Light News Dump

Trump sent US troops to the southern border for a 'national emergency.' They're about to spend the next month painting his wall.
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-troops-to-spend-a-month-painting-trumps-border-wall-2019-6

Trump signs $19B disaster relief package
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/06/politics/trump-signs-disaster-relief-package/index.html

11000 kg garbage, four dead bodies removed from Mt Everest in two-month long cleanliness drive by a team of 20 sherpa climbers.
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/11-000-kg-garbage-four-dead-bodies-removed-from-mt-everest-in-two-month-long-cleanliness-drive-1543470-2019-06-06

Retailers Remove Fairlife Products After Undercover Video Showing Animal Abuse at Fair Oaks Farms. Jewel-Osco and at least two other retails are removing all Fairlife products from their shelves after an undercover video was made public this week showing "the inhumane treatment of animals" at Indiana's Fair Oaks Farms.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/fair-oaks-farms-video-jewel-osco-fairlife-animal-recovery-mission-510868661.html
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/fair-oaks-farms-indiana-abuse-undercover-video-animal-recovery-mission-arm-510862941.html

Trump Gets GOP Pushback On Plan To Close Job Centers And Lay Off Workers. Republicans aren’t thrilled to see cuts to a federal job corps program hitting their own constituents.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-gets-gop-pushback-on-plan-to-close-job-centers-and-lay-off-workers_n_5cf93d22e4b0e63eda973263

During the 2014 border crisis under Obama, CBP apprehended 137,000 families + children for the entire fiscal year. In the past *two months* alone, CBP has apprehended 164,000 of them.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-border-unaccompanied-children/fy-2014

'Single Most Important Stat on the Planet': Alarm as Atmospheric CO2 Soars to 'Legit Scary' Record High: "We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/05/single-most-important-stat-planet-alarm-atmospheric-co2-soars-legit-scary-record

'We Are Literally Sawing Off the Branch We All Live On': Amazon Deforestation Increasing Under Bolsonaro
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/05/we-are-literally-sawing-branch-we-all-live-amazon-deforestation-increasing-under

In First Official Visit, Irish Prime Minister Declines to Meet With Trump on a Golf Course Owned by the President
https://time.com/5601710/trump-meets-irish-prime-minister/

More Americans were shot to death by March 6 this year than died on D-Day
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/06/more-americans-were-shot-death-by-march-this-year-than-died-d-day/

If Trump Belongs in Jail, Democrats Should Impeach Him
https://newrepublic.com/article/154103/trump-belongs-jail-democrats-impeach

NRA Subpoenas Oliver North, Its Ex-President
https://www.thedailybeast.com/nra-subpoenas-oliver-north-its-ex-president

On the Border, Police Chase Smugglers. The Migrant Body Count Is Getting Higher.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/us/migrant-death-border-crash-chase.html

Jen O'Malley Dillon: Beto voted against the Hyde Amendment during every session he served in Congress and cosponsored legislation to repeal it.
https://twitter.com/jomalleydillon/status/1136392081902047232

FCC paves the way for widespread blocking of robocalls
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robocall-blocking-gets-a-boost-from-the-fcc/

How braindead are people? Who didn't know this? Fuck worthless ignorant Democrats already:  It’s not just Biden: Multiple Democrats lift material from other sites. The 2020 campaigns are well-practiced in the art of lifting policy material from other websites.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/05/democrats-biden-policy-plagiarism-2020-1355869

Trump dodges his own Benghazi: Pentagon quietly closes investigation into Niger ambush
https://www.salon.com/2019/06/06/trump-dodged-his-own-benghazi-pentagon-quietly-closes-investigation-into-niger-ambush/

Family members of some of the special operations soldiers killed in a 2017 ambush in Niger reacted angrily Wednesday after being handed a 289-page report by Army officers and learning that no further disciplinary action was required beyond the letters of reprimand that have already been issued.  "I'm angry as hell," Debra Gannon, the mother of Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Johnson, told ABC News, as she sat inside a popular Fort Bragg bar, next to a photo of her son on a memorial wall. Arnold Wright, the father of Green Beret Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, said, "I don't see how people in the direct chain of command are being promoted when it was their decision to override the ground commander (who) was instrumental in my son's death." Four American soldiers, Johnson, Wright and Staff Sgt. Bryan Black and Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, were killed in an ambush by Islamic State-affiliated militants in Niger. Their family members spoke with ABC News on Wednesday in North Carolina and expressed their unhappiness with the Pentagon's decision not to punish senior commanders for their role in the circumstances that led to the deadly attack.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/families-blast-decision-punish-higher-ranking-officers-niger/story?id=63504679

'This Is an Emergency. We Need the Democrats to Act Like It': Outrage as DNC Announces It Will Not Host 2020 Debate on Climate Crisis
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/06/emergency-we-need-democrats-act-it-outrage-dnc-announces-it-will-not-host-2020

A wealthy Iraqi sheikh who urges a hard-line U.S. approach to Iran spent 26 nights at Trump’s D.C. hotel
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-wealthy-iraqi-sheikh-who-urges-a-hard-line-us-approach-to-iran-spent-26-nights-at-trumps-dc-hotel/2019/06/06/3ea74c5e-7bf9-11e9-a66c-d36e482aa873_story.html

Rolling the red carpet out for a bully like Trump is an insult to the honour of the D-Day veterans
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/donald-trump-d-day-veterans-a8947001.html

Federal investigators concluded Ryan Zinke's MAGA socks violated law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2019/06/06/the-energy-202-federal-investigators-concluded-ryan-zinke-s-maga-socks-violated-law/5cf80667a7a0a46b92a3ffff/

Warren and Jayapal Launch Probe into 'Rapid, Cynical, and Unethical' Profiteering Off Trump Child Detention Policy by Former Top Aide John Kelly - The former White House chief of staff and former head of DHS is specifically advising the company on child detention
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/06/warren-and-jayapal-launch-probe-rapid-cynical-and-unethical-profiteering-trump-child

Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Held Hearing on the Federal Response to Confronting Violent White Supremacy (oversight.house.gov)
https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/subcommittee-on-civil-rights-and-civil-liberties-held-hearing-on-the-federal

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has at least 43 lawsuits against the Trump administration
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2019/06/massachusetts-attorney-general-maura-healey-has-at-least-43-lawsuits-against-the-trump-administration.html

'The Fields Are Washing Away:' Midwest Flooding is Wreaking Havoc on Farmers
https://psmag.com/environment/the-fields-are-washing-away-midwest-flooding-is-wreaking-havoc-on-farmers

Lawyer Who Defended Roy Moore Dating Teens On TV Arrested On Drug Charges
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/roy-moore-lawyer-trenton-garmon-arrested-drug

Trump insults Mueller and Pelosi at U.S. military cemetery in France
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-blasts-pelosi-and-mueller-before-d-day-speech-155400421.html

House Democrats officially introduce contempt resolution for Barr, McGahn
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/447318-dems-officially-introduce-contempt-resolution-for-barr-mcgahn

Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduces closest plan in Congress to universal basic income
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/06/06/rep-rashida-tlaib-introduces-closest-plan-congress-universal-basic-income/

House Democrats To Make It Easier To Find Trump Aides In Contempt, Bring Them To Court; The House will also more forward with enforcing subpoenas against Attorney General William Barr and ex-White House counsel Don McGahn.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-democrats-trump-aides-contempt-court_n_5cf94b31e4b0638bdfa65c01?zh

YouTube blocks history teachers uploading archive videos of Hitler
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jun/06/youtube-blocks-history-teachers-uploading-archive-videos-of-hitler

As many as 85,000 infants under the age of five may have died from starvation or disease since 2015 in war-ravaged Yemen, humanitarian organisation Save the Children said
https://punchng.com/up-to-85000-children-die-of-starvation-disease-in-yemen-aid-agency/

Oregon Senate votes to ban coyote-killing competitions
https://www.ktvz.com/news/oregon-senate-votes-to-ban-coyote-killing-competitions/1083885619

Meet the Animal Rights Activists Facing Prison Time for Rescuing Ducks, Piglets from Factory Farms
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/6/direct_action_everywhere_dxe_duck_farm

Here is a 2015 article talking about how Beto signed on to legislation that would repeal Hyde, and here is a tweet from Beto today, again calling to repeal Hyde.
https://www.texasobserver.org/what-repealing-the-hyde-amendment-would-mean-for-texas/
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1136298803571691520

Trump administration announces plans to illegally expand hunting and fishing access in wildlife refuges
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-announces-plans-to-expand-hunting-and-fishing-access-in-wildlife-refuges/

Trumpists Are Fighting Against Everything the Troops of D-Day Fought For
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpists-are-fighting-against-everything-the-troops-of-d-day-fought-for

White House Pays $1 Million to Irish Funeral Home for Limo Rentals During Trump’s Two-Day Visit
https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-pays-dollar1-million-to-irish-funeral-home-for-limo-rentals-during-trumps-two-day-visit

Stop eating pigs, swine fever permanently ends: 'No way to stop it': millions of pigs culled across Asia as swine fever spreads--Experts say region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/06/millions-of-pigs-culled-across-asia-african-swine-fever-spreads-thailand-

Secret footage exposes abuse of calves at Coca-Cola affiliated dairy farm
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/06/secret-footage-calves-fair-oaks-farms-illinois

Blue-collar union workers in solidly Democratic California are rejecting "Green New Deal" politics, a possible preview of troubles for 2020 presidential hopefuls in Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched his "Green New Deal LA" plan last month amid cheers from environmentalists, hundreds of jeans-wearing, tattooed union members outside the event chanted “Garcetti’s gotta go” and denounced the move as a betrayal. The Garcetti protest was followed by disputes in the state capital this month over a large buffer zone that would block new oil and gas wells, as well as a massive hydro project near Joshua Tree. Robbie Hunter, president of the state Building and Construction Trades Council — which represents more than 400,000 workers — says that dozens of his members plan a major “Blue Collar Revolution” demonstration Saturday morning at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, which will be attended by 14 of the Democratic presidential contenders and 5,000 delegates and guests. The effort aims to send a message that the party is in danger of eroding a critical base if it continues to back the Green New Deal resolution being pushed in Washington, D.C. by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her allies. Hunter argues the measure's goals could endanger thousands of jobs in the Southern California oil industry alone. “All it does is do what the Democratic Party seems to be very good at lately — which is export our jobs, while doing nothing for the end game, which is the environmental,’’ Hunter said. And California labor forces this weekend are also expected to also put their clout behind Rusty Hicks, who heads the Los Angeles Labor Federation — a candidate in a contentious race to chair the California Democratic Party. Hicks has signaled labor’s concerns by signing a letter opposing a move to ban a hazardous acid from refineries, saying it "will lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs for local people and cost our region millions of dollars in activity. We cannot dismiss these jobs or look at the women and as expendable: because they are not.” “The Green New Deal may be the darling of the Democratic Party — but it really divides the Democrats on a fault line, which is more of the elites against the working class Democrats who are concerned about losing their jobs," said Jessica Levinson, a member of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission and a professor who teaches politics and ethics at Loyola Law School. Lifelong union members “don’t necessarily want to be retrained’’ for other, greener work spots — “nor is it even possible,’’ says Levinson. She predicts with the 2020 election looming, Democratic leaders will have to wrestle with the fact that “unlike the Mueller report and impeachment and indictment — people vote on whether or not they’re going to lose their job.”
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2019/06/01/labor-anger-over-green-new-deal-greets-2020-contenders-in-california-1027570

Reminder: "Pro-choice" Susan Collins has voted to confirm 32 anti-abortion Trump judges
https://www.salon.com/2019/06/06/pro-choice-susan-collins-has-voted-to-confirm-32-anti-abortion-trump-judges/

Reminder: House Democrats officially introduce contempt resolution for Barr, McGahn
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/447318-dems-officially-introduce-contempt-resolution-for-barr-mcgahn

The world’s biggest canned tuna brands are failing to tackle modern slavery in their Pacific supply chains, leaving thousands of workers at sea under threat of human rights abuses
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/03/major-tuna-brands-failing-tackle-slavery-pacific-supply-chains-report

Hershey, Nestle and Mars won't promise their chocolate is free of child labour
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3