Ahmaud Arbery: grand jury indicts three men in murder case – The Guardian
Ahmaud Arbery: grand jury indicts three men in murder case – The Guardian

A grand jury has returned indictments on the three suspects in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man who was accosted and shot dead as he went for a jog in a Georgia town, US media has reported.

The killing sparked widespread outrage and has since become a key part of an intense national debate around racism and police killings of Black people in America.

Three white men – Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan – have been in custody since their arrests last month.

Prosecutor Joyette Holmes said the Glynn county grand jury had indicted the three on charges including malice and felony murder in the death of the African American man.

Arbery was slain 23 February when the Greg and Travis McMichael, a white father and son, armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man running through their neighborhood. Greg McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was a burglar and that Arbery attacked his son before being shot.

Bryan lives in the same subdivision, just outside the port city of Brunswick. Bryan said he saw the McMichaels driving by and joined the chase, a Georgia bureau of investigation agent testified earlier this month.

It wasn’t until 7 May, two days after Bryan’s cellphone video leaked online and stirred a national outcry, that the McMichaels were arrested by local police. Bryan was arrested on 22 May, and an arrest warrant said he tried “to confine and detain” Arbery without legal authority by “utilizing his vehicle on multiple occasions” before Arbery was shot.

In addition to malice murder and felony murder charges, the McMichaels and Bryan each are charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Earlier this month a state investigator in Georgia alleged Travis McMichael was heard saying a racial slur as he stood over the mortally wounded man, moments after hitting him with three shots from a pump-action shotgun.

Arbery’s death has become a rallying cry in the protests that have rocked the US – and abroad – after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman shot dead by police in Louisville, Kentucky, has also been a case highlighted by the protests.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/24/ahmaud-arbery-case-grand-jury-indictments

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House Judiciary Committee hearing, Aaron Zelinsky testimony – Business Insider – Business Insider
House Judiciary Committee hearing, Aaron Zelinsky testimony – Business Insider – Business Insider

Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas

Screenshot via C-SPAN


When Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas was up for questioning, he used his time to go on a lengthy rant against the witnesses (particularly former deputy attorney general Donald Ayer), hurl personal accusations at them, and wax nostalgic about his marriage.

Here’s a full rundown of Gohmert’s remarks:

GOHMERT: “This is incredible. Mr. Ayer, you called Jeff Jensen, a 20 year career prosecutor, a political crony. By the way, you care to say into the microphone what you mouthed at me earlier when you’d gone over two minutes past your time?”

AYER: “I didn’t mouth anything at you, congressman.”

GOHMERT: “Well, you just showed your lack of credibility both with [former attorney general Dick] Thornburgh and people that have followed has real basis in fact. And in fact, rarely have we had anybody with the chip you have on your shoulder come before us. Thornburgh said he believed that you were really never around. He said that Bill Barr, and I’m quoting, ‘was the first deputy I had and that came when I was two years into the job.'”

The Texas congressman went on to imply that Ayer was “resentful” over his strife with Thornburgh in the early 1990s, when Ayer served directly under him as deputy attorney general. Ayer abruptly resigned in May 1990 amid heightened tensions over Thornburgh’s leadership of the DOJ. Barr succeeded Ayer as deputy attorney general after Ayer left his position.

Gohmert went on to quote from Thornburgh’s book on the matter, which said, “Ayer’s resignation was announced on May 11, Bill Barr succeeded him and proved to be the deputy I had needed from the beginning.”

GOHMERT: So I can understand why you’d be resentful 30 years later, but at some point, hopefully, Mr. Ayer will get over his chip.”

He added that he had planned to question Zelinsky and then went on a tangent about his marriage.

“I understand family matters, and by the way I’m grateful to my wife for sticking with me for 42 years today, and there are family matters, yes,” Gohmert said. “She’s a lot more fair than we’re getting around here. So 42 years. Thank you, Kathy.”

Later, Gohmert attacked the three witnesses called by Democratic lawmakers and said they did not express concerns when the Justice Department under Barack Obama cracked down on local law enforcement after it determined that authorities had violated peoples’ civil rights.

“And AG Barr had that same concern, that peoples’ civil rights were being violated by governors or local authorities, and if he had no right to say anything, then the Justice Department under Obama had no right to pursue local law enforcement either,” Gohmert said. “But I guess it just, again, testifies to the credibility or the lack thereof of the people that have been brought before us.”

The Texas Republican then used some time to hurl conspiracy theories about the Russia probe, saying, inaccurately, that the Obama Justice Department, FBI, intelligence officials, and Pentagon masterminded an elaborate plot to “prevent a Republican from becoming president.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have a serious hearing,” Gohmert said after using nearly all of his speaking time to air his grievances instead of questioning witnesses. “It’s just a sideshow, and it ought to be called for what it is.”

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/live-house-judiciary-committee-hearing-aaron-zelinsky-testimony-2020-6

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Trump will not follow New Jersey coronavirus quarantine order, ‘he’s not a civilian,’ White House says – CNBC
Trump will not follow New Jersey coronavirus quarantine order, ‘he’s not a civilian,’ White House says – CNBC

The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump will not change his plan to travel to New Jersey this weekend despite a new order by the governor requiring visitors who have been in states with high numbers of coronavirus cases to quarantine for 14 days.

“The president of the United States is not a civilian,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere, when asked about Trump’s compliance with the quarantine order given his travel Tuesday to Arizona, which has seen a rise in the rate of its Covid-19 cases.

“Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests, and press are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative,” Deere said in a statement.

“With regard to Arizona, the White House followed it’s COVID mitigation plan to ensure the President did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested,” the spokesman added.

“Anyone traveling in support of the president this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations.”

Trump is the commander in chief of the U.S. military, but he has never been a member of the military. 

Trump is expected to travel this weekend to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. In past visits to the club, he has flown on Air Force One to airports in Newark and Morristown.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, on Wednesday announced that visitors from states with large numbers of coronavirus cases would be required to quarantine for two weeks, or face fines.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/trump-will-not-follow-new-jersey-coronavirus-quarantine-order.html

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Appeals Court Panel Orders End to Michael Flynn Case – The New York Times
Appeals Court Panel Orders End to Michael Flynn Case – The New York Times

A third judge on the panel, Judge Robert L. Wilkins, a 2014 appointee of President Barack Obama, dissented. He said Judge Sullivan should be permitted to complete his review of the prosecutor’s actions and whether they are impermissible before deciding whether to grant the government’s motion to dismiss, citing the unusual circumstances of the Justice Department’s “abrupt reversal on the facts and the law” and the opacity of what happened.

In a dissenting opinion, he said his colleagues had made a series of mistakes that rendered a “dead letter” the portion of the rule of criminal procedure that says cases may only be dismissed with a judge’s approval, or “leave of the court” — at least when the defense and prosecution agree that a case should be dropped.

Instead, he argued, the law requires that Judge Sullivan be permitted to rule — and if Mr. Flynn and the Justice Department do not like what he decides, they can then file an appeal.

“The district court must be given a reasonable opportunity to consider and hold a hearing on the government’s request to ensure that it is not clearly contrary to the public interest,” he wrote. “I therefore dissent.”

Mr. Trump fired Mr. Flynn in early 2017 for lying to Vice President Pence and other colleagues about what he and the Russian ambassador discussed in December 2016. After realizing that Mr. Flynn was lying to his colleagues about the calls, the F.B.I. questioned him on Jan. 24, 2017, and he against falsely denied what they had discussed.

Mr. Flynn later struck a deal with prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to cooperate and plead guilty to one count of making a false statement to the F.B.I. agents. The deal would resolve his liability for that crime as well as for failing to register as a paid foreign agent of Turkey in 2016 and then signing forms in 2017 lying about the nature of that work.

But after Mr. Flynn twice pleaded guilty, he switched last year to a new defense lawyer — Ms. Powell — who began accusing the F.B.I. and prosecutors of misconduct. After Judge Sullivan rejected her accusations as unfounded late last year, Mr. Flynn sought to withdraw his guilty plea. Mr. Barr then assigned an outside prosecutor to scour Mr. Flynn’s case file, turning over internal documents showing that the F.B.I. was aggressive in decisions related to questioning him.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/us/politics/michael-flynn-appeals-court.html

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Fauci says masks mitigate coronavirus, but never told Trump to wear one – New York Post
Fauci says masks mitigate coronavirus, but never told Trump to wear one – New York Post

White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci says he never told President Trump to wear a mask during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I have not directly recommended to the president to wear a mask,” the infectious disease expert testified Tuesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Fauci said, however, that masks are effective at both limiting spread of the virus and protecting people from contracting COVID-19 — a significant update in federal guidance on masks.

“Although we don’t know the exact percentage, we can say very clearly that wearing a mask is definitely helpful in preventing acquisition as well as transmission,” Fauci said.

“Everyone agrees in the public health sector that wearing of masks is beneficial,” he added. “Wear it and don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It is always better to have a mask on than to not have a mask on, both for acquisition and for transmission.”

Fauci’s remarks deviate significantly from earlier statements from federal health officials, who originally said masks were useless to protect ordinary people from the coronavirus.

Early in the pandemic, Surgeon General Jerome Adams implored the public in a Feb. 29 tweet not to purchase masks because they “are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.”

Officials later recommended masks, citing evidence of significant asymptomatic transmission of the virus — but still insisted there was no evidence masks protected people from contracting the virus.

“Once we saw that asymptomatic spread, we said, ‘Well, masks still aren’t effective from our point of view at preventing you from catching coronavirus in a significant way, but… you wear your mask to protect me,” Adams said at an April 22 White House press briefing.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, offered mask guidance in response to questioning from Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), who represents Albany.

Tonko repeatedly asked about President Trump’s aversion to wearing a mask. Fauci deftly avoided denouncing Trump, but said he personally wears a mask, in part, to set an example for the public.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2020/06/23/fauci-never-told-trump-to-wear-mask-during-coronavirus-pandemic/

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Texas governor urges people to stay home as states report surges of new Covid-19 cases – CNN
Texas governor urges people to stay home as states report surges of new Covid-19 cases – CNN

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html

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Senate confirms Trump’s 200th judicial nominee – CNN
Senate confirms Trump’s 200th judicial nominee – CNN

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/politics/trump-200-judicial-appointments-cory-wilson/index.html

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New York, New Jersey and Connecticut impose 14-day quarantine on travelers from coronavirus hotspot states – CNBC
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut impose 14-day quarantine on travelers from coronavirus hotspot states – CNBC

Travelers arriving to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from Florida, Texas and other states with spiking Covid-19 infections rates will be subject to a 14-day quarantine and fines if they don’t self-isolate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday. 

Cuomo had previously said he was considering imposing a quarantine on travelers arriving in the state from places like Florida where coronavirus cases have spiked. 

“We worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down. We don’t want to see it go up because a lot of people come into this region and they can literally bring the infection with them,” Cuomo said at a press conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. “Because what happens in New York happens in New Jersey and happens in Connecticut.”

Cuomo said travelers coming from states with a high infection rate will be subject to the quarantine. The infection rate is based on the number of infections per 100,000 residents on a 7-day rolling average. People who don’t voluntarily quarantine for 14 days will be subject to fines and a mandatory quarantine. He said the fines will be $2,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second and up to $10,000 if they cause harm.

“As of today, the states that are above that level are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah, Texas,” he said. “That’s as of today. The states themselves can change as the infection rate changes and we will update daily what states are above that infection rate.”

Individuals will largely be trusted to self-isolate on their own, he said, noting that the penalties for noncompliance are steep if someone violates the new rule and gets caught. The Port Authority will make travel records available if needed, he said. 

New York City began its phase two reopening on Monday, which allowed for in-store retail, outdoor dining and hair salons and barbershops to reopen with modifications. On Tuesday, Cuomo said the city reported 1.2% of all tests conducted were positive. New York state reported a positivity rate of 1.1%.

Cuomo noted that coronavirus cases are rising across 27 states in the U.S. “Nationally, we should admit the reality. Denial is not a life strategy. It never is. Those 27 states are going up. More people are being infected and more lives will be lost,” he said.

In late March, as New York quickly became the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mandated through an executive order that travelers arriving in Florida from the New York tri-state area self-isolate for 14 days.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a similar executive order in late March mandating a 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving from the New York tri-state area.

Since then, the coronavirus has shown signs of easing in New York while accelerating in the South and West. The Florida Department of Health reported another record spike in coronavirus cases on Wednesday and a rise in the percent of tests that are coming back positive, indicating that the surge is not due to ramped up testing.

The state reported that 15.9% of all tests came back positive Wednesday, up from 10.8% on Tuesday. 

Texas has also seen an increase in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations since reopening. On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott warned that “tougher actions” would be necessary if the acceleration of cases and hospitalizations continued into July. He has urged residents to continue social distancing and to wear a face mask when in public. 

“Wearing a mask will help us to keep Texas open, because not taking action to slow the spread will cause Covid to spread even worse, risking people’s lives and ultimately leading to the closure of more businesses,” Abbott said. 

On Friday, Cuomo warned that more people will die if states that have reopened their economies too quickly don’t take actions to curb recent spikes in cases. 

“More people will die, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Forget the politics, be smart, open the economy intelligently and save lives at the same time. That’s what we showed works in New York,” he said Friday. 

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/new-york-new-jersey-and-connecticut-impose-14-day-quarantine-on-travelers-from-coronavirus-hotspot-states.html

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Appeals court orders judge to dismiss Michael Flynn case – CNN
Appeals court orders judge to dismiss Michael Flynn case – CNN

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/politics/michael-flynn-dismiss/index.html

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‘Trying to get away with murder…of George Floyd’: Pelosi bashes Senate GOP policing reform bill – NBC News
‘Trying to get away with murder…of George Floyd’: Pelosi bashes Senate GOP policing reform bill – NBC News

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says that Senate Republicans are trying to “get away with murder” with their policing reform bill, which will be considered in a key procedural vote on Wednesday.

In an interview with CBS News Radio, Pelosi was asked whether there’s any hope that Democrats and Republicans can reach a compromise on legislation responding to police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

“Well, you be the judge. We’re saying, ‘No chokeholds.’ They’re saying, you know — they’re not saying, ‘No chokeholds.’ I mean, there’s a big difference. What’s the compromise? ‘Some chokeholds?'” Pelosi asked in the interview Tuesday.

Pelosi said Republicans “understand that there’s a need to get something done. … They admit that and have some suggestions that are worthy of consideration — but so far, they were trying to get away with murder, actually — the murder of George Floyd,” she said.

The Senate Republicans demanded an apology for the comments, tweeting, “Speaker Pelosi owes Senator Scott an apology for these disgusting comments.”

Asked in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC whether she would apologize, Pelosi said, “Absolutely, positively not,” and added that the news media has given Republicans “far too much credit for a bill that does nothing.”

Pelosi said Democrats can’t compromise with Republicans on things like ending chokeholds, which the GOP measure would not ban outright, and called the Republican bill is a “nonstarter.”

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and other Senate Republicans unveiled their version of police reform legislation last week after weeks of nationwide protests over law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans.

Unlike the measure recently introduced by House and Senate Democrats, the Republican bill wouldn’t include an outright ban on chokeholds and it wouldn’t include a ban on “no-knock” warrants as Democrats have included in their bill. The GOP bill would just collect data on entries using “no-knock” warrants, and it also wouldn’t touch on qualified immunity, which shields police officers from lawsuits.

Pelosi’s comments come as the Senate is set to take a procedural vote Wednesday afternoon to move to debate on the legislation proposed by Senate Republicans. Senate Democrats signaled Tuesday that they plan to block the bill from advancing, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saying that the bill is “deeply, fundamentally and irrevocably flawed.”

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trying-get-away-murder-george-floyd-pelosi-bashes-senate-gop-n1231967

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Career Justice Department attorneys tell Congress leadership abused its power in Roger Stone case, other investigations – USA TODAY
Career Justice Department attorneys tell Congress leadership abused its power in Roger Stone case, other investigations – USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Still reeling from a highly public clash that led to the firing of one of its most prominent prosecutors, the Justice Department again finds itself under a glaring spotlight as two of its employees told Congress Wednesday that the agency’s leadership abused its power at the behest of President Donald Trump.

Aaron Zelinsky, one of the attorneys who prosecuted Roger Stone, said that the Justice Department gave the GOP operative “unprecedentedly favorable treatment” and pressured prosecutors to “cut Stone a break” by recommending a lenient sentence because he is an ally of the president, according to his prepared statement. He and the other prosecutors were told to go along, Zelinsky said, or they could be fired. 

John Elias, an attorney in the department’s Antitrust Division, said that the agency’s political appointees pursued unwarranted investigations over the objections of career employees. One investigation, Elias said, was launched after a Trump tweet. 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/24/justice-department-lawyers-accuse-ag-william-barr-politicization/3246083001/

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DC National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in DC – CNN
DC National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in DC – CNN

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/politics/dc-national-guard-protests/index.html

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Pandemic May Force New York City to Lay Off 22,000 Workers – The New York Times
Pandemic May Force New York City to Lay Off 22,000 Workers – The New York Times

With the coronavirus siphoning as much as $9 billion in tax revenue from New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday morning that the city might have to lay off or furlough 22,000 municipal workers this fall.

“We are running out of options here,” the mayor said. “That is the blunt truth.”

Mr. de Blasio described the layoffs and furloughs as a potentially necessary move in light of substantial budgetary shortfalls brought about by the pandemic’s steep reduction in business activity.

As the pandemic has continued to paralyze New York’s economy, the administration’s estimates of its own budget shortfalls have continued to rise, forcing the city to plan for spending cuts in numerous areas. The mayor said the administration was now looking for another $1 billion in savings.

Mr. de Blasio said he was talking with municipal labor unions in the hope of finding savings that would forestall layoffs from a city work force that numbered 326,000 by the end of 2019, according to the Citizens Budget Commission.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/nyregion/budget-layoffs-nyc-mta-coronavirus.html

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Primary Election Results: Black Progressives Surge – NPR
Primary Election Results: Black Progressives Surge – NPR

Former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, a progressive Democrat, is well ahead of longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in their primary.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images


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Former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, a progressive Democrat, is well ahead of longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in their primary.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

As protests stemming from George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police spread across the country, Black progressives appear to have had a good night in Democratic primaries Tuesday, while some Republicans endorsed by President Trump did not fair as well on the GOP side.

Three races in New York and Virginia, and perhaps one in Kentucky, highlight what could be the start of something important in Democratic politics — the surge of Black candidates.

As the Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman put it, Democratic voters in 2018 “showed an unprecedented desire to nominate women” and this year, there’s “another sea change in desire, this time towards Black candidates.”

What that could mean for the 2020 presidential race is notable as well. If Democrats have two key pillars of their base fired up and politically activated — women and Black voters — that could be a game-changer, as President Trump’s ratings continue to suffer.

Looking at last night’s results, the upset of the night appears to belong to Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal from the Bronx. He is well ahead of longtime Democratic incumbent Eliot Engel with more than 60% of the vote. Many races have not been called yet because of the significant number of absentee ballots that remain to be counted.

Bowman began to surge in recent weeks after Engel, asking to speak at an event, was caught on mic saying, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”

That was in addition to a reporter ringing the House Foreign Affairs chairman’s doorbell a month ago at his home in a tony Washington suburb to find him there rather than in his home district, as New York suffered from the pandemic.

Bowman wound up raising $2 million and surging against the 16-term incumbent, who hasn’t faced a competitive primary in 20 years.

Another New York seat, which had been held by longtime retiring Rep. Nita Lowey, has 33-year-old Mondaire Jones well ahead. The former Westchester County law office worker gained momentum in recent weeks and now leads by double digits. If the result holds up, and Jones wins this fall, he’d be the first openly gay black congressman.

Progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, by the way, was facing a primary in her first time standing for reelection. But she easily dispatched former CNBC reporter Michelle Caruso-Cabrera with 73% of the vote.

Trump-backed Republicans falter

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, perhaps the surprise of the night was a 24-year-old motivational speaker, Madison Cawthorn. He upset a Trump-backed candidate to replace Mark Meadows, who stepped down from the House to become Trump’s chief of staff. Cawthorn was paralyzed from the waist down after a 2014 car accident.

And in Kentucky, Trump tweeted his opposition to giving another term to a sitting congressman, Thomas Massie, who forced a vote on an economic relief package. Massie won overwhelmingly with almost 90% of the vote. Members of Republican leadership backed Massie’s primary opponent after Massie forced the vote. But after racist tweets surfaced from that opponent, Massie cruised.

Results are still slow to roll in in the marquee Democratic Kentucky Senate primary, where progressive upstart state Rep. Charles Booker and former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath squared off to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the fall.

Booker has seen a boon after speaking out and taking a leadership role in Black Lives Matter protests stemming from the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville. Taylor was shot and killed by police.

McGrath had brought in a whopping $41 million, was endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and had been seen as the overwhelming front-runner before the protests.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/06/24/882787276/black-progressives-appear-to-surge-in-primaries-while-trump-backed-candidates-lo

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‘We really should not be here today,’ Rev. Bernice King says at funeral of Rayshard Brooks – NBC News
‘We really should not be here today,’ Rev. Bernice King says at funeral of Rayshard Brooks – NBC News

Dozens of mourners, most dressed in white and nearly all wearing masks, filled the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church on Tuesday afternoon for the private funeral of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was fatally shot by a white police officer outside an Atlanta Wendy’s restaurant almost two weeks ago.

Brooks, a father of three daughters and a stepson, was shot twice in the back as he ran from Atlanta Police Department officers. He died in the hospital following surgery. The shooting occurred amid international protests against police brutality and systemic racism following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Rev. Bernice King — in a moving speech at the church where her father, Martin Luther King Jr., was a co-pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968 — said she knew the pain Brooks’ children felt.

Tomika Miller, wife of Rayshard Brooks, holds their 2-year-old daughter Memory while pausing with her children during the family processional at his funeral in Ebenezer Baptist Church on June 23, 2020 in Atlanta.CURTIS COMPTON / AFP – Getty Images

“Having a father killed when I was only 5 years of age, my heart deeply grieves,” King said. “I know the pain of growing up without a father. And the ongoing attention around his tragic loss.”

King said she mourned with Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller, and his loved ones.

“We really should not be here today. This did not have to happen to Rayshard,” King said. “There’s so many ways that Friday June 12 could have ended. And a police killing did not have to be one of them. And yet, here we are again.”

“Ironically,” King said, June 12 is the same day that civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway in 1963.

“June 12 is also the same day in 1964 that Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to overthrow the government of South Africa,” she added, noting that Mandela later became president of the country.

“So June 12,” King said, “is now a constant reminder of the struggle for justice for Black lives throughout the world. Tragically here we are once again.”

King said she was at Brooks’ funeral for “what feels like an all-too-familiar moment.”

“We are here because individuals continue to hide behind badges and trainings and policies and procedures rather than regarding the humanity of others in general and Black lives specifically,” she told the crowd.

Ambrea Mikolajczyk, who owns a construction company in Toledo, Ohio, where Brooks worked last year, remembered him as a “once-in-a-lifetime individual.” Brooks had overcome his circumstances and was working hard to “become the best provider, caretaker, community builder, father, husband, son, brother and relationship agent he could possibly be,” she said.

Mikolajczyk said Brooks biked to work every day, regardless of the weather, and was always the first to arrive for duty.

On one occasion, when a coworker’s car broke down, Mikolajczyk said, Brooks got off his bike, pushed the car and walked alongside him for two hours. “That’s the type of man Ray was,” she said. “He looked out for everyone.”

Her clients referred to Brooks as “legal aid” because he knew the answers to everything, Mikolajczyk said. He was “smart as a whip” and helpful almost to a fault, she said.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and singers Tamela Mann and Kelly Price attended the funeral. Mann sang her hit, “I Can Only Imagine.”

The body of Rayshard Brooks arrives for his funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church on June 23, 2020 in Atlanta.Curtis Compton / AFP – Getty Images

Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, delivered the eulogy Tuesday. Warnock said the funeral was paid for by media mogul Tyler Perry, a prominent figure in Atlanta.

Warnock recited a long list of names of Black people who died at the hands of police in recent years, including Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Botham Jean and George Floyd, stating, “Sadly, we’ve gotten too much practice at this.”

Warnock said he has heard some say the cases of Floyd and Brooks are not the same, because Floyd complied and Brooks ran. “Yes,” he said. “That’s true.”

“But they are both dead. And therein is the problem,” he said. “Black parents do not really know what to tell their children in order to keep them alive and that’s a problem. That’s not just a Black problem. Although it’s happening to Black people. That’s an American problem.”

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said at a news conference last week that Brooks “never presented himself as a threat” and appeared “almost jovial” leading up to the fatal shooting. He said Brooks followed every instruction from the officers and was never informed that he was under arrest for driving under the influence.

The officers were responding to a 911 call on June 12 about a man who appeared intoxicated sleeping in his car in the drive-thru of the Wendy’s. Brooks was questioned by the officers for more than 25 minutes, body and dash-camera video shows.

The Atlanta police officer who shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, was fired and charged with murder. A second officer, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative duty and charged with aggravated assault. The city’s police chief resigned. The Wendy’s restaurant was burned down and protesters took to the streets of Atlanta following Brooks’ death.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/we-really-should-not-be-here-today-rev-bernice-king-n1231885

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Fauci warns of disturbing trend as Trump ignores viral surge – CNN
Fauci warns of disturbing trend as Trump ignores viral surge – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-election-2020/index.html

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AOC’s blowout win, last-minute voting in Kentucky and other key takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries – USA TODAY
AOC’s blowout win, last-minute voting in Kentucky and other key takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries – USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Once again, coronavirus proved that elections during a pandemic are not business as usual.

Over the past several months, voters have faced long lines and fewer in-person polling locations due to safety protocols related to the coronavirus pandemic and a related decrease in the number of people willing to work the polls. Even in Kentucky, where bipartisan changes were made in an attempt to expand access to the polls, there were still issues.

In Louisville, Kentucky, some voters were stuck waiting to park their cars outside the Kentucky Exposition Center, causing them to miss the deadline to get in line when polls closed at 6 p.m. The center was the only site open in Louisville and Jefferson County due to changes made because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/06/23/june-23-primary-aoc-wins-charles-booker-amy-mcgrath-results-delayed/3235505001/

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Fauci warns US on coronavirus as cases surge: Live updates – Al Jazeera English
Fauci warns US on coronavirus as cases surge: Live updates – Al Jazeera English
  • Top US medical expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, is warning that the country, already “hit badly” by the coronavirus, is facing a dangerous surge in new cases. Arizona, Texas and Nevada all reported a record number of daily cases.

  • EU countries are considering banning entry to Americans as the US has failed in controlling the spread of the coronavirus, according to the New York Times.

  • Worldwide, nearly 9.2 million people have been confirmed to have the coronavirus. More than 4.6 million have recovered, while more than 474,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Here are the latest updates:

Wednesday, June 24

09:00 GMT – Indonesia reports 1,113 new coronavirus infections, 38 new deaths

Indonesia has reported 1,113 new coronavirus infections, taking its total number of cases to 49,009.

Health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said there were 38 more deaths reported, with total fatalities now at 2,573.

Indonesia’s coronavirus death toll is the highest in East Asia outside of China. 

08:45 GMT – Bulgaria to extend coronavirus state of emergency until mid-July

Bulgaria will extend a state of emergency declared in response to the coronavirus outbreak until July 15 after another jump in new registered cases, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev has said.

Bulgaria began to relax restrictions to stop the spread of the virus earlier this month, but last week it reported 606 new COVID-19 cases, its highest weekly rise since the epidemic.

Some 130 new cases were reported on Wednesday, bringing the total to date to 4,114, with 208 deaths. 

08:30 GMT – Russia’s coronavirus case tally passes 600,000

Russia has reported 7,176 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide case total to 606,881, the world’s third highest tally.

The country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said 154 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 8,513. 

08:15 GMT – Kazakhstan locks down two towns over coronavirus

Kazakhstan has locked down two towns near its capital Nur-Sultan to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the surrounding province, authorities have said.

Roads leading to the towns of Kokshetau and Stepnogorsk will be blocked by checkpoints and a 10 pm to 6 am curfew has been imposed in both, the chief sanitary doctor of Akmola province said in a statement.

The authorities have also closed all entertainment venues and barred mass public gatherings throughout the province and restricted access to hospitals and institutions such as orphanages and retirement homes.

08:05 GMT – Emirates suspends flights from Pakistan after passengers test positive for coronavirus

Emirates has suspended flights from Pakistan after passengers tested positive for coronavirus in Hong Kong.

The Dubai state carrier, which is operating limited services due to the coronavirus pandemic, said the temporary suspension was effective June 24.

“We are co-ordinating closely with the various authorities and will review and implement any required additional measures to satisfy all parties before we resume services from Pakistan,” a spokeswoman told Reuters.


07:50 GMT – Israel, Palestinians tighten restrictions as coronavirus reemerges

Israeli and Palestinian authorities have brought back some coronavirus restrictions after the number of new cases jumped in what officials fear could herald a “second wave” of infections.

A partial lockdown went into effect in a town in central Israel and several neighborhoods in the city of Tiberias where infection rates were particularly high. The Palestinian Authority put the West Bank city of Hebron on lockdown as well.

Israel was one of the first countries to close its borders and impose restrictions when the global pandemic first emerged and the Palestinians quickly followed suit.


07:35 GMT – Austria warns against travel to German state after outbreak

Austria has issued a warning against travel to the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia after a coronavirus outbreak at a meatpacking plant there, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said.

The move puts the state in the same category as the Italian region of Lombardy, the epicentre of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak, which was one of the worst in Europe.


07:20 GMT – India reports highest spike of 16,000 cases

India has recorded the highest spike of 15,968 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to to 456,183, with Mumbai and New Delhi as the worst-hit cities in the country.

The Health Ministry also reported a record 24-hour increase of 465 deaths due to COVID-19, driving fatalities to 14,476.


Hi, this is Elizabeth Melimopoulos in Doha taking over the live updates from my colleague  Kate Mayberry  in Kuala Lumpur.

06:21 GMT – Hong Kong dismisses privacy concerns in China travel scheme

Sophia Chan, Hong Kong’s secretary for food and health, defended a planned travel scheme requiring residents of the city to share their coronavirus test results with authorities in Guangdong province in mainland China, dismissing concerns that residents’ sensitive personal data, such as medical records, could be transferred to mainland security authorities. 

Hong Kong will develop a “Health Code” system to enable “the virus test results of participants of the pilot scheme in Hong Kong to be uploaded onto the code” and shared with mainland authorities, she said. Travellers will not be required to install a mobile application, she said. 

“The … computer system will only collect basic personal information and nucleic acid test results from applicants for the purpose of applying for the ‘Hong Kong Health Code’. The development process is premised on the protection of personal privacy and the code exchange procedures must also be explicitly initiated and agreed by the applicant,” she added.

05:30 GMT – Maldives to open borders to all tourists on July 15

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, president of the Maldives, says the island nation is opening its borders on July 15 to tourist arrivals from all countries.

The Indian Ocean archipelago’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, and arrivals will not be subject to quarantine measures with only symptomatic travellers required to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing at the airport, according to the tourism ministry.

Testing will be made available for travellers who require it to return to their countries or continue on their onward journeys, the ministry added.

05:08 GMT – Indonesia volunteers launch ‘alertness index’

Volunteers in Indonesia introduced an “alertness index” mapping coronavirus cases in every city and regency in the country, with the worst-affected places marked in deep red.

“At the end of the day, the public needs transparent data about their risks. With reliable and open data, they can cautiously decide whether to carry out an activity in the public sphere,” Ronald Bessie, coordinator for the KawalCOVID-9 database, was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post.

04:59 GMT – Virus deaths surpass 100,000 in Latin America

More than 100,000 people had died from COVID-19 in Latin American by the end of Tuesday, with more than half of confirmed deaths logged in Brazil, according to tallies by Reuters and AFP news agencies.

Here is a breakdown of case-loads and death tolls in the worst affected countries:

  • Brazil – 52,960 deaths and 1,145,906 cases

  • Mexico – 23,377 deaths and 191,410 cases

  • Peru – 8,404 deaths and 260,810 cases

  • Chile – 4,505 deaths and 250,767 cases

04:23 GMT – In conflict-hit countries, coronavirus testing may not reach women

Big gaps between the number of male and female coronavirus cases in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East suggest that women may be struggling to access testing or care, an aid agency told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, more than 70 percent of reported cases were male, compared with a global average of 51 percent, the same in the Central African Republic, Chad and Somalia, said the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Studies in China, Europe and the US have shown that men are more likely than women to be hospitalised and die of coronavirus, but they have not shown the same gender gap in cases as elsewhere. In most of Europe, the numbers of cases are roughly equal between men and women.


04:13 GMT – Beijing’s outbreak appears to be firmly waning

Health authorities in China reported 12 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with seven in the country’s capital, Beijing, indicating that a spike in the city appears to be on the wane.

Beijing’s outbreak saw a total of 249 people infected since June 11, most cases linked to the city’s biggest wholesale market, and led to new lockdowns and the cancellation of classes.

Since then, three million test samples have been taken from 2.43 million people in the city, a senior municipal health official said on Tuesday. The city can now conduct more than 300,000 nucleic acid tests per day, compared with 40,000 in March, said Zhang Hua, deputy director of the Beijing Health Commission.


03:00 GMT – Washington state makes face masks mandatory

Jay Inslee, the governor of the US state of Washington, ordered residents to wear face masks in public after the region saw its positive tests rise by 35 percent last week.

“This is about saving lives. It’s about reopening our businesses. And it’s about showing respect and care for one another,” Inslee said.

The states of Arizona, California, Mississippi and Nevada have reported record numbers of new cases of COVID-19 while Texas set a record on Monday. 

02:42 GMT – Mexico logs another record rise in cases

Mexico posted another record one-day increase in coronavirus cases: 6,288 confirmed infections on Tuesday and 793 more deaths, according to the Health Department. That brought Mexico’s total case-load to 191,410 and death toll to 23,377.

Officials acknowledge both are undercounts due to extremely low testing rates. Mexico has performed only about half a million tests, roughly one for every 250 inhabitants.

Mexico has also had an extremely high rate of infections among healthcare professionals. About 39,000 – 20 percent – of the country’s confirmed cases are healthcare workers. There have been 584 deaths among doctors, nurses, technicians and hospital workers.


02:00 GMT – MSF calls on GAVI to get drugs companies to sell vaccine at cost

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and 40 civil society groups are calling on GAVI to review its pricing for future coronavirus vaccines, ahead of a Gavi board meeting due to start in Geneva later on Wednesday.

At issue is the COVAX Facility, a new mechanism Gavi developed to pay pharmaceutical companies up front for potential COVID-19 vaccines.

Among MSF’s concerns was the lack of transparency on how pricing is set by drug firms as well as the two-tier system of access to future COVID-19 vaccines bought through the COVAX Facility. Countries financed through donor assistance will only receive enough vaccines for the most vulnerable populations while wealthier nations will receive enough for a set percentage of their entire population, MSF said.

01:30 GMT – Australia records first coronavirus death in more than a month

Australia has recorded its first death from coronavirus in more than a month, as new cases continue to spike in the southern state of Victoria.

The man who died was in his 80s, health authorities said.

Victoria recorded 20 new cases overnight, taking the state’s total to 1,900.

23:45 GMT – Trump claims border wall ‘stopped’ virus

US President Donald Trump visited the border with Mexico on Tuesday and claimed it had stopped both undocumented immigration and the coronavirus.

In the blazing heat, Trump briefly stopped to inspect a new section of the wall and scrawled his signature on the concrete and rebar structure.

Trump is looking to regain campaign momentum after a poor turnout for a weekend rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.


23:00 GMT (Tuesday) – ‘We’ve been hit badly’: Fauci warns US on coronavirus surge

Dr Anthony Fauci has warned that the next few weeks will be critical in stamping out coronavirus hotspots around the US.

“We’ve been hit badly,” Fauci told a House committee, adding he was “really quite concerned” about rising community spread in some states, including Arizona, where US President Donald Trump was holding a rally on Tuesday and viewing the construction of a border wall.

Fauci, who also stressed that testing would be stepped up, was speaking at the committee along with the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Find out more about what they had to say here.


Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.

You can read all the updates from yesterday (June 23) here.

Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/fauci-warns-coronavirus-cases-surge-live-updates-200623235547181.html

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Woman charged in Atlanta Wendy’s arson knew Rayshard Brooks, her lawyer says – CNN
Woman charged in Atlanta Wendy’s arson knew Rayshard Brooks, her lawyer says – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/us/natalie-white-wendys-arson/index.html

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AOC’s blowout win, last-minute voting in Kentucky and other key takeaways from Tuesday’s primary – USA TODAY
AOC’s blowout win, last-minute voting in Kentucky and other key takeaways from Tuesday’s primary – USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Once again, coronavirus proved that elections during a pandemic are not business as usual.

Over the past several months, voters have faced long lines and fewer in-person polling locations due to safety protocols related to the coronavirus pandemic and a related decrease in the number of people willing to work the polls. Even in Kentucky, where bipartisan changes were made in an attempt to expand access to the polls, there were still issues.

In Louisville, Kentucky, some voters were stuck waiting to park their cars outside the Kentucky Exposition Center, causing them to miss the deadline to get in line when polls closed at 6 p.m. The center was the only site open in Louisville and Jefferson County due to changes made because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/06/23/june-23-primary-aoc-wins-charles-booker-amy-mcgrath-results-delayed/3235505001/

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Top takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries: The left, the right, the wait – POLITICO
Top takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries: The left, the right, the wait – POLITICO

The end is near for Rep. Eliot Engel

Unless Engel’s supporters are as obsessive about mail voting as he used to be about snagging an aisle seat for the State of the Union address, his time in the House is over.

The Associated Press did not project a winner Tuesday night between Engel and middle-school principal Jamaal Bowman, but the numbers were daunting for the incumbent: Bowman led 61 percent to 36 percent, with 36,000 votes tallied so far.

In the last election, only 31,000 votes were cast in the Democratic primary in the district. And even though turnout is reported to be way up this year, Engel would still have to win the outstanding votes by a huge margin to survive.

Bowman stopped short of declaring victory in a speech to supporters in Yonkers, but said the results showed the district is “demanding change.”

If Engel loses, he will be at least the second veteran Democrat in New York City to be ousted in as many election cycles. (Rep. Carolyn Maloney is also facing a close primary in her district.) And like Joe Crowley two years ago, the end came suddenly for Engel. While Crowley was falling to Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, Engel was cruising through a four-candidate primary with 74 percent of the vote.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/24/who-won-tuesday-primaries-new-york-kentucky-337446

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