https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/878946307/the-rich-have-stopped-spending-and-thats-tanked-the-economy



The wealthiest American households are keeping a tight grip on their purse strings even as their lower-income counterparts are spending a lot more freely when they emerge from weeks of lockdown. That decline in spending by the wealthy could limit the whole country's economic recovery.

Researchers based at Harvard have been tracking spending patterns using credit card data. They found that people at the bottom of the income ladder are now spending nearly as much as they did before the coronavirus pandemic.

"When the stimulus checks went out, you see that spending by lower-income households went up a lot," said Nathan Hendren, a Harvard economist and co-founder of the Opportunity Insights research team.

However, the wealthy are not matching them. "For higher-income individuals, that spending is still way far off from where it was prior to COVID and it has not recovered as much," Hendren said.

That's potentially crippling because consumer spending is a huge driver of economic activity. In fact, so much of the country's economy depends on shopping by the top income bracket that the wealthiest 25% of Americans account for fully two-thirds of the total decline in spending since January.

https://god.dailydot.com/officer-karen-meltdown-mcmuffin/



A police officer has been dubbed “Officer Karen” by the internet after someone posted a video of her crying in her car because she had to wait longer than expected for her McDonald’s order and ended up refusing most of it because she was “too nervous” about it. After being posted by a Trump supporter late Tuesday, the video quickly gained over five million views, with many being baffled by the way it ends.

https://twitter.com/tkag2020_ann/status/1273075677454098436

The officer, identified only as Stacey, tells a story about pulling up to a local McDonald’s after her shift and after pre-ordering her food online. After being told to pull up to the final window and having to wait a bit for her food to be cooked, there’s a high level of tension where you expect something bad to happen. However, the whole problem seems to be that the likely minimum wage fast-food employees weren’t fast enough with her food.

“And I’m waiting, and I’m waiting, and I’m waiting, and so the girl comes to the window and asks me what my order was. I repeat my order, and they ask me to pull up because my food’s not ready. It’s an English muffin meal with a hash brown and coffee,” she says.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pushes-fights-over-racist-legacy-while-much-of-america-moves-in-a-different-direction/2020/06/11/8d4398a4-abf5-11ea-9063-e69bd6520940_story.html



At a time when much of the country appears to be moving in a different direction, President Trump has charged into a series of fights over the nation’s racist legacy — gambling that taking divisive stances on Confederate symbols and policing will energize his mostly white supporters in November.

But many Republicans and even some of Trump’s own advisers worry that the approach risks further alienating voters who have already started to abandon him, including college-educated whites, and to harden opposition to him among minorities.

Though Trump has long sought to exploit class resentment and racial tensions for political gain, his decision to continue to do so in the wake of the death of George Floyd — an unarmed black man killed in Minneapolis policy custody — has left some in his orbit uneasy, and Democrats eager to capitalize on what some say is a racist president revealing his true beliefs.

At a time when much of the country appears to be moving in a different direction, President Trump has charged into a series of fights over the nation’s racist legacy — gambling that taking divisive stances on Confederate symbols and policing will energize his mostly white supporters in November.

But many Republicans and even some of Trump’s own advisers worry that the approach risks further alienating voters who have already started to abandon him, including college-educated whites, and to harden opposition to him among minorities.

Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly signaled that his sympathies lie with the police over the protesters, whom he has broadly portrayed as members of a loosely affiliated anti-fascist movement known as antifa, though the vast majority of the demonstrators across the country have been peaceful. Since Floyd’s death, he has tweeted about “LAW & ORDER!” more than a dozen times.

Change KKK status into Terrorist Organization

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-counterterrorism-change-kkk-status-into-terrorist-organization

Ever since the inception of the Ku Klux Klan in December 24,1865 they have terrorized American citizens for the color of their skin and opposing views. This group has a long history of murder & intimidation of people based on color and religion. The KKK has lynched 3446 blacks and 1297 whites based of the research of The Tuskeegee Institute. The KKK has raped,murdered people for registering to vote, and destroyed towns built by African Americans. Clear documented evidence is available through picture and video of their murderous acts. Black Americans have suffered the most under this terror group. Terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims. We ask if ISIS or ISIL is labeled a terrorist group for their acts, then surely the KKK fit the clear description of a terrorist.

KKK does not care to publicize their actions and the police aren't interested in investigating it.
KKK members are in many forms of the government
KKK could be considered the best example of a modern terrorist group that was even allowed, by the government, to function and even do marches in the capital of the country

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-council-police-reform/2020/06/09/c77ae6b0-aa49-11ea-a9d9-a81c1a491c52_story.html



Amid historic protests drawing attention to police misconduct, the D.C. Council passed sweeping reform measures Tuesday that prohibit hiring officers with a history of serious misconduct on other police forces and require the city to swiftly make public the names of officers who use force on citizens.

The legislation passed unanimously, with a veto-proof majority, despite a stern letter that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) sent the Council during its meeting, in which she urged lawmakers to slow down and hold public hearings before passing the legislation.

“I am especially concerned,” Bowser wrote, that the proposals “amend laws related to issues like Body-worn cameras, laws which received significant consideration and public input when they were crafted.... Allowing for community input and vetting by our residents can only serve to refine and strengthen changes to policing in the District.”

The District joins lawmakers across the country, from the Minneapolis City Council to Democrats in the U.S. Congress, in closely examining policing, prompted by two weeks of nationwide grief and fury sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

Even as D.C. lawmakers passed a bevy of changes, however, they also acknowledged that the bill does not address some of the core demands of demonstrators to overhaul policing.

Some of the most liberal members of the council urged their colleagues not to let the momentum of the moment dissipate. In the coming weeks, the council is set to debate the city budget with an opportunity to redirect money from traditional policing to other city agencies.

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/9/21284270/qualified-immunity-rogue-cops-justin-amash-8-cant-wait-supreme-court-justice-in-policing

Amid a national outcry over police brutality, qualified immunity, a once-obscure doctrine protecting government officials from being sued in federal court, is having a moment of infamy.

Qualified immunity is supposed to shield public officials from suits involving novel legal claims. But it can also protect police officers faced with rather shocking allegations of misconduct.

There are now two separate proposals in Congress and a raft of court cases hoping to alter or abolish qualified immunity. Though the full implications of these efforts to limit the doctrine vary, all of them would leave police with much less legal protection when officers violate the Constitution.

After two weeks of protests catalyzed by the death of George Floyd during an encounter with Minneapolis police officers, one of whom has been charged with his murder and three of whom have been charged as accomplices to murder, House Democrats united around a proposal to end qualified immunity for police officers. On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and several other top Democrats unveiled a detailed criminal justice reform bill called the “Justice in Policing Act.”

Among other things, this bill would prevent state and local law enforcement and correctional officers from raising a qualified immunity defense in civil rights suits.

Person Shares What Positive Changes Are Happening Due To The BLM Protests To Show How Much It's Needed

https://www.boredpanda.com/thread-of-positive-change-because-of-protests/

2020 has been a scary and exhausting year. However, there’s a silver lining. The Black Lives Matter protests demanding justice for Floyd George, racial equality, and an end to police brutality have spread and they’re bringing about real change in American society.

Twitter user Emma collected a list of examples of the change that the protests helped accelerate in the United States in a viral thread that got more than 309k likes and 188k retweets. New laws regulating law enforcement are being introduced and cities are planning to take down statues that some people view as racist.

While other Twitter users pitched in and posted positive changes that the protests helped introduce or made happen faster. Emma urged protestors to keep fighting for change and to not stop just because of a handful of small victories. Scroll down and take a look for yourselves, dear Pandas.