Bellevue Bans Public Protest After Citizens Oppose Genocide: Democratic US House Rep. Adam Smith has attracted a lot of controversy for his belligerent foreign policy over the years, particularly the Gaza genocide. While Bellevue City Council didn’t mention Smith, he confirmed he talked with the body. The BCC found this public opposition so galling that last week they voted to criminalize gatherings of four or more protesters outside a private home as misdemeanor “targeted residential protest.” Anti-war protesters told the Seattle Times they wouldn’t be protesting outside Smith’s house if he made himself publicly available, to which Smith replied “If they don’t think that I’m being sufficiently responsive, then go organize a (expletive) campaign, all right?”
Judge Defends Yakima Latino Legislative District From Latino Republican: Since the US Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act earlier this month to favor white minority rule, there has been worry in Washington state that such legal precedent could be used to throw out Yakima’s new legislative district redrawn to enhance the voice of the area’s Latino majority. While the area has elected Latino legislators, like Rep. Alex Ybarra, they’re Republicans who favor the mostly white farm owners and the Trump administration, not the Latino majority farm workers. Ybarra asked the federal courts to throw out the new map, but the judge who first approved redrawing the map has now declined. Opponents hope the US Supreme Court will take up the case, the Washington State Standard reports.
Washington Cop Whose Legendary Racism Acquitted O.J. Dies: Local man Mark Fuhrman of rural Pierce County joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) after serving in the Marines in Vietnam and we all know what happened next: Fuhrman, a key investigator of the crime, was so documentably racist that lawyers discredit his testimony and O.J. Simpson got away with murder. Like many racist LAPD cops, Fuhrman moved to North Idaho, where, years later, Kootenai County officials said he died of natural causes. The Spokesman Review has a great roundup on Fuhrman, including an anecdote of the officer assaulting former Spokesman photographer Dan McComb during an interview with the late legendary local extremism reporter Bill Morlin. A lot of Coeur d’Alene residents will tell you they moved up from California after the Rodney King Riots ( … ) and they’re currently in a civil war for control of the Kootenai County Republican Party with Californians who moved to CDA during COVID.
Jury Selection Begins in Spokane Anti-ICE Conspiracy Trial: While we’re on the topic of racism, Spokane, and the courts; jury selection has begun for the federal conspiracy trial against a group of anti-ICE protesters who tried to stop a deportation last summer in what turned into a police riot. Jury selection always brings out the best in our peers, with highlights from the jury box reported by the Spokesman including “I don’t watch the news. My wife informs me,” and “I don’t own a book.”
Boeing Paid Trump Admin $1 million for Wartime Roadtrip Propaganda: MTV’s The Real World reality TV cast member turned US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy recently took an ill-conceived road trip across the country as part of the Semiquincentennial, otherwise known as the US’s 250th birthday. It was pretty tone deaf, considering American gas prices are through the roof since Duff’s boss started an illegal war with Iran that closed the Strait of Hormuz. Most Americans can’t afford a summer road trip this year, but apparently neither can the federal government. According to the Wall Street Journal, Duffy’s Big Adventure was paid for in part by local safe airplane manufacturer and war profiteer Boeing, which pitched in $1 million. This money was surely for gas, and has nothing to do with the US Department of Transportation’s regulatory investigations into Boeing’s commercial aircraft killing passengers.
British Journalists Show School Where US Bombing Killed 120 Kids: UK broadcaster Sky News is the first mainstream Western news outlet to visit the school where US bombers killed 120 children early in the Israeli-American war against Iran. The Pentagon has yet to release a full report explaining why they bombed the school, an attack the Trump administration initially blamed on Iran.
Far-Right Israeli Minister Responds to ICC Arrest Warrant with Ethnic Cleansing: The International Criminal Court in The Hague is expanding its arrest warrants targeting Israeli elected officials for crimes committed in Gaza to include finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. In response, yesterday Smotrich announced an ethnic cleansing operation targeting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar. According to Al Jazeera, Smotrich is being charged by the ICC for forced displacements just like the one he just announced for Khan al-Ahmar.
Top Holocaust Collaborator to be Reburied in Ukraine: Andriy Melnyk was the leader of a faction of Ukrainian ultranationalists during World War II that collaborated closely with Nazi Germany during the occupation of the Soviet Union. Melnyk’s confederates served in German police death squads, massacring Poles, Jews, and others. Many were eventually consolidated into an infantry division for fighting partisans organized by the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi party. Melnyk and thousands of other collaborators escaped to the West after the war, where they whitewashed their reputations as noble anti-communists during the Cold War. Pariahs for decades in Ukraine, the Russian invasion has been a boon to the Ukrainian far-right, with men once derided as traitorous war criminals now celebrated as patriots. In that spirit, Melnyk’s body is coming home from Luxembourg for a hero’s welcome, Interfax Ukraine reports.
In Good News, My Favorite Korean Director’s New Movie is Competing at Cannes: Na Hong-jin isn’t the household name he should be in the West, what with Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook stealing the limelight with their brilliant films. He got attention for his murder thriller The Chaser, but then his underworld followup The Yellow Sea was so bleak he polarized critics, so he took a genre turn with The Wailing in 2016. We haven’t had another from him since, but that changes this year, as his new alien invasion thriller Hope was well received at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend. The trailer is out now.
It’s All Been Pretty Bleak News Today: You won’t be getting much of a palate cleanser either. I can offer you this. There’s an indie game developer I like, Philip Willey, with Dirigo Games, who makes these spooky, stylish low-fidelity gems that never seem to quite grab people’s attention in the same way as devs like Lucas Pope manage to. Dirigo has a new classic adventure game out though, A MANSION on the HILL, about getting revenge against the oligarch who killed your family. You can snag it on his itch.io page or Steam.