From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Three police officers were taken to hospital with injuries after protesters stormed the Rochester Police Department’s headquarters, police said.
Demonstrators arrived at the city Public Safety Building in downtown Rochester, New York on Tuesday evening to protest the arrest of 50-year-old Nicholas Wilt, the Rochester Police Department said in a news release early Wednesday. Continue reading “Three Rochester NYPD Officers Hospitalized After Protesters Storm Police HQ”
DETROIT (AP) — A week after Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lacked the authority to act unilaterally to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the state health department issued its own emergency order keeping much of the restrictions she imposed in place.
The order Friday from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon comes under the state’s Public Health Code. Continue reading “After Court Ruling, New Emergency Orders Issued to Stem Virus in Michigan”
The following timeline largely reflects the account in criminal court documents by state and federal law enforcement filed against 13 men accused of plotting to kidnap public officials in Michigan, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The men have been arrested and brought into custody.
As law enforcement routinely notes, a criminal charge is an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Continue reading “‘Snatch and grab’: The winding path to plot against a governor”
Since Israel’s peace deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a sale of arms, including F35s, to the UAE seemed inevitable. Israel first bristled at this idea, but has recently seemed to tolerate the sale so long as they get free equipment from the US in return.
Nothing’s ever that easy, however, and Senators from both parties, Jim Risch (R-ID) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), are now resisting the idea, saying they believe the sale doesn’t meet legal requirements to assure Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge. Continue reading “Trump’s Planned Sale of F35s to UAE Hits Snag in the Senate”
One man was killed and a male suspect is in custody following a shooting at a protest in Denver Saturday, authorities said.
The shooting occurred in the courtyard near the Denver Art Museum, officials said. Police initially said one victim was transported to the hospital and their condition was unknown. Denver police later said they were investigating the incident as a homicide. Continue reading “1 person dead, suspect in custody following shooting at Denver protests: Police”
Crop loss estimates from a rare wind storm that slammed Iowa in August have increased by more than 50%.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday that the number of crop acres that Iowa farmers are unable to harvest has grown to 850,000 from estimates last month that 550,000 acres were lost because of the storm, known as a derecho. Continue reading “Report: Iowa’s derecho crop losses increase by more than 50%”
A militia group planned to violently depose Michigan’s government and abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the FBI said in a federal affidavit filed Thursday.
“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit, obtained by the Detroit News. “The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message.” Continue reading “FBI says it foiled plot to kidnap Michigan governor”
President Trump called for another round of coronavirus stimulus checks to Americans after calling off stimulus negotiations with Democrats on Tuesday afternoon.
“If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY,” the president said in a tweet on Tuesday evening. “I am ready to sign right now.” Continue reading “Coronavirus stimulus checks: President Trump calls for more direct payments after derailing negotiations, Pelosi responds”
Jewish Telegraph Agency – by Shira Hanau
(JTA) – Protests by Orthodox Jews against New York’s crackdown on gatherings in their neighborhoods turned tense Tuesday night as throngs of young men demonstrated in the streets of Borough Park, setting fire to a pile of masks and at one point running a reporter out of the area.
In a particularly violent episode, one man – the brother of Mordy Getz, a well-known Orthodox businessman in Borough Park who was outspoken about the need for masks and social distancing earlier in the pandemic – was beaten so severely by protesters after he took a video of the scene that he was taken to the hospital. Onlookers could be heard calling him a “moser,” one who informs on fellow Jews to the authorities and who some Jewish legal authorities say can be killed as a result, an insult applied to his brother back in April, as he was placed on a stretcher to be taken to the hospital. Continue reading “Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn burn masks during massive protest against New York’s new COVID rules”
A Texas police officer has been charged with murder after fatally shooting Jonathan Price, a 31-year-old Black man, Saturday night.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) on Monday said that Wolfe City officer Shaun Lucas did not take reasonable action in his encounter with Price, NBC News reported. Relatives of Price have said he was attempting to break up a fight between a man and a woman at a gas station. Continue reading “Texas officer charged with murder in fatal shooting of Black man”
Asset forfeiture remains one of the most abused law enforcement practices in the country. While some attempts have been made to rein in this abuse, in most locales, it’s just considered a useful law enforcement tool with minimal downsides.
Pennsylvania has some of the worst asset forfeiture laws in the nation. And it shows. Law enforcement has occasionally been benchslapped by judges for traveling past the wide boundaries granted to it by local legislators. In one case, a judge stopped the state from seizing a grandmother’s house just because her son sold officers $140-worth of marijuana from the residence. Continue reading “Pennsylvania Cops Are Still Abusing Asset Forfeiture To Help Themselves To People’s Cash”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police said they knocked repeatedly and identified themselves for a minute or more before using a battering ram to enter Breonna Taylor’s apartment, according to Kentucky grand jury recordings released Friday, then killed her in a rapid hail of gunfire after the first officer inside her door was struck by a bullet.
But Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired on the officers, said in an police interview played for the jury that he did not hear them announce themselves. If they had, he noted, “it changes the whole situation because there’s nothing for us to be scared of.” Continue reading “Grand jury audio details moments before Breonna Taylor died”
Voters in New York City said they received their mail-in ballots this week but were surprised to find they were printed with the wrong names and voter IDs and included incorrect return labels.
Some voters said they received absentee ballots mislabeled as the official ballot for military members, while others said the envelope meant to return their ballot did not bear their name or address. Continue reading “New Yorkers report receiving ballots with wrong name, voter addresses”
JPMorgan Chase, accused of presiding over thousands of episodes of illegal trading in precious metals and Treasury markets, said Tuesday that it will pay about $920 million as part of an agreement with the Justice Department.
The Justice Department said employees stationed on desks in New York, London and Singapore engaged in an unlawful schemes to trade gold, silver, platinum, and palladium futures contracts, scooping up orders with the intention of canceling them before they were executed. Continue reading “JPMorgan Chase agrees to pay $920 million over market manipulation”
As we look ahead to the last jobs report before the Nov. 3 US election, a growing number of corporations across various hard-hit industries are announcing tens of thousands of layoffs, as ‘PPP’ employment restrictions expire and the financial backlash from COVID-19 continues to ravage corporations and households.
Already this week, Royal Dutch Shell, Continental Airlines, Dow Chemicals, and Marathon Petroleum have announced restructuring plans that involve laying off tens of thousands of workers. Yesterday, Disney announced plans to eliminate 28,000 jobs as most of its theme parks remain closed, and the movie business remains effectively shuttered. Continue reading “Flurry Of Corporate Layoffs Continue As Disney, Shell, & Continental Announce Mass Firings”
A Maryland man has been sentenced to one year in jail after he hosted two parties against the governor’s COVID-19 large gathering orders, prosecutors said.
Following a bench trial, Shawn Marshall Myers, 42, was convicted of two counts of failure to comply with an emergency order, according to a Friday statement from the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office. Continue reading “Man gets 1 year in jail for holding large parties against COVID-19 rules”
President Donald Trump reportedly suggested that Jews have a loyalty to their religion above other interests, repeating an accusation that has long been used to stoke anti-Semitism.
Jews “are only in it for themselves” and “stick together,” Trump said in front of officials in his administration, according to a new report from The Washington Post on Wednesday. Continue reading “Trump said Jews are ‘only in it for themselves’ and ‘stick together,’ according to a new report”
One of three officers involved in the Louisville, Ky., drug operation that led to the police shooting death of Breonna Taylor in March 2020 was indicted Wednesday on criminal charges.
Officer Brett Hankison, whom the department fired in June, was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree, a Jefferson County grand jury announced Wednesday. Neither the grand jury nor the presiding judge elaborated on the charges. Continue reading “Breonna Taylor shooting: Fired Louisville officer indicted on criminal charges but not her death”
A pair of Missouri residents connected to a militia group traveled to Kenosha, Wis., amid demonstrations over the police shooting of Jacob Blake “to loot and possibly ‘pick people off,'” according to a federal criminal complaint.
Michael Karmo, 40, and Cody Smith, 33, both of Hartville, Mo., were arrested Tuesday at a hotel in Kenosha County on federal charges of illegal possession of firearms. Both men are barred from possessing firearms because of past criminal convictions. Continue reading “Militia members face gun charges, alleged to have come to Kenosha ‘to pick people off’”