June 4, 2020

Full Video: Obama Makes First On-Camera Remarks About George Floyd Death

No comment. None needed. The President has spoken!

June 3, 2020

Biden Outperforming Hillary in More Than a Dozen Key Swing States Critical to Trump's 2016 Victory

BY ALEXANDRA HUTZLER ON 6/2/20 AT 2:33 PM EDT

There may still be five months until Election Day but polling shows that former Vice President Joe Biden is already performing better in key swing states than Hillary Clinton did in 2016—a troubling sign for President Donald Trump's reelection effort.

An analysis by political scientist Alan Abramowitz for the election forecaster Sabato's Crystal Ball found Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, ahead in more than a dozen states critical to Trump's success and Clinton's downfall in 2016: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Not only is Biden leading Trump in hypothetical head-to-head matchups in each of these areas, but he's also performing better than Clinton's vote margin from the 2016 contest. That means in November, Biden could be a stronger Democratic candidate than Trump has faced before. On average, Biden is running more than six points ahead of Clinton in these 13 states.

Not only is Biden leading Trump in hypothetical head-to-head matchups in each of these areas, but he's also performing better than Clinton's vote margin from the 2016 contest. That means in November, Biden could be a stronger Democratic candidate than Trump has faced before. On average, Biden is running more than six points ahead of Clinton in these 13 states.

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-outperforming-hillary-clinton-more-dozen-key-swing-states-critical-trumps-2016-1508136?utm_source=pushnami&utm_medium=Push_Notifications&utm_campaign=automatic

There are, as one would expect, some caveats in the article, and, as mentioned at the top, there are practically five months left till Election Day. In no way, shape or form is this the time to be popping even one champaign cork. But, if you read this in its entirety, I do believe you will finish with a more upbeat, hopeful outlook than you had when you began!

June 3, 2020

Trump plan to deploy troops in cities shocks generals and alarms Democrats in Congress

Source: Yahoo News

David Knowles, Editor
Yahoo News, June 2, 2020, 7:26 PM GMT-2:30

Retired top generals reacted with alarm Tuesday to President Trump’s plan to use active-duty military to patrol cities where police have failed to contain violence, while Democrats in Congress said they would seek to block funding for any domestic troop deployment.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said that he would introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would outlaw the use of Defense Department funding to be used against American citizens engaged in protest demonstrations.

On Monday, after nearly a week of protests, vandalism and looting sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Trump was photographed walking outside the White House alongside Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the fatigue-clad Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as military vehicles crisscrossed Washington and helicopters hovered low to disperse protesters.

Moments earlier, the president said he was “taking immediate presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America."

"I am mobilizing all available federal resources — civilian and military — to stop the rioting and looting,” Trump added.



Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-plan-to-deploy-troops-in-cities-shocks-generals-and-alarms-democrats-in-congress-215623626.html

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More and more people are comparing the current situation to 1968 America. Personally, I find myself wondering if a more apt comparison might be 1933 in.....another country.

June 2, 2020

Susan Collins criticizes Trump's 'painful' treatment of protesters

Source: The Hill

BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 06/02/20 02:58 PM EDT

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Tuesday called out President Trump for what she thought was his “unsympathetic” handling of peaceful protesters who were dispersed with tear gas on Monday evening so that Trump could pose with a bible in front of St. John’s church.

She said it was "painful" to watch U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops fire tear gas and forcefully push through a large group of peaceful protesters to clear a way for Trump.

Collins, who faces a competitive reelection race in a state where Trump is expected to lose the popular vote, said Trump’s actions were not what the country needs at a time of widespread racial tensions and high unemployment, which have added to the anxiety surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

“To me at a time like this, the president ought to be trying to calm the nation, pledge to right historic wrongs and be a steady influence. I don’t think he was last night,” Collins told reporters when asked about the president’s controversial walk across H Street between Lafayette Park and St. John’s episcopal church, which had been partially burned over the weekend by rioters.



Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/500731-susan-collins-criticizes-trumps-painful-treatment-of-protesters

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Nice try,








Too late!

June 2, 2020

Police gassed protesters so Trump could get a photo op

Tim Walker, The Guardian
Tue 2 Jun 2020 06.19 EDT

Donald Trump walked from the White House to the nearby St John’s Episcopal church on Monday. Not to worship or pray there, as many presidents have done before, but to pose for a photo holding a copy of the bible aloft. Just beforehand, police had used teargas and rubber bullets to clear a crowd of peaceful protesters from his path.

The photo op came shortly after Trump described himself as “your president of law and order”, and threatened to deploy federal troops to quell the nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd – a threat that would require him to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, last used during the LA riots of 1992.

Church leaders responded to his behaviour with outrage, but the president was unrepentant. Also on Monday, he ranted at governors and other officials that they must “dominate” their states and cities, saying otherwise they would “look like a bunch of jerks.”

This president has “built his entire political career as a gold-painted tower to incite violence,” says Richard Wolffe. And in threatening to deploy the military, writes David Smith, Trump has raised the spectre of fascism.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/02/first-thing-police-gassed-protesters-so-trump-could-get-a-photo-op

Are you ready for the shit that is shortly to ensue?

June 2, 2020

Houston Police Chief to Trump: "Please, keep your mouth shut if you can't be constructive"

Check out the Chief's facial expression when Amanpour is quoting Donnie! From yesterday:

June 2, 2020

Policing in the US is not about enforcing law. It's about enforcing white supremacy

By Paul Butler, The Guardian

On Friday the CNN journalist Omar Jimenez was arrested on live television as he covered protests of police brutality in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jimenez identifies as African American and Hispanic, and when the cops confronted him, he did just what minority parents tell their kids to do. Jimenez cooperated; he was respectful, deferential even. He said: “We can move back to where you like … We are getting out of your way … Wherever you want us, we will go.”

It didn’t matter; the police officers put handcuffs on him and led him away, and then came back to arrest his crew. Jimenez narrated his arrest as they led him away. His voice is steady. His eyes, though. Jimenez is masked so his eyes are the only clue to what he’s feeling. His eyes are perplexed and terrified. I get it. When a black or brown person goes into police custody, you never know what is going to happen. You just know that when you leave police custody, if you are lucky enough to leave, you will be diminished. That is the point.

What’s most interesting is not that Jimenez and his colleagues were released shortly thereafter without any charges filed (or even being told why they had been taken into custody). That’s what class will buy a black man in America. You don’t get it quite as bad as your lower-income brethren. Jeff Zucker, the CNN president, talked to Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, and the crew was quickly released. With an apology from the governor, not the cops. Cops rarely apologize, especially to black men.

But what’s most interesting is what happened to Josh Campbell, a white CNN journalist who was in the same area as Jimenez and not arrested. Campbell said his experience was the “opposite” of Jimenez’s. The cops asked him “politely to move here and there”. “A couple times I’ve moved closer than they would, like, they asked politely to move back. They didn’t pull out the handcuffs.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/30/policing-in-the-us-is-not-about-enforcing-law-its-about-enforcing-white-supremacy

But, come on, it's just a few Bad Apples in our police forces!
Yeah.
Right.
And, speaking of Apples, anybody in the market the for a bridge in the Big one?