Thursday, September 3, 2020
George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus, but it had nothing to do with his death, autopsy shows
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/04/health/george-floyd-coronavirus-autopsy/index.html
County and family release conflicting autopsies
The final autopsy says Floyd had heart disease and a history of high blood pressure. It includes a more complete toxicology report that said Floyd had evidence of several drugs in his blood and urine, including morphine, fentanyl, cannabis and methamphetamine, although not all of the tests were reliable.
George Floyd’s Toxicology Report Causes Toxic Stigma and Prejudice
Some of the comments already online include: “Fentanyl and meth in his system, while trying to by [sic] cigs with counter fit [sic] money sounds like he was just another good boy.” And, “George Floyd died as a direct result of the drugs he ingested.”
These comments are taken directly from the playbook that blames the victim, laying total responsibility for any abuse suffered on whatever flaws the victim may possess. The motivation behind such comments is domination, born out of a fear of being too weak to be comfortable dealing with others on equal footing.
But the simple bottom line is that it does not matter that George Floyd had drugs in his system. The only reason he could not breathe that night was because the breath was squeezed out of him by men in uniform who had more than enough time and training to know the reality of what they were doing. That is murder.
George Floyd did not die of a drug overdose
https://factcheck.afp.com/george-floyd-did-not-die-drug-overdose
Social media posts shared tens of thousands of times claim that George Floyd overdosed, suggesting that this caused his death and criticizing the amount of attention it received. This is false; the 46-year-old black man’s death in police custody was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner.
While an autopsy by the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office did find drugs in Floyd’s system, it concluded that the cause of his death was “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” and that the manner of death was “homicide.”
Nancy Pelosi calls rule-flouting salon visit a 'setup'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54007103
"I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighbourhood salon," the top Democrat told reporters on Wednesday. "It turns out it was a setup."
Mrs Pelosi was pictured in the salon without a mask over her face.
The California lawmaker has often criticised President Donald Trump for refusing to wear a mask.
"I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighbourhood salon that I've been to over the years many times," Mrs Pelosi said in a testy press conference in San Francisco when asked about the incident.
She said eSalon SF had told her they could accommodate one guest at a time.
"I trusted that - as it turns out it was a setup," Mrs Pelosi said. "So I take responsibility for falling for a setup and that's all I'm going to say on that.
Fact-checking Trump on crime in Democratic-run cities
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53991722
Mr Trump has also said that Democratic-run cities are "rampant with crime", but some of the fastest increases in murder rates are in Republican-run cities.
Data from local police departments does show stark increases in Democratic-run Chicago and New York. But that's also a trend seen in some Republican-run metropolitan areas.
Lexington in Kentucky, a city of over 300,000 people, has seen 84.6% increase in murders when compared with the same period in 2019, for example.
Mr Trump has not talked about these places.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Supreme Court rules Malka Leifer mentally fit for extradition to Australia
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/286500
Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of Malka Leifer, paving the way for her extradition to Australia.
The ruling of the three-judge panel on Wednesday was unanimous in backing a lower court ruling that Leifer was fit for extradition proceedings. The Jerusalem District Court had ruled in May that those proceedings should be reopened.
On Sept. 21, the district court will rule whether Leifer can be extradited based on the facts of the case.
Nancy Pelosi just handed Trump a campaign gift
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/nancy-pelosi-donald-trump-hairdresser/index.html
"Crazy Nancy Pelosi is being decimated for having a beauty parlor opened, when all others are closed, and for not wearing a Mask - despite constantly lecturing everyone else. We will almost certainly take back the House, and send Nancy packing!" -- President Donald Trump, Wednesday morning.
Whether Pelosi thought she was following the rules in place is lost entirely in the Trump campaign's rush to use the incident as a symbol of the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do culture that they argue pervades the Democratic Party -- on Covid-19 (and everything else.) This tweet, from Trump's campaign, which the President also retweeted on Wednesday morning, gets at that point.
Pelosi knows that the Trump campaign isn't going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Ever. And that they are always on the lookout for proof that liberal leaders actually have two standards: One for them and one for everybody else.
Trump claims credit for bringing calm to Kenosha in visit criticized as politicizing unrest
President Donald Trump claimed credit Tuesday for bringing calm to Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a visit to the city where the police shooting of an unarmed Black man touched off days of violent protests.
Although Trump suggested he helped quell the violence by sending the National Guard, it was Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers who activated the state’s National Guard and asked for help from Arizona, Michigan and Alabama, which sent Guard troops.
Students For Trump mocked over tweet supporting POTUS' Kenosha visit: Who are the people behind it?
From their official handle, the youth group posted, 'President @realDonaldTrump tours what Biden will do to America'
Israel's Top Court Clears Way to Extradite Accused Pedophile Malka Leifer to Australia
Judges reject Leifer's appeal and rule she is fit to stand trial on 74 counts of rape and sexual assault of her students in Australia
Supreme Court rejects Malka Leifer’s appeal, paving way for extradition
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-september-2-2020/
Dassi Erlich, one of Malka Leifer’s alleged sexual abuse victims, reacts to the Supreme Court’s decision that she is fit for extradition.
“[Six] years and 70 court hearings regarding Leifer’s mental fitness! We are exhilarated, finally an end in sight!” she tweets. “During this tumultuous journey there were moments that this did not seem possible!”
'Settlement leaders blocked sovereignty plan, hurt Trump'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/286459
Veteran American-Israeli journalist Caroline Glick excoriated settlement leaders Wednesday, blaming them for the suspension of the plan to apply Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.
Binyamin Regional Council chairman Yisrael Gantz pushed back, however, calling the map presented in the Trump plan for Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria ‘dangerous’.
“Netanyahu told us that the map was only conceptual, and that it would be changed. But from the moment that it became the actual map [for the sovereignty plan] we understood that this was dangerous to the settlement enterprise.”
Gantz added that Israel could still apply sovereignty, even after agreeing to suspend the sovereignty plan.
“Sovereignty is something that could be done today.”
Russia's military seemingly toeing the line with U.S. after armored vehicle 'deliberately rammed' American troops
https://news.yahoo.com/russias-military-seemingly-toeing-line-191134700.html
Russian warplanes are increasingly flying close to Alaskan airspace, forcing the U.S. to run interception efforts more often than it has in recent years. Russian fighter jets kept zooming within 100 feet of a U.S. Air Force bomber over the Black Sea, and a Russian helicopter recently hovered close to U.S. forces. And just last week, a Russian armored vehicle "deliberately rammed" into an American patrol in Syria, injuring seven U.S. troops, The New York Times notes.
But President Trump hasn't given much public attention to the threats — something both Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Trump's own former officials have called him out for. They say it's a continuation of Trump's lack of public confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over reports that Russia placed bounties on U.S. troops' heads in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did tell the Times that "America will respond" to the armored vehicle situation.