#online criminal justice degree georgia

[governmentagencynews]

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested 175 unlawfully present noncitizens with multiple DUI convictions during a nationwide law enforcement effort from Aug. 20, through Sept. 30.“More than 11,000 people in the U.S. died as a result of crashes involving a drunk driver in 2020. An enforcement operation focusing on individuals who have previously been convicted of DUI – some resulting in death or serious bodily harm – is vitally important to public safety,” said ERO Executive Associate Director Corey A. Price. “ERO continues to remove unlawfully present individuals who are negatively affecting the safety of our communities.” This enforcement operation was implemented to address unlawfully present noncitizens convicted of violating multiple local DUI laws. In addition to DUI convictions, criminal histories of those arrested include, but were not limited to crimes involving assault, cruelty toward children, weapons violations, domestic violence, fraud, homicide by vehicle, hit-and-run, and larceny. Cases amenable to federal criminal prosecution may be presented to the appropriate U.S. Attorney’s Office. Among those arrested: A 40-year-old Mexican national convicted of homicide by vehicle – 1st degree. The individual was arrested in Norcross, Georgia, and remains in ICE custody pending prosecution and removal proceedings. A 35-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of vehicular manslaughter – 2nd degree. The individual was arrested in Bellport, New York, and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. A 45-year-old Mexican national convicted of hit-and-run causing death or injury. The individual was arrested in Banning, California, and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. A 48-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of multiple misdemeanor and felony DUI offenses; misdemeanor attempted criminal possession of a weapon – 4th degree, and misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle – 2nd degree. The individual was arrested in Freeport, New York, and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. ICE officers make case decisions in a professional and responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland. They apply prosecutorial discretion when making such decisions as do law enforcement officers in different agencies and offices throughout the nation. Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ICE officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, ERO conducted 74,082 administrative arrests of noncitizens, which included 12,025 individuals with aggravated felony convictions. Offenses associated with noncitizens arrested in FY 2021 included 1,506 homicide related offenses, 3,415 sexual assaults, 19,549 assaults, 2,717 robberies, and 1,063 kidnappings. Members of the public can report crimes and/or suspicious activity by dialing 1-866-347-2423 or completing the online tip form. Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in your community, on Twitter @ICEgov.

[protego-et-servio]

((Not created by me. Copy-pasted, in case it gets taken down from Google Docs. Not linking to keep original safe.))

#blacklivesmatter 

PLEASE SIGN PETITIONS, DONATE, CALL AND EMAIL TO DEMAND JUSTICE, AND SHARE

Reply to this tweet if I am missing anything

Re: the man who maced a young girl at the Seattle protest

Jared Campbell #8470

Office of police accountability: [phone] [email protected]

Chief: Carmen Best

File an anonymous complaint

Re: the woman who drove over a pedestrian during a peaceful protest in Denver

Jennifer Watson

Owner of JP Watson Interiors

Denver sheriff: [phone]

Hate crime hotline: [phone]

Re: Trump supporters who ran over protesters

Jacob Robles (jacob_robles98) and Dylan Mota (@dylan_mota_)

8JUK695

Also in the car: Alyssa Mackovitch (@alyssa_mackovitch)

Re: cop responsible for telling others to turn off their body cameras

Tobias Raya

[phone]

[email protected]

*The White House has a history of giving vague, unhelpful responses or ignoring these petitions but I’d still suggest signing and making your voices as loud as possible. It can’t hurt to try.

@icatboy on Twitter: “you guys don’t sign those white house petitions sadly they don’t do shit, those were only effective under obama’s administration and mean nothing in 7rump’s term. they aren’t obligated to give us a statement after 100k signature sadly”

I still have them linked below in the petitions section for those who want to sign

WOMAN KIDNAPPED - LICENSE PLATE EEV701

Stop sharing videos of Black people being murdered. “Seeing all sides” doesn’t mean watching someone’s murder. Believe Black people. It’s gratuitous and exploitative. Imagine being his kin right now.

BLM carrd

BLM doc

If you live internationally and cannot sign petitions without an american postal code feel free to use any of these:

90015 - Los Angeles, California

10001 - New York City, New York

75001 - Dallas, Texas

More resources for international people

Petitions

*Do not donate to change.org

Text FLOYD to 55156 OR sign the petition here: Color of Change - #JusticeforFloyd: Demand the officers who killed George Floyd are charged with murder.

Color of Change - #JusticeforBre: Police officers who killed Breonna Taylor must be FIRED.

Color of Change - #JusticeforAhmaud

change.org - Justice for George Floyd

change.org - The Minneapolis Police Officers to be charged for murder after killing innocent black man

change.org - Justice for George Floyd

change.org - Justice for George Floyd

change.org - Justice for Breonna Taylor

change.org - Julius Jones is innocent. Don't let him be executed by the state of Oklahoma.

Justice for Julius (more info with how to help and where to send emails)

change.org - Prosecute the murderers who killed George Floyd

change.org - Justice for Belly Mujinga

change.org - Justice For Tony McDade

change.org - Hands Up Act

change.org - Justice For Joāo Pedro

change.org - Willie Simmons has served 38 years for a $9 robbery

change.org - Disbarment of George E. Barnhill

change.org - Justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet

change.org - Justice for Ahmaud Arbery- Pass Georgia Hate Crime Bill

change.org - Free Anthony Wint

change.org - After The Smoke Clears... Arrest Juan DelaCruz for the MURDER of Pamela Turner RIGHT NOW

change.org - #freejeffersonelie

change.org - Exoneration of Albert Wilson

change.org - Justice for Sean

change.org - Reopen Kendrick Johnson's Case #J4Kendrick

change.org - Justice For Tamir Rice

change.org - Justice for Tamir Rice 2

change.org - Censorship of Police Brutality in France

change.org - Fire Racist Criminal Michael J Reynolds from the NYPD

change.org - Mandatory Life Sentence for Police Brutality

change.org - Criminal Charges for Travis & Greg McMichael in the murder of Black Jogger Ahmaud Arbery

change.org - Justice for Alejandro Vargas Martinez

change.org - Make false 911 calls a criminal offense

‪change.org - RAISE THE DEGREE

change.org - Free Siyanda

change.org - Jennifer Jeffley

change.org - Fire Racist Criminal Michael J Reynolds from the NYPD

change.org - Justice for Darrius Stewart

change.org - Justice for Amiya Braxton

change.org - Justice for Dion Johnson

change.org - Justice for Emerald Black

change.org - Junk the Anti-Terrorism Bill and Uphold Human Rights

change.org - Skip to main content    Drop All Charges Against Incarcerated Trafficking Survivor Chrystul Kizer

change.org - Justice for Crystal Mason

change.org - Stop hit and run drivers who kill Innocent people from receiving bond in North Carolina

change.org - Justice for Tete

change.org - Justice for Sean Reed

text “JUSTICE” to 668366

moveon - #JusticeforBre: Police officers who killed Breonna Taylor must be FIRED

moveon - We want justice for 19 year old Darrius Stewart gunned down by a white police officer on last Fri...

Organize For - Take the Pledge: We Are the Movement for Black Lives

Text “ENOUGH” to 55156 - demand justice for Breonna Taylor

Text “JUSTICE” to 55156 - demand DA George Barnhill and Jackie Johnson are removed from office

We the People - Justice for George Floyd Make sure you confirm you signature by checking your email immediately after

We the People - Raise the Degree

We the People - Arrest the Other Three

People's Budget LA Tell your Council Member to reject Mayor Eric Garcetti's proposal to spend 54% of the general fund on the LAPD

reclaim the block - Tell MPLS City Council to Defund the Police

Donate

*Do not donate to any fundraisers hosted by Shaun King - he has an extensive history of collecting funds for pro-Black movements which have disappeared - deleted all petitions by The Action Pac because he is affiliated with them

*Need a Venmo to donate to Minneapolis activists? Donate via Venmo to the Femme Empowerment Project. Be sure to set your donation to "private." You can even specify how you want your donation to be used-- medic training, medic gear, or jail support.

Spreadsheet with places to donate to

gofundme.com - Official George Floyd Memorial Fund (this is the only legitimate gofundme to donate directly to George Floyd’s family)

gofundme - Justice for Kenneth Walker (for his legal representation supporting Breonna Taylor)

gofundme - I Run With Maud

gofundme - Help Coach Steve Parker Get Back in the Game

gofundme - Support Roy Stoddart’s Family

gofundme - Help a front line nurse and baby get proper care

gofundme - COVID19 testing, advocacy & education

gofundme - Jessica Mahone

gofundme - Comfort and Support for the Moncrease Family

gofundme - The Heart of a Chef

gofundme - Marcus Jackson Medical Funds

gofundme - COVID-19 Survivor, Ron's Road to Recovery

gofundme - Greene Family Fire Relief

gofundme - Justice for Regis

This is the only donation page approved by Regis’ mother: gofundme - Justice for Regis

gofundme - RIP Belly Mujinga

gofundme - Homeless Black Trans Women Fund

gofundme - Nadarrius Lundy (Nada) Memorial Fund

gofundme - Destiny Harrison's Legacy (organized by her mother)

Twitter thread full of gofundme’s (most of them were just listed but continue checking in case the thread has been updated)

@theysbianism on Twitter: please retweet! help my girlfriend, a Black trans woman, support her family and get her brother out of prison. the family collectively has been able to get $485 and only $200 more is needed. please boost and donate if you can!

Venmo: @celestialmadonna

Cashapp: $celestialmaddona

the action network - Demand justice for Tony McDade

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Northstar Health Fund (medical supplies)

Sybrina Fulton's Campaign (Trayvon Martin’s mother is running for office in FL)

Donate to Reclaim the Block MPLS organization that invests in their community’s safety and fights against the police union

Donate to Black Visions Collective

Know Your Rights Camp their Legal Defense Initiative will pay for legal assistance for people protesting in MPLS + Kaepernick’s charity is funding the project

Oakland Anti Police Terror Project

South Minneapolis food shelves

MN Bail Fund and Relief List

Twitter thread of bail funds

Another twitter thread of bail funds

Pro bono representation of Houston protestors

Minnesota Freedom Fund (on-the-ground bail fund)

Louisville Bail Fund

Brooklyn Bail Fund

The Bronx Bail Fund

Atlanta Bail Fund (atl solidarity fund)

Atlanta Bail Fund (the action network)

LA Bail Fund

Columbus Bail Fund

Philadelphia Bail Fund (philly bail fund)

Philadelphia Bail Fund (philly bailout)

Detroit Bail Fund

Milwaukee Bail Fund

Charlotte Bail Fund: $WereStillHere OR venmo: ResistanceisBeautiful

Silicon Valley Bail Fund

Louisville Bail Fund

Chicago Bail Fund

National Revolving Bail Fund

Gas Mask Fund:

Venmo: @Isak-Douah

Cashapp: $Isakdouah

Paypal: [email protected]

Black owned businesses

Support small online Black owned businesses

Google doc of Black owned businesses

Twitter thread: "here’s a thread of black small businesses that were destroyed that you can donate to to help rebuild"

Donate to the following groups

http://aclu.org

http://joincampaignzero.org

http://nlg-npap.org  

http://blacklivesmatter.com

http://advancementproject.org

http://changethenypd.org

http://M4BL.org

http://themarshallproject.org

Support protesters

For their safety, do not post pictures or videos of their faces

How to properly treat someone who has been tear gassed

Tips for protesters

More tips

More tips

How to extinguish tear gas

How to treat a bullet wound

Disable tanks

Delete your digital footprint

Disable tanks

Twitter thread masterlist of safety tips for protesting

Protester safety tips

Support the woman pushed by the cop at Barclays $Dounyazayer

Thread of Homeland Security words being monitored on social media sites

Twitter thread: Know Your Rights

Location safety thread

Twitter thread: "how to identify an undercover cop"

If you are arrested for protesting in Minneapolis, call [phone] and they will bail you out

Legal Rts Ctr: [phone]

If you are arrested in NYC call The National Lawyers Guild hotline with name and arrest location: [phone]

Legal Aid Society: [phone]

Atlanta jail support: [phone]

Louisville jail support: (502) 705- 0081

The Bail Project: 1 [phone]

National Lawyers Guild LA - Legal Defense Hotline: [phone]

Pro Bono Legal Representation doc

Drop Off Sites in MPLS (as of 5/29)

Epworth United Methodist Church, 3207 37th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406

MN Youth Collective Office, 2161 University Ave W. Suite 100

2161 University Ave is taking a pause on accepting donations - overflowing

CTUL- CENTRO DE TRABAJADORES UNIDOS EN LA LUCHA - 3715 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55407

The Coven (Downtown/North Loop MPLS) - 30 N 1st St, Minneapolis, MN 55401

Bethlehem Lutheran Church - 436 Roy St St. Paul, MN (NOTE POLICE PRESENCE OBSERVED)

Please donate and drop off First Aid, Physical Safety, Covid Precaution and Nourishment Supplies

Educate yourselves

Anti-racism resources

Learn about Black history and activism

Books by Black Activists

Books: how to be actively antiracist

Learn about unconscious bias

Twitter thread of mental health resources for Black people

Twitter thread on why protesters attacked Target in MN

Being Black and LGBTQ

Twitter thread of documentaries

Open Yale course - African American History: From Emancipation to the Present

ALEC Exposed

MPLS Protests

JACOB PEDERSON of the St. Paul PD is widely believed to have been the undercover cop vandalizing stores and starting fires during protests.

Report: What Does it Take to Embed a Racial Equity & Inclusion Lens?

Twitter thread of misinformation

Twitter thread: "how can i help from the uk?"

Contact Officials

GEORGE FLOYD is the name of the man who was murdered by DEREK CHAUVIN (badge 1087), TOU THAO (badge 7162), Thomas Lane, and J Alexander Kueng. If you truly care about getting justice, make phone calls to these numbers and express your anger. We cannot let another killer cop walk free.

UPDATE: As of May 29, Chauvin has been charged for third-degree murder. Continue pressuring officials for harsher charges because what he did was clearly not an accident. Also continue pushing for the other cops who were at the scene to be charged.

Contact Outline and Info

International Affairs Division

City Hall, Room 112

350 South 5th Street

Minneapolis, MN 55415

[phone]

Velma J. Korbel, Director

Department of Civil Rights

City Hall, Room 239

350 South 5th Street

Minneapolis, MN 55415

[phone]

Mayer Jacob Frey

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/d189a2276e234cacb9f02db60dac0569

[phone]

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman

C-2000 Government Center

300 South Sixth Street

Minneapolis, MN 55487

https://www.hennepinattorney.org/about/contact

[email protected]

[phone]

MPLS FBI field office

[phone]

MPD 3rd Precinct

[phone]

MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension

[phone]

Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis

[phone]

Louisville Mayor (demand justice for Breonna Taylor)

[phone]

MN Precinct Inspector

[email protected]

Commander of Training Unit

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

JUSTICE FOR REGIS CONTACTS

City Councillor Gord Perks - Parkdale - High Park

[email protected]

[phone]

MPP Bhutilla Karpoche - Parkdale - High Park

[email protected]

[phone]

MP Arif Virani - Parkdale - High Park

[email protected]

[phone]

Mayor of Toronto John Tory

[email protected]

[phone]

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders

[email protected]

[phone]

Solicitor General - Minister Sylvia Jones

[email protected]

[phone]

[phone]

Attorney General of Ontario Doug Downey

[email protected]

[phone]

[phone]

Urge the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) for transparency and accountability in handling her case

1 [phone] OR [phone]

https://www.siu.on.ca/en/contact.php

Address concerns to SIU Director Joseph Martino

Sample Email:

Hello [recipient],

I am writing to you in regards to the incident that occurred at 100 High Park Avenue on May 27th, 2020. A 29 year-old Black woman, Regis, has died after allegedly falling off her balcony, despite police being present.

As a concerned citizen, I am very upset and disturbed at the events that took place and the allegations that this caused on the part of the police. I am demanding justice and answers as to the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet.

A complete and transparent public and independent investigation needs to take place. Charges need to be brought to all the officers involved, as well as all information and evidence should be made available to the public.

Sincerely,

[your name]

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR CONTACTS

Murdered by Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove

Louisville Metro PD

[phone]

Louisville Mayor Office

[phone]

JUSTICE FOR TONY MCDADE CONTACTS

Template

Tallahassee Police dept

[email protected]

Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey

[email protected]

Commissioner Jeremy Matlow https://www.talgov.com/Main/email.aspx?emailto=jeremy.matlow

Officer Kevin Bradshaw - Officer on Tony's case

[phone]

#blm #protests #black lives matter #george floyd

[parabolame]

Valdosta Law Firm

The solutions of Valdosta personal injury attorneys are sought when a person declares to have been physically or emotionally wounded due to the oversight or incorrect actions of a third-party. The third-party could be another individual, a government, a firm, corporation, company, college or any other entity. Personal injury attorneys specialize in an area of the law, called Tort law. Tort law consists of non-economic as well as economic injuries to an individual's right, track record and or residential property. It additionally consists of civil actions. These attorneys are enlightened and trained in basic law, as well as in all locations of the regulation, but they typically deal with situations that belong to personal injuries or Tort law. They usually deal with injuries that result from a cars and truck or other vehicle accidents, work relevant injuries, clinical errors, and defective as well as malfunctioning products, drops as well as lots of others that are not provided below.

Valdosta Personal injury lawyers need to be allowed to exercise in the states in which they work. In order to do so, they have to effectively finish particular bar examinations (different states will certainly have various examinations). In an ironic twist, injury attorneys are also typically called test legal representatives, although their instances seldom get to test. These lawyers choose to reach to a negotiation out of court. It is also weird, as other kinds of legal representatives go to test. If you are considering opening a personal injury case against a third-party, you likewise have to think of employing the services of an attorney. This needs to be done to make certain that not only are your legal rights being secured as an applicant, however likewise that the instance is ruled in your favor by the courts or that you get to a positive out-of-court settlement with the celebration that you want to sue.

All Valdosta lawyers as well as attorneys, including accident lawyers, embark on a moral and professional code of conduct when they qualify, as well as which they need to adhere to for the duration of their careers in the regulation profession. These codes are created and regulated by state bars. The solutions that you can anticipate from a lawyer consist of; submitting legal complaints in your place, representing in court throughout process, give legal guidance to the customers and also potential clients, and also draft lawful documents.

What steps do Valdosta personal injury attorneys take prior to they accept customer cases?

First of all, the injury attorney needs to meet with possible customers in an examination prior to they can represent them. Next, the lawyer will review the individual instances before they identify whether, there is any type of legal basis for them. If the client does have legal ground to depend on, the attorney will begin studying in order to develop a strong case with which he/she will fight for the customer, versus the third-party formerly described.

The utmost objective of a good Valdosta attorney is to win justice in addition to winning the suitable compensation for their customers. The attorney will certainly need to have the ability to make use of every feasible ability as well as piece of expertise that they have in order to win each customer's case. Nonetheless, the attorney will certainly also attempt to prevent taking the situation to the court to be heard by a Judge; so he/she will certainly attempt to reach a settlement with the third-party in the support of their customer. The standard procedures that are gone over above state that the accident attorney, without a doubt all attorneys and attorneys, needs to be loyal to their clients, as well as also value the legal representative customer discretion, in addition to regard the best passions of each client.

If you have actually been deprived or harmed as a result of the neglect of one more individual or company or any other entity, it is an excellent idea to speak with an injury attorney. Tort regulation is the area that a personal injury attorney specializes in and also includes damages, monetary; physical; and also non-economic, to a person's residential property, civil liberties, or reputation.

Injury instances are constantly based on oversight, which occurs when an entity fails to observe a standardized degree of treatment. A few of the typical cases dealt with by a personal injury legal representative include injuries at the office, those triggered by utilizing defective items, clinical malpractices, hazardous direct exposures, birth injuries, wrongful deaths, car mishaps, etc., among numerous others.

Injury is typically accompanied by calamitous pain, monetary disorder, loss of job, special needs, rise of clinical expense, sensations of irritation as well as vulnerability, and so on. An injury attorney will enlighten you on the different legal choices offered, the civil liberties that are available to you as well as suggests of protecting them, sue of compensation in case you are qualified, and also assist you to obtain the payment. Consequently, in case of any kind of injury, it is really essential that you get in touch with an injury attorney quickly.

Personal injury regulations in Valdosta, Georgia, are intricate as well as vary from state to state. Sources of certain injuries likewise total up to criminal acts. In such instances, a separate criminal case is required. A seasoned attorney is educated about the different type of cases and also the linked procedures. The attorney will certainly assist to estimate the worth of your case based upon other comparable cases that have actually been managed and after extensive assessment of the circumstance. Lots of attorneys offer a complimentary initial consultation to the impacted. The scenario and also circumstances concerning each individual instance will be various, and also the injury lawyer will certainly additionally know the essential deadlines that have to be fulfilled in order to preserve the cases for payment.

The personal injury regulation is subject to constant changes and an experienced lawyer can give recommendations and also interpretation of the specifics that associate with the situation. The lawyer will do the needed study that is related to the insurance claim that has been submitted to hold the accountable party lawfully answerable. A lawyer can also pick to resolve such situations equally outside the court of law without tests.

The Valdosta lawyer is bound by lots of duties in serving the customer. They are called for to comply with both specialist as well as ethical regulations established by the bar associations where they are licensed. They are needed to maintain utmost loyalty towards the client and also work in the best rate of interests. Some attorneys focus on only one location of tort law such as automobile mishaps or mesothelioma.

For those impacted, it is very important to choose a personal injury lawyer who charges a practical amount of costs. There are law firms that use the solutions of several such skilled and also well-informed attorneys. The services are provided, nonetheless, are most likely to be a lot more costly than that billed by a solo specialist.

Do a search online for the phrase "injury attorney" or "injury lawyer" as well as you will see thousands of law office. Yet exactly how do you see through those outcomes to conclude that the most excellent accident attorneys are in your location? This short article will certainly allow you to ignore countless us dollars legal representatives are spending for internet search engine advertising strategies and learn who are first-rate injury attorneys.

Amongst the very first points you most definitely have to examine the very first time looking into PI attorney websites is whether the attorney/lawyer handles simply injury instances or do they likewise handle various other sorts of situations too. A multitude of attorneys, specifically those beyond the boundaries of large metropolitan locations, are generally more of the typical legal practitioners as well as look after a little of everything. Just like whatever else nowadays, you are most likely to be much more pleased obtaining an attorney that focuses primarily on mishap injury legislation only.

You don't just need to track down as well as hire an attorney at regulation that solely does accidental injury for a living, you must additionally make sure that law practice is experienced in your actual sort of insurance claim. As far as accident law office enter basic, when you have located an accident attorney that largely deals with PI cases for a living, then you should be alright employing him or her for a cars and truck accident case. This sort of situation is considered the support of most of injury legal representatives.

Most individuals would certainly be clever to narrow down the filter a little bit much more if you have a challenging scenario like clinical malpractice or maybe a product problem claim. If you are dealing with such a law suit, you absolutely ought to try to find, interview, as well as involve an accident lawyer that focuses on these sorts of instances. A great, honest injury attorney that does not do a great deal of these cases will refer you to a Valdosta law practice that does. The last thing a lawyer wants is to be in over their head.

One of the most valuable resource for any lawyer at regulation, and you also, is time. An injury legal representative will certainly require to have the opportunity to provide you the attorney-client support that is called for along with the moment to properly look into as well as supervise your case. There are often 3 or more types of injury attorneys when it pertains to time and also the number of situations they work with at the same time.

Injury lawyers are the individuals that are best able to assist victims as well as acquire compensation arising from mishaps as well as incidents. The targets will benefit most if they seek support from a personal injury lawyer that is experienced in taking care of accident relevant cases. The cost of the solutions that will certainly be given to the target, certainly, will certainly be remunerated by the client. Most of attorneys rate their costs relying on the problem of a specific situation in addition to the intensity of wounds. Generally, preliminary conversation with a personal injury lawyer does not cost anything.

Besides, most of attorneys do not take any type of payment till the settlement has actually been paid to the customer. Most of them prefer to handle their situations on the basis of agreement as well as based on the agreement they take a percentage from the compensation attained by the customer. In contrast, if the customer is defeated in case, they do not require to pay the attorney. It is extremely important for customers to distinguish the difference between fee and cost of a personal injury lawyer. The cost signifies the cost - the quantity that the client needs to pay while filing a suit.

If you become harmed in a mishap and also require immediate financial support, an injury lawyer is the ideal person who can competently represent your grievance in court for an instant as well as appropriate repayment insurance claim. The lawyer can effectively handle an extensive variety of accidents and damages including cars and truck, bus, pedestrian, van and motorcycle problems; surgical problems, fitness care responsibility issues; building and construction spot calamities, as well as others. Yet, if the problem of the instance worsens, like if the victim dies in the mishap, the relative of the sufferers will obtain the payment cash. For that reason, appointing a qualified injury lawyer is certainly the best choice all the same. When the mishap is reported, the insurance corporation panel will certainly begin to look for hints in addition to prospective evidence to provide to their company. For this reason, designating an injury attorney who is experienced at taking care of situations connected to injuries and incidents is very vital.

An accident attorney generally has extensive expertise regarding the comparable cases that have settled. In addition, they can offer crucial analytical data to the sufferer to help them make a smart decision on just how much they ought to seek an insurance claim. The lawyer has a liability to his customer and also ought to usually place an initiative in winning their client's trust as well as confidence because they will look after their welfare and benefits. For that reason, the target ought to always relay the details of their crash to their accident lawyers, even if it is their fault or mistake. The sufferer must not conceal any type of factors from their attorney because what they see as a simple issue might be a crucial factor for the lawyer. Yet, if there is any mistake or error on the part of the target, the attorney should handle it carefully and also ought to not reveal any of the client's tricks under any scenarios. So, the target of a mishap ought to assign a good lawyer as soon as possible as well as needs to have the ability to rely on him or her for the very best feasible outcome.

#Valdosta Law Firm #Injury Attorney Valdosta #Valdosta Georgia #Personal Injury Lawyer Valdosta

[day0one]

3 more linked to neo-Nazi group arrested in Georgia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three men linked to a violent white supremacist group known as The Base were charged with conspiring to kill members of a militant anti-fascist group, police in Georgia announced Friday, a day after three other members were arrested on federal charges in Maryland and Delaware.

A senior FBI national security official said police and federal agents intentionally moved to arrest the men ahead of Monday’s rally because they believed some of them intended to commit violence there. It was unknown if the men arrested in Georgia planned to attend the rally in Richmond.

The Base, a collective of hardcore neo-Nazis that operate as a paramilitary organization, has proclaimed war against minority communities within the United States and abroad, the FBI has said. Unlike other extremist groups, it’s not focused on promulgating propaganda — instead, the group aims to bring together highly skilled members to train them for acts of violence.

There’s an intensified focus on The Base after the three members were arrested Thursday in Maryland and Delaware on federal felony charges. A criminal complaint included details of how some of the men built an assault rifle using parts, purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition, and traded vests that could carry body armor.

“A big reason why we disrupted it now was based on the timing of the rally on Monday and the intent of some of the individuals to potentially conduct violent acts down in Richmond,” said Jay Tabb, the executive assistant director for national security at the FBI.

Speaking at a homeland security event in Washington, he said the FBI has “got a fair sense of worry” because agents “can’t account for everybody and everything.”

“We have a degree of interest of some individuals that we know are at least saying that they will be there and we have no way to predict where rhetoric turns to violence,” Tabb said.

Organizers of The Base recruit fellow white supremacists online — particularly seeking out veterans because of their military training — use encrypted chat rooms and train members in military-style camps in the woods, according to experts who track extremist groups.

The group, which has the motto “learn, train, fight,” brings together white supremacists with varying ideologies.

The arrests show an intensified focus on the group from law enforcement officials who are concerned that the supremacists may go beyond plotting to violent acts, a threat made more urgent ahead of a pro-gun rally Monday in Richmond, Va.

The arrests only added to rising fears that Monday’s rally could quickly devolve into violence, with thousands of protesters planning to descend on Virginia’s capital, and become a repeat of the 2017 white nationalist rally when a man drove his car into counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal and civil rights activist.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed an executive order banning guns from the state Capitol grounds for Monday’s rally, but pro-gun groups filed an appeal seeking to overturn the ban. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the ban Friday.

“These extremists are going to try to attach themselves to these events in order to exploit these strong feelings, to try to bring in new recruits,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices, and their desire to create a white “ethno-state,” the FBI has said in court papers.

On Friday, police in Georgia confirmed that the three other men linked to The Base were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal street gang. Authorities said the men planned to kill a married couple who were anti-fascist protesters — part of the Antifa movement — and believed killing the couple would send a message to enemies of The Base.

The arrests came after an undercover FBI agent infiltrated the group and participated in shooting drills in the mountains of northern Georgia, according to a police affidavit obtained by the AP. The drills were being done in preparation for what they believe is an impending collapse of the United States and ensuing race war. At the end of the firearms training, the Georgia men wore tactical gear and balaclava hoods that expose only part of the face while posing for photos with the undercover agent and the photos were later used in the group’s propaganda, the affidavit says.

The men were identified as Luke Austin Lane, Michael Helterbrand, and Jacob Kaderli. The three remained in custody and it was not immediately clear whether they had attorneys who could comment on the allegations.

Lane, Kaderli, and the undercover agent drove to the couple’s home in Bartow County to scope it out, according to the affidavit. After checking out the property and the surrounding neighborhood, Lane suggested using a sledgehammer as one way of breaching the door, then kill them with revolvers, according to the affidavit. Kaderli suggested they should burn the house down after the killings, it states.

While other extremist groups are focused on getting people together to produce propaganda and make a name for themselves around a specific ideology, The Base is focused on action, the experts say. They are interested in training their members to use firearms and explosives.

“To have that kind of broad tent, that’s incredibly dangerous,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, a policy group formed to combat online extremist ideologies.

Members of The Base also believe in an extreme form of survivalism and preparation, offering real-life survivalist training to resist the “extinction” of the Caucasian race, the FBI has said.

“I think what marks The Base as a particular concern is that it is very blatant about its embrace of accelerationist ideas. This concept that societal collapse is not only imminent but that they have a role to play in furthering it - so that we can have a race war in this country,” Segal said.

“There are many groups active online that have an on-the-ground presence, but it’s the sub-culture that the base is embracing is so vividly militant,” he said. “It’s so blatantly hateful it’s going to attract a certain type of extremist, one who is looking for action.”

A New Jersey man who authorities say was a recruiter for The Base was arrested by the FBI in November after he allegedly used the group to find fellow neo-Nazis to vandalize synagogues in Michigan and Wisconsin. Authorities said the group’s plan to vandalize synagogues with anti-Semitic graffiti and break windows was part of what the group called “Operation Kristallnacht,” a reference to a 1938 incident when Nazis torched synagogues in Germany, vandalized Jewish homes and business and killed close to 100 people.

The man, Richard Tobin, 18, had also discussed carrying out a suicide bombing and said he had saved manuals about how to carry out an attack, filling the back of a truck with barrels packed with explosive materials similar to the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people in 1995.

Separately on Friday, the Justice Department charged a Wisconsin man who they say was also a member of The Base who spray-painted swastikas, the group’s symbol, and anti-Semitic words on a synagogue in Racine, Wisconsin in September, at Tobin’s direction. The man, Yousef Barasneh, 22, was arrested on a federal civil rights charge.

Tobin is not specifically named in the charging papers against Barasneh, but the details match those in the criminal complaint that was filed against him in November. Authorities said Tobin and Barasneh were supposed to meet in person at one of the group’s meetups in in Silver Creek, Georgia, from Oct. 30 until Nov. 2. Tobin ultimately didn’t attend.

Prosecutors said recruitment posters for The Base were put up at Marquette University in Milwaukee and the group also held a separate training session for members in Wood County, Wisconsin.

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#arrests

[governmentagencynews]

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested 177 unlawfully present noncitizens with multiple DUI convictions during a nationwide law enforcement effort from Aug. 20, through Sept. 30.“More than 11,000 people in the U.S. died as a result of crashes involving a drunk driver in 2020. An enforcement operation focusing on individuals who have previously been convicted of DUI – some resulting in death or serious bodily harm – is vitally important to public safety,” said ERO Executive Associate Director Corey A. Price. “ERO continues to remove unlawfully present individuals who are negatively affecting the safety of our communities.” This enforcement operation was implemented to address unlawfully present noncitizens convicted of violating multiple local DUI laws. In addition to DUI convictions, criminal histories of those arrested include, but were not limited to crimes involving assault, cruelty toward children, weapons violations, domestic violence, fraud, homicide by vehicle, hit-and-run, and larceny. Cases amenable to federal criminal prosecution may be presented to the appropriate U.S. Attorney’s Office. Among those arrested: A 40-year-old Mexican national convicted of homicide by vehicle – 1st degree. The individual was arrested in Norcross, Georgia, and remains in ICE custody pending prosecution and removal proceedings. A 35-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of vehicular manslaughter – 2nd degree. The individual was arrested in Bellport, New York, and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. A 45-year-old Mexican national convicted of hit-and-run causing death or injury. The individual was arrested in Banning, California, and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. A 48-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of multiple misdemeanor and felony DUI offenses; misdemeanor attempted criminal possession of a weapon – 4th degree, and misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle – 2nd degree. The individual was arrested in Freeport, New York, and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. ICE officers make case decisions in a professional and responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland. They apply prosecutorial discretion when making such decisions as do law enforcement officers in different agencies and offices throughout the nation. Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ICE officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, ERO conducted 74,082 administrative arrests of noncitizens, which included 12,025 individuals with aggravated felony convictions. Offenses associated with noncitizens arrested in FY 2021 included 1,506 homicide related offenses, 3,415 sexual assaults, 19,549 assaults, 2,717 robberies, and 1,063 kidnappings. Members of the public can report crimes and/or suspicious activity by dialing 1-866-347-2423 or completing the online tip form. Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in your community, on Twitter @ICEgov.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/live-updates-and-video-of-george-floyd-protests-in-us/

Live Updates and Video of George Floyd Protests in US

On a fifth night of unrest in Minneapolis, protesters met a more aggressive response.

Protesters who took to the streets in Minneapolis for the fifth straight night on Saturday met a more determined response from police officers and National Guard troops, as demonstrations escalated in dozens of cities across the country — a show of national anger over the death of a black man in police custody that showed no signs of abating.

Soon after an 8 p.m. curfew took effect, the police in Minneapolis began arresting protesters and firing tear gas and other projectiles toward crowds, and the National Guard used a helicopter to dump water on a car that was on fire.

But even as aerial videos from Minneapolis showed police officers keeping demonstrators at bay, other cities were being overwhelmed, despite hastily imposed curfews.

Chief Medaria Arradondo of the Minneapolis Police Department said officers were arresting people who refused to disperse and that he had no tolerance for people trying to “hijack” the city for their own goals.

“We are taking back this city,” he told KMSP-TV, a local network, adding, “Tonight is really about regaining the hope of our city and saying ‘No more.’”

In Tennessee, the building that houses Nashville’s City Hall and criminal courthouse was set on fire on Saturday before fire crews were dispatched to the scene. Elsewhere, protesters tore down a statue of Edward Carmack, a former Tennessee senator and newspaper editor known for denigrating Ida B. Wells, the pioneering black journalist and anti-lynching crusader.

In New York City, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets for a third day, and two police vans were filmed plowing into protesters who had tried to halt traffic in Brooklyn. At least 13 Philadelphia police officers were injured in protests there.

The protests escalated on Friday and Saturday even after Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was recorded kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck until he lost consciousness, was charged with third-degree murder.

President Trump has harshly criticized the unrest, and Attorney General William P. Barr warned on Saturday that people inflicting the destruction could face federal charges. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said the people defying curfews and trying to instigate police were no longer protesting police brutality, but rather seeking to exploit Mr. Floyd’s death for their own political motives.

Demonstrations on the nation’s streets escalated throughout Saturday, as protesters amassed outside City Hall in San Francisco, shut down highway traffic in Miami and attempted to topple a statue in Philadelphia

.

Significant protests have taken place in at least 48 cities across the country in the days since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, reflecting long-simmering anger over racism and police brutality that extend far beyond a single case.

“I’m fed up,” Jarrell Slade, a 26-year-old school counselor, said at a protest in Washington, where hundreds gathered outside the Justice Department and marched down the National Mall on Saturday afternoon. “I’m tired of going on social media, talking to my friends and family, and having everything be centered on black death.”

In Chicago, protesters scuffled with police on Saturday afternoon, burning at least one flag and marching toward the Trump International Hotel and Tower before dispersing somewhat. About 3,000 people took part in the protests, according to local news reports. Some vandalized police vehicles and left spray-painted buildings in their wake.

Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, said on Saturday that she supported the demonstrators’ right to protest but urged restraint. Later in the day, she imposed a 9 p.m. curfew.

President Trump on Saturday urged officials in Minnesota to “get tougher” on the protesters and offered greater military support, a move that would represent a significant escalation in the government’s response to the tensions. Gov. Tim Walz declined the Army’s offer to deploy military police units, but said he had activated all 13,000 of the state’s National Guard troops and warned that Saturday night’s protest could be the largest and most destructive yet.

The massive crowds represented a sudden departure for cities that had previously been under lockdown orders amid the coronavirus pandemic, and officials quickly found themselves shifting from one crisis to another.

Governors in at least 14 states, including Minnesota, Georgia, Kentucky and Washington State, had activated or were preparing to activate their National Guards by nightfall, a spokeswoman at the guard’s headquarters said.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric M. Garcetti also issued a curfew, a day after the police made more than 500 arrests. And Mayor Carlos Gimenez of Miami-Dade County, Fla., ordered a countywide curfew beginning at 11 p.m. after at least one police car was set ablaze in downtown Miami, by the Miami Police Department headquarters.

Police in Miami deployed tear gas against protesters downtown, who had earlier blocked traffic on Interstate 95 in both directions. Mayor Francis Suarez had said earlier on Saturday that city officers would not wear riot gear, and officers showed a mostly hands-off approach to the demonstration until night began to fall. Tear gas was also used to disperse crowds on Saturday evening in Jacksonville and Orlando.

In New York City, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets for a third day, gathering at marches in Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens and outside Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan. In the late afternoon, protesters in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn confronted the police in a series of street melees, hurling empty bottles and pieces of debris at officers who responded with billy clubs and pepper spray.

Many of the hundreds marching through Center City in Philadelphia on Saturday were doing so peacefully, with fists raised and signs held aloft in anger over Mr. Floyd’s death. But there were reports of destruction as the afternoon wore on, and the mayor issued a curfew for 8 p.m.

At least 13 Philadelphia police officers were injured in connection with the protests, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters at a news conference on Saturday night. Four police vehicles were damaged, and numerous stores were gutted, according to local news reports.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota activated thousands of additional National Guard troops to send to Minneapolis but declined the Army’s offer to deploy military police units, as days of protests over the death of Mr. Floyd threatened to boil over even further on Saturday.

Mr. Walz, a Democrat, acknowledged that officials had underestimated the demonstrations in Minneapolis, where despite a newly issued curfew, people burned buildings and turned the city’s streets into a smoldering battleground on Friday night. He compared the havoc to wars that Americans have fought overseas, and said he expected even more unrest on Saturday night.

“What you’ve seen in previous nights, I think, will be dwarfed by what they will do tonight,” he said.

Pentagon officials said that Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke Friday with Mr. Walz, to express “willingness” to deploy military police units. The governor declined the offer, the officials said, and has since activated all of the state’s National Guard troops, up to 13,200.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Northern Command has put several military police units on four-hour status, which means they could be ready to deploy in four hours, as opposed to a day.

Commissioner John Harrington of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said that there had been “tens of thousands” of people in the streets on Friday, more than any other night since Mr. Floyd’s death on Monday set off a wave of protests that have become increasingly destructive across the country.

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, looking weary after four days of outrage in his city, pleaded with residents to go home and stop burning down the local businesses that he said were even more vital in the middle of a pandemic.

“You’re not getting back at the police officer that tragically killed George Floyd by looting a town,” Mr. Frey said. “You’re not getting back at anybody.”

Officials blame outsiders for stoking violence, but have little evidence.

Officials in Minnesota and Washington are claiming that outside groups are undermining the protests in Minneapolis, using them as a cover to set fires, loot stores and destroy property. But they disagree on whether far-left or far-right groups are to blame and have not offered evidence to substantiate their claims.

On Saturday, Governor Walz said the “best estimate” suggested that 80 percent of those arrested at the protests were not from the state. “I’m not trying to deflect in any way. I’m not trying to say there aren’t Minnesotans amongst this group,” Mr. Walz said. But “the vast majority,” he said, are from outside the state.

KARE, a Minneapolis television station, found that such claims may not be accurate. The station reviewed all of the arrests made by Minneapolis-based police agencies for rioting, unlawful assembly and burglary-related crimes from Friday to Saturday and found that 86 percent of those arrested listed a Minnesota address.

The mayor of St. Paul, Melvin Carter, on Saturday retracted his claim that “every single person” arrested on Friday night was from out of state. A spokesman said the mayor later learned that “more than half” are from Minnesota.

John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the authorities were analyzing those arrested, trying to understand what online platforms they have used and who they were associated with.

“We have seen things like white supremacist organizers who have posted things on platforms about coming to Minnesota,” Mr. Harrington said. “Is this organized crime? Is this an organized a cell of terror? Where is the linkage?”

Mayor Frey also blamed outsiders for the violence. “We are now confronting white supremacists, members of organized crime, out of state instigators, and possibly even foreign actors to destroy and destabilize our city and our region,” he wrote on Twitter.

On Saturday, President Trump insisted that the protesters were far-left extremists. “The memory of George Floyd is now being exploited by rioters, looters and anarchists,” he said.

Attorney General William P. Barr echoed the claim.

“In many places it appears the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far-left extremist groups, using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the violence,” he said.

Residents also say that Minneapolis has a core group of white anarchists. A man known as the Umbrella Man, dressed in all black and carrying a black umbrella, who appears to be white, was filmed breaking windows at an AutoZone store.

The protest on Los Angeles’s affluent West Side began peacefully on Saturday and stayed that way for nearly three hours. Activists handed out water and food, and a crowd marched on Beverly Boulevard, chanting slogans against police brutality and waving placards.

And then it took a violent turn.

Suddenly a police car was smashed and on fire, black smoke billowing into the blue sky. A young man threw a skateboard at a police officer, and frightened men and women rushed away in every direction. Police helicopters hovered overhead, and convoys of police S.U.V.s raced to the scene.

As tensions rose on the fourth day of protests in Los Angeles over the death of George Floyd, Mayor Eric M. Garcetti declared an 8 p.m. curfew.

“Go home,” Mr. Garcetti said. “Let us put the fires out. Let us learn the lessons. Let us re-humanize each other.”

But later in the evening, looting was reported at a Nordstrom store at The Grove, an upscale mall near the area of the protest, and a small fire was burning outside.

In San Francisco, a march drew about 1,000 people but remained peaceful, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. In Oakland, Mayor Libby Schaaf called on demonstrators to stay home after violent demonstrations on Friday.

In Sacramento, police officers surrounded the State Capitol as protesters pelted them and their horses with oranges and water bottles.

Before the mayhem started in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon, several hundred people reflecting the diversity of the city — white, black, Latino, Asian-American — had protested peacefully.

The death of Mr. Floyd and the unrest it has provoked has tugged at painful memories in Los Angeles of the Rodney King beating in 1991 and the riots that occurred the next year after the acquittal of the four police officers involved in the case.

A freelance photographer who was shot in the eye while covering the protests in Minneapolis on Saturday was of one of several journalists who have been attacked, arrested or otherwise harassed while covering the protests that have erupted nationwide.

A television reporter in Louisville, Kentucky was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her.

In Atlanta, masses of protesters on Friday night convened on the CNN headquarters, where they broke through the front door, lobbed fireworks and vandalized the building. Earlier in the day, Omar Jimenez, a reporter for the network, was detained as he reported on live television.

“I was aiming my next shot, put my camera down for a second, and then my face exploded,” said Linda Tirado, the photojournalist. “I immediately felt blood and was screaming, ‘I’m press! I’m press!’”

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press logged about 10 different incidents that ranged from assaults to menacing in Phoenix, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Minneapolis.

“With the unraveling of civil peace around the country, reporters are perceived as a target by both the police and the protesters,” said Bruce Brown, the executive director of the Reporters Committee, “and that is an extremely frightening place to be.”

The mass demonstrations, some peaceful, some destructive, touched off an anguished debate on Saturday among commentators, pastors and scholars about the role of protest in forcing political and social change in America.

In the pages of the nation’s newspapers and on social media, some watched in horror and others with a sense of hope as protesters took to the streets following Mr. Floyd’s death.

The singer Selena Gomez said she had spent the last 24 hours “trying to process this all.”

“Nothing anyone says can take back what has happened,” she wrote on Twitter. “But we can and must all make sure to take action. Too many black lives have been taken from us for far too long.”

Shana L. Redmond, a scholar of music, race and politics at U.C.L.A.’s Herb Alpert School of Music, described receiving tearful calls from loved ones in Minneapolis with “tears running too fast to pause at sadness.”

“They are hot with rage and anger at the condition of Black people in that place and in this world,” she wrote on Twitter. “This is not a drill. This is our terrifying, murderous present. #MinneapolisRebellion.”

Some who sympathized with the protesters voiced concern that the destruction could undermine the goal of forcing social change.

“I understand our frustration, rage and anger but it’s of no benefit when we hurt ourselves in the process,” Jamal H. Bryant, the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., wrote on Twitter. “I urge adamantly for the fixing of this corrupt justice system and I pray profusely for the black businesses adversely affected!”

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in the Senate, who has called for the arrest of all four officers involved the arrest of Mr. Floyd, urged calm.

“I know well the anger and frustration felt throughout communities of color right now,” he wrote on Twitter. “But violence is not the answer. Violence takes the focus off #GeorgeFloyd and the real issues at hand, and gives those who prey on division more fuel. Make your voices heard, not bricks and fire.”

Brian Merchant, an author, noted how the nation was briefly distracted on Saturday by the launch of a rocket built and operated not by NASA but SpaceX, the company founded by the billionaire Elon Musk.

“The symbolism of a billionaire-owned, for-profit space company launching astronauts high above the heads of thousands of people protesting state brutality and oppression amid a global pandemic and economic collapse should not be lost on anyone,” he wrote.

On Blavity, a website geared toward black millennials, an editorial argued that the fires in Minneapolis reflected “the rage of Black protestors fed up seeing the lives of our brothers and sisters robbed by racism.”

“We are fed up because we are forced to fight a pandemic amid a pandemic,” the editorial said. “We are being disproportionately killed by systemic and overt racism at the same time — and are expected to accept these deadly conditions.”

In The Los Angeles Times, an editorial argued that the country should focus should not on the looting but on the repeated instances of the police killing black men.

“And no, police violence does not justify the rampages that erupted in Minneapolis,” the editorial said. “But as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out more than a half-century ago, ‘a riot is the language of the unheard.’”

The intensifying protests came after the authorities announced that the officer who pinned George Floyd to the ground had been arrested and charged with murder on Friday, a development that activists and Mr. Floyd’s family had called for but also said did not go far enough.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, charges that come with a combined maximum sentence of 35 years.

An investigation into the three other officers who were present at the scene remains ongoing.

Mr. Floyd’s relatives have said that had wanted the more serious charge of first-degree murder.

Third-degree murder does not require an intent to kill, according to the Minnesota statute, only that the perpetrator caused someone’s death in a dangerous act “without regard for human life.” Charges of first- and second-degree murder require prosecutors to prove, in almost all cases, that the perpetrator made a decision to kill the victim.

A lawyer for Mr. Chauvin’s wife, Kellie, said that she was devastated by Mr. Floyd’s death and expressed sympathy for his family and those grieving his loss. The case has also led Ms. Chauvin to seek a divorce, the lawyer, Amanda Mason-Sekula, said in an interview on Friday night.

Reporting was contributed by Tim Arango, Mike Baker, Peter Baker, Julian E. Barnes, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Audra D.S. Burch, Helene Cooper, Manny Fernandez, Thomas Fuller, Matt Furber, Michael M. Grynbaum, Maggie Haberman, Shawn Hubler, Annie Karni, Michael Levenson, Neil MacFarquhar, Patricia Mazzei, Shawn McCreesh, Sarah Mervosh, Jeremy W. Peters, Frances Robles and Rick Rojas.

#National

[ladystylestores]

George Floyd death: Minnesota governor decries violent protests

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionThe mayor of Minneapolis said of the unrest: “This needs to stop”

Violent protests over the death of an unarmed African-American man in the hands of police officers in Minnesota “are no longer in any way” about his killing, the state’s governor has said.

Tim Walz spoke after a night of unrest in several US cities over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

He said that as a result he was taking the unprecedented step of mobilising the state’s entire National Guard.

There are also reports that military police units could deploy.

An ex-Minneapolis policeman has been charged with murder over the death of Mr Floyd, 46, in police custody on Monday.

Derek Chauvin, 44 and white, was shown in footage kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck for several minutes, even after he said he couldn’t breathe. He and three other officers have since been sacked.

The video went viral online, reigniting US anger over police killings of black Americans, and reopening deep wounds over racial inequality across the nation.

On Friday night protesters clashed with police in cities including New York, Atlanta and Portland. In Washington DC, the White House was briefly locked down.

Image copyright 30 May 2020

Image caption Demonstrations have continued since Mr Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody on Monday

In Houston, where George Floyd grew up, a 19-year-old protester told the Associated Press: “My question is how many more, how many more? I just want to live in a future where we all live in harmony and we’re not oppressed.”

In Minnesota, “our great cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are under assault,” Governor Walz said. “The situation in in Minneapolis is now about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great city.”

He said violence on Friday night had made “a mockery of pretending this is about George Floyd’s death, or inequities or historical traumas to our communities of colour”.

He and other officials have suggested that many violent protesters came from outside the state to cause trouble, but did not give details.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption People helped to clean up the rubble of burned and looted buildings in Minneapolis on Saturday

On Saturday, President Donald Trump said Mr Floyd’s death had “filled Americans with horror, anger and grief”.

“I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking peace,” he said in a televised address from Cape Canaveral in Florida, following the launch into orbit of two Nasa astronauts by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

The president denounced the actions of “looters and anarchists”, saying that what was needed was “healing not hatred, justice not chaos”.

“I will not allow angry mobs to dominate – won’t happen,” he added.

Mr Trump earlier praised the US Secret Service for securing the White House but said if protesters breached the perimeter they “would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen”. He blamed violence on “organised groups”.

What’s the latest on the protests?

Minnesota remains the most volatile region, with curfews ordered for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul from 20:00 to 06:00 on Friday and Saturday evening.

Protesters defied the curfew on Friday. Fires, many from burning cars, were visible in a number of areas and television pictures showed widespread looting.

Hundreds of troops from the National Guard, a reserve military force that can be called on by the US president or state governors to intervene in domestic emergencies, moved in late at night.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption A burnt vehicle is seen in the aftermath of protests in Minneapolis

Minnesota officials said tens of thousands of people turned out on Friday and they are expecting more unrest on Saturday night.

As a result, Gov Walz said he was activating all National Guard troops available in the state – reportedly up to 13,000 – for the first time in history to respond to rioters. The Pentagon said some US military units were on alert to support Minnesota if asked.

There are long-standing tensions between the black community and police in Minneapolis. Another black man, Philando Castile, was shot and killed in 2016 during a traffic stop close to the epicentre of these protests in a case that gained international attention.

African-Americans also suffer significant socio-economic inequalities, entrenched segregation and a higher level of unemployment than the white community.

In Atlanta, Georgia, where buildings were vandalised, a state of emergency was declared for some areas to protect people and property.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionKiller Mike: “It is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy”

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an impassioned plea, saying: “This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. You are disgracing our city. You are disgracing the life of George Floyd.”

In New York’s Brooklyn district, protesters clashed with police, throwing projectiles, starting fires and destroying police vehicles. A number of officers were injured and many arrests made.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, has declared a state of emergency amid looting, fires and an attack on a police precinct. An immediate curfew until 06:00 local time (13:00 GMT) was imposed and it will restart at 20:00.

Image copyright Laura Fuchs

Image caption Protesters use milk to treat the sting of tear gas in New York City

How did the situation get here?

On Monday night, police received a phone call from a neighbourhood grocery store alleging that George Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 note.

Officers responded and were attempting to put him in a police vehicle when he dropped to the ground, telling them he was claustrophobic.

According to police, he physically resisted officers and was handcuffed. Video of the incident does not show how the confrontation started.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionMinnesota governor on George Floyd death: ‘Thank God a young person had a camera to video it’

With Mr Chauvin’s knee on his neck, Mr Floyd can be heard saying “please, I can’t breathe” and “don’t kill me”.

According to a preliminary autopsy by the county medical examiner, the police officer had his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds – almost three minutes of which was after Mr Floyd became non-responsive.

Nearly two minutes before Mr Chauvin removed his knee the other officers checked Mr Floyd’s right wrist for a pulse and were unable to find one. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead around an hour later.

The preliminary autopsy, included in the criminal complaint against Mr Chauvin, did not find evidence of “traumatic asphyxia or strangulation”.

The medical examiner noted Mr Floyd had underlying heart conditions and the combination of these, “potential intoxicants in his system” and being restrained by the officers “likely contributed to his death”.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Demonstrations and protests have continued since Mr Floyd’s death in police custody on Monday

Mr Chauvin was charged on Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter over his role in Mr Floyd’s death.

Mr Floyd’s family and their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said that this was “welcome but overdue”.

The family said they wanted a more serious, first-degree murder charge as well as the arrest of the three other officers involved.

Hennepin County Prosecutor Mike Freeman said he “anticipates charges” for the other officers but would not offer more details.

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LSAT prep, DJ sets and virtual golf

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Ohm Youngmisuk

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ESPN Staff Writer

Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade. He joined ESPNNewYork.com after working at the New York Daily News for almost 12 years and is a graduate of Michigan State University. Follow him on Twitter »  Ohm’s chat archive »

Malika Andrews

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Appears regularly on ESPN Chicago 1000

ON APRIL 18, instead of concocting a game plan to possibly defend Giannis Antetokounmpo on the opening day of the NBA playoffs, Garrett Temple was locked in on antithesis passages in his online LSAT prep course.

With the 2019-20 NBA season on hold since March 11 due to the coronavirus, the Brooklyn Nets wing has been putting in the hours studying, listening to law podcasts and talking to professors as part of his weekly preparation for the Law School Admission Test.

While some players have tried to fill the basketball void with video games or training routines, others have taken on new challenges to stay sharp. From mastering a second language to becoming handy around the house to diving into a Lego world, players are finding ways to stay engaged.

And one might even be law school-bound, with sights on a perfect 180 LSAT score.

“I can’t let — what’s-her-name on ‘Legally Blonde’ got a 179 — Elle Woods [beat me],” Temple said. “I really want to do it and get a great score.”

MORE: When will the NBA return? Latest suspension updates

Garrett Temple has been spending his time away from basketball with LSAT prep. “It’s providing structure. I’m really enjoying it,” he said. Courtesy of Garrett Temple

BEFORE THE SUSPENSION, Temple had long been contemplating life after basketball. The 10-year journeyman graduated from LSU in 2009 with an undergraduate business degree and considered getting his MBA. His father, Collis Temple, told him that a law degree would be more beneficial.

Collis is an entrepreneur in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was the first black varsity basketball player at LSU after Temple’s grandfather, Collis Temple Sr., was not allowed to attend graduate school at LSU because of his skin color.

Temple’s interest in pursuing a law degree was further piqued after watching a TED talk by Adam Foss, a former assistant district attorney in Boston and advocate for criminal justice reform. The final push came when Temple met Bryan Stevenson, the nationally acclaimed public interest lawyer and social justice activist depicted in the 2019 film “Just Mercy.”

“I think you can create a lot of change in your own community,” Temple said. “Help change the prison industrial complex and school-to-prison pipeline in my community, the black community.”

Temple has immersed himself in science podcasts and magazines with help from his fiancée, Kára McCullough, a scientist with a concentration in radiochemistry.

She has also often forced Temple to take breaks from hours of studying. The veteran guard just can’t help himself.

“It’s providing structure. I’m really enjoying it,” Temple said.

“I mean, we ain’t got nothing else to do. So I’m studying, man. Just trying to better myself.”

CODY ZELLER KNEW next to nothing about carpentry before the season went on hiatus. But a month and a half in, the Charlotte Hornets center can now build a closet befitting a 7-footer. (It’s a skill that has been quicker to learn than playing the guitar, which others such as Antetokounmpo and Patty Mills have also picked up.)

Zeller’s brother Tyler, a free agent who most recently played with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019, purchased a home in Indiana, and Cody has been helping with do-it-yourself home improvement projects.

“I took responsibility for [Tyler’s] master closet,” Zeller said. “I had no woodworking ability before. I’ve learned how to use a miter saw, a table saw. We put it together.”

“Everybody and their mother is gonna have a podcast when we are done with this quarantine.”

Georges Niang

Lack of experience? That was nothing a few YouTube tutorials couldn’t solve — almost.

“I will say, full disclosure, I had to [build] it twice,” Zeller said, “because the first time I messed up.”

Zeller cut, sanded and painted all the wood and built a seven-tier shelf rack. But when he went to fasten the frame to the wall, he had forgotten one tiny yet crucial detail.

“I realized I hadn’t accounted for the space between the closet rod and the shelf above it, so there was no room for the hangers to hang on the closet,” Zeller said. “So it was back to the drawing board.

“That was like three days’ worth of work down the drain. Anyway, long story short, it looks great now.”

THIS EXTRA DOWNTIME has given John Collins the chance to master a second language and get more in touch with his family heritage. Collins, whose mother is part Puerto Rican, has been taking Spanish lessons via Rosetta Stone and the Duolingo app.

The Atlanta Hawks big man took Spanish classes in high school in West Palm Beach, Florida, before continuing courses during his two years at Wake Forest.

“I never had a chance to finish — obviously I left school early,” Collins said. “But it’s always been something that I’ve wanted to finish just ’cause I have been around it so much, and I want to learn.”

Monday through Friday, host Mina Kimes brings you an inside look at the most interesting stories at ESPN, as told by the top reporters and insiders on the planet. Listen

Although he could grasp what his grandfather and other relatives were saying during conversations, Collins found writing in Spanish to be difficult. After the first few weeks of quarantine, Collins wasn’t sure how much his Spanish was improving.

“I’m better than where I was,” Collins said. “To get real growth, I got to go over to a Spanish-speaking country.

“Hopefully one day I will get the opportunity.”

USED TO MAINTAINING a strict in-season schedule, Utah Jazz forward Georges Niang found the extra free time jarring.

The team dropped off a stationary bike and weights so he could keep up with daily exercises, but video games have grown boring, Netflix has provided only so many hours of entertainment, and sleeping in has lost its appeal.

So he started the “Drive & Dish” podcast and video series with help from the Jazz.

“Everybody and their mother is gonna have a podcast when we are done with this quarantine,” he said.

After an unsuccessful foray into Instagram Live — “It was horrible content,” Niang said — “Drive & Dish” debuted on March 31 and has delved into quarantine life with Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell, the Olympics postponement with two-time soccer gold medalist Amy Rodriguez and the Michael Jordan Game 6 winner with former Jazz player Bryon Russell.

Niang even has his own theme song and logo.

#DriveAndDish Episode 𝟐 is LIVE!

@GeorgesNiang20 interviews @spidadmitchell about that night in OKC, what he wishes he’d known as a kid & his strangest superstitions

#NBATogether 𝘍𝘜𝘓𝘓 𝘝𝘐𝘋𝘌𝘖 » https://t.co/7uQk59B8Po pic.twitter.com/MCY4rAUsaj

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) April 3, 2020

The podcast’s name is inspired by his team nickname. In the Jazz locker room, Niang is known as “the minivan” because he likens his teammates to Ferraris while thinking of himself as a less luxurious vehicle.

“I need a couple laps around the block before I get warmed up,” Niang said. “Hop in the minivan and drive and dish.”

KENT BAZEMORE HAS been teeing it up at some of the best golf courses in the country. Virtually, that is.

The Sacramento Kings swingman has been regularly retreating to the basement of his Atlanta home, honing his skills on a golf simulator that would rival Tiger Woods’ personal setup. Video cameras and sensors track Bazemore’s every hook, slice, chip and putt.

“It is about as in-depth as I can get without being a professional golfer,” said Bazemore, who earlier this month took down former teammate Stephen Curry in a virtual match at Pebble Beach.

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Now the lefty has a chance to get serious about his golf game. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, Bazemore takes virtual golf lessons with his instructor, Jon Tattersall, the 2014 Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year.

And Bazemore still drives to a real golf course once a week — Georgia is one of a handful of states allowing courses to stay open.

“I am on a quest to become a scratch golfer,” Bazemore said. “My handicap right now is at 8 and I need it to be down to 0.”

To get over the next hump, Bazemore said he plans on working with a sports psychologist.

“There’s a lot of things that go into becoming [a scratch golfer],” Bazemore said. “I’m on the fringe. This is the closest I’ve ever been.”

THOUSANDS HAVE FLOCKED to social media over the past month to listen to DJs such as D-Nice spin sets on Instagram Live.

Now Andre Drummond has joined the wave.

On April 20, the Cleveland Cavaliers center kicked off “Drummond Quarantine Radio,” which features Drummond with DJ Drewski from the center’s Miami home.

Last week, Drummond hosted a “ladies night” set, when viewers could make song requests. And he put on “Talent Show Thursday,” which featured an appearance by actor and comedian Michael Rapaport, among other special guests.

Andre Drummond, also known as DRUMMXND, has been busy on Instagram Live during the NBA’s suspension. David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images

Drummond’s no novice. He goes by the rap name “DRUMMXND” and is planning on releasing his second album, “FYI 2,” soon.

He won’t be the only NBA player releasing new music during quarantine. Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon dropped his Dwyane Wade- and dunk contest loss-inspired diss track “9 out of 10” on Monday.

On Tuesday, Gordon made a guest appearance on the seventh episode of “Drummond Quarantine Radio.” Drummond pointed out that for as long as they’ve known each other, he never knew of Gordon’s desire to put out rap songs.

“I mean, we got a lot of time on our hands right now, ya hear me?” said Gordon, who started making music before this season and is working with Grammy Award winner Austin Owens, also known as Ayo The Producer.

“I get to tap into my creative side,” Gordon added. “Get in touch with emotions and express myself.”

Gordon then gave DRUMMXND his next quarantine endeavor — to deliver some new rap hooks.

“We putting together a project, [with] athletes, with Ayo,” Gordon said. “We need you on the project.

“We need a couple of verses for the project. Please.”

LOCAL GYMS SHUT down after Dallas County issued a shelter-in-place order on March 23, but Myles Turner had to find a way to get in weight training while staying in the guest house of the Texas home he built for his parents.

So the Indiana Pacers center jumped online to find the nearest squat rack — more than 100 miles away in Waco.

“In Texas, that’s nothing,” said Turner, who embarked on the four-hour round trip along Interstate 35. “That’s just an easy drive, right down the street.”

Turner then built the multipurpose squat rack and bench press in under two hours with help from friends. It’s now the centerpiece of a once near-empty garage he’s converted into his personal gym, complete with medicine balls, adjustable dumbbells and a padded floor.

“I gotta improvise,” said Turner, who last week shared his passion for yoga via a live class on the NBA’s Instagram page. “I’ve always kind of been into just putting stuff together.”

And when he didn’t have a screwdriver or wrench in his hand, Turner was still busy building. He assembled one Lego set, and his latest creation — a 2,000-piece Star Wars jigsaw puzzle — was completed in about a week.

“I am about to go to Target right now,” he said, “and get a basketball hoop for outside.”

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Its 4:20 pm overcast/dreary/100th

Welcome to the 100th edition of “8 Questions with……”

Looking back at it,I am not surprised at who I interviewed for our 100th interview. Who knew a small short film called “Nowhere To Run” would open so many doors both professionally and more importantly,personally.    Watching our guest,the mighty Brittany Wolf,in action facing off against Death and kicking its butt really moved me. To have the energy and will not let Death take everything from you when it appears it has,it was such a emotional watch,I won’t lie to you.    But what has come after that…..meeting Mike Ferguson,thenJosh Gilmer and interviewing them both. From there,meeting Mike Markoff and Joshua Han,it felt like I was being accepted into a tight knit group of not only great actors but brother-in-arms as well.    But I knew I had to interview Brittany,I had to ask her what she was feeling and how did she get there when she filming “Nowhere”. I wanted a chance to say “thank you”,that your hard work in rolling around in the dirt and muck and showing that grief can be held somewhat at bay,that your beautiful acting will always be priceless to me.    Thank you Brittany for letting me get to meet you and to get to ask my 8ish Questions…

    Please introduce yourself and tell us a little on what you are currently working on. 

   My name is Brittany Wolf and I currently live in Los Angeles, California. I am originally from Youngstown, Ohio, and moved to the big city four years ago to pursue a life long dream in acting. Although this year has consisted of a few small projects, I’m excited to see what 2020 will bring. I recently signed with a new acting agency, started a new acting class, and took new headshots to better represent my new look. 

What was growing up in Ohio like? What are your three favorite memories growing up? 

   Its funny, now that I am older, I can really appreciate growing up in Ohio. I came from a small town were family was everything. My favorite memory was every Sunday at the Wolf house. After church my grandpa, grandma and Aunt Di would come over to our house for spaghetti dinner. My two brothers and I would be playing in the basement, usually making me their test dummy for some new game they came up with, spaghetti cooking on the stove, and all the “grown ups” working on a puzzle in the dining room. When we all came together for dinner we would laugh for what seemed like hours. And we would end the night all watching TV in the living room.         Unfortunately, we lost our grandpa about five years ago, and even though it’s not the same without him, we still carry on the spaghetti Sunday tradition. Another favorite memory I have was playing outside with the neighborhood kids. I was lucky enough to grow up with a lot of kids in my neighborhood. We would play tag, ride bikes, play in the creek, climb trees and only went inside when it was time for dinner.   Although most of us have gone our own ways, they are still memories I cherish today. My last memory I have is one many people are surprised by. I was one of the captains of my high school bowling team. It may not be the “fanciest” sport, but it was one of the better memories I have of high school, and one of the few places I had fit in. I loved being apart of that team.

I see you are a Bearcat!! How did you like your college experience at UC and what were your three favorites classes and what made them so special to you? 

I love being a Bearcat! The friends I made, the memories we still laugh about and the experiences I went through, I would do it all over again. I still say, “I wish I could go back to my college days.” My first year at UC, I was pursing a degree in criminal justice. Towards the end of my freshman year, I was informed that UC offered an Electronic Media program which catered towards film, music production, online media etc. My sophomore year of college I switched my major and was excited to start my film classes. Two of my favorite classes go hand-in-hand. Unfortunately I could not tell you the name of the classes, but they were a film class 1 and 2. In these classes we wrote scripts, casted actors and shot our own student films. Although we worked with camcorders at the time, I was finally doing what I loved. Being 18 years old, and having to chose something to do for the rest of your life is scary, but I knew I was in the right place. I think the last class that really stuck out to me was a criminal justice class I took. It didn’t have much to do with the class itself, but my professor, Dr. Sue Bourke made the class so special. Her teaching method is one that I still talk about today. The University of Cincinnati will always have a place in my heart.

When did you know you wanted to be a actress and how did you start your journey to become one? 

It may sound cliche, but I knew I wanted to be an actress ever since I was very young. My friends and I would write scripts, steal my dads camera and make movies around the neighborhood. Being from Ohio, those dreams didn’t seem achievable, so I never pursued it at a young age. After college, I moved down to Atlanta, Georgia for six months, joined the local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) and started working in the camera department on TV shows such as The Walking Dead, Halt and Catch Fire, Atlanta and more. I was in awe when I was on set, but I still knew something was missing. Thankfully I had some family friends that opened up their home to me and gave me a place to live, but found myself needing more money. Late one night, I had come across a website that posted a call for background work on the set of Neighbors 2. I sent them an email not thinking much would come of it, and within hours I received a call time to be on set for the next day. What was suppose to be a two day shoot of 150 extras, turned into a featured background role for 4 months. I received a call one night from the casting director stating he loved my energy and drive to be on set, and wanted to keep me on the rest of shoot. At that moment, I knew pursuing an acting career was my calling. Five months later I flew out to L.A. to pursue a career in acting.

What was moving to Los Angeles like for you? What three things surprised you the most about the city? 

My journey to Los Angeles is an interesting story. My dad had a work conference down in Anaheim, so my mom and I rented a car and drove up to West Hollywood every day, passing out my resume to a list of bars and restaurants I had complied together. After many rejections, I walked into the last restaurant of the day and I was hired on the spot. My mom and I still laugh about it to this day, because I felt every emotion at that moment. I was excited I got hired, sad because I didn’t say goodbye to my family back home, scared to do this alone and nervous I may have made the wrong decision. But, I canceled my flight home with my parents, ordered a rental car and stayed at an Airbnb for a few nights. I found myself homeless for two months, bouncing from couch to couch and living out of one suitcase. I even slept in my car one night. I had no where else to go, when I received an email that I had been approved for an apartment with 3 random roommates. It’s so silly, but one thing I was surprised by is that no one waves to you when driving! Ohio people always wave when you let them over on the road…no one waves here. Second, I was surprised L.A doesn’t have thunderstorms. That was something I loved about Ohio- late night thunderstorms. I don’t think I was really surprised by this, but I really miss having grass. There is barely any land in L.A., so when I go back home, I really appreciate the greenery out there.

What was your first time auditioning like and what did you take from the experience? 

My first audition was a self tape which was very surreal for me. It wasn’t my best but I just couldn’t believe I was actually auditioning for a film. My first in person audition was a little more nerve racking. It was definitely a first audition, but when I got in the room it all felt natural. It was also my first time being asked to do improv, which was scary to me, but the casting directors were super sweet and made me feel great about about it. I didn’t book it, but one thing I took away from that audition is to just have fun, be yourself, and enjoy the ride.

What was shooting your award winning short film “Nowhere To Run” like? How did you get involved in this project?Your portrayal of Kelsy facing grief and death head-on, it felt you like you’re drawing upon your own losses to empower her, how much was really you and how much was in the character? 

Being on the set of “Nowhere To Run” was like being on cloud 9. It was my first lead actress role in a film, and one of the best experiences of being on set. Our great director, Mason Howard, really took his time preparing us for our characters and making sure our shoots days ran smoothly. Which is extremely helpful for films like this. I came across the casting for Kelsey on LaCasting, and instantly I knew I had to play her. I am still grateful that Mason saw something in me just from my headshot. I sent in my self tape, and shortly after I received an email that I had landed the role. My scene in the drain hole was the very last scene we shot for the film. It had been an emotionally draining day (in a good way) because we had done all of Kelsey and Buzz’s scenes earlier that day. So getting to that emotional place came very easy for me. I definitely used some of my own memories to help build on top of Kelsey’s grief, but most of it came from her.

How did you prepare for your fight scenes? Were you a little nervous before your action scenes? 

I wasn’t nervous shooting any of the fight scenes. I had a really good bond with Mike (Buzz) and we both made sure we were comfortable saying and doing certain things to each other. I think the nerves came more from, would the audience believe this. I’ve been turned down for action roles because of my height. I am 5’2 and was told “you were the best fighter we had, but we need someone taller.” I prepared myself by not letting that get to me and believing in myself and in what Kelsey had to do.

What are your three most difficult emotions to play and what do you do to improve your skills? 

I think the first one might be anger. I don’t think its difficult to play, however, there is more to anger than just yelling back and forth to each other, which sometimes can be easy to fall into. To improve this, I really look at what the words in the scene and what they mean to me. And how can I show different types of anger without preplanning any emotion. Second, is playing someone who is nervous or anxious. When I first started acting, I would get really nervous and I would talk super fast. It was a habit my acting coaches would point out right away. If I get a role that calls for someone nervous or anxious, I go straight to rushing through my lines. I don’t know if I’ve really improved that on yet, but I’m working on it! Third would possibly be “extreme” excitement/ happiness. Sometimes it looks too over the top and animated so I end up just laughing at how funny I look. I try to improve on this by thinking of real life memories that made me happy or excited and how did I act in that situation. 

  Which do you like playing more a villainess or a heroine and why? 

Thats a hard question because I love playing both. I mean who doesn’t like being the heroine of the movie. But I think there is something exciting when it comes to playing a villainess. You transform into someone so different from you, and it’s really fun to play with that.

What have been your three favorite moments as an actress and three of your biggest disappointments? How did you handle the disappointments? 

My three favorite moments would have been landing my first lead role as Kelsey, being nominated as Best Supporting Actress in a short film I did called “House of Redemption,” and the first time I saw myself on a cable network show. Mainly, I think my disappointments just come from sabotaging my own auditions. Last year was the first time I experienced a really slow period of acting, so when I did get an audition I would over act, over think and be really nervous. I took about three months off at the end of the year to mentally compose and get myself back to who I was as an actress. Every time I go into an audition, I just breath and tell myself to have fun with it. 

How important is family to you, both your own and your acting family? 

My family is by far the most important thing to me. I truly wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my parents. I don’t know how I could ever repay them because they have given me the world, but I only hope one day I can return the favor. I love them so much, and I am honored to call them my parents. My brothers and I talk to each other almost every day. We all live in different states and time zones, but we always make time for each other. 

My acting family is small, but they are people I love to surround myself with. I love being around actors who push you to never give up and support you along the way. I know I need to network more and build my acting family, and that is something I look forward to in 2020.

What do you like to do when you’re not on location? 

I have two Doxin’s named Mickey and Minnie who I love spending time with, whether its snuggling up on my couch or taking them around L.A. If I’m not out enjoying the nice L.A weather, then I love watching crime documentaries on Netflix. I think its my way of getting my criminal justice fix in. And when I can afford it, I love going down to Disney. I am a big Disney fan, and go down any chance I get.

What dream role would you want to play and why? 

I think my dream role would be to work on a TV show or movie that is iconic and a classic. Something like Friends, The Office, The Titanic, even Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. They are works of art that people still talk about to this day, and it shows the impact that it has made on the world.

The cheetah and I are flying over to watch your latest film but we are a day early and now you are playing tour guide, what are we doing?

There is so much to do in this town! Head down to the beach, do a little shopping in Santa Monica or Venice and have dinner with a good view!

I like to thank Brittany for taking the time to answer my questions. One side affect of the COVID-19 flu are a lot of artists have been sent home as their film projects have been shut down. This is terrible for them but has benefitted me and the interviews I’m now getting. You would think I would be happy but I rather those folks be working sooner then later.

You can follow Brittany and see what she has next via her IMDb page. You can follow on her InstaGram page.

If you wish to see the other 99 interviews……please go here.

Thank you for supporting Brittany and the other artists on here,I’m very grateful and we’ll back with our next 100!!

8 Questions with……..actress Brittany Wolf Its 4:20 pm overcast/dreary/100th Welcome to the 100th edition of "8 Questions with......" Looking back at it,I am not surprised at who I interviewed for our 100th interview.

#8 Questions With #acting #auditioning #bearcat #dogs #grateful #grief #interview #Josh Gilmer #Joshua Han #Los Angeles #Mason Howard #Mike Ferguson #Mike Markoff #multi-talented #Nowhere To Run #Ohio #thank you #U of Cincinnati

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A few things caught my eye this week that had me shaking my head.  Justice.  A simple word we all understand, right?  And yet … our court systems these days seem to struggle with the meaning of the word.  But then, this is the Reign of Trump, where up is down, green is red, lies are truth, and ‘alternative facts’ rule the day.

Shane Piche

Shane Piche was a school bus driver in Watertown, New York, entrusted with hundreds of young lives every day.  Then one day last summer, Shane took one of the students who rode his bus home, plied her with alcohol and raped her.  Piche pleaded guilty to third-degree rape (what, there are degrees of rape???) and last Thursday came before Judge James McClusky of Jefferson County Supreme Court.

Judge McClusky lightly slapped Shane Piche’s wrist and basically told him not to do that again.  Shane will not spend a day … not a single day … paying for his heinous actions, not a single day in prison.  The judge ruled that since it was his first offense, aw shucks, let’s just let the boy go.  McClusky sentenced Shane to 10 years’ probation and he must register as a level 1 sex offender.  Level 1 is the least restrictive, meaning that Shane can move anywhere he wants and his address will not be made public.

Judge McClusky

I’m not the only one who is angry, for the judge’s office has been bombarded with phone calls and a petition calling for his removal from the bench has garnered, as of this writing, 69,795 signatures, including my own.  On reaching 75,000 signatures, the petition will be presented to New York’s commission of judicial conduct, a panel with the power to discipline judges in the state.

Judge McClusky was elected to a 14-year term in 2011 that will not end until 2025.

Then there was Michael Wysolovski who met a 15-year-old girl in an online forum for people with anorexia.  She lived in North Carolina, he lived in Duluth, Georgia, and she told him she was unhappy at home and wished to come live with him.  In May 2016, after turning 16, she walked out and met him by the side of an interstate highway.

Michael Wysolovski

I will spare you the details of the abuses he heaped on this young girl, except to say he raped her, kept her in a dog cage, withheld food as punishment, and a variety of other cruelties for more than a year. When she tried to leave, he stopped her, even going so far as to install a floor-to-ceiling gate that prevented her leaving her room.  In 2017, the victim was able, once again through the anorexia forum, to contact a young woman, tell her of her plight, and send a picture of the view from her window.  On this information, police were able to locate her and Wysolovski’s home was raided and he was arrested in June 2017.

Wysolovski pleaded guilty last Thursday to first-degree cruelty to children caused by “excessive physical pain during sexual intercourse” and interstate interference with custody.  Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hamil did give Wysolovski a ten-year sentence, however after being given credit for 8 months served in the county jail, the remaining portion of the sentence was reduced to probation.  Like Shane Piche, he will serve not a single day in prison.

And last, we have the case of Doe v Mckesson in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  DeRay Mckesson is a high-profile, Baltimore-based Black Lives Matter organizer.  On July 9, 2016, Mckesson had organized a peaceful rally to protest the killing of Alton Sterling by police 4 days prior.  The protest was peaceful until somebody threw a small rock at police, slightly injuring an officer who is identified only as John Doe.  Mckesson and some 100 other protestors were arrested that day, but the officer sued Mckesson, claiming “loss of teeth, a jaw injury, a brain injury, a head injury, lost wages, ‘and other compensable losses.’”

DeRay Mckesson

In his 17-page complaint, John Doe alleged that “Mckesson did nothing to prevent the violence or to calm the crowd” and that he “incited the violence.”  His claim that Mckesson incited violence was based on a single-sentence statement that Mckesson had made to the New York Times:

“The police want protestors to be too afraid to protest.”

Not exactly ‘fighting words’, are they?  That was the core of John Doe’s argument.  In September 2017, a federal district judge rightfully threw out the case, stating that those words “do not advocate—or make any reference to—violence of any kind.”  Case closed, score one for justice.  But … not so fast …

John Doe filed an appeal, naturally.  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sat on the case from late 2017 until last week, when, out of the blue and without allowing oral argument, the panel reinstated the lawsuit.  The court said that “Mckesson breached his duty of reasonable care in the course of organizing and leading the Baton Rouge demonstration.”

The Fifth Circuit panel’s decision is clearly wrong under the law as it now stands. There can be no liability, civil or criminal, for speech that “incites” violence unless the defendant can be shown to have intentionally urged violence, knowing that listeners would likely respond immediately with violent behavior.

Ironic, isn’t it, that Mckesson is being held accountable for the actions of another over whom he could not reasonably be expected to have control, and yet just over a year later, in August 2017, white supremacists Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Heather Heyer was murdered and many more seriously injured.  Nobody even suggested a lawsuit against Kessler and Spencer.

Jason Kessler (left) and Richard Spencer

Now, I want you to look at the pictures of these three men.  The first two were given a slap on the wrist, no prison time, for terrible crimes against young girls.  The third is being condemned for a minor incident caused by somebody else.  Now, look at the pictures of Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer.  Compare them to the picture of DeRay Mckesson.  I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Note for Scott Lawlor:  All the men on this page are white with the exception of DeRay Mckesson, who is African-American.

You Call This Justice??? A few things caught my eye this week that had me shaking my head.  Justice.  A simple word we all understand, right? 

#DeRay Mckesson #Jason Kessler #Judge James McClusky #Michael Wysolovski #Richard Spencer #Shane Piche #Unite the Right - Charlottesville

[strongmantevin]

Friends Through CP Advocacy

The first part of my series dedicated to Cerebral Palsy awareness month talks about how I personally found my voice and began to share my story more on social media. I had come to the realization that my story has a true impact on many people. I remember the countless flashbacks of me calling myself handicap until about the 8th grade when I found out the proper term was that I have Cerebral Palsy.

I had also grown up in a regular public school system with a regular classroom setting. The others who were in a similar situation like me were slightly older than me and I never got to have a close bond. I often remind myself to appreciate the wonderful journey called life that I have the opportunity to participate in. God allowed me to type that post in 2013 and open the door to meet Richelle Heath, Heaven Ramsey, Matt Rich, and Keith Granderson. I write this week in the Strongman Experience about their triumphs in spite of obstacles.

I often credit Richelle Heath and Heaven Ramsey for getting me involved with sharing my story and advocating for CP along with my sister Candra Cherry. I met them first on the journey into advocacy. I am going to start off by introducing my friend Richelle Heath one of the the founders of the CP dream-team Facebook community.

Richelle Heath was born April 26, 1976 in Fort Lauderdale Florida. She was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of 11 months old.

Richelle would go on to hold various jobs in the corporate world. Richelle left the corporate world to take care of her parents whose health started to give them issues. She Experienced a terrible fall that caused her to begin what would be a 5+ year battle with the government to receive disability benefits. She discovered at that point that the state of Georgia does little to nothing to provide support or provide resources directly to people past the age of 22.

The CP dream-team have worked non stop ever since 2016 to share not only the triumphs of those affected but to also shed light on the plight that the people in the CP community face on a day to day basis. I am so thankful to have met a caring passionate person in Richelle.I would have not even known about CP awareness month in March or World CP day in October with out meeting her. Richelle has also ran 7 successful T-shirt campaigns that have sold nearly 3000 shirts and so far and raised over $6000 in revenue with the proceeds going to the Cerebral Palsy center in Knoxville Tennessee people in the community and various other fundraisers. In 2018 Richelle was able to get the Atlanta Sky view Ferris Wheel attraction to light up green in support of CP awareness and looks forward to the lighting again on March 25th of this year.

The current mission is to reach out to as many companies as possible to light up areas green to show support and raise awareness anywhere possible. I definitely look forward to helping Richelle and the rest of the CP DreamTeam achieve the goal of lighting up the world Green.

Heaven Ramsey is a young lady currently a Sophomore at Knox High-School in Tennessee who definitely has a lot to say when it comes to spreading awareness. She is the co-founder of the CP Dream-team along with Richelle. She competes in the The Miss Shining Star pageant each year and the proceeds go toward groups who help people with different abilities. Heaven is an anti-bullying advocate as well and over the last 6 years she has worked in groups such as Project U and Boddygaurds United and was elected to the student advisory council last year. Heaven used her experience to help people online and in her community. I truly admire Heaven for her courage to stand up and be a voice for those who are being bullied.She is very young and has so much more in store for her community and the best is yet to come.

Matt Rich is the next person I want to highlight on my list. He is a Native of Pennsauken New Jersey born September 5th 1981. I’ve known Matt for four years now and he is a huge inspiration to me because after battling for years with CP in 2010 Matt stood up and walked for the very first time from his wheelchair to his family. You can check out the video on YouTube by typing in “Matthew Rich Walks”. Matt is a motivational speaker and spreads his message “fighting your lion” all through out the New England area and parts of the east coast. Matt was an avid 5K runner with a catalog of an incredible 14 races from 2010-2017 his fastest time was 44minutes and 30 seconds and his best mile time was 14min and 8secs. The races he has participated in benefited those affected by cystic fibrosis and those who were paralyzed and so much more. I will forever admire Matt for his determination and positive impact on the community. Matt is currently training for his next 5K in May the Enable 5K run/1mile walk in Palmyra, New Jersey.

My last person I wanted to highlight but certainly not least is the Future president of Virginia State University himself Mr. Keith Granderson born in Richmond Virginia on February 22nd 1992.Keith was diagnosed with CP at the age of 6 months predominately affecting his his left side (spastic hemiplegia) I met Keith 4 years ago through one of our mutual friends in Torian Cole on Instagram. I loved his passion for people and like me he has had a genuine impact on his community and I want to list several accomplishments of his below.

Graduated from Matoaca High School Chesterfield, Virginia in 2010

Licensed Minister of the Gospel 2011

Graduated from Virginia State University Bachelors Of Science Degree in Criminal Justice in 2017

Currently working on my Masters Of Education

Employed by Hopewell High School in Hopewell, Virginia as a Special Education Teacher with Students with intellectual disabilities and specific learning disabilities.

HBCU Digest Male Student of The Year Nominee in 2017.

Young Trojan Award for Virginia State University representing The Greater Petersburg Area Alumni Association

I am incredibly proud of Keith for all of his accomplishments so far and having me write his story doesn’t do much justice please check out his video below to hear his experience

Keith has obtained his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice since the airing of the video. He recently obtained his teaching license to teach students to in special education.

I want to close out this this week by stating each person I wrote about is a champion. I encourage everyone to follow them on Facebook as well.

Richelle and Heaven have taught me so much about Cerebral Palsy and without their help I would not be in the position I am in today. Matt has helped me through tough times with his weekly motivational videos. I hope to run/walk a 5K someday and I will definitely reach out to him for help. Keith reminds me so much of myself. The impact that he has on his small town and Virginia State University and other cities reminds me of how I was able to impact the various people through social media.

I hope that all my readers gain something from this week’s post and I look forward to writing part 3 next week in the Strongman Experience. Until then Strongman Out.

[seaofbitternessandsorrow]

Learn digital forensics practices to investigate cybercrimes that affect our national security and public safety through the cyber crime emphasis of the criminal justice degree program at Georgia Southern University. The program is available online and at the Armstrong Campus in Savannah. For more information, go to https://cbss.georgiasouthern.edu/justice/undergraduate-programs/current-undergraduate-programs/

[ladystylestores]

George Floyd protesters undeterred by US curfews: Live updates | USA News

Protests continue to spread as more cities impose curfews and states call in the National Guard. 

Cities brace for another night of unrest as protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody and other acts of police violence intensify.

Protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, demand all officers involved in Floyd’s death be charged. 

National Guard activated in several major US cities, but protesters appear undeterred. 

Latest updates:

Sunday, May 31

03:20 GMT – Fires erupt near White House

Protesters started fires near the White House as tensions with police mounted. Police fired a major barrage of tear gas stun grenades into the crowd of more than 1,000 people, largely clearing Lafayette Park across the street from the White House and scattering protesters into the street.

Protesters piled up road signs and plastic barriers and lit a raging fire in the middle of H Street. Some pulled an American flag from a nearby building and threw it into the blaze. Others added branches pulled from trees. A cinder block structure, on the north side of the park, that had bathrooms and a maintenance office, was engulfed in flames.

Several miles north, a separate protest broke out in Northwest DC, near the Maryland border. The Metropolitan Police Department says there were break-ins at a Target and a shopping center that houses major retailers, a movie theater and specialty stores. Police say several individuals have been detained.

03:10 GMT – Truck company makes statement

The truck company owns the semi-truck that drove through thousands of people marching on the Minneapolis highway said in a statement that it was informed of an incident involving one of its independent contractors  and it would be cooperating with investigating authorities.

Video showed the truck had a logo on its side for “Kenan Advantage Group,” an Ohio-based transportation company.

02:50 GMT – San Diego police fire tear gas at protestors

San Diego police said officers have fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of demonstrators that was pelting them with rocks and bottles.

Hundreds of people, many with facial masks to protect against the coronavirus, marched through downtown chanting “George Floyd” with signs, including some saying “I Can’t Breathe,” a reference to Floyd’s dying words when a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on the back of his neck. Some demonstrators dropped to one knee at times.

A woman  in the Queens borough of New York City taking part in a rally against the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody [Eduardo Munoz/Reuters] 

The demonstration began peacefully at 10 am. San Diego police said on Twitter that a crowd of 100 to 200 people was throwing rocks but stopped. Authorities said multiple vehicles were vandalized.

02:45 GMT – Minnesota attorney general to lead prosecutions 

Minnesota’s state attorney general Keith Ellison said on Sunday he will lead the prosecution of the case involving the killing of George Floyd.

It with a large degree of humility and a great seriousness, I accept for my office the responsibility for leadership on this critical case involving the killing of George Floyd.

We are going to bring to bear all the resources necessary to achieve justice in this case. pic.twitter.com/XXafzFT0Kd

— Attorney General Keith Ellison (@AGEllison) June 1, 2020

“It is with a large degree of humility and a great seriousness, I accept for my office the responsibility for leadership on this critical case involving the killing of George Floyd,” Ellison said in a tweet.

“We are going to bring to bear all the resources necessary to achieve justice in this case.”

02:00 GMT – Minneapolis police begin arresting demonstrators for curfew violations

A group of protesters who remained out after the 8pm curfew have been arrested, the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed on Twitter. 

The protesters on Washington Avenue were surrounded by police and “arrests are being made”, the MPD said. “Curfew violation is a misdemeanor.” 

“Hundreds” of people arrived to the Washington Avenue bridge in Minneapolis about 20 minutes after the curfew began, according to a local journalist. 

As the 8 p.m. curfew begins, hundreds of protestors arrive at the Washington Avenue bridge over I-35W in Minneapolis #GeorgeFloydProtests pic.twitter.com/8XcsAeXQep

— Nick Ferraro (@NFerraroPiPress) June 1, 2020

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety said in a tweet that roughly 150 people had been arrested.

1:27 GMT – Minnesota announces investigation into semi-truck incident 

Authorities in Minnesota announced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a semi-truck which appeared to drive into a crowd of protesters marching down a Minneapolis freeway. 

“The Minnesota State Patrol and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are jointly investigating what happened with the semi that drove into demonstrators tonight on I-35W. The incident is being investigated as a criminal matter”, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety tweeted. 

The driver has reportedly been arrested. 

Video of the incident appears to show a semi-truck barreling towards a large group of demonstrators, who split in time to avoid harm. 

No injuries have been reported, though circumstances remain unclear. 

24:09 GMT – Ellison to head prosecution of former cop who killed Floyd

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will head the prosecution in the case surrounding George Floyd’s death. 

Former officer Derek Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter days after Floyd’s death.

Ellison asked in a Fox News appearance on Sunday that the public be patient. 

“To ask people to be patient who have suffered so long and been denied justice so long is really asking a lot of them, but if you want to make sure that this case results in a successful prosecution, you’ve got to understand the defense attorneys who are going to be on the other side are very skillful and they will try to break every single link in the prosecutorial chain”, Ellison said before the appointment. 

23:00 GMT – Protesters hold moments of silence in major cities

Video shared on social media show protesters kneeling and sitting to hold moments of silence nationwide.

Many lasted for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the amount of time a white police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck in Minneapolis.

8 minute 46 second moment of silence in Murfreesboro TN rally today. pic.twitter.com/0mNuXtO6ea

— Teresa Taylor (@Lemons_N_Laughs) May 31, 2020

23:00 GMT – Semi-truck appears to drive into crowd of protesters

A semi-truck appeared to drive into a crowd of protesters marching down a Minneapolis freeway, live video showed.

Video shows a large group of protesters parting and running as the truck barrels towards them.

The truck then comes to a stop and protesters run towards it.

It is unclear what happens next and whether there were any injuries. 

Protesters and residents in the area told Al Jazeera that the scene is very chaotic. 

Warning: Graphic footage. 

BREAKING- Truck moves at full speed into a crowd of thousands of demonstrators #GeorgeFloyd #Minnesota @KSTP pic.twitter.com/pUscK8JgFB

— Brett Hoffland (@BrettHoffland) May 31, 2020

21:45 GMT – Atlanta mayor: Two officers fired for using excessive force on protesters

Two police officers have been fired and three others placed on desk duty for excessive use of force during a protest arrest incident, Atlanta’s mayor said.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a news conference that she and police Chief Erika Shields made the decision after reviewing body-camera footage of a Saturday night incident that first gained attention from video online and on local news.

“Use of excessive force is never acceptable,” Bottoms told reporters. Shields called the footage “really shocking to watch.”

The video, shown on TV as captured by local reporters, shows a group of police officers in riot gear and gas masks surround a car being driven by a man with a woman in the passenger seat. The officers pull the woman out and appear to use a stun gun on the man. They use zip-tie handcuffs on the woman on the ground. The couple did not appear to be fighting police.

21:30 GMT – Where have protests against police brutality taken place? 

21:15 GMT – Michael Jordan: We have had enough 

Former NBA star Michael Jordan said in a statement that he is “deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry.”

“I stand with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We have had enough,” Jordan said. “Everyone of us needs to be part of the solution, and we must work together to ensure justice for all.”

Statement from Michael Jordan: pic.twitter.com/lWkZOf1Tmr

— Jordan (@Jumpman23) May 31, 2020

21:10 GMT – Atlanta extends curfew

Atlanta’s mayor extended a curfew another night on Sunday, and Georgia’s governor authorised up to 3,000 National Guard troops to be deployed across the state to respond if needed to protests over the deaths of George Floyd in Minnesota and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.

Guard soldiers had helped enforce a 9pm (01:00 GMT) curfew Saturday in Atlanta, where violence has marred otherwise peaceful protests since Friday. Governor Brian Kemp said more would be ready Sunday for demonstrations planned in Athens, Savannah and other cities.

People take part in a Black Lives Matters protest during nationwide unrest following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma [Nick Oxford/Reuters]

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed an executive order Sunday extending the curfew in the city, according to text and email notifications sent to residents. It takes effect at 9pm Sunday and will end at sunrise Monday.

Atlanta police said Sunday they had arrested more than 150 people overnight as protesters threw rocks at officers and broke windows in the downtown area. That brought the total number of arrests during two nights of protests to nearly 230.

21:00 GMT – Philadelphia to close off large parts of city centre

Officials in Philadelphia announced plans to close off much of the centre of the city Sunday after peaceful protests over George Floyd’s death turned into a night of destruction with store windows smashed near City Hall, merchandise taken from stores and police and other vehicles and structures set afire.

But television news helicopter footage Sunday afternoon showed people running into multiple stores in northeast Philadelphia, well outside the city centre, and emerging with merchandise as disorder continued for a second day elsewhere in the city.

Peaceful protest at police HQ #phillyprotests #philly #phillyprotest pic.twitter.com/XlRwGNbaT6

— Steve (@twomuchbrew4u) May 31, 2020

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said much of Center City would be blocked off, affecting roads, bridges and expressway entrances and exits, as well as the city’s transit agency. The Ben Franklin bridge between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, was closed until further notice.

An 8pm (00:00 GMT) curfew in the city announced earlier was moved up to 6pm (22:00 GMT) Sunday, and retail establishments were ordered to close immediately with people cleaning or securing vandalised properties ordered to finish up and return home by 5pm (21:00 GMT) so that the curfew could be enforced.

Local television showed live aerial shots for more than an hour Sunday afternoon of people running from store to store in strip malls in northeast Philadelphia’s Port Richmond section, emerging with armfuls of merchandise as police units tried to keep up.

20:55 GMT – San Francisco extends

San Francisco’s mayor and police chief said Sunday the city’s 8pm (03:00 GMT) curfew would be extended indefinitely and that people who are out after that time would be stopped.

Mayor London Breed said Governor Gavin Newsom had approved sending in about 200 extra officers from other agencies.

20:30 GMT – Protests spread to European football

England footballer Jadon Sancho joined protests across German football at the weekend by lifting his jersey after scoring to reveal a T-shirt with the handwritten message “Justice for George Floyd” on the front.

Sancho was shown a yellow card for his gesture which came after he scored the second goal for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn on Sunday.

Earlier, Marcus Thuram took a knee after scoring in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s win over Union Berlin.

Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram kneels after celebrating their second goal, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) [Martin Meissner/Reuters] 

The Gladbach forward scored in the first half and then dropped his left knee to the ground and rested his right arm on his right thigh as he bowed his head in reflection. He spent five seconds in this position before getting up again to continue.

“No explanation needed,” Gladbach said on Twitter with a picture of Thuram kneeling.

08:15 GMT – DC mayor blames “organised group” for violence

The mayor of the nation’s capital said Sunday that violence and vandalism from the previous night’s protests were committed by “an organised group that appeared more bent on destruction than protest.”

Muriel Bowser also acknowledged what she described as the legitimate grievances of the peaceful protesters.

Bowser and Police Chief Peter Newsham toured the city around 3am (07:00 GMT) Sunday, assessing dozens of broken windows, damaged storefronts and a few looted shops.

In a news conference Sunday, Newsham said 17 protesters were arrested, and he expected more arrests as police go over security camera footage.

A contingent of 500 members of the DC National Guard remain on standby and will continue to be deployed to assist local security, Bowser said.

____________________________________________________________________

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the protests in the US over the deadly arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath in Louisville, Kentucky, Lucien Formichella in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Creede Newton in Washington, DC. 

Here are a few things to get caught up:

George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, died on Monday after a white officer used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the ground for several minutes. Floyd can be heard on a bystander video repeatedly pleading with officers, saying “I can’t breathe.” He eventually becomes motionless with the officer’s knee still on his neck. (You can read about the deadly incident here.)

The four officers involved in the incident were fired. Derek Chauvin, the white officer who pinned Floyd down, has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Protesters demand the three other officers be charged, as well.

Protests – some violent – have since erupted nationwide as demonstrators rally for justice for Floyd and all unarmed Black people killed by police.

See the updates from Friday and Saturday night’s protests here and here . 

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[bountyofbeads]

Three more neo-Nazis who the FBI claims "conspired to... murder" antifascist organizers and are associated with the paramilitary group 'the Base' have been arrested. Three others were arrested on their way to rally in #Virginia on Monday. #2AVA #VCDL #2A SADLY Trump fanned the flames 🔥by tweeting Friday that the "2nd Amendment is under attack and their going to take your guns away." (SIC)

3 MORE LINKED TO NEO-NAZI GROUP ARRESTED IN GEORGIA

By Michael Balsamo and Jeff Martin  of the AP | Published January 17 at 7:39 PM EST | Washington Post | Posted January 18, 2020 |

WASHINGTON — Three men linked to a violent white supremacist group known as The Base were charged with conspiring to kill members of a militant anti-fascist group, police in Georgia announced Friday, a day after three other members were arrested on federal charges in Maryland and Delaware.

A senior FBI national security official said police and federal agents intentionally moved to arrest the men ahead of Monday’s rally because they believed some of them intended to commit violence there. It was unknown if the men arrested in Georgia planned to attend the rally in Richmond.

The Base, a collective of hardcore neo-Nazis that operate as a paramilitary organization, has proclaimed war against minority communities within the United States and abroad, the FBI has said. Unlike other extremist groups, it’s not focused on promulgating propaganda — instead the group aims to bring together highly skilled members to train them for acts of violence.

There’s an intensified focus on The Base after the three members were arrested Thursday in Maryland and Delaware on federal felony charges. A criminal complaint included details of how some of the men built an assault rifle using parts, purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition and traded vests that could carry body armor.

“A big reason why we disrupted it now was based on the timing of the rally on Monday and the intent of some of the individuals to potentially conduct violent acts down in Richmond,” said Jay Tabb, the executive assistant director for national security at the FBI.

Speaking at a homeland security event in Washington, he said the FBI has “got a fair sense of worry” because agents “can’t account for everybody and everything.”

“We have a degree of interest of some individuals that we know are at least saying that they will be there and we have no way to predict where rhetoric turns to violence,” Tabb said.

Organizers of The Base recruit fellow white supremacists online — particularly seeking out veterans because of their military training — use encrypted chat rooms and train members in military-style camps in the woods, according to experts who track extremist groups.

The group, which has the motto “learn, train, fight,” brings together white supremacists with varying ideologies.

The arrests show an intensified focus on the group from law enforcement officials who are concerned that the supremacists may go beyond plotting to violent acts, a threat made more urgent ahead of a pro-gun rally Monday in Richmond, Va.

The arrests only added to rising fears that Monday’s rally could quickly devolve into violence, with thousands of protesters planning to descend on Virginia’s capital, and become a repeat of the 2017 white nationalist rally when a man drove his car into counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal and civil rights activist.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed an executive order banning guns from the state Capitol grounds for Monday’s rally, but pro-gun groups filed an appeal seeking to overturn the ban. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the ban Friday.

“These extremists are going to try to attach themselves to these events in order to exploit these strong feelings, to try to bring in new recruits,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices and their desire to create a white “ethno-state,” the FBI has said in court papers.

On Friday, police in Georgia confirmed that the three other men linked to The Base were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal street gang. Authorities said the men planned to kill a married couple who were anti-fascist protesters — part of the Antifa movement — and believed killing the couple would send a message to enemies of The Base.

The arrests came after an undercover FBI agent infiltrated the group and participated in shooting drills in the mountains of northern Georgia, according to a police affidavit obtained by the AP. The drills were being done in preparation for what they believe is an impending collapse of the United States and ensuing race war. At the end of the firearms training, the Georgia men wore tactical gear and balaclava hoods that expose only part of the face while posing for photos with the undercover agent and the photos were later used in the group’s propaganda, the affidavit says.

The men were identified as Luke Austin Lane, Michael Helterbrand, and Jacob Kaderli. The three remained in custody and it was not immediately clear whether they had attorneys who could comment on the allegations.

Lane, Kaderli and the undercover agent drove to the couple’s home in Bartow County to scope it out, according to the affidavit. After checking out the property and the surrounding neighborhood, Lane suggested using a sledgehammer as one way of breaching the door, then kill them with revolvers, according to the affidavit. Kaderli suggested they should burn the house down after the killings, it states.

While other extremist groups are focused on getting people together to produce propaganda and make a name for themselves around a specific ideology, The Base is focused on action, the experts say. They are interested in training their members to use firearms and explosives.

“To have that kind of broad tent, that’s incredibly dangerous,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, a policy group formed to combat online extremist ideologies.

Members of The Base also believe in an extreme form of survivalism and preparation, offering real-life survivalist training to resist the “extinction” of the Caucasian race, the FBI has said.

“I think what marks The Base as a particular concern is that it is very blatant about its embrace of accelerationist ideas. This concept that societal collapse is not only imminent, but that they have a role to play in furthering it - so that we can have a race war in this country,” Segal said.

“There are many groups active online that have an on-the-ground presence, but it’s the sub-culture that the base is embracing is so vividly militant,” he said. “It’s so blatantly hateful it’s going to attract a certain type of extremist, one who is looking for action.”

A New Jersey man who authorities say was a recruiter for The Base was arrested by the FBI in November after he allegedly used the group to find fellow neo-Nazis to vandalize synagogues in Michigan and Wisconsin. Authorities said the group’s plan to vandalize synagogues with anti-Semitic graffiti and break windows was part of what the group called “Operation Kristallnacht,” a reference to a 1938 incident when Nazis torched synagogues in Germany, vandalized Jewish homes and business and killed close to 100 people.

The man, Richard Tobin, 18, had also discussed carrying out a suicide bombing and said he had saved manuals about how to carry out an attack, filling the back of a truck with barrels packed with explosive materials similar to the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people in 1995.

Separately on Friday, the Justice Department charged a Wisconsin man who they say was also a member of The Base who spray painted swastikas, the group’s symbol and anti-Semitic words on a synagogue in Racine, Wisconsin in September, at Tobin’s direction. The man, Yousef Barasneh, 22, was arrested on a federal civil rights charge.

Tobin is not specifically named in the charging papers against Barasneh, but the details match those in the criminal complaint that was filed against him in November. Authorities said Tobin and Barasneh were supposed to meet in person at one of the group’s meetups in in Silver Creek, Georgia, from Oct. 30 until Nov. 2. Tobin ultimately didn’t attend.

Prosecutors said recruitment posters for The Base were put up at Marquette University in Milwaukee and the group also held a separate training session for members in Wood County, Wisconsin.

______

Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

*********

6 Suspected Neo-Nazis Have Now Been Arrested In Lead-Up To Virginia Gun Rally

The men are all alleged members of The Base, a white supremacist group that hopes to start a race war.

By Sebastian Murdock | Published 01/17/2020 05:01 PM ET | Huff Post | Posted January 18, 2020 |

Six neo-Nazis have been arrested just days before a gun rally in Virginia is expected to draw thousands, including far-right extremists.

Three Georgia men were arrested Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal street gang as members of The Base, a white supremacist group that seeks to start a race war. The suspects are Luke Austin, Michael Helterbrand and Jacob Kaderli, The Associated Press reported.

The men are accused of seeking out antifascists to kill, and were planning to “overthrow the government and murder a Bartow County couple,” the Floyd County Police Department said in a statement.

Atlanta Antifascists, a group that works to confront and expose fascists throughout Georgia, told HuffPost the news of the arrests “underscores that organized white supremacists remain a threat to our communities.”

“Targeting people as members of our group has become a favorite pastime of violent white supremacists,” Atlanta Antifascists said. “Many of these people are not even connected to organized antifascism at all — they simply have become caught in the crosshairs. This is part of a concerted attempt by fascists to create a general attitude of terror and paranoia. We extend our solidarity to all members of the community targeted by white supremacy and fascism and encourage everyone to watch out for each other and keep each other safe.”

The arrests came a day after three other suspected neo-Nazis affiliated with The Base were arrested in Maryland. One of the men, Patrik Mathews, fled Canada earlier last year after his white supremacy ties were discovered. A former reservist in the Canadian Army, Mathews trained as a combat engineer and is an explosives expert.

Authorities said Mathews is a top recruiter for the terrorist group and was allegedly planning to start violence at Monday’s gun rally in Virginia along with accomplices Brian Lemley and William Bilbrough IV. Police found guns and more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition during the arrests.

Monday’s rally in Richmond is expected to draw thousands of people who oppose recent gun control bills introduced in the state legislature, including one that would require universal background checks for firearm purchase and another that would limit people from buying more than one handgun per month. 

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) declared a temporary state of emergency on Wednesday banning all guns from the state Capitol grounds amid threats of violence from far-right extremists. 

“We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20,” Northam said in a tweet. “This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.”

Organizers of the rally, anti-gun control group Virginia Citizens Defense League, falsely accused Democratic leaders of inviting violent groups to the rally following the temporary ban on guns.

“[Democrats] would love for it to degenerate to ‘violence, rioting, and insurrection’ in order to smear gun owners,” the group said in a statement. “Has the Democrat leadership actually invited violent groups to attend for the purpose of disrupting our peaceful assembly?” 

Hours after the statement, three of the suspected neo-Nazis were arrested. The VCDL did not respond to a request for comment. 

*********

Northam declares emergency, temporarily bans weapons on Capitol grounds(BACKGROUD INFO ON WHY VIRGINIA HAS BECOME A BATTLEGROUND ONCE AGAIN. THIS IS NOT ABOUT CONFEDERATE STATUES ITS ABOUT GUNS, 2ND AMENDMENT AND THE NRA. TOXIC MIX)

By Laura Vozzella | Published January 15 at 7:15 PM EST | Washington Post | Posted January 18, 2020 |

RICHMOND — Gov. Ralph Northam is declaring a state of emergency and temporarily banning weapons from the Capitol grounds in advance of a gun-rights rally planned for Monday, citing “threats of armed confrontation and assault on our Capitol.”

From Friday evening to Tuesday night, firearms, sticks, bats, chains and other weapons will be prohibited on Capitol Square and throughout the Capitol complex, Northam said.

Monday is the state’s traditional citizen lobbying day, and gun-rights groups are organizing a large demonstration to oppose several far-reaching bills being advanced by the Virginia General Assembly’s new Democratic majority.

The rally has drawn interest from militias and extremist groups across the country, raising security concerns in Richmond.

Northam asked Wednesday that nonessential state employees not come to work Monday, a state holiday on which legislative staffers would normally be on duty since the legislature is in session.

The governor — flanked by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (D), state, Capitol and city police leaders, and state Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran — began his announcement by stating his belief in the right to debate, assemble and bear arms.

But he said authorities had “received credible intelligence,” some gathered via “dark web channels used by white nationalists outside Virginia,” about groups with “malicious plans” such as “storming our Capitol” and “weaponizing drones” over Capitol Square.

“This includes out-of state militias and hate groups from across the country,” Northam said. “They’re not coming to peacefully protest. They’re coming to intimidate and cause harm.” He said information circulating on the Internet is being “fueled by misinformation and conspiracy theories.”

The governor took pains to distinguish between the extremists he said were latching onto the planned rally and the law-abiding gun-rights activists who for years have “peacefully assembled” at the Capitol.

“Hundreds of Virginians do this every day,” he said, noting the crowd that flocked to the Capitol without incident earlier this week for a lobby day organized by the National Rifle Association. That event was held on the first business day after a Democratic-majority legislative committee banned weapons inside the Capitol and an adjacent legislative office building.

“No one wants another incident like the one we saw in Charlottesville in 2017,” said Northam, referring to the deadly violence that followed a “Unite the Right” rally that centered on opposition to removing a Confederate statue in the university town. “We will not allow mayhem and violence to happen here.”

House Republicans, who last week were sharply critical of the ban on guns inside the Capitol, had a more complicated reaction Wednesday. They called the threat of violence real, pinned any danger on outside “agitators,” heaped praise on law enforcement and took a swipe at Northam.

“While we fully expect this to be peaceful, there are legitimate concerns of a few bad actors hijacking the rally,” House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said in a statement. “Law enforcement says those agitators are acting on their own volition and are not part of the busloads of Virginians visiting the Capitol. While we are grateful for the precautions taken by law enforcement, the Governor’s actions will unfortunately impede the ability of people to exercise not only their Second Amendment rights, but their First Amendment rights as well.”

Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) and other GOP leaders issued a joint statement questioning Northam’s authority to impose the ban and saying that the restrictions for the Capitol and grounds “may be serving to heighten rather than assuage tensions.”

State Republican chairman Jack Wilson was particularly critical: “Northam and the rest of the Virginia Democrats have made their session goal crystal clear: a disarmed, vulnerable, and subservient citizenry,” he said.

Monday’s rally is being organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, one of many grass-roots groups that turn out every year for the citizen lobbying day. The organization expects a much larger crowd this year, with the legislature advancing measures that would require background checks on all firearms purchases, allow law enforcement to temporarily remove guns from individuals deemed a risk to themselves or others, let localities ban weapons from certain events and government buildings, and cap handgun purchases at one per month.

Gun control became a dominant issue in the 2019 elections in Virginia, following a deadly mass shooting in Virginia Beach and a decision by the then-GOP-controlled legislature to swiftly adjourn a special session Northam called in the aftermath to address gun legislation.

Northam called on the VCDL to “follow the NRA’s example and make your event peaceful. Please do not dishonor Virginia or your cause.”

The league’s rallies have not spawned violence in the past.

In recent weeks, VCDL President Philip Van Cleave has encouraged supporters to leave intimidating long guns — including assault-style rifles such as the AR-15 — at home. He has welcomed out-of-state militias but warned them not to get into confrontations with gun-control activists. And he has tried to keep other incendiary issues out of his event.

“This is not about [Confederate] flags, statues, history, etc. Just guns,” he wrote in a statement to supporters.

Asked what more VCDL can do, Northam said he wanted the group to keep pushing out that message.

Van Cleave said Wednesday that Northam is to blame if the event erupts into violence, accusing the governor of putting law-abiding rally participants at risk by forbidding them from bringing weapons.

“You’re saying there could be problems, and you want us to be disarmed, the good people?” he said. “The governor was the one who started all this. He’s the one who declared war on gun owners.”

Security has been unusually tight during the General Assembly session that kicked off last week. State Police have been out in force, providing backup for the Capitol Police, who normally patrol the square. Crews have been erecting steel crowd-control barricades around the manicured Capitol grounds in recent days.

The teenagers who normally work in the House and Senate as pages were given the day off Monday, the first business day after a joint House-Senate committee on Friday banned weapons from the Capitol and legislative office building.

*********

Prospect of gun control in Virginia draws threats, promise of armed protest (BACKGROUND INFO.)

By Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella | Published January 05 at 9:38 PM EST | Washington Post | Posted January 18, 2020 |

RICHMOND — Gun rights advocates and militia members from around the country are urging thousands of armed protesters to descend on Virginia's capital later this month to stop newly empowered Democrats from passing gun-control bills.

What began as a handful of rural Virginia counties declaring themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” has jumped the state’s borders and become an Internet phenomenon. Far-right websites and commenters are declaring that Virginia is the place to take a stand against what they see as a national trend of weakening gun rights.

Unlike blue bastions such as California and New York, Virginia is a former Confederate state with strong rural traditions and lax gun laws. Guns represent the strongest, reddest line against the demographic changes that have seen Old Dominion voters usher in a new era of Democratic leadership in recent elections.

And so a Nevada-based group called the Oath Keepers said it’s sending training teams to help form posses and militia in Virginia. The leader of a Georgia militia called Three Percent Security Force has posted videos and calls to arms on Facebook, urging “patriots” to converge on Richmond. The right-wing YouTuber “American Joe Show” warned without evidence that Virginia will cut the power grid to stop the army of protesters — one of a host of false and exaggerated rumors spreading online.

Law enforcement and public safety officials say they are monitoring the situation, including several instances of threats toward Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Even some gun enthusiasts expressed concern about the potential for violence at a rally planned for the state Capitol on Jan. 20. State police briefed Northam for two hours last week, according to one state official, and the governor plans to lead an all-staff meeting this week to go over increased security procedures.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, the grass-roots organization planning the rally, said it has told the state to prepare for as many as 50,000 or even 100,000 people showing up.

Police do not dismiss those projections. But at least so far, they have not seen indications that turnout will be that high.

“Do we look at these numbers seriously? It certainly behooves us to prepare for all possibilities,” Capitol Police spokesman Joe Macenka said.

Lawmakers said they have been in regular contact with state, city and Capitol police, and VCDL president Philip Van Cleave said he is keeping lines of communication open so all sides are prepared.

“Hopefully it’ll not be another Charlottesville,” Van Cleave said, blaming police and state planning for the violence that erupted during 2017’s Unite the Right rally around a Confederate statue. Counterprotester Heather Heyer was killed when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of people.

Van Cleave has appealed to his supporters not to come bristling with intimidating long guns — including assault-style rifles such as the AR-15 — and politely suggested that militia members are welcome but do not need to provide security. Police will take care of that, he said, “not to mention enough citizens armed with handguns to take over a modern midsized country.”

That firepower is a concern for gun-control advocates, who also plan to turn out on Jan. 20 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — for what is a traditional day of citizen lobbying at the state Capitol.

“There’s a dangerous intersection here of speech and guns, and what I think is critically important is that we don’t see the sort of armed intimidation and even violence that resulted . . . in Charlottesville,” said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and policy director at Giffords Law Center.

Democratic lawmakers who now control both houses of the General Assembly are considering making rules changes to limit where guns can be carried when the legislature convenes on Wednesday.

Visitors are currently allowed to bring guns onto Capitol Square and — with a concealed-weapons permit — into the Capitol itself and the adjacent Pocahontas Building. Firearms are even permitted in the House gallery, though the Senate gallery is off- limits.

The possibility of having to enforce a ban at entrances to public spaces is another uncertainty facing Capitol Police.

“We’re in a wait-and-see mode,” Macenka said. “It is not our job to draft these kinds of regulations. We enforce the law and we will do this to the best of our ability.”

Democrats won their majorities in November elections, ending a 26-year period where Republicans were able to quash any proposed restrictions on guns. After 12 people were killed at a Virginia Beach municipal building by a gunman on May 31, Northam vowed to pass some form of gun control.

Northam called a special session of the legislature on July 9 to take up the issue, but Republican leaders adjourned after 90 minutes without debating any bills. Advocates on both sides of the gun debate took over Capitol Square that day, with one side toting guns and the other chanting protests or wearing red Moms Demand Action T-shirts.

Afterward, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) issued an opinion that militia members presenting themselves as peacekeepers could be violating state law.

The Jan. 20 event could be on a far bigger scale. Van Cleave said his organization typically charters three buses to bring in scores of advocates for Lobby Day; this year, he has already chartered 23 buses and other groups have reserved 28 — and the number is climbing, he said.

Attention has been building since the Nov. 5 elections as the Second Amendment sanctuary movement has swept across the state. Beginning in rural counties, boards of supervisors — usually with hundreds of local residents looking on — have passed resolutions proclaiming that they would not enforce any unconstitutional effort to seize or restrict guns.

Tazewell County in Southwest Virginia went a step further, passing an ordinance that would enable it to raise a militia.

More than 110 Virginia counties, towns and cities have passed some type of sanctuary resolution in the past couple of months. The rapid spread was fanned by an escalation of rhetoric online.

“Virginia is the state that is testing this unlawful, unconstitutional, Second Amendment gun grab,” Chris Hill, founder of Three Percent Security Force, said in a YouTube video. “If this is where it begins, then this is where it will end.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Hill’s organization an anti-government extremist group. In an interview Friday, Hill said that his militia is not a hate group and predicted any violence on the 20th would come from left-wing “antifa” activists or MS-13 gang members.

Among the wilder rumors spreading online is that United Nations “disarmament officers” have descended on Virginia. A photo of white U.N. trucks being transported on a flatbed, purportedly shot on I-81 near Lexington on Dec. 30, has been making the rounds.

“UN vehicles in Virginia to assist with shock-troop gun control!” read a tweet from someone called Catholic Charismatic. “Photo captured yesterday! Foreign troops! Retweet this vigorously.”

The post got 4,000 retweets even though the photo has been circulating online since at least 2016. The fact-checking website Snopes.com debunked a similar U.N.-takeover theory sparked by the photo that year, determining the vehicles had been manufactured in Virginia by Alpine Armoring and were being shipped overseas.

Early in December, Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) responded to the Second Amendment sanctuary movement by suggesting in an interview that Northam might have to call out the National Guard to enforce gun laws.

Online, that turned into a false claim that Northam has actually called out the National Guard.

“Absolutely not,” Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said.

The commander of the Virginia National Guard, Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, issued a statement that the organization had received “multiple questions” about its role in gun enforcement but that the governor had made no such requests. Nonetheless, Williams seemed to feed the frenzy when he included in his statement, “we will not speculate about the possible use of the Virginia National Guard.”

One white supremacist blogger wrote a widely disseminated post claiming that Northam planned to call out the Guard and cut power and Internet service to thwart gun supporters.

That led to a meme with a fabricated quote in which Northam is made to say, “if you still refuse to comply I’ll have you killed.”

[Read Virginia AG Herring: ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ proclamations have no force on website"]

Both Snopes.com and PolitiFact have debunked the claims, but the falsehoods have reverberated in efforts to summon gun supporters to Richmond. Some of the comments in social media or on the Reddit thread r/VAGuns have turned menacing.

The conspiracy theory site Natural News posted an angry tirade about Northam, accusing him of starting a new civil war and suggesting vigilantes would kill any officials who tried to take their guns.

An anti-Semitic website said Jewish Democrats were “gun-grabbers,” including former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, the presidential candidate whose gun-control organization has poured millions into Virginia.

State officials declined to directly address the threats. “Our Administration is taking serious precautions to protect the safety of all visitors, policymakers, and staff during the upcoming General Assembly session,” Clark Mercer, Northam’s chief of staff, said via email. “This issue evokes strong feelings, but spreading lies, rumors, and misinformation is irresponsible and dangerous. All legislators and advocates have an obligation to tell the truth and not irresponsibly escalate emotions, regardless of what policy positions they hold on these issues.”

Northam is backing eight bills, the same package he submitted ahead of the aborted special session in July. Among them are measures to ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, bump stocks and silencers; require background checks on all firearms sales and transfers; cap handgun purchases at one per month; and create a “red flag law” to temporarily remove guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.

The proposed assault-weapons ban has been one of the most controversial measures, since the original bill bans not only the sale of those guns but possession — meaning people who already own them would have to give them up. Amid an uproar, Northam said a grandfather clause would be added to protect existing owners, but they would have to register their weapons. Gun-rights advocates were not appeased, saying registration is just a first step toward confiscation.

Response to that agenda has become so heated that the nation’s most visible gun-rights group, the National Rifle Association, is taking an intentionally lower-key approach. It will sponsor town halls in three rural locations around Virginia in the coming weeks, aimed at explaining proposed legislation.

Rather than publicize the Jan. 20 rally, the NRA has called on its members to visit lawmakers on Jan. 13, the day it expects the first bills to be taken up in committee. It has not commented on the sanctuary cities movement.

A group called United in Strength for America is sponsoring a two-day seminar at a hotel near Richmond’s airport for the weekend before the Jan. 20 rally. Its slate of speakers includes Tony Pellegrino, founder of a West Coast conservative law academy, who will describe legal methods for fighting gun seizure laws. A state representative from Idaho “will share a behind-the-scenes look at the gun-grabbers,” according to an email invitation to the event.

“The country is watching us, for Virginia is the canary in the coal mine of the nation,” the invitation says.

All the outside attention has overwhelmed some of the homegrown gun rights advocates. Troy Carter, who helped rally support for a sanctuary proclamation in Amelia County outside Richmond, said he has seen the fiery language on social media.

“I am worried people will come here to Virginia and look for that opportunity to cause trouble,” he said. “It’s not going to be the sanctuary guys, because we just want peace and to be left alone.”

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Virginia Supreme Court upholds Northam’s temporary ban on weapons on Capitol grounds

By Gregory S. Schneider | Posted January 17 at 6:43 PM EST | Washington Post | Posted Jan 18, 2020 |

RICHMOND — The Virginia Supreme Court has upheld Gov. Ralph Northam's temporary ban on guns in Capitol Square, which went into effect Friday at 5 p.m. and will continue through a major gun rights rally scheduled for Monday.

Concern about the rally, which organizers warn could attract tens of thousands of armed protesters, escalated in Richmond on Friday when President Trump drew attention to it on Twitter.

“Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia,” Trump tweeted. “That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away. Republicans will win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!”

Northam (D) announced the ban Wednesday as part of declaring a state of emergency, citing “credible intelligence” that some groups had threatened violent demonstrations against gun-control laws being considered by the legislature.

On Thursday, the FBI arrested three alleged members of a white-supremacist group on gun charges, partly out of concern that they planned to attend the Richmond rally and incite violence.

Two gun advocacy groups had filed suit to challenge the ban, arguing that it violated constitutional rights to free speech and to bear arms, as well as a state law restricting the governor’s power to ban guns during an emergency.

A Richmond Circuit Court judge upheld the ban Thursday, ruling that the governor was within his authority to protect public safety on the grounds around the Capitol. Lawyers for the Virginia Citizens Defense League and the Gun Owners of America immediately appealed Circuit Judge Joi Jeter Taylor’s ruling to the state Supreme Court.

If the ban were enforced, the lawyers said in their appeal, thousands of citizens would be “wrongfully and unlawfully denied entry to the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol merely because they are exercising their preexisting rights.”

They also noted that a law passed by the General Assembly in 2012 specifically forbids the governor from using a declaration of emergency to ban guns, except within emergency shelters. Both Northam and state Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), they pointed out, were state senators at the time and voted in favor of the policy.

Lawyers in Herring’s office said they worked through the night to write a response to the appeal. They also requested permission to file a longer brief “because the haste with which the plaintiffs are proceeding means this is the first and likely only opportunity for the Commonwealth to file a brief on this matter,” according to a statement from Herring’s office.

The state invoked the violent Unite the Right rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, in which armed militias clashed with counterprotesters. One woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd, and two state police officers died when their helicopter crashed nearby.

“Determined to prevent another tragedy, the Governor issued a carefully limited Executive Order,” the state lawyers argued. “The Order does not prevent anyone from speaking, assembling, or petitioning the government. Instead, it temporarily precludes private possession of firearms in a sensitive public place during a specified time to protect public safety.” [Read state Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s response on Washington Post website.]

In refusing to overturn the ban, the Supreme Court faulted the pro-gun lawyers for failing to include enough information to merit taking action. They noted that the lawyers had alternately referred to what they sought as a “temporary injunction” and a “preliminary injunction” and that there was no transcript provided of the hasty hearing held in Circuit Court the day before.

“The only information we have on which to resolve the weighty issues raised by the parties are pleadings accompanied by cursory attachments. Accordingly, the petition is refused,” six of the court’s seven justices wrote.

Democrats won control of both chambers of the General Assembly in elections last fall, partly based on campaign promises to enact gun-control measures. The issue took on urgency after a gunman killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal complex in May.

The state Senate passed three gun-control bills Thursday, sending them to the House for its consideration. They would require background checks on all firearms sales, cap handgun purchases at one per month, and let local governments ban weapons from government buildings, parks and certain events.

A Democratic-controlled rules committee last week imposed a permanent ban on carrying guns inside the Capitol and a legislative office building; this week’s court cases did not challenge that measure.

The prospect of Democratic action, after 26 years of Republican control effectively blocked all gun restrictions, has stirred anger among gun advocates in Virginia and beyond. In recent weeks, militias and extremist groups across the country have urged thousands of people to descend on Richmond on Monday to protest. Law enforcement officials say they’ve been monitoring threatening language on websites and social media, including threats of violent insurrection and civil war.

Organizers are trying to get more than 50,000 people to attend, and authorities are taking that prospect seriously.

Northam’s office planned to brief Republican and Democratic leaders Friday afternoon on the law enforcement intelligence that went into the declaration of emergency.

Capitol and state police have had a major presence at this year’s General Assembly session, and they have installed metal barricades and other security measures around the Capitol grounds in preparation for Monday’s rally.

*********

If the union is busted, he said, “There will be no voice that speaks for the judges, and the administration will have unchecked power to pressure the courts to serve as a tool of enforcement rather than justice.”

Trump has attacked federal unions. Now, for the first time, he’s trying to bust one.

By Joe Davidson | Published January 18 at 6:00 AM EST | Washington Post | Posted January 18, 2020 |

President Trump is escalating his attacks on federal unions to a new level.

For the first time, the Trump administration is seeking to bust a union, the National Association of Immigration Judges, by declaring that its members are managers ineligible for labor organization membership. It’s tantamount to decertification.

A possible change in the judges’ status from staffers to managers raises another issue beyond union membership: Should judges be part of the Justice Department, the law enforcement agency whose cases the judges consider?

Making immigration judges part of the department’s management could politicize their role during a period when Trump’s aggressive immigration practices are among his more controversial policies.

This case intensifies a series of administration actions designed to undermine federal labor organizations. The most notable of those occurred in May 2018 when Trump issued three executive orders that hit federal unions by, among other things, making it harder for union leaders to organize, represent employees and use agency facilities.

Arguments from both sides of the attempted union busting are now being considered by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a small independent agency that resolves federal labor-management disputes. Two of the three authority members are Trump appointees.

Justice Department officials say the judges are essentially management officials “and should be excluded from a bargaining unit” in papers filed this month with the authority.

The department is fighting history, hoping it does not repeat.

In 2000, when Bill Clinton was president, the authority considered the same issue and, as the administration’s brief acknowledges, “determined that immigration judges are not management officials.”

SO WHY RE-FIGHT A LOST BATTLE?

Justice officials now contend that decision “was wrongly decided” and has been undermined by changes in the law that affect immigration judges’ decisions.

Administrative decisions and federal court rulings since the authority’s 2000 decision, according to Justice, significantly influence “the ability of immigration judges to determine, formulate, or influence policy of the Agency,” rendering them more management than labor.

A decision by an immigration judge, the brief added, “commits or binds the Agency to a course of action,” a characteristic of management. Currently there are 465 immigration judges, the most ever, according to the department.

The association, however, says not only have the judges’ duties not changed since the earlier decision, but they are “less able to influence policy” than they were then.

“Immigration Judges are now subject to mandatory performance reviews and efficiency metrics,” the association said in its brief. “The Agency has increased control over the procedures and protocols of the judges’ courtrooms. It has implemented a restrictive public speaking policy, blocking judges from many speaking engagements,” the union’s brief said.

On top of that, agency managers “are frequently in the courthouses, supervising and evaluating the Immigration Judges. These changes give the judges yet less authority than before, showing that the Agency clearly treats them as employees.”

THE JUDGES HAVE IMPORTANT ALLIES.

When the union hit was proposed last year, a statement by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and immigration subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said the administration “has taken unprecedented steps to strip immigration judges of judicial independence.”

The union-busting attempt, they added, “underscores why we need an immigration court system that is separate and independent from the Executive Branch.” The committee leaders planned a hearing on creation of an independent immigration court.

During an interview, union president A. Ashley Tabaddor said housing the current immigration court in the Justice Department is a “major structural design defect” whose conflicts of interest, vulnerabilities and weaknesses have been particularly exploited under Trump.

She likened the immigration courts under him to a “widget factory model process [where] the judges have been subjected to quotas and deadlines, which intrudes upon their decision-making authority. The court system has been micromanaged from the top based on law enforcement priority.”

Busting the union would be “a dark day not only for every immigrant who appears before the immigration court, but also for the deeply [held] American principle that courts must be balanced and neutral in order to administer justice,” according to an email from Gregory Chen, the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s government relations director.

If the union is busted, he said, “There will be no voice that speaks for the judges, and the administration will have unchecked power to pressure the courts to serve as a tool of enforcement rather than justice.”

*********

#trumpism #donald trump jr #news today trump #donald trump #president donald trump #trump administration #trump impeachment #boycott nra #the nra is a terrorist organization #nra #neo nazis #white supermacists #white house #charlottesville #hate groups #hate speech #hate crimes #republican politics #politics and government #us politics #politics #virginia #Vapol #gun violence #gun control #guns #u.s. news #top stories google news #top news #nyt > top stories

[gekidanonline]

Owner of condemned Salt Lake apartments faces criminal charges

SALT LAKE CITY — In December and January, fire inspectors arrived at a Salt Lake City apartment complex to find a sprinkler system at risk of freezing, exits blocked by junk and missing smoke detectors.

This week, they ordered residents to move out, saying the fire and safety hazards were too dangerous. On Friday, prosecutors said the conditions were not just risky but also criminal.

They filed 15 misdemeanor charges against the owner of a condemned apartment complex. The allegations stem from code violations including missing or nonworking smoke alarms and fire extinguishers, extension cords in place of permanent wiring and inaccessible fire hose hookups at Georgia Apartments.

On Friday, many residents were still scrambling to go find a new place ahead of a Saturday move-out deadline imposed by the city. One of those still searching was 34-year-old Aaron Hirtler, who said the criminal allegations brought little consolation and he mostly feels numb.

"It doesn’t really change or fix anything, really. I might feel differently later, but right now, in the middle of all this, it’s like, ‘OK, couldn’t something have been done earlier? Did it have to reach this point?’" Hirtler said he was planning to speak with the city’s housing and redevelopment team over the weekend to identify more leads.

The condemned complex is a block removed from a busy intersection at 2100 South and State Street in Salt Lake City. Its owner, Carol Lunt, 61, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. A day earlier, she declined to speak about the conditions but could be seen walking around the complex that has several broken and boarded-up windows.

Tenants on Monday were initially told they had three days to leave, but they were later granted more time. On Thursday, several in 31 occupied units at the two-story complex frantically packed up belongings. Many said disrepair, crime and squatters have long been problems there.

Inspectors with the Salt Lake City Fire Department have been meeting with Lunt in person, talking to her on the phone and via mail and fax since August 2017, the court documents state.

On Dec. 8 and Jan. 29, they identified several code violations "that created concern for life safety issues," according to probable cause affidavits. Each of the counts is an alleged violation of international fire code and related standards, a class B misdemeanor. A conviction carries a possible sentence of up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

"Every individual and family has a right to live in a safe environment," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement. "When people are put at risk by those responsible to ensure basic standards of safety, we have an obligation to hold them accountable." He could not immediately be reached by phone Friday.

A hearing on the allegations in Salt Lake City Justice Court has not yet been scheduled.

Safety hazards aside, city officials have also noted an increase in violent or criminal incidents. In 2018, Salt Lake police recorded nearly 650 incidents of drug problems, fights, domestic disturbances, trespassing and other issues — about a threefold increase from a year earlier, city officers said earlier in the week.

In Provo, a landlord and property manager are facing criminal charges after a tenant died in a house fire in June. Prosecutors say the building’s owner, Kelly Ellis, knew the basement apartment had no smoke detectors and was a "death trap" but rented it out anyway. He and property manager Homer Workman are charged with manslaughter, a second-degree felony, in the death of 48-year-old Donna Clegg. Neither man has entered a plea. Both are due back in court in March.

Source Article

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[sunhiredofficial]

Community Outreach Advocate

CJCC Job Title: Community Outreach Advocate

State Human Resources Administration Job Title: Communications Spec 1

Human Resources Administration Job Code: GSP040

Salary Plan: Paygrade H

Benefits: (Funded by employee premiums and employer contributions).

Health and Flexible Benefits Available

12 paid state holidays

Annual & Sick Leave

Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is administratively attached to GBI. The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), CJCC plans and administers millions of dollars in federal criminal justice and victim services grants received from Edward Byrne Memorial (Byrne-JAG), Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), STOP Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT), Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP) as well as state grant programs funded by the Georgia General Assembly. CJCC administers the Georgia Crime Victims Compensation Program (CVCP) which offers financial support to innocent victims of violent crimes and encourages greater victim participation in the criminal justice process.

This position is located at Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, 104 Marietta Street, NW, Atlanta, Georgia

Applicants chosen for employment will be subject to financial, driving, education and criminal background and reference checks. Work eligibility will be checked in E-Verify. As a federally funded agency, CJCC is subject to federal Drug Free Workplace requirements. CJCC is an equal opportunity employer.

Human Resources maintains the discretion to close the job announcement prior to the closing date if a significant number of applications are received.

Description:

Under general supervision, Victims Compensation Division Victim’s Advocate provides personal support services and crisis intervention to claimants and victims of violent crimes (e.g., Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Homicide). May serve as case managers and evaluate, investigate and resolve complaints. Acts as a liaison between client and service providers.

NOTE: Some overnight and out of state travel required as well as flexible work hours, including some weekends and evenings; Up to 50% of the time.

Key Duties & Responsibilities:

Acts as a liaison and client/victim advocate between the clients/consumers/victims, staff members, other advocates, and service providers

Assesses legitimacy of complaint and determines if a violation or problem exists

Performs legal support duties, coordination, and outreach relevant to victims

Responsible for facilitating outreach events

Create and deliver presentations

Providers accurate and thorough information regarding available resources

Provides crisis intervention services for crime victims

Provides information and referral services

Receives, documents and investigates complaints from clients, patients, their families or representatives regarding quality of services and violations of individual rights

Reviews consumers/clients’ financial status and living situation to make assessments of needs (Communicates with victims and obtains all required information necessary to determine and address their specific needs)

Screens customer data and makes initial determination of potential eligibility for programs

Receives additional training, as required, to gain full proficiency and experience in all areas

Additional Duties & Responsibilities:

Establishes and maintains a working relationship with stakeholders, nonprofit and governmental victim servicing agencies

May assist in developing strategies for identifying potential stakeholders and determining most appropriate methods for contact

May plan and develop methods of delivering promotional information to the general public and designated audiences within and outside the agency.

Attends conferences, trade shows, or conventions

Assist with the development of criteria, standards and concepts for outreach in the Advocacy Unit

Use statistical or historical data and other pertinent information to develop outreach strategies

Define goals, expected outcomes or results of outreach events/projects to program administrators, agency managers, colleagues and support staff

Maintain appropriate records and statistical information

May serve on or direct agency task force(s) to identify under served populations

Outlines projects and programs on annual or quarterly events calendar, at the prescribed intervals or when appropriate

NOTE: The above job description represents the general nature, primary duties and responsibilities, and qualifications for the work performed by employees within this job, but it is not a comprehensive and exhaustive list. Employees may be required to perform other duties assigned, and specific duties, responsibilities and activities within the core nature of the job may change at any time with or without notice. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the job, as specified by the employing entity with or without reasonable accommodation.

Work takes place in an office setting, it requires the ability to sit and work at a keyboard for extended periods of time and communicate with team members, by phone and computer

Only applicants selected for interview will be notified for applicant selection. Human Resources maintains the discretion to close the job announcement prior to the closing date if a significant number of applications are received.

If an accommodation is needed for any part of the employment process, please contact Human Resources Office at (404) 654- 1736

Please submit a copy of your current resume in PDF form along with the online application. http://bit.ly/2bJxDpk

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in communications or a related field from an accredited college or university OR Three years of communications or related experience.

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