Tag: George Floyd

All These Major American Companies with Hong Kong Footprints Weighed in on George Floyd’s Death, but Not China’s Hong Kong Takeover

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Major American companies were quick to issue statements in support of Black Lives Matter or social justice causes in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, but dozens of those same firms that have operations in Hong Kong have yet to weigh in on the Chinese Communist Party’s de facto takeover of the city.

Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Marriott, McDonalds, Nike and Scholastic are among the dozens of major American companies with footholds in Hong Kong that weighed in after Floyd’s death but have yet to weigh in on the new security law Beijing recently imposed on the city, which impacts its employees working in the city and which critics say is designed to crack down on dissent of the ruling Communist Party.

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Chaotic Protests Prompt Soul-Searching in Portland, Oregon

The Associated Press

Nearly two months of nightly protests that have devolved into violent clashes with police have prompted soul-searching in Portland, Oregon, a city that prides itself on its progressive reputation but is increasingly polarized over how to handle the unrest.

President Donald Trump recently deployed federal agents to “quell” the demonstrations in Portland that began after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, shining an unwelcome spotlight as the city struggles to find a way forward. The national attention comes as divisions deepen among elected officials about the legitimacy of the more violent protests — striking at the heart of Portland’s identity as an ultraliberal haven where protest is seen as a badge of honor.

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Walz Asks Federal Government to Help Twin Cities Rebuild from $500M Worth of Rioting Damage

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz has requested federal financial assistance to help the Twin Cities recover from more than $500 million worth of damage caused by rioting.

In a press release, Walz’s office said nearly 1,500 Twin Cities businesses were vandalized, burned, or looted during the late May riots, with current estimates of the damage exceeding $500 million.

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Tennessee Man Arrested on Eight Charges Connected to Nashville Riots

Anthony Gockowski

The Metro Nashville Police Department announced a “significant arrest” Wednesday night in connection to the May 30 riots outside the Metro Courthouse.

According to a press release, authorities have arrested 33-year-old Ryan Keith Ray on eight criminal charges. Ray has been charged with inciting a riot, arson, two counts of burglary, and four counts of felony vandalism.

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Hennepin County Board Passes Resolution Declaring Racism a ‘Public Health Crisis’

Anthony Gockowski

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday declaring racism a “public health crisis.”

Commissioners Angela Conley and Irene Fernando introduced the resolution, which passed in a vote of 6-1.

“Ultimately this resolution is about the health and well-being of Hennepin County residents who have borne the brunt of racial discrimination and racial inequity through various different systems,” Conley said in a press release after the resolution passed.

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Judge Threatens to Move Trial Out of Minneapolis If Public Officials Don’t Stop Speaking Out About Floyd Case

The Associated Press

A Minnesota judge on Monday warned that he’s likely to move the trials of four former police officers charged in George Floyd’s death out of Minneapolis if public officials, attorneys and family members don’t stop speaking out about the case.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill stopped short of issuing a gag order against attorneys on both sides, but he said he likely will if public statements continue that make it hard to find an impartial jury. Cahill said that would also make him likely to grant a change-of-venue motion if one is filed, as he anticipates.

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Ohio Speaker of the House Threatens to Remove Capitol Square from City of Columbus

Zachery Schmidt

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) announced he is looking into whether the Ohio Capitol can be annexed from the City of Columbus’ city limits as a result of the city not protecting the Capitol from recent protests.

“We’re researching it currently. If Columbus isn’t interested in protecting state property we need to consider removing Cap Square from the City,” he said in an emailed statement.

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State Senators to Hold Oversight Hearings on Handling of Minneapolis Riots, Ask DOJ to Investigate Police

Anthony Gockowski

Three Republican state senators called on U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and the Department of Justice to investigate the Minneapolis Police Department and its response to recent unrest in the city.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) announced plans to hold a series of legislative oversight hearings beginning July 1 on state and local responses to the riots.

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18-Year-Old Charged with Inciting a Riot, Civil Disorder in Knoxville Unrest

Anthony Gockowski

An 18-year-old from Heiskell, Tennessee was charged Monday with inciting a riot and civil disorder for his involvement in a May 30 riot in downtown Knoxville.

According to WVLT, a group of 50 to 100 people gathered in Market Square around 11:30 p.m. on May 30 to commit acts of vandalism as unrest spread across the nation in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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Commentary: Today’s Cultural Revolution Will Not Stop at Elections, They Want Your Minds

Admin

The cultural revolutionaries who have begun marching in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin have opened a widespread assault on history itself, toppling statues across the country including those of Confederate generals like Albert Pike in Washington, D.C. but also Union generals, too, like Ulysses S. Grant in San Francisco, who won the Civil War to abolish slavery and later went on to become President.

The vandals have even begun targeting religious symbols, with some calls to go after statues of Jesus, who was Jewish, as somehow being a symbol of white supremacy.

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Republican Pete Stauber, Former Law Enforcement Officer, Carries Police Reform Bill in the House

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN-08), a former law enforcement officer of more than 20 years, announced last week that he will carry police reform legislation in the U.S. House.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced on Wednesday the Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act, a Republican-backed police reform bill that was set in motion after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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In Minneapolis, Talk of Changing the Police Department Means Taking on the Union

The Associated Press

by Amy Forliti   MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) — The fiery leader of Minneapolis’ police union has built a reputation of defying the city, long before he offered the union’s full support to the officers charged in George Floyd’s death. When the mayor banned “warrior training” for officers last year, Lt. Bob Kroll said the union would offer the training instead. When the city restricted officers from wearing uniforms at political events, he had T-shirts made to support President Donald Trump. He commended off-duty officers who walked away from a security detail after players on the state’s professional women’s basketball team, the Minnesota Lynx, wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts. And after Floyd’s death, he didn’t hold back as he called unrest in the city a “terrorist movement.” As Minneapolis tries to overhaul its police department in the wake of Floyd’s death, city leaders will collide with a pugnacious and powerful union that has long resisted such change. But that union and Kroll are coming under greater pressure than ever before, with some members daring to speak out in support of change and police leaders vowing to negotiate a contract tougher on bad cops. Other unions have publicly called for Kroll’s removal,…

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Trump Mocks ‘Stone-Cold Crazy’ Minneapolis Officials, Predicts ‘Big Victory’ in Minnesota: ‘They’ve Had It’

Anthony Gockowski

President Donald Trump described Minneapolis officials as “stone-cold crazy” during his return to the campaign trail Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The lawlessness of the “radical left” was a recurring theme of the president’s speech, and Minneapolis was a prime target.

“Our incredible success in rebuilding America stands in stark contrast to the extremism and destruction and violence of the radical left,” the president said early in his 90-minute address.

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Revival with Miracles Breaks Out in Spot Where George Floyd Died in Police Custody

Jason M. Reynolds

Christian media outlets report a revival filled with miracles has been happening in the spot where George Floyd died in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department.

CBN News reports salvations, baptisms, worship and healings are taking place. The movement began with Dr. Charles Karuku and Pastor Lindsey Karuku of International Outreach Church, CBN News said. They told CBN’s The Prayer Link that they felt a call from God.

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Commentary: Violence Seen and Unseen

Admin

Morally speaking, we live today as a people peering into a mirror without reflecting glass. As a culture, we hardly know who we are.

This has become most clear to me as a consequence of the experiment I have conducted in recent days. I requested people of disparate backgrounds, dispositions, understandings, and political inclinations to respond to a video that has circulated around the web. The video engages the drumbeat narrative of racial differences and their consequences, and I sought to discover whether anyone at all could peer beyond the now orthodox content to identify the Mengele-like substance. 

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911 Dispatcher Watching Floyd Death Alerted Police Supervisor of Incident

The Associated Press

A 911 dispatcher who was apparently watching in real time as a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into the neck of George Floyd called a supervisor to tell him what she saw, not caring if it made her look like a “snitch,” according to a recording of the call made public Monday.

In the call, the dispatcher calls a police sergeant and says what she was seeing on live video looked “different” and that she wanted to let him know about it. The dispatcher was in a 911 call center at the time and was watching video from a surveillance camera posted at the intersection where police apprehended Floyd, according to city spokesman Casper Hill.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Calls Minneapolis Police ‘Rotten,’ Can’t Explain Who Will Respond to Violent Crimes Without Them

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was unable to provide details on who will respond to violent crimes in her city without a police force, but said the Minneapolis Police Department is “rotten to the root” during a Sunday interview.

“What takes its place?” CNN host Jake Tapper asked the congresswoman. “Who investigates crimes? Who arrests criminals? What happens?”

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Truck Drivers Say They Won’t Deliver to Cities That Defund Police Departments

Anthony Gockowski
Tennessee Star

As Minneapolis prepares to “abolish” its police force, a recent survey found that most truck drivers won’t deliver to cities with defunded or disbanded police departments.

According to a survey from CDLLife, a resource site for the trucking industry, 79 percent of truck drivers said they will refuse to deliver freight to cities with defunded police departments.

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Law Enforcement Officers Prevent Protesters from Occupying Legislative Plaza for Second Night

Anthony Gockowski

Law enforcement officers were able to prevent demonstrators from camping out in Legislative Plaza for a second night Saturday.

Gov. Bill Lee failed to enforce state law Friday night and allowed left-wing protesters to occupy the plaza throughout the night and into Saturday morning, The Tennessee Star reported. More than 100 protesters claimed Friday that they had taken control of Nashville’s Legislative Plaza and refused to leave until speaking with Lee.

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Starbucks Creates Own Black Lives Matter Shirt for Employees

The Associated Press

Starbucks is creating its own Black Lives Matter shirt for employees to wear if they choose. The move comes after the coffee chain reportedly banned employees from wearing Black Lives Matter gear.

The T-shirt depicts protest signs with phrases including “Black Lives Matter,” “Speak Up” and “Time for Change.” One sign shows a raised black fist. “It’s not a moment, it’s a movement,” the shirt reads.

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Edina Realty Fires Agent for Taking Down Black Lives Matter Signs Outside Apartment

Anthony Gockowski

Edina Realty fired one of its agents last week after she posted on Facebook about removing Black Lives Matter signs from light poles outside her apartment building.

The real estate agency was informed via a Facebook comment that Babette Gillet Bean, a longtime employee of the company, had “actively participated in the removal of BLM signs that have been posted in her neighborhood.”

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Commentary: White America Reckons with Black Lives Matter

Admin

Scenes of largely white crowds across the world demonstrating in support of Black Lives Matter in the wake of George Floyd’s murder are reminiscent of another watershed moment in America – The 1960s civil rights revolution, in which white America finally awakened to the plight of blacks in this country. What followed was an upheaval in American society that forever changed the political landscape.

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Commentary: Defunding and Abolishing the Police Are Attempts to Overthrow the Government and Instill a New Order

Admin

America is on the brink.

In the wake of the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and in the nationwide protests and sometime riots that have already claimed 21 lives, there is a growing movement to defund or even to abolish the police in municipalities across America in pursuit of “alternatives” to public safety.

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Liberal Group Calls on Nashville Police Chief to Resign, More Council Members Support Move

Anthony Gockowski

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee called on Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson to resign in a statement released Wednesday.

“Over the last ten days, tens of thousands of Nashvillians have stood together in peaceful protests to express their outrage over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. These powerful protests highlight the outrage over the enduring and deep-rooted problem of racist policing and structural racism in the United States,” the group said in its statement.

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Tennessee Star National Correspondent Neil McCabe On How Congress Will Respond to Philonise Floyd’s Testimony

Julie Carr

Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Star National Correspondent Neil McCabe to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, McCabe speculated how the testimony of George Floyd’s brother Philonise will be received later today on Capitol Hill while Congress discusses the fate of police in America.

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Minneapolis Police Chief Withdraws from Negotiations with Police Union

The Associated Press

The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday, as he announced initial steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle or defund the department, Arradondo also said he would use a new system to identify problem officers and intervene if there are early warning signs of trouble.

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Two Hennepin County Commissioners Voted to Remove Medical Examiner Because of Floyd Autopsy Results

Anthony Gockowski

Two members of the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday in favor of removing the county’s medical examiner because they didn’t like the results of his autopsy in the case of George Floyd.

Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Baker released a 20-page autopsy report last week with the permission of Floyd’s family and concluded that Floyd’s heart stopped while being restrained by officers. The report revealed that Floyd tested positive for the coronavirus, had fentanyl and meth in his blood, and had a number of underlying health conditions.

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Gov. Mike DeWine Asks Advisory Board to Develop Minimum Standards for Mass Protests

Zachery Schmidt

Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that he asked Ohio’s Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board (CCPAB) to begin developing uniform minimum standards related to mass protests in an effort to improve community-police relations in the state.

“These new efforts are just the start of our work to improve law enforcement accountability, transparency, training, and minority recruitment,” DeWine said. “We are working with the law enforcement community, elected officials, and community organizations as we continue to move forward.”

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Analysis: Media Outlets Stir Racial Strife and Slander Trump for Urging Governors to Protect People’s Rights

Admin

After falsely accusing the U.S. Park Police of tear-gassing peaceful protesters on behalf of President Trump, many media outlets and politicians are claiming that he called on governors to forcibly “dominate protestors.” Quite the opposite, Trump explicitly stated he is an “ally of all peaceful protesters” and that it is the “professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters” and other lawbreakers who should be stopped.

Beyond their failure to draw a distinction between peaceful demonstrators and violent lawbreakers, the same cadre of media outlets are stirring racial strife by using anecdotes and half-truths to paint a false picture of systemic police violence against African Americans.

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‘People Are Just F***ing Lawless Right Now’: Chicago Aldermen Got Heated in Call with Chicago Mayor During Protests

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Aldermen begged, cried and cursed at Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over the city’s response to protests during a heated conference call May 31, according to a recording obtained by WTTW News.

Lightfoot received criticism from members of Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus who accused her during the call of deploying 375 members of the Illinois National Guard to block off the central business district, PBS affiliate WTTW News reported.

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Officer Charged in Floyd’s Death Makes First Court Appearance, Held on $1 Million Bail

The Associated Press

A judge on Monday kept bail at $1 million for a former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder in George Floyd’s death.

Derek Chauvin, 44, said almost nothing during an 11-minute hearing in which he appeared before Hennepin County Judge Denise Reilly on closed-circuit television from the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights.

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Ohio House Dems Call for Additional Security After Threats on Black Lawmakers

Anthony Gockowski

Ohio House Democrats called on Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) to publicly condemn the threats of violence made against their leader and provide “additional security measures” for lawmakers.

“As Speaker and in recognition of your leadership role in the Ohio House of Representatives, you are granted additional security while in the statehouse,” House Democrats said in a letter to Householder last week.

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Anoka Sheriff Says ‘Many Agencies’ Have ‘No Appetite’ for Helping Minneapolis If It Abolishes Police Department

Anthony Gockowski

Anoka County Sheriff James Stuart said “many agencies” have “no appetite” for helping Minneapolis in the future if its leaders follow through on a plan to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).

“The members of the Minneapolis City Council should be mindful that numerous other law enforcement agencies have responded to support them, to restore order, to protect their citizens and to return peace to their city during recent tragic days. We did this while joining our communities in disgust over the way in which George Floyd lost his life and in hopes of a stronger, unified future,” Stuart said in a statement released on Facebook Sunday night.

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Supreme Court Urged to Rethink Legal Immunity for Police Officers Amid Floyd Protests

Admin

The Supreme Court is weighing petitions to reexamine legal immunity that protects officers from being sued in instances of brutal arrests, use of excessive force and the shooting of innocent people in their homes.

The call for reassessment comes during nationwide protests of police brutality, the most recent instance being the death of George Floyd. Floyd died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, video of the incident shows.

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