News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
President Trump Holds a News Conference
Exclusive: Gov. Newsom’s BYD Mask Deal Profitable for Insider Dealmakers
California Globe has uncovered a trail of well-connected players in the odd $1.4 billion mask deal which seems to lead up to the cabinet level inside the governor’s office.
The prominent lobbyist who represents BYD is Mark Weideman of The Weideman Group. The governor’s campaign received $40,000 from BYD’s automotive division.
Weideman also represents Bloom Energy, a fuel cell manufacturer in San Jose, which recently retooled its facility to rehabilitate ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
Weideman also represents NextGen America, owned by Tom Steyer, Newsom’s economic recovery committee chairman whose failed presidential campaign whose failed presidential campaign petered out in late February.petered out in late February.
Florida demands state vendors identify links with China
The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) has requested 100,000 private companies registered as vendors authorized to bid on state contracts to verify within 30 days whether they are “majority-owned by United States interests.”
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said at Thursday’s Florida Cabinet meeting – the first gathering of the state’s four top elected officials since February – that DFS will demand contractors and vendors “self-identify whether they’re majority American-owned.”
The goal of the query, he said, is to “better identify businesses that are majority Communist Party of China-owned that do business with the state of Florida.”
Mississippi mayor refuses to resign, says he ‘didn’t see anything unreasonable’ with George Floyd’s death
Petal Mayor Hal Marx tweeted Tuesday that he didn’t understand why “anyone in the world” would choose to become a police officer on the same day four Minneapolis Police Department police officers were fired for their involvement in the incident.
Marx followed up his tweet directly referencing Floyd’s death.
“If you can say you can’t breathe, you’re breathing. Most likely that man died of overdose or heart attack. Video doesn’t show his resistance that got him in that position. Police being crucified,” Marx tweeted.
Murky messaging: Facebook allowed ‘Death to America’ advertising but censors US back-to-work rallies
But for foreign governments and interests groups, there may be more wiggle room, analysts contend.
Gainor pointed to the hypocrisy.
“The problem is Facebook allowed those ads but banned pro-life ads in Ireland during the campaign whether to allow abortion or not. Facebook isn’t consistently pro-freedom at all,” he said. “And that’s what’s scary.”
Indeed, some Facebook critics have raised concerns over the Silicon Valley giant’s role around protests as hypocritical, if not utterly confusing.
In late April, Facebook took down event pages pertaining to organized rallies against the stringent stay-at-home orders as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and later said it did so only in states where strict social distancing guidelines were in place.
Officials provide updates on arrest of Derek Chauvin
Minneapolis cop who knelt on handcuffed black man arrested
(David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
Chauvin’s arrest follows three days of protests across Minneapolis that led to looting, violence and a police precinct being torched.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday promised swift justice in Floyd’s death, but also pleaded with protestors who have set fire to Minneapolis to stop, so the city could restore justice and order.
George Floyd, Arresting Officer Worked Together: Club Owner
Both George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, the officer who was fired after Floyd died, worked in security at the El Nuevo Rodeo club in Minnesota’s capital, Maya Santamaria said.
She owned the club for nearly 20 years before selling it a few months ago.
“Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open,” Santamaria told KTSP.
“They were working together at the same time, it’s just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside.”
DOJ Hires Outside Counsel as It Readies Antitrust Case Against Google: Report
Days ago, the state of Arizona filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company used “unfair” practices to track the location data of its users even after they had turned off the tracking function.
A Google spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the suit “mischaracterized” their services and that they have “always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data.”
A congressional committee and subcommittee are also investigating all four big tech companies, and the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing one or more of them.
At an early hearing of the antitrust panel in July, executives of the four companies pushed back against lawmakers’ accusations that they operate as monopolies, laying out ways in which they say they compete fairly, yet vigorously, against rivals in the marketplace.
Michael Moore: Minneapolis Police HQ Must Be Demolished as ‘Contrition to Black America’
Protests over the police-involved death of George Floyd continued well into the morning Friday in a third day of violence in Minneapolis, while similar disturbances broke out in Louisville, Kentucky, and other parts of the country.
The 3rd precinct building had been evacuated by order of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said he was unwilling to endanger lives to protect the building.
By 4:30 a.m. Friday, protesters and looters were still out on the streets in the neighborhood as several nearby commercial buildings burned unchecked.
PV Conversations: James O’Keefe and #WalkAway Founder Brandon Straka
Commentary/Opinion:
Tucker: Media fan racial flames
Commentary/Opinion:
Things are falling apart in Minneapolis and, as they collapse, our leadership class seems thrilled by it.
Politics:
Progressive politicians watch as Minneapolis burns.
Commentary/Opinion:
In 2014, shortly after his release from a Texas prison, George Floyd moved to Minnesota for a fresh start.
In Minneapolis, he worked as a truck driver and as a security guard at the Conga Latin Bistro, where he was known as “Big Floyd.”
A few months ago, he was laid off due to the strict stay-at-home order imposed by the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz.
Floyd looked for work; it’s unclear if he was eligible for coronavirus-related unemployed benefits.
Bad habits crept back in. Earlier this week, Floyd, apparently under the influence of an intoxicant, attempted to buy a package of cigarettes from a small shop in south Minneapolis with a counterfeit $20 bill.
The store’s owner, Mahmod Abumayaleh, called the police.
The protests that followed were, initially, peaceful. Thousands packed the streets on Wednesday with signs and calls for Chauvin’s arrest. By that night, however, things turned ugly.
EXCLUSIVE: How Mueller Laid ‘Obstruction of Justice Trap’ for Trump
Commentary/Opinion:
The Russia collusion investigation led by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller was artificially prolonged in the hope that President Donald Trump would move to terminate it and thus be accused of obstruction of justice, according to former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.
Wisconsin Election Commission approves $4 million for vote by mail, lawmaker not happy
The money is coming from Wisconsin’s share of the federal coronavirus stimulus package.
The WEC unanimously voted this week to send nearly three million voters absentee ballot applications. The WEC will not be mailing actual ballots, however.
Not everyone is happy with the proposal or the price tag.
Rep. Adam Neylon, R-Pewaukee, said there are serious questions about blindly mailing nearly three million ballot applications across the state. And there are even more questions about spending $4 million to do it.
Pennsylvania governor says he will veto resolution to end disaster declaration
The House voted 117-85 on Thursday to send a resolution to the Senate that would end the disaster declaration signed March 6 that Wolf says gives him broad, sweeping powers to shut down businesses and take enforcement action against those who don’t comply.
Eight Democrats broke across party lines to support the measure, recognized as a quick fire way to lift restrictions on economic activity as the pandemic wanes across the state.
Wolf told reporters Friday that he gets pressure from everywhere, himself included, to reopen the state faster than his phased plan allows.
Lara Trump blasts Twitter: They’re ‘clearly’ silencing conservatives
Commentary/Opinion:
Donald Trump Presidential Campaign senior adviser Lara Trump argues Twitter is not a neutral platform and that the 2020 Republican National Convention should take place in North Carolina despite issues with the state’s governor.
Senator Calls for Criminal Probe Into Twitter’s Alleged Breach of Iran Sanctions
Twitter has long granted accounts to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister.
Both men have been sanctioned by the Treasury Department and American citizens and companies are prohibited from providing them with goods or services.
In the letter, Cruz alleged that Twitter has violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and has carried out sanctionable activities prohibited by Executive Order 13876.
World News:
Trump terminates relationship with WHO, unveils trade and security punishments for China
Trump said Chinese officials ignored their reporting obligations to the World Health Organization (WHO) and accused China of pressuring the WHO to suppress reporting accurate coronavirus information.
Trump said the United States would be terminating its relationship with the WHO and redirecting those funds toward other global health organizations.
Trump criticized the Chinese communist government’s recent restrictions on Hong Kong’s self-governance provisions agreed to by the Chinese government in order for the United Kingdom to withdraw from Hong Kong in 1997.
SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the China’s COVID Cold War with the West
Commentary/Opinion:
Western allies have condemned China for using the smokescreen of the COVID-19 pandemic to impose a new security law in Hong Kong which violates its international commitments and threatens the “bastion of freedom”.
The dire warnings came from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada as tensions between the embattled Chinese Communist Party and the west reached rock bottom.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi says American politicians are taking China-US relations “hostage” and “pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War” – and placing world stability “in jeopardy”.
Commentary/Opinion:
Why These Riots Were Inevitable.
This starts with a short clip.
BENGHAZI EXPOSED, Interview with Mark Geist | Ep. 40
In episode 40 of Common Sense, we sit down with Mark Geist, a United States Marine credited with saving 25 people in the attack on Benghazi. In this interview, Mark provides an accurate account of what really happened in Benghazi.