George Floyd’s Family Petitions United Nations to Help Disarm Police in the United States

By Penny Starr – 6/8/2020

The family of George Floyd, the black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, has sent a letter to the globalist United Nations to ask for its help in disarming police officers in the United States of America.

The family’s legal team facilitated the letter, which was sent on Wednesday, according to NBC News:

The group sent a letter on June 3 to one of the international body’s working groups asking for support for the end of the provision of military equipment and military-type training for police, the teaching of deescalation techniques, independent prosecutions and autopsies for “extrajudicial” police killings, and more.

“When a group of people of any nation have been systemically deprived of their universal human right to life by its government for decades, it must appeal to the international community for its support and to the United Nations for its intervention,” Floyd’s family attorney Ben Crump said in a press release.

The U.N. issued a statement on May 28, three days after Floyd’s death, and included the names of other black people in the U.S. who died in police custody. Michelle Bachelet, U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights, is quoted in the statement, which says, in part:

“This is the latest in a long line of killings of unarmed African Americans by U.S. police officers and members of the public,” Bachelet said. “I am dismayed to have to add George Floyd’s name to that of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and many other unarmed African Americans who have died over the years at the hands of the police — as well as people such as Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin who were killed by armed members of the public.”

“The US authorities must take serious action to stop such killings, and to ensure justice is done when they do occur. Procedures must change, prevention systems must be put in place, and above all police officers who resort to excessive use of force should be charged and convicted for the crimes committed.”

“The role that entrenched and pervasive racial discrimination plays in such deaths must also be fully examined, properly recognized and dealt with,” she added.

While saying she understood the anger unleashed by Floyd’s killing, Bachelet urged people in Minneapolis and elsewhere to protest peacefully.

NBC did not report on whether or not the Floyd family or its legal counsel have heard back from the U.N.

June 8, 2020 0

PROJECT VERITAS: ABC NEWS’ DAVID WRIGHT IDENTIFIES AS ‘A SOCIALIST’

Says he not only sees himself as a Democrat-socialist, but a full-blown socialist

Joshua Caplan | Breitbart – FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Senior ABC News correspondent David Wright accused his own network of denying President Donald Trump “credit” for his administration’s accomplishments and revealed that he’s a “socialist,” according to an undercover video captured by Project Veritas.

“I feel terrible about it,” Wright says of ABC’s coverage of the presidential election. “I feel that the truth suffers, the voters are poorly informed and people have the opportunity to tune into whatever they want to hear.”

“It’s like there’s no upside in, or our bosses, don’t see an upside in doing the job we’re supposed to do; which is to speak truth to power and hold people accountable,” he adds.

In another part of the video, Wright claims that the media doesn’t hold President Donald Trump to account, and then admits that reporters don’t give the president “credit” where it’s due. “I think, some of that at least in the place that I work and places like it, is that with Trump, we’re interested in three things: we’re interested in the outrage of the day, the investigation, and of the palace intrigue of who’s backstabbing who,” he says.

Later in the footage, Wright is asked about his political ideology, to which he says that he not only sees himself as a Democrat-socialist, but a full-blown socialist. “I think there should be national health insurance,” Wright argues. “I’m totally fine with reining in corporations, I think there are too many billionaires, and I think that there’s a wealth gap. That’s a problem.”

The video concluded with Wright saying that the establishment media is more interested in covering the election as a “horse race” than a contest about issues important to voters. “I don’t think we’re terribly interested in voters,” he concedes.

“In addition to the candidate of the week, we need the story to move on,” Wright explains. “We’re happy to have Buttigieg be the story last week and we’re happy to have Klobuchar as a new subject this week, and then when we’re tired of her we’ll be delighted if Elizabeth Warren kicks ass in Nevada because then we have something new to talk about.”

“We’re all guilty of the same thing,” Wright continues.” I think that all of the big news organizations… ABC, CBS, NBC.”

“We recognize that we’re dinosaurs and we’re in danger of dying,” he adds.

The Washinton Post reported that ABC News has suspended correspondent Wright “for unguarded remarks he made in a video by operatives of Project Veritas.”

In a statement to Project Veritas, ABC News said of the decision: “Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved. David Wright has been suspended, and to avoid any possible appearance of bias, he will be reassigned away from political coverage when he returns.”

February 26, 2020 0

‘This should go well’: Trolling and worry as Twitter reveals plan to flag ‘lies & misinformation’

Twitter is experimenting with features that will supposedly help identify tweets containing lies with community help, but the social media giant’s track record of bias and questionable banning standards has users concerned.

Tweets that spread “lies” or “misinformation” will be highlighted for users with a bright-colored warning that is nearly the same size as the offending post, according to a report from NBC News. The changes are supposedly part of a policy revamp at Twitter, scheduled to go into effect next month.

Who are these “community” judges, juries and executioners? “Fact-checkers and journalists” who are verified on Twitter will be the able to decide which tweets promote “misleading” information, though a Twitter spokesperson told NBC that the site will be testing “many different ways” to combat “misinformation.”

A “Community Notes” section also gives users the ability to earn points based on being a “good neighbor,” which is apparently a Twitter euphemism for someone who flags other people’s tweets. Points and community badges could be rewarded to those who act in “good faith” when targeting offending tweets.

The point system is meant to prevent “bad actors” from abusing it. Considering how much political fighting there is on Twitter, odds that this tool will be abused are close to 100 percent, however.

Screenshots from a public testing site show tweets from both conservative and liberal politicians being flagged, as well as tweets denying climate change.

Having been accused of political bias and shadowbanning users with more right-wing beliefs in the past, many do not have faith in Twitter responsibly identifying “misleading” information.

“Can’t wait to see just how much of a disaster this is going to be,” reporter Seth Mandel tweeted in response to the coming changes.

“This should go well,” added commentator and podcaster Stephen Miller.

Twitter already put a new policy in place last month banning tweets that share “manipulated media.” That, however, could mean anything from deep fakes to memes such as that of President Donald Trump giving a medal to the military dog Conan, an obviously humorous and trolling tweet that was quickly “fact-checked” by reporters anyway.

With such precedents, it’s not surprising that many Twitter users fear the new tools could be abused to flag legitimate satire.

kind of fucked up that twitter is already flagging my posts. is anyone else seeing this https://t.co/srbFm28Ijh—
leon (@leyawn) February 20, 2020

Facebook has faced similar criticism for attempts at censorship of what they deem to be harmful content. CEO Mark Zuckerberg even recently set up an Oversight Board, completely funded by Facebook of course, so people can attempt to appeal the social media giant’s decisions on banned content.

Twitter also has a history of trying to punish “wrongthink.” Author Yasha Levine had his account locked after objecting to the US pushing for war with Russia. Actor James Woods only recently returned to the platform after months-long absence, after Twitter locked his account and demanded he delete an offensive tweet.

“If you try to kill the King, you better not miss,” the politically-outspoken Woods tweeted, quoting a line from the famous TV show ‘The Wire’ that paraphrases Ralph Waldo Emerson. Twitter deemed it to be some kind of threat or incitement of violence.

With the new flagging rules and seemingly impossible-to-control policies in the pipeline, it would be no surprise to see even more attempts at thought control, putting a wedge between the social media giant and already frustrated users.

February 21, 2020 0

February 19, 2020 0

SWAMP: FBI Press Officer Accepted Baseball Tickets From CNN Reporter

Michael Kortan was the FBI’s press officer during the 2016 election.

By Richard Moorhead

New reporting from the Daily Caller has revealed that the FBI’s former chief press officer was forced to resign last year, after lying to the Department of Justice’s inspector general about accepting baseball tickets from a CNN reporter.

Michael Kortan was formerly the FBI’s assistant director of public affairs. He resigned from the agency in 2018, while under investigation from the Office of the Inspector General. The DOJ’s watchdog entity had discovered text messages in which Kortan agreed to accept baseball tickets to two Washington Nationals games during May and September 2016 from a CNN reporter. A report from the Office of the Inspector General describes Kortan as displaying a “lack of candor” during two interviews he was subjected to on the matter, suggesting that Kortan lied about accepting the gifts from a forbidden source.

Kortan also accepted baseball tickets from a New York Times reporter in 2014 and 2016. The anonymous CNN reporter who evidently provided gifts to the bureaucrat was apparently considered one of his top press contacts, suggesting that he or she may have been privy to confidential agency information that should have been kept private.

“Nats v Marlins Friday night. I have to be away. Can you use four tix?” Said one text from the CNN operative.

Kortan seemed relatively shameless in his response, accepting a gift that most professionals committed to ethics would quickly decline.

“I’m good for 2 tix if that’s OK.”

The Department of Justice ultimately didn’t prosecute Kortan for the breach of FBI rules, possibly because of his decision to resign from the agency.

FBI agents are strictly prohibited from receiving gifts from “prohibited sources,” who include journalists who cover the agency’s operations. It goes without saying that a high-ranking public affairs agent is totally forbidden from taking baseball tickets from CNN and New York Times reporters.

The FBI has struggled to retain its image as a neutral and non-partisan law enforcement agency, following years of scandals in which agency personnel were busted trying to interfere in partisan politics and national elections.

February 19, 2020 0