June 2020

June 30, 2020

Twitter Accounts Deleted. Social Media Scrubbed. Spooked Hong Kong Braces for New Security LawHONG KONG—On Tuesday morning, Beijing’s top legislative body unanimously passed a secretive national security law that specifically applies to Hong Kong, a special autonomous region that until now has enjoyed freedoms that do not exist in most of China.The new law will go into effect as soon as Wednesday, and targets persons in Hong Kong involved in what the Chinese government calls “secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces”—charges often slapped on Chinese nationals who express dissent publicly within mainland China.The secretive security law has Hongkongers spooked. The Chinese Communist Party’s effectiveness controlling its population on the mainland is in setting up situations where people self-censor, and already there are signs that’s happening here. Many signs.Some people have deleted their Twitter accounts. Others are wiping their Facebook and Instagram feeds of digital protest art that was disseminated widely through AirDrop and social networks. Protest art that adorns storefronts is being removed. Local writers who were outspoken against the Chinese government are asking publications to take down their articles. FBI: China’s Top Diplomat in America Covertly Recruits ScientistsThe Hong Kong National Front, a group that advocates for the city’s independence from China, disbanded on Tuesday afternoon, passing all work to its overseas branches in Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Well-known figures like Joshua Wong, who had his start as a student activist and years later became the secretary-general of pro-democracy group Demosistō, stepped down from his position in the organization. Other leaders of the same group did the same, and then Demosistō disbanded too. More political groups may do the same in the next few days.Friends have lamented that this is “the final nail in the coffin,” and that it’s all downhill from here. One chief worry is that China’s Great Firewall may also surround Hong Kong, and online surveillance tools will be deployed to identify people who have made posts or sent out tweets related to the anti-government protests that rocked the city last year, or even advocated for Hong Kong’s independence from the Chinese Communist Party.Among the 7.5 million people in Hong Kong, around a dozen have seen the draft of the security law because they are representatives of the city in the National People’s Congress. But few details have been shared with the public. On Tuesday morning, when Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam appeared for a press briefing, she dodged all questions related to the matter and she actually said, “It is inappropriate for me to comment on the Hong Kong National Security Law.”Officials who have seen the law’s draft told Chinese state media that it includes the penalty of life imprisonment, although it remains unclear under what circumstances this punitive measure may be applied. Chinese state-run media outlet Xinhua reported that Chinese intelligence and security organs will establish a formal presence in Hong Kong, but their roles in the city and how they will fit into the existing security apparatus have not been explicitly defined. The Hong Kong Police Force will also likely set up a new secret police unit that will have up to 200 officers handling matters related to intelligence gathering and national security.On Tuesday, one of Hong Kong’s National People’s Congress delegates, Stanley Ng, uploaded a video to Facebook, which is banned within the Great Firewall, and said the provisions are being kept under wraps because Beijing “wants the real impact of intimidation and deterrence.” Ng then justified the law’s effect by referring to the resignations of leading figures in the pro-democracy movement.RTHK, Hong Kong’s public broadcasting service, reported that any people who breach the (vague, secretive) security law will see their activities from the past two years reviewed and possibly admitted as evidence against them in trial, and that some extreme cases may be handled by mainland Chinese courts.There’s already a minor witch hunt taking place. Former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying, who was seated as head of the city’s government during the Umbrella Movement in 2014, is offering up to HKD 1 million, or $129,000, to anyone who provides actionable information about individuals in Hong Kong or abroad who breach the security law.The law’s passage comes one day before the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s change in status from British colony to a territory that is under Chinese sovereignty. Even before the handover in 1997, Beijing offered reassurances that matters in the port city would “remain unchanged for 50 years,” and that Hong Kong would operate under the principle of “one country, two systems,” meaning that its governance would be separate from mainland China’s with much higher degrees of freedoms of expression, the press, religion, and more in place for half a century.But Hongkongers have for years been cautious about the promise, and many have expected those freedoms to be gradually shaved away by Beijing. They just expected it to happen later, closer to 2047 rather than in the summer of 2020.The people of Hong Kong are particularly worried about being left in the dark when it comes to the security law. The Chinese government’s legislation is notoriously vague, giving officials much leeway to disappear critics and stamp out dissent. Two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have been in detention in China since December 2018 in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the company’s founder, Ren Zhengfei.And on Sunday, the extremist Chinese state media outlet Global Times reported that clusters of Australian “spies” were uncovered and “caught red-handed” by Chinese law enforcement agencies. The proof? They were carrying cash, a compass, metro maps, a pocket notebook, a USB drive, gloves, and a face mask—the sort that is worn to prevent transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.So—“subversion” and “terrorism”? Unlikely.Hong Kong’s new security law is one of many points of contention between Beijing and Washington. The Trump administration has placed export restrictions on some high-tech products, banning their sale to entities in Hong Kong in response to Beijing’s increasingly constricting control over the city. And last week, Trump announced new visa restrictions on Chinese officials who are “smothering” Hong Kong’s freedom.On Monday, in return, Beijing slapped visa restrictions on U.S. officials who have “behaved extremely badly” by “meddling” in Hong Kong’s affairs.Since May, Hong Kong has been blanketed with ads about the secretive law. Over a gradient background that shifted from baby blue to seafoam green to dusk orange, the posters, billboards, and subway public address announcements read: “National Security Law. Preserve one country, two systems. Restore stability.”Many have been defaced.Every year, on July 1, a major public holiday, Hongkongers march to speak out against the CCP,  at times reaching seven-figure attendance. This year’s rally was banned by the police, but the organizers said they will proceed anyway, prohibition be damned.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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June 30, 2020

Supreme Court OKs tax credits for religious education



In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of several mothers in Montana who were suing for the right to use scholarship money attached to a tax credit to pay tuition at a Christian school; chief legal correspondent and 'Fox News @ Night' anchor Shannon Bream reports.

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June 30, 2020

JACKSON, Miss. — With a stroke of the governor’s pen, Mississippi is retiring the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem — a symbol that’s widely condemned as racist.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday signed the historic bill that takes the 126-year-old state flag out of law, immediately removing official status for the banner that has been a source of division for generations.

“This is not a political moment to me but a solemn occasion to lead our Mississippi family to come together, to be reconciled, and to move on,” Reeves said in a statement. “We are a resilient people defined by our hospitality. We are a people of great faith. Now, more than ever, we must lean on that faith, put our divisions behind us, and unite for a greater good.”

Mississippi has faced increasing pressure to change its flag since protests against racial injustice have focused attention on Confederate symbols.

A broad coalition of legislators on Sunday passed the landmark legislation to change the flag, capping a weekend of emotional debate and decades of effort by Black lawmakers and others who see the rebel emblem as a symbol of hatred.

The Confederate battle emblem has a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. White supremacist legislators put it on the upper-left corner of the Mississippi flag in 1894, as white people were squelching political power that African Americans had gained after the Civil War.

Critics have said for generations that it’s wrong for a state where 38% of the people are Black to have a flag marked by the Confederacy, particularly since the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have used the symbol to promote racist agendas.

Mississippi voters chose to keep the flag in a 2001 statewide election, with supporters saying they saw it as a symbol of Southern heritage. But since then, a growing number of cities and all the state’s public universities have abandoned it.

Several Black legislators, and a few white ones, kept pushing for years to change it. After a white gunman who had posed with the Confederate flag killed Black worshipers at a South Carolina church in 2015, Mississippi’s Republican speaker of the House, Philip Gunn, said his religious faith compelled him to say that Mississippi must purge the symbol from its flag.

The issue was still broadly considered too volatile for legislators to touch, until the police custody death of an African American man in Minneapolis, George Floyd, set off weeks of sustained protests against racial injustice, followed by calls to take down Confederate symbols.

A groundswell of young activists, college athletes and leaders from business, religion, education and sports called on Mississippi to make this change, finally providing the momentum for legislators to vote.

Before the governor signed the bill Tuesday, state employees raised and lowered several of the flags on a pole outside the Capitol. The secretary of state’s office sells flags for $20 each. A spokeswoman for that office, Kendra James, said Tuesday there has been a recent increase in requests from people wanting to buy one.

During news conferences in recent weeks, Reeves had repeatedly refused to say whether he thought the Confederate-themed flag properly represents present-day Mississippi, sticking to a position he ran on last year, when he promised people that if the flag design was going to be reconsidered, it would be done in another statewide election.

Now, a commission will design a new flag, one that cannot include the Confederate symbol and must have the words “In God We Trust.” Voters will be asked to approve the new design in the Nov. 3 election. If they reject it, the commission will draft a different design using the same guidelines, to be sent to voters later.

Said Reeves in signing over the flag’s demise, “We are all Mississippians and we must all come together. What better way to do that than include “In God We Trust” on our new state banner.”

He added: “The people of Mississippi, black and white, and young and old, can be proud of a banner that puts our faith front and center. We can unite under it. We can move forward —together.”


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June 29, 2020

New York City mayor plans to cut $1bn from police budgetNew York City mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed cutting $1bn (£814m) from the police force’s $6bn (£4.48bn) yearly budget, amid calls for reform.Mr de Blasio announced the plan during his daily City Hall press briefing on Monday, and said the proposed budget would help reform the New York City Police Department (NYPD).




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June 29, 2020

One man killed and another wounded in Seattle's occupied protest zoneOne man was killed and another wounded early Monday in Seattle's "occupied" protest zone - the second deadly shooting in the area. Police said the shooting happened before dawn in the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood, near downtown. The Seattle Times reports that Harborview Medical Center said one wounded man was brought to the hospital in a private vehicle at about 3:15 a.m. The second was brought by Seattle Fire Department medics about 15 minutes later. The hospital said one man died and the other was in critical condition, Seattle police did not immediately release more information about the shooting. Demonstrators have occupied several blocks around the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct and a park for about two weeks after police abandoned the precinct following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.




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June 29, 2020

Senate Democratic primary heads to finish line in KentuckyOne of Kentucky's most unpredictable political races in years is headed toward the wire Tuesday, but it's taking a full week after the June 23 primary to sort out a possible photo finish in the Democratic U.S. Senate contest. Absentee ballots that stacked up amid the coronavirus pandemic have delayed the vote count in the neck-and-neck race between progressive candidate Charles Booker and establishment-backed Amy McGrath. Both are vying for the chance to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who coasted to victory in the GOP primary in his bid for a seventh term.




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June 29, 2020

Man arrested over fatal shooting in Kentucky park at center of protests"The man has been participating in the protest since the beginning and he had been arrested a couple of times in the past several weeks," Schroeder said. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said he was saddened by the incident. The park has been a focal point of protests against the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technicinan who was killed in a hail of gunfire when drug investigators burst into her home in Louisville on March 13.




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