Society's ChildS


Fire

USA 2020 = Kiev 2014?

Timoschuk
The Duran
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 00:01 UTC
american flag burning
© Getty Images
In the United States, riots that began due to the death of African American George Floyd are gaining strength.

On May 25, an African American, George Floyd, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. The white policeman Derek Chauvin pressed his neck with his knee and held it like this for more than 7 minutes while George was lying face down on the road.

Suspected of paying for a pack of cigarettes purchased in a store, with fake notes, Floyd repeatedly said: "I can't breathe", but the policeman did not stop pressing his neck. Officer Chauvin has repeatedly committed unjustified detention violence.
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Attention

Best of the Web: The Minneapolis putsch

CJ Hopkins
OffGuardian
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 04:59 UTC
minneapolis burns
Well, it looks like the Resistance's long-anticipated "Second Civil War" has finally begun ... more or less exactly on cue. Rioting has broken out across the nation. People are looting and burning stores and attacking each other in the streets. Robocops are beating, tear-gassing, and shooting people with non-lethal projectiles.

State National Guards have been deployed, curfews imposed, "emergencies" declared. Secret Servicemen are fighting back angry hordes attempting to storm the White House. Trump is tweeting from an "underground bunker."

Opportunist social media pundits on both sides of the political spectrum are whipping people up into white-eyed frenzies. Americans are at each other's throats, divided by identity politics, consumed by rage, hatred, and fear.

Things couldn't be going better for the Resistance if they had scripted it themselves.

Actually, they did kind of script it themselves. Not the murder of poor George Floyd, of course. Racist police have been murdering Black people for as long as there have been racist police. No, the Resistance didn't manufacture racism.
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USA

Battlefield America: As the COVID story falls apart, a new crisis takes over

Spiro Skouras
Activist Post
Fri, 29 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Battlefield America
For months the global health pandemic known as the coronavirus or COVID-19 has been dominating the headlines while drastically changing the lives of billions of people around the world. With unprecedented restrictions of people's fundamental human rights, while simultaneously destroying the global economy, what is really going on?

Many have questioned the response from governments and global institutions such as the World Health Organization from the very beginning. Now, the CDC admits the mortality rate of the virus is much lower than previously projected, but the question remains why are we all still on lockdown?

Although the question for the need of continued lockdowns is now more important than ever, it seems to be lost as we are witnessing massive civil unrest spread across the US just as quickly as we were told the virus was spreading.


Comment: See: Twenty unanswered questions to the George Floyd protests, how did we get here?

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Broom

Neighbors from all walks of life hit Minneapolis streets to help clean up after days of unrest

Elias Marat
The Mind Unleashed
Sun, 31 May 2020 12:32 UTC
Minneapolis clean up
The volunteers appeared to be from all demographics, with Black, brown, white and Muslim residents all seen participating in the collective clean up effort.

Volunteers have flocked to the streets of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area to help clean up the shattered glass, graffiti, and other debris left behind in the aftermath of huge protests and widespread unrest resulting from the brutal killing of George Floyd.

Residents from across Minnesota and neighboring states flooded into neighborhoods in the Twin Cities that saw some of the most massive protests and skirmishes with police to help mop and sweep affected areas, MPR News reports.

The volunteers appeared to be drawn from the same diverse demographic groups as those who took the streets throughout the week, with Black, brown, white and Muslim residents all seen participating in the collective clean up effort.

Comment: Perhaps a good reminder that - in the midst of all the chaos - exist a number of people of good will out there who are seeking to be constructive and finding solutions - instead of exacerbating the problems.

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Stock Down

Australia attempts to stimulate lockdown damaged economy with giant construction projects and home renovations

Daniel Hurst
The Guardian
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 07:55 UTC
Sydney
© Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty ImagesA building site in Sydney. Scott Morrison has signalled the next round of federal stimulus for the coronavirus-hit economy will involve construction and be targeted rather than economy-wide interventions.
The federal government has opened the door to providing cash grants for home renovations as part of a new round of economic stimulus aimed at propping up Australia's construction sector.

The government has also hinted it is looking at helping the struggling arts and entertainment sector, which has been pleading for assistance for months because many workers have missed out on the $1,500 fortnightly jobkeeper wage subsidy.

It is understood the support for home renovations is on the table - but the bigger focus of the forthcoming package is likely to be new construction and larger-scale work.

Comment: See also: UK's small businesses face mounting lockdown debt, insolvencies increasing, warn accountancy experts

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Attention

Two US airmen dead in shooting incident at North Dakota Air Force Base


Sputnik
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 17:23 UTC
air force base US
© AP Photo / Dave Kolpack
Two US airmen have died during a shooting incident at the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota on Monday morning, according to an official press release on the incident.

"A shooting incident at approximately 4:30 a.m. today has left two 319th Reconnaissance Wing active duty military members dead", the release said.

The incident is contained and there is no ongoing risk to other personnel at the base at this time, the incident also said.

The incident is currently under investigation, the release added.
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Stock Down

UK's small businesses face mounting lockdown debt, insolvencies increasing, warn accountancy experts

Mohamed Elmaazi
Sputnik
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 07:00 UTC
shops camden
© Mohamed Elmaazi
14 per cent of Small and Medium-Sized businesses won't have enough cash 'to last four weeks of lockdown', according to the latest business survey conducted by two country-wide accountancy networks with tens of thousands of members.

99 per cent of all UK employment is within Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), businesses employing 250 people or less.

The Association of Certified Charters Accountants (ACCA) UK and the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) produce weekly reports tracking the financial health of SMEs in the UK amid the COVID-19 lockdown. ACCA UK explains to Sputnik that while there has been much effort from the government to assist small businesses, many remain unable to receive the financial support that they require, with the number of SMEs planning to liquidate now reaching 5 percent.

Sputnik: The latest joint ACCA and Corporate Finance Network report says that cashflow is a key concern for SMEs across the UK.

Comment: We've barely begun to see the damage wrought by the unjustified lockdown:

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Rocket

Elon Musk to accept co-operation offer from Russia's space agency Roscosmos


RT
Sun, 31 May 2020 20:19 UTC
ElonMusk
© Reuters/Steve Nesius.SpaceX CEO and owner Elon Musk celebrates after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company has just performed its first manned flight into orbit, replied to greetings from Roscosmos saying he was ready to work with Russia to explore space further. And, surprisingly, he did it in Russian.

"Thank you, sir, ha ha. We're hoping for a mutually beneficial and prosperous long-term cooperation," the tech billionaire wrote.

The message came in response to Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin's tweet in which - in English - he congratulated his NASA counterpart, Jim Bridenstine, on a successful launch, and asked him to convey his "sincere greetings" to Elon Musk.

But the assistance of NASA's administrator wasn't needed, apparently. Being an active Twitter user, Musk found the tweet himself and swiftly responded to it in Russian, prompting some positive feedback from Russian Twitter users.

Comment: See also:

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Bell

'Do something positive. Stop making excuses': George Floyd's brother condemns violent protesters

Rosa Sanchez and Alex Perez
ABC News
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 13:17 UTC
Terrence Floyd brother george floyd
© ABC NewsThe Rev. Kevin McCall and Terrence Floyd appear on "Good Morning America," June 1, 2020.
The younger brother of George Floyd is pleading with protesters not to "tear up your town" as violent demonstrations have taken place in numerous cities across the country.

In an interview with ABC News' Alex Perez on Sunday night, Terrence Floyd said that he understands why people are angry, but he worries his brother's memory will be overshadowed by the destructive protests.

"[S]ometimes I get angry, I want to bust some heads, too," Terrence Floyd said. "I wanna ... just go crazy. But I'm here. My brother wasn't about that. My brother was about peace. You'll hear a lot of people say he was a gentle giant."

Comment: Full ABC news interview here:



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Heart - Black

Killing of unarmed, autistic Palestinian in Jerusalem sparks outrage

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Sun, 31 May 2020 17:44 UTC
Eyad Al-Halaq
Eyad Al-Halaq
Palestinians are reeling after Israeli police shot dead an unarmed autistic Palestinian man inside the occupied East Jerusalem's Old City, where Israeli authorities have a history of using racial profiling and excessive force against Palestinians, specifically young men.

Eyad al-Halaq, 32, was on his way to a school for children and adults with disabilities where he was a student when Israeli police ordered him to stop for a search when they spotted a "suspicious object that looked like a pistol."

Al-Halaq, who according to statements from his family has the "mental age of a six-year-old child," was reportedly spooked by the police and began rushing away from them.

The police officers then began chasing after al-Halaq before firing several rounds at him, ultimately killing him.

Israeli police issued a statement saying that after they "neutralized" the "suspect," they conducted a body search and found no weapon in his possession.

Haaretz reported that while one officer fired warning shots in the air, the second more junior officer shot al-Halaq while he was trying to hide behind a dumpster.

The junior officer reportedly "suspected [al-Halaq] was a terrorist because he was wearing gloves" — an extremely common occurrence here given the coronavirus pandemic.

On top of the fact that al-Halaq was unarmed and was autistic, the arbitrary and conflicting reasoning given by the officers as to why they pursued and shot him has sparked widespread outrage among Palestinians inside Israel and the occupied territories.
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