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Ex-cops shown holding George Floyd down and blocking aid plead not guilty to violating rights

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday September 14, 2021 · 4:37 PM PDT

2021/09/14 · 16:37

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JUNE 25: Jordan and Royal Pacheco learn of George Floyd's murder at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, ahead of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's sentencing, on June 25, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin is sentenced today on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) — Jordan and Royal Pacheco learn about George Floyd's murder ahead of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's sentencing, on June 25.

The day after a judge suspended a Minnesota law requiring officers who use deadly force to detail in greater specificity why it was necessary, we’re reminded of the exact cruelty that inspired the law’s formation: the murder of George Floyd.

It’s been months since former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering the Black father by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, but the federal case against Chauvin and accused co-conspirators Thomas Lane, J. Kueng, and Tou Thao is still playing out as is the state case against Lane, Kueng, and Thao set to begin with trial in March. In the federal case, the former cops pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to violating Floyd’s rights during his detainment, according to the Associated Press. While Chauvin held Floyd face down on the pavement outside a Minneapolis convenience store, Lane held Floyd's legs and Kueng knelt on the Black father's back. Thao kept onlookers at bay. All of it played out on witness video rolled repeatedly during Chauvin’s trial.

Comedian Norm MacDonald has passed away after privately battling cancer for nine years

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday September 14, 2021 · 1:17 PM PDT

2021/09/14 · 13:17

LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 5: Actor/Comoedian Norm MacDonald performs during Comedy Central's "Last Laugh" at the Orpheum Theater December 5, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. ?Comedy Central?s Last Laugh ?04,? a year-end comedy special will air on Sunday, December 12 at 9:00 p.m (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Today, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, many of us were surprised and saddened by the news that comedian Norm MacDonald had passed away "after a long and private battle with cancer.” MacDonald reportedly kept his diagnosis quiet from many family and friends, as well. MacDonald was best known as a player on Saturday Night Live, as a frequent talk show guest on Late Night with David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. Norm was 61-year-old.

The first time I saw Norm MacDonald tell a joke it was during an old standup routine where he wondered about strange sports like cliff diving and how one might be able to judge them. “There are only a couple of different levels in cliff diving: Grand champion and then … stuff on a rock.” It’ll be down below for you to watch if you like. MacDonald stayed away from politics most of the time but would occasionally lean conservative. MacDonald was loved by many and considered by some to be the greatest post-Letterman standup comedian. His dry delivery, his ability to lean into the absurdity of audience expectations, and most importantly the kindness of his delivery, made for a concoction hard to replicate. It was the latter warmth that MacDonald was able to exude that endeared him to many.

Reactions poured out at the news from all across the internet.

Pot, have you seen kettle? Project Veritas says ‘fraudsters’ stole their money

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday September 14, 2021 · 11:23 AM PDT

2021/09/14 · 11:23

It looks like right-wing pretend-dirt-digger Project Veritas is having a tough go of it of late. A couple of weeks ago, Project Veritas head James O’Keefe posted a video of the group’s flooded headquarters in Mamaronek, New York. It was the kind of thing that brings a smile to a child’s face or a tear to a mother’s eye. The ~~grift~~ group, known for dubious undercover videos that are frequently debunked as misleading or false pushing the myth that communist jihadists are taking over our country, does not generate much sympathy from the sentient beings of our planet, so get ready to feign some sympathy!

On Monday, O’Keefe appeared in a video posted to the brave pond scum scuba divers’ YouTube page, telling people about more company problems. Take a deep breath. Try not to laugh. Remember, this is an exercise in pretending to care, or at least giving the impression that you could be convinced to give a s!@#. Project Veritas has been had! They’ve been took! Hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok! They’re out $165,000 due to what O’Keefe calls an “attack” by “fraudsters.”

Pot: Have you seen kettle?

Governor vetoes anti-protest bill and anti-truth bill GOP is calling strike at critical race theory

Lauren Floyd

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday September 14, 2021 · 10:07 AM PDT

2021/09/14 · 10:07

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, left, congratulates Cheri Beasley after naming her as the next Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court during a news conference at the Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, left, congratulates Cheri Beasley after naming her as the next chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Feb. 12, 2019.

As a resident of Georgia, I’ll take any reminder I can get that there are still governors in the South who actually aim to serve the people. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper served just the jolt of optimism I needed in vetoing two pieces of legislation that unfortunately made it to his desk, but fortunately not passed it. With HB 805, North Carolina Republicans attempted to make the state the 37th in a list of 36 states that have passed anti-protest legislation, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks such legislation. The state bill left the door open for police to further criminalize protest and attach felony charges to protesters who “engage” in a riot that leads to death, serious bodily injury, or property damage, according to a summary of the bill.

"People who commit crimes during riots and at other times should be prosecuted and our laws provide for that, but this legislation is unnecessary and is intended to intimidate and deter people from exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest," Cooper said in a statement released on Friday. Another North Carolina bill, HB 324, was aimed at restricting public school teachers from teaching the truth: that race and sex historically and currently impact a person’s experience in this country.

Texas school district that closed down after two teachers died from COVID reopens with mask mandate

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Monday September 13, 2021 · 4:37 PM PDT

2021/09/13 · 16:37

Private Academy In Houston Starts New School Year Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

HOUSTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 23: An instructor leads a classroom discussion on the first day of class at the Xavier Academy on August 23, 2021 in Houston, Texas. In-person classroom sessions are resuming and schools around Houston are requiring mask mandates, keeping in accordance with CDC guidelines. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has gone against Gov. Greg Abbott's statewide ban on mask mandates and has issued an order that requires face coverings to be worn in schools. All staff and faculty at Xavier Academy have been vaccinated and 90% of students in attendance have also been vaccinated.

On Aug. 30, after two junior high school teachers passed away due to complications from COVID-19, Connally Independent School District (ISD) in Texas announced that its schools would be closing down for the rest of the week and through the Labor Day weekend. Connally ISD is based in McLennan County, and Texas is ruled by a Republican governor who is trying to make public health steps illegal.

Last week, Connally ISD Superintendent Wesley Holt wrote an email to parents and employees explaining that "As educators, it is our duty to keep our students safe and healthy. We feel instituting a mask mandate is a step towards doing this.” This decision is a very easy one from a humanitarian, intelligent, and educational perspective, but because it was made by a person working in the Lone Star State in 2021, Holt’s email will now likely be a part of twice-indicted fraudster and State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s potential lawsuit against the Connally ISD.

Texas governor seems to think crime can be solved with 'better parenting,' God, and discrimination

Lauren Floyd

Daily Kos Staff

Monday September 13, 2021 · 2:38 PM PDT

2021/09/13 · 14:38

WESLACO, TEXAS - JUNE 30: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a border security briefing on June 30, 2021 in Weslaco, Texas. Gov. Abbott has pledged to build a state-funded border wall between Texas and Mexico as a surge of mostly Central American immigrants crossing into the United States has challenged U.S. immigration agencies. So far in 2021, U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 900,000 immigrants crossing into the United States on the southern border. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

With a swipe of the pen and single media appearance, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott managed to lay violent crime at the feet of parents, avoid any actual action to reduce crime, and impose a discriminatory law under the guise of making the state safer. “We need better parenting,” Abbott said at the Texas Pastor Council's Safer Houston Summit on Monday. He signed the Damon Allen Act into law the same day. “We need to restore God in our communities,” the governor said in a victory speech regarding the much-protested legislation. “If we do that, we will be able to reduce crime in this region.”

I’m not sure which bible Abbott uses, but nothing in mine recommends keeping poor people in jail while letting the rich out on bail, which the Damon Allen Act further promotes.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn takes his COVID-19 circus and school board attacks to other districts

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Monday September 13, 2021 · 12:33 PM PDT

2021/09/13 · 12:33

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 12: Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) (C) wears a protective mask while going to the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. Today the House of Representatives plans to vote on Rep. Jamie Raskin's (D-MD) resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, removing President Trump from office. On Wednesday, House Democrats plan on voting on articles of impeachment. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)

If you decide to hop in a car from North Carolina’s 11th Congressional district where Republican wanker Rep. Madison Cawthorn does next to nothing and travel across the Tar Heel State to Johnston County, it’ll take you about five hours—give or take 15 minutes with no traffic. The fact that Johnston County isn’t even remotely close to Cawthorn’s constituency will not be stopping him from taking his anti-science caravan across the state to protest mask mandates in Johnston County schools. There are, of course, more cameras and fundraising asks to make across county lines.

What makes this move so very Cawthorn is not simply his continued promotion of criminally bad public health policy in all aspects of his political career, nor is it the fact that Cawthorn has falsely accused others of swooping into areas they do not live in to meddle in politics, it’s that Asheville—the main city in Cawthorn’s congressional district—has its own mask mandate. Cawthorn failed to move the needle in his own district back on Aug. 9, when he joined anti-mask parents to screech at the school board in Buncombe County, saying: “The greatest threat to our children today does not come from covid-19. It comes from woke, liberal government officials like you who think they are all-knowing and all-wise.”

The substance-free and cowardly racist politician would be attending the Tuesday anti-mask protest, a spokesperson for Cawthorn confirmed to the Raleigh News & Observer.

'Is it enough to stand passively near violence?': Judge strikes down DeSantis' anti-protest law

Lauren Floyd

Daily Kos Staff

Monday September 13, 2021 · 11:28 AM PDT

2021/09/13 · 11:28

HIALEAH, FLORIDA - AUGUST 05: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference held at the Assault Brigade 2506 Honorary Museum on August 05, 2021 in Hialeah, Florida. The governor and other politicians addressed the media on their desire to see America push for democracy and freedom in Cuba and throughout Latin America. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In the fight to strip their constituents of their right to protest, Republican governors in states throughout the country have been pushing legislation to criminalize protesting. Well, a federal judge said I don't think so on Thursday to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed what he dubbed “the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law-enforcement piece of legislation in the country” on April 19. He and other GOP politicians have been particularly vocal about such legislation since the murder of George Floyd and the widespread protests for justice the Black father’s death inspired. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in a ruling obtained by The Washington Post that the governor’s “new definition of ‘riot’” lacks specificity and criminalizes “vast swaths of core First Amendment speech.”

Responding to a lawsuit from social change organizations Dream Defenders and the American Civil Liberties Union, Walker said DeSantis' law changed the “common law definition of riot.” “Tossing Molotov cocktails at the police station with 10 of your best friends is clearly rioting,” Walker wrote, but the GOP governor’s law isn’t that detailed.

Rudy Giuliani gives bizarre speech at dinner meant to honor September 11 victims

Lauren Floyd

Daily Kos Staff

Sunday September 12, 2021 · 11:23 AM PDT

2021/09/12 · 11:23

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: Rudy Giuliani points to a map as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election, inside the Republican National Committee headquarters on November 19, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump, who has not been seen publicly in several days, continues to push baseless claims about election fraud and dispute the results of the 2020 United States presidential election. Also pictured, at center, is attorney Sidney Powell. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) — Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters inside the Republican National Committee headquarters on Nov. 19, 2020 after placating former President Donald Trump with lawsuits calling into question his election loss.

While former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was imitating Queen Elizabeth and distancing himself from Prince Andrew on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, thousands of Americans were remembering their loved ones who died that day in 2001. Lee Ielpi, a retired firefighter who voluntarily worked a command post during the devastation told Inside Edition it's been 20 years since he's seen his son and it's "still difficult everyday."

Giuliani joked, rambling Saturday at a September 11 memorial dinner held at hotel Cipriani, where he called President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan “freaking insane," and attempted a British accent to mimic the queen offering to make Giuliani an honorary knight.

Six officers accused of ending up on wrong side of attempted coup are shielded from public eye

Lauren Floyd

Daily Kos Staff

Sunday September 12, 2021 · 7:42 AM PDT

2021/09/12 · 07:42

TOPSHOT - Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm the US Capitol in Washington D.C on January 6, 2021. - Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) — Supporters of former President Donald Trump clash with police and security to storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

Three violations for “conduct unbecoming,” one for “failure to comply with directives,” one for “improper remarks,” and one violation for “improper dissemination of information”: This was the alleged work of Capitol Police officers, the Washington, D.C.-based police force announced on Saturday as part of 38 internal investigations into the deadly attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Disciplinary action was recommended in the six cases, and another case involving an official accused of "unsatisfactory performance and conduct unbecoming is still pending,” Capitol Police announced.

“This week, the USCP provided the Department of Justice the administrative cases as part of the ongoing discovery production in the prosecution of the January 6 rioters,” Capitol Police wrote in a news release of the announcement. ”Officer names, witness names, and complainant names were redacted.” The department, however, is “committed to accountability when officers fail to meet the standards governed by USCP policies and the Congressional Community's expectations,” police added.

Federal government opens civil rights investigation into Florida's mask bans

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Friday September 10, 2021 · 5:19 PM PDT

2021/09/10 · 17:19

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 07: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran (L) attend a press conference at Bayview Elementary School where they announced a plan to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers on October 07, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Governorâ€™s proposed 2020 budget recommendation will include a pay raise for more than 101,000 teachers in Florida by raising the minimum salary to $47,500. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran (L)

On Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won a victory for bad public health when a three-judge panel in the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled that the governor could continue trying to punish school districts that enacted mask mandates for their schools. The decision overruled 2nd Judicial Circuit Court Judge John C. Cooper’s ruling that the governor’s ban on mask mandates was unconstitutional.
Lead attorney for the parents who brought the lawsuit against DeSantis, Charles Gallagher, told reporters “We are disappointed by the ruling and will be seeking pass-through jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Florida. With a stay in place, students, parents and teachers are back in harm’s way.”

Shortly after the 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision, the Biden administration announced that the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights division would open up an investigation into whether or not DeSantis’s order violates the federal civil rights statutes that protect students with disabilities.

Health care staffing CEO resigns after ties linked him to anti-mask group

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Friday September 10, 2021 · 3:32 PM PDT

2021/09/10 · 15:32

ScreenShot2021-09-10at12.59.15PM.png — Brian Cleary

On Friday, Overland Park, Kansas-based company Krucial Staffing announced that CEO Brian Cleary would be stepping down. The company provides emergency health care staffing. Cleary’s ties to anti-mask group Mask Choice 4 Kids are very close; Cleary’s 19-year-old son founded the group. Krucial Staffing is making a ton of money during the global pandemic, unfortunately, as anti-vaxx areas of the country have seen surges in COVID-19 cases and, naturally, health care worker shortages.

The Kansas City Star reports that Krucial Staffing officials had accepted Cleary’s resignation and further distanced themselves from Cleary, writing, “Obviously being in the health care staffing business, we understand the importance of masks in hospitals and any medical setting. As a company, we work to ensure that all our health care personnel have the best protective equipment to keep them safe in their working environment.”

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