Light News Dump

17 automakers reportedly ask Trump to back off his plan to lower emissions standards (theverge.com)
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/6/18655820/ford-gm-toyota-automakers-trump-lower-emissions-standards-letter-california

Court orders release of sealed documents in mysterious Mueller grand jury case
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/447480-court-orders-release-of-sealed-documents-in-mysterious-mueller-grand

Mexico sends 6,000 National Guardsmen to control migrants at Guatemalan border
https://www.dw.com/en/mexico-sends-6000-national-guardsmen-to-control-migrants-at-guatemalan-border/a-49096442

House Dems Ready to Investigate Giuliani’s Ukraine Shenanigans
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giulianis-ukraine-shenanigans-become-potential-fodder-for-house-democratic-investigators

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the release of certain sealed documents in a mysterious legal battle between a foreign company and special counsel Robert Mueller. The three-judge panel ordered that the federal government file redacted versions of court filings in the case by June 21. The court also ordered that the government submit proposed redactions to the transcript of one proceeding in the case by July 12. However, the judges rejected a request by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which sought the documents, that they order the name of the unknown company be revealed. Still, the documents could reveal new details about the secretive legal battle.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/447480-court-orders-release-of-sealed-documents-in-mysterious-mueller-grand

Trump admin tells U.S. embassies they can't fly pride flag on flagpoles — The administration is rejecting requests from U.S. embassies to fly the rainbow flag on flagpoles during June, LGBT Pride Month, say 3 U.S. diplomats.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-tells-u-s-embassies-they-can-t-fly-n1015236

Trump comes out against NASA effort to return to the moon despite promising the opposite during his 2015-2016 campaign and despite promising the opposite in a May 2019 tweet
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/447486-trump-nasa-should-be-focused-on-the-much-bigger-things-than-going-to
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1128050996545036288

Trump criticizes NASA promotion of returning to the moon. He directed it 18 months ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-criticizes-his-administrations-promotion-of-returning-to-the-moon-before-exploring-mars/2019/06/07/b28656b6-894f-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html

Frogs are dying off at record rates - an ominous sign the 6th mass extinction is hitting one group of creatures hardest
https://www.businessinsider.in/Frogs-are-dying-off-at-record-rates-an-ominous-sign-the-6th-mass-extinction-is-hitting-one-group-of-creatures-hardest/articleshow/69692894.cms

CNN’s Don Lemon: Trump-Era ‘Level of Toxicity,’ and Fears for Safety, Could Force Me to Leave CNN: “My personal information has been doxxed,” he continued, adding that several apparent Trump fans have shouted racist and homophobic insults at him on the street. After making sure that there were no children in the audience, Lemon told of an encounter recently in which an antagonist came up to him and said, “I’m sick of watching you. We built this country. I can’t wait for CNN to fire your black ass, you faggot.” He told conference-goers that apparent Trump supporters have sent him abusive text messages and phone calls, and made hoax complaints to police about him—“accusing me of doing certain things.” He then finds that he must defend himself to the cops responding to the false complaints.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnns-don-lemon-trump-era-level-of-toxicity-and-fears-for-safety-could-force-me-to-leave-cnn

Syria's New Assad Statues Send a Sinister Message: 'We Are Back'. The rebuilding of monuments honoring Bashar al-Assad's family taunts the opposition he brutally crushed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/06/new-assad-statues-syria-regime-stay/590965/

The Trump administration has opened a new facility in Texas designed to temporarily house a growing number of migrant children detained alongside their families after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, instead  of allowing these families to travel on to the housing arrangements they've already made.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/447406-new-mass-facility-for-migrant-children-opened-in-texas

Trump Allows High-Tech U.S. Bomb Parts to Be Built in Saudi Arabia
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/us/saudi-arabia-arms-sales-raytheon.html

The New York legislature passed a bill last month that would make President Donald Trump's state tax returns available to the House Ways and Means Committee upon request, but the committee's Democratic chairman Richard Neal has reportedly made clear that he has no plans to ask for the documents. According to Bloomberg, Neal fears that attempting to obtain the president's state tax returns "would bolster Trump administration arguments that Congress is on a political fishing expedition."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/06/are-you-kidding-me-frustration-grows-powerful-house-democrat-refuses-accept-new-york
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/22/circumvent-white-house-obstruction-new-york-passes-bill-give-congress-access-trump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-05/trump-tax-fight-sows-discord-between-wary-and-warlike-democrats

Congress drops proposal to ban the IRS from competing with Turbotax
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/congress-drops-proposal-to-ban-the-irs-from-competing-with-turbotax/