theblaze--2020-06-25--NASCAR releases picture of the noose in Bubba Wallace's garage that sparked an FBI investigation

Bubba Wallace takes a moment by his car after NASCAR drivers pushed him to the front of the grid as @ @ @ @ @ the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday in Talladega , Alabama @ @ @ @ @ in the garage stall of Wallace 's car at Talladega , a week after the @ @ @ @ @ at its facilities .
( Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images )

NASCAR released a picture showing the noose that was hanging in the garage of Bubba Wallace, NASCAR's only black driver, at Talladega Superspeedway. The noose sparked an FBI investigation as Wallace and members of his team believed it was a hate crime.
The FBI investigation determined that the noose had been in that garage since the fall of 2019, and wasn't an act of hate directed toward Wallace.
The incident came during a time of intense racial unrest in the United States, and in NASCAR. NASCAR had recently banned the Confederate flag from being flown at races, at Wallace's urging.
Wallace was an active participant in social justice protesting in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, having worn a Black Lives Matter T-shirt to a race and driven a car featuring a Black Lives Matter paint scheme.
When the noose was discovered in his garage, NASCAR immediately issued a statement condemning the alleged hate crime and supporting Wallace. In a dramatic show of support for Wallace, the other drivers pushed Wallace's car to the front of the field before Monday's race at Talladega.
Wallace was moved to tears by the show of support, which went viral and gained national attention that far exceeded NASCAR's normal reach.
The day after the race, the FBI released its findings that no hate crime had been committed. Still, Wallace went on CNN with Don Lemon and expressed his anger over those who didn't believe him.
Bubba Wallace responds after FBI hate crime investigation youtu.be
On Wednesday, Wallace seemed ready to accept that he was not the victim of a hate crime, and acknowledged the embarrassing nature of the situation.
"It's been an emotional few days," Wallace wrote on Twitter. "First off, I want to say how relieved I am that the investigation revealed that this wasn't what we feared it was. I want to thank my team, NASCAR, and the FBI for acting swiftly and treating this as a real threat. I think we'll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been."


theblaze--2020-06-25--'Board of shame' could come for businesses that ignore COVID-19 mask rule, Democratic mayor says

'Board of shame ' could come for businesses that ignore COVID-19 mask rule , Democratic mayor says ' I do @ @ @ @ @ people to know who 's being a good citizen , and who 's not '

Houston's Democratic mayor said a "board of shame" could come for city businesses that violate Harris County's face mask mandate, KHOU-TV reported.
What are the details?
Mayor Sylvester Turner at his daily news conference Wednesday said he was considering a board that would identify businesses that are "working against the rules," the station said.
The county's mask order went into effect Monday and requires all businesses to enforce the wearing of face masks for staff and customers when indoors, KHOU reported.
More from the station:
Turner specifically spoke about bars and restaurants, where crowds have flocked to in recent weeks at a time when the Greater Houston area's novel coronavirus numbers are beginning increase.
Under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's reopening plan, bars are allowed to open at 50 percent normal capacity, while restaurants can welcome up to 75 percent of their normal capacity.
Over the weekend, however, the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission suspended the license of 17 bars in the state, including two in the Houston area, for being over capacity and not enforcing social distancing.
Turner said members with both the Houston police and fire departments will be enforcing bars and restaurants this weekend and tipping off TABC about those businesses that aren't following the rules.
"I do think it's important for people to know who's being a good citizen, and who's not," Turner said, according to KHOU, adding that no one will be jailed.
"I do want to put people on notice that as we move closer to the weekend, we are going to actively monitor whether or not people are complying with occupancy requirements, wearing their masks, because we want to really crack down on people who are not adhering to the rules," he added, the station said.
Turner said customers are interested in businesses that operate in customers' best interests, KPRC-TV reported.
"The confidence of the customer will determine the viability of the business," he also said, according to KPRC. "We want people to be good partners and good citizens. If you are not, you need to go on the board of shame."
Anything else?
Houston reported 987 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and seven more deaths linked to the virus, KHOU noted, adding that there are now over 16,000 coronavirus cases in the city, including 204 deaths, and that more than 3,500 people have recovered.
"Please take this virus seriously," Turner also said, KHOU reported. "The goal is to, again, flatten this curve and slow the progression to make sure we don't become the epicenter of this virus in this country."


theblaze--2020-06-25--CDC admits coronavirus may have infected whopping 10 times more Americans than previously thought

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that about 25 million Americans may have contracted the coronavirus.
This newly updated figure is 10 times higher than the actual number of confirmed cases, which, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, stands around 2,407,167 at the time of this writing.
What are the details?
CDC Director Robert Redfield told reporters during a news briefing that surveys of blood samples from people around the U.S. indicate that the spread of COVID-19 could be much higher than what is currently assumed.
Redfield explained that many of these people may have been asymptomatic — exhibiting little to no symptoms whatsoever.
"This virus causes so much asymptomatic infection," he explained. "We probably recognized about 10% of the outbreak."
He added that based on the collected samples, anywhere between 5% and 8% have been infected with the deadly virus.
"This outbreak is not over," he warned. "This pandemic is not over. The most powerful tool that we have, powerful weapon, is social distancing. We have responsibility to practice the social mitigation strategies to protect the vulnerable, to protect the elderly."
Case counts have grown exponentially in the last several weeks in areas such as Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and more. According to The Hill, all states on the list are where the "average daily number of confirmed cases has doubled or more in the past two weeks."
What about the second wave?
Redfield warned that the U.S. isn't even in its second wave yet, and insisted that the first wave of the deadly pandemic is simply morphing before our eyes.
"We're not talking about a second wave right now, we're still in the first wave," he admitted. "And that first wave is taking different shapes."


theblaze--2020-06-25--Disney to 'completely reimagine' Splash Mountain ride due to connections to controversial movie

Disney to 'completely reimagine ' Splash Mountain ride due to connections to controversial movie A petition claims ride has ties @ @ @ @ @ steeped in extremely problematic and stereotypical racist tropes . ''

Disney will overhaul the Splash Mountain ride following calls to remove the iconic attraction because of its connections to a controversial movie that many say is racially insensitive.
Disney announced Thursday that major changes are coming to the Splash Mountain theme park ride at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. Disney said the Splash Mountain ride would be "completely reimagined" with a new story inspired by "The Princess and The Frog" movie. Disney shared an artist's rendering of what the possible new log flume attraction could look like.
The new ride will be based on "The Princess and the Frog," the 2009 animated film featuring Princess Tiana, the first Black Disney princess. In a news release, Disney said they have been working on revamping the ride since last year.
"The new concept is inclusive — one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by, and it speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year," the statement read.
A Change.org petition went viral earlier this month, calling for Disney to remove the Splash Mountain ride due to its ties to the "Song of the South" movie. The petition, which has over 20,000 signatures, states that the 1946 live-action animated film is "steeped in extremely problematic and stereotypical racist tropes."
Disney executive chairman Bob Iger said in March that "Song of the South" would not appear on the Disney+ streaming service because it is "not appropriate in today's world." The movie had previously been tagged with a disclaimer warning that read: "Outdated cultural depictions."
Splash Mountain opened in 1989 at Disneyland and 1992 at Walt Disney World.
The retheming of Splash Mountain comes at a time when companies are ditching any remotely problematic aspects. Brands such as Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben's, and Eskimo Pie have promised sweeping changes to stop using marketing that could be deemed as racially charged.


theblaze--2020-06-25--NYPD officer arrested and charged with strangulation for using chokehold in Ricky Bellevue incident

NYPD officer arrested and charged with strangulation for using chokehold in Ricky Bellevue incident The move was already banned

New York City police Officer David Afanador has been arrested and charged with strangulation as a result of an incident involving a suspect named Ricky Bellevue that occurred Sunday.
The incident became the subject of national attention and protests because of the chokehold Afanador could be seen applying to Bellevue during video taken of the incident, and because of the nationwide controversy concerning the maneuver following the deaths of a number of suspects in police custody, including George Floyd and Eric Garner.
After video of the incident was released on social media Sunday, the NYPD promptly suspended Afanador without pay. The department banned the use of chokeholds in 1993. Also, the New York City Council passed an ordinance last week criminalizing the maneuver. The state of New York also made police officers criminally liable if a suspect suffers injury or death due to a chokehold last month.
The NYPD also released body camera video of the incident to the public.
Police officers reportedly came into a confrontation with Bellevue when they responded to a complaint that Bellevue and two of his companions were harassing passersby and throwing objects at them. The officers initially instructed Bellevue and his companion to leave the area, but they refused, insisting on their right to not be moved along unless the officers intended to charge them with a crime.
Eventually, Bellevue and his compatriots turned to leave, but turned back for one more confrontation. Bellevue can be seen reaching into a nearby trash can and asking the officers if they were scared. At that point, he was subdued by multiple officers, including Afanador. Bellevue appears to lose consciousness during the video.
Bellevue was ultimately charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. However, the district attorney's office indicated that it would not pursue these charges against Bellevue.
Bellevue's public defender told NBC News that Bellevue was hospitalized as a result of the incident and called for Afanador to be fired and prosecuted.
This marks the second time Afanador has been criminally prosecuted for his conduct on the job. He was also criminally charged in 2014 for allegedly pistol-whipping a 16-year-old during a marijuana bust, breaking two of his teeth. A judge acquitted him of those charges after a bench trial in 2016, and Afanador was reinstated to the force.


theblaze--2020-06-25--Sen. Tim Scott exposes Dems' political games: They have 'no desire' to pass police reform 'before th

Sen. Tim Scott exposes Dems' political games: They have 'no desire' to pass police reform 'before the election'

Sen. Tim Scott exposes Dems ' political games : They have 'no desire ' to pass police reform 'before the @ @

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) blasted Democrats Thursday for playing political games by blocking debate on Republican police reform legislation in the Senate.
In an interview with Fox News, Scott laid into his colleagues on the other side of the aisle, arguing they have "no desire" to address the issue before the election in November.
"Unfortunately, the Democrats really want to hold on to this issue," Scott said. "They believe they're going to win in November, so they'd rather write their own reform bill without any input from the Republican Party."
"They have no desire to actually solve this issue before the election," he continued.
Scott detailed how he offered several gracious amendments essentially offering to "rewrite the parts of the bill that [the Democrats] want[ed] to," but they still refused.
The Republican senator argued that the Democrats' stonewalling really came down to one thing: They didn't want to give Republicans a legislative victory before November.
"When you go piece by piece, the only thing you can conclude is that it wasn't what we were talking about, it was who was talking," he said. "And not just me, Tim Scott, but who was talking was the Republican Party saying to minority communities, to underserved communities, to liberal controlled communities like Atlanta, and Minneapolis, Cleveland; we were saying to those residents, 'We hear you. We see you. Here are reforms.'"
Despite Republicans holding a majority in the Senate, Democrats were able to vote down debate due to the procedural requirement of 60 "yea" votes to pass.
Democrats criticized the Republican bill — which would require police departments to compile use-of-force reports and ban chokeholds in order to receive full funding from the federal government — for not addressing qualified immunity and categorically banning chokeholds.
Scott said those issues could have been addressed in debate, but Democrats refused to even allow discussion.
Here's more from Scott following the vote Wednesday:


theblaze--2020-06-25--California bans travel to Idaho over prohibition on boys competing in girls' sports and new birth ce

California bans travel to Idaho over prohibition on boys competing in girls' sports and new birth certificate rules

California bans travel to Idaho over prohibition on boys competing in girls ' sports and new birth certificate rules Protesters @ @ @ @ @ in Boise to oppose House Bill 500 , which prohibits biological men from competing in @ @ @ @ @ ( Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images )

If you've ever spent time in Idaho — especially the Treasure Valley — you've likely heard citizens there lament the massive influx of Californians to their conservative state. There's a familiar refrain that SoCal hippies are going to destroy Idahoans' way of life.
So the latest declaration from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra banning publicly funded trips to Idaho probably did not cause great consternation among the people of the Gem State.
What's this ban?
Becerra announced in a news release from his office Monday that the state will ban government-funded trips to Idaho beginning July 1 because of two new laws that "directly authorize discrimination against the transgender community."
He was referring to Idaho's House Bill 500 and House Bill 509.
House Bill 500, which goes into effect July 1, prohibits biological men from competing in women's school sports statewide.
The law, signed in March, says, "Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex." And it offers specific criteria for determining sex: "[A] student may establish sex by presenting a signed physician's statement that shall indicate the student's sex-based solely on: (a) The student's internal and external reproductive anatomy; (b) The student's normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone; and (c) An analysis of the student's genetic makeup."
It also permits testing of students to ensure that they meet the standards of biologically female athletes.
House Bill 509 blocks transgender Idahoans from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates.
The law, also set to take effect July 1, states that "the purpose of documenting factual information on vital records is to help the government fulfill one of its most basic duties: protecting the health and safety of its citizens," and adds that "allowing individuals to alter their vital records, including birth certificates, based upon subjective feelings or experiences undermines the government's interest in having accurate vital records."
Becerra's move this week is based on California AB 1887, which bans "state-funded travel to states with laws that authorize or require discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression." The ban applies to all California state agencies, departments, boards, authorities and commissions. It also applies to the state's public university system, which would impact travel for college sporting events in Idaho.
What was the reaction in Idaho?
The Family Policy Alliance of Idaho blasted California's move.
Blaine Conzatti, the organization's director of advocacy, said in a statement, "Title IX was designed to protect women's opportunities, and one of the key ways it's been used to accomplish that is through giving women their own sports teams. The Fairness in Women's Sports Act protects the spirit of Title IX by ensuring that girls' sports are reserved for girls."
"Girls deserve fair play and equal opportunities in sports today just as much as they did in 1972 when Title IX was implemented. California liberals and the ACLU are sending the message that female athletes who don't want to compete against biological men are 'bigoted' and 'intolerant,'" she continued. "In reality, they just want to compete in sports on a level playing field. This gaslighting of Idaho girls needs to stop. There is nothing discriminatory about laws that protect fair play and equal opportunities for female athletes."
(H/T: The Christian Post)


theblaze--2020-06-25--The Dixie Chicks officially drop 'Dixie' from name — now they're just The Chicks. Why? 'We want to m

The Dixie Chicks officially drop 'Dixie' from name — now they're just The Chicks. Why? 'We want to meet this moment.'

The Dixie Chicks officially drop 'Dixie ' from name — now they 're just The Chicks .
Why ?
'We @ @ @ @ @ .
'

Strident left-wing musical group The Dixie Chicks have officially dropped "Dixie" from their moniker, and the trio of musicians are now simply The Chicks, Rolling Stone reported.
Why?
The magazine noted that Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer, and Martie Maguire changed their website URL and their Instagram handle to the shortened name on Thursday, but their website offered only the following semi-cryptic statement: "We want to meet this moment."
It would seem that The Chicks — like their colleagues in the group formerly known as Lady Antebellum — wanted to do their part in celebrity woke-ness as statues and monuments are torn down by radical leftists across America and dispense with "Dixie" given that it can be connected to the Civil War-era South and slavery.
Not much of a surprise
And given lead singer Maines' controversial leftist tendencies, her band's name change shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those who've been paying attention over the years.
Who can forget her headline-grabbing words about then-President George W. Bush from a U.K. stage in 2003 when the U.S. was going to war against Iraq? "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas," Maines' said.
Her words created a lot of enemies for The Dixie Chicks, who received death threats and got banned and blacklisted by the country music machine. Maines then apologized; then a few years later she said she reversed course: "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the President. But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."
During the group's 2016 comeback tour, Maines & Co flashed a photo of then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with devil horns, mustache, and goatee added to his face as they performed their hit "Good Bye Earl."
Now what?
Coinciding with their name change, The Chicks released a new single "March March," which is set to appear on their upcoming studio album "Gaslighter," Rolling Stone said.
More from the magazine on their new protest song:
Lyrically, Maines addresses everything from Greta Thunberg and youth climate protests to gun violence and underpaid school teachers, over a music video that edits together footage from recent Black Lives Matter protests and police confrontations. Toward the end, as Maguire dives into a fiery fiddle solo, the names of black Americans killed by police flash onscreen, and the video concludes with a message from the Chicks — "Use your voice. Use your vote." — along with links to various social justice organizations and nonprofits.
Content warning: Language:


theblaze--2020-06-25--House Democrat actually claims that Facebook and Twitter favor conservatives

House Democrat actually claims that Facebook and Twitter favor conservatives 'Today , it seems there is less of a bias @ @ @ @ @ bias for conservatives . '

During the course of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on consumer protection and commerce, Chairwoman Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.) actually claimed that Facebook and Twitter favor conservatives, despite mountains of evidence that conservatives are more likely to get banned, flagged, or "fact checked" by the social media giants.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, Schakowsky said with an apparently straight face, "Don't be fooled by made-up claims of bias against conservatives. Today, it seems there is less of a bias against conservatives and rather a bias for conservatives."
A brief perusal of the list of people who have been banned on Twitter and Facebook shows that virtually all of them are conservative or supporters of Donald Trump. Additionally, Facebook's "fact-checking" program has been repeatedly exposed for failing to fact check liberal or mainstream media sites as aggressively as conservative sites.
In spite of the obvious thumb on the scales, conservative-leaning publications continue to be among the most popular pages on Facebook, which obviously troubles Democrats, who have long pressed Facebook to take a more active role in censoring "disinformation," which usually means points of view that Democrats do not agree with.
The Joe Biden campaign has signaled that, if Biden is elected, he intends to pressure Facebook to do more to fight "disinformation," as defined by Joe Biden.
In a recent interview, Biden campaign deputy counsel Patrick Moore said, "Facebook has made public promises, they have made both public and private acknowledgments of their shortcomings, and they have taken what is effectively zero material steps to address misinformation. We view ourselves to be better prepared to address it. We shouldn't need to. No candidate should need to. Facebook promised that they wouldn't do it again. And we are going to look to hold them to it."
The hearings come as members of both parties consider possible amendments to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, albeit for different reasons. Republicans seek to punish social media companies for what they view as partisan censorship of conservative viewpoints, while Democrats want to punish social media companies for allowing "misinformation" (i.e., things they disagree with) to spread on social media.


theblaze--2020-06-25--Chaos erupts in Milwaukee during search for missing girls: Unruly mob hurls bricks at police officer

Chaos erupts in Milwaukee during search for missing girls: Unruly mob hurls bricks at police officers, burns down home, shoots 2 teens

Chaos erupts in Milwaukee during search for missing girls : Unruly mob hurls bricks at police officers , burns down @ @ @ @ @ What is happening to this world ?

A terrifying mob took to the streets of Milwaukee on Tuesday after police conducted a search for two missing teen girls.
Police are seeking several suspects in connection to an arson and a related shooting that took place the same evening.
What are the details?
Officers arrived at a Milwaukee-area home searching for two missing teens. The teens were reportedly last seen at the home, which people in the crowd said was a known sex-trafficking hotspot.
During the search, officers were bombarded by bricks and verbally abused as a mob set fire to the structure. At least three people were shot in a related melee.
According the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the gathering crowd included a "mix of neighbors observing the situation, people expressing frustration with police, and activists who'd marched in Milwaukee's racial justice protests."
The outlet reported that the missing persons investigation "morphed" over a period of hours as "tensions about police treatment ran high" and "rumors spread online."
"By nightfall, three people — including two 14-year-olds — had been shot, a house was set on fire, and police had fired tear gas and pepper spray on some members of a scattered crowd of hundreds gathered outside a Milwaukee house where police earlier conducted an investigation into two missing teenage girls," the Sentinel reported.
Later, a 24-year-old man was shot near the scene as someone fired shots at his vehicle, police said, the paper reported.
WISN-TV reported that people in the crowd began "throwing bricks and pieces of concrete at police." Someone or multiple someones also began firing guns in the crowd, striking three people.
WISN reported that the teenage girls — ages 13 and 15 years — were located on Wednesday. WISN reported that there was no evidence the teens were ever at the house to begin with.
Police: No evidence missing teens were ever at house that was set on fire www.youtube.com
What else?
Pat Bills, who said his grandmother lives in the home that was burned to the ground, said that protesters were dead wrong for their actions.
"She's a loving lady," he said. "She had three strokes. She's fighting for the last little life she got left. I'm surprised this here didn't set her off. After they get the right information, for them to come back and still burn down the house, terrorism stuff, that's wrong. And then, y'all gonna use that to make a move and talk about some empowerment? Y'all are being empowering? You're not empowering at all. Y'all are terrorists."
Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said he was disgusted by the crowd's actions.
"We investigate the information that is given to us," he said. "We can't allow an unruly crowd to determine what that investigation is. What you had today is vigilantism. You had people take the law into their own hands and run off of information that has not been proven."
You can read more about the unfolding events here.
(H/T: The Daily Wire)


theblaze--2020-06-25--Gov't watchdog says Treasury Department sent more than 1 million coronavirus stimulus checks to dead

Gov't watchdog says Treasury Department sent more than 1 million coronavirus stimulus checks to dead people

The federal government's $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package was created and passed to support Americans in a time when the U.S. economy was taking a hit and millions of citizens were worried about how they were going to pay their bills.
It was supposed to be a stimulus only for the living, but apparently someone at the Treasury Department didn't get the memo.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Government Accountability Office found that the federal government sent payments to more than 1 million dead people with a total tab of about $1.4 billion.
What happened?
A GAO report published Thursday said the IRS "sent almost 1.1 million payments totaling nearly $1.4 billion to deceased individuals."
According to the report, the screwup happened because the government agencies do not fully share death records with each other.
The Post noted that the IRS and Treasury rushed to get 160.4 million payments after President Donald Trump signed the stimulus bill. In the rush, the fact that the Social Security Administration's full death records database was available to the IRS but not to the Treasury Department or the department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service — the office in charge of sending the stimulus payments — apparently went unnoticed.
One of the GAO's recommendations now is that perhaps the government agencies should be sharing — and using — data (emphasis in original):
The number of economic impact payments going to decedents highlights the importance of consistently using key safeguards in providing government assistance to individuals. IRS has access to the Social Security Administration's full set of death records, but Treasury and its Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which distribute payments, do not. GAO recommends that Congress provide Treasury with access to the Social Security Administration's full set of death records, and require that Treasury consistently use it, to help reduce similar types of improper payments.
So, what will the IRS do about getting the money back? Not much, it appears.
According to the GAO, the IRS announced May 6 that if a dead person received a stimulus payment, the full amount should be returned. However, the agency does not have any plans to take steps to get the funds back:
On May 6, 2020, IRS announced on its website that if a payment was issued to a decedent or incarcerated individual, the total amount should be returned. However, IRS does not currently plan to take additional steps to notify ineligible recipients on how to return payments.
Did anyone see this coming?
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) said in April that stimulus checks were being sent to dead people and warned that contemporary reports of such payment were "just the tip of the iceberg" of misplaced coronavirus stimulus package spending.


theblaze--2020-06-25--Microsoft promises black hiring quotas to fight racial injustice

In the name of 'diversity and inclusion '

As part of a plan for "addressing racial injustice" in America, tech giant Microsoft plans to implement racial hiring quotas and invest tens of millions into diversity efforts over the next five years.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made the announcement in an email to employees Tuesday, in which the executive promised that the company's leaders are "committed to take action to help address racial injustice and inequity, and unequivocally believe that Black lives matter."
The CEO then said that the company will "double the number of Black and African American people managers, senior individual contributors, and senior leaders in the United States by 2025."
He added that the company will invest an additional $150 million into its "diversity and inclusion" efforts within that time frame.
Nadella highlighted a coming "cultural transformation" at the company through investment and talent development that will start with black employees and eventually "expand to include other employee groups."
Nadella's three-point outline for accomplishing cultural change (shown below) also appeared to include race-based evaluation in promotion decisions (emphasis added):
We will accelerate our cultural transformation through further investment in inclusion. Managers who have a deep understanding and commitment to building inclusive culture are key to our company's success. Starting in FY21, our training on allyship, covering, and privilege in the workplace will be required for all employees, with additional new content on understanding the experience of the Black and African American community. Because leadership sets the tone, we will have required live sessions for CVPs and EVPs to ensure they better understand the lived experience of these specific communities.
We will strengthen our intentional career planning and talent development efforts. This will apply across our workforce, beginning with Black and African American employees. These programs will expand to include other employee groups as we learn and grow. We will expand on our leadership development programs for select Black and African American midlevel employees and their managers, to help prepare for promotion to Director/Principal. For Director/Principal level, we will create a new development opportunity to expose them to the leadership expectations of the Partner/GM level and match them with senior-level sponsors and mentors. For Partner/GMs, we are continuing to invest in the dedicated leadership development programs.
We will further strengthen company accountability for progress on representation. We will deepen our practice of evaluating each CVP/GM's progress on diversity and inclusion when determining their impact and rewards, as well as promotion considerations. We will provide CVPs with dedicated D&I coaches to confront and resolve systemic obstacles within their organizations. We will expand our global, quarterly promotion process to ensure we build diverse leadership teams at all levels. This will include direct engagement with business leaders on review of all candidates for people management, Director/Principal level, and Partner/GM level.
Microsoft has experienced some internal controversy over its diversity and inclusion hiring practices before.
Quartz reported in 2019 that several employees used the company's internal messaging board to criticize its pro-diversity efforts, alleging that white and Asian males were being discriminated against in the hiring process.
"Does Microsoft have any plans to end the current policy that financially incentivizes discriminatory hiring practices? To be clear, I am referring to the fact that senior leadership is awarded more money if they discriminate against Asians and white men," a post by one Microsoft program manager said, according to Quartz.
"I have an ever-increasing file of white male Microsoft employees who have faced outright and overt discrimination because they had the misfortune of being born both white and male. This is unacceptable," the program manager added in another comment.


theblaze--2020-06-25--If 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is canceled as national anthem, activist suggests singing John Lennon'

If 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is canceled as national anthem, activist suggests singing John Lennon's 'Imagine' instead

If 'The Star-Spangled Banner ' is canceled as national anthem , activist suggests singing John Lennon 's 'Imagine ' instead @ @ @ @ @ , all-people , all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have '

Amid the astonishing groundswell of cancel culture doing away with statues, movies, TV shows, syrup — and just about anything else that radical leftists can connect to racism or bigotry or general un-woke-ness, past or present — the national anthem of the United States is beginning to feel the heat as well.
What are the details?
The editor-in-chief of Yahoo Music put together an article asking if it's time to replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" with a different anthem — due primarily to racism accusations against the man who wrote its words, Francis Scott Key.
Indeed, protesters last weekend pulled down Key's statue in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for that reason — along with one of former Union General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant:
Francis Scott Key statue toppled in San Francisco youtu.be
In addition, the Tulsa Athletic — a National Premier Soccer League squad in Oklahoma — on Wednesday said it no longer would play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at home matches and will now play "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie instead, which the team called "a new song of patriotism."
The Yahoo Music piece cites a quote attributed to Key — taken from the book "Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835" by Jefferson Morley — calling Africans in America "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community."
Black activist and journalist Kevin Powell was interviewed for the article and spoke at length about Key, saying "he was a very well-to-do lawyer in Washington, D.C., and eventually became very close to President Andrew Jackson, who was the Donald Trump of his time, which means that there was a lot of hate and violence and division. At that time, there were attacks on Native Americans and Black folks — both free Black folks and folks who were slaves — and Francis Scott Key was very much a part of that. He was also the brother-in-law of someone who became a Supreme Court justice, Roger Taney, who also had a very hardcore policy around slavery. And so, all of that is problematic. And the fact that Key, when he was a lawyer, also prosecuted abolitionists, both white and Black folks who wanted slavery to end, says that this is someone who really did not believe in freedom for all people. And yet, we celebrate him with this national anthem, every time we sing it."
More from Yahoo Music:
In fact "The Star-Spangled Banner," based on a poem Key wrote about his eyewitness account of the War of 1812, originally featured a little-heard third stanza that was blatantly racist: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave/And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave/O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." While that version of the song is rarely performed today, Powell has been aware of it for years, and ... has therefore refused to sing the anthem since he was in high school in the 1980s, when he first learned of its history.
And what about black artists who've performed iconic versions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" over the years?
"The issue is not Black people's patriotism. I mean, there's very few folk that are as patriotic as African Americans," Powell told Yahoo Music. "The way I look at it is, I think what Jimi Hendrix did with 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock, or the way that Marvin Gaye reinterpreted it and made it a soul song, or Whitney Houston singing it at the Super Bowl in 1991, it became something that belonged to all people, not just folks that thought we should just blindly sing this song. And that's what we do: take these opportunities to perform it because it's a way to showcase one of the greatest gifts to the world, which is music."
What song could replace it?
And if "The Star-Spangled Banner" is ever canceled like so many other iconic parts of American history have been in the last few weeks, Powell told the outlet that John Lennon's "Imagine" would be an ideal national anthem. In fact, Powell noted to Yahoo Music that the tune penned by the famed member of the Beatles is "the most beautiful, unifying, all-people, all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have."
Of course, "Imagine" is openly atheist and humanistic, as its opening lines say, "Imagine there's no heaven / It's easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the people living for today" and then later "Imagine ... no religion too."
Imagine - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band (w the Flux Fiddlers) (official music video HD long v) youtu.be
Or maybe not?
Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, put together an entertaining video response to celebrities who took turns singing lines from "Imagine" at the start of widespread coronavirus shutdowns and social distancing back in March. Shapiro referred to "Imagine" as the "worst song ever written" and "evil" with a "horrible, immoral communist message."


theblaze--2020-06-25--Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pauses reopening as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations spike

'The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses '

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has paused Texas' efforts to reopen the economy after the state has seen a sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the past few weeks, The Hill reported.
Abbott also halted elective surgeries to preserve hospital capacity and urged Texans to wear masks in public — although he has not issued an official order requiring people to do so.
"There is a massive outbreak of COVID-19 across the state of Texas," Abbott said Thursday.
While businesses that are already open and operating will not have to shut down, Abbott is pausing all further reopening temporarily in an effort to get the COVID-19 outbreak back under control.
"As we experience an increase in both positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, we are focused on strategies that slow the spread of this virus while also allowing Texans to continue earning a paycheck to support their families," Abbott said in a statement. "The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses. This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business."
Texas' COVID-19 test positivity rate hit an average of 10.42% over the past seven days, and Abbott has said anything over 10% would be a "warning flag." There have been more than 5,000 new cases each of the past two days.
Some hospitals in Houston have seen a surge in COVID-19 patients, leading to a concern about capacity.
Still, although cases are increasing in Texas as testing becomes more widely available to people who are not seriously ill (if they have symptoms at all), the number of daily deaths in Texas has remained mostly flat, with a seven-day moving average of between 20 and 30 per day since mid-May. That seven-day average of daily deaths peaked on May 5 at 38.


theblaze--2020-06-25--WATCH: Glenn Beck exposes the HIDDEN money trail of Black Lives Matter

Where does the money come from — and where is it going ?

On his Wednesday night special this week, Glenn Beck revealed what no one else is willing to talk about for fear of being labeled a "racist" or "conspiracy theorist." Glenn dug deep into Black Lives Matter's finance books to expose where the organization gets its considerable funding, and where the money is actually being funneled. It's a dark money trail that leads to a cast of familiar progressive characters.
Ex-Marxist professor and author of "Beyond Woke," Michael Rectenwald, joined the show to uncover the violent origins of some of the leadership financially connected to Black Lives Matter.
Watch a preview of the full episode below:
Due to increased censorship on most Big Tech platforms, the full episode is available only on BlazeTV. Not a subscriber? Use promo code FIGHTTHEMOB to get $20 off your BlazeTV subscription or start your 30-day free trial today.
Want more from Glenn Beck?
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theblaze--2020-06-25--Horowitz: Bombshell Penn State study shows 80 times more infections existing in March than the offic

Horowitz: Bombshell Penn State study shows 80 times more infections existing in March than the official count

Horowitz : Bombshell Penn State study shows 80 times more infections existing in March than the official count How many @ @ @ @ @ panic set in during mid-March ?

During a Senate Homeland Security Committee remote hearing on May 6, one of the witnesses, Dr. David Katz, commenting about the lockdown in late March, said, "We may have closed the barn door after all of the horses were out." A new study of hard data demonstrates that those horses left long before the shutdown and shows just how illogical the lockdown was when it was implemented. It also shows that this virus is much more widespread and less deadly than we thought, yet the "experts" refuse to rethink their approach in light of new information.
We didn't start testing for COVID-19 until March, and testing didn't ramp up in earnest until a month or two later in most parts of the country. How many cases already existed when the panic set in during mid-March? According to a peer-reviewed study by Penn State, "the number of early COVID-19 cases in the U.S. may have been more than 80 times greater and doubled nearly twice as fast as originally believed."
The study, which was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, analyzed influenza-like illnesses (ILI) surveillance data over a three-week period in March 2020. Researchers calculated the likely excess cases that clearly were not the typical flu and estimate that "excess ILI corresponds to more than 8.7 million new cases during the last three weeks of March, compared to the roughly 100,000 cases that were officially reported during the same time period."
This finding is significant for several reasons:
1) Lockdowns missed the boat: By the time we locked down, this virus was already spreading far and wide. The CDC's own research on mitigating the spread of flu indicates that "the effectiveness of pandemic mitigation strategies will erode rapidly as the cumulative illness rate prior to implementation climbs above 1 percent of the population in an affected area." According to the Penn State study, the virus had already hit 4% of the nationwide population and 9% of New York residents. That explains why 66% of those who were hospitalized in New York were people who were already staying at home. Lockdowns were never going to work. According to the study, the overwhelming majority of states were already at more than 1% prevalence.
We know from numerous reports that the virus was already here as early as December. Last week, a study from Italy's National Institute of Health found that the virus was in the wastewater in Milan and Turin as early as December 18. Researchers discovered the virus in 40 samples of wastewater during standard checks of sewage treatment plants in northern Italy. Obviously, the U.S. has more travel to and from China than even Italy, so there's no reason to believe it wasn't here in December as well.
2) Testing metrics are meaningless given the enormous number of those infected with few or no symptoms: Given that there were 87 times more cases than what had been unidentified through testing in March, imagine how many tens of millions have gotten the virus since then? What this study shows is that the virus spreads like the flu, unlike SARS-CoV-1 in 2003, which was rare and deadly. This is the context the media fails to provide when trumpeting more cases in the southern states. Now that we have universal testing in hospitals and anyone can obtain a test anywhere else, we are discovering more of what already was spreading for a while. It's not surprising, now that hospitals are back up to capacity with typical patients, that a large percentage of them are testing positive for the virus, even though they don't have serious cases.
For example, Rhode Island health director Nicole Alexander-Scott said already in May, "We are now identifying more people who are in the hospital with COVID-19 as opposed to just people who are in the hospital because of COVID-19 or for COVID-19-related illnesses. Someone could have a sprained ankle and if they are screened for COVID-19 and their test returns positive … they may be in the hospital with COVID-19. We want to make sure we are capturing that data as well." (Emphasis hers.)
This was not true in March or April. My wife gave birth in a Maryland hospital in early April, at the peak of the virus, and was not tested.
This new study demonstrates that had we implemented universal testing at that period, along with the regular flow of patients, we would have reported exponentially more hospitalizations.
3) It's all about borders and quantity of initial introduction of a virus into a country: How much of the virus was actually introduced into a given region – country or state – likely played a large role in how bad the epidemic was. A new analysis of 500 regions in Europe shows that the areas that had a large spread at the beginning were the ones that fared much worse than those with little prevalence in March. The bottom line is that once a virus is brought in large numbers to a region, the effect of human mitigation is limited until it runs its course.
We see a similar dynamic from this Penn State study. States like Arkansas and Arizona had almost no prevalence in March, according to their research, while New York already had over 9%. California, Texas, and Florida also had much lower prevalence of the virus, even though they are the biggest states. This explains the ultimate death tolls diverging so widely between those states and New York and why those states are experiencing a longer, more drawn-out, yet milder curve, rather than an acute spike and then a precipitous drop as New York and New Jersey had.
Arizona has only become a hot spot after it reintroduced the virus from Mexico with a surge of medical tourism across the border.
While the virus peaked in the U.S. from late March to early April, fatalities in Mexico didn't begin to spike until May, which is when people with proper documentation to enter the U.S. began stampeding toward U.S. hospitals at the border.
Thus, the lesson is that the one thing you can do is prevent the introduction of a virus before it takes off. There's not much to do after it has already started. Yet our government refused to shut off international travel when it matters, but shuts down the lives of citizens when it will no longer help.


theblaze--2020-06-25--BET founder Robert Johnson says black people are laughing at white people tearing down statues to fi

BET founder Robert Johnson says black people are laughing at white people tearing down statues to fight racism

As activists across the country fight for the removal of statues with alleged connections to the Confederacy, slavery, or racism in general, BET founder Robert Johnson said the actions are meaningless and that black people are laughing at the white people participating, Fox News reported.
"The people who are basically tearing down statues, trying to make a statement, are basically borderline anarchists, the way I look at it," Johnson said. "They really have no agenda beyond the idea of 'we're going to topple a statue. It's nothing to close the wealth gap. It's not going to give a kid whose parents can't afford college money to go to college. It's not going to close the labor gap between what white workers are paid and what black workers are paid. And it's not going to take people off welfare or food stamps.
"It's people having fun that they can go out and pull down a statue, and have the mistaken assumption that black people are sitting around cheering for them saying, 'Oh my God, look at these white people. They're doing something so important to us. They're taking down a statue of a Civil War general who fought for the South,'" Johnson continued. "You know, black people, in my opinion, black people laugh at white people who do this the same way we laugh at white people who say we've got to take off the TV shows like 'The Dukes of Hazzard.'"
Johnson is in favor of reparations for descendants of slavery, and has even proposed a $14 trillion plan, but he believes there is no value in tearing down statues as a way to combat racial inequality.
"It absolutely means nothing," Johnson said of the statue removal.
Johnson also criticized the idea of white people, particularly celebrities, apologizing simply because they're white.
"You know, that to me is the silliest expression of white privilege that exists in this country," Johnson said. "The notion that a celebrity could get on a Twitter feed and say, 'Oh, my God, I am so sorry that I am white.' I don't find any black people getting on Twitter and saying, 'Oh, I'm so sorry I'm black.' And we got the worst problems. ... My thing is: embrace being white and do the right thing."


theblaze--2020-06-25--President Trump scores big win with Supreme Court ruling on deportation powers

The Supreme Court bolstered the Trump administration 's powers Thursday to quickly remove illegal immigrant asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected .
In a 7-2 decision in the Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam , the court ruled that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act does not violate the Suspension Clause of the U.S. Constitution .
What it means : In effect , the ruling means that the Trump administration has the power to deport people seeking asylum without `` credible fear of persecution '' if forced to return home and is n't required to let them make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The case involved a Sri Lankan man , Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam , who was arrested on America 's southern border in 2017 .
Thuraissigiam was stopped just 25 yards after crossing the border without an entry document and an asylum officer rejected his `` credible-fear '' claim .
According to court records , the supervising officer and an immigration judge affirmed the immigration officer 's decision and Thuraissigiam was `` detained for expedited removal . ''
Following the decision , Thuraissigiam petitioned a federal court for habeas corpus , the ability to have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grant them release should no lawful grounds be found for detaining them .
Writing for the majority opinion , Justice Samuel Alito said : `` Habeas has traditionally been a means to secure release from unlawful detention , but respondent invokes the writ to achieve an entirely different end , namely , to obtain additional administrative review of his asylum claim and ultimately to obtain authorization to stay in this country . ''
`` [ Thuraissigiam ] attempted to enter the country illegally and was apprehended just 25 yards from the border .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights other than those afforded by statute , '' Alito added , citing the 1892 decision in Nishimura Ekiu v. United States which ruled that foreigners without established connection in the U.S. can not claim greater rights under the Due Process Clause .
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the four conservatives on the court in the majority opinion .
Justices Sonia Sotomayor filed the dissenting opinion and was joined by Justice Elena Kagan .
Sotomayor argued that the ruling `` deprives [ asylum-seekers ] of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an expedited removal order , an order which , the Court has just held , is not subject to any meaningful judicial oversight as to its substance . ''
The ruling is a big win for Trump , following two disappointing Supreme Court decisions for the Trump administration in high profile cases about gay and transgender rights and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program .
The president has been seeking to expand the federal government 's powers to quickly deport detained asylum-seekers , according to Fox News .

The Supreme Court bolstered the Trump administration's powers Thursday to quickly remove illegal immigrant asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected.
In a 7-2 decision in the Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam, the court ruled that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act does not violate the Suspension Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
What it means: In effect, the ruling means that the Trump administration has the power to deport people seeking asylum without "credible fear of persecution" if forced to return home and isn't required to let them make a case to a federal judge.
The case involved a Sri Lankan man, Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, who was arrested on America's southern border in 2017. Thuraissigiam was stopped just 25 yards after crossing the border without an entry document and an asylum officer rejected his "credible-fear" claim.
According to court records, the supervising officer and an immigration judge affirmed the immigration officer's decision and Thuraissigiam was "detained for expedited removal."
Following the decision, Thuraissigiam petitioned a federal court for habeas corpus, the ability to have a judge review someone's detention and potentially grant them release should no lawful grounds be found for detaining them.
Writing for the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said: "Habeas has traditionally been a means to secure release from unlawful detention, but respondent invokes the writ to achieve an entirely different end, namely, to obtain additional administrative review of his asylum claim and ultimately to obtain authorization to stay in this country."
"[Thuraissigiam] attempted to enter the country illegally and was apprehended just 25 yards from the border. He therefore has no entitlement to procedural rights other than those afforded by statute," Alito added, citing the 1892 decision in Nishimura Ekiu v. United States, which ruled that foreigners without established connection in the U.S. cannot claim greater rights under the Due Process Clause.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the four conservatives on the court in the majority opinion. Justices Sonia Sotomayor filed the dissenting opinion and was joined by Justice Elena Kagan.
Sotomayor argued that the ruling "deprives [asylum-seekers] of any means to ensure the integrity of an expedited removal order, an order which, the Court has just held, is not subject to any meaningful judicial oversight as to its substance."
The ruling is a big win for Trump, following two disappointing Supreme Court decisions for the Trump administration in high profile cases about gay and transgender rights and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The president has been seeking to expand the federal government's powers to quickly deport detained asylum-seekers, according to Fox News.


theblaze--2020-06-25--BLM leader: If we don't get what we want, 'we will burn down this system'; claims 'Jesus is a black

BLM leader: If we don't get what we want, 'we will burn down this system'; claims 'Jesus is a black radical revolutionary'

BLM leader : If we do n't get what we want , 'we will burn down this system ' ; @ @ @ @ @ radical revolutionary' 'What exactly are you gon na burn down , tough guy ? '

A Black Lives Matter leader warned that his activist organization "will burn down this system" if the country "doesn't give us what we want." Hawk Newsome, chairman of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, also proclaimed that "Jesus Christ is the most famous black radical revolutionary in history."
Newsome appeared on Fox News' "The Story" on Wednesday night, where he delivered his startling declarations. Host Martha MacCallum asked Newsome about his previous interviews, where he threatened to "burn it down."
"I said, if this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it," Newsome told MacCallum. "All right? And I could be speaking ... figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It's a matter of interpretation.
"Let's observe the history of the 1960s, when black people were rioting, we had the highest growth in wealth, in property ownership," Newsome claimed.
"Think about the last few weeks since we started protesting," he continued. "There have been eight cops fired across the country.
"But the moment people start destroying property, now cops can be fired automatically," Newsome said. "What is this country rewarding? What behavior is it listening to? Obviously not marching, but when people get aggressive and they escalate their protests, cops get fired. Now, you have police officers and Republican politicians talking about police reform.
"I don't condone nor do I condemn rioting," Newsome added. "But I'm just telling you what I observed."
Also during the interview, Newsome said the George Floyd protests are about "saving lives" and he discussed the Second Amendment.
"Nobody's talking about ambushing police officers. We're talking about protecting lives," Newsome said. "There's nothing more American than that.
"When we talk about uplifting and upholding the Second Amendment, I think you should be applauding me," the BLM leader said. "Seeing as though you are huge supporters of the Second Amendment, it seems to be the hypocrisy of America that when black people start talking about arming themselves and defending themselves, the talk is violent. But when white people grab assault rifles and go to our nation and state capitals, it's all good."
"You ... have said that violence is sometimes necessary in these situations," MacCallum told Newsome. "What exactly is it that you hope to achieve through violence?"
"Wow, it's interesting that you would pose that question like that," Newsome replied. "Because this country is built upon violence."
"What was the American Revolution? What's our diplomacy across the globe? We go in and we blow up countries and we replace their leaders with leaders who we like," Newsome stated. "So for any American to accuse us of being violent is extremely hypocritical."
MacCallum asked Newsome for his opinion on the quote by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.: "Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, 'White Power!' when nobody will shout, 'Black Power!' but everybody will talk about God's power and human power."
"Do you agree with that?" she asked Newsome.
"I love the Lord," he retorted. "And my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the most famous black radical revolutionary in history. And he was treated just like Dr. King. He was arrested on occasion, and he was also crucified or assassinated. This is what happens to black activists; we are killed by the government."
Newsome attempted to defend his point that Jesus was black by referencing the Bible.
"If you read Bible, it will say 'Jesus had feet like burnt brass and hair like wool,'" Newsome said. "I don't know if you noticed, but our hair seems to be more like wool, and we seem to be likened to that color."
Newsome is referring to Revelation 1:14-15, that says: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters."
The Black Lives Matter leader reiterated that Jesus Christ was not a white man, and MacCallum commented that he was Middle Eastern.
Newsome ended the interview by saying, "I just want black liberation and black sovereignty by any means necessary."
Conservative radio host and author Mark Levin responded to Newsome's threats to "burn down this system."
"You're gonna burn what down, pal?" Levin rhetorically asked Newsome. "I'm sick and tired of these damn threats from people I don't even know who don't think my life matters. You're gonna burn what down? What exactly are you gonna burn down, tough guy?"
"It's time to get behind the cops. It's time for these pathetic Democrat mayors and governors to call in the National Guard," Levin told Fox News host Sean Hannity. "It's time to take our streets back, and I'm talking for tens of millions of people, a rainbow coalition of Americans — black, brown, white, yellow, red, whatever."
"This is a civil society. It's a great country," Levin stressed. "You don't like it? Pick up your ass and leave. We have people trying to get into this country by the millions, from every continent on the face of the earth. Every color, every background. Why? Because we're systemically racist? We're not systemically racist and the police force isn't systemically racist.
"Now, these are Bernie Sanders radicals," Levin continued. "These are Marxists. They go out and get hats, and they get shirts, and they burn things down and break things in Democrat cities because these pathetic left-wing Democrat mayors won't stand up to them."
Mark Levin On BLM Leader Saying They'll Burn Down System & Crazy Nancy Pelosi GOP Murder Lie youtu.be
This week, resurfaced video revealed the founder of Black Lives Matter admitting the organization's leaders are "trained Marxists." Patrisse Cullors also explained that BLM's goal is to "get Trump out." On BlazeTV, Levin delivered his standpoint on the BLM admission.
"When these politicians are embracing Black Lives Matter ... the organization, they are embracing a Marxist, anarchist organization that is extremely well funded, and extremely well organized all over the country," Levin said. "It's almost like the Weather Underground except, smartly, they're using race as the issue through which to push their Marxism."
"What I've been saying, probably for years now, is true," Levin said. "They're not hiding."


theblaze--2020-06-25--Dr. Oz warns Americans have gotten 'sloppy' dealing with COVID-19: 'The virus is not done with us ye

Dr. Oz warns Americans have gotten 'sloppy' dealing with COVID-19: 'The virus is not done with us yet'

Dr. Oz warns Americans have gotten 'sloppy ' dealing with COVID-19 : 'The virus is not done with us yet @

Dr. Mehmet Oz says that Americans aren't through dealing with COVID-19 — and have become complacent in their battle in remaining healthy amid the pandemic.
What are the details?
Oz, who appeared Thursday on "Fox & Friends," said that Americans have "gotten sloppy" and have relaxed their precautions too much following the lifting of many lockdown restrictions across the country.
"We got a bunch of folks who are rebellious, frustrated, they've been locked up for a long time, especially young people, and we've gotten sloppy as you see," he explained.
Oz said he realizes people want to get back to a "new normal," but proper precautions need to remain in place, and people need to seriously heed health officials' warnings.
"The virus is not done with us yet, so we got to keep battling it," he said.
He pointed out that the average age of infection in June is "about 35," which, he says, is "half the age of what it was early in the pandemic."
What does this mean? Well, Oz says it proves that vulnerable populations — people who are overweight, hypertensive, diabetic, or older — are remaining indoors and away from the reopening process taking place in cities across the U.S.
“But the younger people, because they're frustrated, they're hanging out with each other, they're going out to meet new people and we cannot afford to let our guard down right now, because reversing the trend gets a lot tougher once the virus is widely present," he insisted.
What else?
Pointing to new growth in densely populated states like Arizona, Florida, and Texas, Oz said that the time to intervene has come once more — "before exponential growth gets out of control."
“Obviously, if you can stay outside that would be great, in particular, avoid the super spreader events, big crowds," Oz warned.
"[N]o one is immune," he insisted.


theblaze--2020-06-25--'I'm sick of this s**t!: Fed-up man turns over tables, tosses barricades at CHOP — and appears to pu

'I'm sick of this s**t!: Fed-up man turns over tables, tosses barricades at CHOP — and appears to pull gun when someone with knife objects

' I 'm sick of this s**t !
: Fed-up man turns over tables , tosses barricades at CHOP — @ @ @ @ @ when someone with knife objects 'Move the f*** outta my way ! '

One man apparently fed up with downtown Seattle's autonomous zone, now known as CHOP, recently was caught on video dismantling barricades and signs blocking one of the occupied streets.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
But someone else didn't like that very much — and appeared to pull a knife on the fed-up man. Problem is, the disgruntled individual forgot that it's never wise to bring a knife to a gun fight.
Yup, the man tearing down part of CHOP appeared to be armed with something a lot more potent than a blade:
Image source: YouTube screenshot
The gun-toting man ordered his adversary to put the knife down — and fortunately another person who came along apparently to help de-escalate the situation soon had the knife in hand.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
With that, the fed-up man resumed his mission.
He grabbed one barricade while a different observer actually tried to stand in front of him — but to no avail: "Move the f*** outta my way!"
Image source: YouTube screenshot
As the man walked past and prepared to toss the barricade, the observer asked, "So, black man versus black man? This is what they want!"
The man replies, "Who gives a f***?"
Image source: YouTube screenshot
As he tossed more barricades, the fed-up man declared, "I'm sick of this s**t! F*** all you guys! Go home!"
In one jaw-dropping moment, the distressed observer actually complained that "you're destroying their property!"
Oh, but that was just a warm up: Seconds later the fed-up man began turning over tables, scattering odds and ends all over the street, before walking away in disgust.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
'Get your own f***in' movement'
In a different cut of the same video, the fed-up man was seen speaking to a handful of people from a sidewalk, saying CHOP is "not a black movement" and chiding his listeners for following white people.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
"Get your own f***in' movement," the man added. "What you guys are doing ... nobody's gonna hear."
Content warning: Language:
Black guy guy gets knife pulled and draws gun while telling protestor to get off his street youtu.be
How are folks reacting to the video?
It isn't clear who the table-turning, barricade-tossing man is, but Twitter users who watched him tear down part of CHOP seem to like him a lot:


theblaze--2020-06-25--Lefty Minneapolis neighborhood decided to virtue signal and refuse calling the police. Now they're o

Lefty Minneapolis neighborhood decided to virtue signal and refuse calling the police. Now they're overrun with crime and homeless.

Lefty Minneapolis neighborhood decided to virtue signal and refuse calling the police .
Now they 're overrun with crime and @ @

Residents of a Minneapolis neighborhood described by the New York Times as "a haven to leftist activists and bohemian artists" vowed not to call the police to protest racial injustice — and now their tree-lined neighborhood is a haven for crime and hundreds of homeless people.
What are the details?
It was in Powderhorn Park where the Minneapolis City Council officially launched its "defund the police" initiative following the death of George Floyd on May 25. The council dreamed of a "transformative new model" of public safety where community social workers — not armed police officers — enforced the law. Neighborhood residents happily obliged.
But since then, according to the Times, the park has reportedly been taken over by hundreds of new homeless residents displaced amid the unrest in the city, and residents are finding it difficult to stand by their pledge.
One resident, Shari Albers, a former block club leader who organized "her mostly white neighbors to bring in playgrounds and help tackle longstanding issues with crime," is now kept awake at night by the "Powderhorn Park Sanctuary."
"I am afraid," she said. "I know my neighbors are around, but I'm not feeling grounded in my city at all. Anything could happen."
The Times reported that the homeless community "has drawn heavy car traffic into the neighborhood, some from drug dealers."
Linnea Borden said she has stopped walking her dog through the area because she is sick of being catcalled, while Carrie Nightshade has stopped letting her kids play in the park because it's dangerous.
"I'm not being judgmental," she insisted. "It's not personal. It's just not safe."
Joseph Menkevich found a black man wearing a hospital bracelet passed out in an elevator in his apartment building. He phoned a community activist but she didn't answer, so he called 911 and requested an ambulance. Instead, a white police officer reportedly came and offered to take the man to the hospital. When the man refused, he made him exit the building.
Menkevich lamented his decision to dial 911.
"It didn't resolve in a way that I had hoped," he said. "All they did was offer to bring him back to the hospital. He refused, so they kicked him out on a rainy night."
One resident broke his pledge, and 'regrets' it
Last week, Mitchell Erickson was cornered outside his home by two black teenagers, and one stuck a gun in his chest.
They demanded his car keys, but when he mistakenly gave them his house keys, the boys got frustrated and ran off before reportedly stealing someone else's car.
After the altercation, Erickson decided to call the police, a decision he now says he "regrets."
"Been thinking more about it," Erickson wrote in a text to a New York Times reporter. "I regret calling the police. It was my instinct but I wish it hadn't been. I put those boys in danger of death by calling the cops."
The reporter allegedly responded asking about the fact that the boys put his life in danger.
Erickson replied: "Yeah I know and yeah it was scary but the cops didn't really have much to add after I called them. I haven't been forced to think like this before. So I would have lost my car. So what? At least no one would have been killed."


theblaze--2020-06-25--'Justice for Elijah' petition receives more than 2 million signatures as disturbing details emerge i

'Justice for Elijah' petition receives more than 2 million signatures as disturbing details emerge in young black man's police-involved death

'Justice for Elijah ' petition receives more than 2 million signatures as disturbing details emerge in young black man 's @ @

A petition calling for justice in the Elijah McClain case has received more than 2 million signatures in just a few weeks.
McClain, a 23-year-old black man, died in August 2019 after police officers detained him.
What are the details of McClain's death?
McClain was on foot in Aurora, Colorado, on Aug. 24 when 911 dispatchers received a phone call about a young man acting in a strange manner.
Police responded to the scene and discovered McClain walking while wearing a ski mask. He had visited a convenience store to pick up an iced tea for his brother and was on his way home when authorities stopped him. People who knew McClain said he often wore the mask due to being excessively cold from anemia.
According to the incident review, Officer Nathan Woodyard approached McClain for questioning. McClain reportedly "appeared to ignore" Woodyard's requests and continued walking. McClain's family say he was wearing headphones or earbuds at the time and could not hear the officer.
A portion of the report described the interaction between the 23-year-old and the police officer.
"As Woodyard approached Mr. McClain on foot, again telling him to stop, Mr. McClain said, 'I have a right to go where I am going,'" the report read. "Officer Woodyard responded, 'I have a right to stop you because you're being suspicious."
A second officer — Jason Rosenblatt — arrived on the scene, and Woodyard and Rosenblatt each grabbed one of McClain's arms during the incident.
CBS News reported that "Woodyard later told a detective that he thought McClain might have weapons on him, but that he would not allow himself to be searched."
No weapons were ever discovered, according to reports.
A report from the district attorney's office, audio from bodycam footage of the incident finds McClain pleading with the officers to be released.
The report said, "An officer can be heard on a body-worn camera saying, 'Stop tensing up, dude, stop tensing up.' McClain then said, 'Let me go, no, let me go, I am an introvert, please respect my boundaries that I am speaking.'"
After grabbing McClain by the arms, the two officers reportedly moved him onto a nearby patch of grass where a third officer — later identified as Officer Randy Roedema — says McClain attempted to reach for one of the officer's service weapons.
Woodyard then reportedly placed McClain in a chokehold to restrain him. McClain lost consciousness, and when EMTs arrived on the scene, a medic injected McClain with 500 milligrams of ketamine as a sedative.
Medics placed McClain into "soft restraints" and loaded him into an ambulance for transport. The medic who administered the ketamine injection, however, noticed that McClain was no longer breathing. At this point, McClain did not have a pulse.
First responders transported McClain to a nearby hospital, where he remained unconscious for three days. On the third day, doctors declared him brain dead.
Reports say that the county coroner declared McClain's cause of death to be "undetermined."
Authorities cleared involved officers of any wrongdoing.
What happened then?
McClain's mother, Sheneen McClain, released a statement two months after her son's untimely death, insisting that her son was killed because of hatred.
"Treating humans like gutter because you yourself have unsolved issues in your being shows in guilt or hate," she wrote on a GoFundMe page. "We have done this to ourselves by not standing up for each other on all levels of understanding and community values."
The GoFundMe page has received more than $1.3 million at the time of this reporting, and donations continues to pour in.
The McClain family has called for an independent investigation into their loved one's death, as well as "prosecution for the murder" of the 23-year-old.
KCNC-TV reported that the city launched an external investigation into McClain's death on June 9, but shut it down after discovering that the attorney leading the investigation was a former police officer himself — and who specialized in defending police from claims of liability.
CBS News reported that Aurora Senior Public Information Officer Michael Bryant promised that the city is compiling a panel of experts from across the United States to perform the review.
Attorney Mari Newman — the McClain family lawyer — said that the rising visibility of the case is the only thing that prompted Aurora to hire an "independent investigator."
"[M]edia quickly revealed [he] was actually a former police officer turned lawyer, whose legal practice is dedicated to defending police who use excessive force," Newman said. "Clearly, Aurora has no intention of taking responsibility for murdering an innocent young man. Its entire effort is to defend its brutality at all costs, and to lie to the public it is supposed to serve."
Aurora still working to form new independent review of Elijah McClain's death www.youtube.com
What is the status on the petition?
The petition calls for the police officers involved in McClain's death to be removed from duty while an in-depth investigation into the circumstances of McClain's death takes place.
Piper Rundell said that she was moved to create the petition after learning about McClain's death.
"Hearing that there were cases of police brutality that were happening so close to where I lived kind of inspired me to start the petition," she said. "I was just hoping I could do something. When the petition got 100 signatures, I was so thrilled. ... I'm sure you can imagine my excitement when there were 100,000 signatures, and now it's gained over 2 million."
Rundell said that she has read a variety of stories of McClain's life, with many people who knew him celebrating him for the kind soul that he was.
"People are talking about what an amazing person that he was and even how he used to play music for cats at shelters so they weren't lonely," Rundell said. "I think that this has inspired a lot of people to sign and share the story of his life.
"Elijah would still be alive today if it weren't for police brutality so a conviction for the officers involved is what I'm hoping," she added. "In a system that protects these officers I believe they should at least be removed from duty."
McClain's family describes him as a kind, gentle, and intelligent human being who taught himself how to play the violin and the guitar. He was an avid gardener, loved cats, and keeping active.
Anything else?
McClain's last words were devastating, according to reports:
I can't breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That's my house. I was just going home. I'm an introvert. I'm just different. That's all. I'm so sorry. I have no gun. I don't do that stuff. I don't do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don't even kill flies! I don't eat meat! But I don't judge people, I don't judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I will do it. I will do anything. Sacrifice my identity. I'll do it. You are all phenomenal. You are beautiful. And I love you. Try to forgive me. I am a mood Gemini. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Ow, that really hurt. You are all very strong. Teamwork makes the dream work ... [crying] ... Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to do that. I just can't breathe correctly.
Reports say McClain then went on to vomit due to the pressure on his chest and neck.


theblaze--2020-06-26--New protester group says they will defend CHOP encampment 'if the people of Seattle' choose it

New protester group says they will defend CHOP encampment 'if the people of Seattle ' choose it 'We are here @ @ @ @ @

A new protester group, calling itself "Black Collective Voices," announced that it would be holding the "space" at CHOP, or Capitol Hill Organized Protest, if the people of Seattle called for it.
The group made a list of demands at a media briefing Thursday in Seattle.
"If the people of Seattle choose to hold the space at CHOP, Black Collective Voices will stay here," said Naudia Miller, a leader of BCV.
"Even if they force activists out of CHOP, it will not stop us or this movement," she continued, according to the Seattle Times. "We will not be bought off, we will not attend meetings where the goal is to buy us off, we are here to dismantle systemic racism."
Miller went on to say that they demanded the Seattle Police Department be defunded by half, that those funds be relocated to pay for social services, and that all protesters arrested be released.
By Thursday morning, most of the protesters had dispersed from the "autonomous zone" as it was previously known, and the CHOP encampment and movement had deflated.
Mayor Jenny Durkan (D), who had been supportive of the encampment, admitted it was time to shut it down after several shootings and one death.
Some Seattle residents and businesses fed up with the experiment filed a lawsuit against the city for encouraging the encampment.
BCV isn't the only group making demands — a different collective group says it will make its demands for CHOP known in an announcement on Friday.
Here's the report of the demands from BCV:


theblaze--2020-06-26--Amazon wins naming rights to Seattle sports arena, will name it Climate Pledge Arena

Amazon wins naming rights to Seattle sports arena , will name it Climate Pledge Arena Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says @ @ @ @ @ a regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action '

Amazon has purchased the naming rights to Seattle's KeyArena, which is undergoing a major renovation in preparation for becoming home to an expansion NHL franchise and the WNBA's Storm.
But Amazon did not fight to win the bid in order to slap its name on the building. The new arena will be named Climate Pledge Arena.
What are the details?
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Instagram Thursday:
I'm excited to announce that Amazon has bought the naming rights to the historic Seattle arena previously known as KeyArena. Instead of calling it Amazon Arena, we're naming it Climate Pledge Arena as a regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action. It will be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world, generate zero waste from operations and events, and use reclaimed rainwater in the ice system to create the greenest ice in the NHL. #ClimatePledge
The Climate Pledge is an initiative that calls on individuals and companies to adopt carbon-neutral practices and policies as laid out by the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of last year.
The Washington Post (also owned by Bezos), reported that Climate Pledge Arena — set to open next year — will also include:
At least 75% of its food offerings sourced locally on a seasonal basis, with viable unused items donated to community food programs.
Zero single use plastic items, and zero trash bins, as patrons will only have the choice of recycling or compost bins (via nhl.com).
The ability of NHL and WNBA fans to use their game tickets as free public transit passes.
The sole use of renewable energy, from on-site solar panels and off-site sources.
According to The Seattle Times, KeyArena was built in 1962, and the total cost of its rebuild is estimated to be $930 million.


theblaze--2020-06-26--Conservatives urge move to 'free speech' platform Parler in protest over Twitter censorship

Conservatives urge move to 'free speech ' platform Parler in protest over Twitter censorship Republican Sen. Ted Cruz even made @ @ @ @ @ social network

Prominent conservatives have launched a campaign on Twitter urging users to switch to Parler, a competing platform marketed as a "free speech social network."
The movement gained steam this week — with Parler gaining a 50% surge in users — after Twitter permanently suspended the account of a popular conservative meme maker, shut down the account of a wide-reaching conservative pundit, and suppressed a tweet from President Donald Trump for the second time.
What are the details?
Mediaite reported that on Tuesday, Twitter "banned Carpe Dunktum, a well-known meme creator whose content is often shared by President Donald Trump, and locked an account belonging to National Pulse editor Raheem Kassam. Those actions sparked outcry from conservatives who encouraged users to join Parler."
The Washington Examiner compiled a list of tweets from conservative politicians and other influencers who urged their followers to join them on Parler in the aftermath, including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), commentator Dan Bongino (who owns a stake in the network launched in 2018), and pundit Jesse Kelly.
On Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) even released a video on Twitter promoting Parler, saying the "platform gets what free speech is all about."
Notably, none of the conservatives pushing for a move to Parler appear to have shut down their Twitter accounts voluntarily at this point, but the campaign appears to be making an impact.
Over the course of just a few days, Parler went from roughly 1 million users to 1.5 million, according to data from the company provided to Mediaite. But those looking to punish Twitter for its censorship still have quite a hill to climb, considering the social media giant currently has about 330 million users.
Anything else?
Parler also has its critics. Jewish News website Forward said last year that the platform "is full of fury, fear and conspiracy theories." The outlet noted at the time that active users included "every member of the Trump campaign and Utah Senator Mike Lee."
A number of provocative conservative figures banned by Twitter are active on Parler, too, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, activist and journalist Laura Loomer, and British media personality Katie Hopkins.


theblaze--2020-06-27--Remington Arms prepping for bankruptcy, in 'advanced talks' for sale to Navajo Nation: report

Remington Arms prepping for bankruptcy , in 'advanced talks ' for sale to Navajo Nation : report The gunmaker continues @ @ @ @ @ stemming from the Sandy Hook massacre

Gun manufacturer Remington Arms is reportedly preparing for another bankruptcy, and is in "advanced talks" to sell to the Navajo Nation.
What are the details?
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday (citing an unnamed sources) that Remington was readying itself for Chapter 11 protection, "and is in advanced talks for a potential bankruptcy sale to the Navajo Nation," after previously filing just a little over two years ago.
"Despite cutting some $775 million in debt through the 2018 bankruptcy," the Journal reported, "Remington has continued to face high interest costs and operational issues, and expensive litigation surrounding the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting."
Remington has been in ongoing legal battles for years after a murderer used a Remington-made Bushmaster AR-15 rifle to kill 26 people — including 20 children — at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
The families of the victims sued Remington in 2014 claiming the firearms manufacturer should be held at least partially liable for the massacre because it made and marketed the gun used in the murders. Both sides are currently preparing to go back to court next year, the Stamford Advocate reported.
According to Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms, "Remington's rumored sale to (the) Navajo Nation could spell big changes for the company."
Edwards tweeted Friday, "note that in 2018 the Nation tried to purchase the company and said it would end the sale of AR-15's to consumers, as well as fund 'smart gun' research through military and law enforcement sales."


theblaze--2020-06-27--Here's how history will remember CHAZ/CHOP

In typical progressive fashion , the CHAZ/CHOP hostage situation will go down in the history books as `` the summer of love . ''
The country will move on and somehow be caught off guard when the next attack on our western way of life materializes .
Hold up !
The legacy of CHAZ , CHOP , Segregated Commie Gardens , or whatever you want to call it should be remembered as a brief period of needless loss of life , violence , and property damage that occurred across six city blocks in downtown Seattle .
The legacy of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defenders of Black Lives Matter were criminals who held a portion of a major U.S. city hostage , ultimately losing the support of a braindead mayor who could n't foresee the murderous path ahead until it was too late .
Here is Steven Crowder 's take on the legacy of CHAZ .
Use code LWC to save @ 10 on one year of BlazeTV .
Want more from Steven Crowder ?
To enjoy more of Steven 's uncensored late-night comedy that 's actually funny , join Mug Club — the only place for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

In typical progressive fashion, the CHAZ/CHOP hostage situation will go down in the history books as "the summer of love." The country will move on and somehow be caught off guard when the next attack on our western way of life materializes. Hold up! The legacy of CHAZ, CHOP, Segregated Commie Gardens, or whatever you want to call it should be remembered as a brief period of needless loss of life, violence, and property damage that occurred across six city blocks in downtown Seattle. The legacy of this grotesque group of anarchists parading around as defenders of Black Lives Matter were criminals who held a portion of a major U.S. city hostage, ultimately losing the support of a braindead mayor who couldn't foresee the murderous path ahead until it was too late. Here is Steven Crowder's take on the legacy of CHAZ.
.
Use code LWC to save @10 on one year of BlazeTV.
Want more from Steven Crowder?
To enjoy more of Steven's uncensored late-night comedy that's actually funny, join Mug Club — the only place for all of Crowder uncensored and on demand.


theblaze--2020-06-27--Justice Dept. warns about fake 'face mask exempt' cards being printed by people at home

Justice Dept .
warns about fake 'face mask exempt ' cards being printed by people at home

The Department of Justice is warning that some unscrupulous anti-mask individuals are printing out their own "face mask exempt" cards, but they are completely fake.
The cards are designed to be used by persons who don't want to wear face masks to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
"I am exempt from any ordinance requiring face mask usage in public," the card reads.
"Wearing a face mask posses [sic] a mental and/or physical risk to me. Under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), I am not required to disclose my condition to you," it explains.
The card warns of a hefty $75,000 fine if a business or organization doesn't comply with the fake exemption.
The DOJ fraud alert makes it clear that the cards do not carry any force of law.
"The Department of Justice has been made aware of postings or flyers on the internet regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the use of face masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of which include the Department of Justice's seal," their statement says.
"These postings were not issued by the Department and are not endorsed by the Department," they conclude.
The U.S. is currently experiencing a spike in new coronavirus cases. Some states like Texas and Florida have re-instituted social distancing lockdown measures in order to prevent more cases.
Here's a news report about the fake cards:


theblaze--2020-06-27--'Mississippi Girl' singer Faith Hill calls on her home state to change its flag

'Mississippi Girl ' singer Faith Hill calls on her home state to change its flag The country star called the @ @ @ @ @ of terror ' for black people

Country singer Faith Hill made a public plea Friday for her home state of Mississippi to change its flag, as pressure builds on the state to remove the Confederate emblem from its banner.
What are the details?
In a Twitter post, the "Mississippi Girl" singer wrote, "To the Mississippi legislature: It's time to change the state flag."
She expressed her pride and love for the state before arguing, "Now, it is time for the world to meet the Mississippi of today and not the Mississippi of 1894 (when the MS legislature voted on the current flag."
Hill added, "I understand many view the current flag as a symbol of heritage and Southern pride, but we have to realize that this flag is a direct symbol of terror for our black brothers and sisters."
CNN reported that Mississippi is the last remaining state in the U.S. that still features the Confederate emblem on its flag. In 2001, Mississippi voters decided to keep the current flag design in place — but nearly twenty years later, public sentiment might be different.
Hill joins a chorus of voices calling on the state to get rid of the Confederate symbolism, as a movement to do away with such tributes sweeps the nation amid anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
(Bill Colgin/Getty Images)
Last week, the NCAA's Southeastern Conference threatened to prohibit the state from hosting SEC championships until it changes the flag, and ABC News reported that "university coaches and Christian ministers filled the Mississippi Capitol on Thursday, urging legislators to seize the moment and remove the Confederate emblem from the state flag."
The legislature is expected to take up the flag issue in a matter of days.


theblaze--2020-06-26--Video catches the moment a protester's large firework is tossed back into his car and explodes

Video catches the moment a protester 's large firework is tossed back into his car and explodes That did n't @ @ @

Police in Riverside, California, have arrested a suspect for an incident during a protest when a protester tried to light a large firework only to have a passerby grab it and threw it back into his car.
The incident occurred on June 1 during a protest against the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
The video shows a black car drive into an intersection in the middle of the protest, and a driver exiting to light a firework. Another protester runs in, grabs the firework, and throws it into the car.
A female passenger is seen fleeing before the firework explodes, and the car rolls backward slowly. Police said that the protester who tossed the firework back into the car was assaulted by onlookers and the driver.
Police were able to obtain the license plate of the car from surveillance and later arrested 20-year-old Gabriel Castillo.
Castillo was charged with possession of illegal fireworks and for violating probation for evading police.
Police are searching for other suspects in the rioting and looting that followed upon the peaceful protests and damaged several businesses.
Here's the video of the firework return:


theblaze--2020-06-26--Facebook slaps warning label on GOP ad after Zuckerberg promises crackdown

The video released by the Republican National Committee shows footage from riots deemed to be graphic

Facebook placed a warning label on a Republican National Committee video released on its platform Friday, the same day CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social network had launched a "crack down" on certain types of content by suppressing and prohibiting more content than in the past.
What are the details?
The GOP posted a video titled, "It's about destroying America," with a message saying "left-wing anarchists are using CHAOS to destroy America. President Trump stands up for LAW and ORDER. VOTE FOR TRUMP!"
Before users are able to view the clip, Facebook requires they click to see it, warning, "This video may show violent or graphic content. We covered this video so you can decide if you want to see it."
Here is the RNC ad:
This isn't about justice, it's about destroying America. www.youtube.com
All of the footage shown in the ad has been shown in the media, and includes statements from Black Lives Matter leaders, Democratic politicians, and footage from the riots that have been raging in the U.S. for weeks — including a video that shows a New York City police officer being hit by a vehicle during rioting. The video closes with the message, "This isn't about justice, this is about destroying America."
Facebook told a CNN reporter that the video of the officer being struck was the reason for the warning on the video, saying, "As with other videos that feature this graphic hit and run, we've included a warning screen so people are aware the content may be disturbing."
But the timing of the warning label has some conservatives crying foul.
Also on Friday, Zuckerberg announced a slew of "new policies to connect people with authoritative information about voting, crack down on voter suppression, and fight hate speech." He noted, "many of the changes we're announcing today come directly from feedback from the civil rights community and reflect months of work with our civil rights auditors."
Two of the initiatives explained by Zuckerberg were for "creating a higher standard for hateful content in ads," and "labeling newsworthy content."
The "labeling of newsworthy content" is a policy similar to what Twitter has implemented and used to suppress tweets by President Donald Trump via warning labels. Zuckerberg initially criticized Twitter for the practice, but has now adopted his own version for Facebook.
Anything else?
The policy changes rolled about by Facebook come as major companies have vowed to pull advertising dollars from the platform during the month of July, following months of pushing from liberal groups and politicians who have urged the social media network to suppress content from President Trump and conservative outlets.