Good morning,
George Floyd
‘The blinders are off now because of the verdict today” said one of the witnesses in the murder trial of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was convicted on all counts of kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, who pleaded for his life, who couldn’t breathe and Chauvin didn’t move off that mans neck for more than 9 minutes.
The Press Release on May 25th, 2020 from the police department said “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction”. “At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident”.
As a former crime reporter, I have read many press releases from the police and generally gave the police benefit of the doubt on most of them because I trust police and think the vast majority of them are honest and serve and protect whether your black or white.
But the blinders are off now, because of body cameras and thankfully in the case of George Floyd , a passing girl recorded the whole horrible 9 minutes on her cell phone so we could all see what happened.
The fact is, there are many many more George Floyd cases that were not captured on camera, and only 1% of killings by American police resulted in criminal charges.
The 80 thousand police departments in America need a huge overhaul in hiring, in training, in deescalation, to address racial injustice. And George Floyd is unfortunately not the last case, and he definitely wasn’t the first of murder of black people at the hands of police, but in this case justice was done.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/george-floyd-chauvin-verdict.html
Super League now Super Flop
You can’t imagine the fury unleashed by the announcement this week 6 British football clubs were joining a European Super league, that shut out other clubs, and threatened to kill the existing Premier Football league. The Prime Minister condemned it, as did fans and players shouting it was the destruction of soccer, and there are few things as sacred here as the game of football.
The owners were guilty of putting profits over football, which you just don’t do in England. In a few days those owners who are not English, and have bought into the clubs, realized their clubs would be boycotted and the profits they sought would go up in smoke in the anger against this new league.
Manchester City were the first club to pull out after Chelsea had signalled their intent to do so by preparing documentation to withdraw.The other four sides - Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham - have all now followed suit.
Whew…glad that’s over. What a mess for football.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56823501
Russia and Navalny
There are calls for the supported of Alexei Navalny to take to the streets today as the opposition leader is said to be gravely ill in a Russian prison after a 3 week hunger strike because authorities will not let him see his own doctors.
The public protests will coincide with President Putins annual address in which he speaks of the state of the nation as Russia has been slapped with more sanctions by the U.S. because of computer hacking in the U.S. as well as election interference.
Putin is expected to speak on his foreign policy and possibly explain his intentions to mass some 100 thousand Russian troops on Ukraines border. In his last public address he announced changes to the constitution which set him up to remain in power until 2036.
The protests to support Navalny could take place in more than 100 cities, and of course Russian authorities have announced those gatherings would be illegal and police are expected in large numbers.
Don’t under estimate the developments with Russia. More EU Countries may kick out Russian diplomats after The Czech Republic has asked for solidarity after is kicked out Russian diplomats and accused Russia of having carried out an explosion in 2014 at a Czech weapons factory. We are witnessing a sharp escalation in isolation and confrontation of Putins Kremlin, and the consequences could be extremely unpredictable.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/04/20/putin-to-speak-on-state-of-the-nation-amid-foreign-policy-domestic-crises-a73675
Covid and Anti-virals
British P.M. Boris Johnson announced yesterday that pills could soon be given to people at home to prevent severe illness from Covid19. The anti-virals reduce the severity of illness, and may be give to people who get Covid so they can battle the virus and remain at home, instead of in hospital. Britain is slowly lifting its lockdown after months of restrictions which managed to slow the spread of Covid and reduce deaths.
The anti virals will reduce disease spread and minimize the development of variants. Sounds all too promising but Britain has managed to vaccinate over half the population now and is far ahead of many countries in doing so.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1425841/coronavirus-news-treatment-pill-taken-at-home-available-autumn
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Have a good day everyone.
Dana Lewis