Amy-Strange
Amy-Strange's JournalProtesters have occupied part of Seattle's Capitol Hill since last week. Here's what it's like
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Protesters have occupied part of Seattle's Capitol Hill since last week. Here's what it's like inside
Barricades and street graffiti mark the entrance to what's known as Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, which protesters have occupied since last Monday.
Last week, the police department pulled officers out of the precinct as tensions between officers and protesters boiled over. The abandoned precinct has been spray painted with a sign that says: "Seattle People Department East Precinct."
The zone is stocked with granola bars, water, toilet paper and toothpaste.
"We're just making sure that there's no violence or, you know, anything against people of color. That's why we're here," a protester who didn't want to give his name told CNN.
[SNIP]
Some people in the zone openly carried firearms, which is allowed in the state of Washington.
"It's only a couple little bullets in this guy right here," Raz Simone, a protester, told CNN of the gun holstered to his hip. "This is not for the police. I'm an American citizen and my war is not with the police, it's with the system and the accountability, the lack of accountability. But no, this is just for protection."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/protesters-have-occupied-part-of-seattle-s-capitol-hill-since-last-week-here-s-what-it-s-like-inside/ar-BB15va9T?ocid=msedgntp
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'Peaceful protests got hijacked': Some criminals used George Floyd protests as cover for looting...
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(COMMENT: I like that Mylett called them "faux protestors". Makes you think, right?
'Peaceful protests got hijacked': Some criminals used George Floyd protests as cover for looting, police say
Steve Mylett, the police chief in Bellevue, Washington, couldn’t believe what he was seeing, even after intelligence officers warned of social media posts calling for an attack.
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 31, a handful of demonstrators carrying signs gathered at a major intersection in the Seattle suburb. The crowd quickly grew to 40. Then, after two men got on cellphones, 300 more showed up, then 1,000 white, Black and brown.
“It was a tsunami of people, and they just started running,” Mylett said. “I didn’t hear George Floyd’s name once. I didn’t hear, ‘Police reform!’ They just scattered throughout the city. … They used tactics we’ve never seen before.”
Mylett said faux protesters, many dressed in black with hoodies, gloves and COVID-19 masks, ransacked shops and caused millions of dollars in losses. Some ran from one business to the next, trailed by vehicles that stopped outside high-end stores, loaded up, and moved on.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/peaceful-protests-got-hijacked-some-criminals-used-george-floyd-protests-as-cover-for-looting-police-say/ar-BB15undr?ocid=msedgntp
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Howard Stern Responds to Backlash Over Resurfaced Video of Him in Blackface, Using N-Word
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(COMMENT: I like Howard Stern, but I have to admit that sometimes he makes me cringe
Howard Stern Responds to Backlash Over Resurfaced Video of Him in Blackface, Using N-Word
[SNIP]
The video was brought back to light by Donald Trump Jr., who retweeted the clip of the performance, originally posted by filmmaker Tariq Nasheed. The president’s son and Stern had been in a public spat since the radio personality criticized President Donald Trump for mishandling the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide Black Lives Matter protests.
The performance parodies an incident in 1993, when Ted Danson dressed in blackface for a Friars Club roast dedicated to his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg; Stern was playing Danson, with Sherman Hemsley playing Goldberg. The radio host used the N-word liberally in the sketch. Stern, as Danson, defended himself to his shocked audience by saying, “Whoopi wrote that.”
Stern acknowledged the video on his SiriusXM program “The Howard Stern Show” on Monday morning, saying the performance was not atypical for his comedic brand at the time, but that he’s also evolved beyond such controversial material.
“The s— I did was f—ing crazy,” Stern said. “I’ll be the first to admit. I won’t go back and watch those old shows; it’s like, ‘Who is that guy?’ But that was my shtick, that’s what I did and I own it. I don’t think I got embraced by Nazi groups and hate groups. They seem to think I was against them, too. Everybody had a bone to pick with me.”
[SNIP]
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/howard-stern-responds-to-backlash-over-resurfaced-video-of-him-in-blackface-using-n-word/ar-BB15w3mM?ocid=msedgntp
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Seismic shifts on race leave Trump in the dust
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Seismic shifts on race leave Trump in the dust
George Floyd's murder on May 25 has been the catalyst for profound changes in public opinion and shifts in popular culture in a short period of time.
So far, the most dramatic cultural changes have included dramatic growth in support for Black Lives Matters and the dramatic decision by NASCAR to ban Confederate flags at the races. To top things off, HBO initially booted the classic movie "Gone with the Wind" off its schedule for its racist content.
Back in 2018, there were more Americans who opposed BLM than there were who supported the movement. Shortly before Floyd's death, support outweighed opposition by 17 percentage points. Two weeks later, net support grew to 28 percent. The approval for the movement surged with blacks, Hispanics, millennials and Democrats.
With a fan base anchored deep in Dixie, Confederate flags are as common at NASCAR races as angry tweets out of the White House. But last week in a classic "when hell freezes over" moment, the car racing league announced a ban on the rebel flags. In a statement, the league declared "The presence of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive climate for all fans."
[SNIP]
Donald Trump's ineffective fight against racism and COVID-19 have crippled his re-election campaign. Last week, the Real Clear Politics average for polls on the presidential race had Joe Biden with a solid 8.1 percent lead over the president.
The president's political descent has sent his campaign team scrambling for a message since it's laughable to argue that America is in great shape after more than 115,00 thousand Americans have lost their lives and millions of people have lost their jobs in the last few months. Last week a national poll by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News showed that 80 percent of the public thought things were out of control in this country.
[SNIP]
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/seismic-shifts-on-race-leave-trump-in-the-dust/ar-BB15vSnw?ocid=msedgntp
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More black people than white die in police encounters involving tasers: report
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More black people than white die in police encounters involving tasers: report
People killed by police use of Tasers are disproportionately African American, a Reuters analysis of fatalities through 2018 found.
The news service analyzed 1,081 cases in which people died after police shocked them with a Taser, the majority occurring after 2000, when the weapon came into widespread usage by police departments. The analysis found that the plurality of deaths - at least 32 percent - were African American, compared to at least 29 percent white. African Americans comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population.
Thirteen percent of deaths were listed as involving Hispanic people but did not list race, while another 26 percent listed neither race nor ethnicity, according to Reuters.
"These racial disparities in Taser deaths are horrifying but unsurprising," Carl Takei, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the news service. "Police violence is a leading cause of death for black people in America, in large part because over-policing of black and brown communities results in unnecessary police contacts and unnecessary use of force."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/more-black-people-than-white-die-in-police-encounters-involving-tasers-report/ar-BB15vbwT?ocid=msedgntp
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Petition demands Dolly Parton statues replace confederate memorials in Tennessee
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Petition demands Dolly Parton statues replace confederate memorials in Tennessee
As confederate memorials are being taken down nationwide, one petition is calling for them to be replaced with those of "a true Tennessee hero": Dolly Parton.
The Change.org petition started by Alex Parsons on June 11 asks Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee State House to replace confederate monuments with statues of the country singer, who "has worked her entire life to bring us closer together."
"Aside from her beautiful music, which has touched the hearts and lives of millions of Americans, Dolly Parton's philanthropic heart has unquestionably changed the world for the better," Parsons wrote on Thursday.
"From the Dollywood foundation that has provided books and scholarships to millions of American children, to the millions of dollars she has donated to dozens of organizations such as the Red Cross and COVID-19 research centers, Dolly Parton has given more to this country and this state than those confederate officers could ever have hoped to take away."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/petition-demands-dolly-parton-statues-replace-confederate-memorials-in-tennessee/ar-BB15vY4G?ocid=msedgntp
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How out of step is the Republican Party on gay rights?
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How out of step is the Republican Party on gay rights?
A few days before a conservative U.S. Supreme Court voted to enact the most sweeping legal protections for LGBT Americans in decades, a Republican congressman in Virginia lost his election after he officiated a same-sex wedding last year.
The wedding wasn’t the only reason conservatives targeted Rep. Denver Riggleman in a party convention (which local party officials set up in place of a primary), but it was the driving one. Which raises the question: How out of step with the nation is the Republican Party on same-sex rights?
It’s an especially pertinent question on Monday, now that a conservative-majority Supreme Court, with the support of one of President Trump’s nominees, just voted 6-3 that existing federal law protects gay and transgender workers from discrimination based on sex.
That’s a sea change in the legal landscape of protections for LGBT Americans. Before this ruling, in roughly half of states, you could be legally fired for being gay or transgender. Now, you can’t under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which the court ruled extends to LGBT Americans because it prevents discrimination “on the basis of sex.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-out-of-step-is-the-republican-party-on-gay-rights/ar-BB15vPWD?ocid=msedgntp
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Swiss women stage scream-in for equality
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Swiss women stage scream-in for equality
Women across Switzerland took to the streets Sunday, screaming together for one minute as part of protests for gender equality.
Videos on social media showed protests in various cities around the country, with protesters speaking out about the gender pay gap, street harassment and violence against women.
"For me it is emotional. Because I scream for me, but I also scream for my sisters and brothers, I scream for all the other children who lost a mother or a father, and I also scream for my mother, who would have screamed if she was still here," said Roxanne Errico, 19, who told the Reuters news agency that her mother was killed by an abusive boyfriend,[.]
The Swiss Trade Union Federation, which helped to organize the protests, said the coronavirus pandemic had shone a light on the lack of progress in improving equality, working conditions and recognition of unpaid domestic work.
"
The pandemic) has in fact drawn attention to the kind of work that is very often carried out by women," the federation wrote on its website.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/swiss-women-stage-scream-in-for-equality/ar-BB15vDbR?ocid=msedgntp
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Wow! I went to the fox news site, and...
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the comments under the SC 6-3 decision were simply amazing.
Usually, progressives don't comment much there, but we are there in droves explaining why a Fox Fan's comments are stupid.
It's almost like the DU has taken over that specific page, and I am so happy!
Here's the link:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-rules-gay-workers-protected-from-job-discrimination-in-big-win-for-lgbt-rights
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This powerful image of a Black man carrying a white counter-protester to safety frames a day of chao
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This powerful image of a Black man carrying a white counter-protester to safety frames a day of chaos and race-inspired violence in London
A powerful photo taken during an anti-Black Lives Matter demonstration in London on Saturday shows a Black man carrying a white protester to safety after he got injured.
It came at the end of sporadic violence across the capital between white protesters, some members of far-right groups, and Black Lives Matter supporters. Police made more than 100 arrests.
The picture, which is trending on social media, was taken as hundreds of demonstrators, some of which belong to far-right groups and organizations, clashed with police in central London's Parliament Square.
The protesters, many of which were middle-aged white men, claimed they were there to "protect" statues, after recent calls to remove them because of their colonial associations.
"Easily my favourite photo of the day," someone wrote on Twitter
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/this-powerful-image-of-a-black-man-carrying-a-white-counter-protester-to-safety-frames-a-day-of-chaos-and-race-inspired-violence-in-london/ar-BB15sBj2?ocid=msedgntp
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Profile Information
Name: Dave AyotteGender: Male
Hometown: Plainfield, CT
Home country: USA
Current location: Tukwila, WA
Member since: Mon Oct 21, 2019, 12:03 AM
Number of posts: 854
