Activist Leaves Hong Kong After New Law to Advocate Abroad

Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law has left the city for an undisclosed location after testifying in a U.S. congressional hearing about a tough new security law imposed by mainland China on the semi-autonomous territory.

Law, who declined to disclose his whereabouts for safety, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he left because Hong Kong needs an advocate for democracy who can work internationally.

Read the full story

Teenagers in Nashville Spend July 4 Vilifying Law Enforcement

Nashville couldn’t have its yearly July 4 festivities or fireworks show because of the city’s COVID-19 restrictions, but it could have teenagers marching downtown and screaming to take down the police.

Such was the case Saturday as hundreds, perhaps thousands, of members of the group Teens For Equality met at Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall Park. They gave speeches. They marched. They chanted about their contempt for law enforcement.

Read the full story

Commentary: When Tyranny Through Bureaucracy Takes Root the Growth of Violence Follows

by Annie Holmquist   It’s funny how peaceful all this recent protesting for change has been. In fact, it’s so peaceful that average Americans, trying to go about their lives as normally as possible, are simply surrounded by love and feelings of euphoria. I speak tongue-in-cheek, of course, for the exact opposite seems to be the case. The video of a Black Lives Matter protest in Utah is only the latest, high-profile example. Video shows vehicle being surrounded by #BlackLivesMatter rioters in Provo Utah and shows protester/rioters shoot into the car multiple times as driver attempts to escape #DezNat pic.twitter.com/GYuWDiXm2o — H O S S DezNat News Man (@NiasDiad) June 30, 2020 According to media reports, the video shows a 60-year-old local driving through Provo during a Black Lives Matter Protest. The vehicle is quickly surrounded by protesters, one of whom pulls a gun and shoots through the passenger window. The injured driver guns it, hightailing it out of the area, while protesters try to stop him, the shooter sending another bullet through the rear passenger window. Police later arrested 33-year-old Jesse Taggart in connection with the shooting; reports indicate he also attempted further violence following the incident. Unfortunately, we can’t…

Read the full story

New Virginia Gun Laws Take Effect Amid Nationwide Unrest

A host of gun control laws, passed months ago and spearheaded by Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, took effect on Wednesday in the commonwealth after months of fierce opposition from pro-firearm groups.

Northam signed the slew of gun restrictions in April after they passed the state’s General Assembly, where Democrats hold the majority, USA Today reported. The lawmakers faced dissent from over 20,000 angry citizens — many of whom were heavily armed — in the state’s capital in late January, according to Fox News.

Read the full story

LA City Council Okays Replacing Police with Community Responders for Non-Violent Calls

The Los Angeles City Council approved a measure Tuesday that would allow unarmed community responders to step in for uniformed officers on non-violent calls, according to news reports.

The local government’s initiative was unanimous and will replace cops on calls for drug overdoses and mental health issues, among other non-violent situations, according to CBS Los Angeles. The city is likely to draw on its health and homeless departments to strategize on the new style of policing.

Read the full story

Analysis: A Deeper Look at Black Lives Matter and Its Impact

Standing behind vandals who attempted to pull down the bronze statue of Andrew Jackson near the White House last week is a loosely configured, increasingly well-funded network of Black Lives Matter activists bent on constraining and defunding law enforcement. 

An area called Black Lives Matter Plaza became the staging ground for more than 100 demonstrators, many of them egging on the vandalism before police intervened. 

Read the full story

STUDY: Anti-Malarial Drug Used to Treat Lupus Helped COVID-19 Patients Survive, Despite Media Claims

An anti-malarial drug that President Donald Trump hyped as a potential therapy for the coronavirus helped some patients survive the disease while in the hospital, according to research published Wednesday.

Some of those who received hydroxychloroquine before acute symptoms began were much less likely to die from the virus, according to researchers at Henry Ford Health System in Michigan. Their findings come after other studies determined that the experimental drug provided little or no benefit to people struggling with the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Read the full story

Supreme Court to Determine Whether Congress Can See Redactions in the Mueller Report

The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will hear a case that will decide whether Congress can see redacted portions of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The case’s arguments will most likely be heard in the fall after the presidential election, and the Supreme Court will likely reach a decision in 2021, The New York Times reported. The case came after the House Judiciary Committee requested grand jury documents the Department of Justice redacted from the Mueller report.

Read the full story

Republicans Invoke Independence Day In Opposition to Walz’s Coronavirus Response

Gov. Tim Walz recently filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him regarding his use of emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit was filed on May 28 by four members of the New House Republican Caucus, the Free Minnesota Coalition, and at least eight businesses across the state. The complaint argues that the governor does not have the authority to “suspend the constitutional rights of Minnesotans.”

Read the full story

Michigan Village Starts Flood Recovery, Awaits Funds

by Anna Liz Nichols   LANSING, Michigan (AP) — Jenna Hulse was at work out of town as a nurse when she got a message from her brother that a dam three blocks from her house in the Michigan village of Sanford was failing. Six feet of water entered the home, and though Hulse said she’s lucky that the house she’s lived in most of her life is still structurally sound, many other peoples’ homes were destroyed, ripped from their foundations. “Things aren’t ever going to be normal again. There will be a new normal, I guess, but there’s so much of the village that’s getting torn down. Eventually, the look and feel of it will be different,” Hulse said. “It’s just unfair and disgusting, watching these houses get torn down that I’ve been looking at my whole life.” Hulse is among the 859 Sanford residents whose lives were upended when privately owned dams with a history of neglect failed in May, resulting in more than $200 million damage in Midland County. When the floodwaters roiled the Tittabawassee River, much of the attention focused on the larger downstream city of Midland, home to Dow Chemical Co. But many in Sanford are still scraping up…

Read the full story

Government Retaliation Prompts Expansion of Lawsuit Against Mayor Cooper and Governor Lee Over COVID-19 Orders

A legal complaint brought by a local bar owner against Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for violating constitutional rights with their respective orders related to COVID-19 has since expanded due to more recent retaliatory events.

The original complaint was filed in late May, The Tennessee Star reported, with an amended version filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee about a month later.

Read the full story