Sen. John Cornyn showed he has no idea what systemic racism is

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), during a Senate Judiciary hearing about police violence on Tuesday, became the latest official to struggle to grasp the existence of systemic racism in the US — an issue that became clear during his questioning of a panel of witnesses.

“I would like the witnesses to tell us if they believe that the police department and the police in America are systemically racist,” Cornyn said. “Would anybody like to raise their hand agreeing with that statement?”

At that point, multiple witnesses who were testifying appeared to raise their hands, which prompted Cornyn to follow up with …

Trump’s executive order on police reform, explained

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday outlining White House priorities for police reform, including the creation of a national police misconduct database.

The order also creates new guidelines for use of force and deescalation and proposes an increased role for social workers and mental health professionals in responding to a variety of issues.

While it might be the most federal action taken in response to the nationwide upheaval over the police killing of George Floyd — unless a divided Congress manages to come to some agreement on various proposals — the order is more police-friendly than other …

Why a second round of Covid-19 lockdowns might not be as effective 

Several states are now seeing a surge in new Covid-19 coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. And the states with more alarming outbreaks — Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Florida, and Tennessee — generally saw few cases early in the pandemic.

Many of these states have started to relax the restrictions on movement, businesses, and public gatherings that were meant to control the spread of Covid-19. But with infections rising, there will be more illnesses, deaths, and financial hardships for people that have already suffered immensely from this pandemic.

If cases continue to rise and threaten to overwhelm the …

The fight for transparency in police misconduct, explained

In 2012, Ramarley Graham, an 18-year-old black teenager, was fatally shot in his own home by a white New York City police officer, Richard Haste. Haste and other officers had followed Graham home from a nearby bodega and forced their way in, later saying that they believed Graham was carrying a gun. Graham was, in fact, unarmed.

Eighteen months after the killing, a grand jury decided not to indict Haste. Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, later tried to obtain information about the shooting and investigation, as well as Haste’s misconduct history. But the police department denied her freedom of information law …

Former eBay employees allegedly used spiders and swingers to cyberstalk newsletter authors

In one of the strangest corporate scandal cases in recent memory, six former eBay workers allegedly waged an “aggressive cyberstalking campaign” against the two people behind an e-commerce newsletter that scrutinized the online auction site. The former workers are accused of harassing the victims on Twitter, shipping them live invertebrates, and trying to install a GPS tracker in their car.

The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it charged six people who worked on eBay’s security and global intelligence teams — James Baugh, Brian Gilbert, David Harville, Stephanie Popp, Stephanie Stockwell, and Veronica Zea — with conspiracy to commit …