Tracker

Kayleigh McEnany actually says the White House has ‘no regrets’ over gassing a protest ahead of Trump’s photo-op The administration is standing by its decision to gas peaceful protestors one week ago at St. John’s Church so President Donald Trump could have a photo-op of him holding up a Bible. “There’s no regrets on the part of this White House because, look, I’d note that many of those decisions were not made here in the White House, it was AG Barr who made the decision to move the perimeter, Monday night Park Police also had made that decision, independently, when they saw all the violence in Lafayette Square,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Monday afternoon https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/kayleigh-mcenany-actually-says-the-white-house-has-no-regrets-over-gassing-a-protest-ahead-of-trumps-photo-op/

Trump inspires swift mockery after he fumes over a bruising CNN poll President Donald Trump appears to be fuming over a series of polls that show him losing by a wide margin to the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. One poll in particular, CNN’s shows Biden beating Trump by 14 points. Monday morning he tried to trash the CNN poll as “Fake,” and Monday afternoon he claimed he had hired a “highly respected pollster” to analyze CNN’s work. “They are called SUPPRESSION POLLS, and are put out to dampen enthusiasm,” Trump claimed of the CNN poll. “Despite 3 ½ years of phony Witch Hunts, we are winning, and will close it out on November 3rd!” There is literally zero evidence of that. As NCRM reported earlier Monday, out of the 134 polls over the past 15 months that RealClearPolitics has recorded, Trump beat Biden in only 4, and by at most just 4 points. But what’s striking is the President of the United States chose to hire a polling firm, McLaughlin & Associates, whose results are ranked as a “C” or a “D” by FiveThirtyEight. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/trump-inspires-swift-mockery-after-he-fumes-over-a-bruising-cnn-poll/

The cops like weed arrests for the same reason as they like speed traps- these are easy ways to pad stats with little to no risk. Pot users are about as resistant as a glass of warm milk.

And the GOP has been preparing for years to do this.

As part of the training I and many others were required to undergo was Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, and it has served me well. Despite receiving death treats, (some of which were on the job) I have never had to physically restrain anyone (ok, maybe a relative or two). Police are typically trained to dominate, with force as they see fit, rather than negotiate and descalate.

Family of unarmed black student killed in New Jersey trooper custody kept in the dark on the basics Maurice Gordon was shot fatally multiple times while in the custody of a white New Jersey State Trooper on May 23 Two days before George Floyd was killed in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, an unarmed 28-year-old black man was shot fatally multiple times while in the custody of a white New Jersey State Trooper along the Garden State Parkway in Burlington County. While in Minnesota, the four officers allegedly involved in Floyd's killing have been identified, fired from their jobs, charged and arrested, here in New Jersey, the public doesn't yet know who the trooper was and what his employment status is. https://www.salon.com/2020/06/08/family-of-unarmed-black-student-killed-in-new-jersey-trooper-custody-kept-in-the-dark-on-the-basics_partner/

Because they are not black, brown, gay, Asian or progressives.

Trump takes a swing and a miss at Romney for joining Black Lives Matter protest President Donald Trump mocked Sen. Mitt Romney, (R-UT), on Monday for marching in a Washington protest over the death of George Floyd in police custody. “Tremendous sincerity, what a guy,” Trump tweeted. “Hard to believe, with this kind of political talent, his numbers would ‘tank’ so badly in Utah!” The tweet came in response to a video posted by Washington Post reporter Hannah Nathanson. Romney said in the video that he was “marching to find a way to end violence and brutality and to make sure that people understand that black lives matter https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/trump-takes-a-swing-and-a-miss-at-romney-for-joining-black-lives-matter-protest/

Man accused of driving his truck into a Virginia protest is an ‘admitted KKK leader’: prosecutor In Henrico County, Virginia, 36-year-old Harry H. Rogers was arrested on Sunday for allegedly driving his truck into a crowd of nonviolent George Floyd protestors — and according to prosecutor Shannon Taylor, Rogers is a high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan. Justin Mattingly of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Taylor, in an official statement, asserted: “While I am grateful that the victim’s injuries do not appear to be serious, an attack on peaceful protesters is heinous and despicable — and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. The accused, by his own admission and by a cursory glance at social media, is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology.” https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/man-accused-of-driving-his-truck-into-a-virginoa-protest-is-an-admitted-kkk-leader-prosecutor/

As another way of looking at police violence, an ER nurse posted that they see intoxicated, confused, angry and violent people every day day and haven't killed one of them. A bit of an oversimplification, but a good point nonetheless.

We live in a time and place where there is still a flat earth society, anti-vaxers, and about 100 million people still think that Trump is doing a good job. Still convinced that there are not many who are deliberately ignorant?

AG Barr knew Lafayette Square protestors were peaceful: DC National Guard member President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr have drawn widespread criticism for the president’s actions on Monday, June 1, when Washington, D.C. police violently removed nonviolent protestors from Lafayette Square in order to clear a path for the president to make a speech and enjoy a photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church nearby. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, was briefed on the events by a member of the D.C. National Guard — and according to New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel, the takeaway is that Barr was told the protestors were peaceful. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/ag-barr-knew-lafayette-square-protestors-were-peaceful-dc-national-guard-member/

Like he would care. And Faux News would hail any such move as divinely inspired.

These idiots and would-be brownshirts have simultaneously shown why police are not to be trusted and have made it a lot more difficult for the good cops to do their necessary jobs. Now, lets see which mayors, governors and federal politicians will condemn this and take actions to punish the guilty.

Former Harvard psychiatrist Lance Dodes: Trump is trying to "turn America into a police state" Dr. Lance Dodes: As Trump sinks into "paranoid rage," he will likely seek to cancel or overturn 2020 election The protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day continue. This people's uprising against police brutality and social injustice have spread far beyond Minnesota Minneapolis to all 50 states and around the world. Donald Trump is a destroyer, not a healer. Given his tendencies toward authoritarianism, even fascism, Trump is only capable of sowing more division in a nation convulsing in pain and anger over the murder of George Floyd, the resulting explosion of police violence and what that reveals about our extreme levels of social inequality and broader culture of cruelty. https://www.salon.com/2020/06/07/former-harvard-psychiatrist-lance-dodes-trump-is-trying-to-turn-america-into-a-police-state/

Worth a look: https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aGd0Mvw_460svvp9.webm

The scary thing is that Barr is not low IQ (as far as I know, but its an open question)- he is actually and knowingly doing harm, but doesn't care. That's sociopathic behaviour and puts him in the same group as Charles Manson and Idi Amin.

And Barr is not even a lawyer- he has an honourary law degree only.

Now we're into a bit of a grey area- the UNLV team is called "The Running Rebels". Where do you stop?

On an unrelated note: Blake Wheeler made an impassioned and uncomfortable statement on racism a couple of days ago. It confirmed my opinion of him as one of the good guys.

Well, Trump is consistent if nothing else- consistently a dollar short and a day late. "I am the leader, so I must find the parade and get in front of it."

As Republicans see that Trump has no chance in Hell of winning and that impacts their own chances of re-relection, we will probably see more and more rats deserting the sinking ship. I don't think that Trump's overt racism, stupidity, corrcuption and fascism bothers them- its all about their self-interest in hanging onto their jobs and power.

Infowars is obviously desperate for any distraction to the disaster he/they have helped to create in the US.

Trump is abysmally stupid- dumber than anyone thought. And the deterioration in his statements and actions in the past few days are an indicator of worsening mental stability. He is almost certain to do or say something really, really stupid soon, but that will be difficult to notice apart from all his other idiocies of late..

Pentagon Order Was Behind National Guard Helicopters Buzzing D.C. Protesters @MarielCG3/Reuters The Pentagon reportedly ordered National Guard helicopters to maintain a “persistent presence” in Washington, D.C. this week as protests over the death of George Floyd continued, resulting in the dangerously low fly-bys that sparked outrage from human rights groups. Two helicopters flew low enough over crowds the night of June 1 to blast them with wind and engulf them in noise, a practice known as “buzzing” and most often reserved for war zones. According to The New York Times, military officials said the aggressive maneuver stemmed from a Pentagon threat to send in active-duty military units if the Guard could not control the crowds. (And the line between civilian and military power gets blurred even further)