The Commentariat -- June 16, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Tom Hamburger & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Th Justice Department filed a suit Tuesday seeking to block the release of a book by former White House national security adviser John Bolton, asserting that his much-anticipated memoir contains classified material. The moves sets up legal showdown between President Trump and the longtime conservative foreign policy hand, who alleges in his book that the president committed 'Ukraine-like transgressions' in a number of foreign policy decisions, according his publisher. 'The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,' is due to go on sale June 23, and has already been shipped to distribution centers across the country.... Legal experts said the White House will face an uphill battle, given long-standing precedents showing courts are averse to preemptively blocking publication of books on political topics." There's an ABC News story here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Somebody should tell Trump that he could avoid all these loser lawsuits if he would quit being such an asshole & giving people embarrassing secrets to tell.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.
Some Good News. Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "The inexpensive steroid dexamethasone is the first drug known to reduce risk of death in Covid-19 patients, British researchers announced Tuesday. The medicine cut deaths by up to a third in coronavirus patients on ventilators and cut deaths by one-fifth in patients on oxygen, according to data from a trial run by scientists at Oxford University. The trial randomly assigned 2,104 patients to receive dexamethasone and compared their outcomes to those of 4,321 patients who received standard care."
Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks surged on Tuesday as a record jump in retail sales -- coupled with positive trial results from a potential coronavirus treatment and hopes of more stimulus -- sent market sentiment soaring."
Phil Helsel of NBC News: "Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., said Monday that he, his wife and their son have the coronavirus illness, COVID-19. In a statement, Rice called the illness the 'Wuhan Flu,' a term that has been criticized as inaccurate and even racist."
Matthew Choi of Politico: "Rep. Ilhan Omar's father died due to the coronavirus, the Minnesota congresswoman [D] announced Monday night."
Trump to Sign Toothless "Police Report Law & Order" Executive Order. Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump plans to announce an executive order addressing police reform on Tuesday amid growing calls for action.... Senior administration officials told reporters Monday afternoon that the order would incentivize police departments to use best practices when it comes to use of force; encourage information sharing so that officials can track officers who have excessive use of force complaints; and call for co-responder programs in which social workers accompany police when responding to nonviolent reports involving homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol addiction."
Andrew Desiderio & Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Senate is unlikely to take up a police reform bill until after the Independence Day recess, Republican leaders said on Monday, raising the prospect that it could be a month or longer before a measure heads to ... Donald Trump's desk. A group of GOP senators, led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), is expected to file legislation this week that would address policing practices in the aftermath of the May 25 killing of George Floyd. But according to GOP leaders, any floor votes would likely have to wait until at least the week of July 20, after senators return from a two-week recess."
New Mexico. Simon Romero of the New York Times: "Gunfire broke out during a protest Monday night in Albuquerque to demand the removal of a statue of Juan de Oñate, the despotic conquistador of New Mexico whose image has become the latest target in demonstrations across the country aimed at righting a history of racial injustice. As dozens of people gathered around a statue of Oñate, New Mexico's 16th-century colonial governor, shouting matches erupted over proposals to take it down and a man was shot, prompting police officers in riot gear to rush in. The man, who was not identified, was taken away in an ambulance, and the police took into custody several members of a right-wing militia who were dressed in camouflage and carrying military-style rifles. It was not clear whether any of them had fired the shot; witnesses said the gunman was a white man in a blue shirt." ~~~
~~~ Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "... a group of militia men sporting militarylike garb and carrying semiautomatic rifles formed a protective circle around the gunman [who shot four rounds]. The gunshots, which left one man in critical but stable condition, have set off a cascade of public outcry denouncing the unregulated militia's presence and the shooting. On Tuesday morning, the Albuquerque Police Department announced that detectives had arrested Stephen Ray Baca, 31, in connection with the shooting.... 'The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a "civil guard," were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force,' New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said in a statement. 'To menace the people of New Mexico with weaponry -- with an implicit threat of violence -- is on its face unacceptable; that violence did indeed occur is unspeakable.'... Police have not released any information about the suspected shooter or said whether they believe he has any connection to the armed militia."
Mattathias Schwartz & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Two Justice Department officials have agreed to testify under subpoena before the House Judiciary Committee next week about politicization under Attorney General William P. Barr, setting up a likely fight with the department about what they will be permitted to say. House Democrats issued subpoenas on Tuesday to the two officials, including Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, one of the career prosecutors who quit a case against President Trump's friend Roger J. Stone Jr. after Mr. Barr and other senior officials decided to intervene to reverse their recommendation that Mr. Stone be sentenced in accord with standard guidelines and instead requested leniency. The other official who agreed to serve as a witness is John W. Elias, a career official in the Justice Department's antitrust division. The division opened an inquiry into a fuel efficiency deal between major automakers and the state of California; congressional Democrats have called the scrutiny politically motivated. Democrats are calling the officials whistle-blowers. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Barr has refused to testify himself, so the committee was moving forward with oversight of his actions without him."
Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Vice President Pence said Tuesday that President Trump' campaign is considering 'outside activities' for his upcoming Tulsa rally as well as potentially moving the event to a different venue. 'It's all a work in progress. We have had such an overwhelming response that we're also looking at another venue, we're also looking at outside activities and I know the campaign team will keep the public informed as that goes forward,' Pence said on 'Fox & Friends' when asked whether the campaign had considered holding the event outside because of the coronavirus pandemic. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) told reporters on Monday that he had asked the campaign to consider moving Saturday's rally to another venue outside to accommodate more guests." Mrs. McC: "Outside activities"? Like summer-camp crafts? Woven MAGA bracelets?
Bloomberg: "In Beijing..., officials have come around to support four more years of Trump.... The chief reason? A belief that the benefit of the erosion of America's postwar alliance network would outweigh any damage to China from continued trade disputes and geopolitical instability.... 'If Biden is elected, I think this could be more dangerous for China, because he will work with allies to target China, whereas Trump is destroying U.S. alliances,' said Zhou Xiaoming, a former Chinese trade negotiator.... Four current officials echoed that sentiment, saying many in the Chinese government believed a Trump victory could help Beijing by weakening what they saw as Washington's greatest asset for checking China's widening influence." --s (Firewalled.)
John Bowden of the Hill: "NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that he would 'support' and 'encourage' an NFL team to sign former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after facing criticism for not addressing Kaepernick's situation during a recent statement on racial issues and the league. During an interview with ESPN anchor Mike Greenberg, Goodell said that the league should have 'listened to our players earlier' on issues of race and the protests against police brutality during the national anthem's performance before games, a practice Kaepernick is credited with starting."
~~~~~~~~~~
** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination, handing the movement for L.G.B.T. equality a stunning victory. The vote was 6 to 3, with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch 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. The case concerned Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin and sex. The question for the justices was whether that last prohibition -- discrimination 'because of sex' -- applies to many millions of gay and transgender workers. The decision, covering two cases, was the court's first on L.G.B.T. rights since the retirement in 2018 of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinions in all four of the court's major gay rights decisions." Politico's story is here. The decision & dissents are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Until Today, Playing Softball on the Gay Team Could Get You Fired. Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post: "It was more than seven years ago when Gerald Bostock joined the gay recreational softball league. The decision to play in the Hotlanta Softball League would cost him his job in the child welfare services department for Clayton County, Ga., he said. It would leave him without health insurance as he recovered from prostate cancer. And it would launch him on a years-long legal fight that culminated in a landmark ruling Monday from the Supreme Court. Bostock sat in the den of his Atlanta home as he read the high court's decision making clear what he and many other Americans believed to be true: LGBTQ employees cannot, under federal law, be fired simply because of their sexuality or gender identity. 'The long, seven-year journey I've had, it's well worth every ache and pain,' Bostock said. 'I didn't ask for this, but it needed to be done.' The ruling focused on three related cases involving employees who said they were fired because of their sexuality or gender identity: Aimee Stephens, a transgender funeral director, Donald Zarda, a gay skydiving instructor, and Bostock, the only plaintiff still alive to see the case's outcome." ~~~
~~~ Mark Stern of Slate: "Upon taking office..., Donald Trump launched an all-out war against the rights of LGBTQ people -- particularly transgender Americans. His administration has used every tool at its disposal to rewrite federal civil rights laws to abolish protections for gay, bisexual, and transgender people. And on Monday, in one fell swoop, the Supreme Court blew up this yearslong effort by obliterating the legal theory behind Trump's crusade." ~~~
~~~ Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Seven years ago, just nine Senate Republicans supported a bill codifying workplace protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. And after it passed the Senate, the GOP-controlled House never took it up. But on Monday, the Republican Party seemed generally supportive of both the substance and process by which the Supreme Court extended Civil Rights Act protections to gay, lesbian and transgender workers.... Donald Trump declined to trash the decision, calling it 'powerful' -- and his party largely agreed with the Supreme Court's surprising ruling.... 'It's the law of the land. And it probably makes uniform what a lot of states have already done. And probably negates Congress's necessity for acting,' said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who ran the Senate Judiciary Committee during [Justice Neil] Gorsuch's confirmation." ~~~
~~~ HOWEVER. Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch betrayed the Constitution and the great cause of equality for which so many civil rights leaders fought, according to a number of really distraught conservative judicial activists.... Gorsuch's Monday opinion apparently enraged Carrie Severino, the president of the Judicial Crisis Network, an organization that reportedly spent $10 million to secure Gorsuch's confirmation in 2017.... Severino accused Gorsuch of ruling 'for the sake of appealing to college campuses and editorial boards' in 'a brute force attack on our constitutional system.'... As she dramatically put it: 'This is an ominous sign for anyone concerned about the future of representative democracy.'"--s The New York Times has a related story here. ~~~
~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up new cases for next term that gun rights groups claimed denied Second Amendment rights. The court did not accept a batch of nearly a dozen cases that gun groups had hoped the court, fortified with more conservative members, might consider. Among them were cases involving restrictions in Maryland and New Jersey to permits for carrying a handgun outside the home. The court earlier this term had dismissed a challenge from New York about transporting guns, and three justices objected, with the newest, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, adding that it seemed likely lower courts have been too quick to uphold state and local gun control measures." A Hill story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jeremy White of Politico: California's 'sanctuary' immigration enforcement law will not go before the U.S. Supreme Court, handing California a capstone victory in an ongoing clash with the federal government. The high court on Monday turned down the Justice Department's request to review a federal appeals court decision that largely upheld three California laws. One of the laws passed soon after Donald Trump became president, Senate Bill 54, partitions local law enforcement from federal immigration authorities, protecting arrested immigrants and low-level offenders from deportation. The federal government asked the Supreme Court to review SB 54. The court announced Monday that it declined that review, thoug Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would have heard the case. Trump and allies have lambasted California's sanctuary law as an example of what they called Democratic lawlessness on immigration, but it has withstood federal attacks. In addition to rejecting the administration's argument that California was preempted by federal law, judges have turned back a Trump administration effort to withhold law enforcement funding from 'sanctuary' jurisdictions." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll bet when Sam Alito goes for a spin in town, he makes three right turns to avoid taking a left. And poor Clarence had to quit driving decades ago because he kept having panic attacks every time he had to merge onto the Beltway. Ginny thought it was the speedy traffic that frightened him, but turns out it was making a left-turn signal. (Also linked yesterday.)
The Donnie & Mike Coronavirus Tag Team:
If we stop testing right now, we'd have very few cases, if any. -- Donald Trump, Monday ~~~
~~~ Brian Williams played a clip of Trump's saying Monday that Texas, Florida & Georgia were all "doing well" in bringing down the number of coronavirus cases, whereas cases are rising in all three states. Williams called Trump's remark "gaslighting." ~~~
~~~ Pence Tells Governors to Placate Residents with Lies. (From the NYT live coronavirus updates for Monday): "Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors on Monday to adopt the administration's claim that increased testing helps account for the new coronavirus outbreak reports, even though evidence has shown that the explanation is misleading. On a call with the governors, audio of which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Pence urged them 'to continue to explain to your citizens the magnitude of the increase in testing' in addressing the new outbreaks. And he asked them to 'encourage people with the news that we're safely reopening the country.' In fact, seven-day averages in several states with outbreaks have increased since May 31, and in at least 14 states, the positive case rate is increasing faster than the increase in the average number of tests, according to an analysis of data collected by The New York Times.... And he was dismissive of the idea that community spread is a culprit, focusing instead on specific outbreak locations, like nursing homes. In fact, as cases rise, officials in several states have specifically pointed a finger at community spread." ~~~
~~~ Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "During a White House roundtable meeting called 'Fighting for America's Seniors' on Monday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence blatantly lied to reporters about the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma, where President Trump is scheduled to hold a large campaign rally on Saturday. 'In a very real sense, they've flattened the curve,' Pence claimed of that state. 'And today their hospital capacity is abundant, the number of cases in Oklahoma has declined precipitously and we feel very confident going forward with the rally this coming weekend.' In fact, Oklahoma reported 225 new cases of COVID-19 this past Saturday, its highest one-day total since the pandemic began. On Sunday, Tulsa County reported 89 new cases, the largest single-day increase since the state had its first case on March 6th." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vice President Pence said Monday that in Oklahoma, the number of coronavirus cases 'has declined precipitously.'... In fact, the number of new coronavirus cases in Oklahoma has risen steadily in June...." ~~~
Our economy is doing fantastically. Numbers are coming out very well. The consumer in the United States is unbelievably strong, stronger than ever before, I believe. -- Donald Trump to Sean Hannity, March 4 ~~~
~~~ Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "As the novel coronavirus began to tank the stock market in early March..., Donald Trump went on Fox News to assure the country that the economy remained strong. That same day, Trump's chief of staff unloaded hundreds of thousands of dollars in publicly traded securities. Mick Mulvaney, then the acting White House chief of staff and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sold between $215,000 and $550,000 in holdings in three mutual funds on March 4, according to ethics paperwork he submitted late last month. Holdings in each of the three funds are made up almost entirely of U.S. stocks. The trades, which represented the vast majority of Mulvaney's holdings in publicly traded funds, suggested a less sanguine view on America's financial outlook than Mulvaney's boss and colleagues were projecting at the time." (Also linked yesterday.)
Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "People with underlying medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes were hospitalized six times as often as otherwise healthy individuals infected with the novel coronavirus during the first four months of the pandemic, and they died 12 times as often, according to a federal health report Monday," according to data released by the CDC. ~~~
~~~ Politico: "The Food and Drug Administration has withdrawn emergency use authorizations for two controversial coronavirus treatments promoted by ... Donald Trump, amid concerns about their safety and effectiveness." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Steve Herman of the Voice of America: "Trump on Monday, at a roundtable discussion on the health of America's seniors, also stood by the therapeutic use of a malaria drug after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed its emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine in hospitals... 'I've had a lot of people tell me they think it saved their lives,' the president said. 'I took it and I felt good about taking it,' he added. 'It certainly didn't hurt me.'" ~~~
~~~ Robert Booth of the Guardian: "Covid-19 can leave the lungs of people who died from the disease completely unrecognisable, a professor of cardiovascular science has told parliament. It created such massive damage in those who spent more than a month in hospital that it resulted in 'complete disruption of the lung architecture', said Prof Mauro Giacca of King's College London." --s ~~~
~~~ Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "China has beaten the US in the battle for world opinion over the handling of coronavirus, according to new polling, with only three countries out of 53 believing the US has dealt with the pandemic better than its superpower rival. The survey comes ahead of a major conference on the future of democracy this week[.]" --s
Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: "Several Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Monday that they would oppose the nomination of retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to oversee the Pentagon's policy shop. CNN's KFile reported on Friday that Tata had a history of making Islamophobic and inflammatory remarks against prominent Democratic politicians, including falsely calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim. If confirmed by the Senate, Tata would become the third highest official in the Pentagon overseeing the Defense Department's policy shop.... A spokesman for Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee that would oversee Tata's nomination, said in a statement on Monday he would oppose the pick."
Trump Threatens Bolton. Tom Hamburger & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Monday that former national security adviser John Bolton could face criminal liability if his memoir is released, asserting that the book contains classified material.... 'I will consider every conversation with me as president highly classified,' he told reporters at the White House. 'So that would mean that, if he wrote a book and if the book gets out, he's broken the law, and I would think that he would have criminal problems. I hope so.'"
Sharpiegate Revisited. Andrew Freedman & Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "An investigation conducted on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that agency leadership violated its scientific integrity policy through actions that led to the release of a statement that backed President Trump's false statement about the path of Hurricane Dorian, according a new report. The NOAA statement, issued Sept. 6, 2019, contradicted its own meteorologists at a weather forecast office in Birmingham, Ala.... The report, whose findings were accepted by NOAA's leadership and released Monday, found that Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator, and former NOAA deputy chief of staff and communications director Julie Kay Roberts twice violated codes of the agency's scientific integrity policy.... NOAA's scientific integrity policy prohibits political interference with the conduct and communication of the agency's scientific findings." Mrs. McC: Remember, kids, everything Donald Trump touches turns to manure.
Matthew Schwartz of NPR: "After nearly two decades, the federal government will once again begin executing criminals, the Justice Department announced Monday. Four convicted child-murderers are set to be put to death by lethal injection. 'The four murderers whose executions are scheduled today have received full and fair proceedings under our Constitution and laws,' said Attorney General William Barr in a statement. 'We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.'... Trump is a longtime supporter of the death penalty."
Sarah Okeson of DC Report: "A USDA plan to loosen regulation of genetically modified crops could benefit Florida billionaire Randal Kirk whose company hired Trump fundraiser and lobbyist Roy Bailey. Michael Gregoire, then the acting administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, withdrew a proposed regulation to give more power to APHIS to evaluate whether genetically modified plants could become harmful weeds. This happened just 21 days after Bailey became lobbyist for Intrexon, one of Kirk's companies.... Under the Plant Protection Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is supposed to regulate genetically engineered crops to reduce risk of spreading plant pests or harmful weeds. But Trump's regulation would allow the developers of genetically engineered plants to decide if their companies should be exempted." --s
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Brian Stelter & Jim Acosta of CNN: "Two top officials at Voice of America resigned on Monday as an appointee of President Trump prepares to take control of the international network and other US federally-funded media operations. The resignations were long in the making. The Trump administration had been trying to get its nominee, Michael Pack, through the Senate confirmation process for two years.... VOA director Amanda Bennett and deputy director Sandy Sugawara, both veteran journalists, bid farewell to the staff on Monday morning.... Some journalists at VOA fear that Pack -- best known for making films with a conservative bent -- will interfere with the organization's independent newsroom and turn it into a pro-Trump messaging machine." --s
Presidential Race
Annie Linskey of the Washington Post: "More than 50 liberal groups signed a letter Monday to ... Joe Biden criticizing his response to the emerging protest movement against police brutality, warning that failing to embrace a more aggressive agenda risks alienating the African American voters he needs to win the election. The letter pointed to Biden's recent promise to add $300 million for community policing programs, a plan that activists say would undermine their efforts to push for systemic changes, such as defunding police forces.... He first offered his plan to increase funding in an op-ed published last week in USA Today, writing that a better response than defunding is to 'give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms.'... Today, many liberals say Biden's views are out of date.... Biden's campaign did not respond to requests to comment on the letter." The letter, via the Washington Post, is here.
Ooh, Everybody's Picking on Donnie. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday accused the news media of attempting to 'shame' his reelection campaign over plans to hold a rally during the coronavirus pandemic.... 'The Far Left Fake News Media, which had no Covid problem with the Rioters & Looters destroying Democrat run cities, is trying to Covid Shame us on our big Rallies. Won't work!' Trump tweeted, suggesting the coverage of the protests had not pointed out risks of the demonstrations possibly leading to a spread of the coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Uh-oh. Looks as if the "shaming" had some effect: ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Attendees at President Trump's rally in Oklahoma on Saturday will be given temperature checks, masks and hand sanitizer before entering the arena, the campaign said Monday, the first indication that there will be any precautions taken to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted the checklist, boasting that there had been more than 1 million requests for tickets for the Tulsa rally. The BOK Center, which will host the rally, holds roughly 19,000 people." (Also linked yesterday.)
A Gutsy Law Clerk Stands up to a Stupid Federal Judge. Ryan Grim of the Intercept: On Sunday, senior D.C. federal appeals court Judge Laurence Silberman -- a Reagan appointee & ignorant curmudgeon -- sent out a a Circuit-wide e-mail complaining about the "madness" of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requiring the military to strip the names of Confederate officers from military assets. Silberman's "reasoning," which makes no sense at all, was that Abraham Lincoln's purpose was not to end slavery & that Silberman had a non-slaveholding ancestor who fought for the Confederacy. A black law clerk wrote back -- again Circuit-wide -- to explain to Silberman that the Confederate officers for whom monuments & installations are named were indeed fighting for the maintenance of slavery and that "This moment of confronting our nation's racial history is too big to be disregarded based on familial ties." A David v. Goliath story.
Olivia Solon of NBC: "Mark Zuckerberg has championed Facebook's commitment to free speech as a reason not to act on incendiary posts from ... Donald Trump about the Black Lives Matter protests.... Dozens of Tunisian, Syrian and Palestinian activists and journalists, many of whom use the platform to document human rights abuses in the region, say their Facebook accounts have been deactivated over the last few months. Civil liberties and human rights groups have argued this shows that Facebook appeals to free speech principles only when they are politically advantageous." --s
Beyond the Beltway
California. This lovely, upper-white-classy San Francisco couple out for a jog just can't believe a person of color lives in Pacific Heights -- one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the USA. So they order him to explain himself, they chastise him for defacing the property, they lie about knowing the property's owner, and they are evah so genteel about it. The video, uploaded last Thursday, has gone viral: ~~~
~~~ Emily Shapiro of ABC News: "Los Angeles County officials are promising a thorough investigation into the death of a young black man who was found hanging from a tree. Robert Fuller, 24, was found dead on June 10 in Palmdale, California. Nothing was found at the scene besides the rope, his backpack and the contents of his pocket, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Capt. Kent Wegener said at a news conference on Monday. Though 'initial signs seem to point' to suicide, and there was nothing to suggest foul play, officials 'felt it prudent to roll that back and continue to look deeper, which is why currently the case is still deferred and under investigation,' the chief medical examiner for Los Angeles County, Jonathan Lucas, said at the news conference." Mrs. McC: Family members believe Fuller was lynched.
New York. Ali Watkins of the New York Times: "The New York police commissioner announced on Monday that he was disbanding the Police Department's anti-crime units: plainclothes teams that target violent crime and have been involved in some of the city's most notorious police shootings.... Commissioner Dermot F. Shea ... said the plainclothes units were part of an outdated policing model that too often seemed to pit officers against the communities they served, and that they were involved in a disproportionate number of civilian complaints and fatal shootings by the police."
Ohio. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A small-town solidarity rally with Black Lives Matter ended in chaos after some of ... Donald Trump's supporters showed up with guns to berate demonstrators.... [Protesters'] plans [for a peaceful rally in Bethel, Ohio,] were upended when a group of armed motorcyclists and others showed up wearing Confederate flag, Punisher and Trump-themed hats and clothing, some of them apparently drawn by online warnings that the demonstration was organized by Antifa activists.... The counter protesters assaulted some of the demonstrators and screamed at the group to go back to Cincinnati.... Officials reported about 10 'minor scuffles' during the clash, but some social media users posted photos of injuries consistent with physical assaults." The Cincinnati Enquirer story is here.
Way Beyond
Australia. Lisa Cox of the Guardian: "Scientists have expressed dismay and frustration at [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison's latest push to deregulate the environmental approval process for major developments, noting it comes just months after an unprecedented bushfire crisis and during a review of national conservation laws. In a speech on Monday, the prime minister said he wanted to slash approval times for major projects by moving to a streamlined 'single touch' system for state and federal environmental assessments.... Australia has the world's highest rate of mammalian extinction. Reporting by Guardian Australia has found the government has failed to implement or track measures for species known to be at risk, stopped listing major threats to species, and not registered a single piece of critical habitat for 15 years." --s
Jordan/Israel. Al-Monitor: "King Abdullah of Jordan reportedly refused a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian media outlet Ma'an reported today, as tensions between the two neighbors rise over West Bank annexation. Abdullah refused the call due to Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank in July, according to Ma'an. Amman staunchly opposes the move.... In May, the king told the German media that there would be 'massive conflict' if Israel goes ahead with the move.... Annexation is moving along in the meantime. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman met with Netanyahu, [Israeli Minister of Defense Benny] Gantz and other Israeli leaders yesterday to discuss the plans." --s
Share Article 