Military officer with the China's People's Liberation Army is arrested and charged with visa fraud after obtaining a J1 then 'trying to steal medical research' from the University of California
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8417779/Chinese-military-officer-charged-visa-fraud-trying-steal-medical-research.html
Israel deports US billionaire's son for breaking virus rules
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israel-deports-us-billionaires-son-breaking-virus-rules-71246139
Facebook blocks and bans users for sharing Guardian article showing Aboriginal men in chains. Facebook intentionally and incorrectly removed historical photo on grounds of nudity, then for three days blocked and banned users who posted link to article
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/15/facebook-blocks-bans-users-sharing-guardian-article-showing-aboriginal-men-in-chains
Trump's niece is publishing a tell-all book that says she leaked tax documents to help The New York Times investigate the president's finances | Mary Trump, 55, is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., the president's older brother who died in 1981 at the age of 42 from a heart attack triggered by alcoholism. | According to The Daily Beast, she will identify herself as the primary source for The New York Times' 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé on the president's finances by supplying her grandfather's tax returns and other confidential financial papers. | Mary Trump's book will also allege that Donald Trump and his father played a role in his brother's death by neglecting him when he needed their help, The Daily Beast reported. The sources said the book would also include conversations with the president's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal judge who is said to express "damning thoughts about her brother," according to The Daily Beast. | Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, contested Fred Trump Sr.'s will because he split most of his wealth between his four surviving grandchildren and failed to give Mary and Fred what would have been their father's share of the inheritance. | Donald Trump told the outlet at the time that his father discounted Mary Trump and Fred Trump III's inheritance because he had a "tremendous dislike" for their mother, Linda Clapp. The couple's marriage was short-lived.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mary-trump-presidents-niece-publishing-book-tax-docs-help-nyt-2020-6
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mary-trump-donald-trumps-niece-is-writing-a-tell-all-book-that-details-how-she-leaked-tax-papers-to-nyt
It also is going to touch on how he refused to pay the medical bills for his great-nephew's cerebral palsy treatment: Then came the unveiling of Fred Sr.’s will, which Donald had helped draft. It divided the bulk of the inheritance, at least $20 million, among his children and their descendants, “other than my son Fred C. Trump Jr.” Freddy’s children sued, claiming that an earlier version of the will had entitled them to their father’s share of the estate, but that Donald and his siblings had used “undue influence” over their grandfather, who had dementia, to cut them out. A week later, Mr. Trump retaliated by withdrawing the medical benefits critical to his nephew’s infant child. “I was angry because they sued,” he explained during last week’s interview. I have to ask again. What kind of billionaire withdraws the health insurance of an infant with cerebral palsy in a fit of pique? A person comfortable being cruel to others. “This was so shocking, so disappointing and so vindictive,” his niece Lisa Trump said at the time.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/donald-trumps-cruel-streak/501554/
Supreme Court bans job discrimination against lgbtq. Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers are protected by federal law forbidding discrimination on the basis of sex. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled federal anti-discrimination protections apply when companies fire people because they are gay or transgender. At issue in the dispute is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, among other things, bars discrimination "because of sex." The Supreme Court has applied that prohibition in several other contexts, but Monday marks the first time it has weighed in on whether the protections extend to gay and transgender people. The impressive 6-3 ruling comes in a trio of cases the court considered across two hours of oral argument in October. The vote was 6 to 3, with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch (Conservative Republican) writing the majority opinion. He was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/us/gay-transgender-workers-supreme-court.html
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/15/863498848/supreme-court-delivers-major-victory-to-lgbtq-employees
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2020/06/15/supreme-court-says-gay-transgender-workers-are-protected-by-federal-law-forbidding-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-sex/
Also, SCOTUS declined to hear lawsuits regarding qualified immunity, something that really should be abolished.
"WTF I love Gorsuch now": Give it a day, SCOTUS giveth and SCOTUS taketh
Former Florida data official creates her own Covid-19 site that shows more cases than state reports
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/us/florida-coronavirus-data-dashboard/index.html
https://floridacovidaction.com/
Court Cites George Floyd Killing While Denying Immunity To Officers Who Shot A Black Man 22 Times As He Lay On The Ground
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200610/10322444683/court-cites-george-floyd-killing-while-denying-immunity-to-officers-who-shot-black-man-22-times-as-he-lay-ground.shtml
US Forces Korea bans display of Confederate flag in on-base public areas
https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/us-forces-korea-bans-display-of-confederate-flag-in-on-base-public-areas-1.633782
Florida Bars Are Shutting Down Again After New Positive Coronavirus Cases
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-bars-are-shutting-down-again-after-new-positive-coronavirus-cases-1510906
Supreme Court won’t hear Trump administration challenge to California sanctuary law
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/supreme-court-wont-hear-trump-challenge-to-california-sanctuary-law.html
It’s easy for Kyrie Irving to say that he’ll give everything back for social reform, but would he really give everything back? It’s easy for Dwight Howard to say that we don’t need to play when he’s in Atlanta in his $20 million mansion.
NBPA and league officials over the weekend found no indication that the NBA’s return is in jeopardy or that there’s even a significant group of players ready to sit out
The Yankees and Major League Baseball today have officially appealed Judge Jed Rakoff’s decision to unseal a 2017 letter sent by Rob Manfred to Brian Cashman.
https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1272544922814611456
Border Patrol Bought Dirtbikes With Money Budgeted for Medicine
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/935am7/border-patrol-bought-dirtbikes-with-money-budgeted-for-medicine
Trump administration blocks tribes from protecting their waters | The latest move involves a new rule that ties the hands of states and tribes wishing to protect their waters from projects like pipelines, dams and coal terminals that go through the federal permitting or licensing process.
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/502745-trump-administration-blocks-tribes-from-protecting-their-waters
Republican Rep. Tom Rice, who just announced he has coronavirus, refused to wear a face mask on the House floor 2 weeks ago
https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-congressman-with-coronavirus-refused-to-wear-mask-in-capitol-2020-6
The Senate still hasn't voted to go to conference with the House to begin crafting a compromise FISA bill. Senate Majority Whip John Thune says “at this moment probably unlikely” that Senate takes up police reform before July 4. Then there’s a two-week recess and they’ll have to turn to coronavirus bill. Big time pile- up coming unless they cancel recesses
Speaker Pelosi tells Dems she’s looking at requiring members to wear masks during hearings. "It’s unsafe, it's rude, it's pathetic,” she said of members (Republicans) not wearing masks. Which is why people like me say Republicans and Democrats are the same. Democrats are lying sacks of shit, mentally ill, deranged. Air pollution and meat/dairy and poverty and guns murder more people each year than covid19, ban all vehicles to clean the air or fuck off already terrorist Democrats. Amend your platform to eliminate guns and vehicles and meat/dairy or you really will lose. Native Americans suffer the most, fuck Black people already. Deport them to Africa, Africa is their country. Pledge to hand this country back over to Native Americans or lose.
NOAA acting head Neil Jacobs and fmr. communications director Julie Roberts "intentionally, knowingly, or in reckless disregard" violated scientific integrity policy during Dorian Sharpiegate scandal, report commissioned by agency finds
https://washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/15/noaa-investigation-sharpiegate/
Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and Ted Cruz trying to figure out which one of them is going to fight 70-year old Ron Perlman is just hysterical.
Voice of America Director Resigns After Clashing With Trump Administration | Resignations of VOA leaders follows Senate confirmation of Trump-nominated global media chief
https://www.wsj.com/articles/voice-of-america-director-resigns-after-clashing-with-trump-administration-11592259031
MLB letter obtained by The Associated Press says several players and staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1272675263164190722
This guy has been tapped to be the No. 3 civilian at the Pentagon: Tata accused Obama administration remembers of treason several times, saying former CIA chief John Brennan should "pick your poison: firing squad, public hanging, life sentence as prison b*tch, or just suck on your pistol. Your call."
https://cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/tata-pentagon-nominee-kfile/index.html
Treasure Department withholding $679 million in coronavirus relief funds for tribes
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/treasure-department-withholding-679-million-in-coronavirus-relief-funds-for-tribes/
'This Is Why We Continue to Fight': Indigenous Leaders Outraged as Trans Mountain Pipeline Spills 50,000 Gallons of Crude Oil
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/15/why-we-continue-fight-indigenous-leaders-outraged-trans-mountain-pipeline-spills
The UK government is being sued for awarding a pest-control company with 16 employees a $135 million PPE contract
https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-government-sued-pest-control-company-ppe-contract-2020-6
A New Coronavirus Outbreak in Beijing Just Forced the City Back Into Lockdown: Just like six months ago, the outbreak is linked to a market, and officials are trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxqnbn/a-new-coronavirus-outbreak-in-beijing-just-forced-the-city-back-into-lockdownr
Three female opposition activists in Zimbabwe who gave detailed accounts of torture, humiliation and sexual assault by unidentified state agents have been ordered to remain in prison to face charges that they invented their ordeal.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/15/zimbabwe-activists-jailed-awaiting-charges-they-lied-about-torture
May 2020 hottest on global record
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/501337-may-2020-was-hottest-on-global-record-report
Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow have been missing since September of last year. Human remains of children were found on Chad Daybell's property on June 9th. Authorities have confirmed that the remains are indeed those of Tylee and JJ. The cause of death hasn't been released yet. These people are monsters. Not only for what they did, whether it was both or just one and the other was complicit. The fact they went galavanting in Hawaii makes it even worse. I can’t even imagine human beings, much less parents acting like this. It just makes me want to cry. Those poor kids being betrayed by who they should trust most. Sickening. I mean I think a lot of us saw this coming but it’s still unbelievable. Not to mention all the other death surrounding this family. What lives those kids must have had to have to go through all that as well. This whole thing just makes me throw up my hands in desperation and disgust.
https://www.ksl.com/article/46764578/officials-confirm-remains-recovered-from-daybell-home-belong-to-missing-rexburg-children
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Tylee_Ryan_and_J._J._Vallow
At least four members of Congress have reaped benefits in some way from the half-trillion-dollar small-business loan program they helped create. | Republicans on the list include Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, a wealthy businessman who owns auto dealerships, body shops and car washes, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, whose family owns multiple farms and equipment suppliers across the Midwest. The Democrats count Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada, whose husband is CEO of a regional casino developer, and Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell of Florida, whose husband is an executive at a restaurant chain that has since returned the loan. And there are almost certainly more, according to aides and lawmakers. But only the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department have that information, and the Trump administration is refusing to provide any details. That leaves it entirely up to business owners — including elected officials — to decide whether to come forward about a loan, which can be as large as $10 million. Democrats have tried to pry free the list of recipients. But their push in the House to require disclosure of at least some companies was blocked on the floor late last month by Republicans — including Williams and Hartzler, who voted against the bill. Lee and Powell joined all Democrats in supporting it. All four lawmakers have previously voted in favor of the small-business program.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/16/congress-small-business-loan-320625
North Korea blows up South Korean joint liaison office, South Korea shrugs (remember in 2016 South Korea brutally and illegally ousted their democratically-elected female leader with anti-female and anti-lgbtq lies and installed a Chinese pro-North Korea puppet and have been screaming for the removal of US forces and reunification with North Korea for almost four years now. Democrats refuse to even address the issue. The media is fake news on this issue. The US should bomb the fuck out of South Korea and end all aid to South Korea. The South Korean people's actions destroyed US-China relations before Trump was elected. The South Korean people's actions enabled China to seriously turn rogue against Tawaian and Hong Kong and India and parts of Africa and Vietnam etc since Trump's election)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53060620
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/world/asia/north-korea-liaison-office.html
India soldiers killed in clash with Chinese forces after both sides basically ditch 60 year old neutral-zone agreement
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53061476
Leaked tape reveals Rio Tinto does not regret destroying 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelter to expand mine
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/16/rio-tinto-repeats-apology-for-blasting-46000-year-old-rock-shelter-to-expand-mine
Judge: U.S. must release $679M in tribal virus relief funds
https://apnews.com/e8869b31e0d9b35dfe5d00393ddf67f6
Pence falsely claims Oklahoma has 'flattened the curve' ahead of Trump rally | Vice-president, who will attend Saturday’s rally, claims cases have ‘declined precipitously’ when in fact state saw highest daily total
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/16/pence-oklahoma-covid-coronavirus-cases-decline-trump-rally
Air Force sergeant charged in shooting death of federal security officer outside U.S. courthouse in Oakland, California. Suspected cop killer charged in fatal shooting of Oakland security guard, linked to right-wing extremist group
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Suspected-Santa-Cruz-County-cop-killer-Millbrae-15343978.php
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/16/santa-cruz-deputys-alleged-killer-charged-with-assassinating-federal-cop-in-oakland-ambush/
Beijing Shuts Schools to Stem Virus as Cases Spread Beyond City
https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-06-16/beijing-struggles-to-stem-virus-as-cases-spread-beyond-capital
Executive Orders are mostly moot and non-enforceable (almost all of Obama were reversed, almost all of Bush II's were reversed, almost all of Clinton's were reversed, and so on), most Executive Orders are symbolic. The image of Trump with police union leaders undermines the notion that the EO is real "police reform." Why? Because police unions have blocked serious reforms for decades, and aggressively shield problematic officers from accountability. And because it does not in any way shape form ban chokeholds. It allows police to use chokeholds if they feel their lives are at risque which means there is no ban. Officers' lives are at risque the moment they respond to a situation which negates the Executive Order before any president signs it.
Federal Judge Blocks Alabama’s Attempt to Make Absentee Voting More Difficult During Coronavirus Pandemic
https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/federal-judge-blocks-alabamas-attempt-to-make-absentee-voting-more-difficult-during-coronavirus-pandemic/
Watch a movie like Earthlings or Dominion or Speciesism to better understand why taste buds aren't more important than animal suffering
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that G-d is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever
Ray Allen: These are grounds right now for players to get injured... How will it affect the game long term? Who wins the championship? What does that determine? Is there an asterisk by that team that wins the championship? What are we playing for right now at this point in time in the NBA?
https://streamable.com/jqobti
In a recent chat group with Nets players, Kyrie Irving lobbied for skipping the bubble, the Daily News has learned. In that chat, he also proposed that the players can start their own league, according to a source.
https://twitter.com/SBondyNYDN/status/1273027240406798337
Mississippi Set To Become The 13th State (All Republican States) To Criminalize Fossil Fuel Protests
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mississippi-fossil-fuels_n_5ee92dc6c5b6273a4c50ee38
A judge who was said to have died of a heart attack while overseeing a corruption trial involving the president's chief of staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo actually died of stab wounds to the head, the DRC's justice minister has revealed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53073356
Covid outbreaks in selected states continue to expand. According to the Covid tracking project, FL, TX, and AZ had the largest confirmed case increases to date.
https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1273196451565363200?s=20
Trump campaign fundraising email: "First, they support tens of thousands of ANTIFA THUGS DESTROYING our communities. And now, they try to COVID-SHAME us for holding rallies at only a fraction of the people?
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1273299230002753537
Lone Butte Casino security guard dies of COVID-19 a month after casino reopens
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler/2020/06/17/gila-river-lone-butte-casino-employee-dies-covid-19-family-says/3203021001/
You mean he plans to follow the constitutional obligations of his office and actually do his job? How novel: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger introduced proposals Wednesday to avoid another election debacle, calling for more voting locations, technical support and poll worker training.
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-elections-chief-launches-plan-avoid-repeated-problems/Uf9Lwi0tNz3QkGvfqY89RI/
Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach has asked the county to defer some of the $88,338 monthly rent it pays to lease public land for the president’s the private golf club, citing hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20200616/trump-golf-club-asks-palm-beach-county-for-rent-relief
Michigan pollster: Trump’s Bible photo op caused immediate drop in support
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/06/michigan-pollster-trumps-bible-photo-op-caused-immediate-drop-in-support.html
Oklahoma records highest spike in US days before Trump 19,000-seat indoor rally
https://www.independent.co.uk/us-election-2020/oklahoma-coronavirus-cases-trump-rally-2020-election-a9571231.html
Judge Denies Request To Force Coronavirus Safety Measures At Trump's Tulsa Rally. A group of Tulsa, Okla., residents, businesses and nonprofits tried to force event organizers to enforce social distancing protocols for this weekend's upcoming campaign rally for Trump. In a lawsuit, they said the rally, which is to take place at an indoor arena, could act as a superspreader event for the coronavirus.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/17/879193876/judge-denies-request-to-force-coronavirus-safety-measures-at-trumps-tulsa-rally
This isn't just a wink to white supremacists—he's throwing them a welcome home party.
https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1271055250884083714
PressSec : "As in any event you assume a personal risk. That is just what you do. When you go to a baseball game, you assume a risk. That's part of life. It's a personal decision of Americans as to whether to go to the rally or whether not to go to the rally."
Baseball is currently cancelled because of coronavirus, and if someone gets beaned in the head in the foul ball zone, I don't also get hit with the same baseball at the grocery store. Only that person gets hit, the person does't hit anybody else. And MLB has also been extending the foul nets in the lower level to minimize the risk of being hit with a ball. You don't have to sign a medical disclaimer at a baseball game. Yeah it's truly sad how many Americans die everyday from baseballs to the face!
Two women traveled to New Zealand to see a dying relative. Now, they're the country's first coronavirus cases in 24 days.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-zealand-new-coronavirus-cases-24-days-uk-travelers-visit-dying-relative/
Trump asked China’s Xi to help him win reelection | In November 2018, Trump came under fire for writing an unfettered defense of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, littered with exclamation points, over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamaal Khashoggi. But according to Bolton’s book, the main goal of the missive was to take away attention from a story about Ivanka Trump using her personal email for government business.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-asked-chinas-xi-to-help-him-win-reelection-according-to-bolton-book/2020/06/17/d4ea601c-ad7a-11ea-868b-93d63cd833b2_story.html
Election Day now a state holiday in Illinois
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/election-day-now-a-state-holiday-in-illinois-2020-06-16
Trump said it would be 'cool' to invade Venezuela because the country is 'really part of the United States'
https://www.businessinsider.com/john-bolton-book-trump-would-be-cool-to-invade-venezuela-2020-6
Yale-Trained Lawyer (John Bolton), Millionaire, Who Wrote A Book Instead Of Testifying (and legally fought against testifying), Says Democrats Should Have Done Better Impeaching Trump
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/yale-trained-lawyer-who-wrote-a-book-instead-of-testifying-says-democrats-should-have-done-better-impeaching-trump/
Prosecutor Announces Charges Against Atlanta Officer Who Shot Rayshard Brooks
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-17/ap-newsalert-prosecutor-announces-charges-against-atlanta-officer-who-shot-rayshard-brooks-in-the-back-after-confrontation
Pompeo mocked Trump as being 'full of s--t' during his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
https://www.businessinsider.com/pompeo-mocked-trump-full-of-s-t-bolton-book-says-2020-6
Speaking in a new promo video for Beyond Meat, Snoop shared that he secretly served up the plant-based burgers. “You Got To Sneak It In” “I just slid it on them. I snuck it in,” he said. “You know, you got to sneak it in man because so many people are accustomed to, you know, a certain taste or a certain way of doing it. So you got to slide it in.” Although he isn’t completely vegan himself, the rapper is a brand ambassador for Beyond Meat and has also invested in other plant-based companies.
https://raisevegan.com/snoop-dogg-admits-to-sneaking-vegan-food-into-his-familys-meals/
For background on Ron Wyden's investigation into Trump's interference in the money laundering case against Turkey's state-run Halkbank, read my interview with the Senator the day before Trump's impeachment.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1273366601065250820?s=20
https://www.courthousenews.com/when-ron-wyden-talks-turkey-the-senate-listens-inside-the-finance-committees-halkbank-probe/
The city of Duluth is moving to strike the word “chief” from city titles like “chief administrative officer” and “chief financial officer”, citing concerns that "the word ‘chief' is often used as a racial epithet” against Native Americans.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/17/city-of-duluth-moves-to-remove-the-word-chief-from-key-job-titles
Bolton says Trump called for "scumbag" journalists to be "executed"
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/503244-bolton-claims-trump-called-for-scumbag-journalists-to-be-executed
Schumer: "It ... could not be any clearer now: the vote to convict and remove Donald Trump from office was absolutely the right vote. The revelations in Mr. Bolton's book make Senate Republicans' craven actions on impeachment look even worse—and history will judge them for it."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1273364801754824704?s=20
I’ll add: There are *very few* public monuments to the Louisianans, most of them Black, who served in the United States military in the Civil War. That’s despite fact that probably 1/3 of Louisianans who fought in the war did so on the side of the Union against the Confederacy.
https://twitter.com/brynstole/status/1273340299251761153?s=20
Good, quit wearing idiotic masks already, nothing stops covid19: Gov. Greg Abbott has barred Texas cities from implementing any rules that would require face coverings
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/16/878924556/as-texas-coronavirus-cases-reach-new-high-gov-abbott-plays-down-the-numbers
Beijing’s repression of its Uighur citizens also proceeded apace. Trump asked me at the 2018 White House Christmas dinner why we were considering sanctioning China over its treatment of the Uighurs, a largely Muslim people who live primarily in China’s northwest Xinjiang Province. At the opening dinner of the Osaka G-20 meeting in June 2019, with only interpreters present, Xi had explained to Trump why he was basically building concentration camps in Xinjiang. According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do. The National Security Council’s top Asia staffer, Matthew Pottinger, told me that Trump said something very similar during his November 2017 trip to China.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-bolton-the-scandal-of-trumps-china-policy-11592419564
"America should have know the full extent of the lawlessness of Trump in real time." VOTERS DID AND THEY VOTED FOR HIM ANYWAY, THEY VOTED FOR HIM BECAUSE OF HIS LAWLESSNESS
Actor and Scientologist Danny Masterson (ethnically Jewish, married to Bijou Phillips) has been charged with forcibly raping three women by the LA District Attorney.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/that-70s-show-actor-danny-masterson-charged-with-rape/2381821/
https://apnews.com/0094b7382d1bb54252a8d0662cf5a733
Golden State Killer/Original Night Stalker Expected to Plead Guilty | According to the LA Times, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 74, is set to enter a guilty plea to 13 murders and kidnapping charges from as many rapes in a yet-to-be determined Sacramento County courtroom on June 29. The crimes occurred during the 1970s and ‘80s. The former police officer accused of terrorizing California during a series of rapes and killings nearly a half-century ago attributed to the Golden State Killer is expected to plead guilty this month in a deal that will spare him the death penalty, according to multiple sources.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-15/golden-state-killer-plead-guilty-death-penalty
Robert Mueller Sued for Defamation Over Footnote That Hinted at Infamous Golden Shower Footage
https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/robert-mueller-sued-for-defamation-over-footnote-hinting-at-infamous-golden-shower-footage/
US sanctions Assad, his wife, others in bid to shut down foreign investment for Syrian regime.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-sanctions-assad-wife-bid-shut-foreign-investment/story?id=71298202
Federal prosecutors are weighing whether to criminally charge John Bolton with disclosing classified information in his upcoming White House memoir
https://latimes.com/politics/story/2020-06-17/federal-prosecutors-are-mulling-criminal-charges-against-john-bolton
Minnesota man charged in connection to Minneapolis police station fire | The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced Tuesday that Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, 22, was charged with aiding and abetting arson at the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct. Robinson, who was arrested Sunday in Breckenridge, Colo., made his first appearance earlier today in front of a federal judge in Denver.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/503058-minnesota-man-charged-in-connection-to-minneapolis-police-station-fire
Florida confirmed 2,600 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, meaning the state has added nearly 20% of its total cases in the last week alone.
https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1273412609111404547
Lots of Dem world subtweeting (and just tweeting) criticism at @PACRONYM over their video attacking Trump’s weight, fast food habit that they “apologized” for and then took down.
https://twitter.com/AlxThomp/status/1273414187151056896
Simon & Schuster's response to the DOJ's new filing against Bolton: "A frivolous, politically motivated exercise in futility. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the book have already been distributed around the country and the world."
https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1273413374970417152
Donald Trump's proposed gift to Kim of a signed Elton John CD was an Elton John CD signed by Donald Trump, not a CD signed by Elton John. Trump thought Elton John would be thrilled with the publicity the gift would bring
https://thedailybeast.com/trump-thought-elton-john-would-love-his-rocket-man-gift-to-kim/
Is Trump getting proceeds from the sale? DOJ is making precious free national advertising by doing this. Bolton must be psyched: DOJ seeks restraining order against BOLTON publishing his book, despite the fact that it's already printed, disseminated and contents have been reported on.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1273408028319105026
Supreme Court, Lead By Republican Conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Ruled Against Trump Administration Attempt to End DACA. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration cannot carry out its plan to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has allowed nearly 800,000 young people, known as "Dreamers," to avoid deportation and remain in the U.S. The decision is a big legal defeat for President Donald Trump on the issue of immigration, which has been a major focus of his domestic agenda. The ruling said the government failed to give an adequate justification for ending the federal program, calling the move "arbitrary and capricious under the APA."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-rules-against-trump-administration-attempt-to-end-daca-a-win-for-undocumented-immigrants-brought-to-us-as-children/2020/06/18/4f0b6c74-b163-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.htmlm
https://www.courthousenews.com/daca-rollback-overturned-by-fractured-supreme-court/
Kavanaugh specifically called out Congress to do their job on this issue so it doesn't become a political football that each President can wildly change policy on, effectively forever fucking with people's futures.
Just a reminder that DACA recipients aren't kids that are fresh out of Mexico, they're professionals in every facet of our society an integral part of our society and economy. Anyone that wants them all gone isn't thinking it through at all: Immigration lawyers told the Supreme Court after the case was argued last fall that frontline health care workers involved in responding to the coronavirus epidemic rely on about 27,000 DACA recipients, "including dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, home health aides, technicians" and nearly 200 medical students.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-trump-cannot-end-daca-big-win-dreamer-n1115116
As of Jan 2019, the Trump administration has lost 90% of court cases where rule changes are challenged. Trump's changes being struck down in court due to not following procedure is a pretty common occurrence.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/trump-has-lost-more-than-90-percent-of-deregulation-court-battles.html
Several timeslast night, shitstain criminal terrorist Sean Hannity said former Vice President Joe Biden hasn't left his basement. He was in Pennsylvania today, giving a speech.
A Republican sheriff refused to enforce Arizona’s lockdown. Now he’s tested positive for covid-19. https://washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/18/arizona-coronavirus-sheriff/
I really have no problem with this: Atlanta police officers are refusing to answer the radio and walking off of the job. The county can go screw themselves. If you want a society without police we’ll give you one. Let it burn.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/dear-america-atlanta-cops-walking-off-the-job-is-only-the-beginning/
John Bolton Didn’t Tell the Truth When It Mattered Most. Instead, he kept his mouth shut until he could cash in on a book deal.
Trump ‘unfit for office,’ lacks ‘competence,’ Bolton says in TV interview
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-unfit-for-office-lacks-competence-bolton-says-in-tv-interview/2020/06/18/6982d2f4-b14f-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html
Trump campaign runs ads with marking once used by Nazis
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/18/trump-campaign-runs-ads-with-marking-once-used-by-nazis-designate-political-prisoners/
Pelosi Orders Removal of Portraits of Confederate House Speakers from U.S. Capitol Ahead of Juneteenth
https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/61820
As Trump Tweets About H1N1, Coronavirus Has Killed 10 Times More Americans
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tweets-about-h1n1-coronavirus-has-killed-10-times-more-americans-1511864
This is especially important for the obvious reasons but also because Trump could have gotten 25 billion for his border wall (over 10 years) had he allowed them to stay. But he refused to take the deal with dems because he thought he could win this. So he ended up with something like 3 billion before he pillaged from other departments. Turn 10 billion into 3 billion. The art of the deal. Had he just left his inheritance in a standard index fund, he would have out-performed all of his bigly deals combined.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-lashes-out-supreme-court-after-daca-ruling-doesn-t-n1231438
https://fortune.com/2015/08/20/donald-trump-index-funds/
Giuliani and Parscale expected to hold conference call this afternoon with Frank Fahrenkopf of the commission on presidential debates to outline complaints about plan for fall showdowns
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/18/trump-joe-biden-debates-328356
Trump said he wanted to help dreamers. Now his admin attacks them and loses and he attacks the decision. He lied. And he lost. Until he gets one more judge and then he doesn't have to lie.
So, what happens when businesses have spent their PPP money, individuals have spent their $1,200 checks & it's, say, August, Sept., Oct., Nov. and there are still many millions unemployed?
“I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,” Mr. Trump said, referring to news coverage of the rally date. “It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-talks-juneteenth-john-bolton-economy-in-wsj-interview-11592493771
DACA supporters chant "Home is here!" on the steps of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday after justices hear arguments on Trump admin.'s push to end the federal program.
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1194364128023973888
Taking down pictures and statutes of people you deem racist does not end racism. It increases racism and emboldens racists to replace what is being censored, and it turns off most Democrats. I really have no reason to vote.
Americans Are Outraged by George Floyd’s Death. But It Stops There. Most Americans support the police, oppose criminals, oppose violent protests, and oppose police reform. LOL.
https://morningconsult.com/2020/06/18/floyd-reaction-polling/
Facebook has taken down Trump ads "for violating our policy against organized hate," it said.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/18/tech/facebook-trump-ads-triangle-takedown/index.html
How much did the Saints help the Catholic Church on it’s sex abuse scandal? More than they admitted
https://www.si.com/.amp/nfl/2020/06/17/saints-help-to-church-more-extensive-than-admitted
The book confirms House testimony that Bolton was wary all along of the president’s actions with regard to Ukraine and provides firsthand evidence of his own that Trump EXPLICITLY linked the security aid to investigations involving Biden and Clinton
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/politics/bolton-book-trump-impeached.html
Bolton book and Supreme Court ruling on ‘dreamers’ amount to twin defeats to Trump
Good, ban masks already: Nebraska's Republican governor has told county governments they will not receive federal coronavirus relief funds if they require people to wear masks while inside state courthouses and other local government offices.
https://www.omaha.com/news/state_and_regional/ricketts-tells-local-governments-they-wont-get-federal-covid-19-money-if-they-require-masks/article_d15459b9-26df-527e-9899-9f579a3d8597.html
The U.S. Administration's decision to fire the heads of four news organizations under the U.S. Agency for Global Media agencies is deeply concerning. https://cnn.com/2020/06/17/media/us-agency-for-global-media-michael-pack/index.html The US should be an exemplar, not a detractor or of press freedom.
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679591341789184
These outlets—which include Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia—are important. They provide independent and fact-based news to people around the world who live without press freedom in places like Russia and China.
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679592407076865
.@VOANews @RadioFreeAsia @RFERL are currently some of the largest and most trusted news agencies in the world. They cannot become political mouthpieces for the U.S. Administration.
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679593724170248
Gutting @VOANews, @RadioFreeAsia, and @RFERL is an attack on press freedom—and, we said earlier this week https://freedomhouse.org/article/united-states-attacks-voice-america-undermine-press-freedom, one that will be noted and likely emulated by authoritarian leaders around the world.
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679594554560513
With the additional firing of the head of the Open Technology Fund, efforts to promote global internet freedom may also be under threat. @OpenTechFund
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679597779984385
The 1994 US International Broadcast Act guarantees a firewall that prohibits political interference in the work of the global media agencies. Yet this firewall is at risk of being toppled.
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679600950935554
There is no room for partisan politics in our global media agencies. Members of Congress should speak out and demand the editorial firewall be protected. To do less endangers press freedom everywhere and the credibility of the United States.
https://twitter.com/freedomhouse/status/1273679601907236865
“Mr. President, the White House had John Bolton’s book for six months – why didn’t you try to block it sooner?” He did not answer why they waited until last night to request a restraining order, when book (and allegedly classified info) was already in the hands of many reporters.
https://twitter.com/PaulaReidCBS/status/1273728392421093376?s=20
In the months since I was asked to write about COVID and HIV for this special Pride package, several excellent essays came out on the connections. In the end, I saw something else: how this virus was not that virus, but this country was still that country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/coronavirus-aids-epidemic-lessons.html
The student senate president at Florida State University who posted antisemitic content online will keep his post following a failed no confidence vote. His predecessor was removed in a similar vote for making transphobic and exclusionary remarks.
https://twitter.com/melissaeweiss/status/1273720913851187201?s=20
As Trump warns of leftist violence, a dangerous threat emerges from the right-wing boogaloo movement. The extremist movement has emerged as a real-world threat, with federal authorities accusing some adherents of working to spark violence at protests.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/17/trump-warns-leftist-violence-dangerous-threat-emerges-right-wing-boogaloo-movement/
Top State Dept legislative affairs official resigns, citing Trump’s failures on race: “The President’s comments and actions surrounding racial injustice and Black Americans cut sharply against my core values and convictions,” Mary Elizabeth Taylor, Ass. Sec. for LegAffairs wrote
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/top-state-department-official-resigns-in-protest-of-trumps-response-to-racial-tensions-in-the-country/2020/06/18/e142e342-b181-11ea-a567-6172530208bd_story.html
Deranged American Airlines is banning the passenger who was kicked off a flight after refusing to wear a face covering, as airlines step up enforcement of mandatory mask requirements. Republicans easily win re-election. https://abcnews.go.com/US/conserviative-activist-kicked-off-plane-refusing-wear-mask/story
Guess who’s about to be fired: The Air Force inspector general is investigating whether the military improperly used a secretive surveillance plane to monitor recent protests
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/politics/investigation-military-surveillance-planes-george-floyd-protests.html
It would be irresponsible of the military to not monitor the protests. If only for the intelligence it provides to prepare local, state and federal government for potential large scale, serious civil unrest in the future. Fuck off dumb Democrats, you're literally handing the election to Trump. Trump's campaign ads about Democratic protestors burning down America is WINNING. Your relentless attacks on statues and portraits you don't like is LOSING.
Orange County, Florida - the Orlando area - reported a staggering 15.1% rate of positive coronavirus tests yesterday, as numbers in that area continue exploding, less than three weeks before the NBA and MLS head to Disney to resume their seasons.
https://twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/status/1273995396054945793
On June 6 in Orange County, it was 2.0%. One of out every 50 tests was positive. Not even two weeks later, it's basically one out of every six or seven tests is positive.
https://twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/status/1273995714205548544
State officials also say that on June 1, roughly 17% of all positive cases in Orange County resulted in hospitalization. They say now that number is at 9%. Out of the first 2,000 or so cases in Orange, about 320 led to hospital stays. Of the 2,000 or so since, about 65 did.
https://twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/status/1273998062466355200
Coronavirus outbreak at Phillies camp in Clearwater. 5 players, 3 staff.
https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/phillies/phillies-coronavirus-outbreak-clearwater
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz reveals he lives with a 19-year-old illegal Cuban immigrant whom he calls his son
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-rep-matt-gaetz-reveals-212637259.html
Malala graduates from Oxford University | The 22-year-old, who survived a shot to the head by Taliban soldiers, studied politics, philosophy, and economics.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-53107764
On financial disclosure forms, Trump has reported holding 14 loans on 12 properties. At least six of those loans, representing about $479 million in debt, are due over the next four years. Some are guaranteed by Trump himself, meaning a creditor could come after his personal—not corporate—assets if he defaults. If he holds onto the White House, the refinancing of these debts could take his conflicts of interest to absurd new heights. How will the public know if these deals are on the up and up or whether Trump is receiving sweetheart terms from a bank that wants an in with the president? And what might a lender desire in return for helping Trump out of a financial jam?
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/06/donald-trump-loans-deutsche-bank/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/05/donald-trumps-latest-financial-disclosure-was-just-released/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/guide-donald-trump-debt/
Mnuchin will see to it that these debts go away with the help of that $600bn Covid19 slush fund.
The Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday shut down their spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla., after a player exhibited COVID-19 symptoms, sources tell ESPN. Dunedin is just up the road from Clearwater, where eight people in the Philadelphia Phillies organization tested positive.
https://twitter.com/jeffpassan/status/1274042733154492418?s=21
Phillies coronavirus outbreak spread to family members (adults and children)
https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/coronavirus-phillies-clearwater-florida-covid-19-baseball-20200619.html
Five Books to Make You Less Stupid About the Civil War | 1) Battle Cry Of Freedom: Arguably among the greatest single-volume histories in all of American historiography, James McPherson’s synthesis of the Civil War is a stunning achievement. Brisk in pace. A big-ass book that reads like a much slimmer one. The first few hundred pages offer a catalogue of evidence, making it clear not just that the white South went to war for the right to own people, but that it warred for the right to expand the right to own people. Read this book. You will immediately be less stupid than some of the most powerful people in the West Wing. | 2) Grant: Another classic in the Ron Chernow oeuvre. Again, eminently readable but thick with import. It does not shy away from Grant’s personal flaws, but shows him to be a man constantly struggling to live up to his own standard of personal and moral courage. It corrects nearly a half-century of stupidity inflicted upon America by the Dunning school of historians, which preferred a portrait of Grant as a bumbling, corrupt butcher of men. Finally, it reframes the Civil War away from the overrated Virginia campaigns and shows us that when the West was won, so was the war. Grant hits like a Mack truck of knowledge. Stupid doesn’t stand a chance. | 3) Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee: Elizabeth Pryor’s biography of Lee, through Lee’s own words, helps part with a lot of stupid out there about Lee—chiefly that he was, somehow, “anti-slavery.” It dispenses with the boatload of stupid out there which hails the military genius of Lee while ignoring the world that all of that genius was actually trying to build. | 4.) Out of the House of Bondage: A slim volume that dispenses with the notion that there was a such thing as “good,” “domestic,” or “matronly” slavery. The historian Thavolia Glymph focuses on the relationships between black enslaved women and the white women who took them as property. She picks apart the stupid idea that white mistresses were somehow less violent and less exploitative than their male peers. Glymph has no need of Scarlett O’Haras. “Used the rod” is the quote that still sticks with me. An important point here—stupid ideas about ladyhood and the soft feminine hand meant nothing when measured against the fact of a slave society. Slavery was the monster that made monsters of its masters. Compromising with it was morally bankrupt—and stupid. | 5.) The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: The final of three autobiographies written by the famed abolitionist, and my personal favorite. Epic and sweeping in scope. The chapter depicting the bounty of food on which the enslavers feasted while the enslaved nearly starved is just devastating.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/11/five-books-to-make-you-less-stupid-about-the-civil-war/544628/
Also Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative
And Du Bois's Black Reconstruction in America
Navy inquiry faults the two top officers aboard USS Roosevelt for their handling of coronavirus outbreak even though they begged for help internally and were refused help and then one (Capt. Bret Crozier) begged for help publically and was refused help and immediately fired. Mentally ill criminal terrorist Navy brass who REFUSED TO PROVIDE HELP TO THE TOP OFFICERS uphold their illegal firing of Capt. Brett Crozier
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/politics/carrier-roosevelt-coronavirus-crozier.html
Trump and Turkish business partners illegally engaged in tax-payer-funded business deals
https://www.courthousenews.com/trump-cronys-gas-deal-reignites-conflict-of-interest-concerns/
Melania Trump commemorates the end of slavery from a gilded White House room while the president tweets threats at protesters
https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-commemorates-juneteenth-while-president-threatens-protesters-2020-6
Klay Thompson has been cleared to train without restrictions on his healed left knee. Expectation is he'll be full participant in Warriors' eventual summer minicamp. Full report on his status here.
https://theathletic.com/1880727/2020/06/19/sources-klay-thompson-cleared-to-train-without-restriction-on-his-healed-knee/
Democrats spreading covid19: Juneteenth demonstrations in DC turning into a big celebration. Spirits are high — people are dancing and singing. Crowds continue to roll up to this location, at the edge of Lafayette Park, in front of St. John’s.
https://twitter.com/vmsalama/status/1274090108082405376?s=20
Federal media chief Michael Pack has installed key Trump loyalists to leadership posts at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a memo reviewed by CNBC says. He's also eliminated various board members who have been part of USAGM for years.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/federal-media-chief-michael-pack-installs-trump-loyalists-to-leadership-posts-memo-says.html
Trump campaign is using this old 2006 clip from Biden on "Meet the Press," in which he defends DOMA and says "marriage is between a man and a woman and states must respect that," to make the case he has "flip-flopped on same sex marriage.". Yet he said he's fine with legalization of same-sex marriage:
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-same-sex-marriage-231310
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-hes-absolutely-fine-with-buttigiegs-gay-marriage/2019/05/16/eb66692c-781e-11e9-b7ae-390de4259661_story.html
Eliminating county departments does nothing to improve the quality of policing. Stricter recruitment & training are needed, regardless of which police force is in place.
In Los Angeles, there has been a 24% spike in recent covid19 cases among the LAPD for having to deal with the Democratic-orchestrated protests
https://news.yahoo.com/no-sign-coronavirus-spike-protests-officials-remain-cautious-205434027.html
Illegally Appointed Criminal William Barr Is Trying To ILLEGALLY And Forcibly Fire Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for SDNY, who was/is responsible for investigating all of Trump's indicted and/or convicted cronies. Berman says he has not resigned. Berman oversaw one of the highest profile districts in the country and many politically charged prosecutors, including those over Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen and investigations into hush money payments during the 2016 election. As of Friday he was still overseeing a criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, and himself the former U.S. attorney for the SDNY. Several hours later, Berman released a statement, saying "I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position." (he also can't be randomly fired....)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/nyregion/us-attorney-manhattan-trump.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-administration-replaces-manhattan-us-attorney/2020/06/19/acae9348-b298-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html
NADLER invites Berman to testify Wednesday, when other DOJ officials were already slated to testify about political interference inside DOJ.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1274186405837750273
All MLB spring camps to temporarily close after positive coronavirus tests
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29334706/all-mlb-spring-camps-temporarily-close-positive-coronavirus-tests
Trump appointee launches assault on Voice of America, affiliates - Fears rise that this respected source for news around the world will become the next Trump News Network.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/19/opinion/trump-appointee-launches-assault-voice-america-affiliates/
Judge denies request to block Bolton book
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/503695-judge-denies-request-to-block-bolton-book
Six campaign staffers working on Tulsa rally test positive for coronavirus
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/20/politics/trump-campaign-staffers/index.html
SDNY Prosecutor Ignores Barr's Ouster Attempt, Returns to Work: 'I'm Here to Do My Job'
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/barr-sdny-prosecutor-berman-1018137/
Buzzfeed got ahold of unredacted portions of the Mueller Report. Roger Stone told Trump in advance that Wikileaks would be releasing internal Clinton campaign communications. Trump later lied & claimed not to know.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/roger-stone-warned-trump-wikileaks-clinton-dump
I don't know what local coverage has been like in other cities but looting and rioting - as an event with measurable impacts rather than a subject for pontificating - has been a no-speak, non-story in the national press.
This story combines so much of what's wrong with America. https://politico.com/news/2020/06/20/mckinsey-helps-oversee-recovery-payouts-former-clients-329843
Likely the hottest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic happened today-100.4 F- What's happening in Siberia this year is nothing short of remarkable. The kind of weather we expect by 2100, 80 years early.
For perspective Miami has only reached 100 degrees once on record: So it goes - anomalous (even record-breaking: https://twitter.com/WorldClimateSvc/status/1274324717650968579) warmth continues in parts of Siberia (shifted a bit to the east)... Fire [Map from http://karstenhaustein.com/climate]
https://twitter.com/ZLabe/status/1274400286279233536?s=20
This is what overflow looks like at the Trump rally in Tulsa right now. Pence is scheduled to speak out here in about 10 minutes. People still streaming in but not nearly the number the campaign said they were expecting.
https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1274461483062222850
Actual rally doesn’t start for hours, overflow area was designed for hours of entertainment outside, with a screen and sound system for people who couldn’t get in.
It’s all fake.... They’re just making the numbers up. I haven’t seen anybody die, not from coronavirus. I don’t even know anybody who’s got it.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/politics/tulsa-trump-rally.html
Berman statement: "In light of General Barr’s decision to respect the normal operation of law and have Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss become Acting U.S. Attorney, I will be leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, effective immediately."
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1274461695524683779
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/nyregion/trump-geoffrey-berman-fired-sdny.html
I am a UK citizen with four children who are US passport holders, one of whom has twice served in Afghanistan. I was not allowed to travel from Europe to the US to see them last week. NOT in the National Interest apparently.
https://twitter.com/TimListerCNN/status/1274447764059979776?s=20
Barr said in statement last night that Berman was stepping down, Berman said he wasn’t. Now Barr says in new letter that he asked Trump to fire Berman and that Trump did so. Now Trump says he’s not involved. Now Berman departs. Barr praises Berman, offers him a job as his right hand man in attempt to oust him from spearheading investigations into Trump & friends. Berman declines promotion, wants to continue to head up investigations. Barr switches tactics, confronts Berman, demands Berman resign. Berman again declines.
As the rally is set to begin, the upper tier is almost completely empty. This was supposed to be a major campaign event for Trump but is turning into a diaster.
https://i.redd.it/6s1rzaqv85651.png
Trump comeback rally features empty seats, staff infections
https://apnews.com/1a59b4efe97f2249d414ae4f0b3c6495
Tulsa fire department says just under 6,200 people attended Trump rally
https://www.axios.com/trump-tulsa-rally-turnout-19b3ee7b-44c4-41ad-8ec4-172ba6448ff6.html
The Trump Administration Paid Millions for Test Tubes And Received Unusable Mini Soda Bottles; The plastic tubes supplied for coronavirus testing by newly-created Fillakit - a first-time federal contractor whose owner has a record of fraud - don’t even fit the racks used to analyze samples. | Since May, the Trump administration has paid a fledgling Texas company $7.3 million for test tubes needed in tracking the spread of the coronavirus nationwide. But, instead of the standard vials, Fillakit LLC has supplied plastic tubes made for bottling soda, which state health officials say are unusable. The state officials say that these “preforms,” which are designed to be expanded with heat and pressure into 2-liter soda bottles, don’t fit the racks used in laboratory analysis of test samples. Even if the bottles were the right size, experts say, the company’s process likely contaminated the tubes and could yield false test results. Fillakit employees, some not wearing masks, gathered the miniature soda bottles with snow shovels and dumped them into plastic bins before squirting saline into them, all in the open air, according to former employees and ProPublica’s observation of the company’s operations. “It wasn’t even clean, let alone sterile,” said Teresa Green, a retired science teacher who worked at Fillakit’s makeshift warehouse outside of Houston for two weeks before leaving out of frustration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency signed its first deal with Fillakit on May 7, just six days after the company was formed by an ex-telemarketer repeatedly accused of fraudulent practices over the past two decades. Fillakit has supplied a total of more than 3 million tubes, which FEMA then approved and sent to all 50 states. If the company fulfills its contractual obligation to provide 4 million tubes, it will receive a total of $10.16 million.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-trump-administration-paid-millions-for-test-tubes-and-got-unusable-mini-soda-bottles
Family of Tom Petty issues Cease and Desist to Trump's campaign after Tulsa rally. They said the president cannot use the song "I Won't Back Down" to further a campaign that leaves Americans and common sense behind.
https://www.wtsp.com/mobile/article/news/politics/national-politics/tom-petty-issues-cease-and-desist-to-president-trump/67-6db275ee-35b4-48ca-837a-29477b3f35e3
#MAGA flop! Trump draws small crowd for rally in Tulsa and mocks fears of coronavirus
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-trump-tulsa-rally-20200620-z6au52zcbveodo2fdf45statx4-story.html
Trump’s Speech: 0 Mentions of George Floyd. 5 Minutes on Nearly Falling Down a Ramp.
https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2020/06/trumps-speech-0-mentions-of-george-floyd-5-minutes-on-nearly-falling-down-a-ramp/
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