US Democracy under attack – Scenes from the U.S. Capitol siege

The 2021 storming of the United States Capitol was a riot and violent attack against the 117th United States Congress on January 6, 2021, carried out by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. After attending a rally organized by Trump, thousands of his supporters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue before many stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to disrupt the Electoral College vote count during a joint session of Congress and prevent the formalization of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. Breaching police perimeters, rioters then occupied, vandalized, looted, and ransacked parts of the building for several hours. The breach led to the evacuation and lockdown of the Capitol building, as well as five deaths.

Called to action by Trump, his supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. on January 5 and 6 in support of his false claim that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him, and to demand that Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden’s victory. At a January 6 “Save America March” on the Ellipse, Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and several members of Congress incited a crowd of Trump supporters. Trump told them to “fight like hell” to “take back our country” but encouraged them to peacefully march over to the Capitol. Giuliani called for “trial by combat” and Trump Jr. threatened the president’s opponents by saying “we’re coming for you”, having called for “total war” in the weeks leading up to the riots. After marching to the Capitol building and overwhelming thinly manned police barricades, many protesters became violent; they assaulted Capitol Police officers and reporters, erected a gallows on the Capitol grounds, chanted “Hang Mike Pence”, and attempted to locate lawmakers to take hostage and harm, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Pence, the latter for refusing to illegally overturn Trump’s electoral loss.

As the rioters entered the Capitol by breaking through doors and windows, Capitol security evacuated the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. Several buildings in the Capitol complex were evacuated, and all were locked down. Rioters broke past interior security to occupy the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers drew handguns to defend the evacuated House floor. The offices of many members of Congress, including Pelosi, were looted and vandalized. Improvised explosive devices were found on the Capitol grounds, as well as at offices of the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, and in a nearby vehicle. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died from the events, while dozens more were injured.

Trump initially resisted sending the District of Columbia National Guard to quell the mob. In a Twitter video, he called the rioters “great patriots” and told them to “go home in peace” while repeating his election claims. Pressured by his administration, the threat of removal, and numerous resignations, Trump committed to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement. The crowd was dispersed from the Capitol later that evening, and the counting of the electoral votes resumed and was completed in the early morning hours. Pence declared Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris victors and affirmed that they will assume office on January 20. Three days later on January 9, it was reported that Trump told White House aides that he regretted his “orderly transition” statement and that he would not resign from office.

The events were widely condemned by political leaders and organizations in the United States and internationally. Speaking in Congress immediately following their return to the floor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called the storming of the Capitol a “failed insurrection” and affirmed that Trump’s claims of election fraud were false. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for Trump to be removed from office, through the 25th Amendment or by impeachment. Facebook locked Trump’s accounts and removed posts related to the incident; Twitter initially locked his account for 12 hours before permanently suspending it.

The storming of the Capitol was variously described as treason, insurrection, sedition, domestic terrorism, and an attempt by Trump to carry out a self-coup or coup d’état incited by the President, being the head of the Executive branch of the Federal government of the United States, against the coequal Legislative branch and his own Executive branch Vice President. Opinion polls showed that the large majority of Americans disapproved of the storming of the Capitol and of Trump’s actions leading up to it, although some Republicans supported the attack or did not blame Trump for it. On January 11, 2020, President Trump admitted to senior Republican House and Senate leaders he was partially to blame for the violence that occurred at the US Capitol.

Courtesy : Wikipedia

 

Inside the National Rifle Association’s Conventions

A look at the NRA’s members and supporters as New York state’s attorney general sued to dissolve America’s largest and most powerful gun organization, alleging senior leaders of the non-profit group diverted millions of dollars for personal use and to buy the silence and loyalty of former employees. The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA continues to teach firearm safety and competency. The organization also publishes several magazines, and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. According to the NRA, it had nearly 5 million members as of December 2018, though that figure has not been independently confirmed. Observers and lawmakers see the NRA as one of the three most influential advocacy groups in Washington, D.C. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is its lobbying division, which manages its political action committee (PAC), the Political Victory Fund (PVF). Over its history the organization has influenced legislation, participated in or initiated lawsuits, and endorsed or opposed various candidates at local, state, and federal levels. Some notable lobbying efforts by the NRA-ILA are the Firearm Owners Protection Act, which lessened restrictions of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the Dickey Amendment, which blocks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using federal funds to advocate for gun control.

The NRA has been criticized by gun control and gun rights advocacy groups, political commentators, and politicians. The organization has been the focus of intense criticism in the aftermath of high-profile shootings, such as the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, after which they suggested adding armed security guards to schools. A few months after the Civil War began in 1861, a national rifle association was proposed by Americans in England. In a letter that was sent to President Abraham Lincoln and published in The New York Times, R.G. Moulton and R.B. Perry recommended forming an organization similar to the British National Rifle Association, which had formed a year and a half earlier. They suggested making a shooting range, perhaps on the base on Staten Island, and were offering Whitworth rifles for prizes for the first shooting competition with those rifles. They suggested a provisional committee to start the Association which would include: President Lincoln, Secretary of War, officers, and other prominent New Yorkers.

The National Rifle Association was first chartered in the State of New York on November 16,  by Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and Captain George Wood Wingate. On November 25, 1871, the group voted to elect its first corporate officers. Union Army Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who had worked as a Rhode Island gunsmith, was elected president. When Burnside resigned on August 1, 1872, Church succeeded him as president. Union Army records for the Civil War indicate that its troops fired about 1,000 rifle shots for each Confederate hit, causing General Burnside to lament his recruits: “Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn.” The generals attributed this to the use of volley tactics, devised for earlier, less accurate smoothbore muskets.

Recognizing a need for better training, Wingate sent emissaries to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany to observe militia and armies’ marksmanship training programs. With plans provided by Wingate, the New York Legislature funded the construction of a modern range at Creedmoor, Long Island, for long-range shooting competitions. The range officially opened on June 21, 1873. The Central Railroad of Long Island established a railway station nearby, with trains running from Hunter’s Point, with connecting boat service to 34th Street and the East River, allowing access from New York City. After beating England and Scotland to win the Elcho Shield in 1873 at Wimbledon, then a village outside London, the Irish Rifle Team issued a challenge through the New York Herald to riflemen of the United States to raise a team for a long-range match to determine an Anglo-American championship. The NRA organized a team through a subsidiary amateur rifle club. Remington Arms and Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company produced breech-loading weapons for the team. Although muzzle-loading rifles had long been considered more accurate, eight American riflemen won the match firing breech-loading rifles. Publicity of the event generated by the New York Herald helped to establish breech-loading firearms as suitable for military marksmanship training, and promoted the NRA to national prominence.

Art of protest against George Floyd’s death

Floyd, a Minnesota resident, was arrested after he was accused of using a counterfeit $20 note at a local deli. According to the police, Floyd “physically resisted” the arrest after he was told to exit his car, a claim that was belied by mobile phone footage recorded by several passers-by. A white police officer then went on to restrain Floyd, and kneeled on his neck for at least seven minutes despite the 46-year-old gasping for breath and repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe”. The officer remained in that position even after Floyd became unconscious. His unresponsive body was then taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Floyd’s repeated cry for help, “I can’t breathe”, while being restrained prompted comparisons between the incident and the death of Eric Garner in 2014. Garner, an unarmed African American man, had uttered the same words 11 times as he was held in a chokehold by a police officer in New York City before he died. ‘I can’t breathe’ has now become a rallying cry among protesters. Other high profile deaths include the 2016 shooting of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man shot seven times at close range during a traffic stop, also in Minnesota, just after he had informed the police officer, Jeronimo Yanez, that he was carrying a gun. Yanez was acquitted of all charges in 2017. The incident became viral after Castile’s girlfriend streamed part of the incident on Facebook. Another incident from 2016 that caused a furore was when police pinned to the ground and shot 37-year-old Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in Louisiana where he was selling CDs.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights opened an investigation into the practices of the Minneapolis Police Department on June 2. On June 5, the Minneapolis City Council authorized the mayor to enter into a restraining order with the State of Minnesota banning choke holds and neck restraints, requiring police officers to intervene against other officers’ use of excessive force, and requiring authorization from the police chief or other designate before using crowd-control weapons such as chemical agents and rubber bullets.  On June 8, a Hennepin County Court judge ordered the Minneapolis Police Department to cooperate with a civil rights investigation, and extended the restrictions on the department to require that the chief make discipline decisions in a timely and transparent manner, and that certain outside investigators be given authority to audit body-worn camera footage and to file or amend complaints on behalf of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department.

Trump fled to bunker as protests over George Floyd raged outside White House

Largely peaceful protesters near the White House were repelled with tear gas and mounted police amid days of demonstrations over the Minneapolis police killing of an unarmed black man. Donald Trump was taken to the secure White House bunker, usually reserved for times of war or terrorist attacks, in the midst of noisy protests about the killing of George Floyd by police, and sporadic clashes close to the presidential complex’s perimeter. According to several accounts by unnamed officials, Trump spent nearly an hour sequestered in the austere suite of hardened underground rooms designed for use in grave emergencies, and in which the then vice-president, Dick Cheney, took shelter during the 9/11 attacks. The decision to move the president to the bunker was attributed to US Secret Service officers tasked with protecting him. It was taken as chants from protesters in nearby Lafayette Park could be heard in the White House, and Secret Service and DC and park police were required to push back demonstrators from barriers close to the White House, some of whom were throwing stones and water bottles.

The decision to take Trump to the bunker, first reported in the New York Times, preceded the turning off of external lights at the White House during further protests on Sunday, and has inevitably reinforced the sense of a president under siege. Largely unheard from except for the stream of predictably accusatory and inflammatory tweets, Trump did, however, condemn Floyd’s killing in a speech marking the SpaceX launch in Florida. The White House and Secret Service remarked that they did not comment on security protocols and decisions or the means and methods of protective operations. The bunker is hardened to withstand the force of a passenger jet crashing into the White House.

The incident provoked a stream of derisive comments on social media, comparing Trump unfavourably both to the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, who visited protesters and to the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz. The hashtag “#bunkerboy” became a trending term on Twitter. Greg Sargent, who writes the Plum Line blog for the Washington Post, wrote: “President of the United States cowering in fear of delivering a national address while instead issuing deranged tweets from his underground bunker somehow persuades himself that the world is laughing at someone else.” The activist and author Amy Siskind was equally scathing. “Trump hiding out in a bunker Friday, and shutting off the lights at the White House Sunday – both over a few hundred protesters – will be forever remembered as defining moments of his presidency when he was revealed as a coward, not the strongman he advertised.” Colin Hanks, the actor son of Tom Hanks, described the incident as a metaphor for Trump’s presidency.

“Trump is not leader. He KNOWS it in his bones. He is a coward. Turning off the lights, pretending no one is home while hiding in a bunker. There is no better metaphor for his, and his entire administration’s failures. The election is in seven months. VOTE. HIM. OUT.” Trump, who has tweeted encouraging the use of lethal force against “looters”, and warned protesters outside the White House of “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons”, has told advisers he worries about his safety, while both privately and publicly praising the work of the Secret Service. By Monday Trump was calling for “law and order” and blaming far-left agitators for a sixth straight night of violent nationwide protests. After his visit to the space Launch in Florida on Saturday, Trump returned to a White House under virtual siege, with protesters, some violent, gathered just a few hundred yards away through much of the night. Demonstrators returned on Sunday afternoon, facing off against police at Lafayette Park into the evening.

“The president and his family were rattled by their experience on Friday night, according to several advisers,” the Times report said. Trump has been widely criticised for his response to the protests that have rocked the nation since video of Floyd’s death began spreading on social media. Despite days of peaceful protests and violent clashes with police in some of America’s major cities, Trump has not addressed the nation and has repeatedly sent inflammatory messages over Twitter. Late on Friday, Trump tweeted that protesters could have been attacked with dogs and weapons wielded by the US Secret Service and accused the DC mayor for supposedly not providing police to protect the White House. “They let the ‘protesters’ scream and rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them,” Trump said. “If they had [breached the fence],” the president continued, “they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least.” The president has spoken to George Floyd’s grieving family, but, according to Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd, the conversation was brief. “He didn’t give me an opportunity to even speak,” Floyd told MSNBC.

Courtesy : The Guardian

Outrage across America over George Floyd’s death

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African-American man, was killed in the Powderhorn community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white American Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin, 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that time occurred after Floyd became unresponsive.  Officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas K. Lane participated in Floyd’s arrest, with Kueng holding Floyd’s back, Lane holding his legs, and Thao looking on and preventing intervention by an onlooker as he stood nearby.

The arrest was made after Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a market. Police said Floyd physically resisted arrest. Some media organizations commented that a security camera from a nearby business did not show Floyd resisting. The criminal complaint filed later said that based on body camera footage, Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe while standing outside the police car, resisted getting in the car and intentionally fell down. Several bystanders recorded the event on their smartphones, with one video showing Floyd repeating “Please”, “I can’t breathe”, “Mama”, and “Don’t kill me” being widely circulated on social media platforms and broadcast by the media. While knee-to-neck restraints are allowed in Minnesota under certain circumstances, Chauvin’s usage of the technique has been widely criticized by law enforcement experts as excessive. All four officers were fired the day after the incident.

Two autopsies of Floyd were conducted; both ruled that the manner of death was homicide. The autopsy report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner found that Floyd died from a cardiac arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officers, noting significant conditions such as “arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease; fentanyl intoxication; and recent methamphetamine use”. An independent private autopsy commissioned by Floyd’s family found that the “evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause” of Floyd’s death, with neck compression restricting blood and oxygen to the brain, while back compression restricted breathing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is conducting a federal civil rights investigation at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is also investigating possible violations of Minnesota statutes. On May 29, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for Floyd’s death, with Hennepin County attorney Michael O. Freeman saying he anticipated charges to be brought against the other three officers at the scene; no indictments or charges have been filed against the three officers as of June 1.

 After Floyd’s death, demonstrations and protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area were initially peaceful on May 26, and later that day became violent as a police precinct and two stores were set on fire, and many stores were looted and damaged. Some demonstrators skirmished with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Additional protests developed in over 200 cities throughout all 50 states in the United States as well as internationally. Floyd’s death has been compared to the 2014 death of Eric Garner. Garner, also an unarmed black man, repeated “I can’t breathe” eleven times after being placed in a chokehold by a New York police officer during an arrest in Staten Island, New York.

George Perry Floyd was a 46-year-old African-American man who was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and raised in Houston, Texas. He attended Yates High School, where he played on the basketball and football teams. Floyd was a star tight end for Yates, helping them to the 1992 state championship final game. He attended South Florida Community College (now South Florida State College) from 1993 to 1995 and played on the school’s basketball team. Floyd returned to Houston, where he joined the hip hop group Screwed Up Click and rapped under the stage name “Big Floyd”, after entering the Houston Hip Hop cultural scene as an automotive customizer. In 2014, Floyd moved to Minnesota. He lived in St. Louis Park and worked in nearby Minneapolis as a restaurant security guard for five years , but lost his job due to Minnesota’s stay-at-home order during the COVID-19 pandemic. Floyd was the father of two daughters, ages 6 and 22, who remained in Houston.

Derek Michael Chauvin, aged 44, had been an officer in the Minneapolis Police Department since around 2001. Chauvin had 18 complaints on his official record, two of which ended in discipline from the department, including official letters of reprimand. He had been involved in three police shootings, one of which was fatal. According to former club owner Maya Santamaria, Floyd and Chauvin both worked as security guards and had overlapping shifts at the Latin nightclub, El Nuevo Rodeo. She said Chauvin had worked there for 17 years, while Floyd had worked at about a dozen events. She said it was not clear if they knew each other but that she did not believe so. Santamaria said Chauvin at times had used overly aggressive tactics when dealing with black clientele, responding to fights by taking out his mace and spraying the crowd, a tactic she told him was unjustified “overkill”.

Tou Thao, age 34, attended the police academy in 2009 and was hired to a full-time position with the Minneapolis police in 2012 after being laid off for two years. Six police conduct complaints had been filed against Thao, none resulting in disciplinary action. In 2014, Thao was accused of brutality when his arrest of an African-American man resulted in the man’s broken teeth and hospitalization. The victim stated he had been handcuffed without cause, and was then thrown to the ground and “punched, kicked, and kneed”, and humiliated. The resulting excessive-use-of-force lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court for $25,000. Thomas K. Lane, age 37, and J. Alexander Kueng, age 26, were licensed as law enforcement officers in August 2019. Neither had prior complaints on their records.

US Deaths : Covid-19 – US Death Toll Crosses 50,000

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus reached 50,000 on Friday, having doubled in 10 days, according to a Reuters tally. More than 875,000 Americans have contracted COVID-19, and on average about 2,000 have died every day this month. The coronavirus’s U.S. death toll surged past 50,000, marking another grim milestone in the pandemic that has upended life around the globe. Three months after the nation’s first confirmed case, the highly contagious virus has killed at an alarming rate: Just 10 days ago, the number of recorded deaths stood at 25,000. Experts have warned that the number of reported fatalities probably underestimates the true toll of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Amid a national debate over how to count the dead, methods have varied widely from state to state. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially included only those who tested positive for the virus, even with strict limitations on testing.

The Washington Post has been analyzing data from state health agencies to track every known death in the country. Of the 50,024 fatalities confirmed as of Friday, 21,283 — or about 42 percent — occurred in New York. But while the state has started to see a decrease in its confirmed daily death counts, other parts of the country are beginning to see a surge. Even as governors in multiple states eased stay-at-home orders and took other steps to restart their stymied economies, the disease’s rapid spread in urban and rural areas had led to more than 28,000 deaths outside the hot spot of New York. The second-highest death toll was being carried by New Jersey, followed by Michigan, Massachusetts and Illinois. The novel coronavirus emerged in late December as a scattering of mysterious illnesses in Wuhan, China, with symptoms ranging from coughing and fever to cases of pneumonia, kidney failure and fluid buildup in the lungs. It soon traveled the globe, triggering school closures, lockdowns and unprecedented economic disruption. Worldwide as of Friday, more than 2.7 million people had been sickened with the virus and more than 195,000 had died, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University.

Inside New York City, epicenter of U.S. coronavirus outbreak

The death toll in New York City climbs as hospitals struggle to treat the severely ill. During the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, the first case of COVID-19 in New York was confirmed on March 1, 2020. As of April 5, 2020, there have been 122,031 confirmed cases in the state, and of those 4,159 people have died. New York has the highest number of confirmed cases of any state in the United States, with five times as many cases as neighboring New Jersey, the state with the second most confirmed cases. Nearly 45 percent of known national cases are in the state, with one quarter of total known US cases being in New York City. 

March 1 saw the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York, a 39-year-old woman health care worker who lived in Manhattan.[8] She had returned from Iran on February 25 and had no symptoms at the time. She went into home isolation with her husband. On March 3, a second case was confirmed, a lawyer in his 50s who lives in New Rochelle, Westchester County, immediately north of New York City, and works in Midtown Manhattan. He had traveled to Miami in February and regularly visited Israel, but had not visited areas known to have widespread transmission of the coronavirus. Two of his four children had recently returned from Israel. After first feeling ill on February 22, he was admitted to a hospital in Westchester on February 27 and diagnosed with pneumonia, and released from isolation after testing negative for the flu. Instances of panic buying in New York were reported after this case was confirmed.

On March 4, the number of cases in New York increased to 11 as nine people linked to the lawyer tested as positive, including his wife, a son, a daughter, a neighbor, and a friend and his family. On March 5, Mayor de Blasio said that coronavirus fears should not keep New Yorkers off the subway, riding from Fulton Street to High Street in a public press attempt to demonstrate the subway’s safety.  On March 6, eleven new cases were reported bringing the state caseload to 33. All the new cases were tied to the first community transmission case, the lawyer. At the end of the day, an additional 11 new cases were reported by the governor, bringing the total caseload to 44, with 8 of the new cases in Westchester County, and 3 in Nassau County on Long Island. Also on March 6, an article appeared in the New York Post stating that while Mayor de Blasio assigned responsibility for the lack of N95 masks and other personal protective equipment to the federal government, the city never ordered the supplies until that date.

On March 7, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in New York after 89 cases had been confirmed in the state, 70 of them in Westchester County, 12 in New York City and 7 elsewhere. On March 8, the state reported 16 new confirmed cases and a total of 106 cases statewide. New York City issued new commuter guidelines amid the current outbreak, asking sick individuals to stay off public transit, encouraging citizens to avoid densely packed buses, subways, or trains. On March 9, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that there were 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City. On March 10, Governor Cuomo announced a containment zone in the city of New Rochelle from March 12 to 25.

After trying to purchase 200,000 N95 masks on February 7, the Office of Emergency Management learned that vendors were out of stock. Emergency provisions of masks and hand sanitizers did not arrive until early March. According to The New York Post, one medical supply vendor with standing city contracts said that the initial requests for protective gear from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) were bogged down by inefficient bureaucratic delays. One vendor said, “We’d send them a list of products we can deliver within 24, 48 hours”, but on average it took 72 hours for the agency to place an order. He added “the city just moves so slow” when there was very high demand coming from hospitals and the private sector. According to the contractor, eight out of 10 supply orders could not be filled because DCAS did not pay on time, which a spokeswoman for NYC denied. The office of the comptroller approved 12 contracts with a total value of $150 million before the mayor’s office took over the process on March 16. Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the city may run out of supplies by April if the federal government does not send 3 million N95 masks, 50 million surgical masks, 15,000 ventilators and 45 million surgical gowns, gloves, and face shields. One EMS worker expressed frustration at being asked to wear the less effective surgical masks. The police union filed a complaint on March 13 due to NYPD officers not being given masks and other protective gear. A spokeswoman called the Police Benevolent Association’s complaint “empty rhetoric”.

Self-quarantines for persons who test positive or are symptomatic are not enforced due to a lack of resources. Several New York City area nurses have expressed concerns that patients are not complying with self-quarantine guidelines due to financial necessity or fear of losing their jobs. A New York State Nurses Association board member has expressed concerns that low-income patients who share rooms with other individuals may not be able to effectively self-isolate at their residences.

Delhi Riots, A day of shame, When Humanity Dies

On 24 February 2020, a series of riots and violent incidents began at North East Delhi in which 37 people were killed and more than 200 people were injured. Protests were being held against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) when a BJP leader and former legislator Kapil Mishra issued a three day ultimatum to the Delhi Police to clear the roads being occupied by the protestors failing which he stated that he would forcefully end the protests. Following his comments, multiple clashes began occurring across North East Delhi from the next day, resulting in widespread police and civilian deaths. The police have been accused by many witnesses of not doing enough to prevent violence and in many instances aiding the perpetrators. As of 27 February 2020, police have registered 48 FIRs and arrested 106 individuals, involved in the violence.

Protests began across India in December 2019 in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) by both houses of Parliament. Protesters have agitated not only against the citizenship issues of the CAA, but also against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). On the intervening night of 22–23 February 2020, around 500 to 1000 women started a sit-in protest at a stretch of Seelampur–Jaffrabad road in North East Delhi. The protest blocked the entry and exit to the Seelampur metro station. According to the protesters, the sit-in was in solidarity with the Bharat Bandh called by the Bhim Army, which was scheduled to begin on 23 February. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed at the site.

Senate acquits Trump in historic vote

President Donald Trump has been found not guilty in his impeachment trial, ending a bid to remove him from office that bitterly divided the US. The Senate, run by the president’s fellow Republicans, voted to acquit him 52-48 on charges of abuse of power and 53-47 on obstruction of Congress. Democrats charged Mr Trump in December with pressuring Ukraine to smear a potential White House rival. He will now become the first impeached president to seek re-election. Impeachment allows Congress – the part of the US government that writes and brings in laws – to put presidents on trial. It is a rare event and a political process, rather than a criminal one.

In its historic vote on Wednesday, the Senate decided not to remove America’s 45th president from office on charges arising from his dealings with Ukraine. If convicted on either charge, Mr Trump would have had to turn over his office to Vice-President Mike Pence. The Democratic-led House of Representatives approved the articles of impeachment on 18 December. Mr Trump, who is seeking a second four-year term in the 3 November election, always denied wrongdoing. His re-election campaign said in a statement: “President Trump has been totally vindicated and it’s now time to get back to the business of the American people. “The do-nothing Democrats know they can’t beat him, so they had to impeach him.” It said “this terrible ordeal” and “nonsense” was merely a Democratic campaign tactic.

Courtesy : BBC News

Inside Trump’s Senate impeachment trial

The impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th and incumbent president of the United States, began in the U.S. Senate on January 16, 2020, and is planned to conclude on February 5. It is a result of the impeachment of President Trump by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, following an inquiry stage that lasted from September to November 2019. The House passed two articles of impeachment, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

 After a partisan standoff over trial terms, on January 21, the Republican majority voted down 11 amendments proposed by Democrats, which among other things, requested subpoena authority to introduce testimony from current and former White House officials, and Trump administration documents which were not provided to House investigators. The prosecution made its opening arguments between January 22–24, and the defense, a team of attorneys selected by Trump, made its arguments between January 25–28. This was followed by a period of questions and answers and debate. On January 31, a Senate majority of 51 Republican senators voted against allowing subpoenas to call witnesses or documents. The Senate plans to conclude the trial on February 5, 2020, with a vote on the verdict, which requires a two-thirds majority to convict the president. The penalty for conviction is the removal from office; a separate vote would be required for disqualification from holding office in the future.

 Under the U.S. Constitution, the House has the sole power of impeachment (Article I, Section 2, Clause 5), and after that action has been taken, the Senate has the sole power to hold the trial for all impeachments (Article I, Section 3, Clause 6). Trump is the third U.S. president to face a Senate impeachment trial, after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. After the emergence of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, House leadership came to the conclusion that impeachment might be necessary, and began an inquiry. As this was happening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was quietly planning a possible trial. On October 8, 2019, he led a meeting on the subject, advising the Republican Senators to craft their responses according to their own political needs. McConnell proposed two potential avenues: state opposition to the House process, or refuse to comment due to being potential jurors.

 As the articles of impeachment moved to a vote before the full House and referral to the Senate for trial, Mitch McConnell met with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and congressional liaison Eric Ueland, later stating, “Everything I do during this I’m coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this … I’m going to take my cues from the president’s lawyers.” As part of the “total coordination”, McConnell stated that the president’s lawyers could decide if witnesses would be called for the trial.  McConnell also said there was “no chance” the Senate would convict Trump and remove him from office, while declaring his wish that all Senate Republicans would acquit Trump of both articles of impeachment. On December 14, Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham stated, “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here … I will do everything I can to make [the impeachment trial] die quickly.” Three days later, McConnell stated, “I’m not an impartial juror. This is a political process. There is not anything judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision.” The Constitution mandates senators to take an impeachment oath, in which by Senate rules is stated, “I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.

The White House has formally announced its Senate trial counsel as being led by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow, alongside Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz, Pam Bondi, Jane Raskin, Eric Herschmann, and Robert Ray. Additionally, Michael Purpura and Patrick Philbin will participate in the trial. On January 20, the White House named eight House Republicans to serve on Trump’s defense team: Doug Collins, Mike Johnson, Jim Jordan, Debbie Lesko, Mark Meadows, John Ratcliffe, Elise Stefanik, and Lee Zeldin.

Closing arguments were given by the prosecution and defense teams on February 3. That day, Democratic senator Joe Manchin, who was undecided on the trial vote, proposed the Senate censure the president to prevent his behavior to go “unchecked by the Senate,” though there appeared to be little support for it.[169] On February 5, the Senate plans to vote on whether or not to convict the president on the charges and evidence as they have been presented and debated upon. Under Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 of the Constitution, a two-thirds majority of the Senate (in this case, 67 if all members are present) is required to convict the president. This means at least 20 Republican senators would need to vote with all Democratic (and two independent) senators to convict Trump. Conviction for impeachment cannot be appealed or pardoned; the penalty is removal from office; a separate vote, by simple majority, would be required for disqualification from holding office in the future. If Trump is removed from office, Mike Pence will become president in accordance with the 25th Amendment