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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologizes for his role in Trump’s Lafayette Square photo op

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologizes for his role in Trump’s Lafayette Square photo op

The New York Times reports: The country’s top military official apologized on Thursday for taking part in President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square for a photo op after the authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters. “I should not have been there,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defense University. “My presence in that moment and in that…

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Why are so many NYPD officers refusing to wear masks at protests?

Why are so many NYPD officers refusing to wear masks at protests?

The New York Times reports: Riot helmets, ballistic vests, shields, batons — fully decked-out police officers have become staples in New York City as the protests against racism and police brutality approach their third week. But increasingly, one piece of equipment has attracted attention with its absence: the face mask. On any given day, any corner, any group of officers, some or all of them are not wearing masks. Others wear them below their chin. With masks having become as…

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Inside Seattle’s ‘autonomous zone’ with free food, free speech, and no police

Inside Seattle’s ‘autonomous zone’ with free food, free speech, and no police

The New York Times reports: On the streets next to a police precinct in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, protesters and officers spent a week locked in a nightly cycle of standoffs, at times ending with clouds of tear gas. But facing a growing backlash over its dispersal tactics in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, the Seattle Police Department this week offered a concession: Officers would abandon their precinct, board up the windows and let the protesters have…

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Four years embedded with the alt-right

Four years embedded with the alt-right

Daniel Lombroso writes: White nationalists have always been able to find one another in America, but the recent resurgence of the white-nationalist movement—and the extent to which its ideas have seeped into the mainstream alongside Donald Trump’s political ascent—is stunning. In November 2016, I captured footage of Trump supporters throwing Nazi salutes in celebration of his presidential victory, a moment that became an explosive story in the days that followed, and set the tone for the Trump presidency. In the…

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Federal arrests show no sign that antifa activists plotted protests

Federal arrests show no sign that antifa activists plotted protests

The New York Times reports: Inciting a riot. Hurling a Molotov cocktail. Plotting to sow destruction. Those are some of the most serious charges brought by federal prosecutors against demonstrators at protests across the country in recent weeks. But despite cries from President Trump and others in his administration, none of those charged with serious federal crimes amid the unrest have been linked so far to the loose collective of anti-fascist activists known as antifa. A review of the arrests…

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Why are there so many humans?

Why are there so many humans?

By Karen L. Kramer, Sapiens, June 9, 2020 Something curious happened in human population history over the last 1 million years. First, our numbers fell to as low as 18,500, and our ancestors were more endangered than chimpanzees and gorillas. Then we bounced back to extraordinary levels, far surpassing the other great apes. Today the total population of gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans is estimated to be only around 500,000, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Many species are critically…

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Most Americans trust Black Lives Matter movement more than Trump to promote justice and racial equality

Most Americans trust Black Lives Matter movement more than Trump to promote justice and racial equality

USA Today reports: The police crackdown to clear protesters from Lafayette Square last week looms as a defining moment in the national debate over race and law enforcement that has been sparked by the death of George Floyd. An exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds Americans overwhelmingly endorse the right of peaceful protest outside the White House – a view held by nearly 9 of 10 people across racial and partisan lines. Nearly 9 of 10 had heard about the clashes…

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Pentagon is open to replacing base names linked to white supremacy, but Trump shuts down the discussion

Pentagon is open to replacing base names linked to white supremacy, but Trump shuts down the discussion

The New York Times reports: Monuments and memorials bearing the names of men who fought to preserve slavery and uphold white supremacy are facing a reckoning, as demonstrations against police brutality have erupted across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The protests have also reignited a debate within the military community over 10 Army bases named after Confederate leaders, which as recently as February the service said it had no intention…

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More than 1,250 former Justice Dept. workers call for probe on Barr’s role in clearing peaceful demonstrators

More than 1,250 former Justice Dept. workers call for probe on Barr’s role in clearing peaceful demonstrators

The Washington Post reports: More than 1,250 former Justice Department workers on Wednesday called on the agency’s internal watchdog to investigate Attorney General William P. Barr’s involvement in law enforcement’s move last week to push a crowd of largely peaceful demonstrators back from Lafayette Square using horses and gas. In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the group said it was “deeply concerned about the Department’s actions, and those of Attorney General William Barr himself, in response…

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Former federal judge determines Justice Dept reversal on Flynn case was a ‘gross abuse’ of power

Former federal judge determines Justice Dept reversal on Flynn case was a ‘gross abuse’ of power

The New York Times reports: Accusing the Justice Department of a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power,” a former mafia prosecutor and retired federal judge urged a court on Wednesday to reject the Trump administration’s attempt to drop the criminal case against Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, and instead sentence him. The authority of judges to scrutinize case dismissal requests “empowers courts to protect the integrity of their own proceedings from prosecutors who undertake corrupt, politically motivated…

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White House goes quiet on coronavirus as outbreak spikes again across the U.S.

White House goes quiet on coronavirus as outbreak spikes again across the U.S.

Politico reports: The coronavirus is still killing as many as 1,000 Americans per day — but the Trump administration isn’t saying much about it. It’s been more than a month since the White House halted its daily coronavirus task force briefings. Top officials like infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci have largely disappeared from national television — with Fauci making just four cable TV appearances in May after being a near fixture on Sunday shows across March and April — and…

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Widespread mask-wearing could prevent Covid-19 second waves, says study

Widespread mask-wearing could prevent Covid-19 second waves, says study

Reuters reports: Population-wide face mask use could push COVID-19 transmission down to controllable levels for national epidemics, and could prevent further waves of the pandemic disease when combined with lockdowns, according to a British study on Wednesday. The research, led by scientists at the Britain’s Cambridge and Greenwich Universities, suggests lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, but that even homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in public. “Our…

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Are viruses alive? Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question

Are viruses alive? Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question

Axel_Kock/Shutterstock Hugh Harris, University College Cork Viruses are an inescapable part of life, especially in a global viral pandemic. Yet ask a roomful of scientists if viruses are alive and you’ll get a very mixed response. The truth is, we don’t fully understand viruses, and we’re still trying to understand life. Some properties of living things are absent from viruses, such as cellular structure, metabolism (the chemical reactions that take place in cells) and homeostasis (keeping a stable internal environment)….

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Large majorities of Americans support protests over Floyd killing and say police need to change, poll finds

Large majorities of Americans support protests over Floyd killing and say police need to change, poll finds

The Washington Post reports: Americans overwhelmingly support the nationwide protests that have taken place since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and they say police forces have not done enough to ensure that blacks are treated equally to whites, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. President Trump receives negative marks for his handling of the protests, with 61 percent saying they disapprove and 35 percent saying they approve. Much of the opposition to…

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