Category: News

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Pelosi: Trump Should Unify Our Country, Not Fuel The Flame Of Division

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on ABC This Week
During an appearance on ABC News’ This Week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked by George Stephanopoulos what President Donald Trump should be doing during the ongoing riots and protests over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis. “The president of the United States should bring dignity to the office that he serves,” said Pelosi. “He should be a unifying force in our country.” “We have seen that with democratic and republican presidents all along. They have seen their responsibility to be the president of the United States, to unify our country, and not to fuel the flame, not to fuel the flame. “I think to take his bait time and time again is just a gift to him because he always wants to divert attention from what the cause of the response was.”

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Donald Trump: ‘By The Way, MAGA Loves Black People’

Asked if he feels he might be inciting racial unrest by inviting his supporters to appear outside the White House tonight, Donald Trump told reporters today that ‘MAGA loves black people.’ “MAGA. Make America great again. These are people that love our country. I have no idea if they were going to be here, I was just asking. I have no idea if they were going to be there, MAGA is make America great again. By the way, they love African-American people, they love black people. MAGA loves black people. I heard that MAGA wanted to be there and a lot of MAGA was going to be there and I have no idea. They love our country.”

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Wife Of Charged Minneapolis Officer Files For Divorce

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin (screen capture)
Kellie Chauvin, the wife of fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, has issued a statement through her attorney that she sends her condolences to the family of George Floyd and she has filed for divorce. “This evening, I spoke with Kellie Chauvin and her family. She is devastated by Mr. Floyd’s death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy. She has filed for dissolution of her marriage to Derek Chauvin,” the Sekula Law Offices said in a released statement. “While Ms. Chauvin has no children from her current marriage, she respectfully requests that her children, her elder parents, and her extended family be given safety and privacy during this difficult time,” the statement continued. The announcement spurs several questions. Is Ms. Chauvin leaving her husband because she has an opinion about his actions? Were there previous domestic issues at home? Many commenters on Twitter believe the divorce would be a way to protect the couple’s assets in case he were to be sued in a civil case, which I hadn’t thought of. Things that make you go ‘hmm…’

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Chicago Mayor Sends Coded ‘F*** You’ To Trump

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (screen capture)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday called out Donald Trump for trying to “foment violence” and offered a coded response for tweets that appeared to threaten Minneapolis rioters protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

“We see the game he’s playing because it’s so transparent and he’s not very good at it. He wants to show failures on the part of Democratic local leaders to throw red meat to his base. His goal is to polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges. And we can absolutely not let him prevail,” Lightfoot said.

“I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It’s two words: It begins with F and ends with YOU.”

On Thursday night, President Trump took to Twitter as protesters surrounded a Minneapolis police station and set fire to it.

He characterized the protesters as “THUGS” and tweeted, “Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

On Friday, Lightfoot accused the president with whom she has clashed repeatedly of attempting to “foment violence.” She made no apologies for the vulgar reference that ran contrary to the advice of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s infamous line that, “When they go low, we go high.”

“I am not Michelle Obama,” the mayor said.

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Louisville Police Fires Pepper Balls At Local News Crew

(screen capture)
Louisville’s NBC News affiliate reports the station’s own reporter, Kaitlin Rust, and photojournalist James Dobson, were hit by pepper balls reportedly fired by an LMPD officer during a protest in downtown Louisville Friday night.

It was previously reported that the officer was firing rubber bullets, but Jessie Halladay with the Louisville Metro Police Department said LMPD officers do not use rubber bullets, and it was likely that was Rust and Dobson were hit with pepper balls.

In response to what happened to Rust and Dobson, WAVE 3 News General Manager Ken Selvaggi issued a statement saying, “We strongly condemn the actions of the LMPD officer who tonight repeatedly fired at and hit our reporter and cameraman, both of whom were courageously and lawfully covering breaking news in their community. There is simply no justification for the Louisville police to wantonly open fire, even with pepper balls, on any journalists under any circumstances.”

During night two of several hundred protesters gathering downtown, crowds appear to be larger and police are continuing their efforts to clear the area.

Watch the brief video clip of the encounter below. One commenter on the YouTube page wrote, “It’s almost like they [police] are trying to start a war with civilians.”

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Wisconsin: ‘Karen’ Berates Americans For Playing American Music

NowThis News shares this clip of another racist ‘Karen’ berating a Latinx family for playing music while barbecuing in a park. I have to wonder if she would have demanded ‘American music’ if the Puerto Rican family had been playing ABBA? p.s. Puerto Ricans ARE Americans. Puerto Rican music IS American music.

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News Round-Up: May 29, 2020

Guillaume Cizeron (above right – via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • Out: Olympic medal-winning ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron (above) has come out publicly as gay. Though the athlete, who won a silver medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics never considered himself in the closet prior, having spoken openly to family and his friends about his sexuality, he acknowledges that a new interview in the French-language magazine Tetu is his first time speaking publicly. • TikTok: A teen in North Carolina came out to her mom by making some cupcakes that said “I like girls” and recorded herself surprising her mom with them. The TikTok sharing the moment has more than 3 million views. • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in local gay rags like this month’s issue of DNA Magazine featuring Nick Bracks (below) chatting on his new role as a mental health advocate.
Nick Bracks covers the new issue of DNA Magazine
• The Advocate: Tony McDade, a Black transgender man, was shot to death by a police officer Wednesday morning in Tallahassee, Fla. McDade, 38, was accused of having fatally stabbed another man just minutes before his own death. • New Music: Lady Gaga released her highly anticipated sixth studio album Chromatica via Interscope Records, which has already debuted at #1 on the iTunes charts in 57 countries. Gaga has previously released duets with Ariana Grande (“Rain On Me” – the biggest Spotify debut of 2020 reaching #1 on the Global and US Spotify charts) and with Blackpink (“Sour Candy” – #1 on iTunes in 53 countries) from the collection. Check out the banging dance collaboration “Sine From Above” with international superstar Elton John below.

• The Hill: Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States is “terminating” its relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) over its response to the novel coronavirus, following through on a threat issued earlier this month. Trump accused the WHO of being under China’s “total control” and of failing to make reforms requested by his administration. The president said he would “redirect” funds promised to the WHO to assist other global health needs. • TechCrunch: SpaceX had just conducted yet another static fire test of the Raptor engine in its Starship SN4 prototype launch vehicle on Friday when the test vehicle exploded on the test stand in Boca Chica, Texas. This was the fourth static fire test of this engine on this prototype, so it’s unclear what went wrong vs. other static fire attempts.

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Fired Police Officer Who Knelt On George Floyd’s Neck Arrested

George Floyd, handcuffed on the ground as former Officer Derek Chauvin kneels on his neck
From NBC News:

The Minneapolis police officer shown on video putting his knee on the neck of George Floyd has been arrested, according to Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington.

Derek Chauvin, who was fired on Monday along with three other officers involved in the detainment of Floyd, was taken into custody Friday.

Video showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes on Monday night. The police department initially said Floyd “physically resisted” the officers and that he died after “suffering medical distress.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI are both investigating Floyd’s death.

Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday afternoon. In related news, the local ABC News affiliate KSTP reports Chauvin and Floyd both worked as security guards at the El Nuevo Rodeo club on Lake Street, according to Maya Santamaria. Santamaria owned the building for nearly two decades, but sold the venue within the last few months. “Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open,” Santamaria said. “They were working together at the same time, it’s just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside.” So, it’s difficult to imagine the two men didn’t know each other. And then to find themselves in this odd situation? Something doesn’t add up here…

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CNN Reporter & Crew Arrested During Live Broadcast In Minneapolis

Minnesota police arrested CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his crew live on-air early Friday morning after they had clearly identified themselves as press and repeatedly offered to move ‘wherever you want us.’ As you can see in the video below, the officers have Jimenez and his crew surrounded and seem to say nothing for some time until they step in and arrest the reporter. CNN anchors said Jimenez and his crew were arrested for not moving after being told to by police, though the live footage prior to their arrests clearly shows Jimenez talking calmly with police and offering to move wherever necessary. CNN president Jeff Zucker spoke with the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz on Friday morning, following the arrest of CNN’s team in Minneapolis, Walz said he “deeply apologizes” for what happened and is working to have the CNN team released immediately. The Minneapolis State Patrol said this about the incident: “In the course of clearing the streets and restoring order at Lake Street and Snelling Avenue, four people were arrested by State Patrol troopers, including three members of a CNN crew. The three were released once they were confirmed to be members of the media.” CNN disputed the state police characterization in a statement on Twitter. “This is not accurate — our CNN crew identified themselves, on live television, immediately as journalists. We thank Minnesota @GovTimWalz for his swift action this morning to aid in the release of our crew.”