Thursday News: “James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution”; Sen. Warner “calls for Barr to resign over order to clear protests”; “Biden Has Changed—For the Better”; “Richmond Police Spit at or Near Detained Protester”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, June 4.

• Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Suffers Its Most Extensive Coral Bleaching Event (“If global warming trends continue, the Great Barrier Reef will be destroyed.” We need to stop it NOW!))
• WoodMac: Wind, Solar and Storage to Dominate Europe’s Power Grid by 2030 (“Batteries will beat natural gas peakers on cost across Europe by the end of the decade, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie.”)
• Trump irresponsibly abandons the WHO while the pandemic surges in less developed nations
• Trump’s relationship with Europe goes from bad to nothingness
• A Post-Peak Covid Lull Doesn’t Mean a Weaker Virus
• How Upheaval On The Streets of D.C. Conjured the Unimaginable About America
• Unemployment-Benefits Trend to Signal Pace of Coronavirus Job Losses
• As utility solar costs drop 82%, US renewable leaders target majority generation share by 2030
• James Mattis’ Scathing Broadside Against Donald Trump Is Unprecedented
• James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution
• Jim Mattis blasts Trump in message that defends protesters, says president ‘tries to divide us’ (Mattis is absolutely right about all of this, including: “Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”)
• Trump calls Mattis ‘overrated’ after ex-Defense secretary issues scathing rebuke
• There Are Consequences to Believing Nonsense
• Defense Secretary Flees Trump’s Depraved Vortex
• Esper, on thin ice with the White House, reverses decision on troop deployments
• Republicans urge Trump to keep Esper
• Active-duty troops deployed to DC region start to leave (They never should have been deployed in the first place.)
• Trump faces a revolt from ex-military leaders
• Trump lacks the consent of the governed
• Trump Uses the Military to Prove His Manhood (Yeah, well it’s not working; the guy has always been a pathetic excuse for a man and will always be a pathetic excuse for a man.)
• Trump and allies try to rewrite history on handling of police brutality protests
• I Spent My Career in the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Military Must Stand up for Its Soul in This Moment
• Trump defaults to his safe space: Energizing the MAGA base (Pathetic.)
• Trump Gave Police Permission to Be Brutal
• A dangerous new factor in an uneasy moment: Unidentified law enforcement officers (Top-rated comment on the WaPo article nails it: “So Barr, the Attorney General who does not obey American laws and says that the American President has unlimited power, is wielding a secretive, private army that is patrolling the streets? Sounds like a secret police, Sturmabteilung style force. Presumably if you work for the Bureau of Prisons, then you are paid by American taxpayers. Sounds like an abuse of power to me.”)
• Bill Barr’s Strategy to Undermine Confidence in the 2020 Election (Barr is pure evil.)
• Trump Was Wrong to Deploy Troops. Will the Military Push Back? (It absolutely needs to. Hard.)
• I’ve seen dictators rise and fall. Beware, America. (Salman Rushdie: “Don’t believe that it can’t happen here.”)
• The Battle of Lafayette Square and the undermining of American democracy
• Donald Trump Appears to Have Committed Felony Voter Fraud
• New York Times Staffers in Open Revolt Over Tom Cotton’s ‘Send in the Troops’ Column (“’Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger,’ dozens of Times employees tweeted in solidarity on Wednesday evening.”)
• Senator’s ‘Send In the Troops’ Op-Ed in The Times Draws Online Ire (“Staff members at the newspaper, including a Pulitzer winner, denounced an opinion essay by Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, calling for a military response to protests.” What happened to the NY Times?!?)
• GOP shifting on unemployment benefits as jobless numbers swell
• Obama’s message to young people of color: “I want you to know that you matter” (“Obama praised young people of color for creating urgency around systemic racism and police brutality.”)
• Read What Presidents Obama, Bush, Carter, and Clinton Have Said About George Floyd
• The Black Christian Leaders Revolted by Trump’s Bible Stunt
• Trump’s Bible photo op cleaves white evangelical loyalists into two camps (“Ardent supporters saw the photo op as a blow against evil while others saw the gesture as cynical and a ploy”)
• Trump Campaign Looks at Electoral Map and Doesn’t Like What It Sees (“President Trump is facing the bleakest outlook for his re-election bid so far, with his polling numbers plunging in both public and private surveys and his campaign beginning to worry about his standing in states like Ohio and Iowa that he carried by wide margins four years ago.”)
• Fox News Poll: Biden ahead in Arizona, Kelly trouncing McSally in Senate race
• More Voters Trust Biden on Race Relations (How could anyone in their right mind trust lifelong racist Trump at all on race relations, let alone more than Biden?!?)
• Joe Biden’s New Bet (“His pitch to voters is no longer centered around a return to normalcy”)
• Biden’s Polling Lead Over Trump Is Getting Seriously Large
• Kamala Harris’ prospects improve as Joe Biden searches for a running mate
• Biden Has Changed—For the Better
• AP FACT CHECK: Trump denies tear gas use despite evidence (Instead of fact checking, how about the media simply start with the premise that basically every word Trump says is a lie? It would be a lot more accurate and simpler, since basically every word Trump says *is* a lie.)
• The mass nonviolent uprising reflects the life of our democracy, not its death
• Protesters’ breach of temporary fences near White House complex prompted Secret Service to move Trump to secure bunker
• The cowering president and his men are playing defense. It’s not working.
• Maybe there is no floor for Trump’s support
• #BunkerBoy’s Photo-Op War (“Is this an authoritarian crackdown by Donald Trump or just another politicized spectacle?”)
• The entire Republican Party is complicit in the assault on Lafayette Square
• The Supreme Court, Too, Is on the Brink
• Gun-toting members of the Boogaloo movement are showing up at protests
• ‘Not being fully free’: The toll of everyday racism on black Americans (“Analysis: Black Americans have grown tired of being forced to make the case for their citizenship, their humanity, their very survival — again and again and again.”)
• The 3 former officers who aided Derek Chauvin are charged in George Floyd’s killing (“Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane were charged with aiding and abetting murder. And charges against Chauvin were escalated to second-degree murder.”)
• Meet the far-right extremist who beat Steve King (Yes, Steve King is evil, and good riddance, but…his replacement is not going to be any better, and might in some ways be worse.)
• Can We Finally Stop Begging the Republicans to Grow a Pair? It’s Hopeless (“Yes, a few criticized Trump for Monday night. But most of them ran for the elevators. As they always will. The party of Lincoln is dead, dead, dead.”)
• Video captures police officer in Florida kneeling on a black man’s neck during an arrest
• William Barr’s Vast, Nameless Army Is Being Brought To Bear On D.C. Protesters (“Federal law enforcement officers are operating on American streets without identification, which experts say breeds a culture of impunity.” Absolutely unacceptable.)
• Bill Barr Takes Charge of Trump’s Crackdown as the Military Tries to Back Away (Barr is utterly lawless and absolutely should NOT be Attorney General, or in any position of authority whatsoever.)
• Revisiting My 2003 Piece, “Is America Drifting Towards Fascism?”
• ‘We Need to Put Guardrails in Place’: Senator Unveils Plan to Bar Use of US Military Force Against Protesters (“‘I never thought we would have to use the National Defense Authorization Act to make clear that the U.S. military shouldn’t be used as an agent of force against American citizens,’ Kaine said in a statement. ‘I thought that would seem obvious to everyone.'”)
• Virginia senator calls for Barr to resign over order to clear protests (“Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) called for Attorney General William Barr to resign Wednesday over his order to extend the perimeter near the White House and push protesters away from Lafayette Square on Monday shortly before President Trump spoke.” Absolutely!)
• Overlooked Primary for U.S. Senate (“Three Republicans on the ballot this month.”)
• Congresswoman Luria urges IRS to process tax refunds alongside COVID-19 relief checks
• Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Gets Hammered on His Own FB Page for Commenting, “Something awful happened to George Floyd and that is being handled properly” (“Handled properly? Three murderers are still walking free!”)
• New Studies Make Clear Why Virginia Can – and Should – Switch As Quickly as Possible to Energy Efficiency, Solar, Offshore Wind (The cost of offshore wind is moving *lower* than Virginia’s average electricity price, which makes it a “no brainer.”)
• Lecia Brooks: Virginia right to let localities decide monuments’ fate
• Editorial: Racial disparity in virus cases highlights health inequalities
• VA GOP Gives Out Annual Award to Those Who Bring “Traditional American Values” to African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, etc.
• Reactions: Gov. Northam to Order Removal of Robert E. Lee Statue From Richmond’s Monument Avenue (Also: Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney “introducing an ordinance to remove Confederate monuments”)
• Northam to announce plans to remove Richmond’s iconic statue of Robert E. Lee
• Virginia governor to announce removal of Lee statue
• Northam to take down Lee monument; Stoney wants other Confederate statues removed from Monument Avenue
• Richmond’s largest Confederate statue is coming down. More could follow.
• Protesters Demand More than Removal of Confederate Monuments
• Virginia African American leaders respond to four days of protests
• VIDEO: Richmond Police Spit at or Near Detained Protester
• ‘This is the beginning, y’all’: Marchers converge at Robert E. Lee statue as talks of monument removal escalate
• Reopening Virginia’s nursing homes could hinge on sweeping new testing requirements. No one’s sure who’s picking up the tab.
• Expungement Among Some Criminal Justice Reforms Left Behind by General Assembly
• CNU president apologizes for letter, asks for his name to be added to list of supporters (“I hear your cry for change and appreciate your thoughtful message. Black lives matter to me and always have and always will”)
• Letter From Liberty U. Alumni – African-American Evangelical Pastors, Ministry Leaders, etc. – Rips Jerry Falwell’s “Racist Tweet” as “disgrace to Jesus Christ and Liberty University” (Letter – and petition signed by 10s of 1000s – urges Falwell to “leave the position of school president and pursue politics full-time.”)
• Here’s what reopens Friday as Virginia enters Phase Two
• Wednesday (6/3) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +666 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 46,905), +76 Hospitalizations (to 4,884), +21 Deaths (to 1,428 From Yesterday)
• Photos, Video from Richmond Tuesday Night
• Northam shifts Thursday press conference to 11 a.m.
• Northam places Hampton under 8 p.m. curfew through Saturday
• Loudoun Sheriff, Leesburg Chief Oppose Citizen Oversight Boards
• Heat raises storm threat through Saturday but welcome relief arrives Sunday