An estimated quarter of the population fill downtown park and surrounding streets

By Verna Yu & Lily Kuo from Hong Kong @ TheGuardian.com, Aug. 18

An estimated 1.7 million people in Hong Kong – a quarter of the population – defied police orders to stage a peaceful march after a rally in a downtown park, after two months of increasingly violent clashes that have prompted severe warnings from Beijing and failed to win concessions from the city’s government.

Huge crowds filled Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon and spilled on to nearby streets, forcing police to block traffic in the area. Torrential rain came down an hour into the rally, turning the park into a sea of umbrellas. At the same time, protesters walked towards Central, the heart of Hong Kong’s business district, and surrounded government headquarters.

Police had turned down a plan for Sunday’s march submitted by the Civil Human Rights Front group and gave permission only for a rally in the park. Those defying the ban risked being charged with unlawful assembly, which can lead to up to five years in prison [.....]

Government figures seek to play down predictions of food, medicine and fuel shortages in leaked document

By Rowena Mason @ TheGuardian.com, Aug. 18

Downing Street has reacted with fury to the leak of an official document predicting that a no-deal Brexit would lead to food, medicine and petrol shortages, with No 10 sources blaming the disclosure on a hostile former minister intent on ruining Boris Johnson’s trip to see EU leaders this week.

The leaked document, detailing preparations under Operation Yellowhammer, argues that the most likely scenario is severe extended delays to medicine supplies and shortages of some fresh foods, combined with price rises, if there is a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.

It said there would be a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland before long and a “three-month meltdown” at ports unable to cope with extra checks. Protests could break out across the UK, requiring significant police intervention, and two oil refineries could close, with thousands of job losses, according to the documents [....]

Highly recommended. Includes an account of his death: found unresponsive and tinged blue, hanging from a bedsheet; an alarm was hit which included radio calls, there was an attempt at CPR and an hour later he was pronounced dead.  Pulls together multiple sources and a chronology of facts; very detailed on the suicide watch, the reasons he was removed from the same, and the reason he wasn't checked at the time of the hanging.

There are better ways of doing social justice work.

Guest op-ed by Loretta Ross @ NYTimes.com, Aug. 17 Ms. Ross, an expert on women’s issues, racism and human rights, is a founder of the reproductive justice theory.

[...] Recently, someone lied about me on social media and I decided not to reply. “Never wrestle with a pig,” as George Bernard Shaw said. “You both get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” And one of the best ways to make a point is to ignore someone begging for attention. Thanks, Michelle Obama, for this timely lesson; most people who read her book “Becoming” probably missed that she subtly threw shade this way.

Call-outs are often louder and more vicious on the internet, amplified by the “clicktivist” culture that provides anonymity for awful behavior. Even incidents that occur in real life, like Barbeque Becky or Permit Patty, can end up as an admonitory meme on social media. Social media offers new ways to be the same old humans by virally exposing what has always been in our hearts, good or bad.

My experiences with call-outs began in the 1970s as a young black feminist activist. I sharply criticized white women for not understanding women of color. I called them out while trying to explain intersectionality and white supremacy. I rarely questioned whether the way I addressed their white privilege was actually counterproductive. They barely understood what it meant to be white women in the system of white supremacy. Was it realistic to expect them to comprehend the experiences of black women? [....]

by Rachel Siegel, Abha Bhattarai & Heather Long @ WashingtonPost.com/Business, Aug. 17

American consumers are increasingly propping up the global economy, an enduring source of strength that is helping keep the United States out of recession and drawing a sharp contrast with the rest of the world.

But as a number of signs point to a possible downturn in the United States, economists are growing more skeptical that consumers will continue to open up their wallets as freely. A failure to do so could hasten the arrival of the first U.S. recession in a decade.

Low unemployment, rising wages and easy credit have given consumers the confidence and ability to spend in recent months. That has proved crucial as spending by U.S. businesses has declined, U.S. manufacturing has fallen into a funk, and the economies of many other large countries, including Germany, have begun to shrink.

The strength of the consumer has convinced many business leaders that the U.S. economy won’t go into recession anytime soon [....]

I noticed it yesterday. One example from today:

By Av Anders Ydstedt @ svensktidskrift.se, Aug. 16, in English

An Interview with an American in Stockholm

Sweden is tossed about in the American political debate, being used as example of both a socialist but democratic paradise and as a “politically correct” suffocating state. This past year Sweden – and certain Swedes – has attracted the attention in the US, and the nation is often described as caught up in rapid political change.

What is the truth about Sweden? Over the summer, Svensk Tidskrift has been talking to Daniel Klein, professor at the George Mason University Department of Economics, an academic unit renowned for classical liberal orientation. Klein has a unique relationship with Sweden [.....]

[....] ST: What about politics in Sweden?

Klein: When my connection to Sweden began, in 1996, I was struck by the civility. In the US, political adversaries are demonized, whereas in Sweden they are treated like one’s sister’s friend’s former housemate, which is what they are. Being a fellow Swede is much different than being a fellow American. Almedalen is emblematic—nothing like it in the US, or even conceivable.

Americans do not understand [....]

The Pay-to-Play saga continues:

Kevin Moley, an assistant secretary of State, was one of two officials taken to task in a new inspector general report that detailed 'disrespectful and hostile' behavior.

By Nahal Toosi @ Politico.com, Aug. 16

State Department employees are angry that a Trump administration political appointee appears set to keep his job after an investigation found evidence he’d acted abusively and ignored repeated warnings to shift his behavior.

Kevin Moley, an assistant secretary of State, was one of two officials taken to task in a new inspector general report that detailed “disrespectful and hostile” treatment of career staffers in the bureau of International Organization Affairs.

Yet there’s no sign that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to oust him or that Moley will quit [....]

The former quarterback caused a problem for the league—which turned to the celebrated rapper for assistance

By Jemele Hill @ TheAtlantic.com, Aug. 15

Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.

I assume neither Goodell nor Jay-Z expected to be on the defensive once the NFL announced that it would give Roc Nation, the music mogul’s entertainment company, significant power in choosing the performers for the league’s signature events—including the coveted Super Bowl halftime show. Jay-Z and Roc Nation will also help augment the NFL’s social-justice initiatives by developing content and spaces where players can speak about the issues that concern them [....]