Destructive Power of Despair

By BY CHARLES M. BLOW from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3gzWNDX

What Trump and Toxic Cops Have in Common

By BY JENNIFER SENIOR from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/36MQrfT

Atlanta mayor: 2 officers fired in 'excessive force' arrests

Two police officers have been fired and three others placed on desk duty over excessive use of force during a protest arrest incident involving two college students, Atlanta's mayor said Sunday. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a news conference that she and police Chief Erika Shields made the decision after reviewing body-camera footage of a Saturday night incident that first gained attention from video online and on local news. “Use of excessive force is never acceptable," Bottoms told reporters.

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Rudy Giuliani calls for resignations of mayor of Minneapolis, governor of Minnesota

Don't elect progressive Democrats if you want to be safe, says former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on 'Hannity.'

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Israeli forces shot and killed an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem as he walked to special needs school

Israeli forces shot and killed an unarmed autistic Palestinian man on his way to a special needs school in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday, prompting comparisons to the police violence in the US and accusations of excessive force by Israeli forces. In a statement, Israeli police said they spotted a suspect “with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and opened fire on 32-year-old Iyad Halak, when he failed to stop. No weapon was found on him. Israel’s Channel 12 news station said members of the paramilitary border forces fired at Mr Halak’s legs and chased him into an alley. A senior officer was said to have called for a halt to fire as they entered the alley, but a second officer ignored the command and fired six or seven bullets from an M-16 rifle. Mr Halak’s father told AP that police later came and raided their home, but didn’t find anything. The shooting has caused widespread outcry on social media with many comparisons to the racially-charged shooting and killing of George Floyd in the US last week. Benny Gantz, Israel’s ‘alternate’ prime minister and defence minister apologised for the death of Mr Halak in a cabinet meeting on Sunday morning. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, made no mention of the incident in his opening remarks. Both officers were taken into custody and interrogated for several hours and an investigation has been opened. “We must resist the expected cover-up and make sure that the police will sit in jail,” Ayman Odeh, the leader of the main Arab party in parliament, wrote on Twitter. “Justice will be done only when the Halak family, their friends and the rest of the Palestinian people know freedom and independence.” Mr Halak had been on his way to the school for students with special needs when he was shot and killed, a trip that he made every day. According to the Times of Israel, his father told public broadcaster, Kan, that he suspected Mr Halak had been carrying his phone when he was spotted by the police. “We tell him every morning to keep his phone in his hand so we can be in contact with him and make sure he has safely arrived at the educational institution,” his father reportedly said. In west Jerusalem, about 150 protesters, some pounding drums, gathered to demonstrate against police violence on Saturday. “A violent policeman must stay inside,” they chanted in Hebrew. At a smaller protest in Tel Aviv, one poster read “Palestinian lives matter.”

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Saudi Arabia reopens mosques with strict regulations for worshippers

Saudi Arabia's mosques opened their doors to worshippers on Sunday for the first time in more than two months as the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, eased restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus. "It is great to feel the mercy of God and once again call people for prayers at mosques instead of at their homes," said Abdulmajeed Al Mohaisen, who issues the call to prayer at Al Rajhi Mosque, one of the largest in the capital Riyadh.

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Officers in Minneapolis use aggressive tactics against protesters

They lobbed tear gas at peaceful demonstrators in an attempt to enforce curfew.

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Fire and Fury: Crowd Attacks CNN Center in Atlanta

CNN Center, the cable network’s Atlanta headquarters, came under attack Friday night during protests over police brutality sparked by the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis.A largely peaceful demonstration erupted first in vandalism, then in violence. Cops used pepper spray, and then some in the crowd were seen smashing windows and defacing the giant CNN sign with spray-paint. Down the street, a police car was set ablaze.CNN correspondent Nick Valencia began reporting on the frightening scene from a stairway inside the building, behind a phalanx of SWAT officers in the lobby, with an angry mob standing on the other side of the broken and missing plate glass.“I have a daughter and wife I want to get home to tonight,” Valencia told anchor Chris Cuomo.Protesters lobbed objects at the windows and into the lobby, and at least one officer was struck. What appeared to be a flash-bang device landed in front of police and large gusts of smoke went up into the air.One protester breached the building and was immediately arrested by cops as Valencia shouted questions at him, asking why he was there. “Change,” he replied.As the violence flared and the situation in the lobby became more precarious, cops began firing tear gas and the crowd quickly began to thin out. Live footage showed over a dozen police officers holding the line with shields, barricades, and armored vehicles pushing protesters away from the building as objects continued to be hurled. The tense scene unfolded just hours after CNN found itself at the center of the story about protests in Minneapolis, where George Floyd died, pleading “I can’t breathe” while a police officer kneeled on his neck.Reporter Omar Jimenez and members of his crew were arrested by state police while covering fiery demonstrations in the city—prompting the governor of Minnesota to issue a public apology.“There is absolutely no reason something like this should happen. Calls were made immediately. This is a very public apology to that team. It should not happen,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a Friday news conference, adding that he took “full responsibility” for the early-morning incident. “I failed you last night in that.”President Trump, on the other hand, appeared to gloat, retweeting a message that read, “In an ironic twist of fate, CNN HQ is being attacked by the very riots they promoted as noble & just.”In a Friday evening press conference, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was visibly angry as she told protesters to “go home” after thousands marched from the Georgia capitol to the Centennial Olympic Park before gathering outside CNN. “What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest, This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos. A protest has a purpose,” Bottoms said, stating that the protests are “disgracing the life of George Floyd.”“When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn't do this to our city. If you want to change in America, go and register to vote...that is the change we need in this country.”Rapper T.I. also spoke at the mayor’s press conference, stating that Atlanta “has already been here for us” and does not deserve to be burnt down. “This is a moment where people are fed up. I have to make an appeal to my brothers and sisters because I realize the only way to get constructive change is through nonviolent means,” Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., added. Their pleading did not not sway everyone. As midnight neared, looters descended on upscale malls in Buckhead, and firefighters were blocked from reaching a blaze at Del Frisco’s Grille.“There have been multiple instances of shots being fired in close proximity to our officers and shots were fired at an officer in a patrol vehicle on Peachtree Road at Lenox Road. We continue our efforts at restoring peace in our city,” Sgt. John Chafee said in a statement.Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency and activated 500 National Guard members in an attempt to restore order.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Israeli police probe false claims in case against PM's wife

Israeli police on Sunday said they were investigating whether two employees at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence gave false testimony in a civil case against his wife, Sara Netanyahu — reportedly in order to help her fend off accusations of mistreating a housekeeper. Sara Netanyahu faces a civil lawsuit from former employee Shira Raban, who claims the premier's wife mistreated her during a brief stint working at the residence. Israeli police confirmed an investigation "is being conducted with the approval of the Attorney General and the supervision of the State Attorney’s Office.”

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Cuomo pleads for calm after night of statewide protests

The New York governor repeated what he announced Saturday, that Attorney General Letitia James would be overseeing an investigation into police behavior.

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Tropical storm Amanda leaves 9 dead in El Salvador: officials

Tropical storm Amanda, the first named storm of the season in the Pacific, lashed El Salvador and Guatemala on Sunday, leaving nine people dead amid flooding and power outages. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, announcing it on his Twitter account. "We have nine dead," Salvadoran Interior Minister Mario Duran said, adding that the toll could rise.

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Labour whip resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet married boyfriend

A Labour MP has stepped down from her front bench position as whip after admitting she broke lockdown rules to meet her married lover. Rosie Duffield met her boyfriend for a long walk in April, while it was still against the lockdown rules to meet people from different households, the Mail on Sunday reported. She resigned as a whip on Saturday night and said she was “attempting to navigate a difficult personal situation". Ms Duffield, 48, was living separately from married father-of-three James Routh, pictured below, a TV director, when they went for a long walk in her constituency and he visited her home, it was reported. The MP for Canterbury told the Mail on Sunday the pair observed the two-metre social distancing rules, but these incidents were before meetings between people from different households were allowed.

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A black congresswoman was pepper-sprayed by police while marching with George Floyd protesters in Ohio

"While it was peaceful, there were times when people got off the curb, into the streets, but too much force is not the answer to this," she said.

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Philippine police arrest 90 Chinese for illegal gambling

Philippine police have arrested 90 Chinese for allegedly running an online gambling hub without permits and for violating quarantine restrictions, officials said Sunday.

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Russia denies U.S. claim that Libyan banknotes seized in Malta are counterfeit

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Trump justice department forces out top FBI lawyer in Flynn case – report

* NBC News: general counsel Dana Boente forced out on Friday * Fox News host Lou Dobbs slammed lawyer in April * Flynn transcripts show he discussed sanctions with RussianA top FBI lawyer who was criticised on Fox News for his role in the investigation of Michael Flynn has resigned after being asked to do so by senior figures at the Department of Justice, NBC News reported on Saturday.The FBI confirmed to NBC that Dana Boente, its general counsel and a former acting attorney general, announced his resignation on Friday after a near-40-year career. NBC cited two sources anonymous sources as saying the decision came from “Attorney General William Barr’s justice department”.Boente joined the DoJ in 1984 and in 2015 became the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, after being nominated by Barack Obama.In January 2017, he briefly served as acting attorney general, after Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama-era deputy, for refusing to defend an executive order on immigration.Temporarily overseeing the investigation of Russian election interference, Boente signed a warrant authorising FBI surveillance of Flynn.The retired general, Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, was fired for lying to the vice-president about contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition.Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the conversations and cooperated with the special counsel Robert Mueller as he took over the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow.Flynn sought to withdraw his guilty plea before sentencing. Earlier this month, Barr said the justice department would drop the case, although a federal judge put that decision on hold.On Friday, the same day Boente was forced out of the FBI, Trump’s new director of intelligence and Senate Republicans released transcripts of the calls in question, between Flynn and the then Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.Opponents of the president said the transcripts proved that Flynn had been treated fairly. Supporters of Trump said they showed Flynn had been treated unfairly.As Trump attempts to construct a scandal called “Obamagate”, with the surveillance of Flynn at its centre, his administration is releasing material it hopes will put Obama officials in a bad light.Boente also wrote a leaked memo concerning material put into the public domain about Flynn, which he said was not exculpatory.Trump is notoriously open to the views of key Fox News contributors.On 27 April, the Fox News host Lou Dobbs told viewers: “Shocking new reports suggest FBI general counsel Dana Boente was acting in coordination with FBI director Christopher Wray to block the release of that evidence that would have cleared General Flynn.”Trump has reportedly been urged to fire Wray, whom he appointed to replace James Comey, the man he fired in May 2017 in an attempt to close the Russia investigation.Comey’s firing led to the appointment of Mueller, who concluded a near-two-year investigation without proving criminal conspiracy between Trump and Russia.Mueller did, however, obtain convictions of Trump aides and says in his report the campaign was receptive to Russian help. He also laid out extensive evidence of attempts by the president to obstruct his investigation.Trump has fired or forced out FBI and DoJ figures including Andrew McCabe, Comey’s deputy, lawyer Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who worked on the case.On Friday, Wray issued a statement about Boente.“Few people have served so well in so many critical, high-level roles at the department,” he said. “Throughout his long and distinguished career as a public servant, Dana has demonstrated a selfless determination to ensure that justice is always served on behalf of our citizens.”

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German engineer on China charter flight tests positive for coronavirus

A German engineer on the first flight carrying European workers back to China has tested positive for coronavirus as an asymptomatic carrier, local authorities said Sunday. The man was on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to the northeastern city of Tianjin which landed with around 200 passengers, mainly German workers and their families.

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Florida’s Seen a ‘Statistically Significant’ Uptick in Pneumonia Deaths. The CDC Says It’s Likely COVID.

Since the beginning of this year, Florida has experienced an uptick in the number of pneumonia and influenza deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control. Experts and Trump administration officials responsible for keeping tabs on mortality rates across the country believe that many of those individuals had likely contracted and died from COVID-19.According to the data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, since the beginning of the year there has been a total of 1,519 deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were listed as the underlying cause. By comparison, in the same time period last year, Florida recorded 1,207 such deaths. The CDC has historically counted pneumonia and influenza deaths together. CDC officials told The Daily Beast that most of the deaths included in that category are pneumonia. Bob Anderson, the chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch in CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, told The Daily Beast that the increase of deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were the underlying cause was “statistically significant” and that those mortalities were “probably COVID cases that weren’t reported as such.” The coronavirus can cause lung complications such as pneumonia.The increase has sparked a conspiracy theory on the left, that Florida is deliberately trying to undercount coronavirus fatalities by labeling them as something else. There’s no evidence to suggest any such underhand efforts, or that the state is unique across the country. But officials, including Anderson, do believe that a portion of the pneumonia and influenza deaths in Florida involved patients who were infected with, but never tested for, COVID-19. In such scenarios, though the virus likely contributed to the death, it may not have been recorded as the cause of death by the physician, coroner or medical examiner. “We’re definitely experiencing an underreporting issue nationwide,” Anderson said, pointing to the CDC’s study of “excess deaths” during the coronavirus. “[In Florida] most likely what we’re seeing are folks dying without having been tested and the best evidence that the doctors or whoever is filling out the death certificate had pointed to the person dying of pneumonia.”Anderson added that the numbers currently reflected on the CDC’s website for pneumonia and influenza deaths for 2020 are lower than reality because the death certificate reporting system lags by several weeks, especially in states that do not have digitized systems to process the papers. ‘F*cking Dangerous’: Dems in Pennsylvania Lose It After GOP Kept Virus Diagnosis a SecretThough other states are experiencing a similar phenomenon, there has been notable scrutiny placed on Florida, due to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) handling of the coronavirus response and his decision to move to quickly reopen the state. DeSantis allowed some Florida beaches to reopen in the middle of April, even as the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths continued to rise across the state. The governor has since criticized members of the press for rushing to warn that Florida would experience a spike in COVID-19 cases, and calling his actions cavalier. Conservative and Trump supportive commentators have pointed to the absence of a notable uptick as evidence that fears of a hasty reopening were overblown. DeSantis’ office did not return a request for comment. But the actual story, like much related to the pandemic, appears to be more complicated. And it underscores how much of the public’s understanding of, and opinions about, the pandemic are affected by bureaucratic decisions and accounting formulas related to categorizing fatalities. As The Daily Beast previously reported, President Trump and members of his coronavirus task force have pressed the CDC to change how the agency works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths, arguing for revisions that could lead to far fewer deaths being attributed to the disease. The administration has also moved to allow nursing homes the ability to only report coronavirus deaths that occurred after May 6—well after facilities across the country experienced a massive uptick in coronavirus-related deaths. States, as well, have different methods of collecting relevant data and calculating COVID-19 death counts and that, in turn, has sowed speculation about political motivations. On that front, few governors have been as closely watched as DeSantis. Part of that is because of his close relationship with the president. Part of that is because of decisions he has made. Earlier this month the DeSantis administration fired Rebekah Jones, the data manager for the Florida Department of Health who worked on the state’s coronavirus online dashboard. In a statement posted to her website, Jones said she was removed from her position because she pushed back when officials in the health department asked her to “manipulate and delete data in late April as work for the state’s reopening plan started to take off.” The DeSantis administration has since said Jones was fired for insubordination.FL Gov. Overrides County Officials to Allow Church During Coronavirus LockdownWith Florida already under a national microscope, news of the state’s pneumonia fatalities circulated on social media this week as liberals accused DeSantis and members of his administration of manipulating data and deliberately downplaying the number of coronavirus deaths. Howard Dean, the former Democrat governor from Vermont, commented on Florida’s statistics Thursday, going so far as to accuse Florida of “cooking the books on COVID-19 deaths.” Andy Slavitt, the former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said while Florida appears to have the coronavirus under control, it was experiencing an “unprecedented ‘pneumonia’ crisis.”But Anderson said it is unlikely that a physician with a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus would have marked anything other than COVID-19 as the underlying cause on the death certificate. If individuals die, for example, in their homes or in nursing facilities without having been tested, a medical examiner or coroner could hypothetically mark the individual as having died of pneumonia. That scenario would have likely played out in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak when testing was difficult to access and when physicians were still learning how the coronavirus presented itself, Anderson said. According to a report by the Miami Herald, officials inside the DeSantis administration kept the Florida public in the dark in February for about two weeks as they scrambled to come up with a plan on how to respond to the state’s outbreak. A similar phenomenon took place in Flint after a switch in water supply exposed thousands of people to lead poisoning and caused one of the largest outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in U.S. history. Last year, a team of reporters at PBS Frontline found that there may have been about 70 more deaths from Legionnaires’ during the outbreak than the 12 that were officially recorded. But because the government was not forthcoming about the crisis, doctors were not alerted to it and therefore did not know to look or test for the disease. Many people who died of Legionnaires’ disease were originally reported as having died from other causes, such as pneumonia. Donald Trump Is Gaslighting Andrew Cuomo and Sucking Up to Ron DeSantisCurrently, health officials and statisticians are researching how many of the states’ “excess deaths” over the last several months should be attributed to the coronavirus. One study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene published earlier this month said that there were thousands of “excess deaths” in the city from March 11 to May 2. About 18,879 of those deaths were explicitly tied to the coronavirus. But the study said there were also an additional 5,200 deaths that were not identified as either laboratory-confirmed or probable COVID-19-associated cases, but could have been tied to the virus in some other way. At the CDC, officials found 1,500 individuals who were mistakenly overlooked in the first few weeks the agency was calculating the coronavirus death count, and Anderson’s team is now going back and correcting those calculations to produce a more accurate death toll.The CDC relies largely on the state department of health systems and a reporting system that is more than 100 years old to calculate the annual death toll in the U.S.. When an individual dies, a doctor, coroner or medical examiner records on the death certificate a sequence of events that contributed to that person’s demise and what ultimately caused it. The certificate then goes to the state’s registrar, or sometimes a funeral director, who examines the certificate and determines whether to send it back to the physician, coroner or medical examiner for more information. Once the state registrar is satisfied with the certificate, he or she sends it on to the state’s department of health. Then, the state sends portions of data from the death certificate onto the CDC. Anderson’s team is charged with using that death certificate data, along with data from a national digital coding system, to tabulate causes of death per state each year. The emergence of the coronavirus strained the reporting system in a way that has led to a significant national undercounting, Anderson said, adding that the death-certificate count usually lags anywhere from two to eight weeks. “We’ve never experienced anything like this before,” Anderson said. “We’re still learning new things about this virus every day. The reporting will only get better.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Semitrailer speeds into crowd of protesters on Minneapolis bridge; injuries unclear

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UPDATE: 71 arrested during night of violent protests in Atlanta - Atlanta Journal Constitution

1. UPDATE: 71 arrested during night of violent protests in Atlanta  Atlanta Journal Constitution
2. Violent George Floyd protests at CNN Center unfold live on TV  CNN
3. LIVE UPDATES: Riots break out across America after George Floyd death  Fox News
4. Atlanta orders curfew, Kemp says authorities won't 'back down' as new protests loom  Atlanta Journal Constitution
5. Atlanta’s Keisha Lance Bottoms Is The Mayor And Mother America Needs Right Now  Forbes
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Read the Criminal Complaint Against Derek Chauvin - The New York Times

1. Read the Criminal Complaint Against Derek Chauvin  The New York Times
2. California police slam George Floyd's Minneapolis officer  Los Angeles Times
3. George Floyd death and Minneapolis protests  NBC News
4. Column: George Floyd’s death brings back an old familiar rage  Chicago Tribune
5. 'Am I next?': Coco Gauff, Stephen Jackson join outcry over George Floyd killing  The Guardian
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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The latest: Market House set on fire - The Fayetteville Observer

1. The latest: Market House set on fire  The Fayetteville Observer
2. George Floyd protests reach the nation's capital: 'Enough is enough'  Washington Post
3. Demonstrators gather in downtown Durham, Fayetteville, Raleigh to protest death of George Floyd  WTVD-TV
4. Protesters gather in Durham, Fayetteville in solidarity after death of George Floyd  WRAL.com
5. Car Plows Into Man Outside Colorado Capitol During George Floyd Protest  CBS Denver
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Cuomo Focused on Controlling 10 Virus Hot Spots in N.Y.C.: Live Updates - The New York Times

Cuomo Focused on Controlling 10 Virus Hot Spots in N.Y.C.: Live Updates  The New York TimesView Full Coverage on Google News

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NYC Protests Over George Floyd Death Block Traffic, Reach Trump Tower - The New York Times

NYC Protests Over George Floyd Death Block Traffic, Reach Trump Tower  The New York TimesView Full Coverage on Google News

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Trump Saw an Opportunity to Appeal to Black Voters, Then He Tweeted - Newsweek

1. Trump Saw an Opportunity to Appeal to Black Voters, Then He Tweeted  Newsweek
2. Trump and Biden speak about George Floyd's death as former officer is charged  CBS News
3. Breaking down Biden's Top 4 VP picks with Karl Rove and Leslie Marshall  Fox News
4. In this swing state, Latino Democrats want Biden to fight against Trump's 'socialist' attacks  NBC News
5. Joe Biden sees surge in health-care industry fundraising as Trump slumps in polls over coronavirus response  CNBC
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Trump Hopes for His Own Booster Shot from SpaceX Rocket Launch

By BY PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3gJZF1d

Photos From the Protests in 29 Cities Over Racism and Police Violence

By BY WEIYI CAI, JULIETTE LOVE AND JUGAL K. PATEL from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3dkl3aW

Draw a Self-Portrait

By BY CARSON ELLIS from NYT At Home https://ift.tt/36LkuVb

Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death

By BY RICHARD A. OPPEL JR. from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3eAuQdj

Former Justice Department official says Trump is 'basically calling for the shooting of protesters'

Vanita Gupta, head of the department's Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration, said the Minneapolis Police Department was on her “radar” during her tenure.

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Trudeau: Canadians watching US unrest and police violence in ‘shock and horror’

Prime minister condemned racism and called on Canada to ‘stand together in solidarity’ against racial hate as protests continue in US * George Floyd killing – follow live updatesCanadians are watching unrest and police violence in the United States in “shock and horror”, Justin Trudeau said on Friday – but the prime minister cautioned that his country also has entrenched problems with racism. The city of Minneapolis has been rocked by a third night of violent protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, after a white police officer knelt on his neck as he lay on the ground following arrest. “Many Canadians of diverse backgrounds are watching, like all Canadians are, the news out of the United States with shock and with horror,” Trudeau told reporters at a daily briefing.“Anti-black racism – racism – is real. It’s in the United States but it’s also in Canada and we know people are facing systemic discrimination, unconscious bias and anti-black racism every single day,” said Trudeau, calling on the country to “stand together in solidarity” against racial hate. “We have work to do as well in Canada.” Racial inequities continue to persist throughout the country – a grim reality that is often apparent during interactions with police. In December 2018, the province of Ontario released a landmark report that found black residents in Toronto – the country’s largest city – are 20 times more likely to be shot dead by the police than white residents. “It’s a very Canadian tradition to speak in platitudes, to refer to the underground railroad and to speak about Canada as a haven and a place that acknowledges its past mistakes,” said Robyn Maynard, author of Policing Black Lives. “But we continue to see similar structural harms and structural kinds of violence as we do in places where leaders make more overtly vitriolic statements towards black communities.”Last month, 26-year-old D’Andre Campbell was shot dead by police inside his own home, north of Toronto, after Campbell himself called 911.Earlier this week, the family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet said a police officer shoved the young woman over the balcony of the family’s 24th-floor apartment, where she fell to her death. The case is currently under investigation by an arms-length police watchdog.Maynard also pointed out the coronavirus pandemic continues to have a disproportionate impact on black and indigenous residents, who are overrepresented in the country’s prison population.“We continue to see prisons and jails being epicentres of outbreaks,” she said. “Yet there is failure on the part of the federal government to meaningfully release to release prisoners.”Trudeau’s unprompted remarks marked a notable departure for a leader who has gone to great lengths to avoid irritating his US counterpart, Donald Trump.Canadian prime ministers have traditionally refrained from discussing political and social turmoil in the US – Canada’s main ally and largest trading partner. Justin Trudeau has long spoken about the need to tackle racism, but his re-election campaign was marred by pictures of him in blackface as a young man.

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Ai Weiwei says new security law is the end of Hong Kong

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei believes the newly passed national security law for Hong Kong augurs the end for the semi-autonomous city. Ai was arrested at Beijing's airport in April 2011 and held for 81 days without explanation during a wider crackdown on dissent that coincided with the international ferment of the Arab Spring. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ai said he identifies with Hong Kong’s democracy movement and has been working on a documentary about protests that began a year ago, at times erupting into tear gas-shrouded combat between police and demonstrators.

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Sen. Ron Johnson releases transcripts of Michael Flynn's calls with Russian ambassador

Phone conversations between then-incoming White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russian Amb, Sergey Kislyak were used as part of the Russia collusion investigation; David Spunt reports.

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Pompeo demands Russia free ill American accused of spying

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday demanded that Russia free a former US marine accused of spying in Russia after the man underwent urgent surgery in a Moscow hospital. Fifty-year-old Paul Whelan had emergency hernia surgery late Thursday after suffering "severe abdominal pain," his brother David Whelan said in a statement Friday. Paul Whelan, who also holds Canadian, Irish and British citizenship, was detained in Moscow in December 2018 for allegedly receiving state secrets.

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Letters to the Editor: People who insist on going to church should quarantine themselves

One's right to attend church ends at the tip of another person's nose. People who flout social distancing rules by going to church should quarantine.

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Trump says U.S. will be 'terminating' relationship with WHO

The president criticized the World Health Organization for their response to the pandemic and said U.S. funds would be redirected to other public health needs.

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The U.S. Might Revoke Hong Kong's 'Special Status.' Here's What That Means for Business in the Global Financial Hub

Hong Kong risks becoming a casualty in the emerging cold war between Washington and Beijing

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China home-built aircraft carrier conducting sea trials

China’s Defense Ministry said the navy’s only entirely home-built aircraft is carrying out sea trials to test weapons and equipment and enhance training of the crew.

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George Floyd autopsy shows no signs of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation, attributes death to 'being restrained, his underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system'

Floyd was "non-responsive" for nearly three minutes before the police officer took his knee off his neck, the report said.

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Declassified calls show Flynn discussing sanctions with Russian envoy

Incoming DNI John Ratcliffe released the already declassified call summaries on Friday.

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EU won’t follow Trump into a trade war over Hong Kong

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New top story on Hacker News: Powers of Two (2017)

Powers of Two (2017)
8 by momonga | 0 comments on Hacker News.

Watch live: Trump holds press conference on China as tensions with U.S. escalate - CNBC

1. Watch live: Trump holds press conference on China as tensions with U.S. escalate  CNBC
2. Acosta: Trump's press secretary just told a whopper  CNN
3. Donald Trump addresses the media in the White House Rose Garden  The Sun
4. Watch: President Trump Holds A News Conference | NBC News  NBC News
5. 'Are you saying Trump never lies?': reporters quiz McEnany over White House Twitter feud  Guardian News
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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George Floyd protesters set fire to Minneapolis police station as riots continue - The Telegraph

1. George Floyd protesters set fire to Minneapolis police station as riots continue  The Telegraph
2. The Minnesota paradox: how race divides prosperous Minneapolis  The Guardian
3. Fourth day of unrest in Minneapolis over George Floyd's death  CBS News
4. Angry protesters smash police vehicle in St. Paul, Minnesota  Reuters
5. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on George Floyd's death, protests  CBS This Morning
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

from "news" - Google News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5w0v8XsI9I

Schumer to ‘conspiracy caucus’ GOP: Stop probe into origins of Russia investigation - POLITICO

1. Schumer to ‘conspiracy caucus’ GOP: Stop probe into origins of Russia investigation  POLITICO
2. Senate Democrats pump brakes on new stimulus checks | TheHill  The Hill
3. Republicans Try To Stop Trump's Reelection  HuffPost
4. GOP Vows to Kill Only Thing Keeping Economy (and Trump) Afloat  New York Magazine
5. Republicans are already planning a frenzy of judicial confirmations if Trump loses  The Washington Post
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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NYPD Officers Who Made Violent Social Distancing Arrest Set to Face Disciplinary Charges

(NEW YORK) — A New York City police officer will face disciplinary charges for a violent arrest during a social distancing enforcement action that ended with him kneeling on a man’s back or neck, a technique similar to the one that led to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Several other officers involved will also face discipline, the department said Friday, after an internal affairs investigation into the caught-on-video confrontation May 2 in Manhattan’s East Village. Police did not specify what violations the officers are alleged to have committed.

Bystander video showed plainclothes officer Francisco Garcia pulling a stun gun on 33-year-old Donni Wright and leveling him in a crosswalk, slapping him in the face and punching him in the shoulder before dragging him to a sidewalk and kneeling on his backside to handcuff him.

Read more: ‘We Cannot Police Our Way Out of a Pandemic.’ Experts, Police Union Say NYPD Should Not Be Enforcing Social Distance Rules Amid COVID-19

Garcia was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty after the incident, which Mayor Bill de Blasio called “very troubling” and “absolutely unacceptable.” He could still face criminal charges.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said Friday that it is “conducting an independent review of this incident.”

A message seeking comment was left with Garcia’s union.

The police disciplinary process sometimes involves an administrative trial, where a department employee acting as a judge hears testimony before deciding what, if any, punishment is warranted, such as a loss of vacation days all the way up to firing. The final decision is left to the police commissioner.

Wright was treated at a hospital after his arrest and has filed a notice of claim with the city, the first step before a filing a lawsuit. Prosecutors deferred charges resulting from his arrest pending further investigation.

Wright’s lawyer, Sanford Rubinstein, called the disciplinary charges a “step in the right direction” and said Garcia should be fired.

The Rev. Kevin McCall, an adviser to Wright’s family, said: “We want to send a clear message that Donni Wright could have been dead today. Before we were calling George Floyd’s name, we could’ve been calling Donni Wright’s name. Thank God he wasn’t also killed by the actions of the police.”

The video of Wright’s arrest was one of several that spurred outrage over the city’s use of police to enforce social distancing, along with data showing people of color were subject to the vast majority of distancing-related arrests and summonses in the city.

Read more: Police Data Reveals Stark Racial Discrepancies in Social Distancing Enforcement Across New York City

One video showed a police officer running at a black man and throwing him to the ground for mouthing off. Another showed an officer punching a man in the head as he lay pinned to a sidewalk, unable to fight back.

The city later altered its approach, telling officers to stop citing people for not wearing face coverings.

Minutes before the confrontation with Wright, video from a security camera showed officers using force to arrest a couple for allegedly failing to comply when asked to disperse. Police said officers saw that one of them had a “bag of alleged marijuana in plain view.”

Bystander video of Wright’s arrest showed Garcia helping take one of those people to the ground before turning to Wright, who was walking toward the area of that arrest from about 10 to 15 feet away.

Garcia turned toward Wright and cursed at him to “[get] back right now,” according to the video. At the same time, the officer pulled up his Taser and pointed it at Wright, possibly triggering the device. Garcia continued toward Wright and eventually holstered his Taser.

It wasn’t clear what Wright was doing because he wasn’t in the frame the entire time, though just before Garcia tackled him, he stopped and stood in front of the officer with what appeared to be a clenched fist at his side.

“What you flexing for? Don’t flex,” Garcia said, before grabbing Wright and wrestling him to the ground. Another officer then stepped in and helped handcuff Wright.

A police spokeswoman said shortly after the arrest that Wright “took a fighting stance against the officer” when he was ordered to disperse.

Over the years, Garcia been named as a defendant in six lawsuits that the city settled for a total of $182,500, according to court records and a Legal Aid Society database.

In a case similar to the May 2 incident, Garcia and other officers allegedly threw a man to the ground and then punched and kicked him. In another, Garcia was accused of throwing a woman against a metal grate and onto a sidewalk and using a homophobic slur after she asked for his badge number.

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George Floyd Was Pinned Down for Nearly 3 Minutes After He Became Unresponsive, Prosecutors Say

By BY SARAH MERVOSH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2zBC0iK

China and the Rhineland Moment

By BY BRET STEPHENS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3gE2vo7

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today

By BY LARA TAKENAGA AND JONATHAN WOLFE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3dkR0A0

A Continent Reopens

By BY PATRICK KINGSLEY AND LAETITIA VANCON from NYT World https://ift.tt/3diaoNV

Ex-Officer Charged in Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis

By BY NEIL MACFARQUHAR, TIM ARANGO AND MANNY FERNANDEZ from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Am86Pv

George Floyd Worked With Officer Charged in His Death

By BY MATT FURBER, AUDRA D. S. BURCH AND FRANCES ROBLES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XeUwGB

‘The Pain Is Too Intense’: Biden Challenges White Americans

By BY JONATHAN MARTIN AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XLfQSS

It looks like Trump's draft executive order targeting Facebook and Twitter got leaked online

President Donald Trump is expected to sign such an order on Thursday.

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‘400 Years of Anger’: Minneapolis Police Station Set Ablaze as Trump Threatens to ‘Start Shooting’

MINNEAPOLIS—Protesters demanding action over the death of 46-year-old George Floyd took over the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct late Thursday and set the building ablaze.Video from the scene showed demonstrators chanting “I can’t breathe” and cheering as the building was breached, with alarms blaring in the background.“This is 400 years of anger,” one protester, Justin Galbraith, told The Daily Beast as the flames sent smoke up into the sky.Others in the crowd echoed that sentiment. “There are so many innocent lives lost by the police. We protest peacefully and there is no accountability. So this happens,” demonstrator Cecilia Zwak said. The takeover appeared to mark a turning point in the protests that kicked into a new gear nationwide Thursday, as a bumbling press conference by confused prosecutors risked inviting further rage and violence.  From New York City to Denver to St. Paul, activists massed in the face of a pandemic to call out what they saw as the wanton killing of Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a Minneapolis cop on Monday. Dozens of arrests were reported by late Thursday afternoon in Manhattan’s Union Square, at least one protester in Minneapolis was said to be stabbed, and along with horrifying video footage of a car slamming into a protester in Denver, gunfire was reported at the state capitol there.After midnight, the president threatened a violent response. “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen,” he wrote on Twitter. Trump added, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” quoting the controversial Miami Police chief Walter Headley who became infamous in the 1960s for his aggressive tactics in putting down black youths he claimed were taking advantage of civil rights legislation.At one point in Minneapolis early Thursday evening, a brawl broke out between members of a small group of protesters. Anthony Thornton, 32, of North Minneapolis, said he chased down the alleged assailant.“I saw him in the fight across the street and saw him run away. People were yelling that he stabbed someone,” Thornton told The Daily Beast, while brandishing a pistol. “I jumped in my Jeep and chased him across the parking lot, pointed my gun at him, and told him to stop. He stopped and walked here with me peacefully.”“I’ve been here for three days. I’m a protester,” Thornton added. “Things are not supposed to go down like this. I’m just making sure things stop.” The question—as cops continued to use tear gas, protesters threw eggs at cop cars, and vandalism and looting reportedly percolated in the Twin Cities—was how authorities would respond to escalating chaos in the hours ahead. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz officially activated the National Guard earlier in the day, raising the prospect of a military-style occupation of swaths of a city with a long history of police violence.Meanwhile, a longtime friend of George Floyd, former NBA star Stephen Jackson, appealed to protesters to stand up for Floyd the “right way.” In an interview with MSNBC, Jackson said his slain friend “wouldn’t want it to be this way.” “He wouldn’t have wanted people to be tearing stuff down, and people getting hurt,” he said. “He wouldn't want businesses and people to suffer."The more immediate concern for activists, however, may have been county and federal prosecutors calling a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce nothing—except, well, that they thought the case was complicated. “There is other evidence that does not support a criminal charge,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said of calls to bring charges against the white police officer in Floyd’s death. The officer was caught on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for at least seven minutes while Floyd pleaded and warned that he couldn’t breathe. He was without a pulse when placed in an ambulance a short time later. U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald went so far as to apologize for summoning the press for no reason, while Freeman said he wanted to avoid potentially prematurely filing aggressive charges only to see them go down at trial. He specifically cited the failed prosecution of police over the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015. Demonstrators who faced down tear gas projectiles in Minneapolis on Thursday were less concerned with legal precedents and more determined to have the case seen for the outrage that they say it is. “George Floyd was killed over nothing. It was a modern day lynching. We have no voice,” demonstrator Josh Estes told The Daily Beast. “I feel it’s necessary. Otherwise, nothing is going to change,” Summer Bond, 22, told The Daily Beast of sprawling destruction that included a police vehicle. “I do feel bad for the businesses. But the squad car? The station? Not at all.”In Denver, a person with a scarf around his face took a bat to two official state vehicles, and rocks were hurled at first-floor building. Police there also used tear gas on demonstrators around 8:30 p.m.Reports of gunfire sent the city’s State Capitol building into lockdown a few hours earlier, according to the Colorado State Patrol. No injuries were immediately reported, but protests continued apace.“This only makes me more resolved. We have more work to do,” Leslie Herod, a state legislator, told The Daily Beast while sheltering in place.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Warrant: Police find remains of second child in yard

The remains of a second child that belonged to a Tennessee couple facing abuse charges have been found buried in a yard, court records said. A search warrant affidavit says police recovered the remains of a boy from a Knox County property where Michael and Shirley Gray lived until about 2016, news outlets reported on Friday. Police began searching the property after finding the body of a girl buried under a barn at the Gray's current home in nearby Roane County.

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Fourth Iranian tanker docks at Venezuelan port, U.S. slams 'distraction'

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Why India must battle the shame of period stain

Award-winning photographer Niraj Gera takes on stigma surrounding menstruation in India.

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Former Minneapolis cop who knelt on George Floyd charged with 3rd degree murder, manslaughter

Civil and criminal defense attorney Eric Guster weighs in on ‘The Daily Briefing.’

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Transcripts released of Flynn's calls with Russian diplomat

Transcripts of phone calls that played a pivotal role in the Russia investigation were declassified and released Friday, showing that Michael Flynn, as an adviser to then-President-elect Donald Trump, urged Russia's ambassador to be “even-keeled” in response to punitive Obama administration measures, and assured him “we can have a better conversation” about relations between the two countries after Trump became president. Democrats said the transcripts showed that Flynn had lied to the FBI when he denied details of the conversation, and that he was undercutting a sitting president while ingratiating himself with a country that had just interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

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'Orwell is rolling in his grave': Anger and disbelief at strict new lockdown rules in Moscow

The Moscow City Hall on Wednesday promised to re-open parks and finally allow walks after nine weeks of coronavirus lockdown but the incredibly strict rules regulating outdoor activities have been met with universal derision. Sergei Sobyanin, the Moscow mayor, announced something that could be a cause for celebration on Wednesday, telling Vladimir Putin, the president, in a televised conference call that the Russian capital was poised to begin lifting some of the lockdown restrictions. The number of new Covid-19 cases recorded in Moscow on Thursday, was just over 2,000, the lowest in five weeks, and the number of hospitalisations dropped by 40 per cent in a fortnight, according to the mayor. Most of Moscow’s shops and parks will re-open on Monday, and walks and outdoor exercises will finally be allowed but with a caveat. The details of what the City Hall dubbed an “experiment” have angered even the mayor’s supporters who have credited him for stemming the outbreak. Each apartment building will be assigned three days a week when residents will be allowed to venture outside but only between 9 am and 9 pm, exercising will be permitted only before 9 am, and face masks will be mandatory.

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Photos of mass graves in Brazil show the stark toll of the coronavirus, as experts predict that it will surpass 125,000 deaths by August

Despite the growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has refused to impose a lockdown.

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Move over James Bond; India returns alleged bird spy to Pakistan

Indian police have released a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisherman after a probe found that the bird, which had flown across the contentious border between the nuclear-armed nations, was not a spy, two officials said on Friday. "The pigeon was set free yesterday (May 28) after nothing suspicious was found," said Shailendra Mishra, a senior police official in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Pakistani owner of the pigeon had urged India to return his bird, which Indian villagers turned over to police after discovering it.

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New top story on Hacker News: Surveillance tools used by the Minneapolis Police Department

Surveillance tools used by the Minneapolis Police Department
21 by jbegley | 0 comments on Hacker News.

New top story on Hacker News: The surprising persistence of RSA keys in SSH

The surprising persistence of RSA keys in SSH
18 by tomwas54 | 8 comments on Hacker News.

Donald Trump is Waging War on Vote-By-Mail. The Facts Don’t Support It

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson doesn’t follow the President of the United States on Twitter.

She was sitting in her basement office eating breakfast May 20 when her staff called to inform her that Donald Trump had called Benson a “rogue Secretary of State,” accusing her of mailing ballots to Michigan voters (in fact, they were ballot applications) and suggesting (incorrectly) that vote by mail would lead to fraud. Oh, and he threatened to withhold funding from Michigan over the issue. (It’s unclear what funding he was referring to; the White House did not respond to a request for comment.)

What stood out about the episode to Benson, a Democrat, wasn’t just how Trump had addressed her, the factual inaccuracies, or the threat tucked into his tweet. It was that she was hardly the only Secretary of State to take a step like this. States like Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, and West Virginia—which Trump won in 2016, and which have Republican Secretaries of State—have taken similar actions in sending out applications for absentee ballots in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, at least for their primaries.

“This is nothing other than me doing my job. And it’s the same policy, vote by mail, that voters on both sides of the aisle embrace,” Benson says. “To me it was just disingenuous that while you have Republican colleagues of mine doing the same thing, that I get singled out, in part I’m sure because I’m a Democrat. I’m sure it’s relevant that Michigan’s playing an important, prominent role in this year’s election. It helps feed into a national narrative that there are shenanigans happening in states that are critical to the election. A false narrative.”

Before the pandemic, five states (Washington, Utah, Hawaii, Oregon and Colorado) conducted all-mail elections, and three (California, North Dakota, and Nebraska, the latter with some exceptions) gave counties the ability to determine their rules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty-nine states plus Washington, D.C. have no-excuse absentee voting, which means voters do not need to provide a reason to request an absentee ballot.

But with the prospect of the coronavirus disrupting elections looming, others have moved to make vote-by-mail more easily accessible, with some taking action for primaries and others for the general election. Three states (Michigan, New Hampshire and California) have made changes to enhance vote-by-mail availability in November. Michigan announced it will send out absentee ballot applications for the general election. New Hampshire, which typically is not a no-excuse absentee voting state, decided to allow absentee voting in November if the pandemic is still a factor, a decision announced by the state’s Republican governor. And California will distribute vote-by-mail ballots to all of its registered voters.

In recent weeks, Trump has seized on these changes, turning a process designed to safeguard voters’ health and ballot access into a political wedge, arguing falsely that it will lead to widespread voter fraud and creating fear among election experts that the President is undermining the legitimacy of the contest. The irony in this goes beyond the fact that Trump often votes by mail himself. There is little evidence, experts say, that either party benefits politically from allowing citizens to vote by mail, while places that use it see increased voter turnout overall. And it’s not just Democrats pushing the idea: Republican Secretaries of State and other executives in red states have also employed it.

“I’m bumfuzzled by the President’s objections to vote by mail. Republicans historically have done fine if not better in heavy-mail scenarios,” says Michael Steel, a Republican strategist. “They disproportionately tend to be used by older voters who disproportionately tend to vote Republican.”

“It’s kind of a mystery why he’s picked this particular fight to have at this particular time with a pandemic raging and a very tight election,” Steel adds. “If I were the President, I would be encouraging the Republican Party nationally and across the country to invest in the infrastructure to make sure that we can vote by mail successfully.”

You don’t need to reach back very far to find an example of vote-by-mail helping Republicans. The May special election in California’s 25th congressional district was mostly conducted by mail. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom had ballots and prepaid postage-return envelopes sent to every registered voter. An analysis by Political Data Inc., a voter data firm, showed that of the approximately 425,000 ballots sent to all voters, 34% were mailed back in. Though more ballots went out to Democrats, Republicans returned them at a higher rate. The seat, previously held by a Democrat, was won by the Republican candidate, Mike Garcia.

Which isn’t to say vote-by-mail favors Republicans, either. A study published earlier this spring by Stanford University examined counties in a handful of states that implemented vote-by-mail programs and concluded vote by mail “does not appear to increase either party’s vote share.” The researchers noted it’s difficult to extrapolate their findings to wider use during a pandemic. But generally, “vote by mail doesn’t overwhelmingly advantage one party over the other,” says Daniel Thompson, a PhD candidate at Stanford and the paper’s lead author.

In Michigan’s May 5 county and municipal elections, turnout was double past May contests, coming in at 25% of eligible voters, with 99% of those who cast a ballot doing so by mail. Vote-by-mail was equally popular in Republican and Democratic communties, Benson said. “The ability to vote by mail actually significantly increased turnout across the board.”

Despite this, many of Trump’s allies have followed suit in attacking the process. The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Campaign Committee, and the California GOP this week filed a lawsuit against Newsom and Secretary of State Alex Padilla over expanding vote-by-mail in California, arguing it would invite “fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting.” Lawsuits over voting rights are playing out in several states, including Texas, where Democrats also sought to expand vote by mail.

Sam Reed, an advocate for vote-by-mail who served from 2001 to 2013 as a Republican Secretary of State in Washington, says suggesting that vote by mail will lead to voter fraud “is totally incorrect.” He pointed to checks in place to avoid it, like election staff taking training from the state police on how to verify signatures. “We have really tight systems,” Reed says.

Yet Trump has a history of pushing false narratives about voter fraud. He has long propagated conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud despite the fact that studies have found it to be rare. A voter fraud commission the President put in place was disbanded by January 2018 with nothing to show for it.

The President’s tweets on voter fraud even led to Twitter attempting to fact check him for the first time on Tuesday. In response to a tweet claiming in part that “Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed,” the social media platform added a label directing users to “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”

Asked on Thursday by TIME whether the President’s comments on vote-by-mail were an effort to lay groundwork to cast doubt on November election results, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded: “No, he’s certainly not doing that.”

With reporting by Brian Bennett.

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