DHS Confirms Neo-Nazi Used to Work For It ; The Digital Divide Is Giving American Churches Hell ; and More Picks 2/18
Portland Police Officers ‘Guarding’ Fred Meyer Dumpsters as Residents Seek Discarded Food (Reader Steve)
From the Oregonian: “Roughly a dozen Portland police officers faced off with a small group at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer on Tuesday after people tried to take food that had been thrown away. Workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer threw away thousands of perishable items because the store, like many others, had lost power in an outage brought on by the region’s winter storm. Images on social media showed mountains of packaged meat, cheese and juice, as well as whole turkeys and racks of ribs that had been tossed into two large dumpsters near the store. A few people gathered about 2:30 p.m. at the store … in hopes of salvaging the food. But within a few hours, people seeking food from the dumpsters began to report police officers showing up to guard the dumpsters and prevent people from taking the items.”
Department of Homeland Security Confirms Neo-Nazi Used to Work For It (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it once employed an American neo-Nazi terror leader now based in Russia after he posted what he said were letters of appreciation that DHS and the Pentagon sent him thanking him for his service. Earlier this month, Rinaldo Nazzaro, 47, founder and leader of the Base, one of the most violent American domestic terror groups in years, posted three undated letters from U.S. agencies lauding him for his service. One was from DHS — an agency tasked with thwarting terrorism in the U.S. — and two were on Marine Corps letterhead. All spoke glowingly of Nazzaro.”
The Digital Divide Is Giving American Churches Hell (Dana)
From Wired: “For places of worship, Covid-19 has upended traditions and emptied sacred spaces. About 45 percent of Americans attend religious services regularly, most of them in Christian churches. … Or they did, until last spring. Then shutdowns and stay-at-home orders sent congregations scrambling to move their services online, similar to schools and workplaces. … Nearly one year into the pandemic, its effects on religious life, like other aspects of American society, appears unevenly distributed, with large, successful churches continuing to do well and struggling churches falling further behind.”
What We Learned From Tracking Cycling Deaths for a Year (Dana)
From Outside: “In December, the driver of a box truck plowed into a group of cyclists riding along U.S. Highway 95 south of Las Vegas. Five people died in the crash, and it was later discovered that the driver had methamphetamine in his system. At Outside, we were horrified by the tragedy, which was covered in local and national news, but we also knew it was part of a troubling trend: record numbers of cyclists (and thousands of pedestrians) on our nation’s roads are being killed by drivers often without any media attention beyond a brief local news story. In 2018, 857 cyclists died in crashes with drivers, the deadliest year for people on bikes since 1990. In 2019, while the total number of deaths dipped slightly, to 846, cities like New York recorded their highest number of cyclist fatalities ever.”
UK’s Chief Mouser Celebrates 10 Years on the Prowl (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Larry the cat, a four-legged inhabitant of London’s 10 Downing St., is marking a decade as Britain’s mouse-catcher in chief on Monday. The tabby cat was recruited by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to deal with a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence, and entered Downing Street on Feb. 15, 2011. The former stray, adopted from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was given the title Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an unofficial pest control post. He was the first cat to hold the rat-catching portfolio since the retirement of Humphrey in 1997, and has loyally served three prime ministers.”
