Several days before a planned drag event at Maryville College—a small liberal arts college outside of Knoxville—Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond sent a letter to Blount County Pride organizers announcing plans to enforce the state's recently passed anti-drag law.
That law, signed by Republican Governor Bill Lee in March, bans drag performances in public places where children are present, with performances by "topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers" explicitly subject to prosecution, with penalties as severe as felonies.
In June, U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, a Trump appointee, struck down the law, calling the ban "unconstitutional" in a ruling of his own. However, in Blount's reading of the decision, the federal judge's ruling only applied to a single judicial district, thereby leaving performers in his or any other jurisdiction subject to prosecution should they violate the law.
The hate merchants just want to destroy the country. They can't build anything, they can't improve anyone's life. They can only destroy. They're just like Henry Tarrio who, for some reason, BBC calls "Enrique Tarrio." His name is Henry Tarrio. That's his birth name, that's his legal name. This is about him in court, so you use his legal name -- unless you are the BBC:
The Proud Boys' former leader has been jailed for 22 years for orchestrating the US Capitol riot, the longest sentence so far for a ringleader of the raid on the seat of American democracy.
Enrique Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy, a US Civil War-era charge, and other counts in May.
Tarrio, 39, was not in Washington during the riot, but helped organise the far-right group's involvement.
More than 1,100 people have been arrested on Capitol riot charges.
Before he learned his fate on Tuesday, an emotional Tarrio apologised to police and residents of Washington DC for his role in the 6 January 2021 riot, when supporters of then-US President Donald Trump stormed Congress as lawmakers certified Joe Biden's election victory.
"I am extremely ashamed and disappointed that they were caused grief and suffering," he told Washington's federal courthouse. "I will have to live with that shame for the rest of my life."
Tarrio, wearing an orange jail uniform, added: "I was my own worst enemy.
"My hubris convinced me that I was a victim and targeted unfairly."
Acknowledging that Mr Trump had lost the November 2020 presidential election, Tarrio said: "I am not a political zealot.
"Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal.
"I didn't think it was even possible to change the results of the election."
"Please show me mercy," Tarrio asked the judge. "I ask you that you not take my 40s from me."
At one point earlier, he could be seen wiping tears from his eyes as his mother asked the judge for leniency.
Cry baby Henry's a liar and his mother's a joke. He's going to lose his forties and his fifties, if we're lucky.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Iraq's Federal Supreme Court decided Monday to invalidate a maritime
border agreement with Kuwait under which the two countries shared a key
waterway in the Gulf.
The decision against the Khor Abdullah agreement followed a trial related to an ongoing dispute over the deal, which was signed in 2012 and ratified in 2013 and concerned maritime borders and navigation regulations.
The court cited its inconsistency with the Iraqi Constitution, which mandates approval through legislation passed with a two-thirds majority in parliament, said a statement.
Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 833 in 1993 which determined the land border between Iraq and Kuwait.
However, the delineation of the maritime border was left to the two countries.
Kirkuk is a multiethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, as well as an Assyrian minority. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of a brazen offensive by the Islamic State (ISIS) group threatening the city. Kurds held Kirkuk until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum. While other Kurdish political parties remain active in Kirkuk, the KDP refused to return, saying the city was “occupied” by Shiite militias.
Chenar Chalak (RUDAW) sexplained:
An order from [Iraq's prime minister] Sudani in August asked the JOC to evacuate their offices
in Kirkuk and hand them over to the KDP to allow the Kurdish party to
resume its political activities in the province. The buildings were used
by the KDP prior to the expulsion of the Peshmerga forces from Kirkuk
in October 2017 when Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) gained
control of the province.
Sudani’s decision was strongly rejected by the PMF and their supporters,
who set up tents and held sit-in protests near the JOC headquarters in
Kirkuk, blocking the main Kirkuk-Erbil highway and vowing to continue
demonstrations until the Iraqi premier revokes his decision and leaves
the matter to the judiciary. The protesters claimed that the KDP’s
return would be detrimental to the province’s security.
Footage emerged on social media depicting the PMF protesters
disrespecting the flag of the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk’s Peshmerga
statue located near the JOC headquarters, further enraging the city’s
Kurdish population who were already frustrated with the ongoing blockage
of the key highway for nearly a week.
Iraq's federal supreme court issued an urgent temporary ruling on Sunday obliging the government to delay procedures regarding the handover of a building in Kirkuk to the KDP, the state news agency reported.
The court ruling halted an order issued by Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani in his capacity as the commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces to hand over the army building to the KDP on September 1, according to a copy of the ruling seen by Reuters.
Not everyone fell into silent agreement. ALJAZEERA reports:
Masoud Barzani, a veteran Kurdish leader, accused “rioters” of blocking the highway from Kirkuk to Erbil, the Kurdish capital, with their sit-in.
He said this was “creating a tense and dangerous situation for residents”.
Barzani said it was “surprising” that security forces had not prevented “the chaos and illegal behaviour of those blocking the road”, while on Saturday, “violence was used against Kurdish youth and demonstrators”.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani described the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court’s Sunday decision on recovering the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) former headquarters in Kirkuk as a “farce”.
“Today's ‘federal court’ decision is a farce,” Barzani wrote on X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
[. . .]
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs to register the killed protestors in Kirkuk as “martyrs” and provide medical assistance to the wounded, the spokesperson announced.
THE NATIONAL quote Barzani point out, "It's surprising that in the past few days security forces in Kirkuk did not prevent the violence and illegal behaviour of some groups, but today the Kurdish protesters were faced with violence and (the) blood of Kurdish youth was spilt, and it will carry a heavy price."
A delegation of Australian politicians from across the board will travel to the United States in September to lobby against the extradition of Julian Assange from a London prison.
The contingent is set to visit Washington DC to meet with top US diplomats and urge the government to end its prosecution bid, following years of unsuccessful intervention attempts to free the WikiLeaks founder.
MPs spanning the political spectrum, including Barnaby Joyce from the National Party, Tony Zappia from Labor, Alex Antic from the Liberals, independent MP Monique Ryan and David Shoebridge and Peter Whish-Walson from the Greens, will be part of the lobby group.
“Australians are united in their view that this matter must come to an end now,” Assange Campaign group’s legal advisor Greg Barns said in a media release.
Should he be deported from the U.K., Julian Assange, the Australian publisher of WikiLeaks, faces up to 175 years in a U.S. prison on charges related to his release of information that revealed U.S. war crimes and torture. His legal team has stated that they plan to appeal the extradition case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France, arguing that the British litigation process has been rife with malpractice.
However, experts say, there is little likelihood that Assange, who is currently being detained without British charges at London’s Belmarsh Prison pending extradition, will be allowed to physically attend any ECHR hearings in Strasbourg, which lies in France’s Alsace region.
“The U.K. authorities’ case against bail has always been that he is ‘a significant flight risk’ and a reminder of his seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy,” Tim Dawson of the International Federation of Journalists, a group opposing Assange’s detention, told Truthout. “I can’t see that they are going to allow anything similar to arise.”
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) pointed out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “absolutely outrageous” move to not meet with President Joe Biden in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.
In a CNN appearance Friday, Kinzinger criticized the Florida governor, who had expressed logistical concerns over Biden’s trip to survey hurricane damage and remarked that the visit could be “very disruptive.”
“There’s a 1 to 2% chance it’s logistics, there’s a 98 to 99% chance it’s the optics,” Kinzinger told CNN’s John Berman.
DeSantis and Biden met when the president toured Florida after Hurricane Ian hit the state last year, and in the aftermath of the Surfside condo collapse in Miami Beach in 2021.
The pair have been speaking regularly this week about Idalia, but DeSantis avoided being photographed with Biden as he visited Florida on Saturday.
[. . .]
"In times of crisis, the American people expect our leaders to put aside their differences and find strength in unity," said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party "By refusing to meet with President Biden, he's proving again what we've known for years—Ron will always put politics over people. I hope his fundraisers in Iowa are worth it."
Victor Shi, a Gen-Z activist and Biden supporter, said media reports should make clear that it was DeSantis who refused to meet with Biden and not the other way around.
Let's wind down with this Tweet from Paul Rudnick.
Sunday, Kat's "Kat's Korner: Hozier takes you on a trip" went up. The following sites updated:
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EQUALIZER 3 and HYPNOTICS3 days ago
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