Monday, June 29 top news briefs
Monday, June 29 top news briefs
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth. It is Monday, June 29. A bit of a different setup here. I have two newspapers with me, USA Today and the Detroit News. We’ll look at some of the headlines from the weekend.
Most Americans support police reform
We see here on the cover of USAToday that most Americans want significant police reform. This means to transform the systems police departments use and their procedures. This is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement. It says here that most Americans want a change and are not satisfied with the status quo. Some of the examples of reform is to force officers to re-apply to weed out bad cops, limit policing to only deal with serious or violent crimes, and cut off police departments’ ability to buy military gear. There are many other ideas for police reform and it continues to be a top topic people are talking about and we can expect it to be discussed by political leaders on the local, statewide, and federal level as they campaign for your votes this election season. What positions will they take on police reform?
Reports say Russia offered bounties to Taliban
Another big news story is here. Trump denies this. What is this about? Over the weekend there were reports that the Russian government offered bounties to the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill U.S. or U.K. troops serving in the country. The New York Times said President Donald Trump knew about the alleged program in March. Joe Biden criticized Trump for not doing anything about it. President Trump, as it says here, said he never knew about the program. USA Today said 20 Americans died in combat in Afghanistan in 2019. Members of Congress in both parties are now asking for more information on the bounty program and how much Trump knew about it. There are people looking into it.
Mississippi flag will no longer have Confederate emblem
Here’s another news from the weekend. Look here. This is in Mississippi. Their state flag has a Confederate emblem on it. They are the only state flag in the U.S. that has the emblem. The Mississippi state legislature has passed a bill in both chambers to stop using that particular flag and to use a different flag. The governor supports the bill and when he signs it, the flag must come down within 15 days at government buildings. Then there will be a nine-member commission to choose a new design. There are two rules: it cannot have the Confederate emblem on it and the new flag must include the words, “In God We Trust.” As for the other design elements, we’ll see. When the new flag is determined, voters/residents in the state can vote to approve or reject it in November. If voters approve, then the flag remains, but if they reject the new design, then the nine-member process will begin again. Clearly the timing of this change has to do with the Black Lives Matter movement. We’re seeing more and more Confederate flags, symbols, or statues being taken down.
We’re done with the newspapers. Let’s look at the latest news that’s online.
Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law
The U.S. Supreme Court narrowly voted 5-4 to strike down an abortion law in Louisiana that requires doctors who provide abortion services at a clinic to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. When the law passed in Louisiana, there was a legal challenge. This was argued in court to be too restrictive because if it went into effect, only one clinic in Louisiana would be “legal” with the rest forced to shut down. Opponents of the law said it would place an undue burden on individuals who wanted to get an abortion and that there were no significant health benefits if a doctor had admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. With the 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, abortion clinics across Louisiana can remain open. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal justices to make it a 5-4 decision. There was a similar abortion clinic/hospital case before the Supreme Court in 2016, based on a Texas law, and the Supreme Court at that time struck down that law 5-3. Roberts was one of the three who wanted to uphold the Texas law. Now Roberts is on the other side, with the liberals. Roberts said he is voting to strike down the Louisiana law because he wants to follow the precedent of the Supreme Court from its 2016 decision, even though he as an individual voted the other way. Now that the Louisiana law is struck down, it means Louisiana clinics must remain open, regardless of whether doctors have admitting privileges within 30 miles or not.
Wealthy white couple aim firearms at BLM protesters
Now, another news story. There are viral videos of a confrontation between Black Lives Matter protesters and what appears to be a very wealthy couple standing outside of their large, fancy home brandishing firearms. There is a man on the video wielding an AR-15 type firearm. He is wearing a tucked-in polo shirt while barefoot. There is a woman, apparently his wife, who pointed a small silver pistol at protesters. She was barefoot as well. The couple exhibited aggressive behavior to the protesters, who shouted back. This happened on the sidewalk by their house. This is in St. Louis. Police said the man and woman called for help and complained that the protesters went through an iron gate — possibly breaking through — and were on private property. That’s the couple’s reason for brandishing the firearms and calling police. The protesters were marching on their way to the St. Louis mayor’s home to demand her resignation because the mayor, in her disagreement with those who wanted to defund the police, announced on Facebook Live the names and home addresses of people who called on her to defund the police. The mayor shared the names and home addresses. Protesters did not approve of it and demanded her resignation. In their march, they walked past the house and that’s when the confrontation happened. It’s become a big news story. heavy.com identified the couple as Mark and Patricia McCloskey. Both are personal injury trial lawyers.
500,000 die from Covid-19 worldwide
As of today, there are over 10 million cases of Covid-19 in the world and over 500,000 deaths. The U.S. continues to be the worst-affected country with 2.5 million cases and 125,000 deaths. Brazil is in second, Russia third, India fourth, and the U.K. fifth.
That is all the top news today. Thank you for watching “The Daily Moth.” See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/supreme-court-abortion-decision-louisiana-law-struck-down.html
https://heavy.com/news/2020/06/mark-patricia-mccloskey-st-louis-couple-guns-video/