Stranger Than Fiction

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TOP NEWS

• Authorities use tear gas so Trump could pose for photo op. “Officers used tear gas and flash grenades to clear out the crowd so that Mr. Trump could visit the nearby St. John’s Church, the site of a parish house basement fire on Sunday night. He stood in front of the boarded-up church to pose for photographs with a Bible. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington said she was “outraged” that Mr. Trump had gone to the church “after he threatened to basically rain down military force.” “ - NYTimes

• Smaller towns which rarely protest police brutality are joining in. ““It’s monumental for a town like Lubbock, and it’s monumental what’s going on in the country,” she said. Such protests have been facilitated to a great extent by social media, making people in smaller towns and cities no longer feel separated from what happens on a bigger stage, said Johnny Zokovitch, executive director of Pax Christi USA, a Catholic peace group based in Washington, D.C.” - WSJ

• White instigators to blame for mayhem amid protests, local officials say. “Police identified Brian Jordan Bartels, 20, of Allison Park, Pa., as having “kicked off” the escalation in Pittsburgh, one of several examples of peaceful assemblies against police violence creating opportunities for pandemonium. While at heart the gatherings have been an appeal for racial justice, they also have attracted a diverse array of people with other grievances and agendas who have co-opted the moment, accelerating what has been a national unraveling as the country reels from a pandemic that has put more than 40 million people out of work.” - WaPo

WHAT I’M READING + WATCHING + LISTENING TO

• White nationalist group Identity Evropa created a fake Antifa account, @Antifa_US, which Twitter says drew significant media attention with a tweet inciting violence before being suspended.

• Iceland didn't just manage to flatten the curve, it virtually eliminated it.

• Facebook employees stage virtual walkout to protest company’s response to Trump posts.

THE COMMENT

“He did not pray,” said Mariann E. Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington. “He did not mention George Floyd, he did not mention the agony of people who have been subjected to this kind of horrific expression of racism and white supremacy for hundreds of years.”

THE STRANGEST

• There are as many National Guard members activated in the US as there are active duty troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan

THE AV ROOM