Light News Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun

Reminder: Trump and Republicans refuse to allow Barack Obama's Presidential Portrait to be hung

Biden swipes at Trump: 'Presidency is about a lot more than tweeting from your golf cart'
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/499403-biden-swipes-at-trump-on-memorial-day-weekend-presidency-is-about-a-lot?amp

WHO suspends clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine touted by Trump as 'coronavirus cure' over safety fears
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-trump-clinical-trial-who-suspended-malaria-a9531801.html

UN suspends clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine touted by Trump as 'coronavirus cure' over safety fears
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/trial-virus-therapies-pauses-testing-trumps-drug-70871117

When Biden left the white house he was immensely popular online. People posted memes about him being cool bros with Obama and the ice cream photo and Diamond Joe etc all the time. I remember between the election and inauguration people were really tearing up over Obama giving him the medal of freedom, people making posts about how they would miss him. Sometimes I feel like I am taking crazy pills. It's not he is suddenly a different person.

EVERYONE needs "community", not just "people of faith".

Trump called a sitting congressman and Marine Corps veteran "an American fraud" on Memorial Day. He also misspelled Rep. Conor Lamb's name, calling him "Connor Lamm." In addition to a) misspelling Conor b) misspelling Lamb c) going after a veteran on Memorial Day as an "American fraud," the president d) falsely claimed Lamb voted for Pelosi as speaker. Lamb kept his promise not to do so, voting instead for Joe Kennedy.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1264988227980742662

White House Press Secretary: Golf Is Inappropriate While U.S. Mourns (Trump Exempt) | Kayleigh McEnany was talking about Barack Obama, not Donald Trump. And she was referring to the death of journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, when Obama was an Illinois state senator.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kayleigh-mcenany-trump-barack-obama-golfing-covid-19_n_5ecae75ac5b6065ca9f094c2

Trump Flips Out After Biden Ad Rips Him For Golfing Amid Growing Death Toll
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/trump-biden-ad_n_5ecb38bac5b66ddcaf0edd54

Trump Honors Veterans on Memorial Day by Tweeting About Golf, Obama, and ISIS
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ep4ngw/trump-honors-veterans-on-memorial-day-by-tweeting-about-golf-obama-and-isis

Federal judge rules Florida felons can't be barred from voting because they owe court fines
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/florida-amendment-four-voting/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-judge-guts-florida-law-requiring-felons-to-pay-fines-before-they-can-vote/2020/05/24/a7f553ba-9c3a-11ea-a2b3-5c3f2d1586df_story.html

African-Americans Are Highly Visible in the Military, but Almost Invisible at the Top
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/us/politics/military-minorities-leadership.html

Right-Wing Pro-Trump Domestic Terrorists Hang Effigy of Kentucky's Democrat Governor From a Tree
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3azq83/right-wing-anti-lockdown-protesters-hung-an-effigy-of-kentuckys-democrat-governor-from-a-tree

You're Mad Biden Said To African-Americans That "You Ain't Black" If They Don't Know If They Support Democrats Or Republicans? I'm Mad Trump And Republicans Refused To Hang The Portrait Of The First Black President In The White House.

When Dominic Cummings spoke today, it was like when Jared Kushner first spoke on TV at the WH: an elusive, all-powerful aide suddenly reduced to human size - with far-fetched claims and a tinny-voiced bid for indispensability.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/world/europe/dominic-cummings-boris-johnson-coronavirus.html

The shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in February in Georgia is being investigated as a federal hate crime, his family's lawyer says
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/25/us/ahmaud-arbery-doj-hate-crime-investigation/index.html

Trump ramped up his ongoing feud with former AG Sessions, claiming Sessions wasn’t "mentally qualified" for the job. (a few days ago Trump tweeted that Jeff Sessions was slime and should drop out of the Senate race)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-claims-jeff-sessions-not-mentally-qualified-be-ag-feud-n1214006?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_np

Jeff Sessions:
- The first US Senator who endorsed Trump for President.
- Gives up seat, vacates it, to serve in the Trump administration.
- Gets shitted on constantly by Trump, who called him: 'weak', 'ineffective', 'dumb southerner', 'disgraceful', 'scared stiff', 'idiot', and 'Mr Magoo'.
- Trump laments publicly, time and time again, that he wishes he chose anybody else to be the AG instead of Sessions
- Trump fires Sessions as the AG
- Sessions runs again for Senate, Trump endorses his party-opponent instead
- Trump continuously insults Sessions, calls him "slime", demands he withdraw from the race, says he has no courage.
- Despite all this, SESSIONS STILL SUPPORTS DONALD TRUMP.
- Is there even a word that exists to adequately describes this kind of craven and pathetic behavior? I mean Trump slaps the guy in the face on a daily basis and he still chooses to eagerly and happily suck the shit out of his ass. How fucking embarrassing

The dangerous, racist hysteria here is sickening. This woman breaks the rules (dogs are not allowed off leash in the Ramble), then lies to police that a black man is threatening her life. Meanwhile, she is CHOKING HER DOG ALMOST TO DEATH because she's using an inhumane "collar" (CHOKER) instead of a humane harness: https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920

Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash.
https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920

DOJ Refuses To Charge Illegal Insider Trading By Kelly Loeffler. Charges dropped after Sen. Loeffler’s husband cuts $1 million check to pro-Trump super PAC.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/doj-drops-insider-trading-investigation-into-kelly-loeffler-report-says
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/20/kelly-loeffler-trump-super-pac-272626

Native communities have been hit hard by covid19 — and fear for their survival
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/native-communities-have-been-hit-hard-by-covid-19-and-fear-for-their-survival

In a hypothetical world where Scarborough made a similar accusation about the president, Scarborough would likely be getting a letter from the president’s lawyer. Here, the president’s defenders argue his free speech is being limited. The widower of a onetime congressional aide to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough asked Twitter to delete tweets by Trump floating baseless theories about his wife’s death. Twitter refused despite the fact that last year Twitter said it would flag tweets by politicians who violate its rules.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/widower-asks-twitter-to-pull-trumps-false-tweets-on-death-of-joe-scarborough-aide-11590516200

Twitter added a fact-check to Trump's lie-infested tweets this morning about mail-in ballots. It links to this:
https://twitter.com/i/events/1265330601034256384

Imagine 100,000 of your people dying and you're worried about social media. Here is a screenshot of the tweet he’s bitching about, and what comes up next when you click on it.
Frankly, it’d be pretty awesome if they did this with all his tweets.
https://i.imgur.com/MuPIC1I.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/diPedNB.jpg

Pro-Trump Republican Mail Carrier Opened Eight Absentee Ballot Requests, Changed Voter Registration From "Democrat" To "Republican" To Ensure Democrats Received Republican Primary Ballot Instead Of Democratic Primary Ballot
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/05/26/us/ap-us-mail-carrier-election-fraud.html

Monterey County DA to investigate if Biden accuser Tara Reade gave 'false testimony under oath' about expert witness credentials
https://www.businessinsider.com/monterey-county-district-attorney-investigate-tara-reade-lied-expert-witness-2020-5

She lied and committed perjury. I guarantee at least a few of the abusers (they are guilty) will walk free because of her stupidity. The "journalists" who broke the story have already purged any mention of Tara Reade from their social media and will block anyone who asks them about it. We should take accusations seriously, and then verify based on facts and history. We shouldn’t be automatically dismissive of an accusation because it’s against someone we happen to like. It’s a pretty simple concept.

Florida Gov. DeSantis to appeal Amendment 4 ruling that allows ex-felons (of non-violent crimes) to vote
https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2020/05/27/florida-gov-desantis-to-appeal-amendment-4-ruling-that-allows-ex-felons-to-vote/

Missouri Gov. Parson moves Medicaid expansion amendment to August ballot
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article243000341.html

I can't get past the differences between the Minneapolis BLM protest and anti-lockdown protests. In Minneapolis, police tear-gas unarmed protesters opposing racist violence — but armed Trumpers get the red carpet
https://www.salon.com/2020/05/27/i-cant-get-past-the-differences-between-the-minneapolis-blm-protest-and-anti-lockdown-protests/

People protesting George Floyd's death are tear-gassed. People with assault weapons who want to visit a hair salon are praised

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who has promoted conspiracy theories about mail-in voting fraud, voted by mail 11 times over the last 10 years
https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-press-secretary-votes-by-mail-florida-fraud-claims-2020-5

Hydroxychloroquine, the drug touted by Trump as a possible treatment for COVID-19, has been banned as a treatment for that disease by the French health ministry.
https://www.salon.com/2020/05/27/france-bans-hydroxychloroquine-drug-touted-by-trump-to-treat-covid-19/

Tulsi Gabbard drops defamation suit against Hillary Clinton
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-tulsi-hrc-defamation-suit-20200527-whhy7bhvgje7ldsex3grvcfvu4-story.html

Four Minneapolis Officers Fired After Death of Black Security Guard George Floyd
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-26/black-man-dies-after-video-shows-officer-kneeling-on-neck

The Trump administration announced plans to illegally allow illegal oil and gas development on a federally-protected national monument that has no oil and is home to endangered species and unspoiled wilderness stashed in between the most populous parts of the state.
https://www.courthousenews.com/trump-administration-oks-drilling-in-californias-largest-grassland/

Bummer if the two roads connecting the Carrizo Plain National Monument to civilization - roads not controlled by Donald Trump - are closed indefinitely for repair when the time comes for drilling crews to drive there.

"The president is, after all, the president, which means he’s here in Washington. He’s unable to cast his vote down in Florida even though he's travelled to Mar-a-Lago dozens upon dozens of times since inaugaration day, 127 days total spent at Mar-a-Lago alone. He literally just flew down to Florida to watch a space launch.
https://trumpgolfcount.com/

He was literally in Florida during the early voting period but decided to get an absentee ballot instead of showing up to vote in person. He didn't want to lose precious grifting time at the course.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20200306/early-voting-election-2020-locations-in-palm-beach-county
https://publicpool.kinja.com/subject-out-of-town-pool-report-3-golf-club-1842189998

Clinton voted in Little Rock in 1996 and Bush II voted in Crawford in 2004. Obama did vote early in 2012.

NASA's SpaceX launch: Liftoff scrubbed due to weather, next chance on Saturday
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/live-updates-nasa-spacex-launch-astronauts-iss/story?id=70902209

Menendez says in CNN op-ed Trump admin is pursuing a new arms deal with Saudis: "I received draft State documentation that it is now pursuing this previously undisclosed sale...despite the fact a bipartisan majority in Congress rejected previous sales
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/opinions/pompeo-saudi-arabia-arms-menendez/index.html

Cuomo: "These Republican senators who say they don't want to bailout New York—that's a lie ... We bail out their states every year. New York every year gives more money to the federal gov't than it gets back. McConnell takes money every year ... They're the bailout kings." @MSNBC
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1265757172740190208

Arizona votes by mail, nearly 80% vote by mail in 2016, was that fraud?

With USCIS running out of money and citizenship ceremonies postponed, hundreds of thousands of legal permanent residents could be ineligible to vote in November
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/citizenship-delay-immigrant-voters/2020/05/27/536ef9ec-a020-11ea-9d96-c3f7c755fd6e_story.html

Appeals court rejects claims that Facebook, Twitter suppress conservative views: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit that was filed by the conservative legal organization Freedom Watch and far-right activist Laura Loomer. Freedom Watch and Loomer alleged that the Silicon Valley giants were coordinating together to silence conservative viewpoints and that they were violating the First Amendment and antitrust policies. "The district court dismissed the complaint, holding that Freedom Watch had standing to sue but failed to allege colorable legal claims," the judges wrote in their decision. "On appeal, we reach the same conclusion."
https://www.scribd.com/document/463239719/Freedom-Watch-v-Google-Dismissal

The Trump campaign's new chief of staff was arrested on campaign finance charges in 2016 after cops busted her boyfriend for cocaine and found incriminating texts on his phone. She married the criminal and they're financially bankrupt ($250,000 debt)
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-chief-of-staff-charged-with-campaign-finance-violations-2020-5

If Republicans defeat this Republican-led Senate version of the FISA bill, Pelosi and Democrats can she fairly portray this as Republican defeat of a Senate Republican bill?

Jan 22: "Totally under control"
Jan 30: "Very well under control"
Feb 10: "They (China) have everything under control"
Feb 24: "Very much under control in the USA"
Feb 29: "Everything is under control"
March 15: "Something we have tremendous control of"
Last week of May: 100,000+ dead people
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

1st known death on February 6th.
100 deaths on March 17th.
1,000 deaths on March 26th.
10,000 deaths on April 6th.
25,000 deaths on April 14th.
50,000 deaths on April 24th.
75,000 deaths on May 7th. 1
100,000 deaths on May 27th.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Trump's top WH adviser executed a DC-style coup that would have made the swampiest beltway veterans proud, installing Bill Stepien as the new de facto campaign manager while letting Brad Parscale keep the title too.
https://www.businessinsider.com/kushner-revamps-trump-campaign-after-rough-may-parscale-pushed-aside-2020-5

I love everything about this piece, except the part where coronavirus took this amazing woman’s life, and now need many more photos of Ms. Wilson with her beloved animals. You need this in your timeline today:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-ob-mary-wilson-20200526-yuuyznl77zdkfhid5ijaigay4y-story.html

More than a million Americans live in Mexico. Many of them are now getting sick and heading to California, overwhelming small community hospitals. Our story on the complications of closing a border when American retirees live just south of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/05/27/coronavirus-mexico-border/

The irony is the all-mail ballot states have clean rolls because they frequently send mail to voters, which allows them to initiate purging procedures for undeliverable mail. If Republicans cared about clean rolls, they’d embrace mail balloting

Trump administration discussed conducting first U.S. nuclear test in decades | The Trump administration has discussed whether to conduct the first U.S. nuclear test explosion since 1992 in a move that would have far-reaching consequences for relations with other nuclear powers and reverse a decades-long moratorium on such actions, said a senior administration official and two former officials familiar with the deliberations.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-administration-discussed-conducting-first-us-nuclear-test-in-decades/2020/05/22/a805c904-9c5b-11ea-b60c-3be060a4f8e1_story.html

Trump Tweets Video Declaring That ‘The Only Good Democrat Is A Dead Democrat’
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-tweets-video-saying-that-the-only-good-democrat-is-a-dead-democrat

Cowboys for Trump leader calls for Democratic leaders to be executed
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/coronavirus/cowboys-for-trump-leader-calls-for-democratic-leaders-to-be-executed/article_017dba42-a066-11ea-bac0-efd8a4e0120e.html

Breaking Precedent, Trump Administration Refuses To Release Formal Economic Projections This Summer That Would Forecast Extent Of Downturn Which Republicans Are To Blame For
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/28/white-house-coronavirus-economic-projections/

Trump Re-Signed Into Law The Warrantless FISA Surveillance That He’s Railing Against
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/reminder-trump-signed-into-law-the-warrantless-fisa-surveillance-that-hes-railing-against/

Melania Trump warned Trump to take covid19 seriously and he blew her off
https://theweek.com/speedreads/916838/melania-trump-reportedly-warned-trump-take-covid19-seriously--totally-blew

Republican state Rep. Andrew Lewis released a statement Wednesday revealing he received his positive test result on May 20 — a jarring announcement that rattled House Democrats who said they had no idea he had been sick or other Republican members had been told to self-quarantine due to possible exposure. | On Wednesday, outraged Democratic lawmakers condemned House Republicans for not disclosing that the novel coronavirus had infiltrated Pennsylvania’s state Capitol, with some demanding resignations and formal investigations into why details about Lewis’s diagnosis were withheld.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/28/pennsylvania-coronavirus-test-republican/

California investigation concludes Republican Assemblyman Bill Brough offered political favors for sex
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/28/state-investigation-concludes-assemblyman-bill-brough-offered-political-favors-for-sex/

Amazingly Cruel Trump Public Land Rules Will Let Alaska Hunters Illegally Murder Bear Cubs Hibernating In Dens
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/05/new-amazingly-cruel-trump-public-land-rules-will-let-alaska-hunters-kill-bear-cubs-in-dens/

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine announced on Friday that he and his wife Anne have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, but that doctors were not able to diagnose the disease early on due to a shortage of covid19 tests. “We each tested positive for coronavirus antibodies this month,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement. A positive antibody test indicates that they had been previously infected with the coronavirus.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-kaine/u-s-senator-kaine-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-antibodies-idUSKBN2342LE

Biden points out he was warning about pandemic unpreparedness in October while Trump tweeted about iPhones
https://theweek.com/speedreads/916878/biden-points-warning-about-pandemic-unpreparedness-october-trump-tweeted-about-iphones

Kellyanne Conway Voted By Mail — But She Thinks You Should Have To Wait In Line | She argued that if you’d wait an hour to buy a cupcake, you ought to be able to wait that long to vote. Yet in 2018, she ditched the line and voted by mail.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kellyanne-conway-mail-ballot_n_5ecfee3bc5b66dffc5d021b5

Regarding the unconstitutional illegal null-and-void Executive Order he signed: Republicans and "libertarians" (Republicans) love to scream freedom of speech, and trump is literally trying to censor the biggest social media platforms on the entire planet. Not just that, but he’s doing this over something that is demonstrably false. He’s mad he didn’t get to lie. And now he’s trying to take twitters freedom of speech. I thought Republicans were the ones that loved to extol how corporations aren’t the government and are free to do whatever on their platform as they see fit. I thought they hated censorship and anti-free speech laws.  I can see how if you live in a conservative bubble with hate, fear, and ignorance in your heart you can believe him. But this directly flies in the face of everything mainstream conservatives have been crying about for years now. I hate this man. And his supporters are irredeemable. At what point can we stop pretending like we need to cross the isle and save/talk with them? They have no interest in that. Any step to the center will be met by a mile leap further right by them. But they then cry victim if you don’t. It’s lose lose. Stop catering to them. If only covid19 would have hurt his feelings, maybe then we would have had him actually do something about it.

Montreal sets May record of 98 degrees as parts of Northeast U.S. also simmer in historic heat
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/28/montreal-record-may-heat/

He literally sat on his ass and did nothing for months while covid-19 spread throughout the country. He got fact-checked on Twitter and two days later he signs an executive order. What a piece of shit. That should be Biden’s biggest talking point. Trump takes action when something is important to him. His failure to do so with covid wasn’t because he couldn’t. It’s because he didn’t want to.

100,000+ DEAD FROM CORONA-19: NOTHING
40 MILLION + UNEMPLOYED: NOTHING
TWITTER FACT CHECK HIS TWEET: EXECUTIVE ORDER

The man who hung an effigy of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on a tree outside the Kentucky state Capitol on Sunday, has been fired from his job. Terry Bush confirmed to CNN that he lost his job at the Neil Huffman Auto Group on Tuesday. | Shannon Huffman, human resources manager at the Neil Huffman Auto Group, released a statement Tuesday saying, "The Neil Huffman Auto Group does not condone threats of violence in any form, whether they be a call to action or an implied threat. Following an internal investigation on this matter, the employee was terminated. There is no place for hate or intolerance at any of our dealerships."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/us/man-fired-effigy-kentucky-governor-andy-beshear/index.html

I tend to be hawkishly pro-Israel and I'm saying, annexing the West Bank is a no-go because then Israel would be an apartheid. The problem is the Israeli voters voted for this.

"Everybody is already saying that we are an apartheid state so we might as well become one" - Netanyahu, probably

Amy Klobuchar declined to prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death after previous conduct complaints, he’s killed 4 people directly and was in a car chase that killed 3 more, and had 12 brutality complaints.
https://theweek.com/speedreads/916926/amy-klobuchar-declined-prosecute-officer-center-george-floyds-death-after-previous-conduct-complaints

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel repeatedly voted by mail before suing California for expanding the practice | Records show McDaniel voted by mail. Sound familiar? So did Kayleigh McEnany. So did Kellyanne Conway. So did Trump
https://www.salon.com/2020/05/29/rnc-chair-ronna-mcdaniel-repeatedly-voted-by-mail-before-suing-california-for-expanding-the-practice/

Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis Police who killed George Floyd, has been arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington has announced. Derek Chauvin has also been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday afternoon. | Meantime, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner announced it has made “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” The preliminary results of the May 26 autopsy were included in the statement of probable cause for charges against Chauvin. The medical examiner suggested underlying health conditions might have contributed to Floyd’s death. Floyd’s family said it will seek an independent autopsy of his body. | At 8:19 p.m., Chauvin pulled Floyd out of the car and brought him to the ground, facedown and handcuffed, the complaint says. Kueng allegedly held Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Chauvin put his left knee near Floyd’s head and neck. The officers remained in position while Floyd said he could not breathe, according to the complaint. “You are talking fine,” they allegedly told him as he moved back and forth. Chauvin declined a suggestion from Lane that they turn Floyd onto his side, the complaint says. Again, the three officers stayed where they were. Floyd stopped moving at 8:24 p.m., and he stopped breathing or speaking a minute later. Kueng checked him for a pulse and could not find one, according to the complaint. Video shows the officers did not attempt to resuscitate Floyd. The officers allegedly remained in place until 8:27 p.m., when Chauvin took his knee off Floyd’s neck. First responders put Floyd on a gurney and brought him to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. | Agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested Chauvin at 11:44 a.m. in Minneapolis, officials announced. In Minnesota, a third-degree murder charge is defined as “perpetrating an eminently dangerous act and evincing a depraved mind,” while second-degree manslaughter is defined as “culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/29/george-floyd-minneapolis-protests-live-updates/
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6933246-Derek-Chauvin-Complaint.html

All because he tried to use counterfeit money to buy something.

Val Demings: My fellow brothers and sisters in blue, what the hell are you doing? | When citizens were in trouble (if they had to call the police, they weren’t having a good day), they called really believing that when we arrived, things would get better. That they would be safe. But we are painfully reminded that all too often, things do not get better. Matter of fact, they can get much worse — with deadly results. When an officer engages in stupid, heartless and reckless behavior, their actions can either take a life or change a life forever. Bad decisions can bring irrevocable harm to the profession and tear down the relationships and trust between the police and the communities they serve. Remember, law enforcement needs that trust just as the public does. Think before you act! Remember, your most powerful weapon is the brain the good L/rd gave you. Use it! We all know that the level of force must meet the level of resistance. We all can see that there was absolutely zero resistance from George Floyd. He posed no threat to anyone, especially law enforcement. | I cannot begin to understand how any officer could ignore the painful pleas we heard from Floyd — or from anyone suffering. | As a nation, we must conduct a serious review of hiring standards and practices, diversity, training, use-of-force policies, pay and benefits (remember, you get what you pay for), early warning programs, and recruit training programs. Remember, officers who train police recruits are setting the standard for what is acceptable and unacceptable on the street. Law enforcement officers are granted remarkable power and authority. They are placed in complicated and dangerous situations. They respond to calls from people with their own biases and motives. | Everyone wants to live in safer communities and to support law enforcement and the tough job they do every day. But this can’t go on. The senseless deaths of America’s sons and daughters — particularly African American men — is a stain on our country. Let’s work to remove it. We have got to get this one right. Our communities, good police officers and generations yet to come deserve it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/29/my-fellow-brothers-sisters-blue-what-earth-are-you-doing/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/26/minneapolis-police-man-died-video/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10

Biden Delivers Remarks on George Floyd and Minnesota
https://www.pscp.tv/w/cZ_uGDFvUEVMQkJiT2xyS2R8MXZPeHdvWFdxb214QuzZdlUQFFOBEbl2lwQznGXiSvL6GCTEZpUuRU6Q8tGd
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-delivers-remarks-on-death-of-george-floyd-minnesota-protests

Enough.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1266369891445010432

This is not abstract: a black reporter was arrested while doing his job this morning, while the white police officer who killed George Floyd remains free. I am glad swift action was taken, but this, to me, says everything.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1266369892325838850

I will not lift the President’s tweet. I will not give him that amplification. But he is calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many. I’m furious, and you should be too.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1266369893403770886

TrUmP aNd BiDeN aRe ToTaLlY tHe SaMe GuYs!

It’s nice being able to hear someone talk sanely after the last four years of screaming reactionary bullshit. I know Biden isn’t perfect but he’s amazing compared to what’s been going on

I don’t want the president to be weighing in on criminal cases and advocating for particular punishments. We have had enough of that with Trump. Leave that the the DOJ.

I think he maybe should've brought up the 104k people that have died in the last few months too, this rioting etc is a great distraction for Trump. The rest of the world is trying to deal with the virus, looks like the USA just gave up..

Biden reached out to the Floyd family before Trump did

Whether you support the protests or oppose them, one question you should honestly grapple with is whether there’s an arrest of the officer who killed George Floyd without them.

Biden is running the most progressive platform of any major candidate, ever. He’s not the galvanizing candidate to pull the country back together and launch us on the right trajectory moving forward, but getting him in office is the first step to righting the ship. I encourage hardcore leftists and Bernie supporters to look beyond their problems with establishment politics & big money and see what’s really at stake. The viability of our justice system and the Supreme Court. Bilateral relations with our biggest allies. Decorum, honor, and respect of the executive office, the American people and our democracy. All instrumental in keeping this 200+ year experiment going, for better or worse. Biden is not perfect, but you can trust him to put some good people around him and provide the coherent articulation and respect a president gives to the American public. He won’t stoke division, and he’s not inflammatory. I wholeheartedly am confident Biden understands what’s at stake.

Trump "press conference"
- 10 minute statement about China and Hong Kong. No questions taken.
- China is taking over Hong Kong and that's wrong, Hong Kong is failing, my solution is to end relations with Hong Kong, that'll teach them!
- Ignored: Active pandemic has killed 100k+ Americans
- Ignored: 40m unemployed
- Ignored: Racial violence
- Ignored: Riots and looting
- Ignored: The official WH Twitter account has been flagged for promoting violence
- Remember the "American Carnage" quote that made Bush say "That was some weird shit"? This is it.
- Thanks for joining, as always!

Trump was tweeting before the presser, backpedaling his comments from last night

Law enforcement uniforms can be hard to tell apart. Not everyone you see in camouflage is part of the @MNNationalGuard. Our Guardsmen have @USArmy and @usairforce patches and wear U.S. flags on their sleeves to identify them. We live in your communities and we are here to help.
https://twitter.com/MNNationalGuard/status/1266400955786039298

Some of the Flynn-Kislyak transcipts are out, Including a Dec. 29 exchange that included discussion of limiting the impact of Obama administration sanctions on Russia for election interference. Russia convinved Flynn the sanctions were created to hurt Trump. Also conspiring to vote for a UN Resolution that called for the Jewish population of the West Bank and Jerusalem to be removed. "Condemn settlements" literally means removing Jewish population.None of the exchanges read like normal, like an introduction to the new administration, the ecxhanges are Russia directing US policy, and the directives were/are against US policy. Flynn was trying to lay the groundwork for working around the Obama Administration's sanctions against Russia for interfering in our elections, trying to make sure Russia didn't over-respond so they could back down more easily. What a shock.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/29/trump-flynn-russia-ambassador-289905

Had you told me a decade ago that in 2020 Taylor Swift would be accusing Donald Trump on Twitter of stoking white supremacy while Kanye West was somewhere, possibly in a MAGA hat, being completely silent on the issue, I would have said: "G/d bless you, but a prophet you are not!"

Journalists report in foreign war zones, but not in the Land of the Free? Phoenix police preemptively warning Arizona journalists that they face arrest when covering protests if an officer declares "unlawful assembly":
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZNrBWJVcAA1EM9.jpg

I support protests. I oppose the criminal acts called riots that most of the "protestors" (paid actors) that most people are pretending constitutes protesting

There’s a century of evidence that these riots are terrible for the communities they happen in but authorities resistant to acting will not change course absent the fear of a radical response.

Yep: Joe Biden: "Change the culture. The vast majority of police aren't cruel. But, my lord, when you see a bad cop, they should be prosecuted. They should be taken out in terms of off the force. They should be punished for what they do. People have to be held accountable."

The story continues to be one of slow, steady progress. The 7-day average death total has fallen for 21 days in a row. And cases have ticked downward a bit after plateauing last week, despite increased testing...in fact, there were a record number of tests today, almost 500K.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1266486124073095168

Not a single passage in these transcripts where Flynn says it was wrong for Russia to interfere. Wrong to hack into DNC. Wrong to sow hatred, division on Facebook, etc. Russia had just attacked the US. Russia was the enemy. And new NSA is fixed on how much we have in common.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/29/trump-flynn-russia-ambassador-289905

Schiff: "These transcripts fully affirm what we already knew from Flynn’s Statement of Offense ... that Flynn in fact lied about his interactions with the Russian Ambassador. It should be no surprise that the President and his allies wish to promote conspiracy theories."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1266492041522843648

Ted Cruz: "U.S. companies don’t get to ignore American law." Then investigate YOUR SHITSTAIN PRESIDENT AND HIS FAMILY AND YOUR OWN REPUBLICAN SENATORS

Eric Trump's wife's brother was just named the deputy chief of staff at NASA http://nasawatch.com/archives/2020/05/eric-trumps-bro.html

A swarm of earthquakes hit near Yellowstone National Park. There have been nearly a dozen in the past 24 hours
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/nation-world/national/article243099076.html

Yahoo REMOVED THE ARTICLE BECAUSE THE ARTICLE WAS A LIE: The incident happened on Oct 2006, just weeks before Klobuchar was elected to Senate. Then after she was in Senate and no longer the prosecutor, a grand jury voted not to indict.
https://news.yahoo.com/amy-klobuchar-declined-prosecute-officer-183728902.html

The charges brought against the officer who murdered George Floyd are a start, but the other involved officers must also be held accountable immediately. There is no justification for kneeling on someone’s neck, no police training has ever advocated that and it cannot be excused. It was wrong on every level and the cop must be held to account.

When white Americans show up with semiautomatic rifles at statehouses, Donald Trump encourages them to “liberate” their cities and gun down Democrats. When Black Americans protest the shooting deaths of unarmed citizens, he calls for them to be shot in their cities.

Trump vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have blocked Betsy DeVos' rule ending debt relief for defrauded student loan borrowers,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/05/29/trump-vetoes-congressional-override-of-devos-rule/#5294aa146ee4

Deranged Rioters (all of them are paid actors and paid by Democrats) just threw fireworks into the police line inside the lobby at CNN in Atlanta. Things are getting worse. This is the natural end result of years of indoctrination of our youth that law enforcement officers are evil racist murderers: Stunning scenes as protestors throw objects and break windows of CNN center in tense standoff with police.
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1266540302812221441

America broke LeVar Burton. This is how bad things have gotten here.

Don’t f*ck with me today, people. Today is not the day!
https://twitter.com/levarburton/status/1266453337857118208

At a time of confusing and inexplicable world events, almost everybody has fallen back into damaging over-simplified versions of what is happening in this world....

Supreme Court, in 5-4 Decision, Declined Church's Challenge to Shutdown Order
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/supreme-court-churches-coronavirus.html

Roberts Upholds COVID-19 Restrictions on Churches, Scolds Kavanaugh
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/supreme-court-coronavirus-california-churches.html

Republican Pro-Trump "Lake of the Ozarks" pool partier tests positive for coronavirus
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/05/29/lake-ozarks-pool-party-missouri-resident-coronavirus/5288079002/

Minnesota Officials Link Arrested Looters to White Supremacist Groups
https://www.courthousenews.com/minnesota-officials-link-arrested-looters-to-white-supremacist-groups/

Pro-Trump Republicans/Libertarians/Alt-Right Terrorists turned the protests into riots to derail and de-legitimize the message of the protests

SpaceX and NASA complete historic launch successfully
https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/spacex-launch-today-may-30/index.html

SpaceX shoots Nasa astronauts into space in historic mission
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/spacex-launch-nasa-astronauts-rocket-falcon-dragon-watch-video-a9540661.html

African-American congresswoman pepper-sprayed during racism protest | Joyce Beatty was trying to deescalate a confrontation with police.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/30/joyce-beatty-pepper-sprayed-racism-protests-290931

Curfews now in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Louisville Ky., Columbia S.C., Denver, Portland, Milwaukee, Columbus Ohio and other cities as protests over the death of George Floyd continue to gather momentum across the nation. Governors have called in National Guard in several states.

FBI's top lawyer, Dana Boente, ousted amid Fox News criticism for role in Flynn investigation | Boente was asked to resign on Friday and two sources familiar with the decision to dismiss him said it came from high levels of the Justice Department rather than directly from FBI Director Christopher Wray. | His departure comes on the heels of recent criticism by Fox News for his role in the investigation of former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-s-top-lawyer-dana-boente-ousted-amid-fox-news-n1219721

Animals suffered in UK laboratories as experimenters broke rules in cases of ‘neglect and incompetence’- many animals were deprived of food or water while others accidentally killed in hot-steam machines
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/animal-testing-experiments-cruelty-home-office-a9540321.html

“Protestors” beat the hell out of female shop owner as husband pleads helplessly. In broad daylight.
https://twitter.com/AndySwan/status/1267081816873328640

Matt Johnson, the activist who documented the culling of pigs - which Democrats don't care about -  in Iowa via pumping steam into the barns, is now in jail >:
https://twitter.com/DxEverywhere/status/1266753476148764674?s=20

Brazil's coronavirus outbreak worsens as total cases near 500,000
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-brazil/brazils-coronavirus-outbreak-worsens-as-total-cases-near-500000-idUKKBN2360UC?il=0

Hundreds of Captive Elephants are Freed for 'The Biggest Migration In Thailand's History'. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought collapse to tourism all across Thailand, funding ceased and keepers no longer had the resources to maintain the welfare of their elephants.
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/25808/20200526/hundreds-captive-elephants-freed-biggest-migration-thailands-history-heres-why.htm

Destruction of property is not a valid form of protest

What’s the purpose of the destruction of Chinatown shops in Oakland, immigrant owned restaurants in Minneapolis, the many small businesses with no connection to police misconduct terrorized for no reason at all, why? So many privileged reporters and pundits cheering on this hate.

The cashier knew the bill was counterfeit and he completed the sale. He allowed George Floyd to basically steal. At that moment the situation was over and the cost of the cigarettes should have been taken out of the cashier's next paycheck. You actually completed the sale instead of telling the guy you could not accept fake money? You accepted the fake money? Because he was drunk and not acting right and you didn't want to start anything? Okay then, the solution is on pay day you give me the cost of the cigarettes. The solution is not to call the police. The sale was made. It's over. Your cashier allowed the person to steal. The amount of the sale was 20 bucks or less. Calling the police escalates the situation and turns a very very very very very very very minor situation into what could be a life-changing situation. Let it go. You're calling the police to do what, reverse the sale? The police don't reverse sales, they determine if a crime has been committed and break up entanglements and might make an arrest(s). The store people themselves overreacted the moment they decided to call the police to reverse a sale that they allowed.

I feel like we are living in 1918 and 1968 all at the same time.

Journalists risked their lives, were injured, and arrested this weekend because they believe Americans deserve to see what’s happening in this country. Shitstain Trump once again viciously attacked the media today.

Regardless of who the perpetrators were, many store owners said they felt like the victims of misplaced aggression. They said their businesses, already ailing from an outbreak of the coronavirus that has been particularly devastating to small and minority-owned businesses, may not recover. || ‘Please, I Don’t Have Insurance’: Businesses Plead With Protesters | Businesses ranging from national chain stores to neighborhood pizza shops have been damaged in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Stunned store owners were still assessing their losses. | “I was outside saying, ‘Please, I don’t have insurance!’” said Hussein Aloshani, an immigrant from Iraq, waving his arms in frustration as he recounted the scene Friday night outside the deli his family owns. Businesses across the country suffered destruction over the weekend as protesters unleashed their anger over the death of George Floyd on commercial enterprises — from the offices of major multinational corporations and banks to family-owned restaurants and bars. | “A lot of people don’t know the blood, sweat and tears that go into being a business owner and the type of sacrifices we had to go through to be where we’re at right now,” said Kris Shelby, who woke around 1 a.m. Saturday to the sound of gunfire outside his North Atlanta apartment, which overlooks the luxury clothing store he manages. Mr. Shelby and his business partner opened Attom in 2016 with the goal of bringing luxury brands more widely available in New York and Los Angeles to their city. They have drawn in celebrity clients such as the musicians Migos and Justin Bieber and supplied clothing for the movie “Black Panther.” The store has also been a welcoming space for a diverse group of Atlanta residents, Mr. Shelby said. But when he returned to the store at around 5 a.m. Saturday, Mr. Shelby found that all of his merchandise was gone. He watched videos posted on social media of masked young people of all races swarming through the smashed front windows and leaving with pieces of clothing and accessories worth hundreds of dollars each. | “It hurt. It seriously hurt,” Mr. Shelby said of Mr. Floyd’s death. “But as a black man, and this is a black-owned business, it’s just sad. It really leaves a bad taste in our mouths, to be honest.” Ricardo Hernandez spent the weekend sleeping in a van outside the Mexican ice cream shop he runs with his wife in South Minneapolis. He negotiated with protesters by handing over ice cream and Popsicles so they would leave the shop intact. “Just looking at this is terrible,” he said of the rubble and broken glass strewn across the neighborhood. “It’s unreal.” | “Looting Nordstrom’s and small stores is not going to do anything for us,” Mr. Davis-Miller said as he watched two white people inside the flagship Nordstrom store throw items out a shattered window. “It’s going to cause more flame to the fire and it’s going to give black people and people of color bad names. It’s not what we are here for.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/minneapolis-protests-business-looting.html

Under Obama, DOJ launched dozens of investigations into troubled police departments to assess whether they were systematically violating the civil rights of minorities. The Trump administration has stopped the investigations and rolled back the Obama-era criminal justice reforms the Obama Administration put into place.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/george-floyd-probe-resembles-william-barrs-oversight-of-rodney-king-case-11590943321

Far-Right Extremists Are Hoping to Turn the George Floyd Protests Into a New Civil War. Accelerationists promote violence to speed up the collapse of society. The “boogaloo” is code for impending civil war or violent confrontation with law enforcement, and that’s what they’re hoping to get out of the protests. Their main reason for being there is their antipathy toward law enforcement, and so they’re trying to position themselves as allies of Black Lives Matter protesters. They’ve made police brutality one of their central issues, which was explored at length in a Bellingcat article this week. Their approach to police brutality links the victims of the deadly standoff with federal agents at Ruby Ridge in 1992, to the victims of modern police brutality, including Floyd. But unlike the vast majority of protesters, they refuse to acknowledge the fact that police brutality is an issue that disproportionately impacts people of color. There have been scattered reports of Boogaloo Bois’ presence at the protests, which were compiled by a Bellingcat investigative journalist in a thread. He includes an audio clip (stripped of video per activists’ requests) of protesters saying they’d wrestled a handgun from a “white nationalist” agitator — whom he describes as a Boogaloo Boi who became overly rowdy. While some Boogaloo Bois say they’re just libertarians, others will, on occasion, veer into racism — and make no secret of their desire for violence. In addition to their physical presence at the protests, the #boogaloo hashtag on social media has been flooded with memes in the last couple days egging on violence, and talking about how they hope this is the beginning of a civil war. While more established militia types sometimes share those perspectives, they often view themselves as intermediaries between law enforcement and civilians. For example, two armed white men were interviewed by the Minnesota Reformer, a local independent news organization, outside a tobacco store in Minneapolis this week. They said they were protecting businesses from looters, but were also there to defend civilians should they need to.  “Cops are less likely to tread on people’s rights when there’s other armed people around them,” one of the men told the interviewer. But perhaps the most troubling of all are the hardcore “accelerationists” who are encouraging their neo-Nazi followers to go to the protests and carry out acts of violence against black people — all with the goal of “exacerbating the ethnic tensions” and sparking a “race war.” Accelerationists promote violence to speed up the collapse of society. Accelerationists often seek to exploit moments of political or civil unrest, and the widespread protests that have unfolded across the country fit the bill. Similarly, 4chan is full of racists cheering the violence and saying that they hope it’s the beginning of a “race war.”
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkyb9b/far-right-extremists-are-hoping-to-turn-the-george-floyd-protests-into-a-new-civil-war
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/05/27/the-boogaloo-movement-is-not-what-you-think/

Republicans eliminated Obama’s Police Reforms.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/05/trumps-george-floyd-obama-protest-police-violence-kneeling.html

SpaceX Nasa Mission: Astronaut capsule docks with space station
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52867494

As Trump cowers in the White House, Joe Biden is actually on the ground where the protests are taking place, encouraging unity.

We are a nation in pain right now, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. As President, I will help lead this conversation — and more importantly, I will listen, just as I did today visiting the site of last night's protests in Wilmington.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1267216045246382082

16 West Point cadets test COVID-19 positive before grad speech by President Trump
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/31/west-point-grads-test-covid-19-positive-before-trumps-speech/5290880002/