All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[MiddleMan]

I'm sure someone else would have used Juneteenth to address the ever growing racial divide and call for peace and unity. Whether or not such a speech would've been given in Tulsa itself is anybody's guess, though I tend to think that out of respect for the sanctity of the anniversary, the better option would've been a televised speech from the Oval Office or the Rose Garden.

In the case of Trump however, this figures to be nothing more than another repugnant "ME! ME! LOOK AT ME! LISTEN TO ME!" diatribe posing as a rally where he boasts about how great he is, takes shots at the media, Joe Biden, Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney, antifa, Black Lives Matter, basically anyone he considers an enemy while doing all he can to ramp up racial tensions, not tamp them down. Trump doesn't give even half a **** about unity, far from it, stoking hate keeps his knuckledragging base good and fired up, and with his poll numbers said to be plummeting, he's bound to pull out all the stops with his already incendiary rhetoric. That's why this visit figures to be ugly as hell.

the tone will most definitely be that black people should be GRATEFUL they were freed, and then imply that things could be worse

basically a dog whistle that if he could, he'd re-institute Jim Crow (which is what Stephen Miller and his ilk ultimately want)

[Surf]

Stephen Miller is clearly trying to pick a fight with this Tulsa rally, Ol' Racist Rumsfield might get his wish. I can't even thing the most ardent Trump cabinet bonehead is looking forward to the framing this event is sure to be.

[Tami]

‘I should not have been there,’ Milley says of Trump photo op.

The country’s top military official apologized on Thursday for taking part in President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square for a photo op after authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters.

“I should not have been there,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defense University, reports Helene Cooper. “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

His first public remarks since Mr. Trump’s photo op, in which federal authorities attacked peaceful protesters so that the president could hold up a Bible in front of St. John’s Church, are certain to anger the White House, where Mr. Trump has spent the days since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis taking increasingly tougher stances against the growing movement for change across the country.

On Wednesday, the president picked another fight with the military, slapping down the Pentagon for considering renaming Army bases named after Confederate officers who fought against the Union in the Civil War.

This is a hopeful sign. You can't have a dictator if the Military has a conscious.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Stephen Miller is clearly trying to pick a fight with this Tulsa rally, Ol' Racist Rumsfield might get his wish. I can't even thing the most ardent Trump cabinet bonehead is looking forward to the framing this event is sure to be.

That's my concern as well. Wherever Trump goes, his legions of knuckledraggers are sure to follow, and that could well include white supremacists emboldened by the opportunity to spit on the significance of Juneteenth. That, in turn, will attract protestors from BLM, antifa, just about anyone with zero tolerance for racists, especially after everything that's gone down over the last two weeks. This has the potential to get real ugly, real fast. I hope I'm wrong, but the likelihood for chaos is entirely possible, if not probable.

‘I should not have been there,’ Milley says of Trump photo op.



This is a hopeful sign. You can't have a dictator if the Military has a conscious.

Agreed. Meanwhile, look for Trump to send Milley packing, followed by a lapdog taking his place at the Pentagon.

[skyvolt2000]

With a completely different leader wouldn’t it potentially be a good choice of day and venue??

I don’t suppose for a milli-second that Trump will...but another leader, aware of the events, might speak about the history, saying how unaccceptable it was, and how things need to improve.

If it was somebody from a state that acknowledge it like both Bushes or Clintons-not everyone would question it.

Obama? Maybe.

What Miller has Trump doing is on PURPOSE.

[PaulBullion]

Dow plunges 1,000 points, heads for worst day since April as airlines and retailers drop

[Tami]

Petition Calls For Statue Of GWAR’s Oderus Urungus To Replace Robert E. Lee

Out with Robert E. Lee and in with... Oderus Urungus?

A new petition is calling for a statue of the late GWAR frontman ― real name David Brockie ― to be erected in his adopted home state of Virginia. And it notes there’s an opening in Richmond, where a statue of the Confederate general is scheduled for removal.

Although Brockie was born in Canada, his family moved to Virginia when he was a child. He was a cofounder of GWAR, a shock-rock band known for its wild costumes and a violent stage show where copious amounts of fake blood and other fluids would spew into an ecstatic audience.

Brockie died of an accidental heroin overdose in 2014.

[Tami]

Trump Signs Executive Order Authorizing Sanctions Against International Criminal Court

President Trump on Thursday, June 11, authorized sanctions and visa restrictions against International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel in response to the international body’s investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. military and intelligence officials.

On March 5, 2020, the ICC authorized a probe into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan by the U.S. forces, the Central Intelligence Agency, Afghan forces and the Taliban. The executive order, which follows other attempts to pressure the ICC into dropping the investigation, targets officials participating directly in the investigation.

[worstblogever]

Dow plunges 1,000 points, heads for worst day since April as airlines and retailers drop

Approaching 1500 now. Trump, meanwhile, is living in a fantasy land, Tweeting about how great the stock market is doing, and that "Coronavirus is in ashes" as cases spike in Texas, Florida, and Arizona. We're still seeing 1300 dead a day (a rate we should expect to be going up over the next two weeks), and we're at 113,000 dead nationwide.

He's going to have to pay a s*** ton of people to fill his rally in Oklahoma in nine days. Everyone's gonna be too afraid to leave the house.

[Malvolio]

Australia doesn't have the Second Amendment, the National Rifle Association which is dug into Washington politics like an Alabama tick (to paraphrase Jesse Ventura from Predator) and a warped culture where guns are worshiped by the American public to an insane degree, neither of which can be excised or even regulated, and god knows we've tried.

====================

Statues Linked To Racist Past Toppled And Vandalized Around The U.S.

Monuments honoring Confederate figures or Christopher Columbus have been vandalized, set on fire and thrown in lakes this week.

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Trump Won’t ‘Even Consider’ Renaming Bases Named For Confederate Generals

The president engages in a battle that even the Army isn’t fully behind. No surprise there, given that the sort of mouthbreathers who worship the Confederacy are among Trump's most fervent supporters.

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Trump Campaign Demands CNN Apologize For Poll That Shows Him Losing To Biden

The president’s team was miffed that the network’s poll showed Joe Biden with a 14-point lead. President Snowflake got his panties in a pinch over that. GOOD!

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LeBron James Is Fighting For Black Voting Rights With ‘More Than A Vote’ Initiative

The NBA star has assembled a group of Black athletes and celebs to help him inspire African-Americans to vote. How long before some pissed off cretin on Faux News says that Lebron should "shut up and dribble"?

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More Than 1,250 Ex-DOJ Workers Demand Probe Of AG Barr Over Protesters’ Removal

The Department of Justice alumni slammed Barr’s reported role in last week’s violence near the White House, calling it “disturbing” and potentially politically motivated.

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Donald Trump Is Acting Like The Coronavirus Is Gone. It Isn’t.

The president is planning rallies and retreating from the fight against COVID-19 just as many states are experiencing their worst outbreaks yet.

There's more to the CNN story. Looks like CNN finally grew a pair and absolutely, unequivocally refused to give in to Trump's demand.

[Jack Dracula]

You absolutely can do that, the police already suck up a disproportionate share of most city budgets, the NYPD alone costs a whopping $6 billion per year which is more than most countries spend on their militaries. How on earth could giving them MORE money possible help matters?

To be fair, the funding increase is likely due to 9/11. In the years after, Police Budgets all across the country were increased to pay for all sorts of military-grade equipment and special training intended to be used in the event of a terrorist attack.

[Mecegirl]

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/...speech_on_race

So it seems that Miller really is writing the speech.
This was supposed to be a joke...ugh.

[AnakinFlair]

Approaching 1500 now. Trump, meanwhile, is living in a fantasy land, Tweeting about how great the stock market is doing, and that "Coronavirus is in ashes" as cases spike in Texas, Florida, and Arizona. We're still seeing 1300 dead a day (a rate we should expect to be going up over the next two weeks), and we're at 113,000 dead nationwide.

He's going to have to pay a s*** ton of people to fill his rally in Oklahoma in nine days. Everyone's gonna be too afraid to leave the house.

Never underestimate the stupidity of the Republican base. They'll be there, packed to the rafters, with no masks.

[GindyPosts]

NASCAR is getting rid of the Confederate flag, namely the second Navy Jack that everyone associates with, at all events. Fans, naturally, aren't too happy. One driver, in particular, is rage quitting the series he's in.

But before you get upset, maybe consider that the guy historically has sucked in the truck series, never had a top 10, and didn't even qualify for a race this season? But he's definitely going to be a pariah that's now a hero for the alt-right and the Bubbas & Betty Lous of the sport just cause "they took our flag", so he's finally getting the 15 minutes of fame he desperately craved.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/...speech_on_race

So it seems that Miller really is writing the speech.
This was supposed to be a joke...ugh.

Jesus. That'll be like Adolf Hitler writing a speech on anti-Semitism.

Never underestimate the stupidity of the Republican base. They'll be there, packed to the rafters, with no masks.

Of that, I have no doubt. That's gonna be a gold plated hot mess on steroids.