🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️NewsHero | George Floyd's family sues Minneapolis; Va. teen leads BLM protests; Facebook to label candidates' posts; RBG released from hospital; RNC shrinks, but still holds, Fla. party
July 16, 2020 - Issue 140
Welcome to this edition of NewsHero for July 16, 2020.
Dear Heroes,
As shared Monday, it is with a heavy heart that I write to let you know that this will be our last week delivering NewsHero to your inboxes. It has been an honor and a privilege to bring this to you over these last 130+ issues, and we had high hopes of continuing to serve you in this way, however, we have not been able to bring enough subscribers into the fold to emerge from beta and to scale up our team or our product.
For those of you who have subscribed monthly, you will no longer be charged, and for those of you who have subscribed yearly and would like a refund, we will gladly provide you with one. Please just let us know in reply to this email. Any subscriber money that is not refunded and that is not needed in the cost of closing will be donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists (https://cpj.org/) to help support their vital and ongoing work.
I want to thank you for reading and for sharing. I’m sorry that those of you who took the challenge and made NewsHero your only daily read will have to go back to the way things were. I wish there were better options out there but I have yet to find one.
I want to thank all of the NewsHero team who put their hearts and souls into getting us out and into the world and I want to thank our investors and backers for giving us this chance.
I want to thank all of you, our readers, for your generous feedback and for coming along for the ride.
Wishing all the best to you and yours.
Benji, Co-founder NewsHero
Now, on with this issue, which also includes: India puts more than 400 million people back on lockdown; Savannah, Ga., mayor says ‘Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us’ over face mask differences; Worried he’s losing the election, Trump moves staff around and hits the road; Twitter hack appears to have come from an insider; “Outright Lies” in Facebook voter misinformation examined by ProPublica; 15-year-old girl held in detention over online homework gets wave of support for her to be sent home…
A letter from Grace to her mother. Name redacted by ProPublica.
(Obtained by ProPublica via Advancement Project)
400 Million+ People In India Going Back On Lockdown
Mayor of Savannah, Ga.: ‘Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us’
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Everyone wearing—and urging others to wear—face masks
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Defenders of the teen detained for online homework issues
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Security officials combatting potential hackers into COVID-19 vaccine efforts
“It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us,” Mayor of Savannah, Ga., Van Johnson wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can.”
The tweet was a reaction to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Wednesday—despite rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the state—suspending all local government mask mandates, CNN reports.
Under the executive order the Republican governor extended the state’s public emergency and said face coverings are “strongly encouraged,” but not required, CNN says.
Meanwhile, in other sensibility-defying news, Ronny Jackson, a Republican congressional candidate in Texas and the former physician to the president, said Wednesday that Americans should not be required to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Politico reports.
“I think that wearing a mask is a personal choice, and I don’t particularly want my government telling me that I have to wear a mask. And so I think that’s a choice that I can make,” Jackson told “Fox & Friends.”
So, free tickets to Disney World and second-hand smoke for everyone!
More than 400 million people across three Indian states will re-enter lockdown, weeks after a nationwide lockdown was lifted on May 30, CNN writes. India recorded 100,000 new coronavirus cases in the past five days.
State and federal lawmakers in Michigan are calling for the release of a 15-year-old high school student (referred to as Grace) who has been held in a juvenile detention facility since mid-May for violating probation by not completing online schoolwork when schools shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, ProPublica writes, in a story co-published with the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Magazine.
A new attorney representing the teenager, whose case was detailed in a ProPublica Illinois investigation Tuesday, said he plans to file a motion in court Thursday asking the judge who ordered the girl detained to reconsider her decision and send Grace home.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order in March that encouraged eliminating any form of detention or residential placement unless a young person posed a “substantial and immediate safety risk to others.”
According to claims made today by security officials in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, Russian hackers are targeting organizations developing coronavirus vaccines, Fox News reports.
The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) today published details of attacks which it says are being carried out by a group known as APT29, also named “the Dukes” or “Cozy Bear,” that it alleges “almost certainly” operate as part of Russian intelligence services, Politico reports.
“The attacks which are taking place against scientists and others doing vital work to combat coronavirus are despicable,” Boris Johnson's official spokesperson told reporters. “Working with our allies, we will call out those who seek to do us harm in cyberspace and hold them to account.”
The U.S. has for months directed similar accusations at China. FBI Director Chris Wray said last week, “At this very moment, China is working to compromise American health care organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and academic institutions conducting essential COVID-19 research.”
Travon Brown talks to the crowd gathered for his second Black Lives Matter protest in Marion, Va., on July 3. (Earl Neikirk for The Washington Post)
Family Of George Floyd Sues City Of Minneapolis
Teens leads Black Lives Matter protests in small Va. town
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Those holding aggressive police officers accountable
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - George Floyd’s family, for the suit against the city
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Schumer and Democrats for the relief directed at communities of color
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Travon Brown and peaceful protesters
🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
A tech startup named Benchmark Analytics uses a computer model to predict which police officers are most likely to be involved in misconduct—the so-called “bad apples,” though as Chris Rock points out, some jobs just can’t have bad apples.
Moving on, Bloomberg reports that Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo last month outlined plans to work with the firm and its predictive policing methods.
ProPublica published a report today: “We Reviewed Police Tactics Seen in Nearly 400 Protest Videos. Here’s What We Found.” The story includes some intense video of law enforcement using tear gas and pepper balls, but now is not the time to look away from changes that must be made.
Senate Democrats today released a new $350 billion proposal to invest in communities of color struggling in the pandemic, as Congress readies to negotiate the next (and possibly final) coronavirus package, Politico reports.
“Long before the pandemic, long before this recession, long before this year’s protests, structural inequalities have persisted in health care and housing, the economy and education,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Covid-19 has only magnified these injustices and we must confront them with lasting, meaningful solutions.”
In wonderful (yet how-can-this-be-possible?) news, The Associated Press reports that the new issue of Vanity Fair featuring Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis marks the first time the publication has featured the work of a Black photographer on its cover. The historic image of Davis was shot by photographer Dario Calmese.
Attorneys for the family of George Floyd filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Wednesday against the city of Minneapolis and the police officers involved in his death, calling the killing part of “a public health crisis” in Black America, writes CNN.
“The City of Minneapolis has a history of policies, procedures and deliberate indifference that violates the rights of arrestees, particularly Black men, and highlights the need for officer training and discipline,” attorney Ben Crump said.
New police body camera video viewed by CNN offers critical new context in the moments leading up to Floyd’s death.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who is presiding over the cases against the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd’s death, made the body camera footage available for public viewing Wednesday.
Travon Brown, a 17-year-old Black high school student, lead a Black Lives Matter protest in Marion, Va. then had a cross burned in the yard of his family’s home. The Washington Post has the story on the brave teen and a hoard of disgusting racists.
“I’m a GOP governor. Why didn’t Trump help my state with coronavirus testing?” In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says that Donald Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, leaving states to come up with their own testing strategies and supplies.
(Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios)
NYT: ‘Hollywood Stays Away From Facebook Ad Boycott’
Facebook to add labels to posts from presidential candidates
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Anti-Defamation League, the 1,000+ companies joining Facebook ad boycott
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - Voter rights advocates
🦸♀️ - Facebook, for adding labels to political posts
“Where is Hollywood?” asked Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, regarding the 1,000+ companies boycotting Facebook over its inability to deal with hate speech. A report from The New York Times on Wednesday addresses Hollywood’s glaring absence in the boycott.
“It’s time. It’s time for them to take a stand. It’s time for them to say that Facebook needs to stop hate for profit,” Greenblatt said, talking to The Wrap. “I’m not sure why they are still silent,” he said. “You’ll have to ask them.”
Netflix, ViacomCBS, Disney, WarnerMedia, Lionsgate, STX and Sony Pictures Entertainment declined to comment for the NYT article or did not respond to queries, the Times said.
Vice reports that a Twitter insider was responsible for a slew of account takeovers, according to leaked screenshots obtained by Motherboard and two sources who took over accounts.
On Wednesday, a spike of high profile accounts including those of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Uber, and Apple tweeted cryptocurrency scams in an apparent hack.
“You can’t say you didn’t see it coming,” writes The Interface with Casey Newton, in a report that breaks down the “catastrophe at Twitter.”
A report from Wired delves into a valuable premise: “Twitter Is at Its Best When Verified Accounts Can’t Tweet”
ProPublica, the nonprofit newsroom investigating abuses of power, published today “Outright Lies,” a story on the rampant voting misinformation that flourishes on Facebook.
“We have a long history in this country of voter suppression that goes all the way back to our founding,” said Jessica Gonzalez, the co-CEO of Free Press, an advocacy group focused on media and technology. “This is a new way to suppress the vote, and I don’t know why Facebook wants any part of it.”
On that note, Facebook announced today that it will add labels to all posts from presidential candidates and federally-elected officials that mention voting or ballots, regardless of whether they contain misinformation, Axios reports. Facebook says it plans to extend such voter initiatives to its other apps, Instagram and Messenger, soon.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg answers a law student's question as she participates in a "fireside chat" in the Bruce M. Selya Appellate Courtroom at the Roger William University Law School, Jan. 30, 2018, in Bristol, R.I. (Stephan Savoia/AP)
RNC Greatly Scales Back Convention Over Virus
Justice Ginsburg released from hospital
🦸♀️ - Trump, for replacing staff with less-worse staff?
🦸♀️ - RNC, for at least taking health risks into consideration
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - RBG, for TCB
Fearing he will lose—or is already losing—the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Donald Trump has mixed things up within his campaign, most notably moving Bill Stepien up to campaign manager and demoting Brad Parscale, Politico reports.
“Replacing Parscale is a classic move from the Trump playbook: The president replaced two campaign managers during his 2016 campaign before his surprise victory, and he has cycled through four chiefs of staff in less than four years in the White House,” Politico writes.
Bill Stepien was the national director for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign (score!) and New Hampshire political director on President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election effort, CNN reports.
“Trump is trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in national and swing-state polls, and his rhetoric has seemed out of step with voters on both COVID-19 and protests over systemic racism,” writes The Hill, noting that Trump is hitting the road with hopes of igniting a stalled campaign.
The White House’s presidential personnel office is holding one-on-one interviews with health officials and hundreds of other political appointees across federal agencies, which some are calling “loyalty tests,” Politico reports.
The Republican National Committee will severely limit attendance for its convention in Jacksonville, Fla. next month, shrinking the event over concerns about coronavirus, says Politico.
“I want to make clear that we still intend to host a fantastic convention celebration in Jacksonville,” Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel wrote. “We can gather and put on a top-notch event that celebrates the incredible accomplishments of President Trump’s administration and his re-nomination for a second term—while also doing so in a safe and responsible manner.”
Tremendous!
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been released from the hospital after treatment for a possible infection in her latest health scare, reports CNN. “Justice Ginsburg has been discharged from the hospital,” a Supreme Court spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday. “She is home and doing well.” Ginsburg, 87, had been taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore early on Tuesday “after experiencing fever and chills,” spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said.
The no-win burden facing teachers in reopening schools - Axios
Iranian Spies Accidentally Leaked a Video of Themselves Hacking - Wired
Huawei security chief: UK ban is not related to US claims of security risks - CNN
First Thing: pandemic proves climate was never treated as a crisis, say activists - The Guardian
China’s own records debunk ‘historic rights’ over disputed seas - Al Jazeera
Russia: Rights Defender Faces Criminal Charges - Human Rights Watch
Sources:
Former Trump physician Ronny Jackson: ‘Wearing a mask is a personal choice’ - Politico
More than 400 million people in India re-enter lockdown conditions - CNN
Thousands Demand That Michigan #FreeGrace After the Teenager Was Incarcerated for Not Doing Her Schoolwork - ProPublica
Georgia governor suspends all local mask mandates, encourages but doesn't require masks for residents - CNNPolitics
UK: Russian hackers attempted to steal coronavirus vaccine research - Politico
Russian hackers behind cyberattacks on coronavirus vaccine developers: US, UK, Canada intel - Fox News
Cities Turn to Software to Predict When Police Will Go Rogue - Bloomberg
We Reviewed Police Tactics Seen in Nearly 400 Protest Videos. Here’s What We Found. - ProPublica
Schumer proposes $350B in aid to communities of color ahead of coronavirus talks - Politico
'Vanity Fair' cover shot by Black photographer for 1st time - Vanity Fair
George Floyd's family files civil rights lawsuit calling killings by police a 'public health crisis' - CNN
Body cam footage of George Floyd's death released to CNN - CNN
Travon Brown cross burning: White neighbor James Brown arrested after Marion, Va., Black Lives Matter march - The Washington Post
Larry Hogan: Trump left Maryland vulnerable to the pandemic - The Washington Post
Hollywood Stays Away From Facebook Ad Boycott - The New York Times
A catastrophe at Twitter - Revue
Hackers Convinced Twitter Employee to Help Them Hijack Accounts - Vice
Twitter Is at Its Best When Verified Accounts Can’t Tweet - Wired
“Outright Lies”: Voting Misinformation Flourishes on Facebook - ProPublica
Big-name Twitter hacks of Obama, Biden, Musk, Gates accounts bare broad dangers - Axios
Twitter blames 'coordinated' attack on its systems for hack of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and others - CNN
Facebook to label posts about voting from presidential candidates - Axios
Trump replaces Parscale as campaign manager - Politico
Trump hits road to ignite stalled campaign - The Hill
RNC restricts convention attendance as Florida coronavirus cases climb - Politico
Trump team launches a sweeping loyalty test to shore up its defenses - Politico
Bill Stepien: Trump's new campaign manager joined 2016 bid amid similarly sinking battleground polling - CNNPolitics
Ruth Bader Ginsburg discharged from the hospital and doing well - CNNPolitics