Daily Archives: August 28, 2020

2020-08-28: News Headlines

Ali Abunimah (2020-08-28). Sadistic Facebook shuts down Gaza health ministry page. zcomm.org Things are difficult enough for Palestinians in Gaza. Facebook must stop contributing to their misery by censoring vital health information.

Staff (2020-08-28). Headlines for August 28, 2020. democracynow.org Trump Assails Biden's "Socialist Agenda" in RNC Acceptance Speech Riddled With Lies, CDC Projects Official U.S. Death Toll Will Top 200,000 in September, Two Navajo Sisters Who Worked as Frontline Health Workers Die of COVID-19, Alabama Professors Ordered Not to Warn Students of Exposure to Infected Classmates, Hurricane Laura Leaves Path of Devastation in Louisiana, Triggers Chemical Plant Fire, Hurricane Topples Confederate Monument that Lake Charles Officials Refused to Remove, Jacob Blake, Left Paralyzed by Officer's Bullets, Reportedly Handcuffed to Hospital Bed, Teenage Militia Member Charged Over Shooting…

Staff (2020-08-28). Historian Rick Perlstein on the RNC & Trump's Dangerous Propaganda Driving People to Violence. democracynow.org President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination on Thursday before a crowd of about 1,500 on the South Lawn of the White House. In defiance of social distancing guidelines, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. Trump spoke as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 — by far the highest total in the world — and repeatedly defended his administration's handling of the pandemic. Trump warned of chaos and violence if Joe Biden becomes president, but made no reference to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or the k…

Staff (2020-08-28). ACLU Demands Resignation of Top Cops in Kenosha for Racism & Brutal Response to Jacob Blake Protests. democracynow.org The ACLU of Wisconsin is calling for top Kenosha law enforcement officials to resign in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed below the waist after a white officer shot him in the back seven times. The shooting has sparked mass protests in Kenosha and around the U.S., bringing renewed attention to racism and violence in the Kenosha police force. A damning video of Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth has surfaced from a 2018 news conference, when he described Black people accused of shoplifting and crashing a stolen car as "garbage people that fill our communities that are a cancer t…

Staff (2020-08-28). Hurricane Laura Devastates Gulf Coast, Laying Bare Climate Crisis, Environmental Racism. democracynow.org Hurricane Laura has slammed ashore as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing sustained winds of 150 miles per hour to the Gulf Coast. The strongest storm to hit Louisiana in over a century, Laura made landfall near the border of Louisiana and Texas. At least six people have been killed. Residents near Lake Charles were told to stay indoors with windows and doors shut when a chemical fire broke out at a Biolab plant. Hilton Kelley, the executive director of the Community In Power and Development Association, says local communities are dealing with multiple crises amid the devastation of the hurricane. "

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-28). Occupation accentuates COVID-19's impact in Gaza. peoplesdispatch.org The COVID-19 lockdown, which has been in place in Gaza since Monday, was extended for three more days on August 26. Gaza has also suffered continuous attacks by Israel in the past month…

_____ (2020-08-28). Better To Launch Balloons Than Die In Silence. popularresistance.org In recent weeks, the tension between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel's forces of occupation has increased. Israel has used the launching of incendiary balloons by Palestinian youths as a pretext to bomb Gaza once again. | The release of the balloons is a gesture of protest against how the Israeli occupation has procrastinated in abiding by its previous agreements with the Palestinian resistance. Under those agreements, Israel had committed to easing the siege on Gaza. | This procrastination has caused the continued deterioration of Gaza's health and public services and its economy.

Julie Varughese (2020-08-28). "Kamala Auntie": On the Vulgarity of Bourgeois Identity Politics in 2020. dissidentvoice.org Joe Biden picking Kamala Harris for his running mate kicked off a flurry of think pieces in the media. Some of these opinions have attacked the anti-Black and casteist attitudes still prevalent among South Asians in the subcontinent and in the global diaspora. The former prosecutor and attorney general-turned-2020 Democratic vice-presidential nominee has been propped …

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2020-08-28). Under capitalism Black lives are adrift and vulnerable. peoplesworld.org It's true. Too often, in too many circumstances, for too long, the lives of Black people in the United States don't matter. Black people fill prisons; their children fill terrible schools; too many are poverty-stricken. But at issue here are the killings and the people left to die. Post-Civil War arrangements by which the victorious …

Morning Star (2020-08-28). Second Trump term would mean disaster for U.S. and the whole world. peoplesworld.org Socialists around the world are recognizing the danger posed by the re-election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency. Despite reservations about Democratic nominee Joe Biden, the fascist turn of the Trump administration is prompting a recognition that Trump must be defeated at all costs. On this topic, People's World presents the following guest editorial …

Thomas Hart (2020-08-28). Grocery worker sees fascist thinking at root of anti-mask campaign. peoplesworld.org SAN FERNANDO, Calif.—I trundle back inside the store, soaked in sweat and struggling to breath against a thick cloth mask. I could already see the rest of the day ahead of me: I'd spend the next ten minutes cooling off in our dairy box, chugging down some ice-cold water, then it's back to work with …

Jill Richardson (2020-08-28). Where Trump is Getting His Lines. counterpunch.org Rory McVeigh wrote The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan, a study of the KKK in the 1920s, in 2009 — long before Donal Trump became president. But it could almost be about Trump today. In the 1920s, white, male, U.S.-born Protestants worried they were losing status, economic clout, and political power. Catholic and Jewish

Louis Proyect (2020-08-28). Class Reductionism and Environmental Racism. counterpunch.org On August 14th, the N.Y. Times reported on the clash between Adolph Reed Jr. and the Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus in DSA. The caucus advocates stepped up support for BLM protests while Reed views them as tools of corporate America. Naturally, when the event organizers scheduled a Zoom lecture for Reed, the caucus

Monica Moorehead (2020-08-28). NBA strike explodes into a sportswide protest against police shooting of Jacob Blake. workers.org Kenosha, Wis., became the epicenter of the anti-racist struggle after a 29-year-old Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot seven times in the back at point-blank range by a white police officer on Aug. 23. Kenosha is 40 miles from Milwaukee, Wisconsin's biggest city. A recorded video showed that the unarmed . . . |

Robert Penner (2020-08-28). Kenosha police ignore racist double killing, allow shooter to leave scene, arrest protesters instead. liberationnews.org Protests will continue in Kenosha and across the country, and the people of Southeastern Wisconsin will continue to demand justice for those that have been maimed and lost their lives at the hands of police and white supremacist terror.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-28). White supremacist who killed two protesters in Kenosha arrested nearly 12 hours later. mronline.org 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse who fatally shot two protesters in Kenosha and left the scene even as the police was arriving was arrested in the neighboring State of Illinois.

RT (2020-08-28). 'Violence & destruction do not save black lives, they destroy them': Widow of David Dorn, cop killed by looters, says at RNC. rt.com Ann Dorn, the widow of retired police officer David Dorn, shot to death in St. Louis amid violent protests, has urged the nation to "remember that every life is precious" while denouncing riots that cost her husband his life. | Dorn's widow — who like her late husband is a former St. Louis police officer — became one of the highlights of the fourth and final day of the Republican National Convention, which culminated with US President Donald Trump accepting his party's nomination on Thursday night. | She spoke at length about the ordeal she went through on the night of June 2 when Dorn, who was tryin…

The Canary (2020-08-28). Suspect charged over fatal shootings amid US protests against racism and police brutality. thecanary.co A 17-year-old has been charged over the fatal shooting of two people and the wounding of a third amid protests against a police attack which left a Black man with severe spinal injuries.Demonstrations began in Kenosha, Wisconsin and were taken up by major sport leagues and prominent athletes across the US after Jacob Blake was shot in the back.Kyle Rittenhouse allegedly went to Kenosha from nearby Antioch, Illinois and went on a shooting rampage. He faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, one count of first-degree reckless homicide, one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two coun…

Norman Solomon (2020-08-28). Twin Imperatives: Defeat President Trump This Fall, Challenge President Biden from Day One. indybay.org The Republican Party today is the party of white supremacy…

Mark Green, Ralph Nader (2020-08-28). The F-Word: No Other Way to Describe Trump's Fascism 2.0. thenation.com The F-Word: No Other Way to Describe Trump's Fascism 2.0…

WSWS (2020-08-28). Trump runs for Fàºhrer. wsws.org Trump delivered a fascistic tirade from the White House lawn Thursday night, painting his reelection as the last bastion against "agitators" and "socialists."

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-28). Communists allege discrimination in official commemoration of Slovak resistance. peoplesdispatch.org Slovak National Uprising Museum authorities have denied permission to the KSS, saying the 76th anniversary of the uprising will be held as an apolitical event. This is despite ruling party representatives being invited…

Michael Jansen (2020-08-28). Netanyanu the "Crime Minister", Once Again, Battling for His Political Life, … Immunity from Arrest? globalresearch.ca Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu is, once again, battling for his political life and personal freedom. Thousands of protesters calling for him to resign have continued to mount protests outside his official residence in Jerusalem. They demand he step down …

Comitato No Nato No Guerra (2020-08-28). Apelo Aos Dirigentes Dos Nove Estados Detentores De Armas Nucleares (China, Franàßa, Ândia, Israel, Coreia do Norte, Paquistà£o, Rússia, Reino Unido e Estados Unidos da América). globalresearch.ca Nós, pessoas de boa vontade, de todas as etnias e de todas as classes socioeconómicas, a viver em todos os continentes e a professar credos e religiàµes distintas, dirigimos a vossa atenàßà£o para a ameaàßa de uma guerra nuclear total …

Carla Stea (2020-08-28). "Modern Attilla the Hun" Ravages Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iran… China and Russia Block The Momentum, Are They the Next Targets? globalresearch.ca In 1991-1992, just prior to, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US gloated over its global supremacy which, of course guaranteed its unfettered dominance of United Nations agencies, the most powerful of which is the UN Security …

Facing Two Pandemics (2020-08-28). Protesters Clash with Police Near Pedestrian Entrance to Golden Gate Bridge. indybay.org Protesters mourning two pandemics in America, one being COVID-19 and the other racism, gathered under the slogan "march for the dead and fight for the living." | Photos, including top photo, by Jasmin Van T. Additional photos by Garrett Schmid, as indicated.

Every Protest Needs a Dance (2020-08-28). Leap of Peace, Day of Mourning near Golden Gate Bridge. indybay.org Mourning two pandemics, COVID and racism, and calling out police for brutality…but first, the dance of peace.

_____ (2020-08-28). Victory For The Humboldt 3! popularresistance.org Es lebe die freiheit — long live freedom — is the cry of every Palestinian and all people longing for freedom from colonialism.They were also the last words of Hans Scholl, a member of the White Rose anti-fascist resistance movement in Nazi Germany, before his execution on February 22 1945. The White Rose brought the Nazis' crimes to public awareness, and demanded justice for their victims. | Over seventy years later we, the Humboldt 3, drew inspiration from the White Rose. Along with Israeli anti-Zionist activists Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai, I disrupted a talk given at the Humboldt University of…

_____ (2020-08-28). When Is a Peace Deal Not a Peace Deal? When It Is a War Deal. strategic-culture.org President Trump called it "historical" citing previous peace agreements in the region (the last one being between Jordan and Israel in 1994) while his son-in-law, awkwardly, heaped praise on him in a White House moment which made the president look like a belligerent tyrant of an African state and Jared Kushner his overpaid media consultant flown in for the event. | And yet, the only thing really which can be trumpeted as "historical" is the level of how far Trump, Nethanyahu and MbZ in the UAE are prepared to go in pulling off a great sham and deceiving us all about what this "peace deal" really is. The problem…

Staff (2020-08-28). Hurricane Laura Ravages Gulf Coast, Exposing Legacies of Environmental Racism. truthout.org Hurricane Laura has slammed ashore as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing sustained winds of 150 miles per hour to the Gulf Coast. The strongest storm to hit Louisiana in over a century, Laura made landfall near the border of Louisiana and Texas. At least six people have been killed. Residents near Lake Charles were told to stay indoors with windows and doors shut when a chemical fire broke out at a Biolab plant. Hilton Kelley, the executive director of the Community In Power an…

Staff (2020-08-28). White Supremacist Groups Have Infiltrated US Police Departments, Report Says. truthout.org As law enforcement agencies and lawmakers respond to nationwide outrage over countless police shootings of Black Americans with pledges to address racial profiling and "implicit bias," the Brennan Center for Justice released a report Thursday on what it called "an especially harmful form of bias, which remains entrenched within law enforcement: explicit racism." | The presence of virulent racism within police ranks across the country has grown over the past two decades, Brennan Center fellow a…

yenisafak (2020-08-28). El Al to fly Israel's first flight to UAE by commercial carrier, airport timetable shows. yenisafak.com El Al Airlines on Monday will fly Israel's first flight to the United Arab Emirates by a commercial carrier, a timetable on the Israel Airports Authority's website showed, as the countries forge ahead with a deal to normalise ties.The direct flight between Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and the UAE's political capital of Abu Dhabi is expected to carry an Israeli delegation and accompanying officials from the United States, which brokered the Aug. 13 accord.El Al and smaller Israeli rival Israir had submitted bids for the flight, an aviation source said. An El Al spokesman did not immediately respond to a request f…

Staff (2020-08-27). "On a Hunting Spree": Wisc. Rep. David Bowen Says Cops Turned Blind Eye to White Militias in Kenosha. democracynow.org The police shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked massive protests across the country and in Kenosha, where a white teenager opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters and killed two people. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old self-declared militia member and avid Trump supporter, was apprehended in Antioch, Illinois, after fleeing Wisconsin. He has been charged with murder. Wisconsin state Representative David Bowen, who has attended racial justice protests in Kenosha, says he "witnessed firsthand" how freely organized white supremacists targeted protesters without interference from law enforcement, and accuses pol…

Gareth Porter (2020-08-27). After Beirut Blast, Israel Revives Tales of Hezbollah Ammonium Nitrate Terror Plots. globalresearch.ca Israeli intelligence is polishing off a dubious propaganda campaign to suggest Hezbollah was to blame for the recent catastrophe in Beirut. But the factual record either contradicts Israeli claims or reveals a complete dearth of evidence. | *** | Israeli officials have …

Kathryn Shihadah (2020-08-27). Decades of Land Grabs Betray Israel's "Terror Balloon" Justification for Latest War on Gaza. mintpressnews.com Just as with the last three major Israeli incursions into Gaza, Israel's stated motive — to stop incoming projectiles — conceals a long-term ambition: to seize more land with fewer Palestinians on it.

_____ (2020-08-27). Israel's Crimes Must Be Met With Arms Embargo. popularresistance.org Israel's bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip must be met with an "urgent and comprehensive military embargo," the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee stated on Sunday. | Israel has bombed Gaza every night for the past 12 days in response, or so it claims, to incendiary balloons flown from the territory. Those balloons have caused fires on agricultural land in southern Israel. | Two-thirds of Gaza's population of 2.1 million are refugees, some of them from the lands just on the other side of the Gaza boundary fence. Israel denies them their right to return, enshrined in international la…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-27). Netanyahu vs Gantz: Gaza Escalation as Reflection of Israel's Political Rivalry. dissidentvoice.org Only recently, the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel seemed close to reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, where Hamas would release several Israeli soldiers held in Gaza while Israel would set free an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Instead of the much-anticipated announcement of some kind of a deal, on August 10, …

Al Neal (2020-08-27). Pro athletes stage historic strike for Black lives. peoplesworld.org There are moments when unexpected action transcends the political bullshit, drowning out the white noise of ignorance, apathy, and prejudice. Often, these moments follow tragedy. Crimes against humanity so awful, that it is impossible to look away unless you condone such action under the guise of "law and order." And when such racist ignorance is …

Roger Harris (2020-08-27). Belarus's Options in the Midst of a Color Revolution. counterpunch.org A "color revolution" is a media term for a movement based on legitimate grievances only to be co-opted into a regime change operation backed by the US and confederates. There have been so many — Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, Kyrgyzstan in 2005 — that they have run out of colors. Belarus is amidst

Mark Gruenberg (2020-08-27). Trump's message to white supremacists: It's OK to gun down protesters. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—One of Donald Trump's "very fine people," Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old who news reports said "admires the police," was arrested August 26 for gunning down three peaceful protesters against racial repression and police violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin. One of his victims is in the hospital. The other two—one shot point-blank in the head, video shows—are …

RT (2020-08-27). 'Clear case of self-defense': Pundits argue video evidence exonerates 17-year-old charged with Kenosha killings. rt.com Numerous commentators claim that all available evidence shows that Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense when he opened fire on protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The teen is accused of killing two protesters. | Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder over the shooting of three demonstrators — two of whom died — during riots in the city on Tuesday night. | Although painted as a bloodthirsty white supremacist by some journalists and activists, multiple observers have made the case that Rittenhouse had good intentions and pulled the trigger as a last resort. | Read more…

The Canary (2020-08-27). Teenager arrested after two shot dead during Black Lives Matter protests. thecanary.co A white 17-year-old police admirer has been arrested over the killing of two people gunned down during a third night of protests in Wisconsin over the police shooting of Black man Jacob Blake.Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. Antioch is about 15 miles from Kenosha where protests have been taking place.Two people were shot dead on Tuesday night in the attack carried out by a young white man who was caught on mobile phone video opening fire in the middle of the street with a semi-automatic rifle.Police officers in riot gear line up agai…

Sarah Jaffe (2020-08-27). Don't Call It a Boycott: NBA Players Are Inspiring a Strike Wave. progressive.org The Milwaukee Bucks refusal to play, and the wave of pro-athlete strikes they've inspired, has forced the message of Black Lives Matter into our living rooms.

WSWS (2020-08-27). The Republican National Convention: A frightened ruling class incites fascist violence. wsws.org The convention, dominated by hysterical threats against left-wing political opposition, took place against the backdrop of a shooting of demonstrators by a right-wing vigilante.

splcenter (2020-08-27). The Fascist Underpinnings of Pro-Trump Media: An Interview With Author Jason Stanley. splcenter.org In his 2018 book How Fascism Works, Jason Stanley details how the propagandistic cult of personality surrounding President Trump is reminiscent of fascist movements from history.

Gershon Baskin (2020-08-27). Judaism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and me. zcomm.org Our life together in Israel requires us to know each other, to respect each other, and to live and let live without coercion and without violence…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-27). Anti-racism protests intensify in the US. peoplesdispatch.org A fresh wave of protests has broken out across the US state of Wisconsin and other parts of the country after police officers were caught on video shooting a Black man multiple times in the back. Jacob Blake was reportedly shot seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday, August 23. This shooting occurred days after police officers shot and killed a Black man, Trayford Pellerin, in Lafayette, Louisiana on Friday, August 21.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-27). US professional basketball players begin strike over police killings. peoplesdispatch.org Basketball players from the Wisconsin-based Milwaukee Bucks in the United States held an emotional press conference on Wednesday, August 26, to announce that they would not be playing in the upcoming game against the Orlando Magic. Their announcement comes after the brutal shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake on Sunday August 23 by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin which was recorded by a neighbor and widely circulated on the internet. | The shooting of Blake comes amid a nationwide movement against police violence and racism, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on May 25. S…

Fight Back (2020-08-27). Blue lives supporter Kyle Rittenhouse shoots three in Kenosha, killing two. fightbacknews.org Kenosha, WI – August 25 marked the third night of the uprising that has engulfed Kenosha since the attempted murder of Jacob Blake at the hands of Kenosha police. It was also the deadliest yet, with several people being shot as reactionaries descended on the city. Two of those shot tragically lost their lives. | While the authorities, including the Kenosha Police Department, have yet to release any specifics on the situation, the people who were on the ground recording every moment have been hard at work piecing the available evidence together. As things stand, all of that evidence points to the racist killer bei…

Fight Back (2020-08-27). The battle for the United States Postal Service. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – On August 18, amid public outcry, political scrutiny and protests, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that his so-called 'reforms' will be put on hold until after the election. While voting rights advocates can and should take this as a partial win, postal workers and concerned postal customers must continue to escalate and build a movement that can permanently end DeJoy's policies of deliberate sabotage and reverse the damage that has already been done. | What have the 'reforms' meant for postal workers and customers? | People around the country were shocked to see images appear of dismantl…