January 1, ANARCHY: WHAT’D DID YOU EXPECT? New York, Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago Suffer Violent Weekends Amid Police Backlash

This Day in History | 1944

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill, an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services–known as G.I.s–for their efforts in World War II.

Good Morning Middle Americans, 

The leaders of major American cities across the country are losing control. And in these cities, there’s a common thread that runs through all of them. Whether it’s New York, Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, all those cities have been home to one-party rule for far too long. Times they are a changin. But is any ‘change’ that comes while a mayor or police chief has his or her head under a metaphorical guillotine, real change? By that – we mean their political life is on the line. They are only fighting for survival, not your rights. 

Also – pirated copies of John Bolton’s memoir have started showing up on-line. This while the president’s former national security advisor says he cannot vote for Trump. 

Also – NASCAR is reckoning with it’s Old South past, and had some uglt artifacts of the Confederacy show up in and around the track this weekend. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

Seattle: Two More Shootings Inside Cop-Free CHOP Zone

(Daily Mail) – Two more shootings are being investigated inside Seattle’s anti-police protest camp whose ‘violent’ crowds have declared themselves ‘cop free’ and are guarding barricades. 

One victim suffering a bullet wound has been admitted to the Harborview Medical Center, while a separate shooting has also been reported. 

Seattle Police Department tweeted at 23.25 pacific time: ‘Police investigating reported shooting inside CHOP zone. 

Read more here

New York City: 51 Shootings Since Monday, NYPD Reports

(WABC) — It’s been a violent week in New York City as 51 shootings were reported since Monday, June 15.

There were at least 24 victims in 18 incidents on Sunday alone, the NYPD said.

One of the latest shootings happened Saturday night in the East Village.

Police say a man died after he was shot in the leg on East 12th Street near Avenue C.

Meanwhile in East New York, there were also two deadly shootings.

Surveillance video recorded an incident in which a gunman walked up and killed a 35-year-old man who was washing a car.

Also, a shooting injured three women and a man in the Claremont section of the Bronx.

On Saturday, a man walking down Milford Street in East New York shot another man who was washing his car. The 35-year-old was shot in the neck, the wound fatal.

Then, police say just a half-mile away, at about the same time, an innocent bystander heard gunshots and felt pain, only to realize that he was shot in the calf.

“We are going to put more and more resources into the Cure Violence movement and the Crisis Management System, which has proven to be extraordinarily effective in stopping gun violence before it happens and mediating conflicts,” Mayor Bill de Blasio has said.

Find out more here

Minneapolois: Minneapolis Shooting Leaves 1 Dead and 11 Wounded, Police Say

(New York Times) – One person was killed and 11 wounded in a shooting in Minneapolis early on Sunday morning, the police said.

All of the victims were adults and those who were wounded did not have life-threatening injuries, the police said. Though a motive for the shooting was unclear, the episode involved people shooting at one another, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The wounded were taken to hospitals with injuries “at various severity levels,” the police said on Twitter. The person who was killed was a man who died at a hospital, John Elder, a spokesman for the Police Department, said in a statement.

The suspects fled and no one has been taken into custody, the police said.

Get the latest here

Plus more here from the Minneapolis Star Tribune 

Pirated Editions of John Bolton Memoir Have Appeared Online

(AP) — John Bolton’s memoir officially comes out Tuesday after surviving a security review and a legal challenge from the Justice Department. But over the weekend, it was available in ways even his publisher is hoping to prevent.

A PDF of “The Room Where It Happened” has turned up on the internet, offering a free, pirated edition of the former national security adviser’s scathing takedown of President Donald Trump, who has alleged that the book contains classified material that never should have been released.

“We are working assiduously to take down these clearly illegal instances of copyright infringement,” Simon & Schuster spokesperson Adam Rothberg said Sunday.

Piracy has long been a top concern among publishers, especially in the digital age, although the actual impact on sales is undetermined. “The Room Where It Happened” has been No. 1 for days on the Amazon.com bestseller list. The Associated Press was among several news outlets that obtained early copies of the book and reported on its contents.

Read more here

NASCAR Sees Noose, Confederate Flags Outside Track 

(ESPN) – NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag from being displayed at its events, but supporters of the symbol still managed to be seen Sunday before the race was postponed to Monday because of inclement weather.

Vehicles lined the boulevard outside Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, waving the flag and a plane flew above the track towing a banner of a Confederate flag that read, “Defund NASCAR.”

NASCAR has not stated how exactly it plans to stop fans from displaying the flag on track property, though none of the instances Sunday at Talladega were inside the facility.

Find out more here