138 days remain until the November midterm elections
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Today’s comic by Matt Bors is The fight against tyranny—it's here!
• California bill to dump century-and-a-half old law regarding police use of force: Assembly Bill 931 would alter the state’s “reasonable force rule,” enacted in 1872. The bill is pitting civil rights activists against the clout of the influential law enforcement lobby. It requires that police officers consider all nonlethal techniques before using deadly force. It also allows prosecutors and jurors to examine actions leading up to any fatal police shooting. Foes of the bill, which emerged on a party-line vote from a Senate committee this week, say it will hamstring police officers, make it harder for them to defend themselves, and value the hindsight judgment of civilians above the split-second decisions of officers in dangerous situations. Said one Democratic supporter, state Sen. Steven Bradford, a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus: “I have friends and family who are in law enforcement, but they will tell you there is no reverence for life when it comes to black men in this country when facing the majority of law enforcement.”
• Defying the Trump administration, Colorado adopts California emissions standards: Governor John Hickenlooper announced Tuesday that Colorado will join 13 other states and DC in adopting California’s greenhouse gas emission standards for cars. The Clean Air Act specifically gives states the right to adopt the Golden States’s stricter standards. The Trump regime seeks to roll back the national standards that freeze limits on emissions at model year 2022 for cars sold in 2022-2025. California’s standards are harmonized with the national standards, under “The National Program” that theObama administration negotiated with automakers in 2011. In a statement, the governor said: “Colorado has a choice. This executive order calls for the state to adopt air quality standards that will protect our quality of life in Colorado. Low emissions vehicles are increasingly popular with consumers and are better for our air. Every move we make to safeguard our environment is a move in the right direction.”
• Native tribe opens criminal investigation of incident in which U.S. Border Patrol ran down one of its citizens and drove away without checking his condition: The Tohono O'odham Nation has opened a criminal investigation after one of its citizens was struck by a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle in Arizona on June 14. The investigation was launched after a video taken by the victim showed the Border Patrol vehicle heading straight at him, knocking him down. From flat on his back, he kept the video going as the vehicle kept going. That video that has been viewed more than 484,000 times on Twitter.
MIDDAY TWEET
• With 3 million drones expected in the air by 2022, federal safety oversight behind the times: From February 2014 through April this year, the Federal Aviation Administration has gathered 6,117 reports of potentially unsafe use of drones according to a Government Accountability Office report. An FAA-industry working group stated in December that, while most of these incidents are not a big deal, “There is general consensus that some of the sightings are potentially high risk.” But only 32 incidents have resulted in any enforcement action. One of those involved a drone collision with an Army helicopter and another with a passenger jet. Said Paul Hudson, the president of FlyersRights.org, an airline passenger advocacy group: “I hate to say it, but it’s been proven over and over the safety agencies don’t usually act until there’s blood on the ground. Without some changes, I’m afraid we’re just waiting for the first disaster to occur.”
• Burger King apologizes for Russian social media stunt pledging money and a lifetime supply of Whoppers for women who get impregnated by World Cup soccer players: This isn’t the first time the fast food giant has engaged in marketing misogyny. In 2017, as part of a buy one get one free burger offer, Burger King mocked the teenage victim of a rape at a house party.
• Bloomberg Energy Outlook shows U.S. on target to get half its electricity from renewable sources by 2050: “Wind and solar are set to surge to almost ‘50 by 50’—50% of world generation by 2050—on the back of precipitous reductions in cost, and the advent of cheaper and cheaper batteries that will enable electricity to be stored and discharged to meet shifts in demand and supply. Coal shrinks to just 11% of global electricity generation by 2050.”
• EPI: Surge in self-employment confirmed. But the economic impact is not great: While the count shows “a significant increase in the headcount of nonemployer establishments,” total revenues from such employment have not increased in 20 years. “This indicates that the growth of nonemployer establishments seems to reflect the growth of self-employed individuals operating unincorporated businesses that generate very little revenue.”
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter round up the day’s outrages. President Baby Jails spends his day lying about Ivanka, fundraising & bashing reverse Canadian shoe smugglers. Are we all "just doing our jobs?" Flight attendants give us a heads up.
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