Tracker

Team Trump ‘Desperately’ Wants Bush to Endorse Biden. Some Dems Love the Idea, Too. A president once reviled could prove to be an easy punching bag for Trump or a signal of bipartisan appeal for Biden. Choose your own adventure. President Donald Trump and his political lieutenants are privately hoping that former President George W. Bush will endorse Joe Biden this cycle, creating a bizarre confluence of interests with an increasing number of Democrats who are hoping for the same. To Team Trump, a Bush endorsement of Biden would allow them to hitch a formerly unpopular GOP president and the personification of dynastic politics to the Democratic Party’s 2020 ticket. They believe that Bush’s backing would drive the progressive wing of the party into a tizzy, especially if the Democratic nominee were to accept and promote it, creating internal strife for Biden at a time when he needs unity. https://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-desperately-wants-bush-to-endorse-biden-some-dems-love-the-idea-too

Trump Didn’t Warn His Own Officials About Decision to Cut Troop Numbers in Germany, Says Report President Trump’s decision to slash U.S. troop numbers in Germany reportedly shocked several of his own national-security officials who first learned of the move via The Wall Street Journal website. Last Friday, Trump directed the Pentagon to remove thousands of American troops from Germany over the next few months, reducing the numbers to 25,000 from 34,500 by September. But Reuters reports that a number of U.S. officials at the White House, State Department and Pentagon didn’t know about Trump’s decision until they read about it in the Journal on Friday. A U.S. official told Reuters the Pentagon still hasn’t got a formal order to cut troops and that the decision caught some Defense Department officials off guard. Senior State Department, Pentagon and some national-security council officials “learned something was up when calls started coming around and the WSJ article hit,” a source told Reuters. The news agency also reported that Germany hasn’t been consulted. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-didnt-warn-his-own-officials-about-decision-to-cut-troop-numbers-in-germany-says-report?ref=home

Trump Spreads Baseless Conspiracy Theory That Video of Buffalo Cops Pushing Elderly Man Was Antifa ‘Set Up’ The president thinks that Martin Gugino, 75, “fell harder than was pushed” and that he could have been an undercover ANTIFA activist. The video of cops in Buffalo pushing an elderly man so hard that his head smashed off the ground and blood started gushing from his right ear shocked people across the nation. But President Trump isn’t convinced it’s real. Tweeting Tuesday morning, the president pushed a baseless conspiracy theory with no evidence that the scene was a “set-up.” Trump wrote: “Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-spreads-baseless-conspiracy-theory-that-video-of-buffalo-cops-pushing-elderly-man-was-antifa-set-up?ref=home

With the Conservatives, something like this was pretty much inevitable. Lets see if Pallister reacts to this or pretends it never happened.

I can’t breathe’: New video evidence shows cops killing two other black men as they beg for life As nationwide protests against police violence continue filling city streets, new evidence has emerged in the police killings of other Black men as they begged for breath. The demonstrations were touched off when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck until the 46-year-old Black man died, and new video evidence shows the moments that led up to the deaths of Black men last year in Oklahoma and Texas. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/i-cant-breathe-new-video-evidence-shows-cops-killing-two-other-black-men-as-they-beg-for-life/

We see things, not as they are, but as we are.

Trump hired one of the least-respected polling companies to spin the poll results.

Once again, one lie is used to explain another. Trump went down for an inspection. Well, no he didn't. Given Trump's personalty, I would bet he left a trail of urine all the way down.

There is a big difference between people clustering in large numbers on a regular basis for entertainment purposes or work for that matter. The protests have been to protest an issue which has been a stain on societies and institutions since time immemorial. It affects more than the people who are the target .It seeps into our whole country and costs us all in so many overt and subtle ways. My wife is immune-compromised and still encouraged me to go to the rally last Saturday, but I refused, fearing that I might bring something home that might do her harm. We all have to make decisions but if Trudeau did not attend, he would have been criticized for that, as well, and I believe that he did the right thing.

Yet it amazes me that those sycophants who continue to huddle around Trump still think that somehow he will not turn on them or throw them to the wolves when his whole life has been about doing exactly that to his underlings.

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. Apologizes for Blackface Mask Tweet Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. on Monday apologized for his May 27 tweet in which he declared he would only wear a mask if it were one depicting the 1984 photo of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam allegedly wearing blackface. The apology, issued via Twitter on Monday, came nearly two weeks after the initial tweet. https://www.thedailybeast.com/liberty-university-president-jerry-falwell-jr-apologizes-for-blackface-mask-tweet?ref=home

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.