15 May 21
A Steep Decline in Donations and Funding
We are reacting to a substantial drop-off in the number and size of donations. That equates to a significant slashing of RSN’s budget. Yes we have to address that. No choice.
The readership remains strong. That’s a good thing. If a reasonable number of the people coming to RSN donate we will be fine. So far for this month that hasn’t happened.
In earnest.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
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15 May 21
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WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME, WILL NOT GET IT DONE: Reader Supported News could absolutely, without a doubt be a game changing organization. If in fact news supported by the community it serves really got traction, the implications would be vast. We continue to be saddled with a community that want’s to know what’s in it for them before they will consider tossing in a donation. What’s in it for you? Your country back. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News
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Charles Pierce | Lunatics Are Still Stalking the Hallways of the Capitol
Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes:
he fact that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy doesn’t walk around the Capitol with a whip and a chair is yet another demonstration of his ineptitude as a circus trainer. From the Washington Post:
Two Washington Post reporters witnessed Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) exit the House chamber late Wednesday afternoon ahead of Greene (Ga.), who shouted “Hey Alexandria” twice in an effort to get her attention. When Ocasio-Cortez did not stop walking, Greene picked up her pace and began shouting at her and asking why she supports antifa, a loosely knit group of far-left activists, and Black Lives Matter, falsely labeling them “terrorist” groups. Greene also shouted that Ocasio-Cortez was failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate the freshman from Georgia. “You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”
Lunatics are still stalking the hallways of the Capitol.
Before walking away, Greene said that the encounter was intended to hold Democrats accountable for their policy proposals. “She’s a chicken, she doesn’t want to debate the Green New Deal,” she said to a small group of reporters and onlookers near the entrance to the chamber. “These members are cowards. They need to defend their legislation to the people. That’s pathetic.”
And then she went to the White House and short-sheeted the Lincoln bedroom.
This is a familiar tactic of the Right. You scream, “DEBATE ME,” at the top of your lungs and, when the other person crosses the road so as to avoid an encounter with an obvious danger to the public welfare, you yell, “CHICKEN,” and make clucking noises while local talk radio and Sean Hannity make you a star. (To name one, Ben Shapiro has made a career out of this grift.) Greene herself was engaging in this behavior before she joined the world’s greatest deliberative body. Here she is, when she was still a civilian, stalking Parkland survivor David Hogg on Capitol Hill. Now she’s got a staff, a congressional pin, and very little to do now that she’s got no bothersome committee assignments to worry about. She can be a full-time stalker. Congress hasn’t had one of those since Preston Brooks.
They’re all insane. Every damn one of them.
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January 6th Capitol rioters. (photo: John Minchillo)
440 Have Been Arrested in the Capitol Riot Investigation but the FBI Is Still Looking for Suspects Accused of Attacks on Officers
Clare Hymes and Cassidy McDonald, CBS News
he Department of Justice said as of Thursday, they had arrested approximately 440 people in connection with the Capitol riot on January 6. But four months after the attack, the FBI is still searching for suspects accused of vicious attacks on officers and members of the media.
Of the 440 arrested so far, CBS News has independently reviewed the cases of 400 defendants. More than 100 of those were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including more than 35 charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Around 140 officers were assaulted that day, the Justice Department has said, and the search continues for some of the most high-profile assailants.
One suspect still on the FBI's wanted list is the person accused of grabbing and trying to tear off the face mask of D.C. Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges, who was filmed screaming out in pain as he was crushed in a doorway while a mob of rioters attempted to breach the police line and enter the Capitol.
In an interview with CBS News, Hodges said that in videos, you can see the assailant grabbing his gas mask, beating his head against the door, and ripping it away. Hodges said, "I definitely considered that that might be it. I might not be able to make it out of there."
Authorities are also still searching for two people accused of assaulting officers who were pulled into the crowd and dragged down Capitol stairs during the siege.
One suspect, photographed in a red hat and bandana with what appears to be a tactical vest, was on top of one officer who was dragged into the crowd, while another suspect with a beard and baseball cap allegedly assaulted another officer with a pole, the Justice Department said.
Another man, Peter Stager, has been charged in the same attack for allegedly hitting one officer with a flagpole. Two close associates spoke to the FBI to help them identify him from videos.
Another man, in a red cap, red jacket, white mask and light blue jeans was seen in the vicinity of the Speaker's lobby, where rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot. He was seen throwing what appeared to be a 2x4 through a window, kicking in doors in the hallway and assaulting members of the media.
The FBI is seeking the public's help to identify the Capitol riot suspects that remain on their wanted list, with an emphasis placed on suspects accused of assaulting law enforcement or targeting members of the media. The FBI has also offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the person or people responsible for placing pipe bombs in Washington, D.C.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in March that citizens from around the country had sent the agency more than 270,000 digital media tips. Tips from family, friends and ex-lovers have led to the arrests of rioters accused of some of the most brutal attacks on officers that day.
Close associates turned in Patrick McCaughey, who is alleged to have pinned officer Hodges to the door with a police riot shield. Reed Christensen, who was arrested and accused of striking officers and initiating the "aggressive" removal of police barriers, was turned in by his own son. And George Tanios, who was charged with conspiring to assault Officer Brian Sicknick with a chemical spray, was turned in by a former business partner after their relationship went sour, the Justice Department said.
The Capitol riot defendants come from 45 states in addition to Washington, D.C., and the average age of known defendants is 42, according to documents reviewed by CBS News. Of the defendants, authorities have linked more than 50 to extremist groups including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and the conspiracy ideology, QAnon.
According to a review of service records and court documents, CBS News has also found that at least 44 defendants are current or former members of the military, four of whom are currently enlisted. At least 10 of the defendants have worked as law enforcement officers.
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Palestinian civil defense teams take part in rescue efforts at a building belonging to a Palestinian family after Israeli warplanes conducted air raids in Beit Lahia, Gaza on Thursday. (photo: Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu)
Palestinians in Gaza Recount ‘Ruthless’ Horrors of Israeli Raids
ALSO SEE: Several Palestinians Killed by Israeli Fire in West Bank Protests
Linah Alsaafin, Al Jazeera
Alsaafin writes: "Hasan al-Attar stood quietly inside the morgue, staring at the bodies of his daughter, Lamya, and three other children belonging to the same family." /span>
An Israeli pre-dawn escalation on the northern Gaza Strip resulted in more killings and displaced families.
asan al-Attar stood quietly inside the morgue, staring at the bodies of his daughter, Lamya, and three other children belonging to the same family. Wearing his fireman’s vest, he bent over to kiss his daughter, before the refrigeration unit door was closed.
“Pray for her,” a colleague said, clasping his hand on Hasan’s shoulder.
Lamya and the children – the siblings Amir and Islam al-Attar – and Mohammed al-Attar were killed overnight on Friday in Beit Lahia, after an Israeli air raid bombed the house they were staying in.
The northern town in the Gaza Strip, along with Beit Hanoun and Jabalya, was one of the areas that witnessed almost relentless aerial bombardment coupled with heavy artillery shelling. Shuja’iah, located in Gaza City’s east, was also battered.
An Israeli army spokesperson said on Friday the pre-dawn offensive included 160 warplanes that took off from six airbases and used about 450 missiles and shells to raid 150 targets within 40 minutes.
Jonathan Conricus said the attack was aimed at destroying an “underground tunnel system” in Gaza.
But Abedrabbo al-Attar, a resident of Beit Lahia, told Al Jazeera the raids targeted civilians.
“We left our home screaming after the house [that Lamya and the children were in] next to us was destroyed,” the 40-year-old father of six said.
“We thought we were all going to die. There were no resistance fighters in the area, and Israel bombed everything, more than 50 raids nonstop.”
Al-Attar said his family and his brother’s family walked on foot some 8km (4 miles) before reaching an UNRWA school opposite the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
“Our children slept on the bare floor,” he said. “We brought nothing with us, and we don’t know if our house is still standing.”
Dozens of families from Gaza’s northern towns were also displaced. In the residential building of Abraj al-Nada, families were unable to leave because of the heavy fire and appealed to the Red Cross for help.
“This is the worst war I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I’ve seen a few of those,” al-Attar said. “It has been absolutely ruthless.”
Ground incursion at the ready
According to the Gaza ministry of health, 119 Palestinians have been killed so far, including 31 children and 19 women. At least 830 others have been wounded.
Israeli health officials say 1,050 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip so far. Eight Israelis and one Indian national have been killed, and more than 130 wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged the offensive will continue “as needed to restore calm in the state of Israel”.
Al Jazeera’s Elias Karram said many Israeli tanks had advanced towards the Gaza Strip on Thursday and are now situated one kilometre from the Israeli fence.
Karram also noted the Israeli army called upon 16,000 reserve soldiers and banned military leave.
The pre-dawn escalation on the Gaza Strip resulted in many residents posting their farewells on social media. Large power cuts swept through Gaza City during the Israeli onslaught.
Diaa Wadi, a resident of Shujaiyah, live-tweeted his ordeal.
“Hello world,” he wrote at one point. “My family and I are under the target of the bombing of the Israeli occupation’s artillery and warplanes.
“We have distributed ourselves in a different corner of the same room,” he continued. “Each of us is holding a bag, with our papers and some belongings, staring at each other. Now fear is sitting with us. This is the hardest and heaviest moment in my whole life!”
Two hours later, after the attacks subsided, Wadi said he wishes he could see the morning.
“Even if we never see the sun again, we are all for Jerusalem,” he said.
‘Completely unhinged’
In Beit Hanoun, an entire residential area was devastated by air raids. One of the Palestinians living in the area, Mohammed al-Zoni, told Al Jazeera as many as 30 houses were destroyed.
“Everything that has to do with life has been destroyed,” he said. “Cars, carts, fields … everything.”
Al-Zoni said it was only by the grace of God that no one was killed, as the families fled immediately after the attacks began.
“We were sitting at home when without warning, the bombing began,” he said. “Glass from the windows rained down on us. My family is staying with relatives in a different area for now, but Israel needs to know one thing, and that is we will remain here.”
As people in Gaza recover from what they have described as one of the worst nights, others will continue to bury their loved ones.
On Wednesday night, Rafat Tanani and his entire family were killed in an Israeli attack in the Sheikh Zayed area in northern Gaza. He and his wife Rawya, 36, who was pregnant, and their children Ismail, Adham, Amir, and Mohammed – all under the age of 8 – were buried alive under the rubble.
It took rescue teams a day to reach the bodies of the family.
“It’s completely unhinged the way Israel is targeting civilian homes and killing children and displacing people,” Rafat’s cousin Jameel told Al Jazeera. “What we’re experiencing now is way worse than the offensive in 2014.
“The shelling and air attacks this time are insane.”
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Joel Greenberg said he and others paid a 17-year-old for sex. (photo: Joe Burbank/AP)
Matt Gaetz Scandal Deepens as Associate Admits Paying 17-Year-Old for Sex
David Smith and Martin Pengelly, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "The scandal engulfing Matt Gaetz, one of Donald Trump’s brashest supporters in Congress, deepened on Friday after an associate admitted sex trafficking involving a minor and agreed to cooperate with investigators."
Joel Greenberg expected to plead guilty to federal charges and could be key witness if congressman faces trial
Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Florida, said he and unidentified others paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and he provided the girl with drugs, according to court papers cited by multiple media outlets.
Greenberg, 37, is expected to plead guilty to six federal charges, including financial crimes, in court in Orlando on Monday. He could be a pivotal witness if prosecutors charge Gaetz, 39, over an alleged sexual relationship with the 17-year-old girl.
Citing an anonymous source, the New York Times reported that Greenberg has told investigators Gaetz had sex with the girl and knew she was being paid. Gaetz denies all accusations and has said he will not resign from Congress.
Greenberg said he recruited women for commercial sex acts between 2016 and 2018 and paid them more than $70,000, court documents say. He also admits providing drugs to an underage girl and introducing her to “other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts”.
Prosecutors say Greenberg met the girl online, where she was posing as an adult, then met her on a boat, paying her $400. He later invited her to hotels where he and others had sex with her, and supplied the girl and other people with ecstasy, according to the plea deal.
Greenberg allegedly had sex with the girl at least seven times and “also introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor”.
Prosecutors say Greenberg used his position as Seminole county tax collector to access a state database and “investigate” women he was having sex with. He searched for the underage girl because he “had reason to believe the Minor was under the age of 18”, the plea agreement says.
Greenberg was arrested last summer on charges of stalking a political opponent. According to an indictment, he mailed fake letters to the school where the opponent taught, signed by a non-existent “very concerned student” who alleged the teacher engaged in sexual misconduct with another student.
In August, Greenberg was charged with sex trafficking a girl between ages 14 and 17 and using the state database to look up information about the girl and others with whom he was engaged in “sugar daddy” relationships.
Charges that he embezzled $400,000 from his office were added earlier this year. Investigators have also been looking at whether Gaetz and associates tried to secure government jobs for some of the women, the Associated Press said, citing anonymous sources.
They are also reportedly scrutinising Gaetz’s connections to medical marijuana interests, including whether associates sought to influence legislation he sponsored.
Gaetz has faced calls to resign. The House of Representatives’ ethics committee launched an investigation last month.
Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gaetz, said: “The first indictment of Joel Greenberg alleges that he falsely accused another man of sex with a minor for his own gain. That man was apparently innocent. So is Congressman Gaetz.”
Gaetz has maintained a high profile, including a rally last week with Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right congresswoman from Georgia who has trafficked in conspiracy theories and advocated violence against political opponents.
Democrats in control of the House stripped Greene’s committee assignments. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader, has not taken action against Greene or Gaetz.
While Trump was in power, the Daily Beast reported, Greenberg allegedly sought a pardon via the Republican strategist Roger Stone, in exchange for $250,000. Stone acknowledged the approach but denied seeking or receiving payment.
No pardon was forthcoming but cooperation with prosecutors could reduce Greenberg’s sentence – and land Gaetz in trouble. After a hearing in Florida last month, Greenberg’s lawyer told reporters: “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.”
The judge at that hearing set a 15 May deadline for any plea agreement. Signed on 12 May, the agreement became public two days later.
Earlier this month, Anna Eskamani, a Democratic Florida state representative who made public a strange voicemail message left by Gaetz and Greenberg, told the Guardian: “It’s not like Matt Gaetz created bro culture, but he absolutely benefited from it, exploited it and is being protected by it today.
“It’s slimy characters, tons of money, inappropriate use of power when it comes to lavish trips, and the use of sex and drugs to also exhibit your power. It’s just gross all around.
“There is no doubt in my mind that there will be charges he will face. I think it’s going to take time for the [Department of Justice] to build that case, but I feel confident there will be consequences for his behaviour.”
Later on Friday, the Daily Beast cited two witnesses in reporting that a woman who it said Greenberg will identify as having been paid for sex accompanied Gaetz to a “cocaine-fueled party” after a Republican fundraising event in Orlando in 2019.
The website also said the woman secured a “taxpayer-funded no-show job” through her connection to Greenberg.
A public relations firm hired by Gaetz told the Beast the congressman would not comment, but “the privacy of women living private lives should be protected”.
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Karissa Hill, daughter of Andre Hill, raises hands with Benjamin Crump, the civil rights attorney representing Hill's family after former Columbus police officer Adam Coy was charged with murder in Hill's death. (photo: Jay LaPrete/AP)
Columbus, Ohio, Agrees to Pay $10 Million Settlement to Family of Andre Hill
Ray Sanchez and Steve Forrest, CNN
he city of Columbus, Ohio, has agreed to pay a record $10 million settlement to the family Andre Hill, a Black man who was shot and killed by a police officer.
The settlement, the highest amount the city has ever agreed to pay, will be voted on by the City Council on Monday, City Attorney Zach Klein said in a statement announcing the settlement.
"We understand that because of this former officer's actions, the Hill family will never be whole," Klein said.
"No amount of money will ever bring Andre' Hill back to his family, but we believe this is an important and necessary step in the right direction."
The city, as part of the settlement, also agreed to rename a municipal gym after Hill.
In a statement, the Hill family and their legal team, led by attorney Ben Crump, thanked the city and its leaders "for doing the right thing" in agreeing to the settlement and the renaming of the gym.
"Now all those involved can begin to heal," the statement said.
Hill's daughter, Karissa, holding her 3-year-old daughter, later told reporters that the settlement was a first step in the healing.
"It's one step but it's not full justice," she said. "It doesn't take the scar off of our hearts that we still have from my dad not being here."
She added, "You guys all have to remember how my dad died. He died on a 311 call, a non emergency. He was shot four times and after the the four times he was laying on the floor. There were 22 officers on the scene. Nobody helped my father. The money is not even enough to help (with) the pain or anything of my dad laying on that floor."
She wants to see her father's face painted on a wall in the gym and community center that will now bare his name, Karrisa Hill said.
Hill was shot and killed on December 22 while officer Adam Coy -- who now faces murder charges -- and another officer were responding to a report of a man who had been sitting in his SUV for an extended period, repeatedly turning his engine on and off.
Coy fatally shot Hill, 47, within seconds of their encounter as Hill walked toward Coy holding an illuminated cell phone in his left hand, body camera footage showed. Hill was unarmed.
Coy turned his camera on after the shooting. The camera's look-back feature captured 60 seconds of video, but no audio, before Coy turned it on.
The body camera footage appears to show Coy and Hill walking toward one another, and Coy starts shooting within a few seconds. It's not clear whether Hill or Coy said anything during their brief interaction because Coy did not activate his body camera.
The first few seconds of Coy's body camera video in which audio is available show the officer ordering Hill to get his hands out to the side, ordering him to get on his stomach, and warning an officer to not get close because one of Hill's arms is under the car where he collapsed after being shot.
About 37 seconds after the shooting, Coy asked whether a medic was coming. A report prepared by the Columbus police chief after the shooting said an officer who responded with Coy said she heard Coy say he saw a gun, and that Coy yelled, "There's a gun in his other hand, there's a gun in his other hand!"
Crump said in December that Hill was visiting a family friend at the home where he was killed.
Footage from the body camera of another officer at the scene showed Hill lying on the floor of a home's garage while he is handcuffed.
An unidentified woman came out of the home and told police, "He was bringing me Christmas money! He didn't do anything."
Coy was fired in December as a result of the shooting.
Prosecutors last month filed an additional reckless murder charge against Coy, according to court records.
Coy was previously indicted in February on charges of murder in the commission of a felony, felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty related to Hill's death. He pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Columbus officials were critical of how officers handled rendering aid to Hill.
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Protesters in Colombia rally against sexual violence attacks against women carried out by police. (photo: Gustavo Torrijos)
Colombians Denounce Police Sexual Violence Against Women Amid Protests
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Colombian gender rights organizations on Friday will take to the streets to reject police sexual violence committed against women during the anti-government protests that have rocked the country since April 28."
"Our bodies are not war fields, Defense Minister Diego Molano. We demand justice for the 16 women who were raped by agents of the Anti-Riot Mobil Squadron (ESMAD) during the protests," the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (LIMPAL) said.
On May 12, several underage women denounced to have been raped by security officers during the protests. One victim was so traumatized that she committed suicide on Tuesday.
The minor, whose name hasn't been revealed by local authorities, was arbitrarily detained and sexually abused by four police officers when she was returning home from a protest in Popayan.
"They pulled down my pants and groped me to my soul. I asked them to let go of me several times," the victim stated shortly after she was raped.
"Sexual violence is a weapon against protesters. Today we are mourning the death of a teenage girl. We must continue an indefinite national strike until President Ivan Duque resigns," The Socialist Workers Party (PTS) tweeted.
The Women's House reported that the "Not One Less" sit-in will begin at 10h00 local time in front of the National Police headquarters in cities such as Bogota, Cali, and Popayan.
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Wild horses being unloaded in preparation for an auction in Beaumont, Texas. (photo: Brandon Thibodeaux/NYT)
Wild Horses Adopted Under a Federal US Program Are Going to Slaughter
Dave Philipps, The New York Times
Philipps writes: "Records show that some people who are paid $1,000 a head by the government to give legally protected mustangs 'good homes' are sending the horses to auction once they get the money."
n a lifetime of working with horses, Gary Kidd, 73, had never adopted an untrained wild mustang before. But when the federal government started paying people $1,000 a horse to adopt them, he signed up for as many as he could get. So did his wife, two grown daughters and a son-in-law.
Mr. Kidd, who owns a small farm near Hope, Ark., said in a recent telephone interview that he was using the mustangs, which are protected under federal law, to breed colts and that they were happily eating green grass in his pasture.
In fact, by the time he spoke on the phone, the animals were long gone. Records show that Mr. Kidd had sold them almost as soon as he legally could. He and his family received at least $20,000, and the mustangs ended up at a dusty Texas livestock auction frequented by slaughterhouse brokers known as kill buyers.
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s the United States and Egyptian mediators headed to Israel on Thursday to begin de-escalation talks, the antagonists were weighing delicate internal considerations before agreeing to discussions on ending the violence.
