Good morning, and Happy Aviation Day — go fly something!
Ferguson –> Tina Susman, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Cathleen Decker report for the LAT that 31 people were arrested in Ferguson last night, and at least two people were shot. Those arrested came from as far away as California and New York. AND: The St. Louis County medical examiner concluded that Michael Brown had been shot multiple times in the head and chest from the front, and at some distance. The findings were consistent with the results of a private autopsy released over the weekend. Brown also had marijuana in his bloodstream, and WaPo reports that Ferguson “residents and protesters have noted that allegations of marijuana use have been used in the past by some in an attempt to disparage the character of shooting victims, including in the Trayvon Martin case.” ALSO: Hayes Brown reports for ThinkProgress that “some of the world’s most repressive regimes” are criticizing the militarized police response to protests in Ferguson. AND: At TNR, John McWhorter argues that the only way to prevent future Ferguson’s is to end the “war on drugs.”
Somewhat related –> Conor Friedersdorf writes at The Atlantic that since the Rodney King beating, videotaped abuses at the hands of police have undermined the public’s “instinctive” trust in law enforcement.
ISIS is pushed back –> Ahmed Rasheed and Michael Georgy report for Reuters that Kurdish forces, backed by US airstrikes, have retaken the Mosul Dam, a key strategic asset.
Quota –> Robert Morgenthau reports for The Nation that each day the US detains at least 34,000 immigrants who are awaiting hearings, simply to comply with an arbitrary quota set by Congress.
Battleground –> San Diego is poised to become the largest city in the US to raise its minimum wage this year after the City Council overrode a veto from the city’s Republican mayor. But as Claire Trageser reports for local KPBS, the local business lobby has one more trick up its sleeve in its fight to kill the measure.
Pension ripoffs hit the courts –> At TAP, Jordan Marks writes that across the country, “pension gutting efforts are being overturned by judges who recognize that breaking promises to workers isn’t just regrettable, it’s illegal.”
Climate crisis –> Dahr Jamail offers a roundup of recent climate news for Truthout.
Tea party history –> At NYMag, Jonathan Chait looks at the latest ideological fight over the US Constitution, and reminds us that the framers were politicians making compromises and didn’t necessarily “want” the structure they ended up with.
Not happy –> In The New Yorker, Christopher Beam explains why Chinese patients are turning against their doctors, sometimes violently.
