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CNN —The Chinese government has built up the world’s largest known online disinformation operation and is using it to harass US residents, politicians, and businesses—at times threatening its targets with violence, a CNN review of court documents and public disclosures by social media companies has found. Victims face a barrage of tens of thousands of social media posts that call them traitors, dogs, and racist and homophobic slurs. While tech and social media companies have shut down thousands of accounts targeting these victims, they’re outpaced by a slew of new accounts emerging virtually every day. As part of a mission “to manipulate public perceptions of [China], the Group uses its misattributed social media accounts to threaten, harass and intimidate specific victims,” the complaint states. In the past, the Spamouflage network mostly focused on issues domestically relevant to China.

Persons: –, Xi Jinping, Biden, Mike Gallagher, Chen Pokong, ”, Chen, “, Spamouflage’s, Liu Pengyu, ” Liu, Jiayang, Darren Linvill, hasn’t, Fan, Communist Party playbook, Mandiant, Nancy Pelosi, ” Ben Nimmo, George Floyd’s, Ben Nimmo, Lindsay Gorman, Gorman, ” Linvill, Linvill, Spamouflage, Jiajun Qiu, Qiu, ” Qiu Organizations: CNN, US State Department, FBI, Communist Party, Meta, Google, ”, CCP, US Department of Justice, Department, DOJ, China’s Ministry of Public Security, Group, New Yorker, telltale, Media, Clemson University, Capitol, Department of Homeland Security, Marshall Fund’s Alliance, Securing Democracy, YouTube Locations: United States, Beijing, San Francisco, China “, New York, China, New York City, America, Washington, Hong Kong, US, Texas, Virginia, Manassas , Virginia

☆ Opinion | For America’s Jews, Every Day Must Be Oct. 8
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There ought to be a similar sign in every Jewish organization, synagogue and day school, and on the desks of anyone — Jewish or not — for whom the security and well-being of the Jews is a sacred calling: “Every day is Oct. 8.”What was Oct. 8? It wasn’t just the day after the single greatest atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust, an atrocity whose details were impossible to miss because the perpetrators made sure to film them. It was the day when that atrocity was celebrated. On Oct. 8, Jews woke up to discover who our friends are not. Let’s be clear: They and their sibling groups are being used as Jewish beards for aggressive antisemites.

Persons: —, George Floyd’s, paragliders, isn’t Organizations: Jewish, New Locations: Tehran, Manhattan, allyship

The reverberations of the Israel-Hamas conflict are playing out loudly everywhere in life—except at work. The muted discussion is a sharp turn from the forceful statements and candid conversations that companies organized after #MeToo, George Floyd’s murder and anti-Asian attacks of recent years. This time, employees on many sides of the issue are criticizing their companies’ responses as tepid or tardy, and saying they feel as though leaders want to avoid the subject.

Persons: George Floyd’s Locations: Israel

☆ Kanye and Adidas: Money, Misconduct and the Price of Appeasement
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Megan Twohey | More About Megan Twohey | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Even as they squared off in arbitration, Adidas and Mr. West came to an agreement that served their common interest. But most of the revenue would go to Adidas, and Mr. West was entitled to royalties. “Very unfortunate,” Mr. Gulden said, “because I don’t think he meant what he said.”Days later, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, posted online that Mr. Gulden had apologized for those remarks. “Our stance has not changed.”MethodologyThe grid at the top of this article includes most Adidas Yeezy releases between February 2015 and August 2023. the Yeezy Boost 380 Onyx and Yeezy Boost 380 Onyx Reflective).

Persons: West, George Floyd’s, Matt Powell, “, Bjorn Gulden, Mr, ” —, Gulden, ”, Jonathan Greenblatt, Ye, ” Adidas, Joe Coscarelli, Julie Tate, Rumsey Taylor Organizations: The Times, Adidas, Mr, Defamation League Locations: StockX

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Eyewitness testimony Tuesday in the continuing trial three police officers, who are white and Asian American, charged with the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man, starkly contradicted the picture the officers’ lawyers painted. The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled the March 3, 2020, death of Ellis, 33, a homicide caused by lack of oxygen during physical restraint. Collins told Pierce County sheriff’s detectives that Ellis had attacked him by hurling him through the air to land on his back. Burbank was almost instantly on top of Ellis and swung up to three times to punch Ellis, according to Lowery. As Lowery left the scene, he said it appeared the officers had apprehended Ellis and were in control of him.

Persons: Manuel Ellis, Keyon Lowery, Ellis didn't, ” Lowery, “, Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank, Ellis, Timothy Rankine, Ellis ’, George Floyd’s, Casey Arbenz, Collins, Lowery, Sara McDowell, Pierce, Burbank, McDowell Organizations: Pierce County Superior, Tacoma, Tacoma Police Department, Medical, Collins Locations: TACOMA, Pierce County, Tacoma , Washington, American, Pierce, Minneapolis, Burbank, Washington

☆ Federal Court Says Consumer Watchdog Can’t Check Banks for Discrimination
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Emily Flitter | More About Emily Flitter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“A longstanding and straightforward federal law prohibits unfair acts and practices, stating that financial firms cannot subject consumers to substantial and unavoidable harm, Mr. Gilford said. Banks have long tried to limit the ways regulators can penalize them. The trade groups behind the lawsuit had originally stressed that their main impetus for suing the C.F.P.B. The regulator had added “discrimination” to a manual provided to financial firms explaining how to prepare for the agency’s periodic checks on their operations. Officials should have given them more warning, the groups argued, and a chance to submit public comments on the matter before finalizing the change.

Persons: ”, Sam Gilford, Gilford, “, Banks, George Floyd’s, Wells, Trump, Obama Organizations: Bank of America Locations: Wells Fargo

Anti-Black hate crimes peaked in 1996 at 42% of all hate crimes, then began a steady decline until 2020. June of that year was the worst month for anti-Black hate crimes since national record-keeping by the FBI began. “We generally see increases in hate crimes in election years and around catalytic events,” said Levin. “We’re talking about almost 500 to 700 more hate crimes in an election year. Domestic terrorism will not prevail in America.”In 2021, Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to address the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes seen at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Persons: Jacksonville eulogize, Al Sharpton, Angela Carr, Sharpton, ”, Brian Levin, “, Levin, ” Levin, Biden, Jacksonville , Florida —, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, “ We’re, ” Biden, Emmett Till, George Floyd’s, Damon Hewitt, James Byrd, Byrd, ” Hewitt, William Barber II, Ron DeSantis, Barber, Angela, Carr, ” Sharpton, __ Jefferson, Morrison, Nasir Organizations: African, Black Americans, Republican, Democrat, Jacksonville, FBI, Center, California State University, Justice Department, U.S, White, Justice, Conference, Civil, Human, Advancing Justice, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc, Defamation, ”, Buffalo, ’, James Byrd Jr, Florida Gov Locations: Jacksonville , Florida, U.S, Buffalo , New York, Charleston , South Carolina, Jacksonville, Florida, Orlando, Virginia , Mississippi, Arkansas, America, Minneapolis, Jasper , Texas, American, Chicago, New York

CNN —Tou Thao, the former Minneapolis police officer who held back a crowd of bystanders during George Floyd’s fatal arrest in May 2020, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison Monday for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer to face sentencing in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, appeared in court Monday. During the arrest, Lane held down Floyd’s legs, Kueng held down Floyd’s torso, and Thao stood nearby and kept back a crowd of upset bystanders, including an off-duty firefighter trying to render aid. Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in state court and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison in June 2021. Lane, Kueng and Thao were found guilty in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights and of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the restraint.

Persons: Tou Thao, George Floyd’s, Thao, ”, George Floyd, Peter A, Cahill, “ Mr, Chauvin, Kueng, Lane, ” Thao, “, Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J, Alexander Kueng, George Floyd's, Floyd, Floyd’s, Judge Cahill Organizations: CNN, Minneapolis, Minnesota Department of Human Rights Locations: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Hennepin, Floyd, Kueng

☆ The Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors Still Can’t Get Reparations - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Victor Luckerson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

More than 100 massacre survivors and their descendants filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Tulsa, the State of Oklahoma and others. A federal judge ultimately agreed, citing the lawsuits filed by Mr. Franklin and others as evidence that Greenwood residents had already had their shot at restitution. The duty of deciding whether to approve any kind of reparations package will fall to the California Legislature. In Tulsa, Judge Wall recommended that the Greenwood survivors follow a similar route, pursuing justice through the legislative or executive branches. But Oklahoma lawmakers have declined to support reparations bills advocated by state legislators in the past.

Persons: Greenwood, Franklin, George Floyd’s, Damario Solomon, Simmons, Solomon, Wall Organizations: City, State of, Mr, Klan, Tulsa, Black, Oklahoma Locations: Tulsa, State, State of Oklahoma, California

☆ Opinion | Half the Police Force Quit. Crime Dropped.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Radley Balko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a staggering report last month, the Department of Justice documented pervasive abuse, illegal use of force, racial bias and systemic dysfunction in the Minneapolis Police Department. City police officers engaged in brutality or made racist comments, even as a department investigator rode along in a patrol car. And after George Floyd’s death, instead of ending the policy of racial profiling, the police just buried the evidence. The Minneapolis report was shocking, but it wasn’t surprising. It doesn’t read much differently from recent Justice Department reports about the police departments in Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Albuquerque, New Orleans, Ferguson, Mo., or any of three recent reports from various sources about Minneapolis, from 2003, 2015 and 2016.

Persons: George Floyd’s, Ferguson, “ Organizations: Department of Justice, Minneapolis Police Department . City, Department Locations: Minneapolis, Chicago , Baltimore, Cleveland, Albuquerque , New Orleans, Mo

☆ DOJ Probe Sparked by George Floyd’s Killing Finds Minneapolis Police Use Excessive Force
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Joe Barrett | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/doj-probe-sparked-by-george-floyds-killing-finds-minneapolis-police-use-excessive-force-6c2e55f0

Persons: Dow Jones, george Organizations: doj Locations: minneapolis

☆ ‘Systemic problems’ at Minneapolis Police Dept. led to George Floyd’s murder, Justice Department says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Holmes Lybrand | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“Our investigation found that the systemic problems in MPD made what happened to George Floyd possible,” the report states. Racial discriminationThe investigation also found that MPD officers disproportionately stop and use force against Black and Native American people. “We estimate that MPD stops Black people at 6.5 times the rate at which it stops White people, given their shares of the population. How the fatal arrest of George Floyd unfolded 04:33 - Source: CNNGarland outlined several incidents where MPD officers were not held accountable for racist conduct until public outrage surfaced. “For example,” Garland said Friday, “after MPD officers stopped a car carrying four Somalian-American teens, one officer told the teens, ‘Do you remember what happened in Black Hawk Down.

Persons: George Floyd, Derek Chauvin, George Floyd’s, General Merrick Garland, “ George Floyd, ” Garland, Chauvin, Floyd, –, “, CNN Garland, ‘, ’, Department’s, ” Organizations: CNN, Justice Department, The Minneapolis Police Department, MPD, ”, Minneapolis, DOJ Locations: Minneapolis, Hawk

☆ What Has Happened in Minneapolis Since George Floyd Was Murdered
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Adeel Hassan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

The man was 46-year-old George Floyd, a bouncer originally from Houston who had lost his job at a restaurant when the coronavirus pandemic hit. According to the criminal complaints filed against the officers, Floyd says he is claustrophobic and refuses to enter the police car. Her footage shows that despite calls for medical help, Chauvin keeps Floyd pinned down for another seven minutes. Officer: “Get back on the sidewalk.” According to the complaints against the officers, Lane asks him twice if they should roll Floyd onto his side. The widely circulated arrest videos don’t paint the entire picture of what happened to George Floyd.

Persons: It’s, George Floyd, ”, Derek Chauvin, Floyd, “, Thomas Lane, J, Alexander Kueng, Lane, yanks Floyd, Tou Thao, Thao, Chauvin, Kueng, Darnella Frazier, I’ve, ” Floyd, Bro, They’ve, He’s, “ Floyd, George Floyd’s Organizations: Police, Cup Foods, yanks, Foods, Minneapolis Police Department Locations: Minneapolis, Houston, Floyd, United States

Crowd: “No justice, no peace.” Floyd’s death triggered major protests in Minneapolis, and sparked rage across the country. Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng step out of the car and approach the blue S.U.V. According to the criminal complaints filed against the officers, Floyd says he is claustrophobic and refuses to enter the police car. Her footage shows that despite calls for medical help, Chauvin keeps Floyd pinned down for another seven minutes. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, according to our review of the video evidence.

☆ Opinion | Death and the City
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

“Some have hypothesized that the rise in homicide rates is specifically a result of the June 2020 protests,” Chalfin and MacDonald wrote, but “theories about the role of the protests must contend with several challenges. The data also pinpoint the timing of the spikes to late May 2020, which corresponds with the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis and subsequent anti-police protests — protests that likely led to declines in law enforcement. Although unemployment caused by Covid surged in April, there was little if any increase in murders at that time. That is the challenge that every city should be grappling with. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

☆ What John Blake discovered when he met the White mother he never knew
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +25 min

It’s a story about my mother, and the White relatives who shunned me at birth—and still somehow became family. I now know one of the reasons my family didn’t tell me about my mom’s illness is because they didn’t know how. I vividly recall thinking as I looked at my mom: I didn’t know a White person could suffer like this. I saw White, Black, and brown people hug and call each other “brother” and “sister” after worship service. John Blake is a Senior Writer at CNN and the author of “More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.”

☆ Fact Check-Video of looting at Target is not recent, was taken in Minneapolis in 2020
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A video that shows looting in a Target store was taken in Minneapolis in May 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, contrary to online posts falsely linking it to Chicago or Philadelphia in April 2023. Another post said, “Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Target is literally turned into a zoo. The video was first posted in May 2020, however, according to a keyword search (tinyurl.com/2p93596b). Reuters reporting on the protests and looting in Minneapolis in the days after the killing of George Floyd can be seen (here). This video showing looting in a Target store was filmed in Minneapolis in May 2020, contrary to posts falsely claiming it was filmed recently in Chicago or Philadelphia.

☆ What Walmart’s pullback from Chicago says about Corporate America’s limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

New York CNN —A line of Chicago mayors heavily courted Walmart over the last two decades, brushing aside community protests. Chains like Dollar General and Family Dollar are expanding in low-income areas, but they don’t sell fresh groceries. Walmart is closing neighborhood markets around the country, and three of the four stores closing in Chicago fall into that category. In Chicago, Walmart is closing in both low-income and high-income areas, a sign that it’s struggling across the city. But it’s the stores in low-income areas that will feel the loss most.

☆ Why Walmart is closing half its stores in Chicago
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Walmart announced Tuesday that next week it will close four poor-performing stores out of the eight it operates in Chicago. Now, it's closing four Chicago stores. Walmart said its remaining four Chicago stores “continue to face the same business difficulties,” but it believes closing these four will give the others the best chance of staying open. There were fears that Walmart and other businesses would leave Chicago, but Walmart pledged to stay and invest in the city. Some retailers have also cited higher levels of theft and other crime in their city stores.

☆ How different media outlets are handling the Tyre Nichols arrest footage
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“This will not be easy for anyone,” CNN anchor Erin Burnett said before playing the footage for the network’s audience. In such cases, often a decision is made to run the graphic footage in an uncensored manner for a limited time, before later airing more limited clips of the incident. Just hours before the release of the Nichols footage, graphic video capturing the grisly attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was also released to the public. “We had no idea what that was going to look like and that should have had a warning and a graphic warning before we showed it and then on screen,” Faulkner said. Content warnings were applied stressing to audiences that the footage was graphic in nature.

☆ AG charges former officer in Floyd protest beating
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Attorney General Keith Ellison charged a former Minneapolis police officer Wednesday with beating a man during protests over George Floyd’s death. Justin Stetson, 34, faces one felony count of third-degree assault in connection with the May 30, 2020, beating of Jaleel Stallings. According to the criminal complaint, Stetson was among a group of officers enforcing a city-wide curfew that night when his group spotted four people in a parking lot. The city of Minneapolis paid Stallings $1.5 million this past May to settle his federal lawsuit. He alleged Stetson and other officers violated his constitutional rights.

☆ Confederate monument set to be removed from Virginia capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

RICHMOND, Va. — Work to relocate Richmond’s final city-owned Confederate monument should start this week after a judge refused a request to delay the removal of the statue of Gen. A.P. The city, a onetime capital of the Confederacy, began removing its many other Confederate monuments more than two years ago amid the racial justice protests that followed George Floyd’s murder. The monument of confederate General A.P. But efforts to remove the Hill statue have been complicated because the general’s remains were buried beneath the monument in 1891. In the most recent hearing, Cheek denied their motion to stay the removal of the Hill monument while the descendants press an appeal with the Virginia Court of Appeals.

☆ Former officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back gets 3.5-year prison term
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time. Kueng, who is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, appeared at his sentencing hearing via video from a federal prison in Ohio. If Thao is convicted, the murder count — which carries a presumptive sentence of 12 1/2 years in prison — will be dropped. Lane, who is white, is serving his 2 1/2-year federal sentence at a facility in Colorado.

☆ Kanye West’s Twitter account has been suspended after Elon Musk says it violated rule against incitement to violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Rob Mclean | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN business —Kanye West’s Twitter account was suspended early Friday morning after Elon Musk said it violated the platform’s rules on inciting violence. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended,” Musk tweeted in a reply. This is not the first time West has run afoul of Twitter. In October, before Musk completed the deal to buy the social media platform, Twitter locked West’s account over an antisemitic tweet.

☆ Daylight Saving Time debate sheds light on growing racial inequities in sleep health
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the Sleep Research Society and other medical groups have advocated for ending the practice, calling for the adoption of a permanent standard time that would not involve shifting forward each spring and falling back each autumn. She authored a paper, published in September in the journal Sleep, detailing the potential health benefits of adopting a permanent standard time. Now, some sleep researchers worry about the potential effects that continuing to change standard time twice each year may have on sleep health inequities. “Fortunately, sleep health is largely modifiable.”As for the inequities seen in sleep health, it’s not that White adults don’t also experience a lack of sleep and its health consequences – but people of color appear to disproportionately experience them more, and that’s believed to be largely due to social systems in the United States. Improving sleep health has been a national objective in the federal government’s past two Healthy People programs, noted Caraballo-Cordovez, who is not involved in the programs.

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