DeSantis wants to provide internet access in Cuba
MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he wants Florida companies to provide Internet connection to residents in Cuba, as the island entered its third day of protests amid widespread internet shutdowns that have hindered the flow of information.
“What does the regime do when you start to see these images? They shut down the internet. They don’t want the truth to be out, they don’t want people to be able to communicate,” said DeSantis during a roundtable with Republican lawmakers and members of the Cuban exile community in Miami.
Without providing details on how to turn on remote hotspots to give Cubans WiFi connection, DeSantis added he would make some calls to “see what are the options” to make it happen.
During the roundtable at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, DeSantis was joined by Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nuñez, and Republican U.S. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez. Other Republican state legislators and senators were also in attendance.
Rosa Maria Payá, a Cuban activist and executive director of the Foundation for Panamerican Democracy, said that aside from the U.S. providing internet service to Cuba, she would like the Biden administration to say it will not negotiate with the Cuban government during a transition from communism.
—Miami Herald
Black Lives Matter mural defaced in city where Andrew Brown was killed
Someone defaced a Black Lives Matter mural one day after it was painted in the North Carolina town where sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr., video from Sunday shows.
Footage shared with news outlets shows tire marks covering three letters of the new street art in Elizabeth City, roughly 165 miles northeast of Raleigh. The markings were discovered after an artist had finished painting the words “Black Lives Matter” onto the pavement.
“I was utterly disgusted to learn that just hours after we dedicated it that an individual would try to defame and deface that, after the artist worked so hard to make that a reality,” Elizabeth City council member Darius Horton said, according to WVEC.
The city’s police department is investigating the case, according to ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner. Officials said the skid marks may have been from a black Dodge Ram, WRAL reported.
Horton in a Facebook post shared photos of the pickup truck seen driving over the mural.
“Silly Rabbit tricks are for kids,” he wrote in the post. “Do you think we would invest in a mural and not have adequate surveillance. You sir are going down!”
Elizabeth City leaders paved the way for the mural after voting 5-1 in May to begin the search for someone to paint “Black Lives Matter” in front of their public safety building, which is home to the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office.
—The Charlotte Observer
Advocates call for end to separation of asylum-seeking families
SAN DIEGO – Asylum-seeking families are still being separated by border officials because of U.S. policies, according to advocates who are calling for the Biden administration to end the practice.
The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties along with Jewish Family Service are sending a letter Tuesday to Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary, outlining the ways that migrant families are being split apart, the harms that separation causes and suggested policy changes.
The letter details stories of border officials separating parents from their 18- and 19-year-old children, including one child with special needs; splitting up married couples, including pregnant women from their partners; and taking grandparents away from grandchildren.
Between January and May, the San Diego-based organizations met 19 families that they identified as having been separated, according to the letter.
"In the best case scenario, this is careless and disregards the sanctity of family unity," said Monika Langarica of the ACLU. "Regardless of the reason, the solution is really clear. The agency can stop this tomorrow."
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The reason for the separations, according to the advocacy organizations' letter, is inconsistency among officials' decisions about where family members will be sent after they are taken into custody.
—The San Diego Union-Tribune
Banker who sought Trump Cabinet post convicted of bribery
A Chicago banker was convicted of federal charges that he sought to trade $16 million in bank loans to former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort for the chance at a top administration post.
Stephen Calk was found guilty on Tuesday of financial institution bribery and conspiracy over the 2016 and 2017 loans. The founder and longtime chief executive of Federal Savings Bank had hoped that then-President Donald Trump would name him to one of a raft of powerful government posts, including treasury secretary, defense secretary or ambassador to France or the U.K.
Instead Calk faces possible prison time after jurors in Manhattan federal court found that he approved the loans to Manafort in exchange for help in landing a job. The trial, which began June 22, featured the testimony of Skybridge Capital founder and former White House aide Anthony Scaramucci and offered a window into the sometimes chaotic transition that followed Trump’s unexpected 2016 election.
Calk did not respond to questions outside the courthouse after the verdict was delivered.
“We are very disappointed by the verdict and will be pursuing all available legal remedies, including an appeal,” his lawyer, Paul Schoeman, said in an email.
Manafort, who led Trump’s 2016 campaign for about two months, then continued on as an adviser, arranged for Calk to be interviewed at Trump Tower for undersecretary of the Army. The banker wasn’t selected for the post or for any other administration job.
Calk is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 10. He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, though he’s likely to get much less than that.
—Bloomberg News
