- U.S.Yahoo News
Obama to George Floyd protesters: Channel 'justifiable anger' into action
Former President Barack Obama on Monday addressed the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, praising the “overwhelming majority” of peaceful demonstrators, condemning the violence brought on by a “small minority” and calling on a “new generation of activists” to “bring about real change.” “The waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States,” Obama wrote in an essay published on Medium.com. The former president then lauded police in Camden, N.J., and Flint, Mich., for publicly supporting peaceful protests before he criticized demonstrators who have been acting violently.
- U.S.Yahoo News
New Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Most Americans say Trump is a 'racist' and want him to stop tweeting
The survey, conducted on May 29 and 30, found that 52 percent of Americans answered yes when asked whether they “think that President Trump is a racist.” Only 37 percent said no. Just 33 percent said the president should continue “posting messages on Twitter.”
- U.S.NBC News
Cop in Las Vegas critically wounded, others elsewhere injured in protests
A police officer in Las Vegas was critically wounded as others in New York and St. Louis were also injured during ongoing civil unrest sparked by last week's death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, officials said Tuesday. "This has been a long night for your police department ... and a tragic night for our community," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters Tuesday. "With these protests, which are leading to riots, one tragedy is only leading to another."
U.S.Yahoo News VideoD.C. police officer to protesters: 'If I didn't think change was possible, I would just give up'
Hours into the mandatory curfew in Washington, D.C., several police officers were recorded engaging in peaceful dialogue with protesters. While remaining in opposition to the extended protests over George Floyd's death, one officer appeared to commiserate with protesters' desire to seek change.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Leaked documents reveal China withheld crucial information about the coronavirus at the start of the outbreak
Xinhua via REUTERS China delayed the release of information about the coronavirus, according to a new investigation. Its health officials did not share the coronavirus genome until over a week after scientists in Chinese laboratories decoded it at the beginning of January. Beijing did not warn the World Health Organization that the virus passed between people until two weeks later.
- U.S.INSIDER
Tear gas is banned from war — but police still shoot it at protesters, who cough and bleed as a result. At least one has lost an eye.
Jose Carlos Fajardo/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images Police have fired tear gas into crowds of people protesting across the US this week, from Washington DC, to California, Minneapolis, and Illinois, as Americans speak out against the death of George Floyd. Human rights experts say the use of tear gas on civilians should be a weapon of last resort, not an everyday occurrence. Tear gas is especially dangerous for children, people with breathing issues, and the elderly.
- U.S.Military.com
Minnesota National Guard Opened Fire on a Vehicle, Commander Says
A soldier in Minneapolis opened fire on a speeding vehicle that posed a threat Sunday night -- the second known instance of a National Guard member discharging a weapon during the nationwide mass protests, the Minnesota National Guard commander said Monday. "Our soldier fired three rounds from his rifle in response to a direct threat" from a vehicle that drove at a position held by local law enforcement supported by the Guard, said Army Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard. Read Next: Army Vet Lawmaker: Invoke Insurrection Act, Deploy Active-Duty Troops to Riots The driver ignored warnings to stop or turn away before the soldier opened fire, Jensen added.
- U.S.Associated Press
Black Liberty U. alums rebuke Falwell after blackface tweet
Nearly three dozen black alumni of Liberty University denounced school President Jerry Falwell Jr. on Monday, suggesting he step down after he mocked Virginia's mask-wearing requirement by invoking the blackface scandal that engulfed the state's governor last year. In a letter to Falwell, shared with The Associated Press, 35 faith leaders and former student-athletes told Falwell that his past comments “have repeatedly violated and misrepresented" Christian principles. “You have belittled staff, students and parents, you have defended inappropriate behaviors of politicians, encouraged violence, and disrespected people of other faiths,” they wrote, advising Falwell that “your heart is in politics more than Christian academia or ministry.”
- U.S.USA TODAY
In aftermath of George Floyd's death, San Diego police will 'immediately' end use of carotid restraint
The San Diego Police Department, spurred by the fallout from George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, has immediately banned a controversial restraint technique. At least three major police departments have banned similar neck holds or chokeholds amid increasing attention on policing maneuvers that cut off oxygen to persons under arrest or restraint. Former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin used a similarly controversial knee-to-neck restraint, pressing his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, resulting his death.
- U.S.The Independent
George Floyd protests: NYC mayor Bill de Blasio ‘proud’ of daughter after she is arrested
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has told reporters that he is proud of his daughter, Chiara de Blasio, for getting arrested at a George Floyd protest over the weekend. Ms de Blasio was arrested on Saturday, at a protest at East 12th Street in Manhattan, for “unlawful assembly,” according to NBC News. The mayor's daughter was one of 345 people arrested at protests in New York City on Saturday, and was briefly detained, then released from custody.
- PoliticsPolitico
Appeals court mulls making Hillary Clinton testify on emails
As a federal appeals court grappled on Tuesday with a politically charged dispute that long ago faded from the headlines, one of the most urgent and politically polarizing legal fights of the moment seemed to lurk just below the surface. The official topic of Tuesday's arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was Hillary Clinton's bid to avoid giving an in-person deposition to a conservative group about the subject that dogged her during her 2016 presidential bid: her use of a private email account and server during her tenure as secretary of state. Both the Clinton deposition dispute and the Flynn case imbroglio involve an obscure type of legal mechanism that is not currently a household word but may soon be, at least in Washington: mandamus.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Cops Beaten, Shot, Rammed by SUVs as George Floyd Protests Boil Over
Violent factions attacked police officers across the U.S. over the last 24 hours as demonstrations against the death of an unarmed black man in police custody have spiraled out of control. George Floyd, 46, died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was caught on video kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes while he was handcuffed on Memorial Day. County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the officer survived.
- U.S.NBC News
Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel caught on hot mic amid unrest: 'If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care'
Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat facing a tough primary challenge and questions about his absence from his district, was caught on a hot mic at a district event responding to unrest saying twice that he only wanted press coverage because of an electoral threat. “If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care,” Engel said to Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, at a Tuesday press conference responding to unrest and vandalism in his district related to the recent death of George Floyd. Diaz worried about having too many elected officials speak, but Engel pleaded with him for coverage.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China's state media says US can now 'enjoy' protests after criticizing China's handling of unrest in Hong Kong
China has been furious at the US government for criticizing its handling of protests in Hong Kong and for backing pro-democracy demonstrators. Over the weekend, state-run media made the most of the current protests in America, sparked by the police-related death of George Floyd. "US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once called the violent protests in Hong Kong 'a beautiful sight to behold,'" he wrote.
- WorldThe National Interest
Exclusive: Trump Administration Denied Iran Coronavirus Prisoner Swap
The Trump administration did not secure the freedom of an American imprisoned in Iran in exchange for releasing an Iranian scientist held on U.S. immigration charges, the National Interest has learned. Sirous Asgari was deported to Iran on Tuesday after nearly three years in U.S. detention, first for sanctions-busting charges that were later dropped, and then for an expired visa. Iranian officials had raised the possibility of trading Asgari for Michael White, a U.S. Navy veteran imprisoned since 2018.
- U.S.INSIDER
The head of the Minneapolis police union called protests a 'terrorist movement' and blamed politicians for unrest in a leaked email
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images In a leaked email, the president of the Minneapolis Federation of Police said the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd were a "terrorist movement" that has occurred following a "long time build up which dates back years." Lt. Bob Kroll blamed politicians for the ongoing tension, specifically targeting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The former police chief of Minneapolis called on Kroll to resign, and Frey said Kroll was "shockingly indifferent to his role in undermining that trust and support" of the police force.
- BusinessReuters
Exclusive: U.S. small business program handed out virus aid to many borrowers twice
A technical snafu in a U.S. government system caused many small businesses to receive loans twice or more under a federal aid program to help businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly a dozen people with knowledge of the matter said. The money mistakenly handed out could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars that the government and lenders - which made the loans - have been trying to identify and recover in recent weeks, one of the people briefed on the matter said. The technical issue and scale of the resulting duplicate deposits made under the Small Business Administration's $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) have not been previously reported.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Is international travel allowed yet? See when the Bahamas, Mexico, UK plan to reopen borders
Parts of Mexico and the Caribbean have targeted dates in early to mid-June for reopening from coronavirus restrictions, and the Bahamas are planning to open July 1. At least one EU member nation has announced a target window, however: Spain's prime minister announced that his country will reopen to foreign tourists sometime in July, though he did not specify a date. Iceland has said it will reopen its borders to foreign tourists on June 15, though there's a catch: Visitors will either have to agree to be tested for COVID-19 or self-quarantine for two weeks.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Downtown D.C. burns after another night of protests and provocation near the White House
The capital was awash with anger and pain as tear gas blew along the streets and rubber bullets flew Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday morning. Protesters clashed with law enforcement for the third straight evening outside the White House, and numerous businesses were vandalized by rioters defying a citywide curfew. Protesters gathered throughout Sunday in Lafayette Park, which is across the street from the White House and has been a focal point of the demonstrations that began here Friday evening.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoBiden blasts removal of protesters so Trump could be photographed in front of a church
On Tuesday, Joe Biden, former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, criticized President Trump for the clearing-out of protesters with tear gas near the White House on Monday evening so the president could be photographed in front of St. John's Episcopal Church.
- U.S.Associated Press
Vegas officer on life support after attack during protests
A police officer was on life support Tuesday after being shot during a protest on the Las Vegas Strip, the latest in a handful of attacks on police amid demonstrations across the country over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The 29-year-old officer in Las Vegas was shot as police tried to disperse a large crowd of protesters in front of a casino shuttered because of the coronavirus. At about the same time and less than three miles (4.8 kilometers) away, police outside a federal courthouse shot a protester who was wearing a black tactical vest and armed with two handguns and a rifle.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
For most churchgoers, controversy between religious freedom and public health is not real
In a poll released in May, a representative survey of U.S. adults by the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found two-thirds of Americans don't think that "prohibiting in-person religious services" during the pandemic is a violation of freedom of religion, and that includes a majority of evangelical Christians and Republicans, according to our analysis. When asked about "placing restrictions" on in-person religious services, rather than prohibiting them, 82% of American adults overall think that would not violate religious liberty.
- U.S.Business Insider
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accuses New York police union of threatening Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter after her arrest at Saturday's protests
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York progressive, slammed a New York City Police Department union for tweeting confidential information about Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter's arrest on Saturday during a protest against racism. The Sergeants Benevolent Association tweeted a screenshot of Chiara de Blasio's arrest record and attacked the mayor over his daughter's participation in the protests. Ocasio-Cortez urged the NYPD to de-escalate with protesters rather than respond with violent force, and she told the union to "apologize and own this egregious behavior."
- WorldThe National Interest
China's Navy Is Testing Out Its its First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier
China's Ministry of National Defense is reporting that its first indigenous aircraft carrier, the CNS Shandong, is now carrying out sea trials in preparations for deployment and possible war, marking a substantial step forward in China's longstanding Naval modernization efforts. While of course there are many unknowns with China's first home-built carrier, it does appear to massively increase the country's power-projection possibilities, bringing new Pacific-area and international threat possibilities to the U.S. Navy. The sea trials are being conducted according to an annual plan, spokesperson Ren Guoqiang told reporters, according to the Chinese publication People's Online Daily.
- U.S.INSIDER
One of America's most popular police trainers is teaching officers how to kill with fear-based warrior tactics
Dave Grossman's "Bulletproof Mind" is teaching law enforcement agencies across the United States militarized tactics in which officers are told to see themselves as "at war" on the streets. Agencies have started turning away from the courses in recent years, after it was discovered the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile had taken one of Grossman's courses. If you're prepared to kill, Dave Grossman, says, it's "just not that big of a deal."
