Daily Archives: August 26, 2020

2020-08-26: News Headlines

Staff (2020-08-26). Two Shot Dead in Kenosha as Armed Militias Confront BLM Protests over Police Shooting of Jacob Blake. democracynow.org Protests continue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where police shot an unarmed Black man in the back seven times as he was getting into his car, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Jacob Blake was reportedly breaking up a fight before police shot him, and the shooting was witnessed by his three young children. On Tuesday, the situation escalated further when at least one white gunman opened fire on a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters. Two people were killed, and a third was injured, as police continued a violent crackdown on protesters demanding justice for Blake. We speak with Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Ma…

Staff (2020-08-26). Headlines for August 26, 2020. democracynow.org Two Killed as White Militia Member Fires on Black Lives Matter Protesters in Kenosha, WI, Family of Jacob Blake Demands Arrest of Officers Who Shot Him in the Back, Black Lives Matter Protesters Shot At While Marching in Pennsylvania, Republican National Convention Speakers Continue to Flout Hatch Act Ethics Laws, CDC Quietly Drops Test Recommendation for Asymptomatic People Exposed to COVID-19, Far-Right Militia Leader Ammon Bundy Arrested at Idaho State Capitol, Argentina Posts Record Coronavirus Toll; COVID-19 Resurgent in Europe, Hurricane Laura Could Become Category 4 Storm Ahead of Gulf Coast Landfall, Leba…

Editor (2020-08-26). Abolish the police! workers.org The recent Republican convention — led by the white-supremacist-in-chief, current U.S. president and enemy of the people — rallied its troops with racist scare tactics about "civil unrest" by Black Lives Matter protesters and left-wing activists. The Democratic convention offered an alternative, but not a solution. This party nominated for . . . |

RT (2020-08-26). 17-year-old arrested and charged after 2 killed during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. rt.com An Illinois teen has been charged with first-degree murder over the shooting of three protesters — two fatal — amid the ongoing riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Alleged militia member Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested in his home state. | Rittenhouse was accused of fleeing Wisconsin "with intent to avoid prosecution" for the shooting. A public defender has been assigned to Rittenhouse's case. | Rittenhouse is described as a "fugitive from justice" in public court documents obtained by the Daily Dot. | While two people were fatally shot during the third night of violent rioting in Kenosha, a third victim wa…

RT (2020-08-26). Progressive Twitter icon Shaun King threatens to DOX Kenosha cops after openly supporting violent riots. rt.com Prominent social activist Shaun King has threatened to indiscriminately publish the names of police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin if the city refuses to identify the cop who shot a black man, Jacob Blake. | Twitter users expressed disgust and reported King for harassment after the prominent Black Lives Matter advocate said he would begin targeting members of the Kenosha police force, regardless of whether they were involved in Sunday's shooting. | "If you do not name the officer who brutally shot Jacob Blake on Sunday, we will simply begin naming officers from your department who may or may not be him," King…

Fight Back (2020-08-26). Protests continue in Kenosha, WI. fightbacknews.org Kenosha, WI – Protests demanding justice for Jacob Blake continued here, August 25. Barricades have been erected around the Kenosha County Courthouse, armored vehicles drove through the crowd multiple times, and snipers are on the roof firing pepper-spray projectiles into the crowd. One protester was shot in the head after coming up to bring another protester away from the fencing. There are many reports of people being beaten and abducted by cops. | Members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Freedom Road Socialist Organization are participating in the protests. | This is a deve…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-26). Cambodian civil society calls for release of trade union leader. peoplesdispatch.org Rong Chhun was arrested earlier this month for allegedly inciting international tensions by taking up the matter of loss of land of farmers in the border regions after 2012 demarcation…

_____ (2020-08-26). Doctors Decry 'Less Lethal' Police Munitions. popularresistance.org A group of doctors from the Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, Austin penned a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine to warn of the dangers of police's less-lethal munitions used to subdue Black Lives Matter protesters after treating several patients with severe injuries. | The Associated Press (AP) reports that 12 doctors from Dell Seton said Austin police used bean bag rounds in place of actual bullets to control the protests, but the bean bags still resulted in injuries like bleeding in the brain and a skull fracture.

_____ (2020-08-26). Houseless Resist Second Eviction Effort In Philadelphia. popularresistance.org An encampment of over 100 houseless people sits on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway here, steps away from the iconic art museum of "Rocky" movie fame and under the noses of the Philadelphia bourgeoisie. JTD camp is a self-declared autonomous and cop-free zone providing a safe environment at a time when the COVID pandemic is ravaging the city. A large "Black Lives Matter" banner hangs at the entrance. | The James Talib Dean camp, named to honor an organizer who died shortly after it was established in June, is the latest in a series of camps set up by local activist groups.

_____ (2020-08-26). Overfunding The Military Drives Climate Crisis And White Supremacist Culture. popularresistance.org As the U.S. now approaches the third month since protests erupted following the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless Black Americans calls to defund and abolish the police are resonating throughout public consciousness. While the Black Lives Matter movement rightfully pushes for the defunding and abolition of a white supremacist institution, it must be recognized that another institution — U.S. militarism — is also an overfunded structure responsible for violence, oppression, and white supremacy.

_____ (2020-08-26). Common Ground Collective Teaches Us About Surviving Crisis Together. popularresistance.org It started in Malik Rahim's kitchen, as the waters from the broken levees continued to flow through New Orleans' lower 9th Ward. A small group of activists from the city and Austin, Texas, including former Black Panthers, began scratching down notes and trying to figure out exactly what they could do to provide support to the neighborhoods obliterated by Hurricane Katrina. | This was in 2005, just days after the storm had battered the city and demolished the levees, overwhelming the surrounding blocks with a toxic water sludge.

sputniknews (2020-08-26). Photo: US Cops Confess to Vandalizing Cars of Elderly Man Who Filed Administrative Complaint. sputniknews.com Two New Jersey cops have confessed to vandalizing a pair of cars belonging to a 70-year-old man who filed an internal affairs complaint against them last year.

yenisafak (2020-08-26). Thai police make more arrest of pro-democracy demonstrators. yenisafak.com Police in Thailand on Wednesday arrested two pro-democracy student protest leaders for taking part in rallies and would charge them with sedition, expanding a crackdown on demonstrators as pressure builds against the government.Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree of the Free Youth Group and his partner Panumas Singprom were arrested at their residence in Nonthaburi province on the outskirts of Bangkok and taken to a police station."We got arrested with many charges, but the most severe one is article 116," Tattep told reporters, referring to the sedition law.He was seen flashing a three-finger salute, a symbol of the move…

Dominic DeNuzzio (2020-08-25). Outrage in Pittsburgh over police abduction of anti-racism protester. liberationnews.org At a recent march in Pittsburgh organized by the group Black Young & Educated, a peace marshal who was helping protect demonstrators by blocking off the streets was suddenly abducted by armed plain clothes thugs in an unmarked van. On the ground no one was able to verify if it was cops or right wing …

Jeff Berg (2020-08-25). Masai and the Iceberg of Impunity. counterpunch.org Every report I've seen on the injustice suffered by Masai Ujiri in Oakland last June has talked about the tip and ignored the iceberg. That this could be so at this BLM moment is deeply worrying and shows that our problems go well beyond even systemic racism. For those of you who don't know, bodycam

Joshua Hanks (2020-08-25). Portlanders push back cops and fascists. workers.org Portland, Ore. Aug. 24 — For nearly three months, thousands of people in this city have joined nightly protests, marches and demonstrations denouncing racist police brutality. While met with heavy police repression, the crowds have continued to gather undeterred, even in the face of federal officers sent by President Trump . . . |

RT (2020-08-25). 'You don't recognize my existence!': Former DNC head Donna Brazile has meltdown on Fox News (VIDEO). rt.com Former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile melted down in spectacular fashion on Fox News, accusing fellow commentator Tammy Bruce of racism and demanding she "recognize my existence." | Discussing Monday night's Republican National Convention on Tuesday morning's Fox & Friends, Brazile accused the GOP of "speaking to the choir" with their unabashedly pro-Trump lineup of speakers. Conservative contributor Tammy Bruce shot back, accusing the Democrats of being out of touch with ordinary Americans, and slamming the left for not speaking out strongly enough against the Black Lives Matter riots…

RT (2020-08-25). 'Are you a christian!?' BLM activists harass restaurant patrons who refuse to raise fists and shout slogans (VIDEOS). rt.com Disturbing videos have emerged online showing Black Lives Matter demonstrators screaming and yelling at restaurant patrons in Washington DC., demanding that they raise their fists in support of the protest movement. | In one scene which spread like wildfire on Tuesday, a large group of white protesters can be seen crowding around the table of a white woman at a Washington DC restaurant and demanding that she raise her fist to comply. | "Are you a Christian?" one activist repeatedly yells. Others yell slogans including "White Silence is Violence" and "No Justice, No Peace." As no videos have emerged showing the…

teleSUR (2020-08-25). NBA Players Call For Justice Over Jacob Blake's Murder. telesurenglish.net National Basketball Association (NBA) players Monday condemned the systemic racism the U.S. is going through and joined the social unrest erupted over the shooting of unarmed civilian Jacob Blake by policemen in Kenosha, Wisconsin. | RELATED: | Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell lit the fuse amidst the League playoffs and harshly criticized police brutality. | "Screw the games and playoffs! This is sick and is a real problem, we d…

Mehr News Agency (2020-08-25). US police brutality stems from racist way of thinking: Veep. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Aug. 25 (MNA) — Iran's First Vice-President on Tue. blasted US police for its brutalities against the American people and said that US' police behavior is the outcome of domination of racist thoughts in that country.

Revolutionary United Front (2020-08-25). Tuesday 9/1: Bi-Weekly Community Meeting On Police Brutality and the George Floyd Protests. indybay.org Willow Park | Oakland, CA 94607…

BTCEAP (2020-08-25). 15 Demands for Anti-Racist Bookstores. indybay.org We are the Black & Trans Pegasus Affinity Group, made up of current and former employees of Pegasus Books in Berkeley and Oakland, California. We want Pegasus and other bookstores to grapple with their ties to anti-Blackness, and start making material changes. We want bookstore owners and booksellers to implement our demands immediately. We want book shoppers to be critical of their local bookstores and only buy from bookstores that commit to anti-racist practices such as not calling the cops.

sputniknews (2020-08-25). Man United's Harry Maguire Out of England Squad After Guilty Verdict in Assault on Police. sputniknews.com Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was earlier arrested on Mykonos after he, according to police, punched an officer after Maguire's sister was "stabbed by an Albanian thug". Maguire has denied any wrongdoing.

sputniknews (2020-08-25). US Cops Responsible for Jacob Blake Shooting Will Not Have Body Cams Until 2022. sputniknews.com A closer examination of Wisconsin's Kenosha Police Department has shown that officers, who recently shot 29-year-old father of three Jacob Blake, were not wearing body-mounted recording devices due to a series of delays blocking their implementation in recent years.

Staff (2020-08-25). New Far Right Party Aims to Stoke Fear of BLM Into Organized White Supremacy. truthout.org The last three years have been a marked and unending period of decline for the organized "alt-right." Ostensibly led into a somewhat cohesive social movement by Richard Spencer, the collection of publications, podcasts, high-profile white nationalists and organizations that made up the alt-right saw their peak in the two days they laid siege on Charlottesville, Virginia. Yet they were shut down afterward as anti-fascist activists confronted them, kicking them off platforms and legally challen…

Alan MacLeod (2020-08-24). "Paid Vacation" for Kenosha Cops Who Shot Unarmed Jacob Blake in the Back. thealtworld.com Being in the midst a summer of unprecedented racial and political unrest was apparently not enough to stop Kenosha police from emptying seven rounds into the back of yet another unarmed black man. | MPN— The police officers responsible for shooting unarmed black man Jacob "Jake" Blake yesterday have been placed on administrative leave, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul

Staff (2020-08-24). Prisoners say they were intimidated over Black lives matter movement. therealnews.com Black prisoners were grabbed from their bunks and corralled without masks.

RT (2020-08-24). NASA researcher arrested by FBI for conspiracy & wire fraud over links to China. rt.com A Texas A&M University professor and NASA researcher has been charged with conspiracy and accused of collaborating with several Chinese entities, while his grant explicitly prohibited him from doing so. | Zhengdong Cheng, a professor in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M who also worked on projects for NASA, was arrested by the FBI over the weekend, the Department of Justice said Monday. | #HouNews #Breaking pic.twitter.com/PbdwaJ2SjI— FBI Houston (@FBIHouston) RT (2020-08-24). 125 National Guard troops deploying to Kenosha following rioting & looting over police shooting. rt.com Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has announced that scores of National Guard troops will be deployed to the city of Kenosha by Monday evening as violent riots continue over the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake seven times. | "This is a limited mobilization of the National Guard focused on supporting the needs of local first responders to protect critical infrastructure, such as utilities and fire stations, and to ensure Kenoshians are able to assemble safely," Evers said. | Following the shooting of Blake, which was caught on a cellphone camera and said to be over a "domestic incident," protesters took…

Fight Back (2020-08-24). MN demands 'End aid to Israel' during the DNC. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – On August 20, activists held banners from five bridges along Interstate 35W to highlight the role the U.S. plays in endorsing and funding the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The protest took place during the Democratic National Convention to draw attention to the need for the Democratic Party to break with the apartheid state of Israel. | Drivers saw banners on the 35th, 36th, 38th and 40th Street bridges on I-35W in South Minneapolis and on a bridge in Lakeville over I-35. The protest was initiated by the MN Anti-War Committee. Many groups signed on and helped make banners and organized their…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-24). Jordanian Teachers' Syndicate leaders and members released after one month in jail. peoplesdispatch.org The union leaders, along with other protesting teachers, were arrested last month while protesting the government's decision to go back on its promise to fulfill their demands on salary hikes and better working conditions…

teleSUR (2020-08-24). US: Protest Erupts After A New Police Brutality Episode. telesurenglish.net On Sunday, violent protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after citizens saw a video in which police officers shot seven times at a black man as he was leaning into his vehicle, from where his three kids witnessed the shooting. | RELATED: | The victim was Jacob Blake. As of early Monday morning, he was in serious condition at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. | The Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Crimina…

WSWS (2020-08-24). Police misconduct database reveals top NYPD brass guilty of abuse of authority. wsws.org Police Commissioner Dermot Shea and his predecessor James O'Neill, along with other top NYPD officials and 11 percent of active cops, have substantiated abuse complaints against them.

Fight Back (2020-08-24). 'MN Ain't Fair' protest march to state fairgrounds demands justice for stolen lives. fightbacknews.org St. Paul, MN – Over 200 people gathered on a sweltering August 23 in a park here, before marching to the gates of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. This is the fifth year the march on the state fair has been held. | At the park, t-shirts given to attendees. The front of the shirts declared that Black, native, Hmong, brown and stolen lives matter. The back of the shirts had a dizzying list of dozens of names of people who were murdered by cops in the state. | Monique Cullars Doty has been the main organizer of the annual event. Her nephew, Marcus Golden, was murdered by Saint Paul police on January 14, 2015, at the…

Revolutionary United Front (2020-08-24). Tuesday 9/1: Bi-Weekly Community On Police Brutality and the George Floyd Protests. indybay.org Willow Park | Oakland, CA 94607…

_____ (2020-08-24). Police Continue To Repress Protesters In Portland. popularresistance.org For 90 days now, protesters have taken to the streets of the U.S. city of Portland following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. | As per social media videos, protesters were met with heavy police repression including the use of tear gas canisters. | The protest left several police officers injured, at least 9 people arrested while one person received medical attention after receiving a gun wound. Of those people that were arrested, three were charged with assault on a police officer. Portland Police confirmed that since May, over 500 protesters have been arrested. | U.S. Police repression continue…

_____ (2020-08-24). Reforms Are Won When Social Movements Inflict Real Costs On The Economic Elite. popularresistance.org In an interview over email, co-author Kevin A. Young discussed the limits of electoral politics to advance a more egalitarian social contract and the strategies today's social movements can employ to fight injustice. The challenges are formidable, especially given the Trump administration's exercise of a new and despotic federal police power in reaction to nationwide Black Lives Matter protests against police violence. As Levers of Power demonstrates through examples from the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement, the path to enduring change requires mobilization that inflicts real costs on capitalists and…

_____ (2020-08-24). Grand Jury Resistor Jailed For Fighting Federal Repression Against BLM. popularresistance.org At 3: 00 pm, Wednesday, August 19th, Jesse Shackelford, 28, was taken into federal custody at the Dane County Jail and joined a long history of grand jury resisters. He claimed his Fifth Amendment right to silence in order to protect himself and his community and in a strong stand against both this grand jury in particular and the grand jury process as an oppressive, movement-busting tactic. | For refusing to testify in front of a grand jury targeting the Black liberation struggle and uprisings in Madison, Jesse was charged with civil contempt and put in a cage: he is currently being held in solitary confinement.

sputniknews (2020-08-24). Brother of Harry Maguire to Stand Trial After Brawl with 'Albanian Thugs' Who 'Stabbed' Sister. sputniknews.com Harry Maguire and members of his family were arrested on the Greek Island of Mykonos on Friday. Maguire currently plays for Manchester United after leaving Leicester in an £80 million deal last year.

Staff (2020-08-24). Border Town Links Fight Against Trump's Wall to the Black Lives Matter Movement. truthout.org Under a sweltering August sun, just blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border, four local activists busily stage-direct the movements of about 100 residents of Laredo, Texas, who are lined up, fists raised, along the street in front of the city's George P. Kazen federal courthouse. | The four are standing on a 30-foot high scissor lift, making sure the crowd below is placed just perfectly along the giant street mural they have planned for weeks and just finished painting that Sunday morning, August 16.

Staff (2020-08-24). Meet the Activist Who Is Driving the Push to Reclaim Nature for Black People. truthout.org Nature and wild spaces are appreciated by many, but they can sometimes be rendered inaccessible or dangerous to people of color, as a

yenisafak (2020-08-24). Turkey arrests 35 FETàñ-linked terror suspects. yenisafak.com At least 35 people were arrested on Monday for their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETàñ), the terror group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.The Istanbul prosecutor's office carried out an investigation into the infiltration of FETàñ members in the Naval Academy and Vocational Schools in 2013.The suspects took an exam for the navy and their candidate numbers were determined as those belonging to members of the terror group.Candidates with the said number were awarded high passing grades by FETàñ members in the examination board.The prosecutors issued warrants fo…

RT (2020-08-23). Trump says federal agents will 'solve problem fast' if mayors of Dem-run cities ask for help with 'antigovernment' riots. rt.com President Donald Trump has offered federal assistance to the mayors of cities dealing with violent "antigovernment" protests, saying he can "solve [the] problem fast" if they can't properly police their own communities. | "These riots are an antigovernment movement from the Left that are all in Democrat run cities," the president tweeted on Sunday. "The mayors have got to let their police do what they know how to do. Would be very easy to suppress or, call in the Federal Government. We will solve problem fast!" | These riots are an antigovernment movement from the Left that are all in Democrat run cities. The…

RT (2020-08-23). Shock & dismay in UK as BBC considers excluding patriotic hits from Proms 'over BLM protests'. rt.com Conservative Britons were shocked to learn that patriotic anthems Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory, which are traditionally performed on the last night of BBC Proms concert season, may be axed from this year's program. | The Proms are among the oldest yearly performances of classical music in the UK, But this year the patriotic mood of the Last Night of the…

RT (2020-08-23). Louisiana cops shoot & kill black man as he 'walks away', tries to enter gas station 'armed with a knife' (DISTURBING VIDEOS). rt.com Police officers in Lafayette, Louisiana have shot and killed a man who resisted arrest and tried to walk into a gas station store "armed with a knife," triggering a new wave of outrage over police brutality and "systemic racism." | Lafayette Police Department officers responded to a disturbance call, involving a man with a knife at a Shell gas station around 8pm Friday. When they tried to apprehend the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin, he allegedly ignored repeated orders to surrender as well as several taser shots fired at him. | Several cops surrounded a Black man and fatally shot him 10+…

Richard Falk (2020-08-23). Nuclear Complacency and the Dangerous Drift Toward a New Cold War with China. zcomm.org For relations among states having nuclear weaponry, stability is achieved by relying on various forms of deterrence combined with the implementation of the nuclear apartheid regime…

_____ (2020-08-23). DNC Featured Native Speakers But Their Issues Remain Under-addressed. popularresistance.org The various caucus meeting speakers repeatedly stated that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be good for Indian Country. Some Native people are skeptical, though. Harris has a record of going against the sovereign interests of California tribal nations. Many Native people haven't forgotten the broken promises made by the Obama-Biden administration. Not only did the administration advance the Keystone XL Pipeline, but it also sat silently for months as Native people, accomplices and media were arrested, brutalized, and physically and sexually assaulted while trying to defeat the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

sputniknews (2020-08-23). 'Rule Britannia' and Other Patriotic Songs Could be Dropped from Proms Over BLM Protests, Media Says. sputniknews.com Patriotic songs are a favourite on Last Night of the Proms, which is organised and broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). However, this staple of classical music culture in the UK may soon see some of the nation's favourites removed from the line-up.

Gary Olson (2020-08-22). Which Black Voices Should Their White Supporters Heed? commondreams.org Travon Brown, with megaphone, leads the Black Lives Matter Protest march through Marion, Virginia on Friday, July 3, 2020. (Earl Neikirk for The Washington Post via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…