Man who drove into Virginia protest is KKK leader, prosecutor says
(Reuters) - Virginia prosecutors said on Monday a man facing charges for driving his pickup truck into racial equality protesters is a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
Harry H. Rogers, 36, was charged with assault and battery, malicious wounding and felony vandalism, the Henrico County police department said in statement on Monday.
The statement says Rogers on Sunday night drove through a crowd blocking a street near Richmond, Virginia, and protesting the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis police custody. One person was hit by Rogers’ vehicle, but not seriously injured.
Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement on Monday that Rogers “by his own admission and by a cursory glance at social media, is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology.”
The Richmond CBS TV affiliate WTVR aired archive footage it had of Rogers from past years, wearing KKK robes and waving a Confederate flag.
Taylor said prosecutors were investigating to see if hate crimes should be applied to the case.
It was not immediately known if Rogers has an attorney.
Separately on Monday, a man was charged with assault for shooting a demonstrator in Seattle after he drove his car up to a march and was surrounded by protesters, according to King County jail records.
Nikolas Fernandez was captured by a bystander’s video shooting a protester who had reached into his car. The protester was hit in the arm and treated at a hospital.
Fernandez quickly exited his vehicle and brandished a gun, then dashed through the crowd and turned himself over to police who were monitoring the rally.
Fernandez is being held on a $200,000 bond.
Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, and Brad Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Christopher Cushing
Monday, June 08, 2020
Black business owners on Washington's historic U Street see echoes of 1968
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the owners of some of the venerable black-owned businesses on U Street in Washington’s Northwest section, the protests against racism and police brutality that have flared on the streets of the U.S. capital seem like an echo of the past.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the owners of some of the venerable black-owned businesses on U Street in Washington’s Northwest section, the protests against racism and police brutality that have flared on the streets of the U.S. capital seem like an echo of the past.
FILE PHOTO: Sonya Ali closes out the register at the end of service at Ben's Chili Bowl under the image of her parents-in-law and founders Ben and Virginia Ali, who famously kept the restaurant running through very difficult times in the past, as the eatery navigates the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak with no seating, limited hours and help from a federal Payroll Protection Program Loan in Washington, U.S. April 30, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
Rioting that erupted in April 1968 in Washington and many other U.S. cities after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King inflicted scars on the neighborhood that lasted decades.
Three black-owned U Street businesses that existed then are still are open today in a corridor of the District of Columbia once known as “Black Broadway” for its flourishing theaters and restaurants that welcomed affluent African-American customers from the 19th century through the mid-20th century.
“It’s saddened me to realize that our sons and daughters are fighting today for the same rights that we fought for back then, 52 years ago,” said Virginia Ali, 86, the co-founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl. “They’re fighting for the same basic human rights that we were fighting for.”
Ben’s Chili Bowl joins Lee’s Flower and Card Shop and Industrial Bank as U Street establishments that have managed to stand the test of time.
Three generations of the Lee family have owned Lee Flower and Card Shop since 1945, decorated the White House, and recently advised Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on the reopening of businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. But in 1968, the Lee family was not sure whether the neighborhood would survive.
Hundreds of buildings in Washington were burned. Some neighborhoods were pushed into an economic tailspin that took decades to recover from, according to historian Jane Levey of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
Rick Lee, son of business co-founder William Lee, recalls huddling in the shop with his mother Winifred, and a shotgun, praying that God would keep them safe.
“It would have been a catastrophe if something had happened to the shop,” said Lee, now 77.
The family had finally purchased the building housing the shop on a U Street corner that year after renting a different location for decades.
Several businesses, including Lee’s, placed “Soul Brothers” signs on their windows to make clear they were owned by black entrepreneurs. Those businesses were largely untouched in the 1968 unrest, Levey recalled.
‘A SAFE PLACE’
Ali recalled that Ben’s Chili Bowl, located three blocks away, was the only business allowed to stay open during the curfew imposed to try to quell the 1968 rioting.
“We were able to accommodate city officials, police officers, even activists. This was kind of a safe place to just pop in during those turbulent times,” Ali said.
Ben’s Chili Bowl - known for a menu that includes burgers, chili dogs and fries as well as the colorful murals adorning the outside of the restaurant - is a local institution. Its customers over the years have included former President Barack Obama, activist and performer Harry Belafonte, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, comedians Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle and U2 frontman Bono.
The protests in the past two weeks in Washington and other cities in the United States and abroad were sparked by the death of a black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
In 1968 and today, people took to the streets because they were angry about an unjust killing, but also over a range of other issues including lack of economic opportunity and police brutality, Levey said.
Ali and Lee family members said they are looking at the recent protests with a mixture of sadness and hope.
“I’m so glad that the young people are picking up the mantle,” said Stacie Lee Banks, Rick Lee’s daughter and the current president and co-owner of the flower shop
Rioting that erupted in April 1968 in Washington and many other U.S. cities after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King inflicted scars on the neighborhood that lasted decades.
Three black-owned U Street businesses that existed then are still are open today in a corridor of the District of Columbia once known as “Black Broadway” for its flourishing theaters and restaurants that welcomed affluent African-American customers from the 19th century through the mid-20th century.
“It’s saddened me to realize that our sons and daughters are fighting today for the same rights that we fought for back then, 52 years ago,” said Virginia Ali, 86, the co-founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl. “They’re fighting for the same basic human rights that we were fighting for.”
Ben’s Chili Bowl joins Lee’s Flower and Card Shop and Industrial Bank as U Street establishments that have managed to stand the test of time.
Three generations of the Lee family have owned Lee Flower and Card Shop since 1945, decorated the White House, and recently advised Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on the reopening of businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. But in 1968, the Lee family was not sure whether the neighborhood would survive.
Hundreds of buildings in Washington were burned. Some neighborhoods were pushed into an economic tailspin that took decades to recover from, according to historian Jane Levey of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
Rick Lee, son of business co-founder William Lee, recalls huddling in the shop with his mother Winifred, and a shotgun, praying that God would keep them safe.
“It would have been a catastrophe if something had happened to the shop,” said Lee, now 77.
The family had finally purchased the building housing the shop on a U Street corner that year after renting a different location for decades.
Several businesses, including Lee’s, placed “Soul Brothers” signs on their windows to make clear they were owned by black entrepreneurs. Those businesses were largely untouched in the 1968 unrest, Levey recalled.
‘A SAFE PLACE’
Ali recalled that Ben’s Chili Bowl, located three blocks away, was the only business allowed to stay open during the curfew imposed to try to quell the 1968 rioting.
“We were able to accommodate city officials, police officers, even activists. This was kind of a safe place to just pop in during those turbulent times,” Ali said.
Ben’s Chili Bowl - known for a menu that includes burgers, chili dogs and fries as well as the colorful murals adorning the outside of the restaurant - is a local institution. Its customers over the years have included former President Barack Obama, activist and performer Harry Belafonte, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, comedians Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle and U2 frontman Bono.
The protests in the past two weeks in Washington and other cities in the United States and abroad were sparked by the death of a black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
In 1968 and today, people took to the streets because they were angry about an unjust killing, but also over a range of other issues including lack of economic opportunity and police brutality, Levey said.
Ali and Lee family members said they are looking at the recent protests with a mixture of sadness and hope.
“I’m so glad that the young people are picking up the mantle,” said Stacie Lee Banks, Rick Lee’s daughter and the current president and co-owner of the flower shop
The protesters today are more racially diverse than in 1968, which could put pressure on U.S. political leaders, Ali said.
U Street’s remaining black businesses have witnessed the end of segregation policies, survived the scourge of drugs like heroin and cocaine in the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s, and are holding on through a new wave of gentrification.
Ali is still waiting to see a broader transformation in the United States, observing, “I hope to see positive change in this country before I leave this Earth.”
U Street’s remaining black businesses have witnessed the end of segregation policies, survived the scourge of drugs like heroin and cocaine in the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s, and are holding on through a new wave of gentrification.
Ali is still waiting to see a broader transformation in the United States, observing, “I hope to see positive change in this country before I leave this Earth.”
TRUDEAU ORDERS BODY CAMERAS FOR RCMP
Canadian Mounted Police to seek body cameras to 'enhance trust,' accountability
David Lj
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday said she would seek to equip officers with body-worn cameras to increase trust, accountability and transparency, according to a statement from a spokesman.
FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rubs hand sanitiser on his hands, given to him by a protestor, while taking part in a rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 5, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable
Earlier on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he wanted police to wear body cameras to help overcome what he said was public distrust in the forces of law and order.
Protesters in Montreal and other Canadian cities took to the streets on Sunday in the latest international demonstrations against police brutality, sparked by the death of black man in Minnesota as a police offer knelt on his neck.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has agreed to “engage in work and discussion... on a broader rollout of body-worn cameras” with the National Police Federation union, a statement from spokesman Dan Brien said.
“The commissioner agrees it is critically important for Canadians to feel protected by the police and is committed to take whatever steps are required to enhance trust between the RCMP and the communities we serve.”
“The use of body-worn cameras by RCMP officers was discussed as a means of ensuring accurate evidence gathering and accountability... (and) increased transparency,” the statement said.
Earlier on Monday, Trudeau said he had spoken to Lucki.
“One of the things we discussed was the adoption of body cameras. I’m committing to raising this with the provinces this week so we can move forward as quickly as possible,” Trudeau told a daily briefing. “Body cameras (are) a significant step towards transparency.”
The RCMP, which is a federal police force, also services eight of the 10 provinces. Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous provinces, have their own police.
“Many people in this country simply do not feel protected by the police. In fact, they’re afraid of them,” Trudeau said.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Dan Grebler, Steve Scherer and Leslie Adler
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Canadian Mounted Police to seek body cameras to 'enhance trust,' accountability
David Lj
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday said she would seek to equip officers with body-worn cameras to increase trust, accountability and transparency, according to a statement from a spokesman.
FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rubs hand sanitiser on his hands, given to him by a protestor, while taking part in a rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 5, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable
Earlier on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he wanted police to wear body cameras to help overcome what he said was public distrust in the forces of law and order.
Protesters in Montreal and other Canadian cities took to the streets on Sunday in the latest international demonstrations against police brutality, sparked by the death of black man in Minnesota as a police offer knelt on his neck.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has agreed to “engage in work and discussion... on a broader rollout of body-worn cameras” with the National Police Federation union, a statement from spokesman Dan Brien said.
“The commissioner agrees it is critically important for Canadians to feel protected by the police and is committed to take whatever steps are required to enhance trust between the RCMP and the communities we serve.”
“The use of body-worn cameras by RCMP officers was discussed as a means of ensuring accurate evidence gathering and accountability... (and) increased transparency,” the statement said.
Earlier on Monday, Trudeau said he had spoken to Lucki.
“One of the things we discussed was the adoption of body cameras. I’m committing to raising this with the provinces this week so we can move forward as quickly as possible,” Trudeau told a daily briefing. “Body cameras (are) a significant step towards transparency.”
The RCMP, which is a federal police force, also services eight of the 10 provinces. Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous provinces, have their own police.
“Many people in this country simply do not feel protected by the police. In fact, they’re afraid of them,” Trudeau said.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Dan Grebler, Steve Scherer and Leslie Adler
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Closing in on all sides: Cuba nears declaring coronavirus victory
(Reuters) - Reina Paula, a saleswoman at Havana’s La Epoca supermarket, said the same day that a worker tested positive for the coronavirus, local authorities sent the rest of the staff in a fleet of state vehicles to isolation facilities for testing.
Nurse Yosian Diago checks door-to-door for people with symptoms amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in downtown Havana, Cuba, June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
Healthcare providers traced their relatives and sent them into quarantine, while state news outlets publicly appealed to anyone who had had close contact with them to come forward to prevent the virus from spreading.
“They followed the clinical steps like a Swiss clock,” said Paula, at home after recovering from the worst of COVID-19, the respiratory disease the novel coronavirus causes.
Those who tested positive were transferred to hospital, where they were given antivirals and immune system boosters, while the others were sent home to quarantine for two weeks.
Paula’s story illustrates the rigorous approach Cuba has taken to curb the coronavirus outbreak - helped by the Caribbean island nation’s preventive, universal and well-staffed healthcare system, centralization and use of coercion.
Doing so was politically vital for Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, which claims the country’s strong healthcare system as a key achievements, even as it has failed to deliver on the economy, partly due to a U.S. trade embargo.
New cases have dropped to less than 10 per day on average from a peak of around 50, and two thirds of the island is virus-free, according to official data.
Monday was the ninth consecutive day with no deaths from COVID-19, while the highly infectious disease continues to rage throughout the Americas.
(Reuters) - Reina Paula, a saleswoman at Havana’s La Epoca supermarket, said the same day that a worker tested positive for the coronavirus, local authorities sent the rest of the staff in a fleet of state vehicles to isolation facilities for testing.
Nurse Yosian Diago checks door-to-door for people with symptoms amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in downtown Havana, Cuba, June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
Healthcare providers traced their relatives and sent them into quarantine, while state news outlets publicly appealed to anyone who had had close contact with them to come forward to prevent the virus from spreading.
“They followed the clinical steps like a Swiss clock,” said Paula, at home after recovering from the worst of COVID-19, the respiratory disease the novel coronavirus causes.
Those who tested positive were transferred to hospital, where they were given antivirals and immune system boosters, while the others were sent home to quarantine for two weeks.
Paula’s story illustrates the rigorous approach Cuba has taken to curb the coronavirus outbreak - helped by the Caribbean island nation’s preventive, universal and well-staffed healthcare system, centralization and use of coercion.
Doing so was politically vital for Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, which claims the country’s strong healthcare system as a key achievements, even as it has failed to deliver on the economy, partly due to a U.S. trade embargo.
New cases have dropped to less than 10 per day on average from a peak of around 50, and two thirds of the island is virus-free, according to official data.
Monday was the ninth consecutive day with no deaths from COVID-19, while the highly infectious disease continues to rage throughout the Americas.
“We could be shortly closing in on the tail end of the pandemic and entering the phase of recovery from COVID,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said this weekend.
Like many countries, Cuba closed its borders and schools at the start of the outbreak and urged Cubans to practice social distancing, though that was complicated by large queues outside shops amid growing scarcity.
But Cuba swiftly made face masks obligatory and quarantined large numbers of people rather than just telling them to stay home.
Disobeying pandemic measures carried a fine or even a prison sentence. And the Cuban state has used its monopoly of traditional news media to broadcast trials for such offenses to set an example and educate citizens on the virus.
It has also sent tens of thousands of family doctors, nurses and medical students to homes nationwide daily to conduct screenings, underscoring a strength of the healthcare system, even as tight resources in recent decades have seen hospitals fall into disrepair and more frequent medicine shortages.
Cuba’s top epidemiologist, Francisco Duran, said early detection, hospitalization and the application of experimental treatments - many developed by the country’s own biotech sector - have helped reduce COVID-19’s fatality.
Cuba, with a population of 11 million, has reported 2,200 cases and 83 deaths. That translates to 0.73 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, slightly above Costa Rica’s 0.20 per 100,000 but far below Brazil’s 17.4.
The success has won plaudits from citizens.
“Once more,” Havana resident Marina Rodriguez said, “our country has shown that despite its difficulties, it is always able to control an epidemic.”
Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Leslie Adler
Like many countries, Cuba closed its borders and schools at the start of the outbreak and urged Cubans to practice social distancing, though that was complicated by large queues outside shops amid growing scarcity.
But Cuba swiftly made face masks obligatory and quarantined large numbers of people rather than just telling them to stay home.
Disobeying pandemic measures carried a fine or even a prison sentence. And the Cuban state has used its monopoly of traditional news media to broadcast trials for such offenses to set an example and educate citizens on the virus.
It has also sent tens of thousands of family doctors, nurses and medical students to homes nationwide daily to conduct screenings, underscoring a strength of the healthcare system, even as tight resources in recent decades have seen hospitals fall into disrepair and more frequent medicine shortages.
Cuba’s top epidemiologist, Francisco Duran, said early detection, hospitalization and the application of experimental treatments - many developed by the country’s own biotech sector - have helped reduce COVID-19’s fatality.
Cuba, with a population of 11 million, has reported 2,200 cases and 83 deaths. That translates to 0.73 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, slightly above Costa Rica’s 0.20 per 100,000 but far below Brazil’s 17.4.
The success has won plaudits from citizens.
“Once more,” Havana resident Marina Rodriguez said, “our country has shown that despite its difficulties, it is always able to control an epidemic.”
Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Leslie Adler
George Floyd protests in France give bereaved family new hope for justice
BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE, France (Reuters) - Since the wave of protests triggered by the brutal killing of George Floyd reached France, protesters have been chanting another name too: Adama Traore.
“They died in exactly the same way,” said his sister Assa Traore. “Adama carried the weight of three officers on his body.”
Adama Traore was celebrating his 24th birthday on July 19, 2016, when three police officers restrained him using the weight of their bodies. By the time he was delivered to a police station, he was unconscious and could not be revived.
Like Floyd, Traore was black, and his death triggered huge protests in France, where the police’s record of brutality and racism remains unaddressed.
For four years, his family have demanded that French police be held to account for the death of her brother in police custody. Noone has been prosecuted. Medical experts are unable to agree on whether the way he was restrained killed him, or an underlying medical condition. Attention to the death had faded.
Now, anger over the killing of George Floyd in the United States is giving their campaign new impetus.
“It’s a strong, powerful echo,” Assa Traore told Reuters in an interview in Beaumont-sur-Oise, the neighbourhood near Paris where her brother lived.
The Traore family and their supporters are this week calling for a nationwide day of protests in France.
“All the light shed on the George Floyd case has served as a reminder of the numerous other victims who died in the same conditions as George Floyd,” said Almamy Kanoute, a French actor involved in the Traore campaign.
“We’re not saying the police in France are the same as in the United States. But the deadly techniques used in the United States are the same ones as in some European countries, the same ones that kill the same type of people.”
Reporting by Noemie Olive, Lucien Libert and Yonathan Van der Voort; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE, France (Reuters) - Since the wave of protests triggered by the brutal killing of George Floyd reached France, protesters have been chanting another name too: Adama Traore.
“They died in exactly the same way,” said his sister Assa Traore. “Adama carried the weight of three officers on his body.”
Adama Traore was celebrating his 24th birthday on July 19, 2016, when three police officers restrained him using the weight of their bodies. By the time he was delivered to a police station, he was unconscious and could not be revived.
Like Floyd, Traore was black, and his death triggered huge protests in France, where the police’s record of brutality and racism remains unaddressed.
For four years, his family have demanded that French police be held to account for the death of her brother in police custody. Noone has been prosecuted. Medical experts are unable to agree on whether the way he was restrained killed him, or an underlying medical condition. Attention to the death had faded.
Now, anger over the killing of George Floyd in the United States is giving their campaign new impetus.
“It’s a strong, powerful echo,” Assa Traore told Reuters in an interview in Beaumont-sur-Oise, the neighbourhood near Paris where her brother lived.
The Traore family and their supporters are this week calling for a nationwide day of protests in France.
“All the light shed on the George Floyd case has served as a reminder of the numerous other victims who died in the same conditions as George Floyd,” said Almamy Kanoute, a French actor involved in the Traore campaign.
“We’re not saying the police in France are the same as in the United States. But the deadly techniques used in the United States are the same ones as in some European countries, the same ones that kill the same type of people.”
Reporting by Noemie Olive, Lucien Libert and Yonathan Van der Voort; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
GREAT TRUMP NEWS AGGREGATOR
CALLED APPROPRIATELY
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/all/
CALLED APPROPRIATELY
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/all/
Trump ordered National Guard troops to begin withdrawing from the streets of Washington, D.C. “now that everything is under perfect control.” Trump warned that the troops “will be going home, but can quickly return, if needed.” The move comes amid a barrage of criticism over his violent response to mostly peaceful protests across the city and his threats to further militarize the government’s response to nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. (New York Times / Washington Post)
TRUMP'S REAL BASE IS 15%
poll/ 80% of Americans say things are out of control in the United States, while 15% say things are under control. 59% say they’re more troubled by Floyd’s death and the actions of police than they are about recent protests or occasional looting, compared to 27% who are more concerned about the protests. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
U.S. economy entered recession in February, business cycle arbiter says
2020 BC, BEFORE CORONAVIRUS
TRUMP CRASHES ECONOMY IN FEBRUARY
(Reuters) - The U.S. economy ended its longest expansion in history in February and entered recession as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the private economics research group that acts as the arbiter for determining U.S. business cycles said on Monday.
The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research said in a statement that members “concluded that the unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession, even if it turns out to be briefer than earlier contractions.”
The designation was expected, but notable for its speed, a mere four months after the recession began. The committee has typically waited longer in order to be sure. When the economy started declining in late 2007, for example, the committee did not pinpoint the start of the recession until a year later.
But the depth and speed of this collapse left little doubt.“In deciding whether to identify a recession, the committee weighs the depth of the contraction, its duration, and whether economic activity declined broadly across the economy ... The committee recognizes that the pandemic and the public health response have resulted in a downturn with different characteristics and dynamics than prior recessions,” the committee said in a released statement.
U.S. gross domestic product fell at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first three months of the year. The outcome for the April to June period is expected to show an even worse annualized decline of perhaps 20% or more. The unemployment rate rose from a record of 3.5% in February to 14.7% in April and 13.3% last month.
But growth may well recover from there, possibly making the current downturn not only among the sharpest, but also among the shortest, on record.
THIS IS CALLED MAGICAL THINKING BY THE SHAMAN'S OF WALL ST. WHO FOLLOW THE ANIMAL SPIRITS OFTHE MARKET
Recession - Bureau of Labor Statistics
https://www.bls.gov › spotlight › recession › pdf › recession_bls_spotlight
In December 2007, the national unemployment rate was 5.0 percent, and it had been at or below that rate for the previous 30 months. At the end of the recession, .
Weekly Economic Perspectives - State Street Global Advisors
https://www.ssga.com › us › institutional › etfs › library-content › pdfs › w...
May 8, 2020 - Contraction in US retail sales and industrial production set to deepen. Data to show UK, German, and eurozone Q1 GDP contraction. ... Still, the 2.5% annualized decline was considerably more ... unemployment rate increased by 5.2 percentage points (ppts) to ... US. Monthly Budget Statement (Apr, $ bil.).
Arkansas Employment and Unemployment – April 2020 ... Since February, the U.S. labor force has declined by 4.9% and the Arkansas labor force is down 3.7%
WE SPY ON YOU
Israel's NSO showcases drone tech, pushes to counter rights abuse allegations
Dan Williams
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel’s NSO Group showcased a new anti-drone defence on Monday, giving the public a rare look at its technology as it seeks to counter allegations that another of its products has aided privacy breaches and political surveillance.
A test drone operator prepares to launch a drone during a demonstration for Reuters of Israel's NSO Group's product, Eclipse, a system that commandeers and force-lands intruding drones, at Bloomfield Stadium, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The new system, Eclipse, commandeers intruding drones and, according to NSO, costs “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to provide stadium-sized protection. More than 10 countries have bought it to safeguard sites like energy facilities, NSO said.
The promotion follows controversy for the company around Pegasus, spyware that has drawn a lawsuit by WhatsApp alleging it helped government spies hack the phones of roughly 1,400 users including journalists and dissidents.
Pegasus has been linked to political surveillance in Mexico, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which researches digital surveillance
NSO denies wrongdoing and says it sells only to government agencies, subject to oversight by Israel’s Defence Ministry.
On Monday, Chief Executive Shalev Hulio also sought to highlight a heightened transparency drive.
NSO has declined deals worth around $500 million on ethical grounds and, as of next year, will issue annual compliance reports, Hulio told Reuters at an empty soccer stadium where Eclipse, in a test-run, intercepted a drone within seconds.
Like other security exporters, NSO maintains secrecy around its client list and spyware, citing a reluctance to tip off those being tracked. This makes independent verification of its business practices difficult.
“The beauty of this product, unlike other products that we developed, is this is something we can demonstrate,” Hulio said of Eclipse.
In November, NSO set up a compliance department which it says brings the company into line with U.N. “guiding principles” on safeguarding against human-rights abuses.
“We always want to be more transparent,” Hulio said.
Hulio said NSO had about a dozen products that saved lives. He is also promoting Fleming, an analytics system aimed at mapping the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Israel's NSO showcases drone tech, pushes to counter rights abuse allegations
Dan Williams
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel’s NSO Group showcased a new anti-drone defence on Monday, giving the public a rare look at its technology as it seeks to counter allegations that another of its products has aided privacy breaches and political surveillance.
A test drone operator prepares to launch a drone during a demonstration for Reuters of Israel's NSO Group's product, Eclipse, a system that commandeers and force-lands intruding drones, at Bloomfield Stadium, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The new system, Eclipse, commandeers intruding drones and, according to NSO, costs “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to provide stadium-sized protection. More than 10 countries have bought it to safeguard sites like energy facilities, NSO said.
The promotion follows controversy for the company around Pegasus, spyware that has drawn a lawsuit by WhatsApp alleging it helped government spies hack the phones of roughly 1,400 users including journalists and dissidents.
Pegasus has been linked to political surveillance in Mexico, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which researches digital surveillance
NSO denies wrongdoing and says it sells only to government agencies, subject to oversight by Israel’s Defence Ministry.
On Monday, Chief Executive Shalev Hulio also sought to highlight a heightened transparency drive.
NSO has declined deals worth around $500 million on ethical grounds and, as of next year, will issue annual compliance reports, Hulio told Reuters at an empty soccer stadium where Eclipse, in a test-run, intercepted a drone within seconds.
Like other security exporters, NSO maintains secrecy around its client list and spyware, citing a reluctance to tip off those being tracked. This makes independent verification of its business practices difficult.
“The beauty of this product, unlike other products that we developed, is this is something we can demonstrate,” Hulio said of Eclipse.
In November, NSO set up a compliance department which it says brings the company into line with U.N. “guiding principles” on safeguarding against human-rights abuses.
“We always want to be more transparent,” Hulio said.
Hulio said NSO had about a dozen products that saved lives. He is also promoting Fleming, an analytics system aimed at mapping the spread of the novel coronavirus.
KKK FANBOYS
Ku Klux Klan newspaper declares support for Trump
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Ku Klux Klan newspaper has declared support for Donald Trump’s Republican run for U.S. president, saying America became great because it was a white, Christian republic.
The Crusader, one of the white supremacist group’s most prominent publications, published a lengthy endorsement and defense of Trump’s message on the front page of its current issue under the headline: “Make America Great Again.”
“Make America Great Again” is Trump’s campaign slogan.
The Trump campaign rejected the group’s support. In a statement, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form. This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign.”
The KKK is the oldest white supremacist group in the United States, tracing its roots back to the Reconstruction period in the South that followed the Civil War. In addition to anti-black views, it has expressed anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant and anti-gay views and, until recently, was anti-Roman Catholic.
Earlier this year, former KKK leader David Duke of Louisiana voiced support for Trump, saying white people are threatened in America and that he hears echoes of his views in Trump’s rhetoric.
Trump drew criticism in February for failing to quickly disavow support from Duke.
Some critics have condemned as racist Trump’s call for limiting Muslim immigration, building a wall along the border with Mexico and criticism of a Mexican-American judge.
In The Crusader, Pastor Thomas Robb wrote, “While Trump wants to make America great again, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What made America great in the first place?’
“America was great not because of what our forefathers did -but because of who our forefathers were. America was founded as a White Christian Republic. And as a White Christian Republic it became great,” Robb wrote.
Robb, based in Arkansas, heads the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which took over in the 1980s after the departure of Duke, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hates groups.
Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Jonathan Oatis
Floyd's death spurs 'Gen Z' activists to set up new D.C. rights group
Katanga Johnson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jacqueline LaBayne and Kerrigan Williams met for the very first time in person on Wednesday, at a sit-in they organized in front of the U.S. Capitol over the death of George Floyd.
They have been using social media, which they call a “tool of justice,” to rally a new, ethnically-diverse generation of young activists connecting online to protest Floyd’s May 25 death and push for civil rights reforms in the nation’s capital.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The death, recorded on a bystander’s cellphone, sparked a storm of protests and civil strife, thrusting the highly charged debate over racial justice back to the forefront of the political agenda five months before the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election.
“We spotted each other via a mutual friend’s thread on Twitter immediately following yet another police-executed murder,” said Williams, a 22-year-old black woman who moved to Washington from Houston, Texas and is pursuing graduate studies at Georgetown University.
“Now, we organize together in real life to help other first-time activists get involved in local responses to injustice.”
Within hours of Floyd’s death, they had founded Freedom Fighters DC, which now counts 10,000 Twitter followers, 20,000 Instagram followers, and brought hundreds of demonstrators to Washington in recent days, most of them “Generation Z-ers,” some of about 70 million Americans born after the mid-1990s.
“White allies need to become accomplices in the fight against racism toward black people,” said LaBayne, a 23-year-old white graduate student at Florida State University.
“Embracing this cause is the only way to have meaningful impact in 2020 - the only way justice is served.”
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Washington and other U.S. cities since Floyd’s death to demand an end to racism and brutality by U.S. law enforcement and push for justice in the Floyd case.
Derek Chauvin, the white officer who was seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck, has been arrested and charged with second-degree and third-degree murder as well as third-degree manslaughter. Three other officers who were involved in the incident were charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four have been fired.
‘A CRY FOR JUSTICE’
Williams and LaBayne spent much of the week scrambling to take care of details mundane and profound ahead of the sit-in on Wednesday and a march from a U.S. Senate office building to Lafayette Park in front of the White House.
LaBayne solicited T-shirt donations for volunteers and fielded requests for media interviews. Williams got advice from the group’s five other board members on an intended route for Saturday’s march and reminded attendees to wear comfortable shoes.
“Sometimes we argue over priorities. Sometimes we make compromises. But in the end, we keep the main thing the main thing - a cry for justice for all brothers and sisters,” added LaBayne, who plans to become a civil rights lawyer.
Wednesday’s sit-in attracted a diverse group of about 500 protesters who sat in front of a line of police officers. One volunteer successfully convinced a white officer to kneel with her, drawing cheers from the protesters. Others passed out information on jail assistance for those who are arrested, and promoted voter registration.
More than 2,000 people showed up for the Freedom Fighters’ march on Saturday, many of them first-time activists.
“Americans of different races saw the video of (Floyd’s) death on social media,” Williams said. “They also see our lives as regular people and were attracted to the cause. Like-minded, progressive people will always see themselves as stronger in large, diverse numbers. It makes the message of justice more compelling.”
LaBayne and Williams say they hope their efforts lead to substantial reforms, including de-funding Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and an ending its contract with the District of Columbia’s Public Schools system.
Kerrigan Williams, 22 (left) and Jacqueline LaBayne, 23, two activists who help organize Freedom Fighters DC, discuss their tasks in preparation for a protest against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 5, 2020 in this screen grab taken from a video. REUTERS/Gershon Peaks
“We do not seek to silence the wave of support by other movements for black lives, but we see an immediate need to use this as a springboard to specifically highlight the injustices of Washington natives,” LaBayne.
“This is the focus of Freedom Fighters DC beyond this current moment,” LaBayne said. “I just want people to take away that change is on the way, and we are here to usher it in.”
(This story corrects William’s major in paragraph 5, removes reference to Black Lives Matter activist in paragraph 13.)
VIDEO https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests-day/floyds-death-spurs-gen-z-activists-to-set-up-new-d-c-rights-group-idUSKBN23E0UM
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