Vandals Deface Graceland Walls w/ ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Defund the Police’

Editor 1
-
0
Vandals Deface Graceland Walls w/ ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Defund the Police’

(Associated Press) Messages of “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” were spray painted on several tourist attractions in Tennessee on Monday night, including Graceland, the Elvis Presley estate, authorities said.

The graffiti phrases were found Tuesday morning outside Graceland, the Levitt Shell Amphitheater in Overton Park and the “I Heart Memphis” mural in midtown Memphis, news outlets reported.

Besides “Defund the Police,” expletive-laced messages about President Donald Trump and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and demands to arrest the Louisville police officers who killed Breonna Taylor were also scrawled on the walls.

Memphis police said they were investigating the incident.

Graceland spokesperson David Beckwith said the estate had no comment on the graffiti but Bill Stanley, Elvis’s stepbrother, told WMC-TV he was appalled by the messages.

“This is totally uncalled for,” said Stanley. “One of the saddest days of my life. I mean, besides the day that Elvis passed away, this right here is right up next to it.”

Graceland visitors have been writing on the wall outside the estate since Presley’s death in 1977.

Levitt Shell executive director Natalie Wilson said this is the sixth act of vandalism at the Shell this year.

Wilson said she doesn’t condone the graffiti but the actions are devastating because of budget issues due to the pandemic.

“Defacing our stage is not appropriate; however, we acknowledge their pain and we want to say to our community ‘it’s time the conversations are deeper, they’re more productive and that change happens with good communication,’” said Wilson.

Elitist Pelosi Ripped for Getting Hair Done in Closed San Francisco Salon

Editor 1
-
0
Elitist Pelosi Ripped for Getting Hair Done in Closed San Francisco Salon

(Headline USA) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting heat over a solo hair salon visit in San Francisco at a time when California businesses are limited by concern over coronavirus.

Footage aired by Fox News Channel shows Pelosi, her mask around her neck rather than on her face, walking through the establishment.

A stylist follows her, wearing a mask.

The salon owner said she rents chairs to stylists, one of whom let her know in advance that Pelosi wanted a wash and a blow dry.

Outdoor haircuts are allowed in California, but indoor salons have not reopened.

The owner said she considered the service “a slap in the face” to business owners who have been forced to close. From Fox News’ report:

Salon owner Erica Kious, in a phone interview with Fox News on Tuesday, shared details of Pelosi’s visit. Kious explained she has independent stylists working for her who rent chairs in her salon.

“One of the stylists who rents a chair from me contacted me Sunday night,” Kious said.

A screengrab of the text message she received from one of her stylists, and obtained by Fox News, said: “I’ll be there at 2:45 tomorrow. Pelosi assistant just messaged me to do her hair.”

Kious replied: “Pelosi?”

“I was like, are you kidding me right now? Do I let this happen? What do I do?” Kious told Fox News, while noting that she “can’t control” what her stylists do if they rent chairs from her, as “they’re not paying” at this time.

Kious cast Pelosi’s visit as a double standard.

“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” Kious told Fox News, adding that she “can’t believe” the speaker didn’t have a mask on. (From the footage, it appears Pelosi had some kind of covering around her neck.)

“We’re supposed to look up to this woman, right?” Kious said. “It is just disturbing.”

Conservatives pounced, casting Pelosi as a hypocrite.

“Speaker Pelosi has pushed policies that would keep our economy closed and our small businesses shut down. But for herself?” Senate Republicans tweeted. “A salon visit whenever she pleases.”

But Pelosi’s spokesman said she was complying with the rules as presented to her by eSalon.

“This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business,” said spokesman Drew Hammill in a statement. “The Speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment.”

Pelosi says Republicans could help create the conditions to safely reopen if they would only “listen to the scientists.”

“Republicans are rejecting the funding needed for testing and tracing to crush the virus and safely reopen schools and the economy,” she wrote in a letter Friday to her Democratic colleagues.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Member of Kennedy Dynasty Loses for the First Time Evah in Mass.

Editor 1
-
0
Member of Kennedy Dynasty Loses for the First Time Evah in Mass.

(Headline USA) U.S. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts defeated U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in Tuesday’s hard-fought Democratic primary, harnessing support from progressive leaders to overcome a challenge from a younger rival who is a member of America’s most famous political family.

It was the first time a Kennedy has lost a race for Congress in Massachusetts.

Markey appealed to voters in the deeply Democratic state by positioning himself as aligned with the liberal wing of the party, although both candidates are far left. He teamed up with a leading progressive, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on the Green New Deal climate change initiative — and at one point labeled Kennedy “a progressive in name only.”

That helped Markey overcome the enduring power of the Kennedy name in Massachusetts. The 39-year-old congressman sought to cast the 74-year-old Markey as someone out of touch after spending decades in Congress, first in the House before moving to the Senate.

At a victory celebration in his hometown of Malden, Massachusetts, Markey ticked off a series of priorities, from support for the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement to a call for Medicare for All, to combating climate change, a signature issue for Markey.

“Every other problem is linked to it. No solution to any challenge will be successful unless we address it. There will be no peace, no justice and no prosperity unless we stop the march to climate destruction,” he said. “We must pass a Green New Deal.”

To make good on those pledges, Markey said Democrats have to take back control of the U.S. Senate and oust President Donald Trump in November.

“He is the most corrupt, most racist, most incompetent president in American history,” Markey said. “We must banish his agenda of division and destruction to the history books.”

Markey also credited his win in part to support from younger voters telling them “when they say you’re too young, show up with your friends.”

Earlier Tuesday evening Kennedy said that while the results aren’t the ones he’d hoped for, he would work for Markey’s reelection.

“The senator is a good man. You never heard me say otherwise,” Kennedy told supporters at an outdoor rally.

Kennedy also suggested that the movement of supporters the campaign pulled together would continue past the current election.

“We may have lost the final vote count tonight but we built a coalition that will endure,” he said. “I would do this again with all of you in a heartbeat.”

In the waning weeks of the campaign, Kennedy leaned into his family’s long political legacy in Massachusetts. His pedigree includes former President John F. Kennedy; former U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, his grandfather; and former U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, who held a Senate seat in Massachusetts for nearly half a century until his death in 2009.

Markey countered by leaning into his own family story — growing up in the working class city of Malden with a father who drove a truck for the Hood Milk company.

In one campaign video, Markey also paraphrased a famous JFK quote, saying, “We asked what we could do for our country. We went out, we did it. With all due respect, it’s time to start asking what your country can do for you.”

Markey found himself on the defense at times during the campaign, with Kennedy repeatedly trying to portray him as having a tin ear to racial equity concerns.

Kennedy faulted Markey for his initial opposition to the effort to desegregate the Boston Public Schools beginning in the 1970s.

Markey countered by noting that he changed his views on the contentious issue that tore at the fabric of the city. He also said he supported the creation in 1973 of a state Senate seat aimed at helping elect a Black senator to the Massachusetts Legislature.

Kennedy also repeatedly pointed to the father of Danroy “DJ” Henry, a young black man from Massachusetts killed by police 10 years ago. Henry’s father has criticized Markey, saying he failed to help the family seek justice.

Markey said he has apologized to the Henry family and signed a letter seeking a federal Justice Department investigation into the killing.

Markey also wasn’t shy about talking about the Kennedy family, at one point pressing Kennedy to tell his father — former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy ll — to stop supporting a political action committee that was running ads against Markey.

“I’m sure your father is watching right now,” Markey said. “Tell your father right now that you don’t want money to go into a super PAC that runs negative ads.”

Kennedy said he had “no idea” if his father was helping fund the PAC.

Late in the race, Kennedy landed a major endorsement when Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally backed his candidacy.

Markey now faces a general election contest where he is considered a strong favorite against Republican primary winner, Kevin O’Connor, in November.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Portland Mayor Says I’m Outta Here After Anarchists Target His Residence

Editor 1
-
0
Portland Mayor Says I’m Outta Here After Anarchists Target His Residence

(Headline USA) Portland‘s police chief has denounced rioters who broke windows and set a fire to a business in the upscale apartment building where Mayor Ted Wheeler lives, labeling the events an escalation in the street violence that Oregon‘s largest city has endured for months.

And the attacks have led the mayor to inform fellow residents of his plans to move, according to OregonLive.com.

“I want to express my sincere apologies for the damage to our home and the fear that you are experiencing due to my position,” Wheeler wrote, according to an image of the email obtained by the news website.

The demonstration began late Monday and stretched into the predawn hours of Tuesday, targeting Wheeler, who is also police commissioner and has been criticized for heading up a police force that has repeatedly used tear gas against the rioters.

The fire was set with a bundle of newspapers in a store housed on the ground floor of Wheeler’s building. There were no reports of major damage or injuries.

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said the rioters also wound up targeting other people who live in Wheeler’s building and have had nothing to do with the protests. Previously, the demonstrators have almost always clashed with police outside symbols of authority — police buildings and courthouses.

“The families that live inside have done absolutely nothing to provoke a threat to their lives. As I’ve stated repeatedly, the nightly violence is coming at increased cost,” he said. “This is impacting the safety of our entire city and urgent action is needed.”

Portland has endured nearly 100 days of nightly unrest following the death of George Floyd during a police confrontation, including two weeks in July when thousands of protesters clashed with U.S. agents sent to protect the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Local police have arrested hundreds of people since Floyd’s death, only to see most of the offenders released instantly to destroy again.

A supporter of the conservative group Patriot Prayer was killed Saturday by one of the rioters. A caravan of Trump supporters, estimated at about 600 cars, encountered Black Lives Matter protesters as they drove through the downtown.

Police have not announced an arrest in the slaying of Aaron J. Danielson, 39, of Portland, and have disclosed no details about what led up the shooting.

Wheeler said on his Facebook page that the vandalism hurt a minority-owned business.

“Arson and terrorizing families with children does nothing except steal, and distract from, the important message of the racial justice movement. Organizations in the community who encouraged or condoned these actions are complicit,” he said.

Wheeler, who has repeatedly refused federal help from President Trump, added: “The community must rise up and say ‘enough is enough’ and hold all of us accountable. We cannot truly move on together and make the positive changes we want to see until this violence is stopped. All violence.”

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Task Force of Leftist DC Gov’t Wants Monuments Renamed or Moved

Editor 1
-
0
Task Force of Leftist DC Gov’t Wants Monuments Renamed or Moved

(Headline USA) A task force commissioned by the Washington, D.C., government has recommended renaming, relocating or adding context to dozens of monuments, schools, parks and buildings because of their namesakes’ participation in slavery or racial oppression.

Among the targets are the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.

Some of the proposals in the report released Tuesday are definite non-starters, as many of the most prominent monuments and statues stand on federal land, outside D.C. government control.

Still, the recommendations have already prompted fierce reactions amid an ongoing national debate over America’s racial history.

“As long as President Trump is in the White House, the mayor’s irresponsible recommendations will go absolutely nowhere, and as the mayor of our Nation’s capital city — a city that belongs to the American people — she ought to be ashamed for even suggesting them for consideration,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Tuesday.

The task force, known as DCFACES (District of Columbia Facilities and Commemorative Expressions), was formed by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser over the summer in the face of a nationwide wave of protests over police brutality and systemic racial inequities that included Washington as one of its epicenters. It released a 24-page executive summary Tuesday.

Some of the group’s recommendations were widely expected; for example, Woodrow Wilson High School has been a prime candidate for a name change for years due to the Democrat Wilson’s open public support for segregation. Others are more controversial, such as proposals to rename schools named for Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and “The Star-Spangled Banner” composer Francis Scott Key.

For the multiple statues and monuments on federal land, the committee advises Bowser to ask the federal government to “remove, relocate, or contextualize” landmarks such as the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial and the statue of Christopher Columbus outside Union Station.

The task force, in its summary, explained that it focused on “key disqualifying histories, including participation in slavery, systemic racism, mistreatment of, or actions that suppressed equality for, persons of color, women and LGBTQ communities and violation of the DC Human Rights Act.”

The report doesn’t go into detail about how “re-contextualizing” would work, but there have been recent recommendations that plaques be added to the monuments to Jefferson and Washington, explaining that their namesakes were longtime slave-owners.

Bowser, in a Tuesday tweet, said she looked forward to reviewing the recommendations from the task force, which she had tasked with “evaluating public spaces to ensure the namesake’s legacy is consistent with #DCValues.”

Bowser has very little power to control what happens on federal land.

She and the D.C. Council fought for years to have a statue of former Confederate general Albert Pike removed; they were unsuccessful because the statue sits on federal land.

In June, hundreds of protesters toppled the Pike statue while officers from the Metropolitan Police Department looked on and kept their distance.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Pro-Biden Firm: Trump Will Appear to Win Landslide Until Mail-In Votes Counted

Ben Sellers
-
0
Pro-Biden Firm: Trump Will Appear to Win Landslide Until Mail-In Votes Counted

Surrogates for Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden set the stage for precisely how they intend to implement their vote-fraud nightmare during the November election, even if President Donald Trump appears to have an Election Day landslide, reported Axios.

Democrats during the party’s recent convention urged people to vote early using mail-in ballots in order to make sure their votes were counted, all the while fearmongering—without evidence—that Trump officials might weaponize the post office.

But that appears little more than a subterfuge to sow chaos, driving up the numbers of mail-in ballots even if the coronavirus concerns used to justify them have abated before November.

The reason became clear after pro-Biden analytics firm Hawkfish added a new piece to the puzzle—one that is as likely as the Left’s recent post-office hoax to become another phony talking point driven by the mainstream media.

The firm said that a landslide victory by Trump on the eve of the election would, in fact, mean nothing since the mail-in votes would only deliver a resounding victory for Biden well after the votes had been cast—and once Democrats know exactly how many extra votes they would need to win in each tossup state.

“When every legitimate vote is tallied and we get to that final day, which will be some day after Election Day, it will in fact show that what happened on election night was exactly that, a mirage,” Hawkfish CEO Josh Mendelsohn said, according to Summit News.

“It looked like Donald Trump was in the lead and he fundamentally was not when every ballot gets counted,” Mendelsohn said, framing the Democrats’ strategy as a hypothetical scenario.

However, failed 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton already has come out urging Biden not to concede “under any circumstances.”

Meanwhile, her former top aide, John Podesta, has been involved in a left-wing operation euphemistically called the Transition Integrity Project, which conducted trial runs of the election similar to military “war games.”

In July, the coalition of leftist operatives and Trump adversaries ran through various scenarios for how they might overthrow a contested election.

One of those involves Michigan, a crucial battleground state, sending rival electors to support both of the candidates, thereby making the outcome of the race indeterminate by time of the Jan. 20 inauguration.

With the official terms of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence having expired, that would leave radical leftist House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the president by default.

In another scenario, if Trump were to win the Electoral College but lose the popular vote, the leftist operatives suggested that Oregon, Washington and California might attempt to secede from the union, perhaps triggering a second civil war (with China and Russia, no doubt, playing much bigger roles this time around).

But if Democrats allow blue states to drive up the popular vote by letting ineligible voters commit vote fraud—evidence of which has been well documented in prior elections—then this outcome may be, politically speaking, the best-case scenario for Trump.

As Trump and many others have warned, the potential for massive amounts of fraud through mail-in voting will be greater than ever.

Democrats have a long history of attempting to wage legal challenges in narrowly contested elections only to find mysterious bags of uncounted ballots turn up in the unlikeliest of places.

Top Democrat attorney Marc Elias has been at the forefront of many of those efforts, prompting Trump during the aftermath of the 2018 elections to refer to him as the Left’s “best Election stealing lawyer.”

Not coincidentally, Elias’s first call for increased mail-in voting came on March 13, the very day Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency.

Many Twitter users responded to the Hawkfish claims about an Election Day ‘mirage’ with due skepticism.

Some, likewise, pointed out the hypocrisy that the Democrats have long accused Trump of doing exactly what they seem determined to brazenly attempt in plain sight.

But the Democrats seem confident that they can use their media allies to gaslight enough of the public into going with the flow and using the threat of continued violence, if necessary, to coerce the rest into accepting their dubious scheme.

Florida Set to Lift Ban on Nursing Home Visits as COVID Outlook Improves

Editor 1
-
0
Florida Set to Lift Ban on Nursing Home Visits as COVID Outlook Improves

(Headline USA) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he will lift the state’s ban on visiting nursing homes that has cut off vulnerable seniors from family since mid-March over fears of spreading the coronavirus.

With his voice cracking at times, he wondered aloud if the actions might have contributed to suffering in his state as he made his announcement during a round table in Jacksonville.

“Part of having a healthy society is understanding that human beings seek affection,” DeSantis said.

“Many of the folks understand that they have loved ones who are in the last stage of their life. They’re not demanding a medical miracle,” he continued. “They’re not having unrealistic expectations. They just would like to be able to say goodbye or to hug somebody.”

Nearly half of all U.S. coronavirus deaths have occurred in nursing homes, where age and other risk factors paired with close proximity for transmission result in a deadly formula.

Four Democratic states are currently being investigated for the decision to force nursing homes to co-mingle healthy and infected patients during lockdowns.

However, as more is understood about the virus, its risk factors and transmission, and with Florida having plateaued after a recent rise in cases, DeSantis said it was past time for the state to enter into a new phase while ensuring necessary precautions.

The visibly emotional governor paused to collect himself, and silence filled the room for about 20 seconds.

DeSantis said he would lift the ban on visitations in an executive order later Tuesday, following recommendations from a nursing home task force.

The governor’s order is expected to allow family members to visit their loved ones no more than two at a time, wearing protective gear including masks.

Facilities would need to go 14 days without any new cases of COVID-19 among staff or residents to allow the visits. Children under the age of 18 are not yet allowed.

The task force appointed by the governor recommended a lengthy set of rules last week, giving wide leeway for wary nursing homes on how to implement them.

Critics were quick to express concern over what will likely be a patchwork approach, varying greatly among facilities statewide.

South Carolina took a similar step Tuesday, with Gov. Henry McMaster announcing visitations at nursing homes could resume after nearly six months, but only outdoors and with no hugs or kisses.

“As expected, the months of separation and isolation have caused loneliness, depression, stress, anxiety among the residents. I worry about them, like you do, every day,” McMaster said in Columbia.

In Florida, nearly two-thirds of facilities have not had new cases since Aug. 11, said Mary Mayhew, who led the task force and heads the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration.

The biggest sticking point was over physical contact, with gut-wrenching debates between the task force’s health experts and an advocate for families.

The task force ultimately recommended that essential caregivers be allowed to touch and hug loved ones.

But some members, including state Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees, repeatedly expressed grave concerns during task force meetings.

“The more people that are coming in, that really increases the risk,” Rivkees said last week.

Task force member Mary Daniel pleaded on behalf of hugs for residents, who she said are dying from loneliness. Daniel took a part-time job as a dishwasher just to be allowed to visit her husband, who has Alzheimer’s.

“I’m turning in my two weeks’ notice today. I’m not going to be a dishwasher anymore. I’m going back to being just a wife,” Daniel said Tuesday. She represents the group Caregivers for Compromise Because Isolation Kills Too.

All parties agreed on the terrible toll isolation has taken on residents, who have now gone almost six months without seeing loved ones.

Some facilities expressed concerns about the continued danger of exposing vulnerable residents to the virus while new cases remain high — though trending downward for several weeks — and without more widespread testing and stricter distancing rules.

“I am concerned that the state will throw open the doors to our communities and then walk away. Suddenly you will see a war develop between providers and families as we try to do what is best for residents and staff,” said Jay Solomon, CEO of Aviva senior home in Sarasota.

It’s unclear how many of the state’s more than 4,000 nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes will choose to open to visitors in any capacity.

The head of Florida Health Care Association, which represent 82% of the nursing homes in Florida, said many facilities told him they are very wary about allowing visitors, while others are eager to do so.

Brian Lee, head of Families for Better Care, an advocacy group for nursing home residents, said Florida’s recommendations are “woefully inadequate.”

“Governor DeSantis’ panel failed to recommend an at-the-door, rapid testing protocol that would identify asymptomatic COVID carriers before entering a nursing home,” he wrote in an email.

Hospitalizations and new confirmed cases in Florida’s summer outbreak of COVID-19 have trended downward since late July, and daily reported deaths have been declining since a peak of about 185 on Aug. 5.

Mayhew said Tuesday that she felt confident visitors would adhere to the rules knowing the stakes were high.

“Human touch is absolutely critical,” said Mayhew, whose 87-year-old mother has been living with her for several months during the pandemic. “I understood how much my mother craved the interaction. No one should be going this long without a hug.”

The state said it would be severing ties with that lab, Quest Diagnostics. DeSantis said in a statement that delivering such “stale” results was irresponsible.

Quest apologized in a statement saying that it “takes seriously” its responsibility to report lab data on time and the glitch was the result of a technical issue.

Ga. Dems Sue to Stop Referendum on Defunding Police, Empowering Sheriff

Editor 1
-
0
Ga. Dems Sue to Stop Referendum on Defunding Police, Empowering Sheriff

The commissioners of a coastal Georgia county where Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot after being pursued by armed white men are suing to stop a referendum on abolishing the county police department.

The Glynn County Commission filed the lawsuit Friday, The Brunswick News reports.

The report said the lawsuit argues that a state law mandating the November vote is unconstitutional.

The referendum would seek to abolish the county police agency and hand law enforcement authority over to the sheriff.

State lawmakers approved the binding referendum in the spring after Arbery’s February shooting death, though the referendum effort has its roots in scandals that took place earlier.

Glynn County commissioners have opposed that effort, saying two local Republican lawmakers are trying to help their political ally, Sheriff Neal Jump.

Arbery was fatally shot last Feb. 23 when a white father and son armed themselves and pursued the unarmed 25-year-old man, who was running in their neighborhood, according to authorities.

More than two months passed before Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

A third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, a neighbor of the McMichaels who authorities say had joined in their pursuit of Arbery and recorded the cellphone video of the shooting, also was subsequently charged with murder. All three men remain jailed, awaiting trial.

The county police department was the initial investigating agency, but arrests came after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local prosecutors.

The county police chief and three former high-ranking officers were indicted in March on charges that they ignored an officer consorting with a drug dealer.

A Glynn County narcotics officer was found to have been having sex with two confidential informants. There also have been claims of unjustified shootings by the department’s officers.

Commissioners want to prevent the scheduled Nov. 3 vote while the lawsuit is being considered.

The suit describes the two laws that cleared the way for the vote as “patently unconstitutional,” saying the General Assembly can’t take back home rule powers given to county governments in the state Constitution.

“The General Assembly cannot pass a local act that requires the abolishment of the police department without the input of the county, which is granted constitutional authority …. to provide police protection to its citizens,” the county argues.

The county also argues the law is improperly targeted at only Glynn County.

The suit also contends that it was too late for the election to be held on Nov. 3, saying such elections have to be called 90 days ahead.

Kemp signed the bills on Aug. 5, precisely 90 days before Nov. 3, but official notice to the Glynn County Board of Elections took several more days.

The county board initially interpreted the situation to require it to hold an entirely separate election with different ballots, machines and poll works on the same day as the general election, estimating that would cost the county $500,000.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger instead encouraged the board to put it on the same ballot as the other races, but the county’s lawsuit said that move is illegal.

Activist Lawyers Sue for Reparations in 1921 Tulsa ‘Race Massacre’

Editor 1
-
0
Activist Lawyers Sue for Reparations in 1921 Tulsa ‘Race Massacre’

(Associated Press) Attorneys for victims and their descendants affected by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre filed a lawsuit in state court on Tuesday against the City of Tulsa and other defendants seeking reparations for the destruction of the city’s once thriving black district.

The group, led by Tulsa attorney Damario Solomon–Simmons, contends Tulsa’s long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre, during which an angry white mob descended on a 35-block area, looting, killing and burning it to the ground.

Hundreds of black residents were killed, and thousands more were left homeless and living in a hastily constructed internment camp.

The city and insurance companies never compensated victims for their losses, and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit claims.

In the years following the massacre, city and county officials actively thwarted the community’s effort to rebuild and neglected the Greenwood and predominantly black north Tulsa community in favor of overwhelmingly white parts of Tulsa, according to the suit.

“We’re not just talking about what happened in 1921. We’re talking about what’s still happening,” Solomon-Simmons said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.

“We believe this lawsuit will be successful because there is no question there is a nuisance created by the defendants,” he claimed.

Still today, unemployment in Tulsa’s black community is more than twice that of white Tulsans, median household income for black residents is half that of whites.

Black students are nine times more likely to be suspended from school, and life expectancy for North Tulsa residents is 11 years below the life expectancy in the rest of the city, said Tulsa attorney Steven Terrill.

He did not specify the causal relationship between those struggles and the nearly century-old events that the suit seeks redress

The massacre received renewed attention in recent months after President Donald Trump selected Tulsa as the location for a rally amid the ongoing racial reckoning over police brutality and racial violence.

Trump moved the date of his June rally to avoid coinciding with a Juneteenth celebration in the city’s Greenwood District commemorating the end of slavery.

The lawsuit was filed under the state’s public nuisance law, which the state attorney general used last year to force opioid drug maker Johnson & Johnson to pay the state $465 million in damages.

The plaintiffs want the defendants to “abate the public nuisance of racial disparities, economic inequalities, insecurity, and trauma their unlawful actions and omissions caused in 1921 and continue to cause 99 years after the massacre.”

The lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount sought by the plaintiffs but asks the court to declare that a public nuisance created by the defendants is capable of being abated “through the expenditure of money and labor.”

The suit also seeks a detailed accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen in the massacre, the construction of a hospital in north Tulsa and the creation of a Tulsa Massacre Victims Compensation Fund, among other things.

It also seeks immunity from all city and county taxes and utility expenses for the next 99 years for descendants of those who were killed, injured or lost property in the massacre.

Other defendants include the Tulsa Regional Chamber, Board of County Commissioners, Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, Tulsa County Sheriff and the Oklahoma Military Department.

Several of the defendants declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation.

McConnell Chides Mayors for Weak Responses to Riots

Editor 1
-
0
McConnell Chides Mayors for Weak Responses to Riots

(Headline USA) Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chided some big-city mayors Tuesday for showing a reluctance to enforce the law during ongoing riots.

The Kentucky Republican also said police agencies deserve respect.

McConnell, who is seeking a seventh term in the November election, spoke about protests after receiving an endorsement from the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police.

Mass demonstrations have been sparked by the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans, the vast majority of which have resisted arrest and refused to obey officers.

In Kentucky, protests have continued for months over the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot multiple times when officers entered her apartment with a no-knock warrant, after her boyfriend fired his gun at them.

McConnell also pointed to ongoing demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.

McConnell says he supports the rights of people to demonstrate peacefully while condemning riots. On Tuesday he criticized the leaders of big cities — all of which are Democratic strongholds — for their handling of the unrest.

“What you’ve seen, I think, in some of these major cities is a reluctance on the part of elected officials to enforce the law because of the apparent sympathy with at least some of those protesting,” McConnell said. “I think Kentuckians and Americans are intelligent enough to draw a distinction between peaceful protesting — constitutionally protected activity — and rioting and looting and tearing down statues.”

McConnell’s campaign has aired TV ads showing footage of protests turning destructive while the senator denounces the actions. The campaign of McConnell’s Democratic challenger, retired Marine combat pilot Amy McGrath, on Tuesday accused McConnell of trying to “stoke division and fear.”

“Nobody understands the importance of security and safety more than a combat veteran and Marine,” McGrath campaign manager Dan Kanninen said in response to the state FOP endorsement of McConnell. “It is fundamental to the job they do. Everybody wants safe communities. Everybody wants safe streets. We can absolutely have them and still protect the rights of all Kentuckians.”

McConnell said Tuesday that police have a tough job trying to separate peaceful protesters from those infiltrating demonstrations with the intent to spark violence.

“You have situations where peaceful demonstrators, doing exactly what they’re entitled to do, end up being taken advantage of … by those who want to engage in rioting and looting,” he said.

Restoring “tranquility and order” is the goal, McConnell said, but that means arresting people who violate the law and letting peaceful protests continue.

Police deserve respect, he said, for “doing a tough job that most of us wouldn’t have the courage to take up,” but acknowledged that “like in any organization, you’re going to have a few bad apples.”

McConnell touted a stalled Senate Republican policing bill. It would create a national database of police use-of-force incidents, restrict police chokeholds and set up new training procedures and commissions to study race and law enforcement.

The bill also would continue “qualified immunity,” which shields officials, including police, from lawsuits for money as a result for things they do in the course of their job. Eliminating the protection would make it difficult for police agencies to recruit new officers, McConnell said.

“Because it seems to me you’ve got two choices,” he said. “You either don’t take the job in the first place or if you’re afraid you’re going to be sued because you’re trying to break up a fight or something, you don’t get out of the car at all, in which case the fight continues.”

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

1...3,5813,5823,583...3,824Page 3,582 of 3,824