Violent Protests

From USA Today:

“'I am sick and tired of being sick and tired': Peaceful demonstrations, looting and chanting on sixth night of George Floyd protests”

Protesters marched in the streets again Sunday across the U.S. to call for reforms after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody on Memorial Day in Minneapolis. Most demonstrations, some attracting hundreds of people, were peaceful though violence, including burning of police vehicles and looting, was reported in some cities. Early in the day, volunteers turned out in many cities to sweep up debris from businesses that had been burned, had their windows broken or were otherwise damaged Saturday.

Here's a look at how protests are unfolding around the country on Sunday:

Philadelphia: Mayor Jim Kenney 'saddened and disappointed' beyond words  Another day of street protests gave way to looting, with at least one police vehicle set on fire. Looters were running out of stores in the northeastern section of the city with armloads of merchandise. In the downtown, workers and volunteers swept up broken glass from windows shattered during riots the previous day. Graffiti was being removed. Mayor Jim Kenney said the mayhem “saddened and disappointed me beyond words, and I’m sure it saddened every Philadelphian who takes pride in their city.” He said those responsible “not only desecrated private businesses, they also desecrated the important message that was heard in the earlier peaceful protests.”

Chicago: Gov. JB Pritzker activates National Guardsmen to assist police.  Vandalism reports continued to crop up in several city neighborhoods and some suburbs. The communities of Tinley Park, Crestwood and Oak Lawn alerted residents to stay home due to civil unrest. Many businesses boarded up.  Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he activated 375 Illinois National Guard soldiers to assist local law enforcement with street closures.  The downtown Chicago demonstrations that drew thousands started peacefully Saturday afternoon in a plaza, with protesters reading the names of black people who have died at the hands of police. But that gave way to violence and destruction that continued overnight Sunday in Chicago and elsewhere. Police used batons to beat back demonstrators as police cars were set ablaze and windows were smashed at businesses ranging from neighborhood convenience stores to high-end Michigan Avenue shops.

Santa Monica, California: Unchecked Looting as marchers confront police.  Looters took advantage of a large demonstration several blocks away to hit stores in the city's business district. In late afternoon, police were met with resistance when they tried to end a demonstration that had been peaceful. Demonstrators constructed a makeshift barricade in the middle of a street to protect themselves from non-lethal rounds fired by officers. The march had attracted hundreds along the city's main oceanfront boulevard. Though there were many police officers present for the march, looters were able to plunder stores with few to stop them. Cars were seen pulling up in front of stores, with looters running in to collect bundles of clothes and other merchandise, and running out. Boxes littered the sidewalk at thieves were seen transferring goods into plastic trash bags. A 5:30 p.m. curfew was announced due to the protests. The looting came despite the arrival of the National Guard troops in neighboring Los Angeles, which had seen extensive looting, vandalism and arson on Saturday.

Spartanburg, South Carolina: Passing motorists show support for protesters. Chanting “No justice, no peace,” about 100 peaceful protesters gathered at Barnet Park, drawing support from motorists who honked their car horns. “We want to take a peaceful stand to show support,” said organizer Kelvin Brown. “If we can all come together as a people, black and white, we can make a difference.” Many protesters said it wasn’t just Floyd’s death at the hand of a white police officer, or that it took days before the officer was arrested, that triggered anger. “We need to end the racist system,” said Curtis Pickens. “If you want all this to stop, real justice is what is needed. Stop the racial and social profiling. Stop hiring white supremacist officers.” “It’s time to stand up for what we believe in,” Isaiah Jordan said. “What happened to George Floyd terrorizes the whole nation. We’ve got to do something about it. I’m just sick and tired of young, black men dying.”

Lafayette, Louisiana: Protesters want police to know 'we're human'. Hundreds of protesters, some wearing protective face coverings, lined Lafayette streets to join a peaceful demonstration against police brutality. The protest, peaceful like others in Baton Rouge and New Orleans this weekend, began in the morning with protesters lining the streets to chant. “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Lafayette NAACP President Marja Broussard said to protesters. “I have a message for law enforcement. The message is: we want you to know that we’re human just like you...We want you to know we have families. We’re human.”

Augusta, Georgia: Demonstrators chant 'No justice, no peace'. Demonstrators chanted, “No justice, no peace,” as they walked along Washington Road. While “No justice, no peace,” was a popular chant among protesters, Sunday’s peaceful march was about showing strength through peace rather than through violence, organizers said. Latoya Lovett said she asked the Street Justice Council to help her organize the marches after hearing many Augusta residents talk about going to Atlanta to join protests there, which have turned violent after peaceful starts. “You can march in your own city, you can have a voice in your own city,” Lovett said. “You don’t have to go smash windows, you don’t have to go beat people, you don’t have to drop on the police.” Demonstrators were escorted by Richmond County Sheriff’s Office deputies who blocked off roads and intersections as needed. Sheriff Richard Roundtree was among those who helped guide the marchers and ensure safety for both them and the motorists. “We believe in free speech and protesting and voicing your opinion, as long as you do it in a safe manner,” Roundtree said. “As long as you’re doing that, we’re all for it.”

Jacksonville, Florida: Peaceful rally follows violent Saturday night of protests. A peaceful demonstration was held Sunday outside the Duval County Courthouse. Then protesters started moving downtown and Jacksonville police worked to keep them in certain areas. The cleanup of smashed store windows began Sunday around Florida after a night of unrest throughout the state’s cities. Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said an unnamed deputy was either stabbed or slashed in the neck and was taken to a hospital for treatment Saturday night. A sheriff’s office spokeswoman would not comment on the deputy’s condition Sunday morning. A protest Saturday resulted in many arrests, “but we still don’t know how many or anything related to those arrests,” the sheriff said.

Cincinnati: Inwood Park rally opens with fist-up salute and song. A large crowd gathered at Inwood Park to hear speakers as a rally, followed by a march. Organizers gave instructions about what to do if they are tear-gassed. The rally started with a fist-up salute and a song about the death Sam DuBose, shot by a police officer not far from the scene of this protest in 2015. Some Cincinnati City Council members have been seen and have tweeted from the rally. The demonstrations began Friday.

^ These are only a handful of the violent protests and riots taking part across the US. I can understand people being angry about what happened (because I am too) but I can not understand how that then becomes stealing from stores, attacking innocent people, fire-bombing building and vehicles, etc. You can not clear to be peaceful and then do such violent acts. I blame all sides (from the top-down) for all of this:  The Radical Left, the Radical Right, Politicians (Democrat and Republican), the Police, the President, out-of-state protesters brought in to cause problems, those fed-up with the Covid-19 restrictions and impacts on their lives, social media, regular media, etc. The list goes on and on. What those Cops did in Minneapolis is criminal and if Minnesota still had the Death Penalty I would call for it in this case – especially with the Cop who physically murdered Floyd – but what these so-called peaceful protesters and everyone else is now doing is also criminal. Inciting violence is just as bad as carrying it out. It didn’t even take 1 week for Americans on every side across the country to loose focus on what initially happened in Minneapolis and rather than deal with that issue there and nationwide it was morphed into something that will not bring any real justice or change. The initial, peaceful protests had a moral high-ground where the rest of the country and the world believed they were in the right and supported them in their efforts to end police brutality. All of that moral high-ground and support has now eroded since ordinary Americans do not want to support people who riot, steal, attack and kill. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/31/george-floyd-protests-sixth-night-us/5302473002/

Nazis Protest

From the DW:

“Munich bans use of Nazi 'Jewish star' at coronavirus protests”

Anti-lockdown protesters in Germany have come under fire for appropriating the horrors of the Holocaust. Several have dressed up as concentration camp prisoners and put on Nazi-era stars reading: "unvaccinated." The city of Munich banned the use of Nazi-era Stars of David at coronavirus protests on Sunday after participants were seen wearing them in recent weeks. Several protesters in cities across Germany have started wearing six pointed, yellow stars with the word "unvaccinated" emblazoned on them. From the color to the font, they're nearly identical to the badges Jewish people were forced to wear across Nazi-occupied territories during the Holocaust. Other anti-lockdown protesters have also dressed up in stripped prisoner uniforms — drawing comparison to concentration camp prisoners — and held up signs reading: "Masks will set you free" or "Vaccination will set you free." The slogans reference the "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work will set you free") signs that hung above several concentration camps, where millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Demonstrators are using the highly questionable protest tactics to voice their opposition to mandatory coronavirus vaccines — despite the fact that the German government has repeatedly said it will not implement such a program.

Politicians slam anti-Semitic tactic:    Felix Klein, Germany's commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism, said that wearing the altered Jewish stars was a "calculated breaking of a taboo," reported local public broadcaster Bayerische Rundfunk. The tactic has been used increasingly in protests in Germany, Klein said. In using symbols of the Holocaust to provoke at protests, he added, the demonstrators downplay the victims and their suffering. Other politicians have called for more cities and states to also ban the use of Nazi-era stars at protests and to label them as a form of incitement. Rüdiger Erben, a Social Democrat lawmaker in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, said that the symbols have also appeared at protests in his state and that they have nothing to do with freedom of speech or freedom of assembly. Whoever puts on one of the stars is acting "as an anti-Semite of the most repulsive kind," Erben told news agency epd.  Protesters have been gathering for weeks in cities across Germany to demonstrate against the government's restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19.  Although participant numbers are starting to dwindle, politicians and analysts have grown increasingly concerned about right-wing extremist radicalization at the demonstrations.

^ These tactics are just plain disgusting and show how the Germans (maybe not all of them, but a sizeable number) continue to be proud of their Nazi history and their country’s role in planning and carrying out the murder of millions upon millions of innocent men, women and children (Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Slavs, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Disabled, etc.) 2020 is the 75^th Anniversary of the end of World War 2, the defeat of Nazism and the end of the Holocaust, but you wouldn’t know it from everything going on within Germany. Germany today and the overall German attitude makes you think it is 1932 (when the Nazis rose to power) or 1938 (when Kristallnacht occurred.) The abuse and attacks on Jews in Germany (around Europe, around the US and around the world) is growing at an alarming rate. A lot of that can be traced to these kinds of displays of disrespect and ignorance. Germany (from the top-down) needs to do significantly more to stop this rising anti-Semitism. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/munich-bans-use-of-nazi-jewish-star-at-coronavirus-protests/a-53644792

SpaceX Launches

From USA Today:

“NASA and SpaceX make history by launching Americans into space from US soil”

A pillar of fire tore through the skies above Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, as NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to space on a historic mission nearly a decade in the making. The flight, known as Crew Dragon Demo-2, bridges the gap left by the space shuttle program's final flight in July 2011. It's the first time a private company has sent humans into orbit — and the first time in nearly a decade that the United States has launched astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil. Ever since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian spaceships launched from Kazakhstan to take U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station. "Congratulations to you and the team for the first human ride for Falcon 9," Hurley, a retired Marine Corps colonel and mission commander, said from orbit. "It was incredible. I appreciate all the hard work and thanks for the great ride to space." Behnken, an Air Force colonel, also thanked SpaceX teams for "putting America back into low-Earth orbit from the Florida coast." Inside Kennedy Space Center, a small crowd of a few thousand was a fraction of what it would have been without the threat of COVID-19. In attendance to watch the launch in person: President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who flew in for the event for the second time in four days. Elton John's "Rocket Man" played at an operations building about two miles away as Trump watched the rocket take to the air. Trump offered comments to the press immediately after the launch: “I’m proud of the people, NASA, the people that work together ... It’s amazing, it’s a beautiful sight, a beautiful ship too. "I think this is such a great inspiration for our country," said the president. "I think any one of you would say that was an inspiration to see what we just saw." Minutes after liftoff, Crew Dragon separated from the rocket's upper stage, triggering the activation of its solar arrays to begin providing power to spacecraft systems. Teams watching live at SpaceX's headquarters in California cheered. "It's been nine years since we've launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said after launch. "And now it's done. We have done it." The liftoff marks the beginning of a roughly 19-hour journey to the orbiting outpost dedicated to science, where astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner are waiting to help open Crew Dragon's hatch. After docking on Sunday, Behnken and Hurley will spend one to four months on board depending on the demonstration mission's needs. Before they arrive, the duo will have two opportunities to manually pilot their capsule: one "far-field" attempt and another about 720 feet from the station. The roughly 30-minute maneuvers will give the former shuttle astronauts their first feeling for how Crew Dragon flies outside of simulators. They'll also have a chance to get about eight hours of sleep, too. If all goes according to plan, the capsule should dock at the ISS at 10:27 a.m. Eastern time Sunday, followed by hatch opening at 1:55 p.m. and a welcoming ceremony 30 minutes later. All events will be broadcast at nasa.gov/nasatv. The launch followed days of concern about weather conditions and a scrubbed launch Wednesday. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said a previous launch attempt Wednesday was delayed because liftoff could have triggered a lightning storm in an electrically charged atmosphere. "In fact, the rocket itself could become a lightning bolt," he said. Weather is a difficult obstacle because teams can't extend a window and wait for the weather to improve. The requirement for Falcon 9 to launch exactly on time is due to orbital mechanics, as the Crew Dragon capsule has to "catch up" with the ISS, which is traveling at 17,000 mph about 250 miles above Earth. The space agency urged people to watch the launch from home, but some spectators began lining the Cape Canaveral area’s beaches and roads ahead of Saturday’s launch. Earlier in the week, Michael Mathews and 10 vacationing relatives from Dandridge, Tennessee, drove from Kissimmee to the Cocoa Beach Pier to see the SpaceX launch on Wednesday – but it was scrubbed. Undaunted by another iffy weather forecast, the Tennesseans returned to the pier Saturday.  “This is history, man. You’ve got two Americans being launched from America for the first time since 2011,” said Mathews, who is a U.S. Navy veteran. “This is the Space Force. This is the beginning. You’ve got Elon Musk – a brilliant guy. It’s history in the making,” he said, holding a beach chair. A sea of spectators — perhaps triple the number from Wednesday’s scrub — watched the launch amid dozens of colorful canopies and umbrellas. A brief chant of, “USA! USA!” arose after the rocket took flight, along with applause and cheers.

^ I’m glad the launch finally took place and hope the whole mission goes well. The US needs its own way to transport Astronauts, food, parts, etc. to space and not rely on Russia or anyone else. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/30/spacex-nasa-try-crew-dragon-demo-2-launch-saturday/5286408002/

Zoo Reopens

From the BBC:

“Coronavirus: Belgian zoo comes back to life from lockdown”

If you didn't know better you'd swear the elephants at the Park Pairi Daiza zoological gardens held a morning meeting. They line up with extraordinary discipline and precision on a keeper's word of command and then dissolve into a friendly huddle. It is a ritual that has played out without an audience every day since Belgium went into lockdown at midnight on Friday 13 March. Now the park, its name is derived from the Ancient Persian concept of paradise as a harmonious garden, is slowly emerging from confinement, as it's known in French. The process will be slow and gradual. At first there'll be a maximum of 5,000 visitors instead of the 30,000 the park is capable of welcoming. They'll wear masks, they'll socially distance and they'll follow carefully marked one-way pedestrian walkways. All European governments are struggling with the issue of how far and how fast to unwind the lockdown. But zoos were among the first tourist attractions to reopen in many countries, including Denmark and Germany. Now they are reopening in France, Italy, the Czech Republic and some Spanish regions too. The sudden shutdown demonstrated the difficult economics of zoo-keeping - even for an institution like Pairi Daiza, which has benefited from huge investment and has twice been voted European Zoo of the Year. Zoo spokesman Mathieu Godefroy put it like this: "Life goes on inside a zoo and it cost a lot of money if there are no visitors to pay for it.

Animals in zoos 'lonely' without visitors:    "During confinement, we estimate we lost €100,000 (£90,000; $110,000) every day, for the whole year of 2020 we hope to limit our loss to €30m." Zoos have high fixed costs. Even when lockdown reduced revenue to zero the animals had to be fed and the keepers paid to care for them. Being allowed to reopen at reduced capacity is helpful to zoos but offers little comfort to the operators of theme parks. There's no economically viable way to apply social distancing rules to a rollercoaster. Among the first wave of visitors were families with small children mesmerised by the opportunity to be out in the fresh air and the bright spring sunshine. "He's looking forward to seeing a hippopotamus," one mother told me about her son. "But today he's really just as excited to be out of the house and in the car again." Zookeepers believe the animals are also happy that the public are coming back  Belgium has so far reopened shops but not restaurants.  Zoos are the only places of public entertainment allowed to start trading again, simply because they're mainly places of outdoor entertainment and scientists are confident that outdoors is less dangerous than indoors. The zoo staff are confident that excitement at the reopening isn't confined to the human public. Elephant manager Rob Conachie, whose job is a real labour of love, said one elephant in particular, Mala, was effectively used as an ambassador to introduce visitors to the herd. The zoo's herd gathered in a trumpeting, friendly mob as we talked while the zoo's gates opened and the crowds filed in. "Mala is normally fed a lot of carrots," Rob told us, "and in lockdown she's definitely been wondering where all the carrots have gone. The elephants are fine but there's no doubt they do miss visitors." Now slowly the lockdown is easing and the zoo is coming back to life. The human visitors are delighted of course but it doesn't take much imagination to believe that their excitement is shared by the elephants.

^ I’m glad the Zoo is allowed to reopen. The animals there like the human contact. The visitors going there like the animals. The Zoos themselves need to money to help feed these animals. I would like to see Zoos, Animal Preserves and other such places around the world to reopen sooner rather than later. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52831021

Mayor's Response

From the AP:

“As Minneapolis burns, mayor takes heat for the response”

First-term Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appeared to be doing everything right. He worked with the city's booming business community and the City Council. He reached out to minority neighborhoods and advocated for affordable housing. He implemented stricter disciplinary measures against police who violated the city's body camera policy. When George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died Monday after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes and ignored his “I can't breathe” pleas, Frey quickly expressed outrage and called for charges against the officer. Four officers were fired the next day, and on Friday, Officer Derek Chauvin was charged in Floyd's death. But Frey's leadership is being questioned after police failed to quell several nights of rioting, fires and ransacking of local businesses that followed Floyd's death. Frey, who pleaded for calm, also approved the decision to abandon the city's 3rd Precinct station on Thursday night, surrendering it to protesters who set fire to the building. The night the station burned, Frey appeared at an early-morning news conference after hours of criticism on social media for a police response that didn't confront the violence despite the activation of the National Guard. As he began talking, one reporter snapped, “What's the plan here?” Frey struggled to answer, and the next morning, Gov. Tim Walz — like Frey, a Democrat — criticized the “abject failure” of the city's response and said the state had taken control. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to call Frey a “very weak Radical Left Mayor” and threatened to get involved. By early Saturday morning, it was Walz who found himself struggling with the enormity of the challenge, conceding that he didn't have enough people to cope with the protests and moving to mobilize another 1,000 Guard members. Walz also took pains to praise Frey, who appeared alongside him after another night of unrest. Some wonder whether Frey's approach to the crisis might damage his chances for reelection next year. The 38-year-old former lawyer, community organizer and one-term City Council member took office in 2018 after defeating Betsy Hodges, whose time as mayor was marred by two high-profile police shootings. The 2015 shooting of 24-year-old black resident Jamar Clark after a scuffle with two white police officers set off weeks of protests; neither officer was charged. The 2017 shooting of unarmed Australia native Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her house, provoked an international outcry. The black officer in that case was convicted of third-degree murder and is serving a 12 1/2-year term. Frey campaigned partly on a promise to add police officers. But a City Council committee this spring voted against applying for a federal grant to hire 10 new officers for traffic enforcement, with one member saying he worried it would exacerbate racial disparities in vehicle stops. Community activist Mel Reeves, who said he has led rallies to protest Floyd's killing, refused to discuss the mayor's response except to say that Frey had been “put in a difficult position.” He said the black community doesn’t trust police and prosecutors to do the right thing. “The mayor is new, and he said all the right things," Reeves said. “This is not about the mayor; it's about the police department.” The day after the 3rd Precinct fire, University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs said Frey was “out of his depth” and "clearly unable to understand what he has to do to restore order while also creating the kind of healing that has to happen in Minneapolis.” He said abandoning the police station “sent a powerful message” that the city was not in control. “There needs to be another message: ‘Here is the line and order will be maintained,’” said Jacobs. "You’ve got businesses that are just shocked without words to see property going up in flames, often with no police intervention at all. You have the black community (that has) heard his words but does not believe them. “He worked really hard at those relationships and they appear to be in tatters. And I think a lot of residents are unnerved by the violence and the chaos.” Jonathan Weinhagen, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, said the mayor still has his support, and that many businesses damaged by the violent protests, including those owned by minorities and immigrants, want to rebuild. “There is a lot of fear right now. If your store has been hit, you feel violated,” said Weinhagen, adding that some businesses already were suffering because of the coronavirus restrictions. “They were just beginning to see some light and this hit.” But he believes the mayor is “leading with his values" and getting a lot of things right, including requesting the Guard assistance and implementing a curfew Friday and Saturday nights. Jacobs, the political scientist, said Frey has been energetic, upbeat and dynamic, effectively leading the fast-growing city. But his inexperience with crisis management has shown. “Until about a week ago, he looked to be on glide path to reelection, and within a week, his mayorship looks like it’s crumbled," Jacobs said.

^ Having good intentions and ideas does not always result in making good decisions and it seems that is what has happened with Mayor Jacob Frey in Minneapolis. Minneapolis had police brutality cases before he took office (one where a Black man was killed by a White Cop and the other where a White woman was killed by a non-White Cop.) Frey came into office knowing of this major issue that needed to be addressed and yet it seems he did little to nothing to address it since a Black man was killed by a White Cop. There is something very wrong within Minneapolis that can no longer be ignored. With that said there is also cases of police brutality across the US that also need to be addressed. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/news/minneapolis-burns-mayor-takes-heat-173615682.html?guccounter=1

US Protests

From Reuters:

“U.S. protests over Minneapolis death rage on amid political finger-pointing”

The full Minnesota National Guard was activated for the first time since World War Two after four nights of civil unrest that has spread to other U.S. cities following the death of a black man shown on video gasping for breath as a white Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck.  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the deployment was necessary because outside agitators were using protests over Monday’s death of George Floyd to sow chaos and that he expected Saturday night’s demonstrations to be the fiercest so far.  From Minneapolis to several other major cities including New York, Atlanta and Washington, protesters clashed with police late on Friday in a rising tide of anger over the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.  “We are under assault,” Walz, a first-term governor elected from Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, told a briefing on Saturday. “Order needs to be restored. ... We will use our full strength of goodness and righteousness to make sure this ends.”  He said he believed a “tightly controlled” group of outsiders, including white supremacists and drug cartel members, were instigating some of the violence in Minnesota’s largest city, but he did not give specific evidence of this when asked by reporters.

As many as 80% of those arrested were from outside the state, Walz said. But detention records show just eight non-Minnesota residents have been booked into the Hennepin County Jail since Tuesday, and it was unclear whether all of them were arrested in connection with the Minneapolis unrest.  The Republican Trump administration suggested civil disturbances were being orchestrated from the political left.  “In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups - far-left extremist groups ... many of whom travel from outside the state to promote violence,” U.S. Attorney William Barr said in a statement.  In an extraordinary move, the Pentagon said it put military units on a four-hour alert to be ready if requested by Walz to help keep the peace.  Activists staged another round of protests on Saturday in at least a dozen major U.S. cities coast to coast, including Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Atlanta, New York and Atlanta.

In the nation’s capital, hundreds of demonstrators assembled near the Justice Department headquarters, then marched toward the U.S. Capitol, chanting, “Black lives matter,” and “I can’t breathe,” a rallying cry echoing Floyd’s dying words.  Many later ended up near the White House, where they faced off with shield-carrying police, some mounted on horseback.  The streets of Minneapolis were largely quiet during daylight on Saturday, though several National Guard armored personnel carriers were seen rolling through town.  On Friday, in defiance of a newly imposed curfew, Minneapolis protesters took to the streets for a fourth night - albeit in smaller numbers than before - despite the announcement hours earlier of murder charges filed against Derek Chauvin, the policeman seen in video footage kneeling on Floyd’s neck.  Three other officers fired from the police department with Chauvin on Tuesday are also under criminal investigation in the case, prosecutors said.  The video of Floyd’s arrest - captured by an onlooker’s cellphone as he repeatedly groaned, “please, I can’t breathe” before becoming motionless - triggered an outpouring of rage that civil rights activists said has long simmered in Minneapolis and cities across the country over persistent racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.

‘PAINS ME SO MUCH’ :    The mood was somber on Saturday in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Lyndale, where dozens of people surveyed damage while sweeping up broken glass and debris.  “It pains me so much,” said Luke Kallstrom, 27, a financial analyst, standing in the threshold of a fire-gutted post office. “This does not honor the man who was wrongfully taken away from us.”  Some of Friday’s most chaotic scenes were in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where police armed with batons and pepper spray made more than 200 arrests in sometimes violent clashes. Several officers were injured, police said.  In Washington, President Donald Trump said on Saturday that if protesters who gathered the night before in Lafayette Square, across from the White House, had breached the fence, “they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”

CHAOS IN ATLANTA:    In Atlanta, Bernice King, the youngest daughter of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., urged people to go home on Friday night after more than 1,000 protesters marched to the state capitol and blocked traffic on an interstate highway.  The demonstration turned violent at points. Fires burned near the CNN Center, the network’s headquarters, and windows were smashed at its lobby. Several vehicles were torched, including at least one police car.  Rapper Killer Mike, in an impassioned speech flanked by the city’s mayor and police chief, also implored angry residents to stay indoors and to mobilize to win at the ballot box.  “But it is not time to burn down your own home.”  Floyd, a Houston native who had worked security for nightclubs, was arrested on suspicion of trying to pass counterfeit money at a store to buy cigarettes on Monday evening. Police said he was unarmed. An employee who called for help had told a police dispatcher that the suspect appeared to be intoxicated.  In a striking coincidence, Floyd and Chauvin had both worked security at the same Latin nightclub in Minneapolis, though it was unlikely they ever interacted, former owner Maya Santamaria, who sold the El Nuevo Rodeo club in January, told Reuters.  Santamaria said Floyd worked inside the club on certain nights, supporting other staff with security. She said Chauvin, who worked outside the club as an off-duty cop for 16 years, had a reputation for roughing up customers, but she considered him responsible and a friend.

^ People should make their voices heard – especially since this is the third racially-involved death in Minneapolis (2 were Black men by White Cops and 1 was a White Woman by Minority Cops) in recent years – but that does not give them the right to destroy things, to attack people or any of the kinds of violence they are currently doing across the country. Trump hasn’t helped settle things with his calls to violence himself (by both the US Military and MAGA supporters.) Both the Far Right and the Far Left are using the death of Floyd to encourage their own supporters to riot, destroy and attack and that is simply wrong and deadly. ^

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests/u-s-protests-over-minneapolis-death-rage-on-amid-political-finger-pointing-idUSKBN2360FV

US Gets Iron Dome

From Military.com:

“Army Shoot-Off Will Pit Israel's Iron Dome Against Foreign Competitors”

(The Iron Dome air-defense system fires to intercept a rocket over the city of Ashdod on July 8, 2014, in Ashdod, Israel.)

The U.S. Army is set to take delivery of two Israeli-designed "Iron Dome" indirect-fire protections systems to satisfy a congressional mandate, but the technology will have to prove itself to remain in the service's arsenal, top Army modernization officials say. The Iron Dome Weapon System is a combat-proven system, developed by the Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, to detect, identify and intercept incoming rockets, artillery and mortars. The Army announced its plans to purchase Iron Dome in February 2019 to comply with the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which required the service to equip ground forces with two Iron Dome Batteries by 2020. The service is set to accept the first system in December and the second system in February, but it's still unclear if Iron Dome will meet the Army's need for an interim indirect fire protection capability, or IFPC. A key requirement for the system will be to demonstrate its ability to plug into the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS, that the Army has chosen to manage all of its air defense sensors and interceptor systems. "We committed to Congress that we will expedite that as much as we possibly can, but the fact of the matter is, we don't have an Iron Dome battery today; we haven't even received it yet," Gen. John "Mike" Murray, commander of Army Futures Command, told reporters this week. "We were also very, very clear that we are going to try the best we can to integrate Iron Dome into the IBCS architecture, because we are not interested in standalone systems." That said, the Army plans to host a shoot-off event in the fall of 2021 that is open to all companies to demonstrate systems that would satisfy the Army's requirement for an IFPC, Murray said. Rafael has teamed with Raytheon to produce Iron Dome's Tamir interceptor missiles, designed to engage incoming threats launched from up to 40 miles away. Iron Dome has been used in combat and has a record of intercepting more than 1,500 targets with a 90% success rate, according to Raytheon officials. But the Army's long-term goal is to integrate all of its missile-defense and indirect-fire systems into a single network, Bruce Jette, the Army's top acquisition official, told reporters. "That's the type of thinking we are doing is this integration of overall systems in support of each other," Jette said. "I may take my sensor, see another target; you take your sensor, see the same target. And if I know where I am exactly, and I know where you are exactly, and I can discern those two targets and by sharing information between those two platforms, I can get my range to the target without having to lase or do anything else. And I can do that concurrently amongst multiple targets." Murray said the Army plans to spend next spring working to try to ensure Iron Dome can integrate and work with the IBCS. "And one of the key things [with the shoot-off] is going to be how you integrate into our IBCS architecture," Murray said. "Whoever wants to come and show us how they want to do this and show off their system is more than welcome to participate." While Iron Dome is a great system, Jette said the integration into the IBCS is the "the critical piece that we want to get to." "We want to make sure that the door is open for any country that wants to participate."

^ The Iron Dome System has proven itself over the years as a reliable and effective method to shoot down rockets and missiles fired by Terrorists from Gaza, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria into Israel. The US should not only acquire the Iron Dome, but also place them around the country (including US Territories) as a show of force.  ^

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/05/28/army-shoot-off-will-pit-israels-iron-dome-against-foreign-competitors.html

BNO Help

From the BBC:

“UK could offer 'path to citizenship' for Hong Kong's British passport holders”

The UK could offer British National (Overseas) passport holders in Hong Kong a path to UK citizenship if China does not suspend plans for a security law in the territory, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says. It comes after China's parliament backed proposal that would make it a crime to undermine Beijing's authority. There are fears the legislation could end Hong Kong's unique status. China said it reserved the right to take "countermeasures" against the UK. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the UK and China had agreed that holders of British National (Overseas) - or BNO - passport should not enjoy UK residency. "All such BNO passport holders are Chinese nationals and if the UK insists on changing this practice it will not only violate its own stance but also international law," he added. There are 300,000 BNO passport holders in Hong Kong who have the right to visit the UK for up to six months without a visa.  Mr Raab's statement came after the UK, US, Australia and Canada issued joint condemnation of Beijing's plan, saying imposing the security law would undermine the "one country, two systems" framework agreed before Hong Kong was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997. The framework guaranteed Hong Kong some autonomy and afforded rights and freedoms that do not exist in mainland China. China has rejected foreign criticism of the proposed law, which could be in force as early as the end of June.  Li Zhanshu, chairman of the parliamentary committee that will now draft the law, said it was "in line with the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots".

What did Raab say?:   British National (Overseas) passports were issued to people in Hong Kong by the UK before the transfer of the territory to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Announcing the possible change in policy, Mr Raab said the six-month limit on stays in the UK for BNO holders would be scrapped.  "If China continues down this path and implements this national security legislation, we will remove that six month limit and allow those BNO passport holders to come to the UK and to apply to work and study for extendable periods of 12 months and that will itself provide a pathway to future citizenship," he said. The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Landale says that in Beijing might not mind if some pro-democracy campaigners escape to the UK, but the flight of talented wealth creators would be of concern.  Some MPs want the UK to go further and offer automatic citizenship. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said BNO holders should have an automatic right to live and work in the UK. The government has in the past rejected calls to give BNO holders in Hong Kong full citizenship. Last year more than 100,000 people in Hong Kong signed a petition calling for full rights. The government responded by saying that only UK citizens and certain Commonwealth citizens had the right of abode in the UK and cited a 2007 review which said giving BNO holders full citizenship would be a breach of the agreement under which the UK handed Hong Kong back to China. However in 1972 the UK offered asylum to some 30,000 Ugandan Asians with British Overseas passports after the then-military ruler Idi Amin ordered about 60,000 Asians to leave. At the time some MPs said India should take responsibility for the refugees, but Prime Minister Edward Heath said the UK had a duty to accept them.

What other reaction has there been?:   Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy earlier said the UK had to be more robust with Beijing. Referring to the security law, she told the BBC: "This is the latest in a series of attempts by China to start to erode the joint declaration which Britain co-signed with the Chinese government when we handed over Hong Kong, and protected its special status." "We want to see the UK government really step up now," she said. Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK should bring together a coalition of countries to avoid a tragedy in the territory. He told the BBC: "This is definitely the most dangerous period there has ever been in terms of that agreement. "With our unique legal situation, Britain does have a responsibility now to pull together that international coalition and to do what we can to protect the people of Hong Kong." On Thursday Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: "We are deeply concerned about China's legislation related to national security in Hong Kong. "We have been very clear that the security legislation risks undermining the principle of one country, two systems. "We are in close contact with our international partners on this and the Foreign Secretary spoke to US Secretary [Mike] Pompeo last night." He added: "The steps taken by the Chinese government place the Joint Declaration under direct threat and do undermine Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy." On Wednesday, Mr Pompeo said developments in Hong Kong meant it could no longer be considered to have "a high degree of autonomy" from mainland China. This could lead to Hong Kong being treated the same as mainland China under US law, which would have major implications for its trade hub status.

^ This is exactly what the people of Hong Kong, in the UK and around the world feared the Chinese Communists would do when the British Colony was handed-over to China in 1997. The Chinese Communist Government in Beijing is now breaking the 1997 Handover Agreement of 1 Country with 2 Systems for 50 Years and so it is only right for the UK to give full British Citizenship to the British Overseas Citizen in Hong Kong. I hope that more countries around the world will follow the UK and the US’ stance that what China is currently doing in Hong Kong is wrong and should not be accepted. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52842303

20: Ottawa's Unknown Tomb

From the CBC:

“Canada's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier marks its 20th anniversary”

Reverently showered with poppies every Remembrance Day, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa is a national symbol of Canadians' sacrifices in wars dating back more than a century. Not a lot of people know it's only 20 years old. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which is responsible for the ornate sarcophagus at the foot of Canada's national war memorial, observed the monument's 20th anniversary event with a wreath ceremony on Thursday, using flowers picked from the British war cemetery where the unnamed soldier was originally buried. “During these difficult times, it is more important than ever for Canadians to reflect on those who served and gave their lives so that we could live safely and freely," David Loveridge, CWGC's director for Canada and the Americas, said in a media statement. "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of CWGC's most prominent war graves that honours all those who died in anonymity serving Canada. We will continue to maintain this piece of Canada's history and remember those it represents." In 1998, the Liberal government of former prime minister Jean Chrétien asked the war graves commission to exhume and repatriate the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who died in the First World War at the battle of Vimy Ridge. Twenty years ago, the remains were laid in state at the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block of Parliament before being moved to a permanent location.

Canada was one of the last allied countries to establish a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Such monuments had their origins in the aftermath of the Great War, when an unprecedented number of war dead could not be buried under their own names because shelling had left their bodies unidentifiable. The grave of the "Unknown Warrior" was established at Westminster Abbey in London on November 11, 1920. According to several military histories, the idea of burying an unidentified soldier with full honours originated with an Anglican chaplain named David Railton, who had served in France. The next year, the French government set up the tomb of the "Soldat Inconnu" at the base of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Americans were next, placing their tomb at Arlington National Cemetery, across the river from Washington, D.C., on November 11, 1921. The United States carried on the tradition, placing unknown soldiers from subsequent conflicts — the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam — in the tomb. Ironically, in the same year Canada began the process of establishing its tomb, the Pentagon was pressured through media reports and amateur sleuthing to use what was then cutting-edge DNA technology to identify its Vietnam-era unknown soldier — who turned out to be a pilot shot down in 1972. A number of defence experts in the U.S. have argued that advances in DNA technology mean there likely will never be another unknown soldier in future wars. In fact, Canada has been working for years now to identify unknown combatants from past conflicts. A section at Canada's Department of National Defence is dedicated to identifying remains from the two world wars which are still being unearthed in Europe.

^ I have to admit that even being Canadian and going to Ottawa (and seeing the National War Memorial) I had no idea Canada also had a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I think I thought, at the time, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was  not a tomb at all, but just part of the World War 1 and World War 2 Monument. ^

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/unknown-soldier-tomb-1.5589005

Budeswehr Rabbis

From the DW:

“German military to include rabbis for first time since Hitler expelled them”

Adolf Hitler removed rabbis and Jewish soldiers from the army in 1933. Almost 90 years later, the German parliament has voted in favor of legislation which allows rabbis to act as military chaplains once again. The Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, will allow military rabbis to see to the spiritual needs of Jewish soldiers for the first time in nearly a century, the German parliament agreed Thursday. The vote was unanimous. Until now soldiers in the German army could only turn to Christian military chaplains, either Protestant or Catholic. The move, which was first introduced by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in December 2019, has been welcomed by Jewish groups and lawmakers from all parties. "This is a special sign of solidarity and recognition" towards Jewish soldiers, Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Bundestag parliament, adding that the rabbis would provide a recognizable contribution "against the daily and growing anti-Semitism in our society." The defense minister also said she planned to introduce legislation to allow imams and Christian Orthodox priests to perform similar chaplaincy roles. On Twitter, she described it as a "historic day." Jewish people fought for Germany in World War I and military rabbis were relatively common until Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. The German government estimates that there are around 300 Jewish soldiers in the armed forces, along with 3,000 Muslim soldiers and around 90,000 Christians. A little under half of the roughly 178,000 troops either gave no information on their religious beliefs, or said they held none. Lawmakers from the Green and Left parties urged the government not to delay on putting in place similar provisions for Muslim chaplains. German Jewish Central Council President Josef Schuster told the German parliament that the rabbis would be a boon not only to Jewish soldiers. "Military rabbis will make their advice available to the Bundeswehr as a whole." He also described the move as "an important support for the democratic attitude of the soldiers." Schuster has previously warned of the alarming spike in anti-Semitism in Germany following an attack on a synagogue in the city of Halle on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur in October 2019.

^ I wrote about this back in 2019 and it’s good to finally see that the German Parliament has finally approved the move. It has only taken the Germans 90 years to fix this horrible mistake. It seems the Germans may take a long time, but eventually do what is right to correct their mistakes. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/german-military-to-include-rabbis-for-first-time-since-hitler-expelled-them/a-53609054

Friday!

VA Favors Nazis

From Military.com:

“VA Secretary Rebuffs Calls for Removal of Nazi Symbols from Cemeteries”

 

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie told Congress Thursday that headstones on the graves of German prisoners of war in two VA cemeteries in the U.S. deserve to be placed in "historical context" rather than be removed. Amid a growing chorus in the House of Representatives and religious and civil rights advocates for removal of the headstones, Wilkie said the markers serve as a reminder of the "horrors of anti-Semitism ... and the Nazi cult" and should be explained rather than replaced. "Erasing these headstones removes them from memory ... we cannot erase the horror," Wilkie told members of the House Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee during the mask-to-mask hearing. "My view is we need to look at historical interpretations that I am more than happy to put up."The headstones at the center of the controversy are the at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio and the Fort Douglas Post Cemetery in Salt Lake City. They mark the graves of junior enlisted personnel who died as prisoners of war in the early 1940s and whose bodies were never claimed. While headstones belonging to other German POWs in the cemeteries have no markings, the three in question are engraved with an Iron Cross, a swastika and an inscription that says the troops died "far from [their] home for the Fuhrer, people and fatherland." The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has threatened to sue the Department of Veterans Affairs for the removal of the symbols. The group's chairman, former Air Force officer Mikey Weinstein, said he was alerted to the headstones by a retired colonel who saw them while visiting the grave of his Jewish grandfather at the Fort Sam Houston cemetery. On Memorial Day, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote Wilkie demanding that he launch the process required under a historic preservation law to remove the headstones. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and B'Nai B'Rith International also have sent letters to VA calling for replacements. "This is deeply troubling to learn that several VA cemeteries contain graves of German POWs that feature swastikas on the headstones as well as inscriptions that honor Adolf Hitler," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who chairs the appropriation subcommittee, said during the hearing. "These graves sit right alongside men and women who fought for our country and our ideals -- ideals that run counter to everything the swastika and Nazi ideology represent." "I think you should replace these stones with just a regular stone that still says they were German POWS, but that's it, and take all the Nazi symbolism off," added Rep. John Carter, R-Texas. "If someone wants to preserve the tombstones for historical purposes ... they can preserve them in some other way, but I don't think they should be displayed daily to the American public." Wilkie maintains that regulation of the headstones falls under the National Historic Preservation Act, a section of which calls for the American Commission for Historic Preservation and other interested parties to provide input before the federal government embarks on any project -- including alterations -- at a designated historic property. He described that process as "lengthy" and has directed VA staff to explore all options for handling the issue. Wasserman Schultz accused Wilkie of "hiding behind" the law, which she argued does not prevent him from removing the markers. She noted that the VA, by its own policy, will not engrave anything on VA issued headstones that would "disrupt the solemnity or cause an adverse impact on its cemeteries." Both cemeteries were transferred to the VA National Cemetery Administration cemetery from the U.S. Army -- Fort Sam Houston in 1973 and Fort Douglas in December 2019. Wilkie, an avid reader of history, told lawmakers he is committed to finding a solution that will "educate and remind people why veterans in the cemeteries fought against the horrors from 1941 to 1945." "I think putting them in context in the cemeteries is the way forward," Wilkie said. "We have the same goal in mind."

^ Once again the VA is under fire for not doing what is right for Veterans and Soldiers. Usually it is about living people who do not receive good or high quality care, but this time it is about the dead and honoring Nazis in a US Federal Cemetery. As I wrote before I believe that the headstones with the Nazi symbol should be removed (and the dead Germans buried there should be shipped back to Germany) while the Nazi headstones should be preserved in a museum as they have historical significance, but they will no longer be honoring the Nazis on a sacred cemetery where Americans, many who fought the Nazis to free the world, are buried. ^

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/05/28/va-secretary-rebuffs-calls-removal-nazi-symbols-cemeteries.html

6 Union Reasons

From Military.com:

“6 Simple Reasons the Union Won the Civil War”

If zeal could be weaponized in wartime, the Confederacy might have had a chance. Not everyone in the South was very confident about the Confederacy's chances of winning the Civil War. As Rhett Butler pointed out in Gone With The Wind, there were just some things the South lacked that the North had in massive amounts — and it just so happened that all those things were the things you need to fight a war. Cotton, slaves, and arrogance just wasn't going to be enough to overcome everything else the Confederates lacked. Rhett Butler wasn't far off in listing factories, coal mines, and shipyards as essential materials. The fictional Rhett Butler only echoed statements made by prominent, prescient (and real) Southerners at the time, like Sam Houston. "If you go to war with the United States, you will never conquer her, as she has the money and the men. If she does not whip you by guns, powder, and steel, she will starve you to death. It will take the flower of the country —the young men." The Confederacy never had a chance. The Civil War was just the death throes of an outmoded way of life that was incompatible with American ideals and the nail in its coffin was manufactured by Northern factories and foundries.

1. Manufacturing capacity:     When it comes to actually fighting, there are some essentials that an army needs to be backed by — chief among them is the weapons of war. Southern historian Shelby Foote noted that the Industrial Revolution in the United States was in full swing at the time of the Civil War and much of that growing industrial strength was firmly in the North. Meanwhile, the South at the war's onset was still chiefly an agrarian society which relied on material imported from outside the 11 would-be Confederate states. It's not that the Southern economy was poorly planned overall, it was just poorly planned for fighting a war.

2. Economics:    Very closely related to industrial output is what the South could trade for those necessary war goods. When all is well, the South's cotton-based economy was booming due to worldwide demand for the crop. The trouble was that the population density in the South was so low that much of the wealth of the United States (and the banks that go along with that money) were overwhelmingly located in the North. When it came time to raise the money needed to fight a war, it was especially difficult for the South. Levying taxes on a small population didn't raise the money necessary to fund the Confederate Army and, for other countries, investing in a country that may not exist in time for that investment to yield a return is a risky venture. And tariffs on imported goods only work if those goods make it to market, which brings us to...

3. Naval strength:   Although the Confederacy saw some success at sea, the Confederate Navy was largely outgunned by the Union Navy. One of the first things the Union did was implement a naval blockade of Southern ports to keep supplies from getting to the Confederate Army while keeping that valuable Southern cotton from making it to foreign ports. The South's import-export capacity fell by as much as 80 percent during the war.

4. Ground transport:   Earlier I noted the Southern economy was poorly planned for fighting any war. That situation becomes more and more dire when fighting the war on the South's home turf. The North's industrialization required means of transport for manufactured goods and that meant a heavy investment in the fastest means of overland commercial transport available at the time: railroads. Northern states created significant rail networks to connect manufacturing centers in major cities while the South's cotton-based economy mainly relied on connecting plantations to major ports for export elsewhere. Railroad development was minimal in the South and large shipments were primarily made from inland areas by river to ports like New Orleans and Charleston – rivers that would get patrolled by the Union Navy.

5. Population:   People who live in a country are good for more than just paying taxes to fund a functional government and its armies, they also fuel the strength, reach, and capabilities of those armies. In the early battles of the Civil War, the South inflicted a lot more casualties on the North while keeping their numbers relatively low. But the North could handle those kinds of losses, they had more people to replace the multiple thousands killed on the battlefield. For the South, time was not on their side. At the beginning of the war, the Union outnumbered the Confederates 2-to-1 and no matter how zealous Southerners were to defend the Confederacy, there simply wasn't enough of them to be able to handle the kinds of losses the Union Army began to dish out by 1863. At Gettysburg, for example, Robert E. Lee's army numbered as many as 75,000 men – but Lee lost a third of those men in the fighting. Those were hardened combat troops, not easily replaced.

6. Politics:   Replacing troops was a contentious issue in the Confederate government. The Confederacy was staunchly a decentralized republic, dedicated to the supremacy of the states over the central government in Richmond. Political infighting hamstrung the Confederate war effort at times, most notably in the area of conscription. The Confederate draft was as unpopular in the South as it was in the North, but Southern governors called conscription the "essence of military despotism." In the end, the Confederate central government had to contend with the power of its own states along with the invading Union Army. In 1863, Texas' governor wouldn't even send Texan troops east for fears that they would be needed to fight Indians or Union troops invading his home state.

^ I just watched the “Grant” mini-series on the History Channel and this article about the Civil War seems to sum things up overall about the situation in the 1860s. The mini-series was very well-made and I liked it. I learned a good deal about Grant. ^

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/05/27/6-simple-reasons-union-won-civil-war.html

Crying Trump

From the BBC:

“Trump signs executive order targeting Twitter after fact-checking row”

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at removing some of the legal protections given to social media platforms. It gives regulators the power to pursue legal actions against firms such as Facebook and Twitter for the way they police content on their platforms.  President Trump accused social media platforms of having "unchecked power" while signing the order. The order is expected to face legal challenges.  Legal experts says the US Congress or the court system must be involved to change the current legal understanding of protections for these platforms. Mr Trump has regularly accused social media platforms of stifling or censoring conservative voices. On Wednesday, Mr Trump accused Twitter of election interference, after it added fact-check links to two of his tweets. On Thursday, Twitter added "get the facts about Covid-19" tags to two tweets from a Chinese government spokesman who claimed the coronavirus had originated in the US.

What does the executive order say?:    The order sets out to clarify the Communications Decency Act, a US law that offers online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube legal protection in certain situations. Under Section 230 of the law, social networks are not generally held responsible for content posted by their users, but can engage in "good-Samaritan blocking", such as removing content that is obscene, harassing or violent. The executive order points out that this legal immunity does not apply if a social network edits content posted by its users, and calls for legislation from Congress to "remove or change" section 230. Mr Trump said Attorney General William Barr will "immediately" begin crafting a law for Congress to later vote on. It also says "deceptive" blocking of posts, including removing a post for reasons other than those described in a website's terms of service, should not be offered immunity. Republican senator Marco Rubio is among those arguing that the platforms take on the role of a "publisher" when they add fact-check labels to specific posts. "The law still protects social media companies like Twitter because they are considered forums not publishers," Mr Rubio said. "But if they have now decided to exercise an editorial role like a publisher, then they should no longer be shielded from liability and treated as publishers under the law."

The executive order also calls for:  

the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to spell out what type of content blocking will be considered deceptive, pretextual or inconsistent with a service provider's terms and conditions

a review of government advertising on social-media sites and whether those platforms impose viewpoint-based restrictions

the re-establishment of the White House "tech bias reporting tool" that lets citizens report unfair treatment by social networks

What effect will the order have?    Donald Trump promised "big action" in response to Twitter's decision to append a fact-check message to two of his posts. While his announcement of an executive order was heavy on rhetoric - accusing social media companies of being monopolies that threaten free speech - it will be a long process before the talk turns into real action, big or otherwise. Independent government agencies will have to review federal law, promulgate new regulations, vote on them and then - in all likelihood - defend them in court. By the time it's all over, the November presidential election could have come and gone. That explains why Trump is also pushing for new congressional legislation - a more straightforward way of changing US policy toward social media companies.  The real purpose of the president's order, however, may be symbolic. At the very least, the move will cause Twitter to think twice about attempting to moderate or fact-check his posts on their service.  The president relies on Twitter to get his message out without filtering from the mainstream media. If Twitter itself start blunting one of his favourite communication tools, he is sending a message that he will push back - and make things, at a minimum, uncomfortable for the company.

How have the social networks responded?:    Twitter called the order "a reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law," adding that Section 230 "protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it's underpinned by democratic values". Google, which owns YouTube, said changing Section 230 would "hurt America's economy and its global leadership on internet freedom." "We have clear content policies and we enforce them without regard to political viewpoint. Our platforms have empowered a wide range of people and organizations from across the political spectrum, giving them a voice and new ways to reach their audiences," the firm said in a statement to the BBC. In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said censoring a social media platform would not be the "right reflex" for a government concerned about censorship.  "I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online," said Mr Zuckerberg.  "I think in general private companies probably shouldn't be - especially these platform companies - shouldn't be in the position of doing that."  One conservative think tank warned the executive order could have unintended consequences. "In the long run, this conservative campaign against social media companies could have a devastating effect on the freedom of speech," said Matthew Feeney of the Cato Institute.  And changing the Communications Decency Act to "impose political neutrality on social media companies" could see the platforms filled with "legal content they'd otherwise like to remove" such as pornography, violent imagery and racism. "Or they would screen content to a degree that would kill the free flow of information on social media that we're used to today," he said. Mr Feeney said the draft of the executive order was a "mess" but could prove politically popular in the run-up to a presidential election.

What sparked the latest row?:   The long-running dispute between Mr Trump and social media companies flared up again on Tuesday, when two of his posts were given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time. He had tweeted, without providing evidence: "There is no way (zero) that mail-in ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent." Twitter added a warning label to the post and linked to a page describing the claims as "unsubstantiated". Then on Wednesday, Mr Trump threatened to "strongly regulate" social-media platforms. He tweeted to his more than 80 million followers that Republicans felt the platforms "totally silence conservatives", and that he would not allow this to happen.  In an earlier tweet, he said Twitter was "completely stifling free speech". Twitter's chief executive, Jack Dorsey, responded to criticism of the platform's fact-checking policies in a series of posts, saying: "We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally." Mr Trump wrote a similar post about mail-in ballots on Facebook on Tuesday, and no such warnings were applied. Twitter has tightened its policies in recent years, as it faced criticism that its hands-off approach allowed fake accounts and misinformation to thrive.

^ This Executive Order does not make Trump look more powerful, but as less powerful. Rather than “taking a stand” as he may see it the real thing that Americans see is a President that is crying over his Twitter posts rather than over the 100,000 American men, women and children that have died from Covid-19. I hope clearer heads prevail in Congress and that no change is made to the law. The only change should be that a standing-President should not be allowed to post on any social media site under a personal account. Everything should be done officially and through an official account. If Trump does not like Twitter than he can deactivate his Twitter account (which he wouldn’t do because then no one would listen to him or his crying over “spilt milk.” ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52843986

Disney World Opening

From USA Today:

“Walt Disney World sets July 11 reopening date for Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom”

Walt Disney World plans to reopen July 11, according to a presentation the company made to an economic recovery task force Wednesday. Disney's Florida theme parks have been closed since March 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and their reopening will follow its Florida rival, Universal Orlando, which is set to reopen June 5. SeaWorld Orlando also presented its plan to Orange County's Economic Recovery Task Force and plans to reopen for employees as soon as June 10, and the public on June 11.  Jim McPhee, senior vice president of operations for Walt Disney World, said the company plans a phased reopening of the park, with the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening July 11. Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios are set to reopen July 15. Existing ticket holders,  annual passholders and those with Disney Resort hotel reservations will be able to make reservation requests before new tickets are sold. As with other theme parks that have announced their reopening plans, Disney World visitors will undergo a temperature check and be required to wear face masks. The parks will provide masks to people who do not bring their own. Social distancing markers will be visible throughout the theme parks. Disney's cast members will enforce the rules, including the mask requirement, as part of a "social distancing squad." Park capacity will also be limited, and not all attractions will reopen right away. McPhee said the "squad" made its debut when the nearby Disney Springs retail complex reopened May 20. He described the squad as a "huge hit with guests and effective." Officials in Orange County, Florida, unanimously approved Disney's and SeaWorld's plans Wednesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis must also approve. Disney Vacation Club resorts at Disney World are expected to reopen June 22 with resorts in Vero Beach, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina, opening June 15.

SeaWorld Orlando announces planned opening date:    "We’re excited to bring back our guests," said Marc Swanson, interim CEO of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment as he discussed SeaWorld Orlando's proposed public opening date of June 11. Like Disney World and Universal Orlando, SeaWorld will check visitor temperatures and require face masks and social distancing.  "People can still have a great experience, but spaced appropriately," Swanson said. Like its peers, SeaWorld will limit capacity, offer contactless payment options and will increase cleaning and sanitation of high-contact surfaces. Plexiglass barriers will go up between visitors and employees.  At its restaurants, Swanson said prepackaged food items will become more common.

What will theme park-goers nationwide experience during a pandemic?:   Other theme parks nationwide are getting ready to reopen. Six Flags Frontier City in Oklahoma City is set to reopen June 5, becoming the first Six Flags park in the country to reopen. The Drive Thru Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey will reopen Saturday, though the theme park will remain closed for now. Legoland Florida will reopen Monday. It isn't clear when Disneyland and other California theme parks such as Knott's Berry Farm can reopen. The state is taking a more cautious approach to reopening its economy. It will likely be months before mass-gathering events can take place. Cedar Fairs, which operates Knott's Berry Farm and several other theme parks in the United States and Canada, has said it doesn't expect to reopen any of them soon. When they reopen, theme parks will look very different to visitors. They'll operate at reduced capacity. A temperature check will be required on entry, and visitors will be encouraged, if not required, to wear face coverings. Rides, restaurants and retail will maintain social distance, with signs and markers showing visitors what's expected. Hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations will be installed. Contactless forms of payment will be preferred, though some places may still accept cash. Park operators promise more frequent cleaning and disinfecting of touch points and surfaces. Park employees will get temperature checks, wear face coverings and maintain social distance. The reopening of big attractions such as Disney and Universal parks is expected to help jump-start travel and related business, including airlines, hotels and car-rental companies after consumer travel plummeted in recent months.

^ It will be interesting to see how Disney World and Sea World will open and actually enforce the social distancing and other measures. I have been to both (Disney World several times) and even when it isn’t a pandemic people act stupid. I’m sure that is not going to change any time soon. I do think, though, that these places should and need to reopen. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/05/27/disney-world-sets-coronavirus-reopening-date-magic-kingdom-animal-kingdom/5262558002/

8.600 Left

From Reuters:

“Exclusive: U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan down to close to 8,600 ahead of schedule – sources”

U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is down to nearly 8,600, well ahead of a schedule agreed with Taliban militants in late February, in part because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. and NATO officials said.  A key provision of the Feb. 29 agreement between the Taliban and the United States, to which the Afghan government was not a party, involved a U.S. commitment to reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July and, conditions permitting, to zero by May 2021.  Two senior sources in Kabul said the 8,600 target was likely to be achieved by early June.  Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the United States was close to 8,600 troops and could reach that number in coming days.  “Due to COVID-19 concerns, we are moving towards that planned drawdown faster than anticipated,” one of the officials said.  The other U.S. official said the United States had focused on quickly removing non-essential personnel and those considered to be at high risk from the virus.  All four sources asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.  Last month CNN reported that the United States had less than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, putting the Trump administration ahead of schedule.  U.S. forces are in Afghanistan to conduct counter-insurgency operations. A few thousand U.S. soldiers work with troops from 37 NATO partner countries to train, advise and assist Afghan forces.  NATO’s mission in the country totalled 16,551 troops in February, according official data available on its website.  On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump there were “7,000-some-odd” U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan but officials clarified that number was slightly over 8,600 troops.  Trump renewed his desire for a full military withdrawal from Afghanistan but added that he had not set a target date, amid speculation he might make ending America’s longest war part of his re-election campaign.

NATO DILEMMA:   The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 before being ousted by U.S.-led troops in 2001, have sought to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and reimpose Islamic rule. They dismiss the Kabul government as a puppet of the United States.  The faster-than-expected withdrawal has put NATO in a dilemma as to whether it should consider swiftly sending back some non-U.S. troops from Afghanistan as well, two NATO sources said.  “The drawdown by the U.S. was expected to be done in 135 days but it’s clear that they have almost completed the process in just about 90 days,” said a senior Western official in Kabul on condition of anonymity.  The official said that some other NATO soldiers would be withdrawn before schedule.  The Taliban have recently increased attacks in a number of provinces, despite the Afghan government releasing prisoners as per the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in Doha.  In a statement, the Pentagon said it expected to be at 8,600 troops within 135 days of signing the agreement, but declined to say how many troops were currently in Afghanistan.  “We are not providing updates on current troop levels primarily due to operational security concerns associated with the drawdown,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell said.  Officials are now looking at the pace of the drawdown beyond 8,600.

^ While this faster-paced withdrawal does not surprise me we do need to still support (with weapons, training and appreciation) the 8,600 American men and women still serving in Afghanistan. We can not simply forget them and leave them abandoned over there. They continue to risk their lives every second of every day for all of us and until they ALL return home we can not forget that or them. ^

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-taliban-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-troop-strength-in-afghanistan-down-to-close-to-8600-ahead-of-schedule-u-s-and-nato-officials-idUSKBN233147?il=0

Disabled Denied

From Disability Scoop/Philadelphia Inquirer:

“Nonverbal Students Being Denied An Education During Pandemic, Lawsuit Says”

Students with autism are illegally being denied an education during the government-ordered coronavirus school shutdown, a lawsuit filed this month alleges. The outcome of the lawsuit, seeking class-action status and filed in federal court in Philadelphia on behalf of two Bucks County children, could potentially affect thousands of students with disabilities. At its heart is a claim that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf failed to name as “life-sustaining” services those that provide in-person education to nonverbal and partially verbal children with autism — kids for whom online instruction and services are ineffective. Also named are state Education Secretary Pedro Rivera and the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which collectively have broken state and federal law and deprived children with severe disabilities of their right to a free and appropriate public education, according to the suit. The lawsuit comes as challenges mount against districts’ handling of special education services during the pandemic. A class-action suit was filed in Hawaii last month. In New Jersey, some districts initially asked parents to waive legal rights before students could receive remote special education services, but a state Education Department order reversed that, saying the request was illegal.

Betsy DeVos, the federal education secretary, opted not to ask Congress for a waiver exempting schools from special education laws during coronavirus closures. Before the pandemic closed schools — Wolf ordered all Pennsylvania schools shut for in-person instruction on March 16, and extended the closure for the remainder of the school year on April 9 — James and Brennan, both 7-year-olds with autism attending school in the Central Bucks School District, spent 32 1/2 hours a week receiving educational and therapeutic services. At school, they received one-on-one services from a range of teachers, aides and service providers. Each now receives just over an hour per week of online services. The children, both of whom use devices to communicate, are identified only by first names to preserve their privacy. Both boys are regressing, with their education at a standstill, said James J. Pepper, the lawyer representing the families. “As things stand now, online learning is the only option for school districts, and it’s not cutting it for these kids,” Pepper said. “They are not receiving an education, and the state is responsible.” Some private providers of educational services for children with autism are deemed life-sustaining and are providing one-on-one services during the pandemic, according to the suit. The families do not fault Central Bucks, whose teachers and therapists the suit lauds as having made “heroic efforts” to help both boys through online learning. But their disabilities mean that even such efforts cannot give the boys the education they are guaranteed by state and federal law. That the Wolf administration says two tobacco manufacturers, a hair-restoration business, and a fireworks warehouse are life-sustaining businesses while educational and therapeutic services for children with severe disabilities are not is illogical — and illegal, according to the suit. “The services and instruction children with autism receive at public schools in the commonwealth are inarguably ‘life-sustaining.’ This is especially true if the construction of a casino, the manufacture of cabinets, the manufacture of chocolates … were all deemed as such by Governor Wolf.” The pandemic is affecting all Pennsylvania public school students’ education negatively, but most children are resilient and can recover lost ground easily, Pepper said, while the stakes are highest for children like Brennan and James. “It is literally impossible for nonverbal and partially verbal children to receive the education they are legally entitled to through online learning,” said Pepper. “And because of this, the defendants have left my clients and thousands of other children like them on the side of the road.” The suit seeks compensatory damages, as well as a change directing the classification of services for nonverbal and partially verbal children as life-sustaining. A spokesperson for the state Education Department said officials had not received the suit yet and declined to comment on pending litigation.

^ This lawsuit highlights a major problem not only in Pennsylvania, but for every other US State and Territory. When Chaos and confusion was allowed to reign with the start of Covid-19 Local, State and Federal Governments and Officials simply abandoned the most vulnerable (the disabled, the elderly, Veterans, the homeless, etc.) While everyone praises the States, the School Districts and the teachers from moving from the classroom to online so quickly little attention is paid to all of those left behind (those without good Internet as well as the disabled – especially the non-verbal.) It may not seem like that big of a deal for them to “fall through the cracks” but tell that to the individual who is abandoned and made to fend for themselves through no fault of their own. We as a society are only as good as how we handle a crisis and if we don’t address all the issues now – even with the pandemic on-going – then we risk being forever judged as abandoning those who most needed us and that will be a stain that we will forever be stuck with. ^

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/05/27/nonverbal-students-denied-education-pandemic-lawsuit/28377/