On This Day, May 20: Pennsylvania Avenue closed to traffic in front of White House
1 of 5 | Military personnel practice marching on Pennsylvania Avenue for the inauguration ceremony in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2021. On May 20, 1995, President Bill Clinton permanently closed Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House after more than 200 years of mostly unimpeded traffic. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
On this date in history:
In 526, up to 300,000 people were killed in an earthquake in Syria and Antioch.
In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were granted a patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from New York in his single-engine monoplane, "The Spirit of St. Louis," bound for Paris. While he winged his way across the Atlantic, his mother taught her chemistry class at Cass Technical High School as usual.
In 1940, German forces punched through the Allied lines in Abbeville, France, to reach the English Channel. The Battle of Abbeville one week later culminated in the evacuation of Dunkirk.
In 1969, in one of the more infamous and bloody battles of the Vietnam War, U.S. troops seized Dong Ap Bia mountain, commonly known as Hamburger Hill.
In 1974, Judge John Sirica ordered U.S. President Richard Nixon to turn over tapes and other records of 64 White House conversations on the Watergate affair.
UPI File Photo
In 1989, Chinese Premier Li Peng declared martial law in Beijing in response to heightened student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
In 1995, President Bill Clinton permanently closed Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House after more than 200 years of mostly unimpeded traffic.
File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
In 2002, East Timor, a small Pacific Coast nation, gained independence from Indonesia. It is called Timor Leste.
In 2013, a tornado struck the Moore, Okla., area near Oklahoma City, killing 24 people, injuring more than 300 and destroying many buildings, including two elementary schools.
In 2018, King Mswati III announced he was changing the name of his country, Swaziland, to eSwatini, which means "land of the Swazis."
In 2024, a New Zealand auction house sold a single feather from an extinct huia bird for $28,417, making it the most expensive feather in history. The bird, the last recorded sighting of which was in 1907, was considered sacred by the Māori people.
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Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Body found, 100-plus arrested amid violent LA protests of ICE raids
June 10 (UPI) -- Local law enforcement is investigating the death of a man whose body was found on a downtown Los Angeles sidewalk early Tuesday morning, where protests and looting have occurred. The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a call at 1:30 a.m. PDT regarding an unresponsive man on a sidewalk in the downtown area of West 3rd Street and Broadway, KTLA reported. The unidentified man was dead, and his cause of death is being investigated. Several businesses in the area were looted and vandalized at about the same time that the police received the emergency call. The LAPD reported it made more than 100 arrests connected to Monday's protests, including 14 for looting. Mayor condemns looting, violence and vandalism Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass addressed the violence and looting during a Tuesday morning press conference. She told reporters city officials have not received word of raids because Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not notify the city when ICE raids are planned. "What we rely on is reporting from the community, especially the immigrant rights organizations that have formed the 'rapid response network,' "Bass told media. "I do not believe that individuals that commit vandalism and violence in our city really are in support of immigrants," Bass told reporters. "They have another agenda." She said the "unrest that has happened are a few blocks within the downtown area" and not all of downtown or citywide. "The visuals make it seem as though our entire city is in flames, and that is not the case at all," Bass explained. "The violence and the damage is unacceptable. It is not going to be tolerated, and the individuals will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." She said those who participate and make it home at night should not think they got away with it because local police are investigating, and "there will be follow-up and arrests." Bass also said Los Angeles "was peaceful" on Thursday. Bass blames ICE raids for violence "There was nothing going on here that warranted the federal intervention that took place the very next day," Bass told reporters. "If we want to look at the cause of what is happening here, I take it back to raids that took place on Friday and the uncertainty and the fear and the fact that families across the city are terrified." She said city officials don't know how many people ICE has detained and some people have not had contact with legal representation or their families. "When the administration started, they said this was about crime," she said. "They were going to go after violent felons, drug dealers, and I don't know how that matches with the scenes that we saw of people at Home Depot running through the parking lot because they were afraid they would be arrested." Bass said vandalism and graffiti "have been extensive," and she wants to meet with local business leaders and faith leaders to discuss how to clean up the downtown area ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup, which Los Angeles is scheduled to host. She also announced that she will attend a 6 p.m. interfaith prayer vigil "calling for peace" and "supporting immigrant Angelenos," but did not say where the vigil is scheduled. The L.A. riots prompted President Donald Trump to call up the National Guard to protect federal buildings, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he will transfer 700 Marines to the area. California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of illegally calling up the National Guard, but Trump said the violence would have "completely obliterated" Los Angeles.
Buzz Feed
37 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
American Servicemembers Share Thoughts On Marines In LA
As the protests in Los Angeles against ICE continue, the Trump administration announced it would be sending in 2000 additional National Guard soldiers as well as 700 active duty Marines. According to Reuters, they will "protect federal personnel and property" as the administration carries out "even more operations to round up suspected immigration violators." Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that the President did not have the legal authority to call in the National Guard, as well as requested a temporary restraining order to stop the use of the National Guard and active Marines "for law enforcement purposes." This is the first time that active duty military members have been called up to assist with law enforcement since 1992, and unsurprisingly, many of them (as well as veterans) have thoughts on the topic. NotSlayerOfDemons asked, "Those in the American Armed Forces, how do you feel about troops being used to quell unrest in-country?" and servicemembers, both active and former, did not hold back in these 28 responses: "Former Army. Unrest is when the citizens are trying to send a message to the government. Using troops against your citizens is the government's way of not listening." —cobra7 "Marine here. (Once a Marine, always). Iraq vet. I definitely do not agree with using the Marines. Hopefully, they used MPs with riot training, but using infantry to do police work is not smart. It's like trying to use a trained attack dog to herd sheep. What do you think those teenagers are going to do when someone starts throwing rocks at them?" "USAF veteran. We swear an oath to the Constitution. Not to any regime, party, or person." "Trump is creating his Reichstag fire. Take the time to look this up if you aren't familiar with it." —RuralMNGuy(The Reichstag fire was a fire that burned down the Reichstag building, which housed the German parliament, in 1933. The origins of the fire remain unclear, but it became propaganda for Hitler's Nazi government, and he used it to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, restricting free speech, freedom of the press, and allowing him to begin arresting members of the opposition parties.) "As a Marine vet, this fucking sucks. These kids are 18-22 years old and don't know shit about what the Constitution allows or what the Posse Comitatus Act is. They are taught enough not to harm an unarmed civilian, but decades of training for combating guerrilla warfare makes people jumpy. If protesters start throwing Molotov cocktails, or god forbid shooting, then shit gets real for these kids quick. I am afraid that if anything happens, it's going to put a black eye on the Corps that will never be forgotten by the American public." "As a vet, I will say it comes across as totalitarian. There is no reason to use active duty military against your own citizens. There's a great quote from Battlestar Galactica: 'The police and the military have always been separate for a reason. One serves and protects the people, the other fights enemies of the state. When the military does both, the enemies of the state tend to become the people.'" "Army veteran and a SoCal native of 30 years here. Glad to see the President not allowing California to burn to the ground. Everyone knows the governor wasn't going to intervene." —ChinMuscle "Man, that makes me think of the saying 'When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' That's the really scary part of having the military do the policing, isn't it?" "Telling soldiers to stand on the street with weapons drawn doesn't quell unrest. It provokes unrest." "Honorably discharged Army Veteran here (Gulf War era) I can say that I and my fellow vet friends think that these troop deployments are fucking terrible. Horrifying, actually." —PSadair "This is what the National Guard is for. Putting active duty military personnel on the streets of America to play policeman is a mistake." "I served in the Marines, and I'm glad I don't have to sit there and think, 'Question the legality of this and get an NJP [Non-Judicial Punishment], or go and potentially be put in a situation where they'll have me on trial in The Hague in a few years…'" "I'm not active, but former military. I think it's wrong. It's an overreach on presidential power. Plus, it's hard enough getting the everyday American to support our troops these days without deploying them to attack our own civilians." —crash218579 "Retired Marine here. There are units in the military trained for this. Active duty infantry units are not those units. They can say all they want that they are trained in de-escalation, but in reality, it's maybe 1-2 days of training a year and maybe some rapid last-minute refreshers as soon as they found out they were getting sent to LA. The bulk of their training and instincts are to destroy the enemy. This will not go well." "Former Army here — it's complete bullshit. Let law enforcement enforce the law, let the military do military operations. To be honest, they were waiting for any reason to do this because they want to 'send a message,' but the message that's sent isn't what they think it is. I feel sorry for those soldiers sleeping on the hard floor with no plan of provisions for water/food, not abroad in a war zone, but in downtown fucking LA." "Former Marine, from Los Angeles, from immigrant parents. Fuck this administration. I hope those troops remember their oath to the US Constitution and to the people of the nation. I'm so disappointed with this whole situation." —Tacos_and_Yut "I think following the orders of a 34-count felon who is responsible for attacking the Capitol of the USA is reprehensible. I sincerely regret my service to the USA and wish I could take it back. It will not happen again." "I don't support violent protests. I also don't support Marines being used to quell said protests. Marines are a tool you use to destroy an area or group of people, not to peacefully resolve it. The guard makes more sense here, but the best answer is just keeping it at the police level." "GWOT [Global War on Terrorism] veteran here. This shit is absolutely wack. The United States has used the National Guard MANY times throughout its history, albeit for civil unrest or not. The National Guard does an impeccable job at this, and to hear the National Guard is being utilized isn't too concerning." "The VERY large, stomach churning moment is the President giving the green light to utilize 2/7 out of Twentynine Palms. These are not 'peacekeepers.' Their motto is fucking literally 'First to Fight.' They have a long history of intense combat operations from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and GWOT. This is a highly decorated combat unit within the US military's young, war-fighting, men against the people the thought they were protecting is going to be a disastrous clusterfuck."—NSTalley "I support the National Guard being used to protect federal buildings and to quell riots and obstruction to the enforcement of federal law." "Served in the Navy from '09-'13. The bulk of these guys have never deployed, which is a badge of honor. Young, untested 18-22 year olds with guns seems like a really bad idea to me." "As a Veteran I am pissed that I spent 4 years defending this country only to have some idiots vote for and support a Christo-Fascist government and despite all evidence still believe this is going to be a 'good' thing." —MediocreDecking "Retired Navy here and also a former Marine. Sending an infantry battalion (2/7) to assist the LAPD and the National Guard is the wrong move. There are whole-ass battalions of Military Police who are specifically trained for this scenario. Why weren't they sent? Every active duty/veteran I know is against this." "It's a complicated issue. Most service members take their oath to defend the Constitution seriously, which includes the rights of Americans to protest. Using the military for domestic unrest should be an absolute last resort, not the go-to option. We're trained to engage enemies, not fellow citizens." "Marine here, many of the brothers and sisters I served with came from immigrant families and communities in LA or ones just like them. I'm sure there's a few Marines who are on board with this crap but many are really struggling with this, I can guarantee you." —skamatiks671 "Nobody likes the idea that this administration is attempting to politicize the military. It's awkward for us. The way the Secretary of Defense talks is vile, unprofessional, and embarrassing. Recruiting and retention will plummet." "It's an accident waiting to happen." —kozmo30 And finally, "Real take, most of them don't particularly care and just want to do their job and go home, regardless of the situation. Marines are people and lean slightly right — so you do have people who are giddy about 'enforcing order' — but nobody wants to be dressed up in full kit in LA summer heat." What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Miami Herald
40 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Senators propose $15-per-hour federal minimum wage
June 10 (UPI) -- The federal minimum wage would rise to $15 per hour, with annual cost-of-living increases based on inflation, in a proposed bipartisan measure. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., co-sponsored the bill that they have named the "Higher Wages for American Workers Act" and would increase the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 per hour for non-exempt workers. "For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline," Hawley said on Tuesday in a joint press release with Welch. "One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day," Hawley added. Welch said inflation and rising costs are making it too hard for families to afford basic necessities. "We're in the midst of a severe affordability crisis, with families in red and blue states alike struggling to afford necessities like housing and groceries," Welch said. "A stagnant federal minimum wage only adds fuel to the fire," he continued. "Every hardworking American deserves a living wage that helps put a roof over their head and food on the table -- $7.25 an hour doesn't even come close." "Times have changed, and working families deserve a wage that reflects today's financial reality," Welch added. Hawley said the current federal minimum wage is less than what a worker earned in 1940 when adjusted for inflation. If the proposed federal minimum wage increase is passed into law, it would take effect on Jan. 1 and allow cost-of-living increases that match inflation in subsequent years. Many states have respective minimum wage laws that exceed the current and proposed federal minimum wage, but a dozen still were at the federal minimum wage in 2024. Many large employers also have higher minimum wages, including Walmart, which has paid its workers at least $14 an hour and often more since 2023. President Joe Biden in 2021 ordered the federal government to pay contract workers at least $15 an hour. California lawmakers in 2022 raised the state's minimum wage for many fast-food workers to up to $22 an hour. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
