California
Police make hate-crime arrest in anti-Asian rant
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — A Colorado man was arrested for investigation of committing hate crimes in California after two young adults of Asian descent were targeted with racist and homophobic comments as they recorded a TikTok food review video at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant, police said.
The incident occurred Dec. 24 in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Ramon. The video’s spread online caught the attention of Police Chief Denton Carlson, who put word out on social media seeking the identities of the victims and the suspect.
“During their meal, a male suspect approached the victims unprovoked and engaged in a homophobic and racist rant, causing the victims to fear for their safety,” the San Ramon Police Department said in a news release.
In the video, which now has nearly 4 million views, the camera is facing the two young people as they eat french fries and an order known as “The Flying Dutchman.” A male voice can be heard asking them if they are filming themselves while eating, before making a homophobic comment.
Later, a male voice can be heard asking one of the diners if they are Japanese or Korean. The diner responds that they are Korean, leading the man to make comments about Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader. The other diner then urges the first to stop engaging with the man, who threatens to spit in the diners’ faces. He continues to make racist and offensive comments.
After the video was posted online, police detectives contacted the victims and began an investigation that led to the arrest of Jordan Douglas Krah, 40, of Denver, on Dec. 26, the department said. Krah was booked into jail on suspicion of two counts of committing a hate crime.
He posted bail, Lt. Tami Williams said in an email. Detectives will meet with prosecutors this week to request charges be filed.
Krah could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A call to a telephone listing under that name was answered by a recording saying the voice mail box was full.
The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to emails.
The viral video follows a rise in hate incidents against people of Asian descent during the pandemic and increasing hateful rhetoric toward LGBTQ people online.
Nation
U.S. to sell Taiwan anti-tank system amid rising China threat
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of an anti-tank mine-laying system to Taiwan amid the rising military threat from China.
The department on Wednesday said the Volcano system and all related equipment would cost an estimated $180 million.
It’s capable of scattering anti-tank and anti-personnel mines from either a ground vehicle or helicopter. The announcement indicated Taiwan would be buying the vehicle-borne version, the kind of general-use weapon many experts believe Taiwan needs more of to dissuade or repel a potential Chinese invasion.
To advertise that threat, China’s military sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the self-ruled island it claims is its own territory, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Monday.
China’s military harassment of Taiwan has intensified in recent years, along with rhetoric from top leaders that the island has no choice but to accept eventual Chinese rule.
That has seen the ruling Communist Party’s increasingly powerful military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, send planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis.
Between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, 47 of the Chinese planes crossed the median line of the 160 kilometer (100 mile) -Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to the Defense Ministry.
That came after China expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a U.S. annual defense spending bill in what has come to be a standard Chinese practice.
China also conducted large-scale live-fire military exercises in August in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Beijing views visits from foreign governments to the island as de facto recognition of Taiwan as independent and a challenge to China’s claim of sovereignty.
The PLA would continue to launch such missions until Taiwan’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party ceases “constantly provoking confrontation and enmity between the two sides,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei said at a monthly briefing Thursday.
“The PLA always ... resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Tan said.
While Washington has only unofficial ties with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, those include robust defense exchanges and military sales.
In its announcement, the State Department said the Volcano sale “serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.”
It said Taiwan would have “no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces,” and that the sale would “not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
Analysts differ over what Taiwan’s defense priorities should be, with some calling for big-ticket items such as advanced fighter jets.
Others argue for a more flexible force, heavily armed with land-based missile systems to target enemy ships, planes and landing craft. China’s overwhelming numerical advantage in personnel and equipment give Taiwan little choice but to opt for that more “asymmetric” approach, they say.
Kentucky
Marker to memorialize Taylor, racial justice protests
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A historical marker has been unveiled in Kentucky that memorializes the death of Breonna Taylor, the ensuing racial justice protests that swept the city and two other deaths related to the demonstrations, officials said.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer attended the unveiling of the marker in Jefferson Square Park on Wednesday with family and friends of Taylor, David McAtee and Tyler Gerth, a statement from his office said.
The marker is labeled “2020 Racial Justice Protests” and says the park became a rallying place for those demanding justice after Taylor was killed during a police raid at her apartment in March 2020.
“Protesters called this space ‘Injustice Square Park’ and held demonstrations that drew global attention,” the marker says.
Racial justice protests were held in cities across the county fueled by the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Taylor in Louisville and others. The Louisville marker also notes the deaths of David McAtee and photographer Tyler Gerth, who were killed in incidents related to the protests.
“The marker will in no way diminish the tremendous pain that they suffer still,” Fischer said, “but we believed it was critical that we acknowledge the history behind the tragedies of 2020, the resulting demonstrations, and reason for the important reforms and policy changes that resulted and are still underway.”
