https://www.rt.com/usa/494495-minnesota-aid-denied-trump/

The federal government has denied Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s request for aid to rebuild the riot-torn city of Minneapolis. US President Donald Trump had earlier blasted Walz’s handling of the recent riots there.

Between the death of George Floyd in late May and the arrival of the National Guard to restore order a week later, rioters in Minneapolis managed to inflict an estimated $500 million in damages, according to the Minnesota governor.

Last week, Walz asked the federal government for up to $16 million to repair buildings set ablaze by arsonists. The request fell on deaf ears, a spokesman for the governor stated on Friday.

“The Governor is disappointed that the federal government declined his request for financial support,” spokesman Teddy Tschann said in a statement.

“As we navigate one of the most difficult periods in our state’s history, we look for support from our federal government to help us through.”

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/07/11/how-nypd-is-trying-to-tapper-down-on-the-skyrocketing-number-of-retirements-n2572314

Last week, the number of retirement applications for the NYPD soared 400 percent over the same time period in July of last year. Between June 29th and July 6th, 179 officers filed retirement paperwork. In 2019, during the same time frame, only 35 officers filed an application for retirement, the Post reported.

Between May 25th (the day George Floyd died) and July 3rd, 503 officers filed retirement paperwork. Two of the main reasons that officers cited for their retirement: a lack of respect from the community and overtime pay no longer being available.

The number of retirement applications that can be processed is limited. Those who typically process these applications have also had their overtime pay limited, meaning there's a backlog.

“Apparently, the pension section is only taking a certain amount of people per day and I think they are backed up ’til late July, early August,” one cop told the Post. “That’s why you don’t see like 100 a day, because they are only doing like 35 to 40 a day, by appointment."

A spokeswoman for the department confirmed the uptick, calling it "a troubling trend" the NYPD is "closely monitoring."

https://www.inquisitr.com/6158863/john-lewis-not-dead/

John Lewis is still alive, a spokesperson said after a fellow member of Congress took to Twitter to share condolences for his passing.

The news of his reported passing was first shared by House colleague Alma S. Adams, who took to Twitter to share condolences.

“Words cannot do John Lewis justice because everything he did was in the service of Justice,” Adams shared in a post that was later deleted. “He gave everything – including his blood and his body – to the Movement. It was an honor to make ‘good trouble’ with John in the House, and I will miss both my friend and the man himself.”

https://www.ajc.com/news/stateregional-govtpolitics/rumor-rep-john-lewis-has-died-are-untrue-spokesman-says/y3ZdCuC98eO2gD7w7NoOSM/

A blog that focuses on news about historically black colleges & universities and U.S. Rep. Alma Adams of North Carolina were among those who posted that Lewis had died.Lewis, 80, is undergoing treatment for advanced stage pancreatic cancer. As a result, he has used a proxy to cast votes in Congress and his public appearances have been very limited.

China just bought Iran

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-Inks-Military-Deal-With-Iran-Under-Secretive-25-Year-Plan.html

One of the secret elements of the deal signed last year is that China will invest US$280 billion in developing Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemicals sectors. This amount will be front-loaded into the first five-year period of the new 25-year deal, and the understanding is that further amounts will be available in each subsequent five year period, provided that both parties agree. There will be another US$120 billion of investment, which again can be front-loaded into the first five-year period, for upgrading Iran’s transport and manufacturing infrastructure, and again subject to increase in each subsequent period should both parties agree. In exchange for this, to begin with, Chinese companies will be given the first option to bid on any new – or stalled or uncompleted – oil, gas, and petrochemicals projects in Iran. China will also be able to buy any and all oil, gas, and petchems products at a minimum guaranteed discount of 12 per cent to the six-month rolling mean average price of comparable benchmark products, plus another 6 to 8 per cent of that metric for risk-adjusted compensation. Additionally, China will be granted the right to delay payment for up to two years and, significantly, it will be able to pay in soft currencies that it has accrued from doing business in Africa and the Former Soviet Union states. “Given the exchange rates involved in converting these soft currencies into hard currencies that Iran can obtain from its friendly Western banks, China is looking at another 8 to 12 per cent discount, which means a total discount of around 32 per cent for China on all oil gas, and petchems purchases,” one of the Iran sources underlined.