Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee onto George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds while arresting Floyd under suspicion of possessing a counterfeit $20 bill, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.1 2 Motivated by the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children at the site of a residential school in British Columbia, members of the Cowessess First Nation announced that they had detected, with ground-penetrating radar, as many as 751 bodies, including both children and adults, at a residential school in Saskatchewan that closed in 1996.3 4 The Ganges’s rising tides unearthed more bodies of COVID-19 victims in Uttar Pradesh, and Indian authorities announced that an Air Force station in Kashmir had been attacked by two drones, and that it would therefore need upgraded equipment to keep abreast of future strikes.5 6 “This action in self-defense to do what’s necessary to prevent further attacks, I think, sends a very important and strong message. And I hope very much that it is received by those who are intended to receive it,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding drone attacks in Iraq and Syria that were authorized by Joe Biden and that were immediately condemned by Iraq’s military as violations of national sovereignty and international conventions; before Biden’s meeting with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, the U.S. military also drone-bombed parts of Afghanistan.7 8 9 10 New polling showed that a majority of independents and one fifth of Republicans are at least somewhat approving of Biden.11
John McAfee—the founder of the world’s first antivirus software company, who once faked a heart attack in a Guatemalan jail to avoid being extradited to Belize for questioning about the murder of his neighbor—was found dead in his prison cell after Spanish authorities agreed to extradite him to the United States on charges of tax evasion and cryptocurrency fraud.12 13 14 A Catalonian autopsy ruled that the former Libertarian candidate for U.S. president committed death by suicide, though his widow, Janice McAfee, has called for a second, independent autopsy.15 “I blame the U.S. authorities for this tragedy. Because of these politically motivated charges against him, my husband is now dead,” said Janice.16 “He would never quit this way.” It was reported that Hikvision, a surveillance company that is allegedly complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Uighurs, has hired former members of Congress as lobbyists to fight U.S. sanctions against the company; Governor Greg Abbott of Texas announced that jail employees would be enlisted to work with the Border Patrol “in the Biden Administration’s absence” two days after the administration fired the Trump-era Border Patrol chief Rodney S. Scott; and Boris Johnson’s government—whose married health minister, Matt Hancock, stepped down after he was photographed violating social-distancing rules by kissing his married adviser—announced that, despite the rise of Delta-variant cases in the United Kingdom, July 19 will be Freedom Day, when most COVID-19 restrictions in the country will be lifted, and encouraged children to sing an original celebratory song with the lyrics, “We are Britain and we have one dream / To unite all people in one great team / Strong Britain, great nation.”17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Two 56-year-old Greek men were arrested for attempting to sell a Roman-era statue of Hecate.24
At least 5,000 birds disappeared during a British pigeon race.25 “Most of the breeders I’m talking to are blaming the atmospheric conditions,” said one pigeon fan. “But no one really knows.” An Egyptian man was arrested in Kuwait for complaining on TikTok about bad weather.26 A Tennessee woman who sent feces and a used menstrual pad to her husband’s ex-wife was charged with two counts of mailing biohazardous materials.27 Scientists found that—either because a composite of alternative ingredients had been used or because the tuna had been heavily processed—no tuna DNA was present in three randomly tested Subway tuna sandwiches.28 Olympics organizers cautioned athletes not to use their free condoms, and in California, Sacramento officials encouraged residents to add lemon juice to tap water that tasted like dirt.29 30 Police officers in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, broke up an exorcism for lumber held inside a Home Depot.31 A silent disco in the Netherlands was shut down by the police following a noise complaint.32—Violet Lucca
