Racist Right-Wingers Riot Across UK - The Monday AM Quickie 8/5/24
RFK Jr.'s predilection for animal skins, taxidermy, roadkill, and esoteric meats is starting to become a thing, isn't it? -Jacob
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THE BIG NEWS
Racist Right-Wingers Riot Across UK
The plague of fascist street violence has now hit the United Kingdom. A week ago, an assailant with a knife attacked a Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance event for children in the city of Southport. Three children died and at least five children and two adults were seriously wounded. A 17-year-old boy was arrested that day, and his motive remains unknown.
Right-wing social-media accounts immediately began promoting false information claiming that the suspect was a Muslim migrant – a lie that has been disseminated by Andrew Tate, the End Wokeness X account, and other prominent far-right influencers.
The day after the attack, right-wing extremists, led by the racist English Defense League, rioted near where the murders occurred. They destroyed cars, set cop cars on fire, and attacked mosques and stores. And they've continued to stoke violence ever since, with riots breaking out in at least a dozen cities across the UK over the weekend. The violent brawls resemble a pogrom targeting immigrants and Muslims. In Rotherham, an estimated 700 rioters attacked a hotel that was being used to house migrants. In Tamworth, rioters attacked another hotel housing migrants. Police have fought with rioters and made hundreds of arrests.
"I utterly condemn the far-right thuggery we've seen this weekend," said recently installed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Dame Sara Khan, an advisor to the former Conservative government, said that her erstwhile colleagues had failed to adequately address England's rise in domestic extremism. "There’s a serious duty on our politicians to not engage in inflammatory language; to not use, for example, dehumanising language about asylum seekers, refugees and, you know, people who are coming to our country," Khan said.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
The Democratic Veepstakes Should End Soon
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris may announce her VP choice as soon as today. She spent Sunday interviewing Minnesota Governor and "Republicans are weird" popularizer Tim Walz, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Media chatter – and Wikipedia edits – points to Shapiro as the frontrunner, especially given his popularity in an essential swing state. Progressives have raised concerns about Shapiro's handling of a sexual harassment complaint against an aide; an apparent murder that he ruled a suicide when he was attorney general; his promotion of school vouchers; and his support of Israel while it carries out a US-assisted genocide in Gaza. Other than that, Shapiro polls as a very popular governor of a key battleground state, and Barack Obama loves him, so it's likely that Harris will dismiss progressive concerns and go with the electorally useful guy. We'll know soon.
US Military Prepares for Iranian Retaliation Against Israel
US military officials believe that Iran might retaliate for recent Israeli assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah officials as soon as today, according to Axios. The US sent its top general in the Middle East to Israel and has deployed a number of warships to the region.
"The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks, and avoid regional conflict," said deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer – which is apparently why we're fortifying the area with even more military assets and promising "ironclad support" for Israel to kill whomever they want.
In April, Iranian forces launched drones and missiles at Israel in response to Israel bombing its consulate in Damascus. That response, while a rare direct exchange of fire between the two countries, was considered proportionate and was mostly dealt with by Israeli, US, and Jordanian air defenses. This time, Iran may seek more significant retribution for Israel's ongoing attacks against Iranian interests in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and now in Iran itself.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Harris' Tech Exec Brother-in-Law Is Advising Her As expected, Uber chief legal officer Tony West, who's married to Vice President Kamala Harris' sister Maya, has been advising the presidential candidate. While West is an experienced political operative, leftists and progressives worry that his extensive tech and business ties mean his interests lie more with Silicon Valley executives than workers. via NYT.
- Controversy Over SecDef's Reversal of 9/11 Plotters' Plea Deal Families of 9/11 victims, lawyers, politicians, and activists seem divided over Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's sudden decision to nullify a plea deal reached by three Al Qaeda terrorists charged with plotting the 9/11 attacks. The deal, which called for life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty, was supposed to end decades of legal wrangling over the CIA torturing the defendants, which continued to delay the start of the actual criminal trial. via Politico and DoD.
- Alice Munro Knew Her Husband Was a Pedophile Alice Munro, the Nobel Prize-winning short story writer who died in May, knew her husband Gerald Fremlin was a pedophile and even suspected him of the rape and murder of a child. Several of Fremlin's victims have spoken out about Munro's silence regarding Fremlin's crimes. via Toronto Star [archive].
- How Big Tech Helps the Israeli Army in Gaza The IDF is using cloud storage, data analytics, and AI tools from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, according to a new report. The Israeli military's increasing need for more storage and computing power after Oct. 7 led it to expand its use of civilian tech contractors. via +972 Magazine.
SOME NUMBER
$10 million
That's how much money some members of the US intelligence community believed that Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi may have funneled to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The potential payment was investigated by a team overseen initially by Robert Mueller but was later mothballed thanks to the influence of then-Attorney General (and longtime right-wing cover-up artist) Bob Barr.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
8/5: Happy Monday! Sam speaks with Dana Fisher, director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity and professor in the School of International Service at American University, to discuss her recent book Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Right-Wing Nutjobs Claim Biden's Cognitive Decline Is A Total Psyop
The conspiratorial right cannot accept consensus reality, so they're inventing some pretty insane narratives.
Biden Finally Puts Supreme Court Reform On The Table
This is a genuinely good policy idea that may take a generation to enact.
PARTING WORDS
"Where are the bathrooms at? Showers? Where is there comfort? Every week, someone comes through and takes everything you own, no questions asked. I guess it’s how you get your votes."
-- Joel Beiswanger, a homeless man in San Francisco whose tent was taken by authorities this week as San Francisco executed Gov. Gavin Newsom's edict for cities to clear homeless encampments. California has seized on a recent Supreme Court ruling to try to clear homeless encampments and arrest people for sleeping on sidewalks.
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