Monday

1502 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage.

1648 – Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).

1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.

1878 – Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.

1944 – World War II: The United States invades Saipan, capital of Japan’s South Seas Mandate.

1972 – Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.

Monday,  June 15th, 2020

https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1271402812015104000

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-beijing-orders-wartime-mode-after-coronavirus-found-in-market-2020-6

9 states report record daily coronavirus infections  Nine states continued to report record numbers of new coronavirus infections over the weekend. Florida on Sunday reported its second straight day with more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases. Saturday’s total of 2,581 was a record for the Sunshine State, where the coronavirus outbreak is intensifying but authorities are opening more beaches. Alabama on Sunday reported a record number of new cases for the fourth straight day. Alaska, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Carolina also have reported daily infections hitting new highs in recent days, according to Reuters. Nationwide totals remained high, with the number of infections in the U.S. nearing 2.1 million with more than 115,000 deaths. Source: ABC News

The Fulton County medical examiner declares Rayshard Brooks’ death a homicide. Brooks was shot in the back by an Atlanta Police officer while fleeing from an attempted arrest for driving under the influence in which he took an officer’s taser and fired it at him on June 12. (BBC)

NYPD will disband its plainclothes anti-crime unit The New York City Police Departments’s plainclothes anti-crime unit, which has been disproportionately linked to officer-involved shootings within the force, will be disbanded and reassigned, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced Monday. About 600 officers work in the anti-crime unit, and will be reassigned to detective work and “community policing,” among other departments, Shea said. The move comes in direct response to ongoing protests against police brutality in the city, and widespread calls for reforming and rethinking policing across the U.S. Both Shea and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have been pressured to cut the NYPD’s budget amid the protests, but de Blasio has so far only introduced a series of reforms. Source: ABC News

The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its verdict in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, ruling that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. (BBC)

Florida reports two consecutive days of 2,000-plus new COVID-19 cases as more counties reopen their beaches. Miami’s mayor says this information does not include data from Memorial Day weekend and the George Floyd protests. (ABC News)

Poland’s Ministry of National Defence admits its army briefly invaded and occupied the Czech Republic for several days last month in a “misunderstanding”, the Polish soldiers took up positions near a chapel on the Czech side of the border in Moravia as part of coronavirus measures, and prevented Czech visitors from the site. (BBC)

The End

1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.

1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.

1800 – The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.

1807 – Emperor Napoleon’s French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.

1951 – UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words “under God” into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.

1967 – Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched towards Venus.

Sunday, June 14th, 2020

Florida reports two consecutive days of 2,000-plus new COVID-19 cases as more counties reopen their beaches. Miami’s mayor says this information doesn’t include data from Memorial Day weekend and the George Floyd protests. (ABC News)

Coronavirus cases on the rise in many states as New York emerges  New York state has “tamed the beast,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Saturday, referring to the coronavirus, which took a devastating toll on the state in the early months of the pandemic. New York reported 32 COVID-19-related deaths Saturday, the lowest daily figure since the pandemic hit, and hospitalizations are at their lowest point since March 20. But coronavirus cases are still increasing in several states, and some, like Texas and North Carolina, are now seeing a record number of hospitalizations amid efforts to re-open their economies. Overall, more than 115,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States. Elsewhere, China has seen its largest increase in local infections — most of which are linked to a market in Beijing — in months, and Brazil is now recording the highest number of daily deaths. Source: CNN

Atlanta police chief resigns, officer fired after fatal shooting  Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields has resigned, the city’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Saturday, while an officer, Garrett Rolfe, who fatally shot a 27-year-old black man named Rayshard Brooks was fired, the police department announced early Sunday. Rolfe and another officer, Devin Brosnan, found Brooks sleeping in a Wendy’s parking lot. After Brooks failed a sobriety test, a struggle ensued and ended with Rolfe shooting and killing Brooks. Bottoms said she does not believe the shooting was justified. Brooks’ death, which comes amid nationwide protests against police brutality, sparked more demonstrations in Atlanta, and protesters set fire to the Wendy’s where the shooting took place. Since the protests began following the killing of George Floyd at the end of May, multiple Atlanta police officers have been suspended, fired, and charged for use of excessive force. Source: The Associated Press

Protestors set fire to a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., in response to Reyshard Brooks’ murder the evening before. Outside the restaurant the previous day, two police officers shot Brooks after escaping from police with a taser. (The Guardian)

A man is killed, a woman raped and three others stabbed at two illegal “quarantine raves” late Saturday that attracted 6,000 people in Greater Manchester. Police said these were a clear breach of coronavirus legislation. (BBC)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-13/u-s-cases-up-most-in-two-weeks-washington-warns-virus-update?srnd=premium

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-13/how-asia-s-densest-slum-chased-the-virus-has-lessons-for-others?srnd=premium

The End

313 – The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia.

1774 – Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain’s North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.

1893 – Grover Cleveland notices a rough spot in his mouth and on July 1 undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; the operation was not revealed to the public until 1917, nine years after the president’s death.

1917 – World War I: The deadliest German air raid on London of the war is carried out by Gotha G.IV bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.

1944 – World War II: The Battle of Villers-Bocage: German tank ace Michael Wittmann ambushes elements of the British 7th Armoured Division, destroying up to fourteen tanks, fifteen personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns in a Tiger I tank.

1944 – World War II: German combat elements, reinforced by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, launch a counterattack on American forces near Carentan.

1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.

1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1971 – Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.

1983 – Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune.

2002 – The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

2015 – A man opens fire at policemen outside the police headquarters in Dallas, Texas, while a bag containing a pipe bomb is also found. He was later shot dead by police.

Saturday,  June 13th, 2020

CDC ‘strongly encourages’ protesters and rally attendees wear masks The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidelines introduced Friday recommend organizers of large events “strongly encourage” participants to wear cloth masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The guidance comes as protests against police brutality and systemic racism continue nationwide, and as President Trump prepares to hold campaign rallies again starting next week. Before heading to a big event, the CDC recommends everyone evaluate how many people they’ll be around, how close they’ll be to those people, and for how long — all of those factors can increase one’s risk of contracting COVID-19, the CDC says. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras says it will not do business with tankers that visited Venezuela in the past year, adhering to sanctions placed by the United States. (Reuters)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services removes protections for transgendered people and women seeking abortion from discrimination in receiving Obamacare. The move is condemned by civil rights groups and Democrat officials. (Reuters)

Twitter says it has removed a network of more than 170,000 accounts it says were spreading pro-Communist Party of China propaganda on the social media platform, saying the Chinese-based network had links to earlier state-backed operations on Facebook and YouTube. More than a thousand Russia-based misinformation accounts are also removed. (BBC)

‘Near-universal’ majority of Americans support changes to policing A “near-universal” majority of Americans support at least some changes to policing, according to a survey by HuffPost/YouGov released Friday. However, fewer than a third of Americans support defunding the police, as opposed to other reforms like banning police chokeholds, which is backed by 73 percent of the population. Importantly, there is a lack of clarity around what it means to “defund the police.” Most respondents agreed the phrase means “significantly decreasing the size of police forces and the scope of their work,” but some interpret the phrase as “completely abolishing” police forces. Americans are nearly evenly split on “budgeting less money for your local police department and more for social services,” which is what some say is the goal of “defund the police” activists. Source: HuffPost

The End