow.org The two white men caught on camera shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, were arrested and charged Thursday with murder. The arrests came two days after video of the attack in February was shared with the public, sparking widespread outrage. Today would have been Arbery's 26th birthday. We speak with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the Arbery family and formerly represented Trayvon Martin.

Staff (2020-05-08). Headlines for May 8, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Pass 75,000 as Trump Sidelines Top Medical Experts, Trump to Be Tested for Coronavirus Daily After Valet Tests Positive, Vigil at White House Honors 88 Who Died from "Trump's Abhorrent Failure to Protect Nurses", U.S. Unemployment Claims Soar to 33.3 Million Amid Pandemic | , Democrats Promise "Rooseveltian" Coronavirus Relief Bill | , Mitch McConnell Prioritizes Judicial Confirmations as Senate Returns Amid Pandemic | , Data Shows 35 of 40 People Arrested in NY for Social Distancing Violations Are Black | , Texas Stops Jailing Lockdown Violators; Nebraska Ends Reporting on Meat Plant COVI…

Staff (2020-05-07). Headlines for May 7, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 73,400 as 41 States Begin Reopening | , White House Shelves Guidelines on Reopening, as Experts Warn U.S. Failing to Stem COVID-19 Deaths, Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Children Going Hungry as Unemployment Surges to Great Depression Levels, State Budget Cuts Loom as Trump Rails Against "Blue State Bailouts" | , United Nations Seeks $6.7 Billion for Coronavirus Aid to Poor Countries | , EU Warns Pandemic Economic Recession Will Be Worst in History | , Closing Ceremony of Spanish Coronavirus Field Hospital Marred by Tightly Packed Crowds, Venezuelan TV Airs Video of Arrested U.S. Mercenary Co…

Staff (2020-05-06). U.S. Mercenaries Captured in Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt Compared to a "Bad Rambo Movie" democracynow.org We look at an incredible story unfolding in Venezuela of a failed coup attempt. Did a former Green Beret mastermind it? Two Americans have been arrested in Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro claims the U.S. was behind the plot. "It looks like a bad Rambo movie, or a really bad telenovela," says Miguel Tinker Salas, author of "The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela." He notes that "the U.S. is seeking regime change … and the consequences for Venezuela could be very dire going forward."

Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz (2020-05-05). Venezuela: Two US Citizens Captured in Botched Coup Attempt. venezuelanalysis.com Two former green berets were arrested in a second failed assault on Venezuelan shores on Monday.

Rachel Janik (2020-04-21). Augustus Invictus Arrested in Florida for Stalking, Violating Bond. splcenter.org Invictus' father, John Gillespie, was arrested days earlier and charged with human trafficking of children under 18 years old.

2020-05-11: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

Fight COVIF-19 Not Venezuela
Howie Hawkins | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-05-10
The Keystone Cops have nothing on the rag-tag group of soldiers of fortune who failed earlier this week in their implausible plot to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, trigger a military coup, and install the US puppet, Juan Guaidó, in the presidency. We know all about the hair-brained scheme due to a falling out of …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/05/fight-covif-1…

Something about Julian Assange you should know
graham | truepublica.org.uk | 2020-05-10
Anyone watching the current events surrounding Julian Assange will know that justice in Britain is not the driving motivation behind his incarceration. His treatment by the state is truly shameful, immoral and reprehensible. What you are witnessing in real-time is the abuse and oppression of a journalist all funded by the taxpayer to further the …
truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/something-about-julian-assange-you-should-know/

Academic says the US has 'something wrong in its soul' after lynching of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery
Ed Sykes | thecanary.co | 2020-05-10
In February, a 25-year-old African-American civilian was murdered by two white men. Ahmaud Arbery was jogging and was unarmed. But it took last week's release of a video of the murder for the two culprits to be charged. | One expert on African-American history had a particularly damning take on Arbery's murde…
thecanary.co/us/us-analysis/2020/05/10/academic-says-the-us-has-something-wrong-in-its-soul-after-lynching-of-black-jogger-ahmaud-arbery/

NYC more than doubles number of 'social-distancing ambassadors' after cops' enforcement of Covid-19 rules causes backlash
rt.com | 2020-05-10
Following troubling viral videos of arrests and concerns about racial disparity in enforcing Covid-19-related social distancing, Mayor Bill De Blasio says he is increasing "ambassadors" in the city from 1,000 to 2,300. | "Enforcement has always been the last resort," the mayor said at a press conference Sunday. | His comment comes in the wake of the city having come under increased scrutiny thanks to a viral video, of what some have flagged as police brutality, showing NYPD officers arresting several people suspected of breaking social-distancing rules, and also to statistics showing the last few months have s…
rt.com/usa/488322-new-york-social-distan…

Wall Street Is Profiting From Police Brutality
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-05-09
Taxpayers are paying double for police brutality settlements thanks to cities and towns buying bonds from Wall Street to finance payouts for officer misconduct. San Diego cop watcher Kat from Irate Productions discusses recent police harassment of unarmed residents.
therealnews.com/stories/wall-street-is-p…

Wall Street Is Profiting From Police Brutality
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-05-09
Taxpayers are paying double for police brutality settlements thanks to cities and towns buying bonds from Wall Street to finance payouts for officer misconduct. San Diego cop watcher Kat from Irate Productions discusses recent police harassment of unarmed residents.
therealnews.com/stories/wall-street-is-p…

Protesters say: 'Shelters = Death, Hotels = Haven'
Joe Piette | workers.org | 2020-05-07
Cops stop activists from delivering demands to a city official's home. After the COVID-19 deaths of dozens of seniors at Philadelphia nursing homes and at least one homeless person in a city shelter, community activists converged on a city official's home on May 6 to deliver a message: The city . . . | Continue reading Protesters say: 'Shelters = Death, Hotels = Haven' at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48309/?utm_source=rs…

Moral Choices for Today's Physician
Berwick DM. | jamanetwork.com | 2020-05-05
In this essay, Don Berwick considers moral choices physicians face personally, organizationally, and globally and exhorts them to understand that the health of humanity depends on their speaking out against the social injustice of overpricing drugs and services, mass incarceration, and the lack of environmental responsibility.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticl…

New England Patriots Players Demand FBI Investigate Ahmaud Arbery's Killing
sputniknews.com | 2020-05-11
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault 7th May. Greg claims they believed Arbery was responsible for break-ins in the area and followed him in their truck – however, reports suggest there'd been just one robbery in the area since January, in which a handgun was stolen from Travis' car.
sputniknews.com/us/202005111079270694-ne…

US: Whites protest, blacks nabbed for virus violations
yenisafak.com | 2020-05-11
Black people in the US are not only disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but are also arrested four times more than whites for social distancing violations, according to ProPublica, a nonprofit news outlet.After analyzing data from the state of Ohio, where crowds of mostly white protesters have defied a stay-at-home order imposed last month without arrest, a ProPublica report said "police departments have primarily arrested black people for violating the order."In Ohio, a violation of the order is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $750 fine. Hundreds of people have alrea…
yenisafak.com/en/world/us-whites-protest…

Afghanistan claims to arrest Daesh/ISIS regional chief
yenisafak.com | 2020-05-11
Afghan security forces on Monday claimed arresting Ziaul Haq, the head of Daesh/ISIS for South Asia and Far East along with other key terrorists of the group.The Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Interior Ministry said in a joint statement that Haq

3 Mercenaries Arrested in Venezuela With Ties to Foiled Coup
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-10
Venezuela's government announced Sunday that its Special Forces apprehended three mercenaries with ties to the foiled May 3 plot in the northern state of Aragua, which borders Caracas. | RELATED: | Guaido Behind Failed Operation Against Venezuela: Maduro | The detainees were identified as First Lieutenant Jairo Betemy, Army Second Sergeant Franco Jonathan, and Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) First Sergeant Evan Rincon, who are now in the custody of the corresponding authorities.
telesurenglish.net/news/Three-More-Merce…

"COVID-19 Has Been Racialized": Black Scholar Jill Nelson Arrested for Chalking "Trump = Plague"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-11
Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in New York City's response to the spread of COVID-19. We speak with author and activist Jill Nelson, who was herself arrested by NYPD in April for writing "Trump = Plague" in chalk on an abandoned building in her Washington Heights neighborhood. The 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station and held for five hours. Now she is speaking out. The president is "telling us that as people of color, and older people, we should just die," says Nelson. "It's ridiculous."
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/11/jill_nels…

Black Scholar Jill Nelson Arrested for Chalking "Trump = Plague" in New York
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-11
Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in New York City's response to the spread of COVID-19. We speak with author and activist Jill Nelson, who was herself arrested by NYPD in April for writing "Trump = Plague" in chalk on an abandoned building in her Washington Heights neighborhood. The 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station and held for five hours. Now she is speaking out. The president is "telling us that as people of color, and old…
truthout.org/video/black-scholar-jill-ne…

Indianapolis cops fire pepper balls on group protesting police shooting of Dreasjon Reed
wsws.org | 2020-05-11
Police arrested one protester and fired pepper balls at demonstrators who assembled at the scene where Dreasjon Reed was shot and killed by an officer on May 6.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/11/indi…

Venezuela Captures 14 Mercenaries in the Last 24 Hours
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-11
Venezuelan State Security Forces captured In the last 24 hours a total of 14 mercenaries involved in an armed maritime incursion. | RELATED: | Three More Mercenaries Arrested in Venezuela With Ties to Foiled Coup Plot | "At the end of Sunday, three mercenaries were captured in the mountain town of San Miguel, in the parish of Carayaca, Vargas state," the Strategic Region of Integral Defense Capital of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) reported on Monday on…
telesurenglish.net/news/venezuela-captur…

'Fugitive on the run': Interpol issues WANTED notice for wife of US diplomat over crash that killed UK teen
rt.com | 2020-05-11
Interpol has issued a Red Notice for Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official who is wanted in Britain over a car crash which killed teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn last year. | An email sent to 19-year-old Dunn's parents from the Northamptonshire Police, which was seen by the PA news agency, said that 42-year-old Sacoolas is now "wanted internationally" and "should she leave the USA the wanted circulations should be enacted." In other words, Sacoolas could be immediately arrested were she now to leave the US. | Dunn was killed in a head-on collision in August 2019 near RAF Croughton in Northampto…
rt.com/uk/488382-anne-sacoolas-interpol-…

Suspected 'ISIS-inspired' terrorist cell members arrested in Poland over attack plot
rt.com | 2020-05-11
Four Tajik nationals have been detained in Poland for allegedly recruiting Muslim converts with the aim of carrying out terrorist activities, according to the spokesman of the minister coordinator for special services. | According to the minister's spokesman, Stanislaw Zaryn, Poland's Internal Security Agency found evidence showing that the four suspects sympathized with, and supported, the activities of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), although they were not members. | The four were allegedly planning to recruit people to join their terrorist cell and were arrested on May 7. "They were inspired by ISIS," Za…
rt.com/news/488385-poland-tajik-terroris…

'Arrest me': Elon Musk DEFIES Covid-19 quarantine by reopening Tesla plant in California
rt.com | 2020-05-11
Elon Musk escalated his confrontation with California, reopening the Tesla car factory in Fremont in defiance of local officials and saying he is ready to be arrested for it, after critics called him callous and even racist. | Having complained over the weekend about being the only carmaker in the US still shuttered by the Covid-19 lockdown, Musk announced on Monday that Tesla is restarting production "against Alameda County rules." | I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it onl…
rt.com/usa/488401-musk-arrest-california…

Black People Are Being Arrested at Higher Rates for Social Distancing Violations
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-09
On April 17 in Toledo, Ohio, a 19-year-old black man was arrested for violating the state stay-at-home order. In court filings, police say he took a bus from Detroit to Toledo "without a valid reason." Six young black men were arrested in Toledo last Saturday while hanging out on a front lawn; police allege they were "seen standing within 6 feet of each other." In Cincinnati, a black man was charged with violating stay-at-home orders after he was shot in the ankle on April 7; according to…
truthout.org/articles/black-people-are-b…

National Alliance Statement on the Lynching of Ahmaud Arbery
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-09
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. | This past Thursday, May 7th, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael, a father and son lynch crew, were arrested for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man on the eve of his 26th birthday. We've all seen the video of this racist, lynch-style murder that went public more than two months ago. | A Black man is hunted and gunned down and it takes two months before an arrest. Two months after seeing the video before the District Attorney, George Barnhill, files charges. The…
fightbacknews.org/2020/5/9/national-alli…

"A Lynch Mob": After Months of Inaction, 2 White Men Are Charged with Murder of Ahmaud Arbery in GA
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-08
The two white men caught on camera shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, were arrested and charged Thursday with murder. The arrests came two days after video of the attack in February was shared with the public, sparking widespread outrage. Today would have been Arbery's 26th birthday. We speak with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the Arbery family and formerly represented Trayvon Martin.
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/8/ahmaud_arb…

U.S. Mercenaries Captured in Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt Compared to a "Bad Rambo Movie"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-06
We look at an incredible story unfolding in Venezuela of a failed coup attempt. Did a former Green Beret mastermind it? Two Americans have been arrested in Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro claims the U.S. was behind the plot. "It looks like a bad Rambo movie, or a really bad telenovela," says Miguel Tinker Salas, author of "The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela." He notes that "the U.S. is seeking regime change … and the consequences for Venezuela could be very dire going forward."
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/6/venezuela_…

Venezuela: Two US Citizens Captured in Botched Coup Attempt
Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-05-05
Two former green berets were arrested in a second failed assault on Venezuelan shores on Monday.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14864