01 September 21
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Andy Borowitz | New Law Requires Texans to Have Counselling Before Being Allowed to Vote
Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Borowitz writes: "Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a bill requiring all Texans to submit to counselling before being allowed to vote."
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A photograph of Elijah McClain is part of the 'Say Their Names' memorial on Boston Common, Nov. 16, 2020. (photo: Jessica Rinaldi/Getty)
Colorado Grand Jury Indicts Officers and Paramedics in 2019 Death of Elijah McClain
Noelle Phillips and Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post
Excerpt: "Three Aurora police officers and two paramedics will face criminal charges, including manslaughter, in connection with the 2019 death of Elijah McClain."
hree Aurora police officers and two paramedics will face criminal charges, including manslaughter, in connection with the 2019 death of Elijah McClain.A state grand jury indicted Aurora police officers Nathan Woodyard and Randy Roedema, former officer Jason Rosenblatt and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec on 32 counts, according to an indictment made public Wednesday by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
The indictment comes just over two years after McClain, 23, died after being violently detained by the officers and injected with the sedative ketamine by paramedics.
All five face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Officers Roedema and Rosenblatt face a count of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury and one count of a crime of violence related to the second-degree assault charge.
Paramedics Cooper and Cichuniec also face a second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury, one count of second-degree assault for recklessly causing bodily injury by means of a deadly weapon (ketamine) and one count of second-degree assault for a purpose other than lawful medical or therapeutic treatment for administering ketamine to McClain.
The two paramedics also face two counts of crime of violence for each of the assault charges.
The charges brought by the grand jury mark the first time the officers and paramedics involved in McClain’s death have faced any punishment for their actions that night.
McClain’s mother Sheneen has been demanding prosecutors file criminal charges against those involved since his death. Her demands were echoed by thousands across the country in the summer of 2020 after people protesting the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer took up McClain’s cause and launched him into the national conversation.
On Wednesday morning, Sheneen McClain said she was overwhelmed by the indictments.
“It’s been a two-year battle just to get to this point,” she said. “It’s huge to know they’re indicted. But I know it’s not over. We still have to go to trial.”
The public pressure caused Gov. Jared Polis in June 2020 to designate Weiser as a special prosecutor to investigate the death, which led to Weiser calling in January for a state grand jury to investigate McClain’s death and weigh any potential criminal charges.
At a Wednesday morning news conference, Weiser said he had a choice between reviewing the records of former Adams County District Attorney Dave Young, who had declined to prosecute, or to call a grand jury that would be authorized to gather new facts about what happened. He chose to call the grand jury. That body finished its work on Thursday, Weiser said.
McClain was walking to a convenience store to purchase tea the night of Aug. 24, 2019, when someone called 911 to report a suspicious person. The three Aurora police officers contacted McClain as he returned home.
When McClain refused to stop walking, the officers tackled him to the ground, handcuffed him and used a carotid choke hold to block the flow of blood to his brain. Officers ignored McClain’s pleas to leave him alone. Paramedics injected him with 500 mg of ketamine, a powerful sedative, before taking him to the hospital.
McClain suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, where he was later declared brain dead. He died Aug. 30, 2019, after being removed from life support.
Adams County’s then-District Attorney Dave Young cleared the police officers of any criminal wrongdoing and Nick Metz, Aurora’s police chief at the time, determined the officers had not violated any of the department’s policies.
Roedema and Woodyard on Wednesday remained employed by the Aurora Police Department. Rosenblatt was fired in July 2020 after it was discovered he had responded “ha ha” in a text to a photo of colleagues smiling and reenacting a chokehold at the spot where McClain was detained.
Weiser also launched a probe into the Aurora Police Department’s practices and policies. That investigation is ongoing.
A consulting firm hired by city leaders to examine McClain’s death found Aurora police made substantial errors at nearly every stage of their interaction with McClain and while investigating themselves after his death.
McClain’s parents also filed a federal lawsuit against Aurora and the police officers and paramedics involved in their son’s death. Mohamedbhai, said all sides continue to work on a resolution, and court filings indicate a settlement is in the works.
All along, Sheneen McClain has said she wants nothing more than for the people who are responsible for her son’s death to be punished by spending time in prison. She even wears T-shirts with that demand printed on them.
“Bullies with badges and their accomplices murdered my son!!!! Protecting killers is a crime” is written on a shirt that she told The Denver Post is one of her favorites.
On Wednesday, she remembered her son’s gentle spirit and the little details that only a mother can recall — that his favorite color was blue and that, as a child, he only would accept blue lollipops.
“I miss him,” she said. “I remember him for who he was and how he treated other people. I appreciate him letting me be his mother.”
After the indictments were announced, LaWayne Mosely, Elijah McClain’s father, said, “Nothing will bring back my son, but I am thankful that his killers will finally be held accountable,” according to a statement from his attorney, Mari Newman.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Rep. McCarthy Threatens Tech and Telecom Firms That Comply With January 6 Committee's Request to Retain Information Related to Attack
Felicia Sonmez and Cristiano Lima, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is threatening telecommunications and social media companies that comply with a request by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, declaring that Republicans 'will not forget' their actions."
ouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is threatening telecommunications and social media companies that comply with a request by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, declaring that Republicans “will not forget” their actions.
McCarthy spoke with then-President Donald Trump on the day of the attack and is a potential witness in the select committee’s probe.
The panel on Monday asked 35 companies to retain phone records and other information related to the attack as it ramps up its investigation ahead of the return of Congress next month. Several of the companies indicated this week that they intend to comply with the panel’s requests.
“Adam Schiff, Bennie Thompson, and Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians,” McCarthy said in a statement Tuesday night, referring to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, the chairman of the select committee and the House speaker.
“If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States,” McCarthy said. “If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law.”
It is not clear what law McCarthy is asserting the companies would be breaking if they comply with the panel’s request. McCarthy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the select committee, said Wednesday that the panel “won’t be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6th, or obstruct our investigation.”
“The Select Committee is investigating the violent attack on the Capitol and attempt to overturn the results of last year’s election,” Mulvey said in a statement. “We’ve asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the American people.”
Pelosi in June announced the formation of a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, after Senate Republicans blocked an effort to form an independent, bipartisan commission. McCarthy opposed both the bipartisan commission and the select committee.
The panel is charged with investigating the facts and causes of the insurrection and will provide recommendations to help prevent similar attacks in the future.
The select committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), recently said his panel would not shy away from investigating lawmakers as part of its inquiry, highlighting the remarkable nature of Congress investigating an attack on itself.
The committee’s plans have already drawn criticism from Republicans, most of whom have opposed investigating the insurrection and Trump’s role in inspiring the mob with his false claims about Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election.
The request that went out Monday was sent to tech and social media companies including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Signal, as well as telecommunications companies such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
The panel is asking the 35 companies to preserve “metadata, subscriber information, technical usage information, and content of communications for the listed individuals.”
In its letters to the companies, the committee asked for the preservation of material from individuals who were “involved in organizing, funding, or speaking” at January’s “Stop the Steal” rallies, as well as individuals who were “potentially involved with discussions of plans to challenge, delay, or interfere” with the electoral certification process.
In recent days, some of the companies have indicated that they intend to comply with the panel’s requests, including social media platform Reddit and Snap, owner of the video-sharing platform Snapchat.
Reddit spokesperson Cameron Njaa said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that company executives have “received the letter in question and are fully cooperating with the Committee on this matter.” Snap spokesperson Rachel Racusen said its leaders “plan to comply” with the requests. In an emailed statement sent by a communications firm representing the Discord instant messaging platform, Chief Legal Officer Clint Smith said the company’s executives “intend to cooperate fully as appropriate.”
Other companies, including Facebook and Google, said they plan to work with the committee but would not say whether they will comply specifically with the recent requests.
Ivy Choi, a spokesperson for Google, which also owns YouTube, said they “have received the Select Committee’s letter and are committed to working with Congress on this.”
“The events of January 6 were unprecedented and tragic, and Google and YouTube strongly condemn them,” Choi said. “We’re committed to protecting our platforms from abuse, including by rigorously enforcing our policies for content related to the events of January 6.”
Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement, “We have received the request and look forward to continuing to work with the committee.”
Rumble, a YouTube rival popular with conservative influencers, said the company “complies with all valid law enforcement and investigative requests,” but it did not say whether it considers the committee’s requests as such, nor whether it will comply with them.
Spokesmen for Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter declined to comment. Spokesmen for Apple, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, TikTok, Slack, MeWe, 4chan, Signal, ProtonMail, Parler, and Twitch did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday and early Wednesday about the panel’s requests and McCarthy’s remarks. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.
McCarthy and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have been the recent subjects of questions about which members could be called to appear before the select committee.
Earlier this year, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) described what McCarthy told her about a phone call he had with Trump on Jan. 6 in which he asked the president to help calm supporters who had broken into the Capitol.
“When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol,” Herrera Beutler said in a statement in February, referring a to a loosely knit group of far-left activists.
“McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters. That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said: ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.’ ”
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Marianne LeBlanc stages in-person corporate events. But those jobs disappeared during the pandemic and have been slow to return. (photo:Kelly Creative)
ALSO SEE: America's Big Experiment With Expanded Unemployment Is Ending.
Meet the People Who Transformed Their Lives With
the Government's Help During the Pandemic.
Millions Will Lose Unemployment Benefits. That Doesn't Mean They'll Return to Work
Scott Horsley, NPR
Horsley writes: "Jobs such as Marianne LeBlanc's - staging in-person corporate events - have been slow to return as the pandemic wears on, especially in Nevada, which has the nation's highest unemployment rate."
obs such as Marianne LeBlanc's — staging in-person corporate events — have been slow to return as the pandemic wears on, especially in Nevada, which has the nation's highest unemployment rate.
LeBlanc has found work for a few days here and there but nothing steady. She worries that the latest surge of the coronavirus with the delta variant will put even that limited comeback on hold.
"I was doing a project three weeks ago, and that was the week when all the mask mandates went back into play," LeBlanc recalls. "We all looked at each other like: 'Oh God. Is this all going to happen again?' Just when you think you might see the light at the end of the tunnel, it's gone again."
A bigger worry for her is that emergency unemployment benefits run out nationwide in less than a week. That ends an important safety-net program that millions of Americans have been relying on during the pandemic. At last count, more than 12 million Americans were getting some form of unemployment assistance. Most will be cut off entirely next week. The rest will see their benefits reduced.
Unemployed people in states that cut off benefits early didn't come rushing back to work
These extra federal benefits have become a lightning rod. Many business owners and politicians complain the money is encouraging people to stay home, rather than return to work, leaving employers with a shortage of workers.
But research shows that most people who lose their benefits don't find jobs right away.
About two dozen states ended the federal jobless aid earlier this summer in hopes that would drive many more people back to work. But despite a record number of job openings, it didn't. Unemployed people in states that cut benefits early were only slightly more likely to find jobs than those in states that kept paying.
"There wasn't a huge difference in the rate at which they returned to work," said economist Michael Stepner of the University of Toronto, who was part of a team that conducted the research. "There was a huge difference in the amount of benefits these workers received and the amount of money that they spent in their local economy."
That pattern is likely to be repeated across the country when millions of people lose their benefits next week.
"Taking away their benefits is not going to send them back to work," Stepner said. "It's really going to increase poverty and reduce people's spending."
Ending the benefits likely will have ripple effects throughout the economy.
"These are people that buy groceries and put gas in their car and frequent local businesses," LeBlanc said. "When that money is not there, it's not just going to be the person who's unemployed that's going to suffer. It's going to be the entire community that suffers."
Several emergency jobless benefits were launched during the pandemic
Chenon Hussey's household in West Bend, Wis., will lose about $2,800 in monthly aid.
"It's hard when you're raising a family," Hussey said. "You don't have any idea what the next few months are going to look like."
Hussey and her husband have benefited from several emergency unemployment programs the federal government launched during the pandemic.
One program extends jobless benefits to gig workers and the self-employed, which helped replace some of Hussey's lost income as a motivational speaker. Another boosts traditional unemployment benefits by $300 per week, which was crucial when her husband was temporarily furloughed from his job as a master welder. A third program extends aid to people who are out of work for more than six months.
All three programs expire on Monday.
Hussey and her husband have both taken some temporary jobs but don't feel like they have much control.
"At the beginning of the year, there were some conferences that got scheduled, and I booked them," Hussey said. "But in the last two months, those conferences have been postponed, because there's so many uncertainties."
Economists at Wells Fargo estimate that once pandemic programs expire in the remaining states, federal unemployment payouts will drop from $32 billion a month to around $3 billion.
While wages and a new child tax credit will offset some of that drop, "the increases in various other categories of personal income will not be enough to offset the hit from jobless benefits going away," the economists wrote.
The Biden administration says if states choose, they can redirect other federal funds to extend jobless benefits beyond next week. So far, though, no state has announced plans to do so.
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Some of site's largest subreddits switched to private, saying Reddit is failing to tackle misinformation. (photo: iStock)
Reddit Communities 'Go Dark' in Protest Over COVID Misinformation
Dan Milmo, Guardian UK
Milmo writes: "Reddit has been hit by a user rebellion over the online discussion forum's failure to tackle misinformation related to Covid and vaccines."
Some of site’s largest subreddits switch to private, saying Reddit is failing to tackle misinformation
eddit has been hit by a user rebellion over the online discussion forum’s failure to tackle misinformation related to Covid and vaccines.
More than 135 Reddit communities, or subreddits, have “gone dark”, which blocks non-members from reading or joining the page, in protest at the site’s refusal to limit discussions that propagate misleading theories about the pandemic. The protest covers many of the site’s largest subreddits, including r/Futurology and r/TIFU, which have more than 10 million subscribers each.
A message on the r/Futurology forum said “people are dying from misinformation” related to coronavirus. “Futurology has gone private to protest Reddit’s inaction on Covid-19 misinformation,” the message said. “Weaponized misinformation is a key problem shaping our future. Reddit won’t enforce their policies against misinformation, brigading, and spamming.”
Defending the site’s approach, Reddit’s chief executive, Steve Huffman, wrote in a post last week that the site was a place for “open and authentic discussion”. He said: “Dissent is a part of Reddit and the foundation of democracy. Reddit is a place for open and authentic discussion and debate. This includes conversations that question or disagree with popular consensus.”
The r/PokemonGo subreddit, representing players of the augmented reality game, announced it was going dark and would stay private until Reddit removed sites spreading misinformation about Covid. “We have gone private in protest of Reddit’s inaction against Covid misinformation. As our users know Covid directly impacts this game because Go is played outside in real life with others.”
The message added that the group had supported protests against Pokémon Go’s developer recently after it announced plans to reverse safety measures implemented at the start of the pandemic last year.
One of the Reddit communities cited by the protesting groups, r/NoNewNormal, has been “quarantined” by the site, meaning Reddit has flagged its content as having the potential to be “highly offensive or upsetting” and preventing it from showing up on the normal homepage.
The r/NoNewNormal forum, which has 124,000 subscribers and contains posts warning against taking Covid vaccines, describes itself as “a diverse international coalition with the shared goal of restoring our old ways of life before the world fell into the grips of fear and hysteria”. One post on Tuesday stated: “Being anti-[vaccine] mandate is not anti-science, it’s pro-freedom, pro-choice.”
Research by the UK and US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate published this year found the vast majority of Covid-19 anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories originated from 12 people – including the Kennedy family scion Robert F Kennedy Jr – with a combined following of 59 million people across multiple social media platforms.
CCDH analysed 812,000 Facebook posts and tweets and found just under two-thirds came from the so-called disinformation dozen. Facebook said it had already taken action against some of the groups mentioned in the report, while Kennedy said he had never posted an inaccurate statement on his Instagram account.
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Former Generals Benedicto Lucas (R) and Manuel Callejas (C), Guatemala. (photo: @juanmrosales39/Twitter)
Guatemala: Generals Face Trial for Indigenous Massacres
teleSUR
Excerpt: "On Monday, after nearly two years of investigations, Guatemalan Judge Miguel Galvez decided to send to trial former Guatemalan generals Benedicto Lucas and Manuel Callejas for the massacre and violation of the human rights of over 1,700 Ixil Mayan Indigenous people between 1978 and 1982, during the civil war."
To support his resolution, Judge Miguel Galvez analized about 148 forensic anthropology expert’s reports, which prove the generals implication in crimes agaisnt humanity.
n Monday, after nearly two years of investigations, Guatemalan High-Risk Court Judge Miguel Galvez decided to send to trial former Guatemalan generals Benedicto Lucas and Manuel Callejas for the massacre and violation of the human rights of over 1,700 Ixil Mayan Indigenous people between 1978 and 1982, during the civil war.
"We celebrate Galvez’s resolution, which approaches the horizon of memory and struggle for the dignity of the victims," Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala (ODHAG) stated as a complementary prosecutor in the case, which comprises forced displacement, rape, torture, and murder of the Indigenous peoples.
To support this resolution, the Court used about 200 testimonies, 148 forensic anthropology expert’s reports, 12 scientific expert’s reports, and 70 military, historical, and newspaper documents, which ODHAG presented to prove the implication of the ex-generals in such crimes.
ODHAG also urged Galvez to reject the impunity resolutions presented by Lucas and Callejas' lawyers to obtain amnesty for their clients. "The Court must act with the highest standards of impartiality to respond to the rights of the victims and guarantee justice throughout the process," it affirmed.
During the administration of his brother Fernando Lucas (1978-1982), Gen. Lucas carried out “sweep” intelligence military operations against Indigenous citizens who were falsely branded as "State enemies."
The military murdered 12,400 people from the Ixil Maya community located in the Santa Maria Nebaj, San Gaspar Chajul, and San Juan Cotzal municipalities.
In May 2018, Lucas and Callejas were condemned to 30 years in prison due to their involvement in the rape of 19-year-old woman Emma Molina and the forced disappearance of her brother in 1981.
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New Delhi was the world's most polluted capital for the third straight year in 2020. (photo: Sajjad Hussain/AFP)
Pollution 'to Cut 9 Years of Life Expectancy' of 40% of Indians
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "Air pollution is likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40 percent of Indians by more than nine years, according to a report released by a United States-based research group."
EPIC report says more than 480 million Indians endure significantly high pollution levels.
ir pollution is likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40 percent of Indians by more than nine years, according to a report released by a United States-based research group.
More than 480 million people living in the vast swathes of central, eastern and northern India, including the capital New Delhi, endure significantly high pollution levels, said the report prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).
“Alarmingly, India’s high levels of air pollution have expanded geographically over time,” according to the EPIC study, reported by the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
For example, air quality has significantly worsened in the western state of Maharashtra and the central state of Madhya Pradesh, it said.
Lauding India’s National Clean Air Program (NCAP), launched in 2019 to rein in dangerous pollution levels, the EPIC report said “achieving and sustaining” the NCAP goals would raise the country’s overall life expectancy by 1.7 years and that of New Delhi residents by 3.1 years.
The NCAP aims to reduce pollution by 20 to 30 percent in the 102 worst-affected cities by 2024 by ensuring cuts in industrial emissions and vehicular exhaust, introducing stringent rules for transport fuels and biomass burning, and reducing dust pollution. It will also entail better monitoring systems.
New Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital for the third straight year in 2020, according to IQAir, a Swiss group that measures air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles known as PM2.5.
Last year, New Delhi’s 20 million residents, who breathed some of the cleanest air on record in the summer because of coronavirus lockdown curbs, battled toxic air in winter following a sharp increase in farm residue burning in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana.
According to the EPIC’s findings, neighbouring Bangladesh could raise average life expectancy by 5.4 years if the country improved air quality to levels recommended by the World Health Organization.
To arrive at the life expectancy number, EPIC compared the health of people exposed to different levels of long-term air pollution and applied the results to various places in India and elsewhere.
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