In this scene from 2007's Bee Movie, police accost an old lady eating honey, one grabs her by the neck, and she gasps: "I can't breathe!" A throwaway line from an old animated movie, it's now gone viral due to its topicality in 2020.

The scene has aged like milk, yes, but it shows that we always knew what chokeholds were for: it's right there in the name. The purpose is to cause cerebral ischemia and stop people breathing. Those outcomes were never in doubt, not by cops who claimed it was a legitimate form of restraint or by media who parroted them. It was so obvious that "lateral vascular neck restraint" was just choking people that we joked about police choking old ladies in childrens' movies. The lack of enforcement of formal bans on chokeholds returned to cops a covertly lethal weapon which they then used to kill Americans over and over and over again.

UPDATE: It's been suggested the line has been dubbed in. Here's an official clip from the movie showing it. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/police-brutality-gag-from-bee.html

Okay, so what's the mystery filling?

The Moscow Times reports that a cake shop in Russia has “baked a mystery-filling cake carved in the shape of President Vladimir Putin’s bust ahead of Friday’s Russia Day national holiday.”

The life-sized bust of Vladimir Putin will be displayed along with cakes in the likeness of his Russian government predecessors: Stalin, Gorbachev, and Tsar Nicholas II, all to be showcased in an “impromptu exhibition” in the Far Eastern city of Yakutsk.

“Each leader’s head has its own price,” reports the Sakhalife.ru news website.

The asking price for Putin’s life-size cake is 6,900 rubles ($100), which is around 20 times the shop's average price for a cake, while Gorbachev is three times cheaper.

“In addition to the price, the cakes have different fillings,” said Sladkiye Mechty (Sweet Dreams) shop co-owner Tatyana Tymyrova.

“We don’t tell which cake has which filling. Let it be a mystery for buyers,” Tymyrova said.

Read more: Cake Shop Bakes Life-Size, Edible Putin Bust for Russia Day

The asking price for Putin’s life-size cake is 6,900 rubles ($100), while Gorbachev is three times cheaper. https://t.co/EgaFM4UvTQ

 Lucian Kim (@Lucian_Kim) June 12, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/russian-cake-shop-builds-life.html

The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority, the UKs antitrust watchdog, has begun an investigation into Facebook's acquisition of Giphy. The deal is valued at around $400 million, and under scrutiny for possibly reducing competition in the United Kingdom.

Facebook is already facing antitrust concerns, and criticism for Mark Zuckerberg's decision to not challenge false posts and comments that incite violence by impeached U.S. President Donald Trump.

From reporting by Reuters on Friday:

The parent of messaging app WhatsApp bought Giphy, a popular website for making and sharing animated images, or GIFs, in May to integrate it with its rapidly growing photo-sharing app, Instagram.

While a formal probe is yet to begin, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier this week served Facebook with an initial enforcement order and on Friday began the first stage of an investigation, inviting comments on the transaction from any interested party. (bit.ly/2B0CX4s)

Facebook, the world’s largest social media network, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Giphy sought to quell some of the concerns in a statement. “Everyone will continue to have the same access to GIPHY. We look forward to demonstrating how this partnership is a win for our users, partners, and content creators,” it said.

Read more at Reuters: Facebook's Giphy deal draws UK competition watchdog's attention Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/12/uk-antitrust-watchdog-investig.html

It’s hard to not get a kick out of space-efficient tools. Compacted into their smallest forms, they often look very simple and unassuming. Yet often once they're unfurled and seen in their full quasi-Transformers glory, you can't help but be amazed.

At some point, everyone needs to see in the dark, which means it’s all but mandatory to have at least a flashlight or two around in case of emergencies. Of course, whether you need it during a power outage, a creepy journey down into the basement or any of a hundred other situations, it’s always enjoyable when they can perform some extra duties like the 3P Experts 25-Piece Flashlight Toolbox Set.

While the punchy spotlight that makes this item fantastic for small jobs around the house is definitely a winner, this uniquely designed item opens to reveal it’s also hiding a fully loaded tool kit inside.

Stowed away inside this flashlight’s trusty innards are a handful of versatile pieces, including a T-handle ratchet driver with a bit holder and extender; nine interchangeable slotted Phillips and hex bits, an 8-piece Allan wrench set and a 4-piece precision screwdriver set.

Every piece is expertly arrayed in the molded storage system so all those pieces stay together and in-place until they’re called into service.

While the high-powered beam from the flashlight can be handy on its own, it’s always nice to know that all those other attachments and difference-maker tools are also right at hand and available at a moment’s notice when they’re needed. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/more-than-a-flashlight-this-g.html

At a Senate Health Committee in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, state senator Steve Huffman said:

“My point is I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and it makes them more susceptible to death from COVID. But why it doesn’t make them more susceptible to just get COVID. Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves? That could be the explanation of the higher incidence?”

[via Dayton Daily News] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/ohio-state-senator-asked-if.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/chaos-in-america-o-j-simpson.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/sculptor-creates-the-worlds.html

Today, CNN launched its 2020 electoral college tracking map. It makes the race look very close, despite its own polling showing Biden 14% in the lead. That's because the map isn't based on polls, but the hunches of insiders:

This map is not meant to be predictive of what it will look like in November. It is an inaugural snapshot based upon conversations with Democratic and Republican operatives across the country, campaign aides and officeholders about how they all see the current landscape

Polls are, contrary to rumor, generally accurate. In 2016, Clinton won the overall vote by the margin suggested by polls and her loss came down to electors from "battleground" states where most polls had the candidates within the margin of error. By the end, for example, Clinton was leading Trump by 1% in Pennsylvania, and lost to him by less than 1%. Trump's win embarrassed pollsters not because their numbers were significantly wrong, but because they got into the habit of elaborating those numbers with their own punditry. They fell victim to the demand for constant posting that their generally accurate real work could not feed.

Just for the hell of it, here's an electoral college map based on current state-level polling averages.

I'm not saying anything about it, other than to point out that polls change fast and that it nevertheless tells a very different a story to the one news editors are generally interested in. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/dont-trust-electoral-college.html

A racist Karen goes ballistic when she sees a woman exercising on some park stairs in Torrance, California. Part of her long tirade: "This is not just for you! Get the fuck out of this state! Go back to whatever Asian country you belong in!"

For those asking how the racist conflict in Torrance started — this video shows the initial incident.

The woman filming the video was working out and the aggressive woman bumped into her. More —> https://t.co/y40o0TOHnI pic.twitter.com/AZmvfUd78h

 Veronica Miracle (@ABC7Veronica) June 11, 2020

From ABC7:

The incident, which was captured on video, happened Wednesday morning in Torrance's Wilson park.

It was reported to city officials and the Torrance mayor said police were investigating and "Conduct like that displayed on the video cannot be tolerated."

The incident began as a woman was filming her workout in the park.

She was exercising on a set of steps at the park when the other woman walked by and apparently bumped her. "Jesus," the exercising woman muttered. That was enough to set off the older woman, who then started on a tirade that lasted for several minutes...

Her friend who tweeted video of the incident wrote: "My friend was threatened in Wilson Park in Torrance, California today while she was working out in a public park by a Karen. She now does not feel safe to exercise in the park because of this. This is infuriating."

Torrance Mayor Patrick Furey said the city is aware of the incident and police are investigating.

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/racist-karen-screams-at-woman.html

Search Google for many more memetastic upside down Stormtrooper helmet gags. (And yes, I realize that the cap of the helmet is still right-side up.) These happy Stormtroopers would make great bad guys in the "Star Wars But With Tiny Lightsabers" feature film.

(Thanks, Lux Sparks-Pescovitz!)

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/stormtroopers-wearing-upside-d.html

In Bristol, England, anti-racism protestors pulled down a bronze statue of slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston and rolled it into the River Avon. Banksy, who is thought to live in Bristol, posted a brilliant idea that could please "both those who miss the Colston statue and those who don’t."

"We drag him out the water, put him back on the plinth, tie cable round his neck and commission some life size bronze statues of protestors in the act of pulling him down," Banksy wrote on Instagram. "Everyone happy. A famous day commemorated." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/banksys-brilliant-idea-to-ma.html

Present & Correct, designer office/stationery online retailer and curator of a wonderful Instagram account, posted this fantastic collection of Lego computers. Quite a few appear to have integrated displays. As a youngster, I often liked adding an external screen as represented by a simple Lego window. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/the-various-lego-computer-inte.html

"This took an embarassing amount of time to do," writes Yusi-D-Jordan. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/star-wars-but-with-tiny-lights.html

This video, posted Feb 18, 2020, depicts a black motorist, Ace Perry, being pulled over by a white police officer. The officer says he was suspicious because Perry was traveling 65 mph in a 70 mph zone. The officer, who identifies himself as deputy Snow, issues Perry with a warning but refuses to tell him what the warning is for.

It's a telling warning for black drivers nationwide: for you, the speed limit is an unknowable fraction of the posted number.

When Perry confronted him after he received a “written warning” for driving under the speed limit, the cop claimed obeying all the traffic laws and not speeding was “suspicious.” He couldn’t even look at Perry in the eye, likely knowing that his job consists of harassing innocent people for no reason.

“Wouldn’t you say it is kind of suspicious to travel under the speed limit and when the speed limit is 70?” the deputy asked before he dismissed Perry, telling him, “I’ve got stuff to do.”

Perry answered back, telling the cop that he has stuff to do too and would have appreciated not being pulled over and harassed by a racial profiling cop. ...

According to WRAL, a spokesman for the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office said leaders there would review the in-car camera of the deputy involved. “Should personnel action be necessary, we will take appropriate action,” he said, noting that Perry has not filed a formal complaint.

It's not the first rodeo at Sampson County Sheriff's Office, which hit the news not long ago when another deputy made a racist remark on Facebook. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/cop-pulls-over-warns-black-ma.html

An anonymous writer on Medium — identifying themself only as Officer A. Cab — has written an impassioned but scathing piece about the complicity of modern policing. This writer, claiming to be an ex-cop, shares his own shameful experiences being silenced for speaking against the "bad apple" officers, and eventually just going along with things he knew were inherently problematic. "American policing is a thick blue tumor strangling the life from our communities," he writes, "and if you don’t believe it when the poor and the marginalized say it, if you don’t believe it when you see cops across the country shooting journalists with less-lethal bullets and caustic chemicals, maybe you’ll believe it when you hear it straight from the pig’s mouth."

That's just in the intro. It gets way more in-depth, with numerous moments of quotable perfection (and a particularly disgraceful anecdote about some pay-to-play homeless abuse). I'll leave you with this passage, which has really sat with me:

Your community was not made safer by police violence; a sick member of your community was killed because it was cheaper than treating them. Are you extremely confident you’ll never get sick one day too?

Wrestle with this for a minute: if all of someone’s material needs were met and all the members of their community were fed, clothed, housed, and dignified, why would they need to join a gang? Why would they need to risk their lives selling drugs or breaking into buildings? If mental healthcare was free and was not stigmatized, how many lives would that save?

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/explains-how-every-p.html

In Ohio, a Republican state senator is receiving widespread condemnation today after asking aloud whether “African Americans or the colored population” (?!??!?!) are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic because -- wait for it -- they “do not wash their hands as well as other groups.”

Yes, that's right. Watch the Ohio State Senate video for yourself.

State Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) on June 9 effectively blamed the COVID-19 deaths of Black and Latinx Americans on poor personal hygiene.

Insane: A GOP Ohio state senator is under fire this week after asking if “African Americans or the colored population” have been disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic because they “do not wash their hands as well as other groups.” https://t.co/uRgTLnaspw

 Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 11, 2020

From the Washington Post:

State Sen. Steve Huffman (Tipp City) raised the question Tuesday during a hearing on whether to declare racism a public health crisis. Huffman, an emergency room doctor, wanted to know why African American communities are being hit so much harder by the virus, posing the query to Angela Dawson, executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health.

“I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and that makes them more susceptible to death from covid. But why does it not make them more susceptible to just get covid?” he asked. “Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear a mask?

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/gop-ohio-lawmaker-african-a.html

Trump's treasury secretary Stephen Mnuchin today said the United States should not, as he puts it, shut down the economy again -- even if there is another surge in coronavirus cases.

“We can’t shut down the economy again,” Mnuchin said on CNBC.

"We can't shut down the economy again. I think we've learned that if you shut down the economy, you're gonna create more damage."

Nevermind the mass deaths, he's got a boss to please.

NEWS: Mnuchin on preparations for a second Covid wave: "We can't shutdown the economy again"

"You create more damage, not just economic damage, there are other areas -- medical problems that get put on hold. The president made the right decision, I think we learned a lot" https://t.co/IuiVj3XH93

 Saleha Mohsin (@SalehaMohsin) June 11, 2020

“We can’t shut down the economy again.” Treasury Sec. Mnuchin says shutting down the economy would “create more damage.” https://t.co/ygjFTeBAAY pic.twitter.com/lBNKV8HuFx

 CNBC (@CNBC) June 11, 2020

“[lack of adequate testing capacity was] the reason why *the President* needed to close down parts of the economy.” ~Sec. Mnuchin https://t.co/x5CW6GGIVj

 Stephanie Kelton (@StephanieKelton) June 11, 2020

Second time I've heard Mnuchin make this comment. "What makes no sense to me is you can eat outside but you can't eat inside. I don't see why we can't have proper social distancing inside in restaurants. Obviously, if it rains outside you can't eat outside."

 Zachary Warmbrodt (@Zachary) June 11, 2020

IMAGE: Treasury Department Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/mnuchin-u-s-wont-shut-d.html

The video embedded below shows the Hisense Q5, a new tablet that's reportedly coming out in China this week. It has a reflective LCD display, similar to e-ink (in that it looks and feels much more paper-like than a typical screen) but with much faster refresh rate than you'd get from a Kindle. But it also shortcomings of its own, such as a lack of persistence and less efficient energy use.

It clearly handles animated UI elements and videos with ease, and the question is whether it looks better in real life, in the gloom of an unlit room or the glare of midday sun, than the similar but doomed Pixel Qi.

Though it's otherwise an unremarkable $350 Android tablet, it does have a HDMI port, meaning you could use it as a 10.5" display. For comparison, a standalone 13.3" e-Ink display has a four-figure price tag [Amazon]. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/tablet-with-high-refresh-rate.html

• "I should not have been there.” • Milley said his presence “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

America's top general said that showing up in combat fatigues with impeached President Donald Trump after a violent dispersal of protesters outside the White House last week was a "mistake."

General Mark Milley is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said he was "outraged" by the killing of George Floyd, and the protests speak to "centuries of injustice toward African Americans."

"As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched. And I am not immune. As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society," Milley, said in a pre-recorded speech to a group of graduates from the National Defense University released Thursday.

"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it," he added.

"I am outraged by the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd. His death amplified the pain, the frustration, and the fear that so many of our fellow Americans live with day in, day out," added Milley, in the speech.

"The protests that have ensued not only speak to his killing, but also to the centuries of injustice toward African Americans," he added, saying "we should all be proud that the vast majority of protests have been peaceful." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/u-s-general-is-sorry-for-posin.html

The European Union is expected to formally file charges against Amazon.com for harvesting data from third-party sellers, and using that information to compete against those sellers on the sales platform.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news on Thursday. Excerpt:

The charges could be officially filed as early as next week or the week after, one of the people said. The European Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust regulator, has been honing its case, and the case team has been circulating a draft of the charge sheet for a couple of months, another person said.

The formal charges would be the commission’s latest step in a nearly two-year probe into Amazon’s alleged mistreatment of sellers that use its platform. The charges—called a statement of objections—stem from Amazon’s dual role as a marketplace operator and a seller of its own products, the people said. In them, the EU accuses Amazon of scooping up data from third-party sellers and using that information to compete against them, for instance by launching similar products.

Amazon declined to comment. It has previously disputed that it abuses its power and size and said that retailers commonly sell their own private-label brands.

Read more: Amazon to Face Antitrust Charges From EU Over Treatment of Third-Party Sellers [WSJ, June 11, 2020 6:41 am ET] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/amazon-to-be-hit-with-antitrus.html