https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1270059322806923264
Mother Jones ✔@MotherJones

Some protesters, news crews, and medics in Minneapolis found themselves stranded after recent protests: The tires of their cars had been slashed.

Many assumed protesters were to blame. But videos reveal a different culprit: the police. https://bit.ly/30nl8XQ

Embedded video

2:25 PM - Jun 8, 2020

Andrew Kimmel ✔@andrewkimmel

Minneapolis Police slashed every tire on my rental car, as well as every tire of every car in this parking lot.

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For those asking how I know it was the police... police overtook this entire area shortly after the protest began. No protester would’ve been able to get in here after that. I got stopped by National Guard and was able to get through with my press badge. It was the @MinneapolisPD

The police also destroyed the entire medical encampment that was put up in the same parking lot. What a disgrace.



Video proof of police slashing tires.

val @val_ebertz

Replying to @Jeff_Wagner4 @WCCO
A video of my life stream showing a line of cops in the Kmart parking lot, approaching the truck, and slashing the tires. Sorry you can’t see better

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4:39 AM - May 31, 2020 · Bloomington, MN

And another

brandi @brandiiimariiie

Replying to @Jeff_Wagner4 @WCCO
‼️THE POLICE SLASHED THIS TRUCKS TIRES‼️ all the protestors left the Kmart area as soon as they got closer. #MinneapolisRiot

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4:40 AM - May 31, 2020 · Bloomington, MN

https://twitter.com/andrewkimmel/status/1266992196361863169

https://twitter.com/andrewkimmel/status/1267012840197586946

https://twitter.com/andrewkimmel/status/1267013069642833920

https://twitter.com/AynRandPaulRyan/status/1267087980595826688
Holly Figueroa O'Reilly ✔@AynRandPaulRyan

Holy shit, this is amazing.

Cops in Flint, MI have laid down their batons and taken off their helmets after protesters chant #WalkWithUs.

"We want to make this a parade."

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9:38 AM - May 31, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/webview/us/live-news/george-floyd-protests-05-31-20/h_05273aab4a4e21762f3614185413f352


National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien speaks to reporters on May 21. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien denied that systemic racism exists across the nation’s police forces, arguing instead that “a few bad apples” give the impression of racism among law enforcement officers, according to an interview he did with CNN on Sunday.

“No, I don’t think there’s systemic racism,” O’Brien said on CNN when asked directly by Jake Tapper whether he sees systemic racism as the problem.

“There are some bad cops that are racist and there are cops that maybe don’t have the right training,” O’Brien said.
As the country wakes up to survey the aftermath of the fifth night of protests against racism and police brutality nationwide, O’Brien claimed the violence that has broken out in some cities “is being driven by Antifa” and said he had not seen reports that white supremacists had inflamed tensions in some instances.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/ice-keeps-transferring-detainees-around-country-leading-covid-19-outbreaks-n1212856


Bluebonnet Detention Center, ICE's newest detention facility in West Texas.Charles Reed / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

May 31, 2020, 6:08 AM EDT
By Lisa Riordan Seville and Hannah Rappleye

The immigrants began to show symptoms in late April, about a week after arriving at the Rolling Plains Detention Center in Haskell, Texas.

They had been held in dorms with other recent transfers, according to a county official. First three detainees tested positive for COVID-19. Then 20 more. As of Friday, 41 immigrants detained at Rolling Plains had been infected. Just three county residents have tested positive.

In Pearsall, Texas, 350 miles south, transfers turned another detention center into a virus hotspot. Frio County had just a single confirmed case of COVID-19 in early April. Then two detainees who had recently been moved to Pearsall's South Texas ICE Processing Facility tested positive, ICE told county officials. Thirty-two immigrants have now been diagnosed, almost 90 percent of the state's official COVID-19 tally in Frio County.

"Our vulnerability is absolutely that detention center," said Frio County Commissioner Jose Asuncion. "Once that facility is exposed, the employees are coming in and out, there's no way to contain it."

In the past several months, while most Americans have been ordered to shelter at home, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has shuffled hundreds of people in its custody around the country. Immigrants have been transferred from California to Florida, Florida to New Mexico, Arizona to Washington State, Pennsylvania to Texas.

These transfers, which ICE says were sometimes done to curb the spread of coronavirus, have led to outbreaks in facilities in Texas, Ohio, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, according to attorneys, news reports and ICE declarations filed in federal courts.

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https://twitter.com/ChrisJansing/status/1266966432828608512
Chris Jansing ✔@ChrisJansing

Me too! Also, 2020 in 6 seconds!

Acyn Torabi @Acyn

I’m going to keep this shorter version of the Chris Jansing clip for whenever the news is awful

1:35 AM - May 31, 2020

https://alfranken.com/read/not-myself



Not Myself

May 30, 2020

People have been saying I wasn’t myself when I talked with Don Lemon last night on CNN. They are right. George Floyd was needlessly murdered by MPD in what has become a pattern of racist and violent policing in Minneapolis. This comes on the heels of the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, also at the hands of the police. The city I love is being burned by people who are not there to protest Mr. Floyd’s killing but to cause violence and destruction. I, like a lot of people across the country, am grieving, tired and angry–even if not everyone loves the way I communicate that.

And if you love this community in Minneapolis as much as I do and you have a few bucks to chip in, donate here to help small businesses and community organizations rebuild: https://www.welovelakestreet.com/

https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/1266851766844428289
Adam Parkhomenko ✔@AdamParkhomenko

This is currently happening outside the White House

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5:59 PM - May 30, 2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/investigations/coronavirus-excess-deaths-may/

A state-by-state analysis shows that deaths officially attributed to covid-19 only partially account for unusually high mortality during the pandemic

By Andrew Ba Tran, Leslie Shapiro and Emma Brown

May 30, 2020

The number of people reported to have died of the novel coronavirus in the United States surpassed 100,000 this week, a grim marker of lives lost directly to the disease, but an analysis of overall deaths during the pandemic shows that the nation probably reached a similar terrible milestone three weeks ago.

Between March 1 and May 9, the nation recorded an estimated 101,600 excess deaths, or deaths beyond the number that would normally be expected for that time of year, according to an analysis conducted for The Washington Post by a research team led by the Yale School of Public Health. That figure reflects about 26,000 more fatalities than were attributed to covid-19 on death certificates during that period, according to federal data.

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The Yale-led team used historical death data to estimate the expected number of deaths for each week this year, adjusting for such factors as seasonal variation and the intensity of flu epidemics. To calculate excess deaths, the researchers subtracted their estimate of expected deaths from the overall number of deaths reported by the National Center for Health Statistics.

The covid-19 death toll, a key data point in shaping the public-health response to the pandemic, has become a political flash point. Allies of President Trump have claimed that the government tally is inflated, contending that it includes people with other medical conditions who would have died with or without an infection.

The Yale-led analysis, however, suggests that the actual number of people who have died because of the pandemic is far greater than the official government death tallies. The researchers estimated that the number of excess deaths between March 1 and May 9 was most likely between 97,500 and 105,500.

“It’s clear that the burden is quite a bit higher than reported totals,” said Daniel Weinberger, the Yale professor of epidemiology who led the analysis.

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https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3086802/us-china-tensions-set-worsen-moderates-lose-out-hardliners



Chinese groups calling for more ‘fighting spirit’ are getting the upper hand on those who favour calm and cooperation, government adviser says

From Hong Kong to Covid-19, trade to the South China Sea, Beijing and Washington are clashing on a growing number of fronts and in an increasingly aggressive way

Teddy Ng and Wendy Wu

Published: 6:45pm, 30 May, 2020

Moderates who favour dialogue and cooperation as a way to resolve China’s disputes with the United States are losing ground to hardline groups bent on taking the fight to Washington, according to political insiders and observers.

“There are two camps in China,” said a former state official who now serves as a government adviser and asked not to be named.

“One is stressing the combat spirit, the other is trying to relieve tensions. And the former has the upper hand.”

Relations between China and the US are under intense pressure. After Beijing moved to introduce a national security law for Hong Kong, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington would begin eliminating the special policy exemptions it grants the city, as it no longer considers it autonomous from mainland China.

The two nations have also clashed over trade, Xinjiang, Taiwan and the South China Sea, with the US passing several acts denouncing Beijing and sanctioning Chinese officials.

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/opinions/now-is-the-moment-to-sign-colin-kaepernick-lockhart/index.html

Updated 12:33 AM ET, Sat May 30, 2020

(CNN) When I was an executive in the National Football League a few years ago, our organization was consumed by the case of Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback whose silent kneeling protest against police brutality arguably led him to lose his NFL career and not be re-signed by any club. No teams wanted to sign a player -- even one as talented as Kaepernick -- whom they saw as controversial, and, therefore, bad for business.

The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and other league executives tried to persuade the teams to change their minds. The league sent owners and players around the country to try to lead a dialogue on race relations and to move, as the sociologist and human rights activist Harry Edwards said, "from protest to progress." Though Kaepernick didn't get his job back, I thought we had all done a righteous job, considering.

I was wrong. I think the teams were wrong for not signing him. Watching what's going on in Minnesota, I understand how badly wrong we were.

I was the league's executive vice president in charge of communications and government affairs, from 2016-2018. During my time there, we dealt with many issues that captivated the public: Ray Rice and domestic abuse, the "Deflategate" scandal that almost went to the Supreme Court and a variety of football concerns, like what is a catch and how much can players celebrate. Some were very serious, and others seemed a little absurd, but passions run so high for professional football that nothing seems silly to their fans.

But no issue challenged the league and its owners more than Kaepernick and his silent protest during the National Anthem. He started his protest in the preseason of 2016. In fact, the first time he did it no one even noted that he took a seat on the bench rather than stand.

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