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solarbirdStill a bit of a potpourri, if I'm to be honest about it, but important nonetheless.
- State Dept undersecretary tried to ‘bully’ inspector general into dropping Saudi arms deal investigation: report
- Trump cites Dallas beating to governors, leaves out details [EDITOR: MUCH WORSE than headline indicates]
- This Gay H.S. Senior Barred From Walking at Graduation for Wearing Pants
- Rev. Robert W. Lee IV, great-great-great-grandnephew of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, thrilled that General Lee statue is coming down.
- Seattle Seahawks HC Carroll: Kaepernick owed 'tremendous amount' for protesting racial oppression
- LIVETWEET: Court hearing right now of the murder of #AhmaudAubrey
- Trump claimed again in May that private equity CEO Stephen Schwarzman told him it's impossible for Hunter Biden to have secured Chinese investments without improper influence. A Schwarzman spokesperson says, as she did in 2019, that he has never talked about any Biden with Trump.
- Threatening notes left at houses with Black Lives Matter signs [CW: DEATH THREATS, THREATS OF VIOLENCE]
- The Trump administration just asked the Supreme Court to make it legal to ban same-sex couples from adopting
----- 1 -----
State Dept undersecretary tried to ‘bully’ inspector general into dropping Saudi arms deal investigation: report
June 3, 2020
By Matthew Chapman
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/state-dept-undersecretary-tried-to-bully-inspector-general-into-dropping-saudi-arms-deal-investigation-report/
On Wednesday, Politico’s Natasha Bertrand reported that during his testimony to Congress, fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick told lawmakers that a senior aide and close friend of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to “bully” him into not pursuing the investigation into a controversial Saudi arms deal.
According to the readout from Democratic lawmakers at the hearing, Brian Bulatao, the Under Secretary of State for Management, reportedly “pressured [Linick] to act in ways that [he] felt were inappropriate — including Bulatao telling LInick that the investigation into weapons sales to Saudi Arabia was not a matter for the IG to investigate, and Bulatao telling Linick that he wanted to oversee the independent investigation into allegations of a State OIG draft report leak to the media.”
The Saudi arms deal raised red flags because Pompeo had ordered State Department officials to find a “justification” to approve the deal under an emergency order, which would bypass Congress and shield the deal from oversight.
----- 2 -----
Trump cites Dallas beating to governors, leaves out details
By JAKE BLEIBERG
2 June 2020
https://apnews.com/3522d912efa1a1831467578bd3696a34
DALLAS (AP) — When President Donald Trump demanded Monday that governors get tougher in cracking down on violence among some demonstrations, he cited Dallas protesters badly beating a man this weekend.
But the president’s comments left out what police suggest sparked the incident to which he seemed to be referring — the man swinging a machete at protesters. And the man was last reported to be in stable condition, contrary to Trump suggesting he may have died.
----- 3 -----
Gay H.S. Senior Barred From Walking at Graduation for Wearing Pants
A South Carolina high school even omitted Dynasia Clark's name from the announcement of graduating seniors over an alleged dress code violation.
By Daniel Reynolds
June 03 2020
https://www.advocate.com/youth/2020/6/03/gay-hs-senior-barred-walking-graduation-wearing-pants
A gay high school senior was prevented from walking in her graduation over a discriminatory dress code.
Dynasia Clark, a senior at Lamar High School in South Carolina, wore pants to her Tuesday graduation, which the school managed to hold despite the pandemic.
However, school officials stopped Clark on the field and told her she could not walk since she was wearing pants — the attire she felt most comfortable in — since it was a violation of a dress code requiring women to wear dresses to the ceremony.
In response, Clark walked off the field. "I was angry more than anything because we worked hard to even have a graduation, and then I can't walk because I don't got on a dress," Clark told WPDE, a local ABC affiliate.
Clark ended up staying, standing outside the gate to watch her classmates graduate and to hear her own name being called for recognition of her accomplishment. However, to add insult to injury, her name was omitted from the announcement.
----- 4 -----
Charlotte Clymer
twitter.com/cmclymer
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1268615685187330048
This is Rev. Robert W. Lee IV, great-great-great-grandnephew of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, reacting to news that the statue in Richmond is coming down. He’s been calling for this for many years: https://cnn.com/2017/09/05/us/robert-lee-iv-resigns-church-pastor-mtv-vma-confederate/index.html
[QUOTED TWEET]
Rev. Rob Lee
twitter.com/roblee4
Jun 3 2020
https://twitter.com/roblee4/status/1268290915703164928
Y'all I am WEEPING with joy. I am dancing around my dining room. https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1268290237417041924
----- 5 -----
Seattle Seahawks HC Carroll: Kaepernick owed 'tremendous amount' for protesting racial oppression
By Ben Arthur, SeattlePI (Post-Intelligencer)
Published 1:07 pm PDT, Wednesday, June 3, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/seahawks/article/Seattle-Seahawks-coach-Carroll-praises-Kaepernick-15314868.php
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the public owes a “tremendous amount” to Colin Kaepernick for raising awareness about police brutality and racial oppression by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem before NFL games a few years ago.
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the public owes a “tremendous amount” to Colin Kaepernick for raising awareness about police brutality and racial oppression by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem before NFL games a few years ago.
“I think there was a moment in time that the young man captured, and (Kaepernick) took a stand on something,” Carroll said on the Flying Coach podcast, a show he hosts with Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “He figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in. What an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take. I don’t think he had any idea what the impact would be as it turned out, but what a symbol of courage and vision, as he was just learning it, to do what he did.”
----- 6 -----
Samee Siddiqui
twitter.com/ssiddiqui83
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/ssiddiqui83/status/1268565781408669696
[THREAD]
Court hearing right now of the murder of #AhmaudAubrey
-The video we all saw was not the full video
-William Bryan, who took the video, was also chasing Ahmaud and his pickup “made contact” with Ahmaud
-Greg McMichael used the gun he had from his time w/ Glen County Police 1/
[NEXT]
-The “struggle” we see between Ahmaud and Travis comes AFTER Ahmaud had been shot in the chest by Travis McMichael
-Based off the statements made to Glen County Police Officers (off of the police officer body cams): he admitted not knowing whether Ahmaud had stollen anything 2/
[THREAD CONTINUES AT ABOVE LINK]
----- 7 -----
Daniel Dale
twitter.com/ddale8
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1268519996088635392
Trump claimed again in May that private equity CEO Stephen Schwarzman told him it's impossible for Hunter Biden to have secured Chinese investments without improper influence.
A Schwarzman spokesperson says, as she did in 2019, that he has never talked about any Biden with Trump.
----- 8 -----
Threatening notes left at houses with Black Lives Matter signs
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 by Hannah Jones
http://www.citypages.com/news/threatening-notes-left-at-houses-with-black-lives-matter-signs/570960031
Over the weekend, some neighbors in Roseville say they received some hasty letters written on printer paper in sharpie. Both seemed to be about the Black Lives Matter signs in their yards.
“[It] would be in the best [interest] of your [safety] to remove your sign because payback is coming,” one said.
“Your neighbors are sick of riots and your SJW (social justice warrior) shit,” the other said. “Your sign ‘bullshit matters’ comes down or you and your home will burn real quiet while you sleep in it!”
----- 9 -----
The Trump administration just asked the Supreme Court to make it legal to ban same-sex couples from adopting
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples in the name of religion.
Patrick Kelleher
June 4, 2020
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/04/donald-trump-department-of-justice-brief-supreme-court-same-sex-parents-adoption-catholic-social-services/
Department of Justice attorneys submitted a 35-page brief to the Supreme Court asking it to rule in favour of Catholic Social Services (CSS), a Philadelphia-based adoption agency that insists it should be allowed to turn away same-sex couples under the First Amendment.
CSS has already been ruled against by a number of lower courts, but the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case earlier this year.
The United States government is not a party in the case, which means that the brief was submitted voluntarily, the Washington Blade reports.
