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The story behind Bill Barr’s militia occupying Washington D.C.

The story behind Bill Barr’s militia occupying Washington D.C.

Garrett M. Graff writes: Few sights from the nation’s protests in recent days have seemed more dystopian than the appearance of rows of heavily-armed riot police around Washington in drab military-style uniforms with no insignia, identifying emblems or name badges. Many of the apparently federal agents have refused to identify which agency they work for. “Tell us who you are, identify yourselves!” protesters demanded, as they stared down the helmeted, sunglass-wearing mostly white men outside the White House. Eagle-eyed protesters…

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Buffalo police serve and protect each other

Buffalo police serve and protect each other

The Daily Beast reports: A video of Buffalo police officers shoving an elderly peace activist to the ground, then walking by him as a pool of blood collected around his head, shocked the nation. Their colleagues? Not so much. All members of the Emergency Response Team resigned from the unit on Friday in support of the officers who were suspended without pay for their aggression toward Martin Gugino, 75. “Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of…

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Facebook employees said they were ‘caught in an abusive relationship’ with Trump as internal debates raged

Facebook employees said they were ‘caught in an abusive relationship’ with Trump as internal debates raged

The Washington Post reports: At an emergency town hall meeting Facebook held this week, days after President Trump posted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” on his account, 5,500 Facebook employees had a demand for Mark Zuckerberg. Before the meeting, the employees voted in a poll on which questions to ask the chief executive at the meeting, according to internal documents viewed by The Washington Post. The question that got the most votes: “Can we please change our policies…

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Law enforcement seizes masks meant to protect anti-racist protesters from Covid-19

Law enforcement seizes masks meant to protect anti-racist protesters from Covid-19

HuffPost reports: Law enforcement agents have seized hundreds of cloth masks that read “Stop killing Black people” and “Defund police” that a Black Lives Matter-affiliated organization sent to cities around the country to protect demonstrators against the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has had a disparate impact on Black communities. The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) spent tens of thousands of dollars on the masks they had planned to send all over the country. The first four boxes, each…

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Sweden had no lockdown. Did it work?

Sweden had no lockdown. Did it work?

  Sweden has become a model for staying open during the pandemic for lockdown opponents in the U.S. Yet comparing Sweden and the U.S. without context is misleading. Unlike the Scandinavian country, the U.S. was not equipped with a robust social welfare system. But most importantly, has Sweden even successfully contained COVID-19? And will Sweden reach herd immunity?

Jim Cramer: The pandemic led to ‘one of the greatest wealth transfers in history’

Jim Cramer: The pandemic led to ‘one of the greatest wealth transfers in history’

CNBC reports: The coronavirus pandemic and corresponding lockdown made way for “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday. The stock market is rising as big business rebounds from state-ordered stoppage of nonessential activity, while small businesses drop like flies, the “Mad Money” host said. “The bigger the business, the more it moves the major averages, and that matters because this is the first recession where big business … is coming through virtually unscathed, if…

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The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968

The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968

The Washington Post reports: As Black Live Matter protests grow across the nation over policing, the deep economic inequalities that African Americans face are coming to the forefront. In many ways, the gap between the finances of blacks and whites is still as wide in 2020 as it was in 1968, when a run of landmark civil rights legislation culminated in the Fair Housing Act in response to centuries of unequal treatment of African Americans in nearly every part of…

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Black voters are at the heart of the fight to take back America from Trump

Black voters are at the heart of the fight to take back America from Trump

Juan Williams writes: In Columbia, S.C., on Saturday, a young protester told a reporter that she just didn’t think voting is “how change happens.” “They’ve been telling us to do that for so long,” she added, “and we’ve done it — and look at everything that’s still going on.” Fury over the cruel death of George Floyd, a black man in police custody, combined with fear of a deadly virus and its painful economic impact, make this a dark, dizzying…

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It’s up to American citizens to save America democracy

It’s up to American citizens to save America democracy

General John Allen (ret.) writes: The slide of the United States into illiberalism may well have begun on June 1, 2020. Remember the date. It may well signal the beginning of the end of the American experiment. The president of the United States stood in the Rose Garden of the White House on Monday, railed against weak governors and mayors who were not doing enough, in his mind, to control the unrest and the rioters in their cities, and threatened…

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The U.S. military must stand up for its soul in this moment

The U.S. military must stand up for its soul in this moment

Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.) writes: We need to get our active duty military out of the line of fire of domestic politics and off the streets, and turn this mission over to the men and women trained for it. I am old enough to remember the protests of 1968, the destructive energy that ripped through this nation in those days under the twin burdens of racism (and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.) and the country’s enormous protests against…

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Washington DC now controlled by gunmen under William Barr’s command

Washington DC now controlled by gunmen under William Barr’s command

The Washington Post reports: From an FBI command center in Washington’s Chinatown neighborhood, Attorney General William P. Barr has orchestrated a stunning show of force on the streets of the nation’s capital — a battalion of federal agents, troops and police designed to restore order, but one that critics say carries grim parallels to heavy-handed foreign regimes. Barr was tapped by President Trump to direct the national response to protests and riots over police misconduct since the police-custody death of…

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William Barr’s unaccountable nameless army suppresses dissent and threatens democracy

William Barr’s unaccountable nameless army suppresses dissent and threatens democracy

We cannot tolerate an American secret police. I will be introducing legislation to require uniformed federal officers performing any domestic security duties to clearly identify what military branch or agency they represent. pic.twitter.com/2kaFAlWUow — Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 4, 2020 HuffPost reports: Just a few hundred feet north of the White House on Wednesday afternoon, armed agents of the federal government, dressed in a patchwork of colors and protective gear, stared down peaceful protesters demonstrating for Black lives. Yet what…

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The dystopian Lincoln Memorial photo raises a grim question: Will they protect us, or will they shoot us?

The dystopian Lincoln Memorial photo raises a grim question: Will they protect us, or will they shoot us?

Members of the D.C. National Guard were ordered in front of the Lincoln Memorial by Attorney General William Barr, according to a senior National Park Service official. The Park Service has been told to expect a more militarized presence at its sites. https://t.co/iZncUnhLrL pic.twitter.com/OJBiRm3D89 — The New York Times (@nytimes) June 3, 2020 Philip Kennicott writes: Who in the Pentagon, or the leadership of the National Guard of the District of Columbia, thought this was a good look? Who thought…

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Former defense secretary, James Mattis, denounces Trump, describing him as a threat to the Constitution

Former defense secretary, James Mattis, denounces Trump, describing him as a threat to the Constitution

James Mattis writes: I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are…

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