"General James Mattis dropped a bombshell this week saying, 'Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people, doesn't even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We're witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.'

"Now, the tipping point was apparently Trump's autocratic stunt of violently dispersing a peaceful protest for a photo-op with a Bible as a prop. It sparked an unusual firestorm of dissent with respective military and national security figures who've been trained to remain silent on political matters. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey wrote on Twitter, 'America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy.' Bush and Obama-era chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen wrote, 'Whatever Trump's goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country.' Retired Marine General John Allen said, 'Trump's threats of military force may be the beginning of the end of the American experiment. Former CIA analyst Gail Helt told the Washington Post, 'This is what autocrats do.'

"This is not partisan bluster. This is the sound of lifelong patriots warning that this president's autocratic impulses are a threat to the republic. It's notable because the military is typically sympathetic to Republican presidents, with military veterans voting by a 2 to 1 margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Despite dodging the Vietnam era with bone spurs, Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to claim he's the most militaristic person to occupy the presidency.

-----------

"There's always a reflexive impulse on the right to demonize Donald Trump's detractors, often led by the president himself. But his attack on Mattis quickly got pushback from Trump's own former chief of staff, General John Kelly. In fact, many of Donald Trump's former cabinet members have painted a consistent portrait of someone who has been out of control and over his head since Day One, including Kelly, John Bolton, and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who gave this assessment.

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/06/reality-check-retired-military-are-warning?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=31679

Standing Together for Justice

Like many of you, I read about the inhumane murder of George Floyd and Amy Cooper’s abuse of privilege last week. With this latest injustice coming on the heels of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others over the years, my emotions have ranged from anger to sadness to depression. In the same week we were able to send two astronauts on a reusable rocket into outer space, we also witnessed some of the worst behavior of our humanity, juxtaposing two ends of our human capabilities.

This is not a usual email, and I still don't think I've found quite the right words to express my thoughts. But here goes.

To all of those hurting, especially those in the Black community, know that we at DoorDash stand with you and support your right to be seen and heard. I won't pretend to fully understand or even speculate what you're going through, including the injustice you may face daily.

Instead, as the leader of a company whose mission is to empower local economies, I believe that DoorDash also has a responsibility to take action toward creating what we want to see realized in the communities around us. Silence and inaction equal consent, so we commit to speaking up and taking action to fight injustice, inequality, and discrimination. But I also know how important it is to listen and learn when people with lived experiences are speaking. We must do both in order to truly do the work to make this week, and every week that comes after it, better.

While long term action is needed, we are announcing the following steps today—developed in partnership with our Black@DoorDash Employee Resource Group (ERG):

We will use our platforms, both DoorDash and Caviar, to highlight and support Black-owned businesses and Black entrepreneurs.
We are donating $1 million, with $500,000 going to Black Lives Matter and $500,000 to create a fund to be directed by the Black@DoorDash ERG towards state and local organizations.
We are creating formal structures to ensure we are hearing from our community, starting with the Dashers of Color Council. This group will be formed in the coming weeks and will advise our company on issues facing Black Dashers, including safety and access.
We are reaffirming our commitment to combat racism and discrimination within our company, on our platform, and in our communities. We will also use our voice to support policies that are proven to reduce police violence.
We will be collaborating with experts to identify ways to combat implicit or explicit bias on our platform and to design strategies to change the written and unwritten rules in our industry that affect Black communities the most and have the greatest potential to advance justice and inclusion.
We will continue to hold ourselves accountable to increasing diversity in our leadership teams—inclusive of underrepresented people of color—by tying progress to job performance and promotions, and by rejecting hire requests that have not interviewed a diverse slate of candidates. We will expand this to all managers and employees in the future.
Justice is not a relative term. There is no grey area. We will continue to use our voice and platform to make progress together.

With respect and love,

Tony Xu

CEO/Co-founder, DoorDash

Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he was given no notice before President Donald Trump led him and other senior administration officials to St. John's Episcopal Church for a widely criticized photo opportunity.

"I thought I was going to do two things: to see some damage and to talk to the troops," Esper said Tuesday night in an exclusive interview with NBC News.

Esper said he believed they were going to observe the vandalized bathroom in Lafayette Square.

"I didn't know where I was going," Esper said. "I wanted to see how much damage actually happened."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1222391?__twitter_impression=true