Daily Archives: July 6, 2020

2020-07-06: News Headlines

Max Parry (2020-07-06). The Battle of Seattle was Fought by the Pro-war "Left" in Northern Syria. dissidentvoice.org The ongoing series of protests, riots and unrest following the death of George Floyd culminated in the establishment of a self-declared "autonomous zone" by activists in Seattle, Washington, after police abandoned a local precinct in the city's Capitol Hill district. Lasting just three weeks until law enforcement retook the six block territory from occupants on …

JoAnn Wypijewski (2020-07-06). On Disposability and Rebellion: Insights From a Rank-and-File Insurgency. counterpunch.org Homestead workers made beams for the Empire State Building. Their collective hand is embedded in the structures that millions encounter, unthinking, every day. Cross the Verrazano Narrows or the Golden Gate, that hand is there. Pose for a photograph at Rockefeller Center or the St. Louis Arch, it is there. Enter the United Nations building, curse the traffic on the Oakland Bay Bridge, depend on the Hoover Dam, it is there.

RT (2020-07-06). 'Victory for environmental justice': Activists rejoice after $8bn Atlantic Coast Pipeline NIXED amid long-running legal battle. rt.com The two energy companies behind the controversial 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline slated to run from West Virginia to North Carolina, said they are scrapping the project after it was on hold for years due to legal challenges. | In a joint

Staff (2020-07-06). Egyptian Activist Laila Soueif on the Jailing of Her Children & the Fight Against Authoritarianism. democracynow.org Egyptian authorities have arrested scores of people, including doctors, medical workers, journalists, lawyers and activists, as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. "Unlike nearly every other country in the Middle East, Egypt has not released thousands of prisoners as a precaution against the coronavirus. Instead, it's arrested more people and cut off communication," says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. One of the most high-profile arrests is that of Sanaa Seif, a film editor and the youngest member of one of Egypt's most prominent activist families. Sanaa's brother, Alaa Abd El…

commondreams (2020-07-06). To 'Build Back Better,' We Must Ditch Public Financing of Fossil Fuels. commondreams.org Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Sandrine Dixson-Decl—êve, and Bas Eickhout | An Extinction Rebellion protester holds up a placard saying "Divest from climate change" on October 14, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: John Keeble/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

yenisafak (2020-07-06). Traces of history fascinate Turkey's Patara visitors. yenisafak.com The ancient city of Patara in Turkey's Mediterranean coast fascinates its visitors with traces of history and stories of people who once lived there.Located in the Kas district of southwestern Antalya province, Patara is known as the capital of the ancient Lycian civilization, which consisted of 23 cities in the middle of the first century BC.Chief excavator Havva Iskan Isik of Akdeniz University told Anadolu Agency that famous names from history frequently set foot to Patara.Isik said the first important person to come to the city was Tudhaliya IV, the king of Hittite Empire.Alexander the Great, she added, after…

yenisafak (2020-07-06). Russian church leader says calls to turn Hagia Sophia into mosque threaten Christianity. yenisafak.com Patriarch Kirill, the leader of Russia's Orthodox Church, said on Monday that calls to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque posed a threat to Christianity.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed restoring the mosque status of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, an ancient building at the heart of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires and now one of Turkey's most visited monuments.The proposal has been criticised by several religious and political leaders, including the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch, spirtual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, as well as Greece, France an…

Fight Back (2020-07-05). Tampa protesters march to get charges dropped, community control of the police. fightbacknews.org Tampa, FL – On the evening of July 3, 50 members of the community marched through downtown Tampa to demand that local State Attorney Andrew Warren drop charges on protesters arrested during the Justice for George Floyd movement. Many protesters from events over the past several weeks in Tampa face charges like unlawful assembly and inciting a riot, both of which have been commonly used by police across the country to repress activists. The organizers of the march and protest, Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), previously had a similar event after which 67 protesters had their cases dismissed. They say…

Various Contributors (2020-07-05). In Memoriam: Dr.Howard Croft 1941 — 2020. zcomm.org Members and activists who have long memories of his tireless work for empowerment of all residents of the District of Columbia contribute their recollections…

Glenn Greenwald (2020-07-05). House Democrats Restrict Trump's Planned Withdrawal of Troops. zcomm.org It should come as absolutely no surprise that House Democrats are finding common cause with Liz Cheney and other GOP warmongers to block any efforts to reduce even moderately the footprint of the U.S. military in the world or its decades-long posture of endless war…

_____ (2020-07-05). On Contact: Patriotism And Dissent With Danny Sjursen. popularresistance.org Former Army Major Danny Sjursen, a frequent contributor to Popular Resistance, urges people to consider themselves citizens of humanity and not of a nation. Sjursen is the author of "Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War" where he defines patriotism as wanting the country to live up to its aspirations, that dissents from the United States when it is wrong. When a country becomes an empire, Sjursen says it is our patriotic duty to dissent. Sjursen discusses three types of patriotism. Principled participatory patriotism takes the same sense of duty to urge the United States to become a better place t…

RT (2020-07-05). Riot declared in Portland for THIRD night this week as protesters besiege federal courthouse. rt.com Portland police used tear gas against protesters who had erected barricades and shot fireworks at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in the city. Friday was the third riot in Portland this week. | Several hundred activists marched on Friday evening into the streets around the courthouse in downtown Portland, bearing makeshift shields and diverse materials they used to erect some barricades, police said. | In the early hours of Saturday, the situation became increasingly volatile, with Portland police declaring a riot at around 4am local time. Officers deployed tear gas and pushed the protesters away from the cour…

Leon Kunstenaar (2020-07-05). ICE Out Of Marin Action at Marin County Jail. indybay.org Activists demand County end cooperation with ICE and defunding of Sherriff's department.

Jeffrey A. Tucker (2020-07-04). Society Is Infinitely Smarter Than Any One Individual but Lockdowns Kneecapped It. anti-empire.com We've lived through the most bizarre experience of human folly in my lifetime, and perhaps in generations. Among the strangest aspects of this has been the near universal failure on the part of regular people, and even the appointed "experts" (the ones the government employs, in any case), to have internalized anything about the basics of viruses that my mother understands, thanks to her mother before who had a solid education in the subject after World War II. | Thus, for example, are all governments ready to impose new lockdowns should the infection data turn in the other direction. Under what theory, precisely…

Michael Fumento (2020-07-04). 2010: Why the WHO Faked a Pandemic. anti-empire.com The World Health Organization has suddenly gone from crying "The sky is falling!" like a cackling Chicken Little to squealing like a stuck pig. The reason: charges that the agency deliberately fomented swine flu hysteria. "The world is going through a real pandemic. The description of it as a fake is wrong and irresponsible," the

Patricia Claus (2020-07-04). Ioannidis: 150-300 Million Already Had the Virus, Infection Fatality Rate for People Under 45 "Almost 0%" anti-empire.com Leading epidemiologist Dr. John Ioannidis of Stanford University estimates that about 150-300 million or more people have already been infected by COVID-19 around the world, far more than the 10 million documented cases. | In an interview with Greek Reporter, the Greek American scientist warns, however, that the draconian lockdowns imposed in many countries may have the opposite effect of what was intended. "Globally, the lockdown measures have increased the number of people at risk of starvation to 1.1 billion, and they are putting at risk millions of lives," he says. | It was just three months ago, soon after t…

RT (2020-07-04). WATCH Antifa members brawl and erect barricades in downtown Portland on Independence Day. rt.com Activists were filmed fist-fighting and erecting barricades across the streets in central Portland, Oregon. They'd attacked the city's courthouse and clashed with US marshals the previous night. | Journalist Andy Ngo shared clips of protesters, whom he identified as local Antifa members, picking up fence sections and roadblocks and using them to erect barricades. | pic.twitter.com/UFEmfJkW9c— Andy Ngॠ(@MrAndyNgo) Antifa in downtown Portland are making their wall taller.

Anatoly Karlin (2020-07-04). Massive Cringe as Apparatchiks Stuff the Ballot for Putin's Constitutional Amendments That Would Have Passed Anyway. anti-empire.com So the Russians Putin also gets the option of running for two more 6 year terms come 2024. | It also happens to be the case that this is

Daniel Horowitz (2020-07-04). More Evidence That Most Coronavirus Cases Are Now Weaker Than the Flu. anti-empire.com Evidence continues to mount that the new infections throughout much of the country are extremely mild, with the exception of some D…

Wolf Richter (2020-07-04). Continued Unemployment Claims in the US Rise by Another 1 Million, Now at Eye-Watering 31.5 Million. anti-empire.com Normally, the jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is released on the first Friday of the month. And the unemployment claims report is released Thursday every week. But this month, the monthly jobs report was also released today because of the 4th of July weekend. And now we have this delicious situation of both reports on the same day, with the Labor Department's unemployment insurance data — people who are actually receiving unemployment benefits under state and federal programs — calling the Bureau of Labor Statistics' survey-based report a liar. And we'll go through them. | What the L…

_____ (2020-07-04). Seattle Activists Share Their Vision For Black Trans Pride. popularresistance.org In recent years, trans issues have broken into the mainstream. It didn't happen overnight; it's been a long time coming. Trans activists have been at the center of the fight for LGBTQ rights since before Stonewall, decrying discrimination and violence against their peers for decades. | Now, between Pride Month and protests centering on Black lives, these issues are in the spotlight again. Black trans activists have taken to social media and the streets, bringing attention in particular to the growing number of murdered Black trans women within their community. | For many who've criticized the commodification of P…

Eds. (2020-07-03). COINTELPRO: How the U.S. state dealt with the last radicalization. mronline.org Twenty-one-year-old Black Panther Party deputy chair Fred Hampton and his comrade Mark Clark were assassinated in a 1969 pre-dawn raid in Chicago. Arguably the most talented and politically astute of the Panther leaders, Hampton was renowned for inspiring activists of all colours. But he was betrayed by William O'Neal, his bodyguard and the Panthers' head …

Kyle Anzalone (2020-07-03). PODCAST: Congress Wants Forever Wars. anti-empire.com On FPF #513, I discuss the efforts in Congress to prevent Trump from bringing US troops home. After 19 years, there is a chance the US could end our longest war and bring troops home. | However, members of Congress are working to pass provisions to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to prevent Trump from withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. | House Dems have teamed up with the most hawkish Republicans, like Liz Chaney, to accomplish this goal. This unholy alliance will surely get more American soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

RT (2020-07-03). The right time to defund cops? NYC gun crime hitting new heights as city culls police budget by $1bn. rt.com Three people were murdered in New York overnight into Thursday, in line with a grim trend that saw police responding to the highest number of shootings in over 20 years last month amid a leftist push to divest from the force.

Celia Farber (2020-07-03). Inventor of the PCR Technique Would Be the First to Say It's Not Fit for Diagnostic Purposes. anti-empire.com What do we mean when we say somebody has 'tested positive' for the Corona Virus? The answer would astound you. But getting this "answer" is like getting to a very rare mushroom that only grows above 200 feet on a Sequoia tree in the forbidden forest. | I say that for dramatic effect, but also because I wound up, against all odds, finding it. | Every day I wake up and work at shedding one more layer of ignorance —by listening carefully. I got lucky with scientists many years ago; Epic, incredible scientists, happening to cross my path when nobody else wanted to talk to them. Now their names are emerging, the…

Wolf Richter (2020-07-03). Lockdown Stone Age: Virus Cultists Shrank World Trade 30 Percent. anti-empire.com World trade in goods plunged by 12% in April from March, after having already dropped 2.4% in March from February. This plunge of the But world trade had already taken a hit starting in late 2018, as tariffs, counter-tariffs, and threats of tariffs jiggled supply chains around. By December 2018, the index was do…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-07-03). Over 800 Afghan civilians have lost their lives in six months: UN Assistance Mission. peoplesdispatch.org In a recent spate of at least 56 violent incidents, members of Afghanistan's civil society, religious leaders, healthcare workers, members of the judiciary, civil society activists, non-governmental organizations and journalists have been deliberately attacked…

Unicorn Riot (2020-07-03). Indigenous Activists Assert Right to Unceded Land At Anti-Trump Protest. unicornriot.ninja Keystone, SD — Thousands of Trump supporters, as well as counter-protesters, are expected to converge today in a small town in South Dakota's Black Hills for the Trump/Pence 2020 rally scheduled to take place this afternoon. Keystone is near Mount Rushmore, a monument to Presidents…

Neil deMause (2020-07-03). What the Corporate Media Isn't Telling You About the Risks of Reopening. commondreams.org Activists hold signs and protest the California lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on May 01, 2020 in San Diego, California. The protesters demands included opening small businesses, churches as well as support for President Trump. (Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

yenisafak (2020-07-03). Copenhagen's Little Mermaid labelled 'racist fish'. yenisafak.com Denmark woke up on Friday to the words "racist fish" scrawled across the base of the "Little Mermaid", the bronze statue honouring Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale that perches on a rock in the sea off a pier in Copenhagen.Police said it had not yet identified the perpetrators. The 107-year-old sculpture, which is visited by one million tourists each year, has been vandalised before, including by anti-whaling campaigners and pro-democracy activists, twice suffering decapitation."We consider it vandalism and have started an investigation," a spokesman for the Copenhagen police said.Protesters of the Bla…

yenisafak (2020-07-03). Erdogan dispels accusations about Hagia Sophia. yenisafak.com Turkey's president said Friday that accusations against the country about Hagia Sophia directly target its sovereignty.Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of a mosque in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will always protect the rights of Muslims and the minorities living in the country.A Turkish court is about to announce its verdict on converting the 6th-century structure to a mosque.The Hagia Sophia was used as a church for 916 years. In 1453, it was converted into a mosque by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II when the empire conquered Istanbul.Following the restoration work during the Ottoman era and…

Ray Emerson (2020-07-02). NYC activists reclaim spirit of Stonewall: Black, queer resistance. liberationnews.org Fifty-one years since the original Stonewall Rebellion, it is clear the racist system of capitalism cannot bring about liberation for any oppressed people.

sputniknews (2020-07-02). TikTok Teens Launch One-Star Review Campaign Against Trump Family Businesses. sputniknews.com TikTokers have taken aim at US President Donald Trump. Teenagers reportedly targeted a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in mid-June, purchasing large numbers of tickets to the event with no intention of attention. Later, activists reportedly launched another campaign by hamstringing Trump's online re-election campaign merchandise store.